DIAMOND: OCCURRENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA 199 



covered by falls of reef and the underground workings are not yet organised. An idea of 

 the importance and influence of the De Beers Company may be gained from an inspection 

 of the returns dealing with the production of diamonds. Thus from April 1, 1890, to 

 March 31, 1891, this company alone produced 2,195,112 carats of diamonds, valued at 

 .£'3,287,728, this being more than 90 per cent, of the total yield (2,415,655 carats) of the 

 foui- mines at Kimberley, or indeed of the whole of South Africa. This result is of course 

 due in some measure to the large amount of capital, ^3,950,000, at the command of the 

 company. 



The inception of this company and its pursuit of a policy of buying up all available 

 claims resulted in a considerable rise in the price of the lattei-, ^^10,000 or even i?15,000 

 being asked for single claims, and proportionate prices for portions. The claims thus 

 acquired a definite market value, which depended on the richness of the deposit at that 

 particular place, usually known fairly accurately, and which of course varied at different 

 times. Thus the claims in the Kimberley mine in 1875 were worth from ^£"200 to ^"2500 

 each, in 1878 from ^50 to ^6000, and in 1882 from dei50 to .^15,000 ; the value of the 

 whole mine being in theseyears i'525,000, i^l,300,000 and dP^,) 50,000 respectively. At 

 one time the value of the shares in the Kimberley mine amounted to ^8,000,000. 



In the other mines the deposit was poorer and the price of claims correspondingly 

 lower. In the year 1880 the values of the richest claims in the Kimberley, De Beer's, Du 

 Toit's Pan, Bultfontein, Jagersfontein and Koff'yfontein mines were in the proportion of 

 10 : 5 : 2 : 1 : jij,^ : Jg. In other words, the richest claim in the Kimberley mine was 150 

 times more valuable than the richest claim in the KofFyfontein mine ; for the former .£'1 5,000 

 would be demanded and paid, while the latter would cost at the highest from £20 to 

 ^100. 



For a short time after the opening of the mines each owner of a claim worked alone 

 on his own piece of ground. It was found, however, that comparatively cheap labour could 

 be obtained by employing the native Kaffirs, and these were soon engaged in large numbers. 

 It is stated that in the seventies 10,000 to 12,000 Kaffirs were employed in the Kimberley 

 mine alone, and by some authorities this number is doubled. The diamantiferous rock was 

 excavated by the help of pickaxes or blasted with gunpowder, the latter agent being replaced 

 later on by dynamite. The excavated material was then either loaded into carts or simply 

 carried away from the mine. The whole mine was thus honey-combed with square pits 

 which varied in depth in different claims, those which had been vigorously worked being 

 very deep and enclosed by high vertical walls, and others having the appearance of rectangular 

 columns, so high that they sometimes fell over and buried neighbouring claims with debris. 

 The road-ways by which the claims in the Kimberley mine were separated, soon came to be 

 mere walls, the surfaces of which rose high above the floors of surrounding claims and gave 

 the whole mine a peculiarly striking appearance, as may be gathered from Plate VII. 



Owing to the ease and rapidity with which the tuft" composing these walls became 

 weathered, they formed anything but stable boundaries, and as early as 1872 they had to 

 be removed. After their removal, the mine had the appearance of one gigantic pit ; the 

 rock subsequently excavated could not then be removed in the same manner as before, and 

 other means had to be devised. The mine was surrounded by high, wooden stagings 

 provided with ropes and winding machinery, by the aid of which the diamond-bearing 

 material was hauled up in sacks or buckets of hide. The owner of every claim, or part of a 

 claim, had his own hauling rope, so that at this time, about 1874, the total number of these 

 ropes was very large and gave the mine, which is pictured in the upper figure of Plate VIII., 

 the appearance of a huge cobweb. The winding was first effected by hand windlasses, then 



