DIAMOxND: OCCURRENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA 203 



The longer the period required for the weathering process, the more will the profit 

 derived from the yield be diminished. For during this period there are many expenses and 

 losses incurred, such for example as ground rent, which is very high, wages of labourers 

 and watchmen, losses due to thieving, &c. Any means whereby the slow natural process 

 could be hastened would therefore be welcomed, bat up to the present no such means have 

 been devised. 



A factor which has largely contributed to the hardships of the South African diamond 

 fieiv^s is the high price of the ordinary necessities of everyday life. This scantily-peopled 

 region, in which only the barest necessaries could at one time be obtained, became inhabited 

 with comparative suddenness by a population of at least 30,000 white people. The many 

 and various articles necessary to their existence on these barren arid wastes had all to be 

 conveyed from Capetown, Fort Elizabeth, or some other seaport town. The transport 

 was effected in waggons, drawn by horses, mules or oxen, and the long and difficult 

 journey to Kimberley occupied several weeks. The rates for transport from Fort Elizabeth 

 to Kimberley, a distance of 500 miles and requiring about four weeks, were from 10s. to 30,9. 

 per 100 lbs of goods, and from Capetown to Kimberley, a journey of 650 miles, occupying 

 about six weeks, they were still higher. Other prices were of course correspondingly high : 

 thus, Cohen relates that in the year 1872 a battle of beer cost 3,9. 6d., and good Rhenish 

 wine 18,9. a bottle ; a cabbage could never be obtained for less than 3.s., potatoes were as 

 high as 1*. per lb., and eggs were 6s. a dozen. At some seasons of the year a day's supply 

 of fodder for a horse cost 15,9., English coal fetched =£^16 10s. per ton, and a waggon load of 

 wood of about 4<^ tons was worth £30. The same authority states that d£'8000 was paid 

 for a steam-engine of 100-horse power delivered in Kimberley. It is not surprising then, 

 that with these prices for coal and machinery, steam power was so long in coming into 

 general use, especially as it \\'as not at first known that the diamantiferous deposits were so 

 extensive. The cheapest food available was antelope flesh, a whole animal the size of a deer 

 costing only from 3*. to 8,9. ; meat, therefore, was the staple article of food, and every drop 

 of water had to be bougrht. 



The wages paid to overseers and miners had of course to correspond with these high 

 prices. The overseers and officials, who were all white men, M-ere paid up to ^£"2000 per 

 annum. White miners, of whom in 1882 and 1883 there were a.bo,ut 1500, received from 

 £4! to £8 per week, while the native workers, about 11,000 in number, were paid 22«. to 

 30*. per week. 



All these details apply to the time when Kimberley was still unconnected by railway 

 with the coast towns. Since 1885, it has been joined to Capetown by a line f)47^ miles 

 long, and to Port Elizabeth by one of 485^ miles. The construction of these railways 

 considerably diminished the cost of transport, and, in consequence, the price of many of the 

 necessaries of life fell ; moreover, it became possible to make more extensive use of coal, 

 which was brought both from England and also from the South African mines at Stromberg 

 in the Indwe district of Cape Colony, a place which has also been connected by rail with 

 Kimberley. 



For comparison with the prices quoted above, a few of more recent date may be given. 

 In 1891 a ton of English coal cost at Kimberley £8 10s., and 100 lbs. of wood fetched 2,9. 

 The transport of goods from Fort Elizabeth to Kimberley costs from £6 to £8 per ton, 

 and the journey occupies only about thirty hours, instead of four weeks, as was formerly the 

 case. The reduction in the cost of living is of course accompanied by a corresponding fall 

 in wages ; from £3 to £6 10s. per week is paid to white men, while Kaffirs earn at most 

 249. per week, exclusive of housing, wood, water and medical attendance. 



