DIAMOND: OCCURRENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA 305 



diamonds from South Africa since 1867, the total value of this export, and the mean value 

 per carat, the whole of the information having been derived from the most reliable sources 

 available. The yearly export, though not exactly identical with the production, approaches 

 it very nearly, and is sufficiently close for all practical purposes. The numljers quoted in 

 the table may differ slightly from other returns, but are accurate enough to convey a correct 

 idea of the gigantic scale of the output. 



It should be remarked that the numbers given in this table for the years 1867 to 1882 

 are based only on estimates. Exact statistical records have only been" kept since the estab- 

 lishment of the " Board for the Protection of Mining Interests " in 1882. It may be difficult, 

 from the numbers given in the table, to form a correct conception of the enormous quantity of 

 diamonds which have been exported from South Africa ; a few concrete examples are therefore 

 appended as an aid to the imagination. The total weight of stones exported amounts to 

 almost 51,000,000 carats, which is equal to 10,500 kilograms, or nearly 10|^ tons. These 

 stones would fill a box five feet square and six feet high ; they would also form a pyramid 

 having a base nine feet square and a height of six feet. 



An exact record of the yield of each of the Kimberley mines has also been kept since 

 September 1, 1882. The unkno^vn, but probably very considerable, number of diamonds 

 stolen by the workers from their legitimate owners, cannot of course be included in these 

 records ; the value of the diamonds misappropriated every year is variously estimated at from 

 6e500,000 to ,£'1,000,000. During the three years between September 1, 1882, and Sep- 

 tember 1, 1885, the four Kimberley mines, from which, as has already been mentioned, over 

 ninety per cent, of the total South African output is derived, have yielded, according to 

 official returns, the following amounts in carats : 



Sept. 1, 1882 to March 1, 1884 to Total for the 



March 1, 1884. Sept. 1, 1885. 3 years. 



Kimberley mine .... 1,429,726| 850,396^ 2,280,123^ carats 



De Beer's mine .... 656,427 790,9081 l,447,335f „ 



Du Toit's Pan mine . . -. 709,877^ 773,306| 1,483,1881 „ 



Bultfontein mine .... 738,230J 877,647^ l,615,877f „ 



This gives the yearly average for the four mines together at 2,372,809f carats, valued at 

 ^2,628,289 3*. "Id. 



In the year 1886, the production of these four mines, and of a few others of less import- 

 ance, as well as of the river diggings, amounted to : 



Carats. Value. 



£. s. d. 



Kimberley mine 889,864 836,767 17 7 



De Beer's mine 795,895 739,937 2 8 



Du Toit's Pan mine 700,302^ 909,023 11 5 



Bultfontein mine 661,339i 623,339 17 3 



St. Augustine's mine 239J 317 19 4 



Kiver diggings 38,672| 181,156 9 2 



Orange Kiver Colony 73,303f 121,654 15 1 



3,159,617| 3,412,197 12 6 



The figures in the three tables given above are in all probability too low, since there are 

 many sources the supply from which it is difficult or impossible to estimate. Thus the total 

 production of the river diggings, and of the Jagersfontein and KofFyfontein mines in the 

 Orange River Colony, is not exactly known, the numbers in the table referring not to the 

 total production, but to the diamonds sent from these mines and diggings to the central 



