DIAMOND: OCCURRENCE IN BORNEO ^I'J' 



De Beer's and Kimberley mines, among whom representatives of almost every South African 

 tribe are to be found, live in what is known as a compound, and are debarred from all 

 intercourse with the outside world. This compound is a rigidly guarded enclosure, several 

 acres in extent, in which all the necessaries of life can be purchased as well as other objects 

 specially attractive to the native taste. Water, wood, and medical attendance are supplied 

 to the workers gratuitously, and no effort is spared to make their enforced stay as little 

 irksome as possible. On entering the employment of the company the native contracts to 

 stay for at least three months, dm-ing which time he sees no one but the officers of the 

 company ; at the end of this time he may renew his contract or terminate the engagement. 

 Before leaving the compound, however, an exhaustive search of his person and belongings is 

 made, and he has further to submit to the administering of a strong purgative. In spite of 

 the restrictions by which life in the compound is hedged in, and the absolute prohibition 

 laid on the sale of intoxicating liquors, the workers are by no means averse to the system, 

 and often renew their contracts again and again. It has been found, moreover, that the 

 system reduces the possibility of fraud to a minimum. 



4. BORNEO. 



The information concerning the diamond-fields of Borneo given below is derived, for 

 the greater part, from the investigations of R. D. M. Yerbeek, the director of the 



Fig. 12. Diamond-fields of the Island of Borneo. (Scale, 1 : 15,000,000.) 



