THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA 



By Gardiner F. Williams 

 General Manager of the De Beers Diamond Mines 



The following article, which is the substance of an address to the National 

 Geographic Society, is largely derived from two handsome volumes by Mr 

 Gardiner F. Williams, "The Diamond Mines of South Africa," a new edition of which 

 has been recently published by B. F. Buck & Co., of Nezu York. In this zvork Mr 

 Williams gives an interesting account of the Zulus and other South African 

 natives, of the Boers and of their terrible struggle with the Zulus, of the coming of 

 the Englishman, and the discovery, exploitation, and development of the wonderful 

 De Beers mines. The article and pictures are copyrighted by Mr Williams. 



NOWHERE else on the face of the 

 earth is there an assemblage of 

 workers of such varied types of 

 race, nationality, and coloring as are to 

 be seen in the South African diamond 

 fields. There is hardly a nation of Eu- 

 rope or colony of the British Empire that 

 has not some representatives. There are 

 adventurers from the United States, 

 Mexico, and South America, and white 

 men from all the colonies of South Africa 

 mingle with the masses of native Africans 

 of every shade of dusky hue shown by the 

 tribes that range from the Cape to the 

 Equator. Even the American Indian is 



not unknown in the fields, one specimen 

 at least having resided there for many 

 years. Add to this motley throng a 

 sprinkling of dark East Indians, Malays, 

 and Chinese, and the kaleidoscopic shifts 

 and colorings of this babel in the diamond 

 fields may be dimly conceived. 



. Only about one-sixth of the workers 

 in the mines are whites, and the larger 

 part of these are employed above ground 

 on the floors, in the workshops, and in 

 the offices of the mining companies. 



The majority of the white workers 

 above and below ground have their 

 homes in Kimberlev and the other neisrh- 



A Zulu and His Ten Wives 



