350 The National Geographic Magazine 



A Diamond Thief, and the Diamonds which he 

 had Swallowed and which were Recovered by 

 the Guards in the Compound 



quent practice and cause heavy losses to 

 the diamond mining companies if it were 

 not for the compound system, which 

 makes it impossible for natives to take 

 any diamonds out of the compounds with 

 them. 



A fine wire netting is stretched over 

 the top of the compound to prevent the 

 sly tossing of precious crystals over the 

 walls, to be picked up by confederates 

 outside the mining areas. Precautions 

 are also taken to prevent the smuggling 

 away of diamonds from the compounds, 

 and all communication by the natives 

 with persons outside the walls is carefully 

 restricted. Until the expiration of his 

 contract, no native can go through the 

 compound gate except by special permis- 

 sion or when he is taken under guard be- 

 fore a magistrate for some offense. If 

 convicted, when his term of imprison- 

 ment expires or after he has paid his fine 

 he must return to the compound and com- 

 plete his contract. Before leaving the 

 compound his clothes and person are 



thoroughly searched to prevent the 

 disappearance of diamonds with 

 them. Gems were sometimes found 

 secreted in clothing, or shoe heels, 

 or canes, or cans with false bot- 

 toms — in fact, in anything that the- 

 natives were allowed to take out 

 with them. Even this close inspec- 

 tion did not bar the practice of 

 stealing, and there was an inex- 

 plicable trickle of diamonds from 

 unlooked-for quarters until it be- 

 came known that natives on the 

 point of leaving the compound were 

 swallowing diamonds and convey- 

 ing them away. 



In 1895 one native had the nerve 

 and capacity to swallow a lot of 

 diamonds worth 750 pounds, and 

 did not appear to suffer from this- 

 strain upon his digestion. There 

 has been only one authentic instance 

 where a native has embedded dia- 

 monds in his flesh ; this was done 

 by a native in De Beers convict sta- 

 tion, who made an incision under 

 the shin bone and concealed several 

 small diamonds wrapped in a rag. This 

 native had symptoms of tetanus, and the 

 visiting physician searched the man's 

 body, and finding an ugly looking wound 

 on his leg, cut it open, and to his great 

 surprise found a rag full of diamonds. 

 The native soon recovered, a wiser, if a 

 poorer, man. There is no apparent fear 

 of swallowing any stone which can be 

 forced through the throat, and in one in- 

 stance a diamond as big as a large chest- 

 nut and weighing 15.2 carats was hidden 

 for seven days by this means. 



The swallowing of a rough diamond is 

 evidently so easy, but so difficult to de- 

 tect, that it was necessary to put an end 

 to the practice by providing a longer 

 period of detention and search. At the 

 close of their contracts, natives whose 

 terms of service have nearly expired are 

 placed together in a commodious room 

 capable of holding two hundred men or 

 more. They enter this room entirely 

 naked. Their clothes and baggage are 

 deposited in sacks marked in accordance 



