2 $6 The National Geographic Magazine 



Formerly, of 12,000 loads, which is 

 about the daily average of the quantity 

 washed at De Beers and Kimberley 

 mines, 160 cubic feet had to be assorted 

 by hand. 



When the stones are cleaned they are 

 carefully assorted with reference to size, 

 color, and purity and made up in parcels 

 for sale. For several years past the De 

 Beers Company has sold in advance its 

 annual production to a syndicate of Lon- 

 don diamond merchants who have repre- 

 sentatives residing in Kimberley. 



When the bare statement is made that 

 nearly five million truck-loads, or more 

 than four million tons, of blue ground 

 have been washed in a year, the mind 

 only faintly conceives the prodigious size 

 of the mass that is annually drawn from 

 the old craters and laboriously washed 



and sorted for the sake of a few bucket- 

 fuls of diamonds. It would form a cube 

 of more than 430 feet, or a block larger 

 than any cathedral in the world, and 

 overtopping the spire of Saint Paul's, 

 while a box with sides measuring two 

 feet nine inches would hold the gems. 



Diamonds are so highly prized and so 

 imperishable that the amount of these 

 gems in existence may almost be reckoned 

 as the total of the world's production, 

 ranging in value through hundreds of 

 millions of dollars. Mr Kunz does not 

 estimate a loss of 5 per cent in a hundred 

 years, and the South African diamond 

 fields alone. have contributed over $400,- 

 000,000 in value to the world's stock. Yet 

 the demand increases apace with the 

 world's growth in wealth, and no diver- 

 sion of the world's fancy is apparent. 



CANADIAN IMMIGRATION 



THE Canadian Commissioner of 

 Emigration in London, Mr W. T. 

 R. Preston, talking on the successful ef- 

 forts of the Canadian government to in- 

 duce emigration to that country from 

 Great Britain, said : 



"Five years ago Canada was receiving 

 12^4 per cent of the total of from 60,000 

 to 70,000 emigrants from Great Britain 

 to North x^merica. Now she receives 

 over 50 per cent. In these five years the 

 immigrants into Canada from Great 

 Britain have increased from 8,000 an- 

 nually to 65,000. Canada wants popu- 

 lation. A net bonus of $1.75 per head is 

 given by the government to every emi- 

 gration agent in Great Britain sending 

 out emigrants to settle the land. Each 



British agricultural emigrant averages a 

 total cost of $13 to the Canadian govern- 

 ment, and each continental emigrant costs 

 the sum of $5. Consequently the Cana- 

 dian government is paying $8 per head 

 more for British than for continental emi- 

 grants." 



The Colonizer of London publishes an 

 interview with a firm in that city which 

 makes it its business to send children to 

 Canada. The head of the firm stated 

 that for $125 they would send a boy, pay 

 his fare, and take care of him until he has 

 settled with some farmer. The boy is paid 

 from $5 to $12 per month by the farmer. 



The payments by the Canadian govern- 

 ment to the emigration agents in Europe 

 for each emigrant sent to Canada ac- 

 counts for the large increase of emigra- 

 tion to that countrv in recent vears. 



