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KIMBERLEY DIAMONDS: ESPECIALLY CLEAVAGE 
DIAMONDS. 
By J. E. Sutton, M.A., Sc.D., F.R.S.SA. 
1. Local Characteristics. 
The difference in character between the diamonds obtained from the 
different Kimberley mines has been noted often enough ; albeit not always 
in terms that convey much idea of their meaning to most people who are not 
directly employed in the diamond trade. Indeed, it is doubtful if mere words 
are competeDt to express the subtle shades of difference, obvious enough to 
the expert, between, say, a crystal from Bultfontein and one from Wesselton. 
One or two opinions from authorities of greater or less repute may be 
cited : 
" It is quite true that large parcels of diamonds from the various 
mines have distinctive characteristics, and it can be easily told from 
which mine a parcel of diamonds comes ; but it is very difficult to tell 
in which mine a single stone may have been found, though each mine 
has stones in a great measure peculiar to itself." (G. F. Williams, 
' The Diamond Mines of South Africa,' p. 492, 1902,) 
" The collective character of the stones found in each mine and in 
each part of a mine are distinctive, but single stones of every quality 
occur in all mines. Thus, though it may be impossible to state the 
particular mine in which a single stone was found, yet an experienced 
Kimberley diamond merchant would have no difficulty in naming the 
mine, or portion of a mine, from which a parcel of stones had come, 
provided that the parcel formed a fair sample of the yield of that 
particular deposit." (Bauer, ' Precious Stones,' English edition by 
Spencer, p. 212, 1904.) 
" Most pipes were formed by a number of successive eruptions 
which gave rise to more or less well-defined columns of blue ground. 
Within any particular column of this nature the diamond content of 
the pipe rock is generally found to be remarkably uniform, but adjacent 
columns may differ markedly not only in their yield, but by producing 
diamonds of a distinctive character. So pronounced in some instances 
are the differences between the diamonds yielded by different columns 
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