170 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
Village, Sifonell’s Village, Gong-gong, Cawood’s Hope, Nichol- 
son’s Pan, Kalk farm (Litkhatlong, near the junction of the 
Hart with the Vaal at the “Great Bend”), and elsewhere, near 
the junction of the Modder and Vaal. Also below the junction 
of the Ky Gariep (Vaal) with the Nu Gariep, to form the 
Gariep (Orange), diamonds have been found on several farms 
along the latter river, about twenty miles north-west of Hope- 
town. The finding-places, however, of the precious gem are 
not confined to the immediate neighbourhood of the Orange 
Biver and its great northern branch. The valleys of two, at 
least, of the tributaries of the latter (Vaal), namely the Modder 
and the Vet, have yielded specimens in their upper branches, 
near Fauresmith (eighty miles south of Pniel) and near Win- 
burg (seventy miles from the Vaal) respectively. High up the 
Vaal, also, at Bloemhof, twelve miles south-west of Potscherf- 
stroom, diamonds are said to occur ; and even above Bloemhof 
some diamonds have been found (I am informed by Mr. C. L. 
Griesbach) on the Maquassi Spruit, a stream running into the 
Vaal from the north, and some 250 miles away on the north- 
east, from the Hopetown District. Throughout this region, 
however, no place has hitherto proved to be so rich in diamonds 
as the neighbourhood of Pniel above-mentioned. Hebron, an 
old mission-station, about ten miles up the river, on its north 
bank, and within a great loop of the stream, has been a pro- 
ductive digging-ground. The Klip-drift (or ford), by which 
the waggon-track from the south crosses into Betchuana Land, 
gives its name to the rich diggings five miles lower down the 
river than Pneil, mostly on the north side of the river, but 
including some grounds belonging to the missionary station, 
enclosed in a fine curve of the river, and traversed by the road 
to the south on its leaving the “drift.” Four or five miles 
further down are the Gong-gong diggings, on the left bank of 
the river as it winds along on its north-westward course before 
receiving its northern tributary, the Hart, and making its 
“ Great Bend ” to the south-west ; and the new diggings called 
Cawood’s Hope are just opposite. All the diamond-diggings 
about Pneil, and to the north-east and north-west, are called 
the “ Diamond-fields of Pneil,” or “ of the Lower Vaal,” or the 
“ Klip-drift Diamond-fields ; ” whilst the diggings near the ford 
indicate the “Klip-drift Diamond-field ” in particular. 
This rich diamond-bearing district, traversed by the winding 
Vaal, and suddenly occupied by an energetic digging and trading 
community from all parts of the world, belongs partly to the 
Pniel Missionary Establishment, within the limits of the Orange 
Biver Free States ; but the north side of the valley* is claimed 
* Beferred to as “Adamanta” in the “ Grahamstown Journal” of 
January 30. 
