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laria , Catamites , and coal ; and in Natal they lie unconform- 
ably against this old carboniferous formation, igneous rock 
intervening. If, then, these palaeozoic coal-beds, stretching 
further to the north-east, have participated in the crumplings, 
squeezings, and slow changes of the crush and metamorphism 
affecting the deep-seated Devonian and other rocks, they are 
likely enough to have yielded their carbon to the mica-schists, 
clay-slates, gneiss, and quartzites, not only as graphite, but as 
diamond ; whilst the other elements of the altered strata went 
to form the mundic, ilmenite, tourmaline, and other minerals 
known to have been produced by similar metamorphism in the 
diamantiferous rocks of Brazil. 
It is not found to be profitable, however, there to work these 
gem-bearing rocks, though softened by atmospheric and aqueous 
agencies. The grand machinery of the rivers has carried down 
and sorted the material better than man can doit. We should 
not, therefore, be certain, if the birthplace of the South- African 
diamond were found either in the Gats Rand, at the roots of 
the Draakenberg, in some isolated patches of old rock in the 
Orange River basin, or in the material of the Karoo beds 
themselves, that it would be at all profitable to attack it with 
pick and shovel, or with other machinery. The more scientific 
plan would be for a clear notion of the stratigraphical structure 
of the whole country, and of its geological history, to be 
worked out by a thoroughly educated observer ; whereby the 
place of origin, the mode of transport, the sites of deposit, and 
probably of re-deposit, of the coveted gems should be satis- 
factorily mastered. This would be a pleasing task, and a long 
work, for a hard-muscled, fever-free, enthusiastic young geolo- 
gist, willing to do the Colony, nay, the world, a service, with 
little hope of monetary reward. Without waiting, however, for 
this perfect and disinterested guide, and for many a year to 
come, the bold empiricism and blundering pluck of the white 
man will snatch the bigger gems and bury myriads of good 
diamond grains, and, may be, other jewels, in acres of heaped 
rubbish, for John Chinaman some day to sift. And fortunes 
will have come to few and misery to many, but average means 
of existence to the mass of those who venture on the doubtful 
grounds of hidden wealth, digging and digging until the soil, 
as usual, gives its return of crops and herds, instead of the 
hoped-for, but less desirable, gold or gem. 
