SKETCH OP AFRICAN DISCOVERY. 
613 
The results of Dr. Livingstone’s last voyages of explo. 
ration have greatly increased our knowledge of Southern 
and Central Africa, as will readily be seen by the readers 
of this volume, in which the condensation of these results 
have beeu given. Of course the chief objects which attract 
at first the attention of explorers, are the broad geographi- 
cal features of the country, the course of its rivers, the 
mountain ranges, and all matters which come more par- 
ticularly under the head of physical geography. The 
mineral deposits, or the agricultural advantages of a coun- 
try are, as a rule, discovered only after a more minute in- 
vestigation of its natural conditions than it is possible for 
an explorer to make. The field of Africa has, however, 
been opened, and the recent discoveries in South Africa of 
deposits of diamonds has attracted immigration, such as 
the modern world has seen attracted to California and 
Australia, by the discovery of the gold deposits in these 
two countries. As in both of these cases, the attraction of 
a large population from the civilized portions of the world, 
has brought together specialists of various kinds, and a 
wide spread and scientific examination of the territory has 
led to the discovery of various other sources of wealth. 
In South Africa, near Cape Town, deposits of gold, silver, 
copper, lead, and coal, the most important mineral deposit, 
since it affords the power absolutely necessary for our 
modern industry, have been fouud. Perhaps the most 
startling of these instances of modern discoveries is that 
of the diamond fields of South Africa. It is impossible to 
accurately estimate the number of diamonds which have 
thus been thrown into the circulation of the world’s wealth, 
but it is something enormous, and hitherto in the modern 
world’s history unprecedented. Our illustration of the 
works at New Rush, or Colesberg Kopje, will give a better 
idea of the manner in which this new and singular industry 
is conducted, than pages of mere description could do. 
Kopje means hillock, and an idea can best be formed of this 
spot by imagining a gigantic mole-hill. 
