THE ZAMBESI REGION. 
293 
price of the land has risen immensely. At the first 
opening of the Kimberley kopje, the ordinary claim of 
900 square feet could be had for 10/. It is true that 
the purchase only extended to the surface of the soil ; 
but now that the excavations are made to the depth of 
about 200 feet, some of the richer pits fetch from 
12,000/. to 15,000/., a proof that the real prosperity of 
the diamond-fields has not deteriorated, because (just as 
in the gold diggings) the rush of adventurers eager for 
sudden wealth has been replaced by the application of 
diligent and systematic industry. 
As time has progressed, the mode of obtaining the 
diamonds has gradually become more skilled and scien¬ 
tific. As the diggers at first worked in their allotments 
with the assistance of what hired labourers they could 
get, Hottentots, Kaffirs, and Bechuanas, their apparatus 
was of the rudest character. It consisted only of a 
