Notes on South African Htmting, 
21 
A Mail Robbery, 
They are employed, amongst other ways, in 
breaking up the blue ground ” with mattocks, 
and some times when they see a diamond they will 
put their foot on it, and take it between their 
toes. Then, when the overseer is not looking, 
they will hide it in their mouths, ears, hair, any¬ 
where ; some times they will even swallow 
them. However, when they leave the mine, 
they are made to strip, and are most carefully 
and completely examined. If there is a suspicion 
that a diamond has been swallowed, the sus- 
' pected man is shut up and given a strong 
emetic, or a dose of Epsom salts. 
A law was eventually passed making it illegal 
for any one to be found in possession of a 
diamond without a license. This put some 
check on people, but soon a very large trade in 
I. D. B.—Illicit Diamond Buying—sprang up, 
flourished, and still flourishes. 
Astonishingly few mail robberies have ever 
taken place. Indeed I only remember to have 
heard of one; and that was discovered rather 
oddly. It must be borne in mind that large 
parcels of diamonds used to be sent down from 
the Fields, 700 odd miles, to Capetown in an 
c 
