16 
blank before. Much indeed remains to be done in interpreting 
these remains; much, probably in revising what has been 
already done, but the true path has been struck. The four 
volumes of Mr. Rawlinson, the Camden Professor of History at 
Oxford, will afford ample information of what is known or 
believed, accompanied by excellent illustrations of manners, 
and the state of the arts of war and peace. 
Nov. 7th. —Dr. Procter read a paper on the subject of the 
Diamond Fields of South Africa. He observed that the recent 
discovery of diamond fields in South Africa has attracted an 
unusual amount of attention to that distant region of the world. 
This interest has on many accounts been excited in Britain; 
there was the probable enrichment and the development of the 
resources of a British colony, as well as the consideration of 
the claim of the South African Republic to this territory of 
wealth. 
The history of the discovery of Diamonds in Africa was of an 
accidental character, and in the first instance great doubts were 
entertained whether the stones were at all found in the terri¬ 
tory, nay, it was even said that the whole story was false, and 
that the report was simply part of a scheme to promote the 
employ and expenditure of capital in searching for this precious 
gem in the colony. 
The history of the earliest discovery is thus recorded by Dr. 
Atherstone :—In the early part of 1867 a Dutch farmer saw 
some children playing with a bright stone, and asked the 
mother of them to sell it. She laughed at the idea, and at 
once gave it to him. It was then handed to a trader to find 
out its nature, and was subsequently sent by Mr. Boyes, Clerk 
of the Peace for the Hope Town District, to Dr. Atherstone, 
who suspecting its true character, had it sent to the Paris Ex¬ 
hibition, and ultimately it was purchased by the Governor of 
the Colony, Sir P. Woodhouse, for £500 ; it weighed 21 
carats. Other stones were found, one of which, known as the 
Star of South Africa, was purchased in its rough state for 
£11,200. This fact greatly raised the expectations in relation 
to the Diamond-producing characters of the country, and it 
