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Page 8
I also visited the celebrated De Beer's Mine. This vast mine, where some
thousands of workmen, white and coloured, are employed, is carried on
much in the same way as the Bultfontein, as far as the different
processes are concerned, of treating the material in which the diamonds
are found. It is much richer, however, in "blue ground," and
consequently far more valuable results are obtained from it. For
instance, the average value of each truck load of stuff from the
Bultfontein is said to be about 8s., while from the De Beer's it is
28s. or 30s. The latter mine is now worked underground, in the same way
as copper and coal mines are worked in England. Excellent arrangements
are made for the protection and well-being of the native workmen,
especially by the introduction of "compounds" during the last year or
two. These are vast enclosures, with high walls, where the natives
compulsorily reside, after their daily work is done during the whole
time they remain at work in the mine. This system has been attended with
the most satisfactory results. I went over the De Beer's "compound,"
where I saw an immense number of natives, all appearing lively,
cheerful, and happy. A large number were playing at cards (they are
great gamblers), and others amusing themselves in various ways. No
intoxicating liquor is permitted to be sold within the "compounds." The
weekly receipts for ginger beer amount to a sum, which seems fabulous,
averaging from �60 to �100 a week. The natives can purchase from the
"compound" store every possible thing they want, from a tinpot to a
blanket, from a suit of old clothes to a pannikin of mealies. Before the
establishment of the "compounds," when the natives had the free run of
the town, and could obtain alcoholic liquor--on Saturday nights
especially, after they had done their work and received their weekly
wages--Kimberley was a perfect pandemonium.
An interesting visit was one to the central offices of the United
Companies, where I saw the diamonds, as they are prepared ready for
sale, lying on a counter in small assorted lots, on white paper. This is
a most remarkable sight. The lots, varying from half-a-dozen to twenty,
or thirty, or more diamonds, are spread out arranged according to their
estimated value. I took up one, which I was told would probably fetch
�1,000, and of which there were several similar ones in the different
parcels on the counter. The manager showed me a paper of a sale to the
buyers, a day or two before, of a parcel, which was calculated to
realise �14,189, and which actually was sold afterwards for �14,150;
showing the surprising accuracy of the previous estimate on the part of
the experts.
Another day I went to the Central Kimberley Diamond Mine. After going
over the mine, my party and myself all "assisted" at the counter in one
of the large sheds in picking out diamonds from the heap of small stones
just brought up and laid out from the day's washings. It is rather a
fascinating occupation, turning over the heap with a little triangular
piece of tin held in one hand, and continually "scraped" along the
board. I found several diamonds. We were told, after we had been
working diligently for an hour or two--there were six of us--that the
value of the diamonds we had found, and placed in the manager's box, was
probably �1,200. This seemed to us a good afternoon's work. The entire
district of Kimberley seems to teem with diamonds, and yet there is no
cessation in the demand for them, and they are still rising in price.
Accidents are frequent at these mines, but excellent provision for
meeting these misfortunes is made in the admirably conducted Kimberley
Hospital (where there are no less than 360 beds for patients), which I
visited during my stay. It is under the management of a very remarkable
woman, Sister Henrietta, and reflects the greatest credit on everyone
connected with its conduct, and support. The number of native cases
treated at the Hospital during the year 1887 was 2,975.
Kimberley has risen with immense speed, commencing from what is
generally known as a "rush," to a large and prosperous centre of wealth,
trade, and commerce. There, where only a few years since, was to be
found a collection of tents and small huts, I found a city with handsome
buildings, churches, stores, institutions, and law courts, and, above
all, a well ordered society. Some of the buildings which I might
specially mention, are the Town Hall, the Post Office, the High Court,
and the Public Library, which has been in existence about seven years,
and is superintended with such excellent results and most gratifying
success by the Judge President. One noticeable fact connected with this
Library is that the number of works of fiction annually taken out by the
subscribers, exceeds, per head of the population, that of any Public
Library in the United Kingdom.
The Kimberley Waterworks, which I also visited, have proved a great boon
to this part, of the Colony. They were erected at a cost of �400,000,
the water supply being obtained from the Vaal River, seventeen miles
away.
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