THE SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMOND FIELDS.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1480, 2 May 1873, Page 2

THE SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMOND FIELDS.

Mr Alexander M'Kenzie, formerly of Ballarat, writing from " Coles Berg Kopge, De Bear's New Rush," on the 29th November, 1872, furnishes the Ballarat Courier with the following account of the diamond fields of South Africa : —

I left Melbourne for Port Natal, South Africa, on the 9th April, 1872, in the three-masted schooner St. Kilda. After a pleasant passage of 51 days, we arrived off the light-house,JPort Natal, on the 30th May, 1872, all well. The town of Durban, Port Natal, is situated at the base of a high range, running along the coast. On our arrival in Durban, the news that we received in reference to the diamond fields was everything but encouraging, it being reported that the diamonds had so' decreased in value that it would not pay to dig for them. On Coles Berg Kopge, the dry diggings, where they had been found in such large quantities, and which had caused so much excitement, many of the stones were found to. be of an inferior quality. Diamonds that could have been sold for LSOOO six. months ago, could not be sold now for more than LSOO. Stones of the first water were few and far between, and hard to find. ' This field is confined to about one mile square,, and all the claims down to a certain depth will soon be worked out. It was further stated that the whole of the ground was taken up, and that it was no use

any person going up unless he was prepared to buy a claim, the price being ("for claims that had formerly paid) from L2OO up.toL2o( ), and then run a great; chance of losing his money. The' papersV were full of advertisements for the sale of business places on the diamond fields, and they also stated that many were leaving in disgust, hard up. Some were going to ; the gold-fields. This gold-field, or rather supposed gold-field, bears north-east from Dnrban, distance 500 miles, and was found by a Natal man, a~butcheroPth*e name of Button. j He/ it appears, with the assistance of a number of Kaffirs, went prespecting, and found a rich leader of quartz, after which he bought, a^rich block of land, containing an area of 20 miles, arid which is reported to contain all the auriferous ground as yet discovered. He also took therefrom several hundredweight of quartz specimens, which he carried with him to London for the purpose of having them tested, and also for the purpose of disposing, of his farm in the London market, which appears to me the most probable., arid abo most profitable to himself. However, I saw some very rich specimens that were said to be found there, but the gold appeared to be of an inferior quality, much resembling the quartz specimens found on the Thames gold-field, New Zealand. I had a personal interview with a practical Australian miner, who had been on; the goldfield for a period of seven months. He took up with him an oxen waggon and some Kaffirs, for the purpose of prospecting, as there was great excitement at that tune, caused by the rich specimens found by Button. Several others beside him went there for the purpose of prospecting, and some were from the diamond-fields. After several riionths' perseverance in prospecting, all left out finding payable gold. He also stated that all the little auriferous leader found by Button was clean worked out, and that no payable gold was as yet found, or likely to be found, in that locality. Afterwards he, with his wife and two -children,- left in the three-masted schooner St. Kilda, for Australia. However, six practical Australian miners who came here by the St. Kilcla left for thf posed gold field on the 25th June, for the purpose of prospecting, taking with them an oxen waggon and six months' provisions. On leaving they promised to write me full particulars. On the 11th June 40 of the St. Kilda passengers started for the diamond fields, accompanied, by two oxen waggons; each waggon ' ; drawn by 38 oxen, the passage up being L 5 each; each passenger was allowed 1121 bof luggage ; the freight up was 40s per cwt. The other .12 travelled up in one-half the time and with one-Half the expense. We were four days from Durban to Maritzburg, a distance p£ 54 miles.

Maritzburg is the capital of the colony of Natal, and bears north t from Durban ; and no traveller, on visiting it, or in going through the town, on reviewing its commercial appearance — its isolated streets, would for one moment take' it for the capital of a colony. It 'is riot nearly so flourishing a place as Durban,; its. population only being about .2000 whites, or about the same as Durban. We remained three days in Maritzburg,;waifcing for fresh oxen, and -renewed our journey on the 27th, travelling four' 'miles, camping on the ridgs of a high range nearly 3000 ft above the level of Durban, iri which place we lay stormbound for a period of six days. The high ranges on each side of us were covered with snow, which I never expected to see in South Africa. In fact the cold was. more intense -thaa- 1 ever felt it in Ballarat. On the 4th of July we again resumed our journey, and on the 16th of the following month arrived at our destination, Coles Berg Kopge.

This field is more productive than all the other fields yet discovered, '. put together. Qn my arrival at Dutoit's Pan it brought back to my memory Ballarat in 1856, with its thousands of tent 3. To the south, at a distance of half a mile, is Bulfountain diggings. Diamonds are still being found in these three places, but since the downfall in their price, not in general in paying quantities. To the west, distance about two and a half miles, is the far-famed Coles Berg Kopge, De Bear's new rush, where diamonds have been found daily in thousands, and are still being found extensively by a few parties, but at a much greater expense than formerly — so much so that one-fourth of the claims are not paying expenses, the rich claims included, On ray arrival at Coles Berg Kopge, with its tens of thousands of tents, besides its wooden and iron buildings, the sight that met my eyes I cannot fiud space here to describe, but in all my travels through California and Australia, I never before witnessed so large a field of canvas. The tents here are all made of canvas, as calico is not capable of withstanding the thunder squalls which are so prevalent. The place is thickly populated for one mile square, and the town laid out in . irregular streets, including a large market square, and is composed of wooden and iron stores, canteens, and thousands of diamond buyers. There are also several churches and places of amusement, but the times here are getting too dull for the latter places. The population is a mixed one, and composed of all nations, of all classes and colors. With the exception of Chinamen, four-fifths of the white population are natives, and two-thirds of the whole are black, The whole population of Coles. Berg Kopgej hot including the other four fields, is about 30,000^--10,000 whites, and 20,000 blacks, The diamondiferous extent of : Coles Berg Kopge is only 780 ft by 800 ft, containing 886. claims of 30ft square each ; /vvhich your readers will at a glance see Ms a small piece of ground to support 30,000 people. The system of working I cannot find space here to describe. Suffice it to say that the length and breadth of the kopge from reef to reef is being excavated, and many claims are cut up and divided into eight parts, and sold to the highest buyer, or what I call let on tribute ; so that eight different parties, each employing from four to six Kaffirs, work' within the area of 30ft square, each party working down their little square block. Some claims are now down to the depth of 80ft, and some not many feet from the surface. So that many square blocks, much resembling monument*, from 10ft to 40ft in height, stand up perpendicular and alone all over the kopge. This makes the ground dangerous to work, and through which several accidents have already occurred, and sundry lives lost. But what will be the result when the rain sets in, which ia expected in less than one month from this date. The system 'of working is as follows: — Wooden platforms are constructed

nearly all round the kopge, two in depth or two-storey. These platforms arebuilt conjointly, and attached to each other ;, jnrobden wheels or drums are placed on them as close to each other as is possible for working. Ropes (mostly wire) are used as tramroads, and reeved in blocks with hooks, on to which small bucwheels or drums, on the platforms, are attached*^ blocks, wliich' haul them tip and down on the tram road from and to the" claimT* Some of these tramroads-are 400 ft in length: ■■ Each claim or part of a claim is forced to have one, which makes the working very, expensive. In fact it would be impossible for me to describe the vast number of these tramroads, ropes, wheels, and drums that are now in use on the. kopge. Suffice it to say that in taking a bird's-eye view of the '"workings, it appears like a vast gossamer. of ropes of all kinds and of all sizes. : , Many of the claims are now down to the water, and the rainy season close at hand. To guard against getting swamped out, a new system of working is being discussed] by procuring machinery. However^ ; at present, in consequence of the i extra* expense in working the claims, and the' decrease in the yield and price of diamonds; not one-third:_of the claims iafe paying oxpenses, tfie rich ones included. Many Dutch families, who came here from the Transvaal with a waggon, team of oxen, arid also cash^ and in instances, after spending all, selling oxen and afterwards their farm of 60Q0 acres ,f or a claim, are now penniless, and living iij small miserable tents ; and [in .'..many, instances, two or three families are huddled together. They are generally very dirty, and seldom wash themselves or their clothes. Within the last six months ;there has been no chance for a stranger here in obtaining a payable claim, or of obtaining anything, unless he is a tradesman] r There isai.o demand here for the white laborer, all labor works being done by Kaffirs.-.- p?his place is day by day getting duller. A Jreat many of the claims. are now let on what they here call shares, or what I call tribute. The owner of the claims gets from; 45[ to 50 per cent of the proceeds ; but,ther,e,.ja no law. the tributer, any -length of 'time,;so that^'if'he'ssouid! happen to get into a piece of gobdgrotind,- the owner can sqlHtj or, else.tnr^ himjQjufcwithottta fe day's notice. To sum up 'the whole 1 , diamonddigginghasnotpaidforthelastsixmonlns — many have been ruined through! it. There may be, new payable kopges found; but that is the only chance. As for the gold fields, I am afraid, there never will be a paying alluvial one found iri South Africa, notwithstanding Mr M^Hardie's statement that ruined cities have been found with thousands of gold mines- around them, both alluvial and quart*. The Portuguese declare the harbor of Sofala to lie parallel to the largest ;b 4 uried fortified At the ancient port of Ophir I have hid reports from our own party that went to the gold fields, also from other Australian miners there, and they all emphatically declare that no payable gold field has been, found. As much as a .pennyweight of alluvial gold per day has been, found by prospectors, but seldom that, so that Marabastad gold field is only a swindle. -There are numbers of -broken-down miners here; as well a& at Australia, who had plenty of diamonds at one time, but through over speculation,/ drinking,yand gambling, are, now; without one.^ojind, and , solely depending on. f oasioking for their livirig, .The/fossicking is a shade different to that of Australia. Shortly after commencing 1 work bri Coles Berg Kopge it was found that there was not room enough for sorting the debris without carting it away. Therefore many of the claims had it carted away to convenient places, mostly ,near their -tents. Large heaps of sortings, therefore, lie thickly all around the Kopge for one mile square. Some of these heaps were sorted when the diamonds were plentiful, and money and brandy were being circulated more freely than at present. ■< Therefore, between the bad sorting of -the Kaffirs when not looked after, arid that of white men having too much brandy, many diamonds were swept off the sorting-table, so that in many instances men have made as much as L2O per week re-sorting the debris. These heaps, when abandoned by the owner, were open to all. Diamonds have been found in these heaps as large as 14 carats, and as small as l-Bthofa carat, but the great majority, df diamonds found ia, them > are what > are here called "splints," that is, pieces of diamonds, which formeSy brought 80s per carat, but are now reduced- to 10s; -A man-fossicking therefore, in instances 'makes j from Is to LlO per day, although at present they do not average, L 2 103 per week. .There are hundreds of Dutch families fosd^ting, both men, .women, and children, depending solely upon it for a living. The work is done as follows,:— The. debris is all broken up' fine. It is then through a coarse sieve, and the lumps thrown on one side for reheating. It is, afterwards put through a fine sieve, and the sand sifted out. The remainder is! put upon the table for sorting. The tables are mostly made of; sheet iiron, 6ft jbjjUft; some are made of wood. A small ihand scraper, made of tin or thin sheet iron, is used for iscraping the debris off the table, and looking for the diamonds, On the river it is first washed in a cradle; 1 and then sorted as above. The river ; diamonds are scarce,, bo^, by .far the" best one was found there oh' the* 7tti itist, weighing 288£ carats, the 'largest one found as yet;JLSOjOj)O waa,said,tp ; be offered for it. Twelve months ago it would have fetched hundreds of thousandg. As yet I have seen no sickness. Things look gloomy at present^ and a* great many are sadly taken in by coming here, and would give t their old shoes to be back.