THE CAPE DIAMOND FIELDS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 238, 22 August 1872, Page 9

THE CAPE DIAMOND FIELDS.

The following interesting letter ou the Cape Diamond Fields has been sent to the " Argus ":— - • ' Sn^ _l £$ aovde a'eebunt of these wonderful regions may interest your readers and my Melbourne friends, and alaoserve to check the sanguine and toe rash from being deceived by " the whispers of fancy and the phantons of .hope," I submit my observations for publication, if worthy of a place in your influential journal. The diamond fields are distant from Durbau, Natal, about 500 miles, and 50 miles further from. Port Elizabeth, Angola Bay. Gape Town is about 150 miles] more remote. . „ The people here' number about 25,000 of all classes, and the adjbining diggings, known, as " old De Beer's,'' and those neighbouring, of " Dv Toit's Pan" and " Bultfontein " — have a population of. about 8,000. The numerous diggings at the Yaal Biver, about ,20, miles 'distant, probably have 3,000 people engaged upon them. • The description of the country w.here the diamond fields are situated is an arid waste, and excepting the river ,- diggings, thoroughly despised i tor pastoral capacity prior to the diamond discoveries. ■ The present proprietors acquired the farm' known. as "De Beer's " about' eight months ago, for £6,500. It now yields -an income atthe rate of £40,000 a year, derived from monthly licenses todig,- of-ss. a month, from licenses to keep canteens and stores, and from wood and water licences. *• A claim is an area of 30ft. square, and so rich' are some of the claims at this kopjie, or mound, that a few are subdivided and sold into as many as 20 portions, each of which pays a separate licence for the party that owns it, and 10s. per licence is charged if the party consists of six working hands. On an average I think that the claims are subdivided into sixths, with fri.ur men in each. The ground here and, at the neighbouring diggings is nearly of a uniform character, chiefly 'calcareous, and in some claims diamonds are found from close to the sur-face-to a depth of 70ft., which I think is the greatest depth yet attained. There are claims which did not produce diamonds for some time after digging, and not ■ till a certain depth was reached,- after -which- they produced largely and continuously, and are among the best on the field ; so that what might have been' abandoned by one as a poor claim, 'would prove, a lucky _ spot to another. ,£he rich localities at this field are now so well known that a good claim, steadily yielding diamonds, may be acquired with certainty, and purchased for its commensurate value. At Dv Toit's Pan, about three miles distant, the diggings are seldom deeper than 28ft. ; water then- appears, and no efforts, to- the present are made to surmount that obstacle to digging deeper there. In the early days, ; digging was seldom deeper than 2ft. tor 3ft., at Dv Toit's Pan ; the most of the claims are hemmed in and encumbered by huge mounds of refuse, often piled upon partially -worked ground; and early abandoned claims, which, . were ; they freed, would afford excellent working ground. The proprietors of the ground are about to make tramways to facilitate the removal of the debris mounds, and thus throw open additional ground to the wants of the diggers. The diamonds found in South Africa far exceed in size those usually found in India and Brazil. The' larger world-renowned " diamonds are very few. In Brazil the finding of a diamond of 20 carats was considered so great an event, that the slave-finder was freed.- In South Africa the finder of*~sucb" a stone receives but a trifling reward^' and is no remarkable man. ''The 1 Koh-i-noor, as exhibited at the" Crystal; Palace in 1851, ,weighed' over 186 carat?. Its re-cutting, which commenced -on July ! 16!, 1852, occupied 38 days,; working 12 hours daily,, -without cessation, reduced its size to 106 carats. There are but few diamonds iiiLthe~world that exceed a hundred carats in weight. The largest Belongs to_.tbe Bajah of Mattan. It is of the purest water, and weighs 367 carats ; in shape it; is. like an egg, with. an indented hollow at the smaller end. It was discovered at Landak about 1-20 years' iagoj and although the possession of -it. has cost several wars, it has remained in the Royal family, of Mattan! more 1 thanrW century. -* '".-Among the. Prussian Crown jewels is the famous Regent or Pitt diamond, ' discovered ' at Gtolconda. It weighs 136f carats, as is remarkable for its form and clearness, which caused it to be valued ak£l6o,-000. This diamond, .which, dec.qrated the. hilt of the sword *'of- tHe -great Napoleon, was taken by the Prussians .at "Waterloo, and now belongs to the King, of Prussia." -The largest stone that Ihave seen on these fields -was got at " Dv Toit's Pan." , In. shape it. was a\ perfect -octahedron, but muoh -flawed and "off xjoloured." , It weighed 148 carats, and was the property "of 'George* Knox, of Natafy £h'cL probably only worth £30QJ vff . , .--",, ! . I'he'ar'd of'a ''diamond lately found iftfe 'I Pu;£oitfs,;Pan/^ weighing H86., carats, off coloured, and imperfect] The prefeatSSuS "pursuits of the diamond digger T the prizes being to ' the few and the disappointments to; the matfyf tys3SfiWs6sß& the fields,

and the heavy expenses of purchasing the 'bare necessaries of hfe there, sbduM 1 deter many from adventuring hither who "may be captivated by the "dazzling', prospect of picking up a brilliant fortune in< a sudden and irregular manner. To men without means there is no encouragement to visit the diamond fields. I know many people who have been working steadily, with all appliances for success, and are heavily but of pocket, after having tried their luck patiently for two years. There are numbers of others t who find diamonds, yet their expenses exceed their profit. I knew a man who worked for six months and only got a £-carat stone ; and others who got nothing for four and five months. ' I worked at Dv Toit's Pan on half of a good claim, that was reserved for me by my brother. The other half had been. _w_orked by two distinct parties, who had found satisfactorily ; therefore, I had every reason to hope j ;for similar good fortune. The second second and third day after I commenced 'digging, I found a 1 carat and 1£ carat stone, and nothing for three months afterwards. I then removed here, and' have worked on a quarter of a claim that cost £250, in a fair locality, and have found £5 worth of diamonds in two months. My share of finds has been £3 15s. for five months' work. There are heaps of people who can give no better accounts of them selves. There are some who possess good claims by mere accident, and others by purchase, paying very high for them when known to be productive and good. I know of £550 given for 4ft. of ground by 15ft., and £250 for 4ft. by 7ft. Of the disappointed, those who have spent their all, take to other callings, if obtainable at the fields, or return home ; while the independent, who have been losing time and money for two years, may continue their infatuation for digging, if such be their taste, like dilettanti treasure-seekers elsewhere. I know a family who have devoted themselves to digging for three years , two have passed unsuccessfully, and the third has to be obstiinately passed through. Such blind dedications of one's energies to Dame Fortune is extraordinary, as humanity is more alive to present benefit* than to future advantages. The search for diamonds is carried on in a steady, methodical manner, and the working is so expensive, that owners of really good claims allow others to work them, and to receive one-half of the value of all finds in payment. After the ground is rased from the claim to the road, it is generally carted off to the owner's tent, where it is passed through' a coarse sieve*, and again through a finer one that will retain one quarter of a carat stone ; the contents of the sieve are then placed on a wide table, and carefully examined by fscraping small quantities slowly along and oft' the table. The system of work at these and the neighbouring diggings is known as " dry shifting." At the Vaal River diggings, the gravelly earth has to be washed to free the stones from adhesive mud, and then sifted. It is a much more troublesome occupation. The diamond is easily, discovered on the sorting table, and never confounded with any other crystal. The diamond in a pack of cards is precisely a perfect diamond shape ; there are other forms which it takes, such as dochedron, .and" variations, and the .larger the girdle of the stone the better for the diamond cutter. j From the novel uses to which the diamoud is now applied, and the labor and capital expended on its discovery, its value should be adequately maintained. An instrument for boring into hard rock has been employed in France for some time, made out of a tube furnished with a circular cvtter of rough diamonds. It is caused to revolve, and as it enters into the stone, the cutter scoops out a cylinder, which is afterwards easily taken out of the tube. Holes in hard granite for blasting purposes are thus bored in an hour which would have required two days' work in the ordinary way, The diamonds, when examined through a magnifying-glass, do not seem at" all injured by the process. Large and other diamonds of purest water and well shaped are but triflingly affected in Europe by the South African finds 1 . Perfect stones are comparatively few, among the great number of " off colored " and defective ones found. Small perfect stones of from one to five carats are most in request on the fields. I have known as much as from £4 to £6 given for one carat stones. The value of good stones here is calculated by squaring the weight in carats, and then multiplying by two, Thus, a stone of two carats squared is — 4 to 2 are 8, and £8 is the value. A "stone generally loses half its weight in cutting. Cutting is done in England for 15s. a carat, and the stone when cut, and of perfect quality, is worth £.0 a grain. The carat weighs 3igr. By a strange fatality, t good fortune Attends T the undeserving, the vicious,, and the idle diamond digger. \ .have/, heard, the same: said, of the Californiau, Australian, • .and^ \ . New Zealand gold diggers. Those who pass muddled lives, in a half-unconscious state, are often roused in their tents by trijsty Xa.%s fa receive, diam.on.ds,

and then relapse into " swinish sleep." An unprincipled adventurer bought a valuable claim here at a high figure, and obtained , a short time for payment, representing that the incoming mail would bring him a remittance. After the mail arrived the purchaser paid tUo money, but bad the infamous audacity to proclaim, that he paid for his purchase out of the finds in his claim, and that he had no expectation whatever by the mail referred to, aud could not have paid for the claim, but for his providential swindle. Anecdotes like these should almost be suppressed as they seem to offer a premium to vice. Natal, the nearest South African port to Australia, has a safe, shallow harbour, with a bar at its entrance, having a depth of 10 to 12ft at low water. The bar, which shifts, has to be crossed by the best channel open, and is ar source of great annoyance to the shipping. "Were a screwpile jetty pushed out to the roadstead it would save all further trouble, and answer as completely as that at Madras, which, previously to making its jetty, was considered the worst roadstead in the world.