SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMONDS.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 764, 17 January 1871, Page 3

SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMONDS.

The following letter has been contibuted to the " Nelson Evening Mail," having been received by a gentleman in that city from a settler in South Africa.: —No doubt you have heard ere this of the gold discoveries at Tutin, far in the interior of this country, but as they have not turned out of much account I hsve not written to you about them before. Now, however, something much better has turned up in the shape of diamonds along the Vaal River, two days' ride from here, of which I will give you some little account. About two years ago a little girl picked up one which was kept in the house as a pretty stoue, but in the course of time a party happened to call and gave the child a trinket for it. He took it away and had it tested, and it turned out to be a pure diamond. This soon became noised abroad, and the natives who frequently found them, exchanged them with the farmers for stock. One lucky boer (farmer) bartered some produce for one, for which he afterwards received £II,OOO, but of this you have most probably seen the account in the newspapers. As you may imagine, this created quite a stir, and the blacks were to be seen on their hands and knee in every direction looking for diamonds.

After a short time three Australian diggers came up from Natal, and commenced washing with the long torn, and out of their first claims they got about £20,000 worth of diamonds in three or four weeks ; a party that was working next to them also did remarkably well, and it was through them that the rush took place. A friend of mine who called the other day told me that there are now 1000 diggers at work, and a report says that they are still pouring in from all directions; he also informed me that one Packetts (an old Australian) found a diamond a few days before he left for which he had been offered, and refused £2,200. Prom what I saw myself during the course of a visit to the diggings a few weeks ago I am convinced that the diamond rush has paid better than any gold rush I ever saw in Australia. I may state that they have been picked up on the surface for a distance of 200 miles from where the men are now at work, and no one knows how far they will extend into the interior.

The boers in general are not in favor of the rush, as they are afraid of too many Englishman coming into thv country ; but for my own part, 1 say the more the better. This part of the world is not half populated, and people possessing small means can do better here than in any other place where I have been. Farms can be bought at frcm 2s 6d to 5s an acre, and sheep at from 5s to 10s per bead. The climate is much the same as in Australia. Our rainy season is in the summer; we get a drought sometimes, but not of such long continuance as in Australia. The country answeis well for all kinds of stock; the Angora goat has recently been introduced, and has proved a great success ; labor is so cheap that we can grow wool at half what it costs you in your colonies. Cotton is being grown along the coast and is doing well, and from Natal they export sugar and coffee in large quantities.