FROM THE DIAMOND FIELDS.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1054, 14 March 1873, Page 2

FROM THE DIAMOND FIELDS.

(communicated.) The following are extracts from a letter received by a resident in Westport from the South African Diamond Fields. The writer is one of a party of four 'who left the Karamea for the Cape of Good Hope : We are all in good health at present ; I experienced a fortnight's sickness about five weeks ago, but have quite recovered. We, that is George and I, are rnate3, and are working on tribute in a claim that my brother bought at the time we came here. He paid £250. We give him one-fourth of what we find. At first we did not make more than paid expenses, but for the last eight weeks we have made about nine pounds a week clear of expenses. There are yet chances of making a fortune, but chances now are not to be compared with what they were eighteen months ago, or at the opening of this Coleberg Copy. The diamonds are only one-fourth the value they were then, and the expenses of working the claims as they get deeper are considerably more. The same quantity of stuff cannot he got through as formerly, and consequently not so many diamonds are found. The area of this copy is about 300 yards by 200. Its sides are formed of slate and granite rock, and are on one side perpendicular, the other sides have more of an incline. At the first opening of this copy, roads were laid out fifteen feet wide, between every third claim, running parallel with each other. The roads were formed for the purpose of conveying the stuff from the claims to the outsides of the copy, as there was no room on the claims to stack the rubbish. As the claims got worked clown on each side the roads became unsafe, and accidents were of daily occurrence. My brother says it was a common thing to see horses, carts, and drivers topple over and fall from thirty to fifty feet. This state of affairs continued for two or three months, when authorities thought it was time to put a stop to it. Stages have since been erected by the claimholders on the reef, all round the copy. From these stages stout wire and hemp ropes are spanned to the different claims, some of them as long as one hundred yards, to reach to the middle of the copy. On these ropes the stuff is hauled out by means of pulleys, on which the buckets are hooked, and than hauled up bv a small line which coils round a wheel or drum on the stage. This drum is worked by niggers. Iron and timber are expensive materials, I have paid one and nine pence per running foot for twelve inch boards. The timber has all to be imported. We have to buy both wood and water. For water we pay from two shillings to three and sixpence for a barrel the size of a beer barrel. John and Harper, are mates with my brother, they bought a claim together a few weeks ago. They have a quantity of reef to take off before they come to the diamondiferous ground. The general opinion is that chey stand a good show. I would not advise you to come here if you are doing anything worth while where you are. There has been nothing new opened since this copy, though I believe there are more copies about, but prospecting is not encouraged for the reason that should another copy be opened equal in richness to this, diamonds would so fall in value that they would hardly be worth digging for. It is the general wish here that such an event may not take place. The only chance to get a claim here is to buy or work on tribute. Buying is a dangerous game as you cannot try a prospect as in goldfields, and sellers are sure to ask as much as they expect to come out of the ground, and very often more. It is wonderful the prices given here for claims. In good localities as much as four or five thousand has been given. To work on tribute is not easy unless it be from a friend who has plenty of ground. One can get plenty of ground to work on tribute but in most instances the ground would not pay the owner to work himself so he would get another man to work it and give him half of the proceeds clear of expenses, such are the terms here, let the ground be good or bad, but some times the tributers will drop on a large stone which will make up for a few bad weeks. The Dutch Boors and the Africans have been the most lucky men here. Only yesterday a Boor found a stone three hundred and twenty three carats. Of the sixty or seventy of my shipmates from Australia none have had any luck, and are consequently dissatisfied with the country and its prospects. A good many of them I supposo have not the i means to leave, which is a bad thing as there is nothing to fall back Upon if one gets stumped, unless he be a tradesman of some sort. Common labor is very cheap here, as it is all done by the niggers. George and I have five black fellows. John and my brother have twelve, we give them ten

shillings a week and find them. Some get them as cheap as from five to eight shillings. The climate as yet has not affected as any, although the suu is commencing to be hot. There is a good deal of 'sickness in the camp at present, and a good few are dyiug. The cause I attribute to the large population packed together in so small an area, thirty or forty thousand, three fourths of whom are niggers. The offal of slaughter-houses, and a crowd of dirty niggers help to make a pestilence. I think the climate is healthy enough if these causes were removed.