Discoveries and Inventions of the Nineteenth Century

The nature of the substances that impart these colours to the diamond has never been made out; they must be excessively small in quantity. When a diamond is burnt in air or in oxygen gas by aid of a large burning glass or otherwise, an extremely minute quantity of ash remains, and this often retains the shape of the stone, in the form of a most delicate network; and of the composition of the ash, this much has been made 701out: it contains silica and iron. We shall find that the presence of the last named element, although but in the merest trace, is not without significance. The purely utilitarian uses of the diamond are few, but of importance. The most familiar is in the glazier’s tool for cutting glass, and in connection with this we may mention a fact not generally known, namely, that though any point of a diamond will scratch glass, it is only by a natural point of the crystal, and that point of a certain shape, that glass can be cut. Another kind of diamond, valueless as a gem, has been turned to good account in Major Beaumont’s invention, described in our section on Rock Drilling Machines, to which the reader is referred. Minute diamonds are employed for writing on glass, for very fine engraving, etc. Having now said sufficient about diamonds in general to give the reader an interest in the subject, and yet but little more than was needed to impart the information necessary for following the further development of the theme, we approach the discoveries in this connection which have specially distinguished our century. We must transfer the reader’s attention to South Africa, and if he can refer to any recent map of that region, particularly to one showing its physical features, it will be of advantage. In 1867 some children, playing near the banks of the Orange River, found what they thought to be merely a pebble prettier than the rest. A neighbour seeing the stone in the children’s possession, obtained it from their mother for a trifle. It passed through several hands, and was bought at last by the Governor of the colony for £500. The discovery shortly afterwards of other diamonds in the same locality attracted numbers of persons to the district, and especially to the banks of the Vaal River, which speedily became the scene of a great search for diamonds. Though this search was confined to merely the surface of the soil, it was attended with considerable success, and many fine diamonds rewarded the diligence of the eager seekers. One of the most remarkable stones for its great size, which equalled that of a walnut, was discovered by a Kaffir. When this gem had finally reached the hands of Messrs. Hunt and Roskell, of London, its value was estimated at no less than £25,000. News of these discoveries having spread, a rush set in for the diamond-fields of the Vaal River, and the banks of this stream soon presented an animated spectacle. Europeans flocked to the spot, London jewellers sent agents, and the inevitable Jews appeared on the scene to purchase the precious gems from the lucky finders. It turned out that many of the larger stones had a slightly yellow tinge, varying in different specimens from the palest straw to a decided amber colour, and, as this detracted greatly from their value, no little disappointment and loss were sometimes experienced when the gems came to be sold in London and Paris. One of the first settlements which sprang up on the banks of the Vaal River was a place called Pniel, of which the reader may form some idea from Fig. 332, which is copied from a sketch actually taken from the windows of Jardine’s Hotel. It was then only a little straggling village, chiefly of wooden sheds or corrugated iron erections, with but two or three more substantial structures. The diamonds which were found in this neighbourhood were obtained from gravel which lay on the slopes of the hills rising from the river. The mode of conducting the search for diamonds in these gravels was simple enough. The first operation was the washing of the material, 702in order to remove sand and dirt, and this process was usually performed at the margin of the river, where the gravel was brought down in carts and deposited in a suitable place, at which a cradle was erected. The cradle was simply a strong wooden framing sustaining sieves of wirework or perforated metal, placed one above the other, those at the top having the largest meshes, so that the lowest would only permit sand or very small pebbles to pass through. The cradle was capable of receiving a rocking movement, and while the gravel was thus sorted, water was freely poured on the uppermost layer, so that the stuff was in a short time thoroughly cleansed and sorted. When this had been accomplished, the gravel was thrown in successive lots on a table, at which the digger sat and rapidly examined it for diamonds by help of a flat piece of wood or iron (see Fig. 328). The larger gems were readily detected, and indeed could be picked out from among the pebbles on the sieve before the stuff was thrown on the sorting-table. Crystals of quartz, which sometimes glisten among the mass, often excited groundless delight in the bosom of the inexperienced worker. Fig. 332.—Pniel, from Jardine’s Hotel (c. 1870). On the payment of certain fees, the digger obtained a “claim,”—that is, he acquired the right of working an assigned portion of the soil. But if the claim had been left unworked for a week, it might be, in mining parlance, “jumped”—that is, any person might take possession of it, or jump into it, on procuring a proper licence. Since the first rush of diamond-seekers to the river-banks, the stones were abundantly found elsewhere, namely, at the “dry diggings,” where the soil, dug out with a pick or shovel, was sifted first through rough sieves, afterwards through sieves having fine wire meshes The sieve, in such cases, was often suspended by thongs of hide between two upright poles, in the manner represented in Fig. 333. The miner was thus enabled to swing the sieve rapidly about, until the sand and dirt were separated, when the remaining gravel was emptied on the sorting-table in the manner before described. As the idea was formerly entertained that diamonds lie only on or near the surface of the soil, the early miners seldom penetrated more than a foot or two beneath the surface. But it was discovered that, so far from it being true that diamonds are present in superficial deposits only, the finest stones are met with at considerable depths to which no defined limit can be assigned; thus in sinking a well large diamonds have 703been found at 100 ft. below the surface. When these facts became known, many of the abandoned claims were worked over again down to a depth of 30 ft. or 40 ft. Fig. 333.—Sifting at the “Dry Diggings” (c. 1870). The rapid rise of localities under such conditions may be illustrated by the case of Du Toit’s Pan, which is the centre of a dry-digging district, and grew in a wonderfully short space of time from nothing to be a town hiving several large hotels, two churches, several public billiard-rooms, a hospital, and a theatre. In 1871 the claims at this place, each 30 ft. square, sold at prices varying from £1 to £50–-the person who worked a claim paying also a small monthly sum for the licence. But those who were lucky enough to have obtained the first possession of the claims at another famous dry-digging locality, named Colesberg Kopje, at the cost of only the licence at 10s. per month, must have been still more fortunate, and have realized an enormous percentage on their investments; for, four months afterwards the ruling prices at the last-mentioned place were £2,000 and £4,000 per claim. This great increase in value cannot be wondered at, if the accounts related of the value of the diamonds found here are true. For instance, it is stated that one individual, who just before the great rush had bought a claim for £50, found in it diamonds worth £20,000. Colesberg has become a populous town, with good buildings and regularly laid-out streets, while a great camp of tents and other temporary structures still surround it on all sides. At all the towns above-mentioned newspapers were published, relating chiefly to matters interesting to the miners—giving, for example, lists of “finds,” with the names of the lucky finders. It is curious that the term “diamondiferous” has, in these localities, come to be used as a general term denoting excellence of any kind. Thus, when it is desired to apply 704an epithet of superlative praise to a pickaxe or to a piece of furniture, this significant adjective is made use of; and a salesman in the diamond-fields will not hesitate to speak of diamondiferous coats and trousers! Fig. 334.—The Vaal River, from Spence Kopje (c. 1870). It will be seen that the early diamond-seekers at the Cape followed very primitive methods, by simply washing in sieves the gravel and sand shovelled out of the river banks; and indeed, it was only when, about 1871, they began to dig deeper that their working seems entitled to be called mining. The “dry-digging” operations began at the since famous Du Toit’s Pan, by the circumstance of a Boer farmer finding to his great surprise diamonds sticking in the walls of his house, which had been built of mud. When the locality of this mud was examined by digging, more diamonds were found; and when the excavation was continued downwards, still more. At this place and at four others, all within a circuit of less than four miles diameter, have been developed the richest diamond mines in the world, throwing into the shade the produce of all the river gravel washings; and what is still more remarkable, showing no signs of exhaustion after nearly thirty years of working, but rather the contrary. The locality soon presented a scene of the most active industry, and it was not long before the town sprang up which has since become celebrated all the world over—Kimberley, the diamond capital. Kimberley is situated at the northern part of the British territory known as Cape Colony, not far within its boundary, and about 14 miles from the Vaal River, in Lat. 28° 43´ S., Long. 24° 46´ E. It lies in a north-easterly direction from Cape Town, at a distance of about 550 miles. When the existence of diamonds at the Cape became known, a great influx of strangers seeking fortune set in to a land that had failed to offer the attractions to colonists that America and Australia did. Before the 705establishment of the overland route opened a more direct way to India, China, and Australia, Cape Colony owed whatever importance it had to its position as a provisioning and coaling station for ships and steamers. As a British settlement it was little regarded, and its somewhat somnolent condition would have been deepened by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, had not the diamond discovery in that very same year brought about a great change. But the early diamond-seekers found their land of promise a wilderness without roads and without habitations, for the development of civilization did not then extend far from the coast. It is true, that here and there, at great distances apart, a few primitive missionary stations might be found, like that of Pniel shown in one of our cuts, which also represent the inhospitable aspect of the country. One cannot but admire the pluck of the adventurers, who, though unversed in their quest, encountered in its prosecution prolonged toils and many hardships. But they were young men, and their perseverance gained its reward. They came from all parts: from Britain, from America, from Australia, from Germany, even from Russia. The finding at Du Toit’s Pan, and at contiguous places, of diamonds at some depth below