Claims
on the river were easier to work because of the nearness of the water.
If away from the river, the gravel had to be carted there, though some
carried it in buckets or sacks. Either way, the work was hard, and many
men who went there with visions of diamonds in every bucketful, tired
of it, and left the fields without diamonds or money.
All
about the river banks were gravelly shallows between kopjes
twenty-five, fifty, and sometimes a hundred feet high, and scattered
over all, big stones and bowlders, looking as if at some time the whole
section had been under water. The dirt and gravel was picked and
shoveled into heaps ready for washing, and sometimes a big stone was
found while this was being done.
Notwithstanding
the disappointments of many, diamonds were found constantly. Some were
fortunate. One might pick and scoop the gravel for weeks and find none,
or at best a few small ones. Another working near him might strike a
pocketful of them. Occasionally the camp would be electrified by the
find of one large enough to make a snug fortune for the lucky finder.
Sometimes false reports of big finds were set in motion to prepare the
way for the sale of a worthless claim for a price.
So
the diggers worked and spread themselves over the country, some keeping
close to the rivers, some led off by an unexpected find away from the
shores, for diamonds were found at a distance of several miles from the
river, left there as the diggers supposed, by waters that had since
receded, or by rivers that had changed their channels. The work was
hard and for the most part unprofitable; the fare coarse, and the
