DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA 241
in
the hands of a mining board, who assessed the miners for the cost. In
the early stages of the open workings the " stuff " was hand picked and
sieved dry, but with depth, as the rock became harder, it was found
necessary to pulverize and wash it, so that water and facilities for
washing had to be provided. An 18-foot main was built to bring water
from the Vaal river, and springs in the neighborhood were utilized.
These conditions rapidly increased the cost of mining, and tended to
eliminate the original digger. Mining was evolved out of digging, and
the independent digger, doing much if not all of his own work, was
replaced by the small mine owner who superintended the work of hired
labor.
To
fully understand the situation one must bear in mind always that these
mines were squares of the earth lying in a crater enclosed by the reef,
as the natural strata of rocks were termed. This reef walled the crater
in all around. In the reef were no diamonds, but there were diamonds
all through the earth which it enclosed, any pailful of which might
contain one of great value, and the squares into which these enclosures
were divided, were being dug out to various depths by different
owners, so forming a vast hole in the ground, the bottom of which was a
mass of deeper holes, hills, and terraces.
In
1876, Kimberley, now a city of thirty-five thousand souls, equipped
with all the appliances of civilization, consisted of a few tin huts
and Kaffir kraals. It had passed from the honest digger stage into a
mining camp. Gambling places, saloons, and the usual dens of a mining
camp abounded. In the motley crowd of
white men and black men, were representatives of all 16
