rates
dropped to about $1.50 to $2.00 per hundred lbs. Wages fell. At
present, they range in all the mines, from fifteen to twenty-five
dollars per month and lodging for natives, and sixty to one hundred
dollars per month for whites in the mines and prospecting.
All
the diamond chimneys of South Africa contain the same kind of rock, now
called kimberlite, and wherever that rock is found it contains more or
less diamonds. The hardness of it varies in different mines, but it
usually grows harder with depth. For this reason open-cut workings have
an additional advantage in cost over those operated on the underground
system. In the underground workings, shafts are sunk in the reef about
two or three hundred feet from the chimney, and tunnels cut from them
into the kimberlite, which is run out on cars and hoisted to the
surface. Taken from these low levels the rock is hard and not fit for
the washers. It is therefore spread out on " floors"; large level
stretches of ground, and exposed to the weather. The rain and sun
disintegrate the rock and make it friable. Six to twelve months are
usually given to this operation, though it is sometimes hastened by
sprinkling and harrowing. Near the surface, the rock is softer and does
not require any exposure. An open-cut mine saves this expense. The New
Premier runs its diamondifer-ous material, which is unusually friable,
direct from the mine to the washers, and as it is very much greater in
extent than any other, it will have this advantage over the older mines
for some time to come. While they are constantly increasing the depth
and consequent cost of working, the Premier will simply spread itself
over a greater area of workings, in material that will not re-
