DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA 265
monds
of one mine, the Leicester, differ from those of any other. The
crystals are cross-grained and have a frosted, etched appearance. They
are difficult to cut. These marked variations between the diamonds of
different mines suggest not only a difference in the forces causing
the crystallization, but the presence in some cases of elements in
varying degrees and conditions, which were absent in others during the
process of crystallization.
Following
the methods of India and Brazil, it is customary in Africa to
encourage diligence and honesty among the workers in the mines by a
system of rewards. If a white miner finds a diamond in the blue while
it is yet in the mine, and reports it to the manager, he is credited
with three shillings per carat, a native gets six pence per carat. If
the stone is found on the floors, the reward is one-half as much. The
I. D. B. act, which did not permit a native to have a diamond in his
possession, and obliged a suspected white man to prove his right to
possess any he might have, if it did not encourage honesty, did much
to discourage dishonesty. Some of the natives, however, are such
inveterate thieves, that cases have been known where, with little
chance of getting away with them, they have swallowed so many that
death resulted. It is reported that sixty carats of diamonds were taken
from the body of one who died under suspicion. The compound system
inaugurated by the De Beers Consolidated Mines Company is the greatest
preventive. The natives are obliged to sign a three months' contract,
during which period they must remain in an enclosure on the company's
premises. This is a large square of about twenty acres, surrounded
