272	THE DIAMOND
	first put in, whereas those of Oregon pine, Puget Sound cedar, African yellow wood, arid Baltic deals, were decayed and had to be replaced. Compared with the yield of the dry diggings, that of the wet diggings are and have been since the first dis­covery of the chimneys, inconsiderable, nevertheless they are worked to-day as they have been from the first. It does not require much capital to search for diamonds along the rivers, and there is a fascination about its un­certain results which holds many men to the work, and constantly draws recruits. The diamonds are usually of finer quality than those found in the chimneys, and sufficient large ones are found to excite expectation among those who haunt the river diggings. In October, 1907, a man named Harrison found one weighing 31-3/4 carats, at Klipdam in the Vaal river fields. Three weeks later he found another which weighed 220l-1/2 carats. This he sold for £2,420, and it is reported that it is worth more. A number of large stones have been found in these river diggings, among them, the Star of South Africa, of the finest quality, weighing 83-1/2carats, at Klipdrift, and the Stewart, which weighed 288-3/8 carats, at Waldeck's Plant, both on the Vaal river. Diamonds have been found in wet diggings along the Vaal, Vet, Modder and Orange rivers. On the Vaal the diggings extend over a distance of about 200 miles as the river winds, from the junction of the Vaal with the Orange river, to Bloemhof in the Transvaal. Some of the principal points are Waldeck's Plant, Delport's Hope at the junction of the Vaal and Hart rivers, Good Hope, Barkly West, Pniel, Klipdam, Wedburg, Fourteen Streams, and from Hebron to Bloemhof and