DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA 275
Numerous
diamond-bearing pipes have been discovered, and though many of them do
not contain sufficient diamonds to pay the cost of working, they
indicate that volcanic dykes of that character are not uncommon, and
are not confined to a narrow limit. From the Jagers-fontein mine near
Fauresmith in the Orange River Colony, to fifteen miles north of
Kimberley, a range of over 100 miles, there are quite a number of
pipes. In the Pretoria district of the Transvaal also, and the
Kroonstad district in the Orange River Colony, there are clusters of
them, and the character of the crystals found in the deposits along the
Orange, Riet, Hart, Vaal and Modder rivers, together with the enormous
alluvial deposits lately discovered in Rhodesia, indicate that other
great diamondiferous chimneys exist elsewhere, probably at a
considerable distance from any known at present. In 1906 Rhodesia
exported diamonds valued at £25,469.
Rhodesia,
a name given in honor of Cecil J. Rhodes, comprises Matabeleland and
Mashonaland, two well-watered districts which will undoubtedly prove
ere long to be not only most favorable for colonization by white men,
but very productive also agriculturally, and rich in minerals. The
territory is governed at present by the Chartered British South African
Company, from whom the South African Option Syndicate, formed in 1902,
have secured an option granting discoverers' rights to locate 200
square miles to work for precious stones. This section, which the
latter company is prospecting, lies along the Buluwayo and Gwelo R. R.
In the Somabula forest, about 12 or 14 miles east from Gwelo, the
company's prospectors have discovered a diamondiferous
