The Meteor Crater of Canyon Diablo, Arizona ; its History, Origin, and Associated Meteoric Irons. By George P. Merrill. 1908.
In the present volume I have tried to give some idea of the underground wonders of the Kimberley mines. I have pictured the strenuous toil of the men who bring to the surface the buried treasures, and I have given some idea of the skill and ingenuity with which their labours are controlled. I have done my best to explain the fiery origin of the Diamond, and to describe the glowing, molten, subterranean furnaces where they first begin mysteriously to take shape. I have shown that a diamond is the outcome of a series of Titanic earth convulsions, and that these precious gems undergo cycles of fiery, strange, and potent vicissitudes before they can blaze on a ring or a tiara.
I am glad to have paid these two visits to South Africa. I always recall with
xi