earthed the bits or undeveloped crystals so plentiful at New Rush." *
In the first days of diamond mining there was no idea that diamantiferous earth extended to any particular depth, and miners were allowed to dig holes at haphazard and prospect where they liked. When the Kimberley Mine was discovered a new arrangement was made, and in July, 1871, it was cut up into about 500 claims, each 31 feet square, with spaces reserved for about fifteen roadways across the mine. No person at first could hold more than two claims a rule afterwards modified.
The following quotation from a description of a visit to Kimberley in 1872, by Mr. Paterson, taken from a paper read by him to the Geologists' Association, gives a graphic picture of the early days of the Kimberley Mine :
" The New Rush diggings (as the Kimber-
* The original name for the Kimberley Mine. It was also sometimes known as " Colesberg Kopje." 26
