The scene below ground in the labyrinth of galleries is bewildering in its complexity, and very unlike the popular notion of a diamond mine (Fig. 7). All below is dirt, mud, grime ; half-naked men, dark as mahogany, lithe as athletes, dripping with perspiration, are seen in every direction, hammering, picking, shovelling, wheeling the trucks to and fro, keeping up a weird chant which rises in force and rhythm when a greater task calls for excessive muscular strain. The whole scene is more suggestive of a coal mine than a diamond mine, and all this mighty organisation, this strenuous expenditure of energy, this costly machinery, this ceaseless toil of skilled and black labour, goes on day and night, just to win a few stones wherewith to deck my lady's finger ! All to gratify the vanity of woman ! " And," interposed a lady who heard this remark, " the depravity of man ! "
