bine
that would take over all the mines in Kimberley, and of an even more
grandiose combine that would dominate and exploit all there was to
dominate and exploit in South Africa. The year before he went into the
pumping business, he had bought a small claim in the De Beers Mine, and
now, with his new wealth, he began annexing other small holdings, by
either buying the owners out or going into partnership with them. Bit
by bit, over the next few years, he enlarged his little domain in the
De Beers pit until by 1880 he was one of its largest claim owners.
That year he took a great step. His combine coalesced with two other
large combines to form the De Beers Mining Company, Ltd. Like all
other limited-liability companies in the British colonies, this concern
was issued a charter, or trust deed, by the Colonial Office in London.
At first, nobody except Rhodes was much concerned about the terms of
the charter, but later they became celebrated. There was virtually no
restriction on the activities that De Beers could undertake; the
company could go into practically any business it chose to and could
stake out claims of practically any sort in great stretches of
unexplored territory in Africa. For the moment, though, Rhodes was
kept busy with diamonds. There were still some obdurate little
companies with holdings in the De Beers Mine, and it was to take him
until 1887 to buy them all out.
As
Rhodes made his way up in the world, step by step, another very bright
young Englishman, Barney Barnato, was climbing as swiftly, with just as
much energy, toward his own pinnacle in the diamond trade.
Considering
everything, it was mildly exasperating to these men who were making
surprising fortunes in the Diamond Fields that England should not admit
the state of affairs. Ac-
