Ch. 5: South African Diamonds

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	THE BOOK OF DIAMONDS mines are one mile apart and the Bultfontein and DuToit's Pan less than a quarter of a mile apart. This second find, "Star of South Africa", created such a sensation that it drew the attention of the world to South Africa and soon fortune hunters were flocking there from all quarters of the globe. In the midst of the quiet Boer farms there sprang up small ragged mining villages along the banks of the Orange and Vaal Rivers that resulted in considerable discoveries so that in 1870 there was a mining camp of no less than 10,000 persons on the "River Diggings". In the River Diggings the mining was carried on in the coarse river gravels. A committee who controlled the digging limited the size of claims to 30 feet square, with free access to the river bank. But towards the close of 1870 stones were found far from the Vaal River and this led to a second great rush in 1871 to what is now known as the Kimberley mine. The diamonds are found in both river diggings and dry diggings. River diggings occur along the Vaal River from Potchefstroom down to the junction with the Orange and up the latter river as far as Hopetown. Diamond mining is conducted in a similar manner to gold washing, the operations usually being on a limited scale. The dry diggings are on the borders of the Orange River Colony, about 640 miles northeast of Cape Town. They contain a number of small areas of circular or oval form, ranging in diameter up to one-fourth of a mile. They are at present worked by a single company, the DeBeers Consolidated Mines Limited. The mines are opened on a 40

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