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Ch. 6: South African Diamonds II

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CHAPTER SIX
SOUTH AFRICAN DIAMONDS
(Continued)
"The lure of the diamond in Africa has raised a new generation of wealthy men, begun a new empire, ground together a number of antagonistic individuals into a co­herent nucleus for a new people; it has encouraged scientific research; stimulated engineering skill, developed great nat­ural resources and uncovered others. By its magic, hitherto almost inaccessible stretches of the earth have been added to the habitable world, and thousands of savages are brought to a better understanding of life."1
The annual output of diamonds from the DeBeer's mines is valued at nearly 5,000,000 pounds. The South African fields have yielded 38,000,000 carats in the last sixteen years. This is a fairly good record when we con­sider that during two hundred years the Brazilian mines produced only 3,000,000 carats. The old Kimberley mine is the largest excavation ever made by human hands in any part of the world. It is as long as five good-sized city blocks and 1,400 feet deep, which is higher than the Empire State Building.
iCattell, W. R., The Diamond, 1911, p. 32. 46
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