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CHAPTER ELEVEN
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REMARKABLE DIAMONDS AND GEMS (Continued)
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CULLINAN
The largest gems of the Orient that have long ranked among the world's wonders are fast becoming insignificant when compared with the numerous larger ones furnished by South Africa.
The
largest and in many respects the most remarkable diamond of which there
is any record was found on January 26, 1905, in the Premier Diamond
Mine, near Pretoria, Transvaal. The Premier Diamond Mine is the
largest in the world at this time—size 1,723 acres. The farm on which
it is located was bought by T. M. Cullinan for 50,000 francs. On this
farm the Cullinan diamond was found. This stone is nearly twice the
weight of the fabled Great Mogul diamond. Its dimensions were 4 by zYi by 1 Vi inches. The finder was mine captain Frederick Wells.
He
observed, while making his morning rounds, something shining in the
wall of the mine and on further investigation a wonderful gem was
disclosed, which, it is said, took all day to free from its rock
matrix. The dis-
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