52 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA imported flour. There is an understanding between the Govern­ment, the local dealers, and De Beers, that De Beers Company shall only sell the necessaries of life to the natives in the com­pounds, and that the price shall range about the same as local prices in town. Any profits derived from these sales is to be distributed among public institutions and charities.
	In the mines operated by the De Beers Company alone, more than eleven thousand African natives are employed below and above ground, coming from the Transvaal, Ba-sutoland, and Bechuanaland, from districts far north of the Limpopo and the Zambesi, and from the Cape Colony on the east and the south to meet the swarms flocking from Delagoa Bay and countries along the coast of the Indian Ocean, while a few cross the continent from Damaraland and Namaqualand, and the coast washed by the Atlantic. The larger number are roughly classed as Basutos, Shanganes, M'umbanes, and Zulus, but there are many Batlapins from Bechuanaland, Amafengu,