82 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
There
is some tribal jealousy and vanity, but the inmates of the compounds
live together on good terms, as a rule. In their occasional fights they
use bottles or stones or clubs, or anything they can lay their hands on
quickly; but, as soon as the guards come up, they hurry off to their
rooms, where they are put under strict oversight for a time. Even these
short encounters often leave many with sore heads and bruised bodies.
Only once has there been the threat of a serious insurrection in the
compound. This was at Christmas time, when the compound manager was
absent for a few days. After the usual Sunday holiday several hundred
natives, chiefly from Kaffraria, refused to go to work on Monday
morning, as the following day was Christmas, demanding the grant of
Monday also as a holiday. I went at 5 a.m. to
the compound and urged the leaders of the strike to take their
followers into the mines. The Basutos were willing to support me, and
offered to drive the reluctant Fingos, or Amafengu, underground. After
some protracted but ineffective appeals, I sent word to Mr. Rhodes,
who happened to be at Kimberley, that the Fingos refused to go to work,
and suggested that he might come over and try his persuasive power on
them. So he did, but after an hour of fruitless parleying we
determined to try the demonstration of force, for the Fingos not only
refused to work themselves, but barred the other natives from entering
the mine. As they numbered from five to six hundred, they were rather a
formidable barrier at the underground entrance.
We
then decided to call in the assistance of the police and our own
guards, Mr. Rhodes riding to the police station, while I rode to a
station where a number of extra guards were posted. When we came back
into the compound with a force of fifteen men armed with carbines, the
Fingos instantly began to pelt us with bottles and stones, and anything
else which would serve as a missile. At this outbreak I asked the
officer in charge to fire a few blank shots at the crowd of rioters,
and in less than a minute there was not a native to be seen in the open
area of the compound, for all scurried off like frightened sheep to
their
