THE DISCOVERY
123
Colony
a scientific examination of the country will be undertaken. So far
from the geological character of the country making it impossible, I
maintain that it renders it probable that very extensive and rich
diamond deposits will be discovered on proper investigation. This I
trust the Home Government will authorize, as our Colonial exchequer is
too poor to admit of it."1
There
was no official response to this well-warranted suggestion, for it had
hardly been penned when the announcement of a remarkable discovery
aroused such an excitement and such a rush to the field that no
government exploration was needed. In March, 1869, a superb white
diamond, weighing 83.5 carats, was picked up by a Griqua shepherd boy
on the farm Zendfon-tein, near the Orange River." Schalk van Niekerk
bought this stone for a monstrous price in the eyes of the poor
shepherd,— 500 sheep, 10 oxen, and a horse,—but the lucky purchaser
sold it easily for £ 11,200 to Lilienfeld Brothers of Hopetown, and it
was subsequently purchased by Earl Dudley for £ 25,0003 This
extraordinary gem, which soon became famous as " the Star of South
Africa," drew all eyes to a field which could yield such products, and
the existence and position of diamond beds was soon further assured and
defined by the finding of many smaller stones in the alluvial gravel on
the banks of the Vaal.
Alluvial
deposits form the surface ground on both sides of this river,
stretching inland for several miles. In some places the turns of the
stream are frequent and abrupt, and there are many dry water-courses
which were probably old river channels. The flooding and winding of the
river partly accounts for the wide spreading of the deposits, but there
has been a great abrasion of the surface of the land, for the
water-worn gravel sometimes covers even the tops of the ridges and
kopjes along the course of the river.
This gravel was a medley of worn and rolled chips of basalt, sandstone, quartz, and trap, intermingled with agates, garnets,
1 W. Guybon Atherstone, 1868. 2 " Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871. 3 Ibid. (Accounts of this discovery differ somewhat.) Vide Theal's "South Africa," Reunert's " Diamonds and Gold," etc.
