THE CAMPS ON THE VAAL 153
the
wives and sisters of English miners, even women who had rarely soiled
their white hands before, might be seen sorting river gravel as
ardently as any prospector on the line of the Vaal.
When
newcomers roamed about sight-seeing over the fields, they were
surprised to note how rarely their presence drew even a fleeting
glance. Scarcely any one of all the groping swarm of diggers, washers,
and sorters, white or black, men or women, diverted an eye for a moment
from the intent absorption of the search for the tiny crystals embedded
in the vast stretches of gravel. Eternal vigilance is the watchword of
diamond winning as well as of liberty. It was keenly felt by the
diamond seekers that a fortune might slip through their hands in the
shifting and twinkling of an eye. So wandering strangers threaded
their way among the burrows in the pitted bank and the diamond sorting
tables without attracting any more attention than stray pebbles rolling
down the gravel heap.1
Whenever
any one of this curious swarm found a big stone he had a prize in his
hands, for the precious crystals of the Vaal river beds are
exceptionally good and free from fractures. There were few stones
ranging over thirty carats, but ten carat stones were not uncommon, and
even the tiniest stones of one carat or less were usually well shaped.
Some were lightly tinged with yellow, detracting somewhat from their
market value, but there was a large percentage of stones perfectly
white, or so nearly
1 "Among the Diamonds," 1870-1871. "The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Pay ton, 1872.
