use
was not long continued. Probably the fine mesh was too light to bear
the strain and friction of the revolving rock fragments.1
The
amount of ground which any one man could work, was, of course, very
small, but there were so many workers on the Fields that the aggregate
extent of ground sifted was enormous, and the breccia in spots was so
thickly sprinkled with crystals that many miners won rich rewards. When
Payton was leaving the field in November, 1871, it was estimated that
from forty to fifty thousand pounds' worth of diamonds were taken 1 " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
