208 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
edges,
and, more or less, a yellowish tinge, and there was a large proportion
of split, flawed, and spotted stones, and boart. The De Beers mine
crystals resembled the Kimberley stones, but their quality ran a little
below the Kimberley mine. Dutoitspan produced comparatively few stones,
but the average weight was notably large, and the crystals were of fine
color. Bultfontein stones differed greatly from those of the other
mines. Here the diamonds were chiefly small, rounded octahedrons, many
of them so pocked and spotted that the crystals had a cloudy appearance.1
These crystals were greatly inferior to the " glassy stones" of
Kimberley or the large diamonds of Dutoitspan; but the Bultfontein
surface ground yield was so uniform at first, that many diggers held
and worked claims for the sake of sure, if small, returns to defray
their expenses, while they counted on their Dutoitspan claims for the
occasional large stones that richly rewarded a lucky digger.
All
the crystals in the blue ground were encased in a smooth bed of the
same material which did not adhere to the diamonds, so that their
lustre, when extracted, was quite bright or glassy. Amid the mass of
white and light yellowish stones in all the mines were scattered some
of varied color. Brown was the most common of these; next came the
deeper yellow shades, and pale blue stones were sometimes uncovered, as
well as the black diamond (boart) used for setting drill-crowns. Pink,
mauve, and green diamonds were occasionally found, but were less common
than in the river diggings.
As
already mentioned, it has been estimated that the rush which built up
these mining camps and covered the surrounding farms with prospectors
brought fifty thousand men to the new Diamond Fields in the first year,
though the shifting population of the Fields did not rise as high as
that at any one time.2 The influx of native Africans was not
so large at first, but increased from year to year. Morton says that
there was a flow of thirty thousand natives annually to the field for
seven years
'"South African Diamond Fields," Morton, 1877.
2 " The Diamond Diggings of South Africa," Payton, 1872.
