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Sec. II, Ch. 2: The African Diamond

Sec. II, Ch. 2: The African Diamond Page of 366 Sec. II, Ch. 2: The African Diamond Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
90                                African Diamonds.
At Jagersfontein, in the Orange River Free State, a Diamond of 209-1/4 carats was discovered, and it is said that this magnificent stone was purchased from a kaffir by an illicit Diamond buyer for the absurd sum of £15 A Diamond weighing over 600 carats, but very impure, was unearthed some years ago at these diggings, and the same mine has since yielded the largest Diamond ever recorded. This stone, known as " The Excelsior," weighed in the rough 970 carats, and is now being cut at Amsterdam. A figure of the stone in its rough state forms the tail-piece appended to this chapter (p. 95).
While South Africa has thus been remarkable for yielding stones of exceptionally large size, it must also be admitted that the quality of the gems brought to light is by no means unsatisfactory. True, a large number of the Diamonds are " off-coloured " stones, generally exhibiting a delicate straw-tint, but none the less they are extremely brilliant when properly cut. A very fair proportion of the South African Diamonds are of the first -water, rivalling in beauty and purity the finest Brazilian and Indian Stones. This is especially the case with the Dia­monds from the Jagersfontein and Koffyfontein mines in the Orange Free State. With regard to the Kimberley mines it is found that iron pyrites exists in large quantities, and the theory has been broached that to this cause is due the extraordinarily large number of coloured or " off-colour" stones, that are found there ; while in the Jagersfontein mine iron pyrites is not found, and nearly all the Diamonds found there are the purest white. The great majority of these stones are not only pure in colour, but splendid crystals, symmetrical in shape and readily cut.
It has been estimated that about 20 per cent, of the Cape Diamonds are of the first quality; 15 per cent-
Sec. II, Ch. 2: The African Diamond Page of 366 Sec. II, Ch. 2: The African Diamond
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