thousand feet below. You feel that out of
this color and depth has emerged something that itself incarnates lure
and mystery. Even in its source the diamond is not without its element
of elusiveness.

The diamonds at Kimberley are found in a blue earth, technically known
as kimberlite and commonly called "blue ground." This is exposed to sun
and rain for six months, after which it is shaken down, run over a
grease table where the vaseline catches the real diamonds, and allows
the other matter to escape. After a boiling process it is the "rough"
diamond.

I spent a day in the Dutoitspan Mine where I saw thousands of Kaffirs
digging away at the precious blue substance soon to be translated into
the gleaming stone that would dangle on the bosom or shine from the
finger of some woman ten thousand miles away. I got an evidence of
American cinema enterprise on this occasion for I suddenly debouched on
a wide level and under the flickering lights I saw a Yankee operator
turning the crank of a motion picture camera. He was part of a movie
outfit getting travel pictures. A hundred naked Zulus stared with
open-eyed wonder at the performance. When the flashlight was touched off
they ran for their lives.

This leads me to the conspicuous part that Americans have played at
Kimberley. Rhodes had great confidence in the Americans, and employed
them in various capacities that ranged from introducing California
fruits into South Africa and Rhodesia to handling his most important
mining interests. When someone asked him why he engaged so many he
answered, "They are so thorough."

First among the Americans that Rhodes brought to Kimberley was Gardner
F. Williams, a Michigander who became General Manager of the DeBeers
Company in 1887 and upon the consolidation, assumed the same post with
the united interests. He developed the mechanical side of diamond
production and for many years held what was perhaps the most conspicuous
technical and administrative post in the industry. He retired in favor
of his son, Alpheus Williams, who is the present General Manager of all
the diamond mines at Kimberley.

A little-known American had a vital part in the siege of Kimberley.
Among the American engineers who rallied round Gardner Williams was
George Labram. When the Boers invested the town they had the great
advantage of superiority in weight of metal. Thanks to Britain's lack of
preparedness, Kimberley only had a few seven pounders, while the B