iamond washings, and the short route was pointed out by
an exceptionally civil Boer.

But Christopher's eye had lighted upon a sort of chain of knolls, or
little round hills, devoid of vegetation, and he told Falcon he would
like to inspect these, before going farther.

"Oh," said the Boer, "they are not on my farm, thank goodness! they are
on my cousin Bulteel's;" and he pointed to a large white house about
four miles distant, and quite off the road. Nevertheless, Staines
insisted on going to it. But first they made up to one of these knolls,
and examined it; it was about thirty feet high, and not a vestige of
herbage on it; the surface was composed of sand and of lumps of gray
limestone very hard, diversified with lots of quartz, mica, and other
old formations.

Staines got to the top of it with some difficulty, and examined the
surface all over. He came down again, and said, "All these little
hills mark hot volcanic action--why, they are like boiling
earth-bubbles--which is the very thing, under certain conditions, to
turn carbonate of lime into diamonds. Now here is plenty of limestone
unnaturally hard; and being in a diamond country, I can fancy no place
more likely to be the matrix than these earth-bubbles. Let us tether the
horses, and use our shovels."

They did so; and found one or two common crystals, and some jasper, and
a piece of chalcedony all in little bubbles, but no diamond. Falcon said
it was wasting time.

Just then the proprietor, a gigantic, pasty colonist, came up, with his
pipe, and stood calmly looking on. Staines came down, and made a sort of
apology. Bulteel smiled quietly, and asked what harm they could do him,
raking that rubbish. "Rake it all avay, mine vriends," said he: "ve
shall thank you moch."

He then invited them languidly to his house. They went with him, and
as he volunteered no more remarks, they questioned him, and learned his
father had been a Hollander, and so had his vrow's. This accounted for
the size and comparative cleanliness of his place. It was stuccoed with
the lime of the country outside, and was four times as large as the
miserable farmhouses of the degenerate Boers. For all this, the street
door opened on the principal room, and that room was kitchen and parlor,
only very large and wholesome. "But, Lord," as poor dear Pepys used to
blurt out--"to see how some folk understand cleanliness!" The floor was
made of powdered ants' nests, and smeared with fresh cow-du