s are worked even to a depth of
1200 feet by shafts and subterranean galleries. Some are open, and
these, particularly that called the Wesselton Mine, are an interesting
sight. This deep hollow, one-third of a mile in circumference and 100
feet deep, inclosed by a strong fence of barbed wire, is filled by a
swarm of active Kafir workmen, cleaving the "hard blue" with pickaxes,
piling it up on barrows, and carrying it off to the wide fields; where
it is left exposed to the sun, and, during three months, to the rain.
Having been thus subjected to a natural decomposition, it is the more
readily brought by the pickaxe into smaller fragments before being sent
to the mills, where it is crushed, pulverized, and finally washed to get
at the stones. Nowhere in the world does the hidden wealth of the soil
and the element of chance in its discovery strike one so forcibly as
here, where you are shown a piece of ground a few acres in extent, and
are told, "Out of this pit diamonds of the value of L12,000,000 have
been taken." Twenty-six years ago the ground might have been bought for
L50.

The most striking sight at Kimberley, and one unique in the world, is
furnished by the two so-called "compounds" in which the natives who work
in the mines are housed and confined. They are huge inclosures,
unroofed, but covered with a wire netting to prevent anything from being
thrown out of them over the walls, and with a subterranean entrance to
the adjoining mine. The mine is worked on the system of three eight-hour
shifts, so that the workman is never more than eight hours together
underground. Round the interior of the wall there are built sheds or
huts, in which the natives live and sleep when not working. A hospital
is also provided within the inclosure, as well as a school where the
work-people can spend their leisure in learning to read and write. No
spirits are sold--an example of removing temptation from the native
which it is to be wished that the legislature of Cape Colony would
follow. Every entrance is strictly guarded, and no visitors, white or
native, are permitted, all supplies being obtained from the store
within, kept by the Company. The De Beers mine compound contained at the
time of my visit 2600 natives, belonging to a great variety of tribes,
so that here one could see specimens of the different native types, from
Natal and Pondoland on the south, to the shores of Lake Tanganyika in
the far north. They come from every quar