[31]. This waste ground accumulated in vast masses or heaps, one of these being known by the Scriptural name of Mount Ararat.
[32]. These boys were known by the oddest of names. One unfortunate native, arrested for some trivial offense, when asked his name in the Charge Office replied “Go to h——!” and gave the same when interrogated the second time, on which the sergeant in charge knocked him down, but regretted doing so when he found that that was really the name which had been bestowed on him by his master. Only a few months since another native arraigned gave his name as “B——y fool.” On being asked by the magistrate who gave him that name, he replied that he chose it himself.
[33]. Instead of “whims,” in which the horses trot round in a circle, some of the diggers used “whips” in which the horses trot backward and forward.
[34]. Much of the debris of the early days pays handsomely to rewash with the present improved machinery, and licenses authorizing such washing are issued by the chief of the detective department. It is believed that the privilege has been frequently abused and made a cloak for the illicit traffic in diamonds.
[35]. The De Beers’ Mining Co. of De Beers’ Mine, Limited.
[36]. Dutch for stones.
[37]. The public press repeatedly drew attention to the “poison” that was retailed to the natives, and I well remember the following sarcastic lines that were published about this time:
“The best of all methods, so others maintain,
To free them from ignorance’ yoke,
And enable them civilized freedom to gain,