One of the first settlements which sprang up on the banks of the Vaal River was a place called Pniel, of which the reader may form some idea from Fig. [332], which is copied from a sketch actually taken from the windows of Jardine’s Hotel. It was then only a little straggling village, chiefly of wooden sheds or corrugated iron erections, with but two or three more substantial structures. The diamonds which were found in this neighbourhood were obtained from gravel which lay on the slopes of the hills rising from the river. The mode of conducting the search for diamonds in these gravels was simple enough. The first operation was the washing of the material, in order to remove sand and dirt, and this process was usually performed at the margin of the river, where the gravel was brought down in carts and deposited in a suitable place, at which a cradle was erected. The cradle was simply a strong wooden framing sustaining sieves of wirework or perforated metal, placed one above the other, those at the top having the largest meshes, so that the lowest would only permit sand or very small pebbles to pass through. The cradle was capable of receiving a rocking movement, and while the gravel was thus sorted, water was freely poured on the uppermost layer, so that the stuff was in a short time thoroughly cleansed and sorted. When this had been accomplished, the gravel was thrown in successive lots on a table, at which the digger sat and rapidly examined it for diamonds by help of a flat piece of wood or iron (see Fig. [328]). The larger gems were readily detected, and indeed could be picked out from among the pebbles on the sieve before the stuff was thrown on the sorting-table. Crystals of quartz, which sometimes glisten among the mass, often excited groundless delight in the bosom of the inexperienced worker.
Fig. 332.—Pniel, from Jardine’s Hotel (c. 1870).
On the payment of certain fees, the digger obtained a “claim,”—that is, he acquired the right of working an assigned portion of the soil. But if the claim had been left unworked for a week, it might be, in mining parlance, “jumped”—that is, any person might take possession of it, or jump into it, on procuring a proper licence.
Since the first rush of diamond-seekers to the river-banks, the stones were abundantly found elsewhere, namely, at the “dry diggings,” where the soil, dug out with a pick or shovel, was sifted first through rough sieves, afterwards through sieves having fine wire meshes The sieve, in such cases, was often suspended by thongs of hide between two upright poles, in the manner represented in Fig. [333]. The miner was thus enabled to swing the sieve rapidly about, until the sand and dirt were separated, when the remaining gravel was emptied on the sorting-table in the manner before described. As the idea was formerly entertained that diamonds lie only on or near the surface of the soil, the early miners seldom penetrated more than a foot or two beneath the surface. But it was discovered that, so far from it being true that diamonds are present in superficial deposits only, the finest stones are met with at considerable depths to which no defined limit can be assigned; thus in sinking a well large diamonds have been found at 100 ft. below the surface. When these facts became known, many of the abandoned claims were worked over again down to a depth of 30 ft. or 40 ft.
Fig. 333.—Sifting at the “Dry Diggings” (c. 1870).
The rapid rise of localities under such conditions may be illustrated by the case of Du Toit’s Pan, which is the centre of a dry-digging district, and grew in a wonderfully short space of time from nothing to be a town hiving several large hotels, two churches, several public billiard-rooms, a hospital, and a theatre. In 1871 the claims at this place, each 30 ft. square, sold at prices varying from £1 to £50–-the person who worked a claim paying also a small monthly sum for the licence. But those who were lucky enough to have obtained the first possession of the claims at another famous dry-digging locality, named Colesberg Kopje, at the cost of only the licence at 10s. per month, must have been still more fortunate, and have realized an enormous percentage on their investments; for, four months afterwards the ruling prices at the last-mentioned place were £2,000 and £4,000 per claim. This great increase in value cannot be wondered at, if the accounts related of the value of the diamonds found here are true. For instance, it is stated that one individual, who just before the great rush had bought a claim for £50, found in it diamonds worth £20,000. Colesberg has become a populous town, with good buildings and regularly laid-out streets, while a great camp of tents and other temporary structures still surround it on all sides.
At all the towns above-mentioned newspapers were published, relating chiefly to matters interesting to the miners—giving, for example, lists of “finds,” with the names of the lucky finders. It is curious that the term “diamondiferous” has, in these localities, come to be used as a general term denoting excellence of any kind. Thus, when it is desired to apply an epithet of superlative praise to a pickaxe or to a piece of furniture, this significant adjective is made use of; and a salesman in the diamond-fields will not hesitate to speak of diamondiferous coats and trousers!
