crumble away in the night. Again the most brilliant gems, instead of finding their way to their legal owners, are conveyed by the pilfering 'boys' (i.e., black navvies) to some illicit diamond buyer, and in short, the risks which the miner runs after he has become possessed of the stones, are, to say the least, formidable. Firstly then, there is the risk that some purloining hand will appropriate his treasure. Then there is the great difficulty which attends the sale of his finds. The grasping merchants are nearly certain to best him; and lastly there is the especial danger that in sending his diamonds to Europe to be cut, he will lose them altogether. Either they may be stolen, or the lapidary to whom he has entrusted them may, should the gems be of the first water, exchange them for inferior brilliants. Thus some diggers, when they are lucky enough to procure a really good stone, bring it to Europe themselves. Even then, it is a question whether they would not act prudently, in being present all the time it is. being cut, to secure perfect safety for their property.

In the case of gold, however, although it has the disadvantage of being greater in bulk, you have the satisfaction of being able to at once exchange it for articles which will supply your ordinary requirements, or if you wish to do so, you can convert it into the current coin of the realm. These reflections lead me to my next chapter on the diamond mines of South Africa, but before I close I intend to append an extract from an article by Mr. R. W. Murray on the Gold Fields of South Africa, which appeared in the South African on May 31st.

"The Daily News last week stated that the first large shipment of gold brought home came on board the Nubian, and that it was Soo ounces. That is not quite the fact. That the Nubian brought home 800 ounces of pure Transvaal gold nobody questions, but it was not the first large shipment which came home to England from the Transvaal. Over a year ago there was brought home 43 lbs. weight of gold, which was deposited with Messrs. Blaine, Macdonald & Co. Since 1877 the Standard Bank of South Africa has been receiving, through its manager, parcels of gold from the same quarter. ago a nugget of 81 ounces.

Mr. Maynard was exhibiting years The Union Steam Navigation Com

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pany have brought home two boxes which could not have been of less value than £5,000. Mr. Dunn is at work in the gold fields now, and he knows as well as we know that gold abounds there.

"The Daily News will be, no doubt, surprised to hear that by the 'Trojan,' just arrived, there has been received quantities of gold which will weigh down the beam, and to show that these gold fields of South Africa are what they are reported to be, we may state that the parcels of gold which have come to England from the Transvaal, warrants the assurance that was given the other evening by Mr. Hamilton, C.E., who said, 'The Transvaal Gold Fields are the richest that I ever saw,' and in answer to questions put to him, Mr. Hamilton brought out the undoubted fact that the Transvaal gold fields are likely to become the richest that the world has ever known of."

'They find pearls on their coast, and diamonds and carbuncles on their rocks, they polish them and therewith adorn their children, who are delighted with, and glory in, them during their childhood, but when they grow to years, they, of their own accord, lay them aside and would be as much ashamed to use them afterwards as children among us when they come to years, are of their nuts, puppets, and other toys."-Sir Thos. More's Utopia'.

"Life's jewels grow dim in the breath of sorrow,

The diamond to-day may be dust to-morrow."

-Alsager Hay Hill.

"I shall have at least fulfilled my mission-I shall have convinced the world that the Cape diamonds are as radiantly pure and blue-white as the Dresden drop and the Braganza. I shall thus upset one popular delusion."—Mr. Porter Rhodes, finder of 150 carat Cape diamond.

THE effect of the discovery of the Diamond Fields upon the South African Colonies can scarcely be exaggerated. As by a magician's wand the drooping fortunes of the place were at once transformed into a condition of prosperity. Trade revived, and all the progress of South Africa in recent years, if it cannot be put down entirely to this discovery, has at least to thank it for giving the incentive thereto. The history of diamond digging in the Cape, from the first discovery of a stone, in 1861, on the farm of a Dutch Boer, situate near the Orange River, until the present day, reads like a romance. This initial diamond was looked upon by the farmer so much in the light of an unconsidered trifle, that he allowed it to become the plaything of his little son. Subsequent events in this connection are well known, and I do not intend to inflict the oft-told tale upon my readers. There can be no doubt, however, that from beginning to end the diamond fields of South Africa have been the hot-beds of rowdyism, and all that is

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revolting in human nature may be found there. The libertines, forgers, bird-catchers, and outcasts of Europe have found an asylum there, as in Alsatia of old. The Houndsditch Jew and the London rough reign supreme. Is it true that few men can hope to succeed there unless they consent to become the allies and protégés of such men, because they hold the reins of everything and take the lead everywhere? It cannot be doubted that the man of gentlemanly feelings and instincts has a pretty warm time of it in the colony of Griqualand West. The bully is in the ascendant, he lords it over all. As to the moneyed men on the Fields, is it a libel to say that most of them owe their wealth either to illicit diamond buying or to taking advantage of the necessities or inexperience of unfortunate diggers? A gentleman is out of his element on the Fields. There are plenty of gentlemen as far as birth goes, but not too many as far as nature goes. Specimens of this last variety are conspicuously absent. A colonial friend of mine now in England, where he has been on a visit for some two years, had previously lived for ten years on the Fields. He was there from the very earliest days until quite recently. He happens to be a gentleman and a man of birth, belonging to one of the oldest and best county families of Kent. To his honour he has preserved the characteristics which ought to belong to such a caste, notwithstanding all the contaminations of that loathsome and degraded life. From him and from others I learn that the social life of Kimberley has become so utterly low and repugnant, that the decent man at length flies from it in disgust, as he would from the confines of a lazar-house. The vices of drinking, swearing, cursing, bullying, lying, cheating, and all kinds of utter abomination permeate society, I was going to say from top to bottom, but in such a community one can scarcely say which is the top and which is the bottom. To a man of fine feeling the sorrow of being compelled to live there, especially should he have a wife and daughters, must be very deep and real. Some of the most prominent men of the place were yesterday selling umbrellas in the streets of London, or catching birds on Hampstead Heath. And yet, although everybody knows all this, everybody winks at it. I suppose it would not do, for the pot to call the kettle

black. Everybody is cognisant, and none better than the journalists of the place, that the men they extol to the skies every day, are, many of them, out-and-out swindlers, illicit diamond buyers, and many things besides, and yet such men are loaded with honour, and raised to the heavens by such fine phrases as benefactors, large-hearted, public-spirited citizens, like the villainous Richard Crauford in Lord Lytton's 'Disowned'. O tempora! O mores ! Many men in South Africa and elsewhere look askance at all men who have been on the fields, and refuse to trust them. Thus the few innocent have to suffer for the many guilty. A man who has been on the Fields, upon meeting an acquaintance in London, also from the Fields, must expect, in nine cases out of ten, to encounter remarks to the effect that it is presumed that the holiday-maker, has like himself-made a good thing up in a corner-i.e., by illicit diamond buying. Each man looks askance at his neighbour, and takes it for granted that such is the case. A queer community, it will be said, and although I confess that I have written very plainly, the strange part about it is, that those on the Fields who read what I have said will probably honour it, at the most, with a smile, with a good-natured smile too. It will at least be admitted by a good many that this is the first piece of truth with which they have been refreshed for some time. Few will care to refute my statements, they are tacitly admitted by all, and men in South Africa think little or nothing about them. Most candid Africanders will confess in their hearts that I have not overstated the case.*

The diggers, with all their faults, have conferred an inestimable boon upon humanity. Their presence on the borders of the promised land has advanced civilisation towards the interior. Farms have sprung up all around the Fields, industries have been stimulated everywhere in their vicinity. Moreover, the diggers have gone to work in a truly Anglo-Saxon manner, to build towns and churches and public edifices, and in short, to plant and to

*It must not be supposed that I deny that there are many exceptions to the rule regarding the prevailing type of men on the Diamond Fields. It is my privilege to know, and to meet frequently, men who have been, and are still connected with the Fields, whose style and conduct leave nothing to be desired.