File:Diary of a tour in South Africa (1912) (14800731283).jpg

Identifier: diaryoftourinsou00agat (find matches)
Title: Diary of a tour in South Africa
Year: 1912 (1910s)
Authors: Agate, W. (William), 1857-
Subjects: South Africa -- Description and travel 1900-1950 Zimbabwe -- Description and travel
Publisher: Paisley : (s.n.)
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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have a comfortable anchorage just out-side the station, and have dined in the car asusual to-night, as none of us cared to goout. 168 Diary of a Tour in South Africa. June 2. We have had a very cold night, but as it isnow nearly mid-winter, and we are 4,012 feetabove sea-level, I suppose we need not greatlymarvel. Since breakfast we have been enjoying amost lovely, cool, pleasant day, with no wind,and its correlative, no dust. Going first of allto the De Beers office, a pass was obtained toview the Wesselton Mine, situated rather morethan a mile from the town. Arriving at theentrance gates, we found after a short wait, thatwe were to be taken round the works on a sortof trolley, running on a narrow gauge railway.The trolley was drawn by a couple of mules,and the De Beers Co. also provided a compe-tent guide. We saw, first, the large tracts of countryfenced in with barbed wire, called floors,where the blue rock after quarrying, is spread THE WESSELTON DIAMOND MINE (DE BEERS),KIMBERLEY.
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Diary of a Tour in South Africa. 169 out to disintegrate by the action of time andweather. It remains exposed a long time onthese floors, before it is fit to be worked by thewashing machinery. I forget exactly how longour guide told us, but my impression is that itwas considerably more than a year. We alsopassed enormous heaps of hard lumps of blue,which had refused to disintegrate under thepeaceful influence of time and weather, and forits treatment the De Beers Company nowemploy crushing machines. We brought a few bits of this blue rockhome, but so far I have not heard that any ofour party have done any successful crushing! It was most interesting to watch the appar-ently endless procession of trucks of blue earthcoming up from the floors to the washinggear. This latter process resembled the makingof gigantic mud pies ; and in looking at thehorrible mess presided over by grimy Kaffirs,even with knowledge, one needed some im- I70 Diary of a Tour in South Africa. agination to connect

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