DIAMONDS AND DIRT.
As everyone knows, South Africa has of late years become the greatest diamond-producing country in the world. The famous De Beers mines alone have produced the precious stones in quantities which may be measured in sacks and bushels rather than in the minute standards peculiar to the jeweller's craft. But, despite the large output, the skill of those who control the market, or the insatiable appetite of the feminine half of civilised humanity for the brilliant gems, has kept up the value of the diamonds, and they remain what they have always been, the most precious objects, weight for weight, in the world. Hence, infinite care has to be taken to prevent their abstraction by the native miners; and it is to white men only, and to those who are selected for their character as well as their skill, that the task of separating the diamonds from the " dirt "is entrusted.