Kimberley itself and the diamond industry have both been so often and so
well described that I shall beware of saying much of either, and I will
only note a few things I remarked about this town, once humming with
speculation, business, and movement, but now the essence of a sleepy
respectability and visible prosperity. For the uninitiated it is better
to state that the cause of this change was the gradual amalgamation of
the diamond-mines and conflicting interests, which was absolutely
necessary to limit the output of diamonds. As a result the stranger soon
perceives that the whole community revolves on one axis, and is centred,
so to speak, in one authority. "De Beers" is the moving spirit, the
generous employer, and the universal benefactor. At that time there were
7,000 men employed in the mines, white and black, the skilled mechanics
receiving as much as £6 a week. Evidence of the generosity of this
company was seen in the model village built for the white workmen; in
the orchard containing 7,000 fruit-trees, then one of Mr. Rhodes's
favourite hobbies; and in the stud-farm for improving the breed of
horses in South Africa. If I asked the profession of any of the smart
young men who frequented the house where we were staying, for games of
croquet, it amused me always to receive the same answer, "He is
something in De Beers." The town itself boasts of many commodious public
buildings, a great number of churches of all denominations, an excellent
and well-known club; but whatever the edifice, the roofing is always
corrugated iron, imported, I was told, from Wolverhampton. This roofing,
indeed, prevails over the whole of new South Africa; and although it
appears a very unsuitable protection from the burning rays of the
African sun, no doubt its comparative cheapness and the quickness of its
erection are the reasons why this style was introduced, and has been
adhered to. By dint of superhuman efforts, in spite of locust-plagues,
drought, and heavy thunderstorms, the inhabitants have contrived to
surround their little one-storied villas with gardens bright with