From the pulsator the diamonds are sent to the general office in Kimberley to be cleansed in a boiling mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids. A parcel of diamonds loses about half a part per 1000 by this treatment. On one of my visits to the diamond office the door opened and in walked two young men, each carrying a large enamelled saucepan containing something steaming hot. They went to one of the zinc-covered tables and turned out from the saucepans a lustrous heap of 25,000 carats of diamonds (Fig. 10). They had just been boiled in acid and washed.

After purification the diamonds are handed to the valuators (Fig. 11), who sort them into classes, according to size, colour, and purity. In the diamond office they are sorted into ten classes. In the year 1895, in 1141·8 carats of stones, the proportions of the different classes were as follows:

It is a sight for Aladdin to see the valuators at work in the strong-room of the De Beers Company at Kimberley. The tables are literally heaped with stones won from the rough blue ground—stones of all sizes, purified, flashing, and of inestimable price; stones that will be coveted by men and women all the world over; and last, but not least, stones that are probably destined to largely influence the development and history of a whole huge continent.