The following pages are based on personal observations during two visits to Kimberley, in 1896 and 1905, and on personal researches on the formation and artificial production of diamonds. In 1896 I spent nearly a month at Kimberley, when Mr. Gardner F. Williams, the General Manager of the De Beers Consolidated Mines, and the managers of neighbouring mines, did their utmost to aid in my zealous quest for reliable information. They gave me free access to all workings above and below ground, allowed me to examine at leisure their stock and to take extracts from their books. I had exceptional opportunities of studying the geology of the Diamond and of noting the strange cataclysmal facts connected with the birth, growth, and physics of the lustrous stones.

In 1905 with my wife I returned to Kimberley. We were members of the British Association which held its meeting that year in South Africa. I was asked to give one of the Association lectures at Kimberley and it was natural for me to discourse “On Diamonds.” During our stay we were the guests of Mr. Gardner Williams.

Returning to England after the visit of 1896, I gave two lectures on Diamonds at the Imperial Institute and one at the Royal Institution. These lectures, and the lecture delivered at Kimberley, in 1905—hitherto only privately distributed—form the basis of the present volume. On each visit I took abundant photographs, many of which I now reproduce. A few are copied from plans lent by Mr. Gardner Williams and one or two are from photographs purchased at Kimberley.

In obtaining statistical information of the Diamond industry, I owe much to the Annual Reports of the De Beers Company. I have also quoted freely from Reunart’s valuable book on Diamonds and Gold in South Africa; and I render my acknowledgments to the authors of the following papers and memoirs.

On a Visit to the Diamond Fields of South Africa, with Notices of Geological Phenomena by the Wayside. By John Paterson, Esq., M.A.

On the Mode of Occurrence of Diamonds in South Africa. By E. J. Dunn.

On the Origin and Present Position of the Diamonds of South Africa. By G. G. Cooper, Esq., of Graaf Reinet.

On the Character of the Diamantiferous Rock of South Africa. By Prof. N. Storey Maskelyne, F.R.S., Keeper, and Dr. W. Flight, Assistant in the Mineral Department, British Museum.

Further Notes on the Diamond Fields of South Africa. By E. J. Dunn.

Notes on the Diamond Fields of South Africa, 1880. By E. J. Dunn.

Analogies between the Diamond Deposits in South Africa and those in Meteorites. By M. DaubrÉe.

Notes on the Diamond-bearing Rock of Kimberley, South Africa. By Sir J. B. Stone, Prof. T. G. Bonney, and Miss Raisin.

Notes on the Diamond Rock of South Africa. By W. H. Hudleston.

The Parent Rock of the Diamond in South Africa. By the Reverend Professor T. G. Bonney.

The Presidential Address, by Grove Carl Gilbert, to the Geological Society of Washington, on The Origin of Hypotheses. Illustrated by the Discussion of a Topographical Problem. 1896.

Le Four Electrique. By Henri Moissan. 1897.

The Diamond Mines of South Africa. By Mr. Gardner F. Williams. (In this publication the story of the rise and development of the industry is exhaustively narrated.)

British Association, South African Meeting, 1896, Kimberley Handbook.

The Meteor Crater of Canyon Diablo, Arizona; its History, Origin, and Associated Meteoric Irons. By George P. Merrill. 1908.

In the present volume I have tried to give some idea of the underground wonders of the Kimberley mines. I have pictured the strenuous toil of the men who bring to the surface the buried treasures, and I have given some idea of the skill and ingenuity with which their labours are controlled. I have done my best to explain the fiery origin of the Diamond, and to describe the glowing, molten, subterranean furnaces where they first begin mysteriously to take shape. I have shown that a diamond is the outcome of a series of Titanic earth convulsions, and that these precious gems undergo cycles of fiery, strange, and potent vicissitudes before they can blaze on a ring or a tiara.

I am glad to have paid these two visits to South Africa. I always recall with interest the dusky smiling natives at work and at play. I am glad to have seen that Arabian Nights vision, the strong-room of the De Beers Company. Above all, I have vividly graven on my heart the friendly welcome, and the innumerable acts of kindness shown us by our able, energetic, and enterprising Colonial fellow-countrymen.

W. C.