I have been told that President Kruger was on this
historical trek, a Voor-looper, or little boy who guides the leading
oxen.
Round Kimberley the country presented a very different appearance, and
here we saw the real veldt covered with short grass, just beginning to
get burnt up by the summer's heat. Our host, Mr. J. B. Currey, a name
well known in Diamond-Field circles, met us at the station. This is a
good old South African custom, and always seems to me to be the acme of
welcoming hospitality, and the climax to the kindness of inviting people
to stay, merely on the recommendation of friends--quite a common
occurrence in the colonies, and one which, I think, is never
sufficiently appreciated, the entertainers themselves thinking it so
natural a proceeding.
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.
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