CHAPTER IX.
KIMBERLEY.
Having described the diamond mines in the Kimberley
district I must say a word about the town of Kimberley to
which the mines have given birth. The total population as
given by a census taken in 1877 was 13,590, shewing the
town to be the second largest in South Africa. By joining
to this Du Toit's Pan and Bultfontein which are in fact
suburbs of Kimberley we get a total urban population of
about 18,000. Of these nearly 10,000 are coloured, and
something over 8,000 are Europeans. Among the Europeans
two-fifths are females, and of course there is the ordinary
population of children—with the coloured people the females
are about 1 to 7. Of the adult male population two-thirds
are of coloured races,—Kafirs for the most part,—and one-third
is European. At present both the one and the other
are a shifting people;—but the Kafirs shift much the
quickest. Each man remains generally only six or eight
months on the Fields and then returns home to his tribe.
This mode of life, however, is already somewhat on the decrease,
and as the love of making money grows, and as
tribal reverence for the Chieftains dies out, the men will
learn to remain more constantly at their work. Unless the
