Adamantia : the truth about the South African diamond fields : or, a ...

394 ROBBERY 01' THE" DRY DIGGINGS."and that that object was the express intention anddesire to obtain the richest of all the diamond fields,the famous different diggings forming a cluster knownas the" dry diggings." This intention is proved bythe Governor's emissaries not only taking possessionof those places as being within the said line, but by theirissue of sundry maps and plans, also placing Du Toit'sPan, Bultfontein, and Alexanderafontein, De Beer's Oldand New Rushes, some distance inside the boundary.Now, by the annexed diagram F, it will be seen thatall those places are really outside, to the east of the lineclaimed and taken possession of vi et armu "fromRamah, via David's Graf to Platberg;" and, conse-. quently, still within Free State territory! So that,even supposing this line to be rightly Waterboer's, andrightly seized for him by Sir H. Barkly and his coadjutors',by their own statements and claims thosediggings have been wrongfulty·taken into their possession!They claim the land up to their fabricatedline, but admit the right of the Free State to. everythingon the other, or eastern side, where its possessionand jurisdiction has not been molested! Therefore,the question is, on which side of the line are the ., drydiggings" actually situated? I submit that Mr. DeVilliers' survey conclusively proves those places to beone and all on the Free State, or eastern side of theline.1. This survey was not made subsequent, but sometime previous, to the Proclamation of October 27th,1871, and the invention and seizure of that line, sothat it cannot be liable to allY suspicion of" cooking,"or fraudulent intent to place those "diggings" withinFree State territory.Digitized by G~og Ie