Adamantia

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ADAMANTIA. CHAPTER I. ' '.'.'' '; Early History. Settlement Of Koranas And Kafibs. As Ancient Terra Incognita.?It Suddenly Becomes Famous? The Cause Being The Discovery Of Diamonds.?Extent Of The Diamond Fields.?Possession Disputed.?Topography Of The Territory In Dispute.?Physical Features Thereof.?BushMen...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ADAMANTIA. CHAPTER I. ' '.'.'' '; Early History. Settlement Of Koranas And Kafibs. As Ancient Terra Incognita.?It Suddenly Becomes Famous? The Cause Being The Discovery Of Diamonds.?Extent Of The Diamond Fields.?Possession Disputed.?Topography Of The Territory In Dispute.?Physical Features Thereof.?BushMen The Aborigines.?Adamantia Otherwise Uninhabited Whin Fd1st Known. Incursions Of K Ok Anas And Hottentots. Tllkik Origin.?The Best Claim To The Disputed Territory.?StateMent OF THE KORANA PARAMOUNT CHIEF, MA8SAU ElJT Taatbosch.?Protest Of The Chief And His Councillors.? Declaration Of Principal Barolong And Batlaping Kafir Chiefs In Support. There exists, far in the interior of Central South Africa, some seven hundred miles from the sea, a large tract of land, which, from the mists of an obscurity as old as its creation?from an utterly unknown and insignificant existence during those thousands of years ?has suddenly become famous. Into such fame, indeed, has this erstwhile veritable terra incognita arisen, 'that now, during the space of three short years, the wondrous stories which are told of it?and which read more like old-world fables, or tales from the Arabian Nights, rather than records of these matter-of- '2 EFFECT OF DIAMOND DISCOVERY. fact modern days?have been bruited abroad to every point of the compass, and have been wafted to even the uttermost ends of the earth. Where, less than half a decade ago, an almost unbroken solitude prevailed, a great population has appeared, as if by magic. Those silent, desolate wastes, untrodden, in the past, save at very rare and distant intervals by some wretched, wandering bushman, .sparcely. mqre akin to humanity than the great herds '0F wild animals around him, and which only sought .qucSbt'iaKJ p...