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Now, however, many of the diamonds are cut in Kimberley and are all finished there before being shipped to other countries.
Diamonds are made out of the same stuff as coal, and if they were put in the fire would turn to coal. Sometimes people speak of coal as “Black Diamonds.” When a diamond is held to the light it may look pure white or it may be bluish or yellowish. The pure white diamonds are the most valuable.
The biggest diamond ever found was about the size of my fist. It was called the Cullinan diamond. It was toolarge and too valuable to be used as a single jewel, so it was broken into two pieces and each piece was cutand polished. The next largest diamond ever found was called the Great Mogul. But the Great Mogul was stolen. Of course, the thief could not sell such a large diamond, for, as there was only one such diamond in the World, every one would know he was the thief. It was something like stealing the picture of Mona Lisa. But the Great Mogul has never been seen since, so the thief must have broken it up into smaller diamonds and sold the pieces.
The owners of the diamond mines take extraordinary care to prevent the black people who dig the diamonds from stealing at least some of those they find. The mines are closed in with a high fence which is closely guarded, and the laborers are not allowed to go home at night but must live inside of the fence for three or four months. When they do leave, the guards, for they are guarded as if in prison, strip them and search their hair and ears and mouths to see that they have not hidden any diamonds away, for even a single diamond wouldbe worth a fortune to one of the black people. They have found so many diamonds at Kimberley that, if they sold them all, diamonds would be too common and too cheap. In order to keep up the price, therefore, the owners of the diamond mines lock up millions of dollars’ worth and only sell them when people are willing to pay a good price.

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然而，现在多数钻石是在金伯利切割，并在那里加工完毕之后就被船送到其他国家。
钻石和煤都是由同一种成分组成的。把钻石扔进火里，就会变成煤。有时人们把煤叫做“黑色钻石”。拿着钻石对着光看，它可能是纯白色的，或者是淡蓝色的或者略带黄色。发纯白色光的钻石是最贵重的。
迄今为止发现的最大的钻石大约和我拳头一样大，叫做“库里南钻石”。它太大了，太贵重了，不适合用作一颗单独的宝石，于是，它被分为两半，分别打磨。迄今为止发现的第二大钻石叫做“大莫卧儿”，但是，大莫卧儿钻石被窃贼偷走了。当然，窃贼不敢卖掉这么大的钻石，因为这样的钻石在世界上只有一颗。只要他一拿出来，人人都会知道窃贼就是他。这种情况就像偷走蒙娜丽莎画像一样。但是，从此以后，大莫卧儿钻石就再也没有出现过，所以，窃贼一定是把钻石分成几颗较小的钻石卖掉了。
钻石矿的矿主格外小心，提防挖钻石的黑人偷走哪怕一点点他们发现的钻石。钻石矿被高高的栅栏围起来，并有人严密守卫。工人晚上不准回家，而是必须在栅栏里居住三或四个月。当到了真要离开时，警卫就要脱光他们的衣服，搜查他们的头发、耳朵和嘴巴，确保他们没有隐藏任何钻石，因为即使是一小块钻石，对任何一个黑人来说，都是一笔巨大的财富。在金伯利开采出大量钻石，如果矿主将这些钻石全卖了，钻石就会变得很寻常而不值钱了。所以，为了使价格不下降，矿主们囤积了价值数百万美元的钻石，等到有人出大价钱时才出手。