176-745: The Natal Government Railways (NGR) was formed in January 1877 in the Colony of Natal . In 1877, the Natal Government Railways acquired the Natal Railway Company for the sum of £40,000, gaining the line from the Point to Durban and from Durban to Umgeni. This move, inspired in part by the neighbouring Cape Prime Minister John Molteno 's 1873 establishment of the Cape Government Railways ,
352-513: A de facto terminus at Modderfontein (10 km (6.2 mi) north of Ladysmith), while Estcourt became the de facto terminus of the British section of the line. The British sent armored trains toward the Tugela to support their scouts. One of the trains was attacked by a Boer Commando unit near Chievely, in the same raid in which then-journalist Winston Churchill was taken prisoner. After Ladysmith
528-672: A protectorate over a sub-divided kingdom. However this proved unsatisfactory to the colonial government, and eighteen years later the kingdoms were annexed to the Natal colony, doubling its size. In 1884, the Witwatersrand Gold Rush caused a considerable rush of colonists from Natal to the Transvaal . Railways were still far from the Transvaal border, and Natal offered the nearest route for prospectors from Cape Colony or from Europe. Durban
704-706: A 110 km (68 mi) link between the Natal portion of the NGR and the CGR lines in the Cape was built through Griqualand West. The line reached Riverside but was never finished. In 1884, the Nieuwe Republiek was founded by Lucas Johannes Meyer with its capital at Vryheid . In 1888, the Nieuwe Republiek was absorbed into the ZAR, and in 1902 it was annexed by the British and combined with
880-629: A British colony in 1843, and administered from the Cape Colony in 1844. However, it was not until the end of 1845 that an effective administration was installed with Martin West as lieutenant-governor that the power of the Boer Volksraad finally came to an end. In April 1842 Lord Stanley , then Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in the second Peel Administration , wrote to Sir George Napier that
1056-418: A British colony. The institutions adopted were to be as far as possible in accordance with the wishes of the people, but it was a fundamental condition "that there should not be in the eye of the law any distinction or disqualification whatever, founded on mere difference of colour, origin, language or creed". Sir George then appointed Henry Cloete (a brother of Colonel Cloete) a special commissioner to explain to
1232-486: A Christie's auction. In May 2009, a 7.03-carat (1.406 g) blue diamond fetched the highest price per carat ever paid for a diamond when it was sold at auction for 10.5 million Swiss francs (6.97 million euros, or US$ 9.5 million at the time). That record was, however, beaten the same year: a 5-carat (1.0 g) vivid pink diamond was sold for US$ 10.8 million in Hong Kong on December 1, 2009. Clarity
1408-453: A cigarette lighter, but house fires and blow torches are hot enough. Jewelers must be careful when molding the metal in a diamond ring. Diamond powder of an appropriate grain size (around 50 microns) burns with a shower of sparks after ignition from a flame. Consequently, pyrotechnic compositions based on synthetic diamond powder can be prepared. The resulting sparks are of the usual red-orange color, comparable to charcoal, but show
1584-727: A continuum with carbonatites , but the latter have too much oxygen for carbon to exist in a pure form. Instead, it is locked up in the mineral calcite ( Ca C O 3 ). All three of the diamond-bearing rocks (kimberlite, lamproite and lamprophyre) lack certain minerals ( melilite and kalsilite ) that are incompatible with diamond formation. In kimberlite , olivine is large and conspicuous, while lamproite has Ti- phlogopite and lamprophyre has biotite and amphibole . They are all derived from magma types that erupt rapidly from small amounts of melt, are rich in volatiles and magnesium oxide , and are less oxidizing than more common mantle melts such as basalt . These characteristics allow
1760-610: A cordial reception. That controversial British annexation of the Transvaal, was disrupted when Sekhukhune allegedly signed a peace treaty with the Boers removing the main justification for British intervention in the Transvaal at that time. Nonetheless, tensions between the British colonists and the Zulu continued to build, culminating in the Anglo-Zulu War . After an initial defeat the British were able to conquer Zululand , where they established
1936-452: A diamond to fluoresce. Diamonds can fluoresce in a variety of colors including blue (most common), orange, yellow, white, green and very rarely red and purple. Although the causes are not well understood, variations in the atomic structure, such as the number of nitrogen atoms present are thought to contribute to the phenomenon. Diamonds can be identified by their high thermal conductivity (900– 2320 W·m ·K ). Their high refractive index
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#17328522170182112-543: A force under Duncan McKenzie entered Zululand. Thereupon Dinizulu surrendered (December 1907) without opposition, and was removed to Pietermaritzburg. His trial was delayed until November 1908, and it was not until March 1909 that judgment was given, the court finding him guilty only on the minor charge of harbouring rebels. Meantime, in February 1908, the governor— Matthew Nathan , who had succeeded Henry McCallum in August 1907—had made
2288-475: A gemstone. Because it can only be scratched by other diamonds, it maintains its polish extremely well. Unlike many other gems, it is well-suited to daily wear because of its resistance to scratching—perhaps contributing to its popularity as the preferred gem in engagement or wedding rings , which are often worn every day. The hardest natural diamonds mostly originate from the Copeton and Bingara fields located in
2464-407: A harbour board was formed under the chairmanship of Harry Escombe . It controlled the operations for improving the sea entrance until 1893 when on the establishment of responsible government it was abolished. The work of improving the harbour was however continued with vigour, and finally, in 1904, such success was achieved that vessels of the largest class were enabled to enter port. At the same time,
2640-473: A lieutenant in the British navy, with other merchants of Cape Town , formed a company to trade with the natives of the south-east coast. In the brig Salisbury , commanded by James S. King, who had been a midshipman in the navy, Farewell visited Port Natal, St Lucia and Delagoa Bays. The voyage was not successful as a trading venture, but Farewell was so impressed with the possibilities of Natal both for trade and colonization that he resolved to establish himself at
2816-475: A metallic fluid. The extreme conditions required for this to occur are present in the ice giants Neptune and Uranus . Both planets are made up of approximately 10 percent carbon and could hypothetically contain oceans of liquid carbon. Since large quantities of metallic fluid can affect the magnetic field, this could serve as an explanation as to why the geographic and magnetic poles of the two planets are unaligned. The most common crystal structure of diamond
2992-663: A number of narrow-gauge lines were built in the mountains. As in India and elsewhere, such lines were more financially viable in hilly terrain. Such lines included, for instance, the 2 ft ( 610 mm ) Ffestiniog Railway in Wales and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway in India. In 1899, Hullett & Co. obtained permission from the Natal government to build a private 13 km (8.1 mi) narrow-gauge line from Stanger in
3168-403: A pale blue flame, and continues to burn after the source of heat is removed. By contrast, in air the combustion will cease as soon as the heat is removed because the oxygen is diluted with nitrogen. A clear, flawless, transparent diamond is completely converted to carbon dioxide; any impurities will be left as ash. Heat generated from cutting a diamond will not ignite the diamond, and neither will
3344-485: A plan was formed to murder Pretorius, Boshof and other leaders, who were now convinced that the only chance of ending the state of complete anarchy into which the country had fallen was by accepting British sovereignty. In these circumstances, the task of Henry Cloete was one of great difficulty and delicacy. He behaved with the utmost tact and got rid of the Winburg and Potchefstroom burghers by declaring that he should recommend
3520-457: A tour in Zululand, on which occasion some 1500 of the prisoners taken in the rebellion of 1906 were released. The intercolonial commission had dealt with the native question as it affected South Africa as a whole; it was felt that a more local investigation was needed, and in August 1906, a strong commission was appointed to inquire into the condition of the Natal natives. The general election which
3696-454: A tract of land including "the port or harbour of Natal". On the 27th of the same month, Farewell declared the territory he had acquired a British possession. In 1825 he was joined by King, who had meantime visited England and had obtained from the government a letter of recommendation to Lord Charles Somerset , governor of the Cape, granting King permission to settle at Natal. Farewell, King and Fynn made independent settlements at various parts of
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#17328522170183872-463: A transition between graphite and diamond are well established theoretically and experimentally. The equilibrium pressure varies linearly with temperature, between 1.7 GPa at 0 K and 12 GPa at 5000 K (the diamond/graphite/liquid triple point ). However, the phases have a wide region about this line where they can coexist. At standard temperature and pressure , 20 °C (293 K) and 1 standard atmosphere (0.10 MPa),
4048-467: A very linear trajectory which is explained by their high density. Diamond also reacts with fluorine gas above about 700 °C (1,292 °F). Diamond has a wide band gap of 5.5 eV corresponding to the deep ultraviolet wavelength of 225 nanometers. This means that pure diamond should transmit visible light and appear as a clear colorless crystal. Colors in diamond originate from lattice defects and impurities. The diamond crystal lattice
4224-425: A volcanic rock. There are many theories for its origin, including formation in a star, but no consensus. Diamond is the hardest material on the qualitative Mohs scale . To conduct the quantitative Vickers hardness test , samples of materials are struck with a pyramid of standardized dimensions using a known force – a diamond crystal is used for the pyramid to permit a wide range of materials to be tested. From
4400-702: A year marked by the annexation of Zululand to Natal. In 1898, Natal entered the Customs Union already existing between Cape Colony and the Orange Free State . On 13 December 1873, Chief Langalibalele was captured by the Natal Government and taken for trial in Pietermaritzburg. This was the culmination of a long and tedious stand off between the chief and the Colonial Government. Langalibalele
4576-467: Is metastable and converts to it at a negligible rate under those conditions. Diamond has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any natural material, properties that are used in major industrial applications such as cutting and polishing tools. They are also the reason that diamond anvil cells can subject materials to pressures found deep in the Earth. Because the arrangement of atoms in diamond
4752-449: Is 0.01% for nickel and even less for cobalt. Virtually any element can be introduced to diamond by ion implantation. Nitrogen is by far the most common impurity found in gem diamonds and is responsible for the yellow and brown color in diamonds. Boron is responsible for the blue color. Color in diamond has two additional sources: irradiation (usually by alpha particles), that causes the color in green diamonds, and plastic deformation of
4928-411: Is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic . Diamond as a form of carbon is a tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insoluble in water. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure , but diamond
5104-415: Is a solid form of pure carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal. Solid carbon comes in different forms known as allotropes depending on the type of chemical bond. The two most common allotropes of pure carbon are diamond and graphite . In graphite, the bonds are sp orbital hybrids and the atoms form in planes, with each bound to three nearest neighbors, 120 degrees apart. In diamond, they are sp and
5280-420: Is aided by isotopic dating and modeling of the geological history. Then surveyors must go to the area and collect samples, looking for kimberlite fragments or indicator minerals . The latter have compositions that reflect the conditions where diamonds form, such as extreme melt depletion or high pressures in eclogites . However, indicator minerals can be misleading; a better approach is geothermobarometry , where
5456-723: Is also indicative, but other materials have similar refractivity. Diamonds are extremely rare, with concentrations of at most parts per billion in source rock. Before the 20th century, most diamonds were found in alluvial deposits . Loose diamonds are also found along existing and ancient shorelines , where they tend to accumulate because of their size and density. Rarely, they have been found in glacial till (notably in Wisconsin and Indiana ), but these deposits are not of commercial quality. These types of deposit were derived from localized igneous intrusions through weathering and transport by wind or water . Most diamonds come from
Natal Government Railways - Misplaced Pages Continue
5632-427: Is always breaking on the shore, even in the finest weather, and at the mouth of every natural harbour a bar occurs. To deepen the channel over the bar at Durban so that steamers might enter the harbour was the cause of labour and expenditure for many years. Harbour works were begun in 1857, piers and jetties were constructed, dredgers imported, and controversy raged over the various schemes for harbour improvement. In 1881
5808-405: Is another mechanical property toughness , which is a material's ability to resist breakage from forceful impact. The toughness of natural diamond has been measured as 50–65 MPa ·m . This value is good compared to other ceramic materials, but poor compared to most engineering materials such as engineering alloys, which typically exhibit toughness over 80 MPa·m . As with any material,
5984-414: Is called diamond cubic . It is formed of unit cells (see the figure) stacked together. Although there are 18 atoms in the figure, each corner atom is shared by eight unit cells and each atom in the center of a face is shared by two, so there are a total of eight atoms per unit cell. The length of each side of the unit cell is denoted by a and is 3.567 angstroms . The nearest neighbor distance in
6160-402: Is exceptionally strong, and only atoms of nitrogen , boron , and hydrogen can be introduced into diamond during the growth at significant concentrations (up to atomic percents). Transition metals nickel and cobalt , which are commonly used for growth of synthetic diamond by high-pressure high-temperature techniques, have been detected in diamond as individual atoms; the maximum concentration
6336-574: Is extremely rigid, few types of impurity can contaminate it (two exceptions are boron and nitrogen ). Small numbers of defects or impurities (about one per million of lattice atoms) can color a diamond blue (boron), yellow (nitrogen), brown (defects), green (radiation exposure), purple, pink, orange, or red. Diamond also has a very high refractive index and a relatively high optical dispersion . Most natural diamonds have ages between 1 billion and 3.5 billion years. Most were formed at depths between 150 and 250 kilometres (93 and 155 mi) in
6512-419: Is formed of layers stacked in a repeating ABCABC ... pattern. Diamonds can also form an ABAB ... structure, which is known as hexagonal diamond or lonsdaleite , but this is far less common and is formed under different conditions from cubic carbon. Diamonds occur most often as euhedral or rounded octahedra and twinned octahedra known as macles . As diamond's crystal structure has a cubic arrangement of
6688-412: Is higher for flawless, pure crystals oriented to the <111> direction (along the longest diagonal of the cubic diamond lattice). Therefore, whereas it might be possible to scratch some diamonds with other materials, such as boron nitride , the hardest diamonds can only be scratched by other diamonds and nanocrystalline diamond aggregates . The hardness of diamond contributes to its suitability as
6864-404: Is hybrid rock with a chaotic mixture of small minerals and rock fragments ( clasts ) up to the size of watermelons. They are a mixture of xenocrysts and xenoliths (minerals and rocks carried up from the lower crust and mantle), pieces of surface rock, altered minerals such as serpentine , and new minerals that crystallized during the eruption. The texture varies with depth. The composition forms
7040-647: Is in the form of micro/nanoscale wires or needles (~100–300 nanometers in diameter, micrometers long), they can be elastically stretched by as much as 9–10 percent tensile strain without failure, with a maximum local tensile stress of about 89–98 GPa , very close to the theoretical limit for this material. Other specialized applications also exist or are being developed, including use as semiconductors : some blue diamonds are natural semiconductors, in contrast to most diamonds, which are excellent electrical insulators . The conductivity and blue color originate from boron impurity. Boron substitutes for carbon atoms in
7216-477: Is one of the 4C's (color, clarity, cut and carat weight) that helps in identifying the quality of diamonds. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) developed 11 clarity scales to decide the quality of a diamond for its sale value. The GIA clarity scale spans from Flawless (FL) to included (I) having internally flawless (IF), very, very slightly included (VVS), very slightly included (VS) and slightly included (SI) in between. Impurities in natural diamonds are due to
Natal Government Railways - Misplaced Pages Continue
7392-536: Is one of the main crops of the so-called "mistbelt forest" of Natal, a region lying between 1,000–1,500 m (3,300–4,900 ft) above sea level. The bark of the wattle was used to make tannin for the leather industry. The wattle wood was also used for mine pillars on the Rand. The first wattle seeds were imported from Australia in the 1860s. Initially, it was planted as a shade tree on farms, but George Sutton recognized its commercial growth potential in 1876. Wattle bark
7568-797: Is partially oxidized. The oxidized surface can be reduced by heat treatment under hydrogen flow. That is to say, this heat treatment partially removes oxygen-containing functional groups. But diamonds (sp C) are unstable against high temperature (above about 400 °C (752 °F)) under atmospheric pressure. The structure gradually changes into sp C above this temperature. Thus, diamonds should be reduced below this temperature. At room temperature, diamonds do not react with any chemical reagents including strong acids and bases. In an atmosphere of pure oxygen, diamond has an ignition point that ranges from 690 °C (1,274 °F) to 840 °C (1,540 °F); smaller crystals tend to burn more easily. It increases in temperature from red to white heat and burns with
7744-765: Is possible to treat regular diamonds under a combination of high pressure and high temperature to produce diamonds that are harder than the diamonds used in hardness gauges. Diamonds cut glass, but this does not positively identify a diamond because other materials, such as quartz, also lie above glass on the Mohs scale and can also cut it. Diamonds can scratch other diamonds, but this can result in damage to one or both stones. Hardness tests are infrequently used in practical gemology because of their potentially destructive nature. The extreme hardness and high value of diamond means that gems are typically polished slowly, using painstaking traditional techniques and greater attention to detail than
7920-454: Is the case with most other gemstones; these tend to result in extremely flat, highly polished facets with exceptionally sharp facet edges. Diamonds also possess an extremely high refractive index and fairly high dispersion. Taken together, these factors affect the overall appearance of a polished diamond and most diamantaires still rely upon skilled use of a loupe (magnifying glass) to identify diamonds "by eye". Somewhat related to hardness
8096-693: The British Army had destroyed the Laing's nek tunnel, for instance, the course of the Natal campaign would have gone quite differently. In the two months before the outbreak of the Second Boer War, 10,000 British soldiers arrived in Durban to reinforce the 2,000 already there. They were deployed by train to Ladysmith and Dundee. The war broke out on 12 October 1899, and on 30 October (after the Battle of Nicholson's Nek , half
8272-731: The Earth's mantle , and most of this section discusses those diamonds. However, there are other sources. Some blocks of the crust, or terranes , have been buried deep enough as the crust thickened so they experienced ultra-high-pressure metamorphism . These have evenly distributed microdiamonds that show no sign of transport by magma. In addition, when meteorites strike the ground, the shock wave can produce high enough temperatures and pressures for microdiamonds and nanodiamonds to form. Impact-type microdiamonds can be used as an indicator of ancient impact craters. Popigai impact structure in Russia may have
8448-584: The First Boer War (1881). In both cases, they made the rest of their journey to the battlefield by horse or by wagon. One of the key goals of Natal during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) was control over the rail line between Durban and the ZAR and Orange Free State. Until 1899, the British had no experience with maintaining rail service in a war zone, especially in terms of the relationship between military planners and civilian railway personnel. If, in October 1899,
8624-462: The Hime ministry resigned and was succeeded by a cabinet under the premiership of George Sutton , the founder of the wattle industry in Natal and one of the pioneers in the coal-mining industry. In May 1905 Sutton was replaced by a coalition ministry under Charles John Smythe , who had been colonial secretary under Hime. These somewhat frequent changes of ministry reflected, chiefly, differences concerning
8800-553: The New England area in New South Wales , Australia. These diamonds are generally small, perfect to semiperfect octahedra, and are used to polish other diamonds. Their hardness is associated with the crystal growth form, which is single-stage crystal growth. Most other diamonds show more evidence of multiple growth stages, which produce inclusions, flaws, and defect planes in the crystal lattice, all of which affect their hardness. It
8976-465: The Tugela River , and asking that this territory should be proclaimed a British colony and that a governor and council be appointed. To all these requests no official answer was returned. The settlers had been joined in the year named (1835) by Allen Francis Gardiner , a naval officer, whose chief object was the evangelization of the natives. With the support of the traders he founded a mission station on
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#17328522170189152-630: The Umzimkulu River , a distance of around 50 km (31 mi). In 1896, JL Hullett & Sons bought the Natal-Zululand Company. Although Zululand was merged with the Colony of Natal in 1897, the Natal-Zululand Company continued to own the North Coast Line from Verulam northward, having leased the line to the NGR. On 18 July 1902, the first 71 km (44 mi) line opened, going from
9328-546: The Wawa belt of the Superior province in Canada and microdiamonds in the island arc of Japan are found in a type of rock called lamprophyre . Kimberlites can be found in narrow (1 to 4 meters) dikes and sills, and in pipes with diameters that range from about 75 m to 1.5 km. Fresh rock is dark bluish green to greenish gray, but after exposure rapidly turns brown and crumbles. It
9504-437: The coal mines of Dundee was the only branch line of the NGR, but when NGR was merged into the broader South African railway network on 1 January 1912, the branch lines occupied 40% of the NGR rail network. Here is the railway over the years and by the numbers: The line from Durban to Pietermaritzburg was already proposed in 1862, but it was not surveyed until 1873. Under Natal Law 4 of 1875, Natal Government Railways (NGR)
9680-436: The lithosphere . Such depths occur below cratons in mantle keels , the thickest part of the lithosphere. These regions have high enough pressure and temperature to allow diamonds to form and they are not convecting, so diamonds can be stored for billions of years until a kimberlite eruption samples them. Host rocks in a mantle keel include harzburgite and lherzolite , two type of peridotite . The most dominant rock type in
9856-523: The normal color range , and applies a grading scale from "D" (colorless) to "Z" (light yellow). Yellow diamonds of high color saturation or a different color, such as pink or blue, are called fancy colored diamonds and fall under a different grading scale. In 2008, the Wittelsbach Diamond , a 35.56-carat (7.112 g) blue diamond once belonging to the King of Spain, fetched over US$ 24 million at
10032-441: The post office . The NGR operated at a loss during its early years, but after the Second Boer War, the NGR made around half of the Natal government's income. In 1893 the company owned 91 locomotives , 231 coaches and 1451 goods wagons . The NGR was one of the Natal government's largest investments - around 30% of the Colony's debt was run up to build the lines, but between 1880 and 1910, the railways' income contributed 40-50% of
10208-402: The upper mantle , peridotite is an igneous rock consisting mostly of the minerals olivine and pyroxene ; it is low in silica and high in magnesium . However, diamonds in peridotite rarely survive the trip to the surface. Another common source that does keep diamonds intact is eclogite , a metamorphic rock that typically forms from basalt as an oceanic plate plunges into the mantle at
10384-441: The 3' 6" (1067 mm) Cape gauge was used. Afterwards, the old NRC lines were replaced by ones with the new gauge. The building of the new line between The Point and Umgeni began on 11 May 1878. The contract with the railway builders specified the minimum radius at 300 feet (91 m) and the maximum gradient at 1:30. Construction began on 1 January 1876. On 4 September 1878, the 27 km (17 mi) from Durban to Pinetown
10560-477: The 30 October 1873 a Corps of Colonial Volunteer troops moved towards the Hlubi 'location'. The Hlubi began to flee. On 2 November 1873 Shepstone issued an order giving the Hlubi 24 hours to surrender or face the consequence of rebellion. On 4 November 1873 the Hlubi and Volunteer Corps came face to face and 3 colonists and 1 Mosotho were killed. The colonial forces then 'broke up' the tribe, seizing cattle, killing not just
10736-428: The 4 km (2.5 mi) branch line between the border and Charlestown opened, followed on 15 December by the 41 km (25 mi) branch from Heidelberg to Union Junction, 9 km (5.6 mi) from Germiston . When the NGR was founded in 1875, it was authorized to build a 32 km (20 mi) line from Durban to Verulam along the northern coast and a 17 km (11 mi) line from Durban to Isipingo along
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#173285221701810912-687: The 46 km (29 mi) Estcourt-Weenen line , opened in April 1907. The following year, the 151 km (94 mi) Ixopo-Stuartstown line opened between Donnybrook (a station on the Natal-Cape Line ) and Umzinto (Esperanza, the terminus of a branch off the South Coast Line). The 44 km (27 mi) line between Umlaasweg and Mid-Illovo and the 39 km (24 mi) line from Port Shepstone to Paddock opened in 1911. The NGR lines established by 1 January 1912, are as follows: In 1875, when
11088-591: The 57 km (35 mi) from Newcastle to Charlestown, was formally opened by President Paul Kruger of the ZAR and the Governor of Natal on 7 April 1891. Where the line crosses Laing's Nek Pass, a 674 m (2,211 ft) tunnel was built. For political reasons, the rail line was not connected with the Netherlands–South African Railway Company (NZASM) lines until the NZASM line to Maputo Bay
11264-503: The Boer columns, but failed to prevent their escape due to the fraudulent use of Red Cross flags by the Boers. The British withdrew to Ladysmith . Boer forces proceeded to Ladysmith and surrounded the town, cutting off its communications from the south. The Siege of Ladysmith lasted until 28 February 1900, when the town was relieved by forces under Redvers Buller . During the six weeks previous to
11440-572: The Boers took control of the port and soon afterwards established the Natalia Republic . The Republic suffered from disorganized government and poor relations with the Zulus. On 2 December 1841, Sir George Thomas Napier , governor of Cape Colony, issued a proclamation declaring his intent to resume British military occupation of Port Natal. Most of the Voortrekkers left by 1843. Natal was proclaimed
11616-451: The British forces retreated south of the Tugela while the other half were besieged in Ladysmith . During October, November, and December 1899, the NGR sent 43,296 soldiers, 11,479 animals, 96 cannons, and 377 vehicles together with 19,499 tons of supplies from the coast to the battlefields. The Boer forces, with the help of NZASM engineers, took control of the NGR line north of Ladysmith with
11792-569: The Cape, visited Mpande and obtained from him a valuable concession. Hitherto the Tugela from source to mouth had been the recognized frontier between Natal and Zululand . Mpande gave up to Natal all the territory between the Buffalo and Tugela rivers, now forming Klip River county. The colony's early population growth was driven by settlement from the United Kingdom between 1849 and 1851, with approximately 4500 emigrants between 1848 and 1851. From
11968-609: The Colonial Office in the UK received a telegram from Sir Henry Barkly in Cape Town of the imminent collapse of the Transvaal , because the Transvaal's President Burger and his men had been routed after their attack on Sekhukhune and his people the Pedi . This galvanized Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon who obtained permission from Disraeli to appoint Sir Theophilus Shepstone (known by
12144-465: The Colony of Natal became Natal Province , one of the founding provinces of the Union of South Africa . The British settlers quickly realised that the coastlands were suited to the cultivation of tropical or semi-tropical products, and from 1852 onward sugar , coffee , cotton and arrowroot were introduced, tea being afterwards substituted for coffee. The sugar industry soon became of importance, and
12320-526: The Drakensberg as the northern limit of Natal. On 8 August 1843, the Natal volksraad unanimously agreed to the terms proposed by Lord Stanley. Many of the Boers who would not acknowledge British rule trekked once more over the mountains into what are now the Orange Free State and Transvaal provinces. At the end of 1843, there were not more than 500 Dutch families left in Natal. Cloete, before returning to
12496-820: The Earth's mantle , although a few have come from as deep as 800 kilometres (500 mi). Under high pressure and temperature, carbon-containing fluids dissolved various minerals and replaced them with diamonds. Much more recently (hundreds to tens of million years ago), they were carried to the surface in volcanic eruptions and deposited in igneous rocks known as kimberlites and lamproites . Synthetic diamonds can be grown from high-purity carbon under high pressures and temperatures or from hydrocarbon gases by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Imitation diamonds can also be made out of materials such as cubic zirconia and silicon carbide . Natural, synthetic, and imitation diamonds are most commonly distinguished using optical techniques or thermal conductivity measurements. Diamond
12672-450: The English living at the bay. The next step was taken by the settlers at the port, who in 1835 resolved to lay out a town, which they named Durban , after Benjamin D'Urban , then governor of Cape Colony . At the same time the settlers, who numbered about 50, sent a memorial to the governor calling attention to the fact that they were acknowledged rulers over a large tract of territory south of
12848-530: The NGR was founded, two wood-burning locomotives (1067 mm track) were ordered from the British firm Dübs and Company to replace locomotives from the NRC (1435 mm track). The locomotives were named the Durban and Pietermaritzburg and were eventually sold to the NZASM. In 1877, seven 2-6-0 locomotives of the same design were ordered from the firm Beyer, Peacock & Company . The first five were wood-fueled, but
13024-484: The Natal coal industry. In 1889, production came to 25,609 tons, but by 1909 it had reached 1,669,583 tons. In 1908, the largest users of coal were the ships that carried 800,000 tons of coal a year out of Durban. The railway itself used 250,000 tons, and other local users consumed 150,000 tons. By then, the export trade had developed significantly - in 1908, 446,915 tons of coal were shipped out of Natal, either overseas or to neighboring states. Black wattle Acacia mearnsii
13200-512: The Natal colony. The area is rich in coal. In April 1901, the Glencoe-Dundee branch line reached the Buffels River - earlier the border of the Nieuwe Republiek. From 1901 to 1909, the branch line was extended 98 km (61 mi) through Vryheid to near Hlobane . At the same time, Utrecht was connected with the main line by a 42 km (26 mi) branch line. During the 19th century,
13376-480: The Natal commissioners disagreed; in 1905, however, an act was passed by the Natal legislature imposing a poll tax of £1 on all males over 18 in the colony, except indentured Indians and natives paying hut tax (which was 14 shillings a year). Every European was bound to pay the tax. In 1906, the Bambatha Rebellion broke out in the colony, attributable ostensibly to the poll tax, and spread to Zululand. It
13552-476: The Natal volksraad the decision of the government. There was a considerable party of Natal Boers still strongly opposed to the British, and they were reinforced by numerous bands of Boers who came over the Drakensberg from Winburg and Potchefstroom . Commandant Jan Mocke of Winburg (who had helped to besiege Captain Smith at Durban ) and others of the "war party" attempted to induce the volksraad not to submit, and
13728-520: The North Coast Line to Verulam opened. The South Coast Line began near the Rossburgh station, a depot around 7 km (4.3 mi) from Durban. In 1880, the 10 km (6.2 mi) line to Isipingo opened. The branch line from Glencoe to Dundee was the only one built in Natal before the colony attained self-government in 1893. Between then and the outbreak of the Second Boer War, the South Coast Line
13904-590: The Rosherville power station. 1886 was an erratic year for the NGR. The opening of the Durban-Ladysmith line and the discovery of gold that year helped the NGR become a profitable company. New locomotives had to be ordered to serve the new line. A single 2-8-2 tank and tender locomotive was built by the NGR in Durban and began service in 1888. The locomotive was the first steam locomotive built in South Africa. At
14080-474: The South Africa states, Natal offered a welcome to Indians. As early as 1893, when Mohandas K. Gandhi arrived in Durban, Indians made up almost half of the non-African population, and by 1904 Indians outnumbered whites in Natal. In 1894, Gandhi helped to establish the Natal Indian Congress to fight discrimination against Indians. Population figures for the 1904 Census: Diamond Diamond
14256-534: The South Coast Line. Colony of Natal The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on 4 May 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia , and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa , as one of its provinces . It is now the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. It
14432-595: The Tugela River by way of Empangeni to near the Mhlathuze River . The following year, the line was extended 89 km (55 mi) by way of Mtubatuba to near the coal mine in Somkhele. The coal mined there was poor-quality and the mine was never profitable, so the line ran a deficit of £48,917 during its first year of operation. In April 1904, the government of Natal bought the line for £725,000. Between 1904 and 1909,
14608-486: The Tugela River. On 25 October 1899, 13 days after the beginning of the Second Boer War, the first 48 km (30 mi) of the Pietermaritzburg-Greytown line (from Pietermaritzburg to New Hanover ). Shortly after the British took Pretoria , the last 57 km (35 mi) from New Hanover to Greytown were completed. During the war, the South Coast Line was extended to North Shepstone on the northern bank of
14784-527: The Witwatersrand and was completed in 1895. There were also lines on the northern and southern coasts. The Orange Free State (OVS) line went over the Drakensberg, connecting Ladysmith to Kroonstad by its completion in 1906. Although more than 80% of the railway was in the OVS, it was built under the auspices of the NGR. Until Natal gained autonomy in 1893, the 10 km (6.2 mi) long railway from Glencoe to
14960-401: The Witwatersrand with the coast. Before the line from Ladysmith to Newcastle was completed, an agreement was signed between the governments of Natal and the ZAR to extend the line from Newcastle to the Rand. The line reached Newcastle on 15 May 1890, and was immediately continued on to Charlestown, the last town in Natal before the ZAR border. The line, which climbed 452 km (281 mi) over
15136-504: The Zulu honorific as Somtseu meaning '’father of the nation'’) who had served for 30 years as a Natal administrator, first as Diplomatic Agent to Native Tribes, then as secretary for native affairs, to act as special commissioner to the Transvaal. On 15 December 1876, Shepstone with 25 troopers from the Natal Mounted Police and others set out from Pietermaritzburg to Pretoria to annex the Transvaal; arriving on 27 January 1877 to
15312-462: The atoms form tetrahedra, with each bound to four nearest neighbors. Tetrahedra are rigid, the bonds are strong, and, of all known substances, diamond has the greatest number of atoms per unit volume, which is why it is both the hardest and the least compressible . It also has a high density, ranging from 3150 to 3530 kilograms per cubic metre (over three times the density of water) in natural diamonds and 3520 kg/m in pure diamond. In graphite,
15488-420: The atoms, they have many facets that belong to a cube , octahedron, rhombicosidodecahedron , tetrakis hexahedron , or disdyakis dodecahedron . The crystals can have rounded-off and unexpressive edges and can be elongated. Diamonds (especially those with rounded crystal faces) are commonly found coated in nyf , an opaque gum-like skin. Some diamonds contain opaque fibers. They are referred to as opaque if
15664-547: The bay. In 1834, a petition from Cape Town merchants asking for the creation of a British colony at Natal was met by the statement that the Cape finances would not permit the establishment of a new dependency. The merchants, however, dispatched an expedition under Dr Andrew Smith to inquire into the possibilities of the country, and the favourable nature of his report induced a party of Boers under Piet Uys , including Jan Bantjes , to go there also. Both Smith and Uys travelled overland through Kaffraria , and were well received by
15840-410: The bonds between nearest neighbors are even stronger, but the bonds between parallel adjacent planes are weak, so the planes easily slip past each other. Thus, graphite is much softer than diamond. However, the stronger bonds make graphite less flammable. Diamonds have been adopted for many uses because of the material's exceptional physical characteristics. It has the highest thermal conductivity and
16016-537: The bridge over the Tugela River (608 m (1,995 ft) above sea level). Once the line from Ladysmith to Newcastle (127 km (79 mi)) was completed in 1889, coal could finally be transported economically from North Natal to the coast. A branch line (10 km (6.2 mi)) was also built from Glencoe to the coal mine in Dundee. One of the original purposes of the Pietermaritzburg-Ladysmith line
16192-507: The carbon source is more likely carbonate rocks and organic carbon in sediments, rather than coal. Diamonds are far from evenly distributed over the Earth. A rule of thumb known as Clifford's rule states that they are almost always found in kimberlites on the oldest part of cratons , the stable cores of continents with typical ages of 2.5 billion years or more. However, there are exceptions. The Argyle diamond mine in Australia ,
16368-456: The colonial government's revenues. The greatest driver of this growth was the extension of the rail lines to Johannesburg after gold was discovered there. NRC passenger services were taken over by the NGR in 1877. From 1 December 1880, onward, the NGR offered travel once a day between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. The journey from Durban to Pietermaritzburg lasted 6 hours and 14 minutes with an average speed of 18.1 km/h (11.2 mph), while
16544-436: The coloration, while pure or nearly pure diamonds are transparent and colorless. Most diamond impurities replace a carbon atom in the crystal lattice , known as a carbon flaw . The most common impurity, nitrogen, causes a slight to intense yellow coloration depending upon the type and concentration of nitrogen present. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) classifies low saturation yellow and brown diamonds as diamonds in
16720-459: The commission's report. But in 1909 an act was passed which placed native affairs in the hands of four district commissioners, gave to the minister for native affairs direct executive authority and created a council for native affairs on which non-official members had seats. While the district commissioners were intended to keep in close touch with the natives, the council was to act as a "deliberative, consultative and advisory body." On 31 May 1910,
16896-497: The compositions of minerals are analyzed as if they were in equilibrium with mantle minerals. Finding kimberlites requires persistence, and only a small fraction contain diamonds that are commercially viable. The only major discoveries since about 1980 have been in Canada. Since existing mines have lifetimes of as little as 25 years, there could be a shortage of new diamonds in the future. Diamonds are dated by analyzing inclusions using
17072-517: The country on Cape Colony was put to an end and Natal constituted a distinct colony with a legislative council of sixteen members, twelve elected by the inhabitants and four nominated by the Crown. At the time the population of settlers and their descendants exceeded 8000. While dependent on the Cape, ordinances had been passed establishing Roman-Dutch law as the law of Natal, and save where modified by legislation, it remained in force. On 14 September 1876,
17248-469: The course of 59 km (37 mi). Three zig zags were made to overcome the harsh terrain of the Drakensberg. Harrismith remained the terminus of the railway until after the Second Boer War . Between 1903 and 1906, the 255 km (158 mi) link between Harrismith and Kroonstad was opened in several stages. After the discovery of gold, there was a race between Cape Colony and Natal to connect
17424-522: The crisis by renewed energy in harbour works, railway constructions and the development of the natural resources of the country. A railway to the Zululand coalfields was completed in 1903, and in the same year a line was opened to Vryheid in the newly annexed territories. Natal further built several railway lines in the eastern half of the Orange River Colony, thus opening up new markets for her produce and facilitating her transit trade. In August 1903
17600-598: The decay of radioactive isotopes. Depending on the elemental abundances, one can look at the decay of rubidium to strontium , samarium to neodymium , uranium to lead , argon-40 to argon-39 , or rhenium to osmium . Those found in kimberlites have ages ranging from 1 to 3.5 billion years , and there can be multiple ages in the same kimberlite, indicating multiple episodes of diamond formation. The kimberlites themselves are much younger. Most of them have ages between tens of millions and 300 million years old, although there are some older exceptions (Argyle, Premier and Wawa). Thus,
17776-470: The diamond crystal lattice. Plastic deformation is the cause of color in some brown and perhaps pink and red diamonds. In order of increasing rarity, yellow diamond is followed by brown, colorless, then by blue, green, black, pink, orange, purple, and red. "Black", or carbonado , diamonds are not truly black, but rather contain numerous dark inclusions that give the gems their dark appearance. Colored diamonds contain impurities or structural defects that cause
17952-501: The diamond lattice is 1.732 a /4 where a is the lattice constant, usually given in Angstrøms as a = 3.567 Å, which is 0.3567 nm. A diamond cubic lattice can be thought of as two interpenetrating face-centered cubic lattices with one displaced by 1 ⁄ 4 of the diagonal along a cubic cell, or as one lattice with two atoms associated with each lattice point. Viewed from a <1 1 1> crystallographic direction , it
18128-415: The diamond lattice, donating a hole into the valence band . Substantial conductivity is commonly observed in nominally undoped diamond grown by chemical vapor deposition . This conductivity is associated with hydrogen -related species adsorbed at the surface, and it can be removed by annealing or other surface treatments. Thin needles of diamond can be made to vary their electronic band gap from
18304-407: The diamonds' surface cannot be wet by water, but can be easily wet and stuck by oil. This property can be utilized to extract diamonds using oil when making synthetic diamonds. However, when diamond surfaces are chemically modified with certain ions, they are expected to become so hydrophilic that they can stabilize multiple layers of water ice at human body temperature . The surface of diamonds
18480-795: The district of Wakkerstroom as was encompassed by a line drawn from the north-eastern corner of Natal, east by Volksrust in a northerly direction to the summit of the Drakensberg Range , along that range, passing just north of the town of Wakkerstroom , to the headwaters of the Pongola River (now called Phongolo River ), and thence following the river to the border of the Utrecht district. The districts added to Natal contained about 6,000 white inhabitants (mostly Afrikaners ), and some 92,000 natives, and had an area of nearly 7,000 square miles (18,000 km ), so that this annexation meant an addition to
18656-646: The early years of the NGR, sugar and coal were the most important goods. After the discovery of gold, consumer goods carried between the Port of Durban and the Rand made up one of the leading uses of the NGR. Around the same time, the transport of agricultural products, especially acacia trees shipped to the Witwatersrand mines, grew by leaps and bounds. Between 1970 and 1909, the amount of cultivated land increased dramatically. In 1870, 736 km (284 sq mi) of land were cultivated, but in 1891 1,580 km (610 sq mi), of which 343 km (132 sq mi)
18832-500: The elections to the council led to the return of a majority in favour of accepting self-government, and in 1893 a bill establishing responsible government was passed and received the sanction of the Imperial government. At the time the white inhabitants numbered about 50,000. The electoral law was framed to prevent more than a very few natives obtaining suffrage . Restrictions in this direction dated as far back as 1865, while in 1896 an act
19008-487: The establishment of a colony in Natal would be attended with little prospect of advantage, but at the same time stated that the pretensions of the emigrants to be regarded as an independent community could not be admitted. Various measures were proposed which would but have aggravated the situation. Finally, in deference to the strongly urged views of Sir George Napier, Lord Stanley, in a despatch of 13 December, received in Cape Town on 23 April 1843, consented to Natal becoming
19184-449: The fibers grow from a clear substrate or fibrous if they occupy the entire crystal. Their colors range from yellow to green or gray, sometimes with cloud-like white to gray impurities. Their most common shape is cuboidal, but they can also form octahedra, dodecahedra, macles, or combined shapes. The structure is the result of numerous impurities with sizes between 1 and 5 microns. These diamonds probably formed in kimberlite magma and sampled
19360-460: The first went 39.2 km (24.4 mi) from Port Shepstone to Paddock and was ordered by the Natal government in 1909 (finished in 1911), the second 83 km (52 mi) the rest of the way ordered by the government of the Union of South Africa in 1913 (finished in 1915). The NGR transported British soldiers from Durban to Camperdown during the Anglo-Zulu War (1879) and to Pietermaritzburg during
19536-408: The hardness and transparency of diamond, are the reasons that diamond anvil cells are the main tool for high pressure experiments. These anvils have reached pressures of 600 GPa . Much higher pressures may be possible with nanocrystalline diamonds. Usually, attempting to deform bulk diamond crystal by tension or bending results in brittle fracture. However, when single crystalline diamond
19712-455: The highest sound velocity. It has low adhesion and friction, and its coefficient of thermal expansion is extremely low. Its optical transparency extends from the far infrared to the deep ultraviolet and it has high optical dispersion . It also has high electrical resistance. It is chemically inert, not reacting with most corrosive substances, and has excellent biological compatibility. The equilibrium pressure and temperature conditions for
19888-463: The hill overlooking the bay. In 1837 Gardiner was given authority by the British government to exercise jurisdiction over the traders. They, however, refused to acknowledge Gardiner's authority, and from the Cape government he received no support. The next wave of immigration consisted of Voortrekkers fleeing British rule in Cape Colony , who pushed out the English settlers at Port Natal. In May 1838
20064-423: The kimberlites formed independently of the diamonds and served only to transport them to the surface. Kimberlites are also much younger than the cratons they have erupted through. The reason for the lack of older kimberlites is unknown, but it suggests there was some change in mantle chemistry or tectonics. No kimberlite has erupted in human history. Most gem-quality diamonds come from depths of 150–250 km in
20240-467: The largest producer of diamonds by weight in the world, is located in a mobile belt , also known as an orogenic belt , a weaker zone surrounding the central craton that has undergone compressional tectonics. Instead of kimberlite , the host rock is lamproite . Lamproites with diamonds that are not economically viable are also found in the United States, India, and Australia. In addition, diamonds in
20416-518: The last two used coal - the difference visible in the type of funnel. With the opening of the Durban-Pietermaritzburg line and the decision to extend it to Ladysmith, 37 4-6-0 locomotives were ordered from Kitson & Company . The locomotive had 40% more horsepower than the old 0-6-4 locomotives. In 1979 (a century later), one of the Kitson locomotives (NGR no. 13) was still in operation near
20592-632: The locomotive, making it a 4-8-0 locomotive. In the 1900s, the NGR began experimenting with tender locomotives. They were especially useful on the plains of northern Natal, the northern and southern coast, the Orange River Colony between Harrismith and Kroonstad, and in the Transvaal Colony from Volksrust to the Witwatersrand. In 1904, 50 4-8-0 "Hendrie B" locomotives were ordered from the North British Locomotive Company , and in 1909, 30 4-8-2 "Henrie D" locomotives were purchased from
20768-467: The macroscopic geometry of a diamond contributes to its resistance to breakage. Diamond has a cleavage plane and is therefore more fragile in some orientations than others. Diamond cutters use this attribute to cleave some stones before faceting them. "Impact toughness" is one of the main indexes to measure the quality of synthetic industrial diamonds. Diamond has compressive yield strength of 130–140 GPa. This exceptionally high value, along with
20944-438: The majority of the wattle crop to the main Natal line. The Natal Agricultural Development Act of 1904 made crown lands available for purchase by farmers at favorable rates. The legislation was geared toward promoting agriculture for food self-sufficiency in the colony as well as to grow crops for export, particularly to the Rand. Farming towns were established, among other areas, around Weenen, Winterton, and Illovo . Irrigation
21120-591: The melting point of diamond increases slowly with increasing pressure; but at pressures of hundreds of GPa, it decreases. At high pressures, silicon and germanium have a BC8 body-centered cubic crystal structure, and a similar structure is predicted for carbon at high pressures. At 0 K , the transition is predicted to occur at 1100 GPa . Results published in an article in the scientific journal Nature Physics in 2010 suggest that, at ultra-high pressures and temperatures (about 10 million atmospheres or 1 TPa and 50,000 °C), diamond melts into
21296-579: The melts to carry diamonds to the surface before they dissolve. Kimberlite pipes can be difficult to find. They weather quickly (within a few years after exposure) and tend to have lower topographic relief than surrounding rock. If they are visible in outcrops, the diamonds are never visible because they are so rare. In any case, kimberlites are often covered with vegetation, sediments, soils, or lakes. In modern searches, geophysical methods such as aeromagnetic surveys , electrical resistivity , and gravimetry , help identify promising regions to explore. This
21472-595: The members of the Beeskommando under the leadership of Andries Pretorius used local coal to fuel their campfires. In 1860, the Talana Colliery opened on Coalfields farm near the town of Dundee. Thomas Paterson Smith used this coal to manufacture his own bricks. In 1889, the line from Ladysmith to Newcastle was completed, and a private branch line was built from Glencoe to Dundee. In 1889, the Dundee Coal Company
21648-467: The men, but the women and children too. Survivors were 'apprenticed' to colonist and removed from their land. The Second Boer War broke out on 11 October 1899 with the Boer seizure of a Natal train on the Orange Free State border. Boer forces quickly occupied Newcastle . A landdrost was appointed and the town was renamed Viljoensdorp. In the Battle of Talana Hill on 20 October 1899, outside Dundee , British forces under William Penn Symons defeated
21824-469: The normal 5.6 eV to near zero by selective mechanical deformation. High-purity diamond wafers 5 cm in diameter exhibit perfect resistance in one direction and perfect conductance in the other, creating the possibility of using them for quantum data storage. The material contains only 3 parts per million of nitrogen. The diamond was grown on a stepped substrate, which eliminated cracking. Diamonds are naturally lipophilic and hydrophobic , which means
22000-550: The office was abolished by the establishment of the Union of South Africa. In August 1907 the report of the Native Affairs' Commission was published. The commission declared that the chasm between the natives and settlers had been broadening for years and that the efforts of the administration—especially since the grant of responsible government — to reconcile the natives to the changed conditions of rule and policy and to convert them into an element of strength had been ineffective. It
22176-528: The one linking with the Orange Free State reaching Harrismith in 1892, as well as the North Coast and South Coast lines. In 1910, the Union of South Africa was formed and in 1912 the NGR combined with the other colonies' railway companies ( Cape Government Railways and Central South African Railways ) to form the South African Railways and Harbours (SAR & H). The core line connected Durban to
22352-672: The opening of the diamond fields in Griqualand West , led the Natal Provincial Council to order the line continued to Newcastle in 1881 with a branch line connecting Natal to the diamond fields through the Drakensberg. After the line reached Ladysmith in 1886, service northward from Pietermaritzburg began. The distance from Pietermaritzburg to Ladysmith is 182 km (113 mi), and the line ranges 922 m (3,025 ft) from its highest point between Mooi River and Estcourt (1,570 m (5,150 ft) above sea level) to
22528-501: The planters were compelled to seek for large numbers of labourers. The natives did not volunteer in sufficient numbers, and recourse was had to labour from India. The first Indian labourers reached Natal in 1860. They came as indentured labourers , but at the expiration of their contract were allowed to settle in the colony. The Indian population rapidly increased, the Indians becoming market gardeners, farmers, hawkers, and traders. Alone among
22704-495: The port. He went on with ten companions, among them Henry Francis Fynn . All the rest save Farewell and Fynn speedily returned to the Cape, but the two who remained were joined by three sailors, John Cane, Henry Ogle and Thomas Holstead. Farewell, Fynn and the others went to the royal kraal of Shaka , and, having cured him of a wound and made him various presents, obtained a document, dated 7 August 1824, ceding to "F. G. Farewell & Company entire and full possession in perpetuity"
22880-620: The presence of natural minerals and oxides. The clarity scale grades the diamond based on the color, size, location of impurity and quantity of clarity visible under 10x magnification. Inclusions in diamond can be extracted by optical methods. The process is to take pre-enhancement images, identifying the inclusion removal part and finally removing the diamond facets and noises. Between 25% and 35% of natural diamonds exhibit some degree of fluorescence when examined under invisible long-wave ultraviolet light or higher energy radiation sources such as X-rays and lasers. Incandescent lighting will not cause
23056-399: The railway system was continually developing under the Natal Railway Company . For many years there had been an agitation among the colonists for self-government. In 1882 the colony was offered self-government coupled with the obligations of self-defence. The offer was declined, but in 1883 the legislative council was remodelled so as to consist of 23 elected and 7 nominated members. In 1890
23232-424: The rebellion, protested his loyalty to the British. As time went on, however, the Natal government, alarmed at a series of murders of whites in Zululand and at the evidences of continued unrest among the natives, became convinced that Dinuzulu was implicated in the rebellious movement. (When a young man, in 1889, he had been convicted of high treason and had been exiled, but in 1897 he had been allowed to return.) Now
23408-480: The relief, 200 deaths had occurred from disease alone, and altogether as many as 8424 were reported to have passed through the hospitals. The relief of Ladysmith soon led to the evacuation of Natal by the Boer forces, who trekked northwards. As one result of the war, an addition was made to the territory of Natal, consisting of a portion of what had previously been included in the Transvaal. The districts transferred to Natal were: Vryheid , Utrecht and such portion of
23584-421: The return to Durban lasted 5 hours and 45 minutes with an average speed of 19.6 km/h (12.2 mph). A first-class return ticket at first cost £29 9p, a second-class one £17 6p. In 1903, the cost was still around the same - £26 8p first-class and £17 9p second-class. A first-class ticket to Johannesburg cost £9-5-6 (R18.55) with its second-class equivalent priced at £6-14-0. According to the NGR handbook, there
23760-974: The same manufacturer (David Anderson Hendrie was the locomotive engineer of the NGR). In 1909, the NGR diversified further with the purchase of 6 Mallet locomotives from the American Locomotive Company . The Mallet locomotive was an articulated locomotive that could handle the sharp turns of the Natal Midlands and the Drakensberg. After 1912, South African Railways bought more Mallet-type locomotives, but after 1920, they were replaced by steam-powered Garratt locomotives or electric locomotives . Between 1907 and 1911, 287 km (178 mi) of narrow-gauge lines were reopened - 151 km (94 mi) between Donnybrook and Kelso and three smaller lines. All four lines used 4-6-2 locomotives. In 1905, NGR classified its locomotives as classes "A" to "I," "K," and "N." "K"
23936-433: The same time, 100 4-8-2 locomotives were ordered from Dübs & Company . The locomotives came into service between 1888 and 1899. During the 1890s, these locomotives were the NGR's workhorses. In the last years of the 19th century, traffic grew on the NGR, requiring more powerful locomotives. The 4-10-2 locomotive was designed by George William Reid, Locomotive Superintendent of the NGR, to achieve this task. To conquer
24112-467: The sharp switchbacks of the NGR, the front and rear wheels of the locomotive lacked flanges . The locomotive was heavier than a tender locomotive, giving it more horsepower. In honor of G.W. Reid, the locomotive was called the "Reid locomotive." Between 1899 and 1903, 101 of these locomotives were ordered. Derailment issues with the Reid "ten-wheelers" were eventually solved by removing the rear drive wheels from
24288-529: The size of the resulting indentation, a Vickers hardness value for the material can be determined. Diamond's great hardness relative to other materials has been known since antiquity, and is the source of its name. This does not mean that it is infinitely hard, indestructible, or unscratchable. Indeed, diamonds can be scratched by other diamonds and worn down over time even by softer materials, such as vinyl phonograph records . Diamond hardness depends on its purity, crystalline perfection, and orientation: hardness
24464-424: The southern coast. At the time, there was already a line from Durban to Umgeni, but it was in the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) standard gauge of the NRC, not the 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) Cape gauge of the NGR. Since that line was already operational, it was retrofitted with a new Cape gauge track in 1877. In 1878, the 26 km (16 mi) extension of
24640-419: The stable phase of carbon is graphite, but diamond is metastable and its rate of conversion to graphite is negligible. However, at temperatures above about 4500 K , diamond rapidly converts to graphite. Rapid conversion of graphite to diamond requires pressures well above the equilibrium line: at 2000 K , a pressure of 35 GPa is needed. Above the graphite–diamond–liquid carbon triple point,
24816-524: The tea plantations to the Kearsney tea factory. The line opened to both freight and passengers on 13 March 1901. In 1904, there were also narrow-gauge railways built in the Natal countryside. Narrow-gauge railways were cheaper than 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) and could also take sharper turns . The trade-off was that locomotives did not run as efficiently on them and therefore less could be hauled. The first narrow-gauge rail line in rural Natal,
24992-423: The tide of trade which had already set in with the Transvaal steadily increased. Natal colonists were not merely the first in the field with the transport traffic to the new goldfields; they became some of the earliest proprietors of mines, and for several years many of the largest mining companies had their chief offices at Pietermaritzburg or Durban. In this year (1886) the railway reached Ladysmith , and in 1891 it
25168-458: The tilling of 20 ha (49 acres). By 1859, 1,664 ha (4,110 acres) were under cultivation. Between 1854 and 1858, before the first railway was built, Natal exported on average 41 tons of sugar a year. Between 1859 and 1863 (when the NRC's first line was built), the annual output grew 25-fold to 1,103 tons. Between 1884 and 1888, after the North Coast and South Coast Lines were built, the annual export multiplied tenfold to 11,370 tons. In 1840,
25344-416: The time of the coming of the first considerable body of British settlers dates the development of trade and agriculture in the colony, followed somewhat later by the exploitation of the mineral resources of the country. At the same time schools were established and various churches began or increased their work in the colony. John Colenso , appointed bishop of Natal , arrived in 1854. In 1856 the dependence of
25520-518: The treatment of commercial questions and the policy to be adopted towards the natives. All Dutch colonists who had joined the Boer forces during the war were pardoned. As early as July 1903, rumours were current that Dinuzulu , king of the Zulus, was disaffected. Dinuzulu, however, remained at the time quiescent, though the Zulus were in a state of excitement over incidents connected with the Boer war, when they had been subject to raids by Boer commandoes, and on one occasion at least had retaliated. Unrest
25696-414: The turning point of his life. From 1881 to 1889, the NGR averaged 400,000 passengers a year. With the opening of the line to the border of the ZAR, the figure rose to 600,000, and the opening of the line from Durban to the Rand drove numbers to almost 1.2 million. After the Second Boer War, around 2.5 to 3 million passengers a year used the NGR. Initially, NGR trains carried both freight and passengers. In
25872-657: The two cities. The current line between the two, by contrast, is 106 km (66 mi) long and goes through 15 tunnels. While the Voortrekkers had mined coal on a small scale, the North Natal coal rush began in earnest when Frederick Noord published his report in 1881. A report by the British Empire (1871) reported that it cost twice as much to transport coal 40 miles (64 km) by wagon to Durban as it did to ship it 7,000 miles (11,000 km) to London. This, together with
26048-454: The volatiles. Diamonds can also form polycrystalline aggregates. There have been attempts to classify them into groups with names such as boart , ballas , stewartite, and framesite, but there is no widely accepted set of criteria. Carbonado, a type in which the diamond grains were sintered (fused without melting by the application of heat and pressure), is black in color and tougher than single crystal diamond. It has never been observed in
26224-441: The white population of Natal of about one-tenth, to her native population of about one-tenth also, and to her territory of about one-fourth. An act authorizing the annexation was passed during 1902 and the territories were formally transferred to Natal in January 1903. The period following the war was succeeded by commercial depression, though in Natal it was not so severely felt as in other states of South Africa. The government met
26400-430: The world's largest diamond deposit, estimated at trillions of carats, and formed by an asteroid impact. A common misconception is that diamonds form from highly compressed coal . Coal is formed from buried prehistoric plants, and most diamonds that have been dated are far older than the first land plants . It is possible that diamonds can form from coal in subduction zones , but diamonds formed in this way are rare, and
26576-399: Was also manifested among the natives west of the Tugela, but it was not at first cause for alarm. During 1903–1904 a Native Affairs' Commission, representative of all the states, obtained evidence on the status and conditions of the natives. Its investigations pointed to the loosening of tribal ties and to the corresponding growth of a spirit of individual independence. Among its recommendations
26752-481: Was appointed to the region and many settlers emigrated from Europe and the Cape Colony . The British established a sugar cane industry in the 1860s. Farm owners had a difficult time attracting Zulu labourers to work on their plantations, so the British brought thousands of indentured labourers from India. As a result of the importation of Indian labourers, Durban became the home to the largest concentration of Indians outside India. In 1823 Francis Farewell , formerly
26928-621: Was authorized to build three lines from the Point Waterfront : one of 78 miles (126 km) from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, one along the Natal South Coast to near Isipingo , and one along the North Coast to near Verulam . The Natal colonial government paid for the lines with a £1.2 million loan obtained in London . The line to Pietermaritzburg ran through hills that would have made the 4' 8 1⁄2" NRC gauge prohibitively expensive. Therefore,
27104-510: Was completed to the Transvaal frontier at Charlestown , the section from Ladysmith northward opening up the Dundee and Newcastle coalfields. Thus a new industry was added to the resources of the colony. The demand which the growing trade made upon the one port of Natal, Durban , encouraged the colonists to redouble their efforts to improve the Port of Durban . A heavy sea from the Indian Ocean
27280-456: Was extended 44 km (27 mi) from Isipingo to Park Rynie , a 10 km (6.2 mi) branch line was built along the southern border from the port of Clairwood to Wests, and a 27 km (17 mi) branch was built from Thornville Junction to Richmond . Around the same time, the Hullett sugar company extended the North Coast Line 88 km (55 mi) from Verulam to the southern bank of
27456-522: Was finished. That line went into service on 1 January 1895. By the terms of an agreement made on 3 February 1894 between the SAR government and NGR, the NGR was to build a 250 km (160 mi) link from the Natal-ZAR border to NZASM network. The first half, of 210 km (130 mi) from between the border and Heidelberg, Gauteng , opened 27 April 1895; the second opened on 15 November 1895. On 1 December 1895,
27632-475: Was first exported to England in 1886, and the 10 tons exported the following year fetched a good price. By 1910, 60,000 km (23,000 sq mi) were planted with the tree, and 24,000 tons were harvested that year. This growth was made possible by the construction of rail lines to the planted areas, especially the 104 km (65 mi) Greytown Line (built 1899-1900) and the 172 km (107 mi) Natal-Cape Line (built 1904-1909). These railways brought
27808-609: Was formally opened by the Governor of Natal and the State President of the Orange Free State . Although it stretched 37 km (23 mi) into the Orange River Colony , the entire length of the line (96 km (60 mi)) was the property of the NGR. The Free State portion was largely flat (between Van Reenen and Harrismith the line drops 60 m (200 ft)), but in Natal the line climbed 670 m (2,200 ft) over
27984-525: Was founded with the NGR as its biggest customer. At the same time, another mine was established near the railway in Elandslaagte (25 km (16 mi) north of Ladysmith). In 1898, the first coal was mined in Vryheid, but the city had to wait until 1906 for the line to arrive. In 1908, the line reached Hlobane, and its mine was opened the following year. The expansion of the railways fostered immense growth in
28160-557: Was held in the following month turned on native policy and on the measures necessary to meet the commercial depression. The election, which witnessed the return of four Labour members, resulted in a ministerial majority of a somewhat heterogeneous character, and in November 1906 Smythe resigned, being succeeded by Frederick Moor , who in his election campaign had criticized the Smythe ministry for their financial proposals. Moor remained premier until
28336-640: Was intended to drive the extension of Natal's railways inland, towards the Drakensberg and eventually the Orange Free State . The Natal Government Railways also adopted the Cape gauge . The core line went from Durban to Volksrust , but reached Charlestown (4 kilometres (2.5 mi) from the border of the South African Republic ) in 1891 and was linked to the Witwatersrand in 1895. Other important lines were
28512-404: Was no official racial discrimination. Harrison and Ingram, editors of the handbook, wrote of the service that it "caters for the requirements of first, second, and third class travellers, although the latter class is almost entirely monopolised by the coloured community." However, Mahatma Gandhi , as a young lawyer, was thrown off a first-class car in Pietermaritzburg in 1892 on account of his race,
28688-402: Was not sufficient to secure them, as the government had done, peace and ample means of livelihood. The commission among other proposals for a more liberal and sympathetic native policy urged the creation of a native advisory Board entrusted with very wide powers. "Personal rule", they declared, "supplies the keynote of successful native control". The unrest in Zululand delayed action being taken on
28864-426: Was operational, and on 1 December 1880, the entire line from Durban to Pietermaritzburg went online. Although the towns were 70 km (43 mi) apart, the railway stretched for 113 km (70 mi). The line climbed from sea level to Richmond Road (931 m above sea level) and then declined to Pietermaritzburg (633 m above sea level). The line followed the contours of the land and there was not one tunnel between
29040-520: Was originally only about half the size of the present province, with the north-eastern boundaries being formed by the Tugela and Buffalo rivers beyond which lay the independent Kingdom of Zululand ( kwaZulu in the Zulu language ). Fierce conflict with the Zulu population led to the evacuation of Durban , and eventually, the Boers accepted British annexation in 1844 under military pressure. A British governor
29216-535: Was owned by whites, were being farmed, and in 1909 that number rose to 4,020 km (1,550 sq mi), of which 2,190 km (850 sq mi) was owned by whites. One of the main purposes of the line from Durban to The Point was to carry sugar. Although sugarcane ( umoba in Zulu ) was known to the Zulu , they did not grow it. In 1847, 40,000 sugarcane seedlings were imported from Mauritius and Réunion . The settlers experimented with several varieties. Commercial cultivation of sugarcane began in 1850 with
29392-507: Was passed aimed at the exclusion of Indians from the suffrage. The leader of the party which sought responsible government was John Robinson who had gone to Natal in 1850, was a leading journalist in the colony, had been a member of the legislative council since 1863, and had filled various official positions. He now became the first premier and colonial secretary with Harry Escombe as attorney-general and F. R. Moor as secretary for Native Affairs. John Robinson remained premier until 1897,
29568-502: Was relieved, the Boer armies retreated over the Biggarsberg , and for two months they kept hold of the northern portion of the railway. During that time, Paul Kruger took a train ride to encourage Boer soldiers in Glencoe. When the Boers retreated, they damaged many bridges and tunnels, especially the bridge over the Tugela and the Laing's Nek tunnel. The hallmark of the last phase of the war
29744-473: Was reserved for various locomotives that did not fit into the other classes, and "N" was reserved for all narrow-gauge (610 mm) locomotives. The following year, the letter "L" was assigned to the locomotives ordered by the Central South African Railways . The classes are shown in the table below. The NGR offered both passenger and freight service and also delivered letters and packages for
29920-476: Was set up near Winterton and Weenen. New railway was built at the same time by the Natal government, including the Bo-Tugela Line connecting Winterton to the main line and the narrow-gauge Weenen and Mid-Illovo Lines doing the same for those villages. Another narrow-gauge track, the 122.2 km (75.9 mi) Alfred County Line, was authorized to connect Harding with the South Coast Line, built in two sections:
30096-424: Was soon thronged; and Pietermaritzburg , which was then practically the terminus of the Natal railway, was the base from which nearly all the expeditions to the goldfields were fitted out. The journey to De Kaap by bullock-waggon occupied about six weeks. "Kurveying" (the conducting of transport by bullock-waggon) in itself constituted a great industry. Two years later, in 1886, the Rand goldfields were proclaimed, and
30272-562: Was suppressed by the colonial forces under Colonel Duncan McKenzie , aided by a detachment of Transvaal volunteers. Bhambatha , a chief in the Greytown district who had been deposed for misconduct, kidnapped the regent appointed in his stead. He was pursued and escaped to Zululand, where he received considerable help. He was killed in battle in June, and by the close of July the rebellion was at an end. Dinuzulu, accused by many colonists of having incited
30448-462: Was the Boer forces' guerrilla warfare and the British forces' building of blockhouses to counter these techniques. Blockhouses were built along three NGR lines - the line between Van Reenen and Harrismith (in Free State territory), the line between Glencoe and Utrecht, and the line between Newcastle and the ZAR border. Despite the war, the NGR expansion program continued all the while, especially on
30624-593: Was the chief of the Hlubu (or amaHlbubi) tribe in northern Natal. He had failed to enforce an 1872 law that compelled all Africans in Natal to register their firearms with their local magistrate. When told to enforce the law by Resident Magistrate John Macfarlane, Langalibalele said, how one can "count the maggots in a piece of beef?". Langalibalele was then called to appear before the Secretary of Native Affairs, Theophilus Shepstone, in Pietermaritzburg twice, both times refusing. On
30800-452: Was the direct political representation of natives in the colonial legislatures on the New Zealand model , and the imposition of direct taxation upon natives, which should not be less than £ 1 a year payable by every adult male. The commission also called attention to the numerical insufficiency of magistrates and native commissioners in certain parts of Natal. With some of the recommendations
30976-576: Was to serve the diamond mines in Griqualand West. The same year the line reached Ladysmith, gold was discovered in the Witwatersrand, and therefore in 1889, it was decided to extend the line from Newcastle to the border of the Transvaal . On 7 November 1889, after an agreement was reached between the governments of Natal and the Orange Free State , construction began on the line from Ladysmith to Harrismith. The line reached Van Reenen's Pass in 1891, and on 13 July 1892, service from Ladysmith to Harrismith
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