Many balls are held during the cool winter evenings, a few of which we attended; one, conducted under the auspices of the ubiquitous Freemasons, was held in the Iron Theatre building, and a very brilliant affair it was. There were four hundred and fifty invitations, of course many more gentlemen than ladies being present, but it was interesting to see what an elegant company assembled so many hundreds of miles from the nearest point of civilisation. Many of the ladies were attired in London or Parisian imported costumes of satin and lace; some of the wives and daughters of the wealthier residents being literally ablaze with diamonds, the result of their husbands', or fathers', own pick and shovel, which they had had cut and set during one of their numerous trips to Europe. It was when returning from this ball at three o'clock in the morning that we first visited the mine by moonlight, and it may be said without hesitation that such another sight cannot be found in any other part of the world. The moon and stars seem to shine with a brighter light in the magnificently clear atmosphere than they do in our northern hemisphere, and the ghastly shadows cast by the immense perpendicular and horizontal excavations in the mine gave a weird look to a scene the impression of which can never be effaced. The moonlit chasm resembled a vast deserted city that had slowly crumbled into ruins. Another interesting feature of Kimberley is the arrival of the interior traders' wagon trains, for every wagon is full of precious and various wealth, the result of a long, risky venture. Not infrequently the costly wares are sold by auction, in the morning market, and the tusks, teeth, skins, horns and feathers are spread out upon the ground as if they were no better than field stuff or garden produce. It is no uncommon thing to see wagon cargoes worth 50,000 dollars exhibited for sale in this unceremonious way, amidst a crowd of onlookers, some of whom look almost as wild as the animals which produced the barbaric spoils, and as black as coal. Professional hunters also bring the result of their trips, though the labour of getting together the skins and ivory is yearly becoming greater, as the game is driven farther and farther north. No doubt the rapid increase in the value of farm produce will tend to lessen the inducements to hunting. Civilisation and barbarism are such mixed quantities in this land that it seems as if the former will never conquer the latter. The inhabitants of Kimberley, numbering 20,000 whites, are determined to make a fine city of it. The old one-storey iron and canvas houses were being moved aside for larger and finer dwelling-houses.