Page:Knaves of Diamonds.pdf/14

 have, in fact, two meanings—Illicit Diamond Buying, the crime specified in the various Diamond Acts, and the Illicit Diamond Buyer, one who buys "gonivahs" or stones which he knows to have been stolen or otherwise illicitly come by.

Now between him and the actual thief, the raw kaffir working in the mines, there may be as many as three or even four intermediaries, each of whom is guilty of the whole crime, and liable to the whole penalty thereof, for just that period during which the diamonds are in his or her possession and no longer, for, according to the Diamond Laws, the stones must be found on the person or in the possession of the suspect before a conviction can be obtained.