サニパス周りを散策。標高3000mの高原を歩く。下を向いて歩く。実は、前日に宿で仲良くなったオジさんから耳寄りな情報を得ていた。もともと首都マセルに住んでいた50過ぎの彼は、子どもたちも自立し、余生を過ごす分と、出て行った子どもたちの心をつなぎ止めるため(本人談)のお金をゲットしに、ここサニパスに最近やってきたそうな。その目的は、ダイヤモンド。世界のダイヤの約50%はアフリカで産出されていて、レソトの西隣の南アフリカオレンジ州には世界で最初のダイヤモンド鉱床がある。確かに、ここレソトの最高地にダイヤモンドがあっても不思議じゃない気がする。しかもそのオジさんは、サニパスの村人は拾ったダイヤモンドを隠し持っていて、交渉すれば300ドルぐらいで売ってくれるかも、と言う。モノはまれに、川に落ちているらしい。そしていざ僕ら、サニパス散策。景色よりも地面を気にし、小川で立ち止まり、ヒツジの糞をかき分け、光る石を探す。結果僕らは、光る石をたくさん見つけた。もしかしたらもしかするかも、と期待大に持ち帰り、何となく試しに石でつぶしてみたら、見事にくだけ散った。随分やわらかいダイヤモンドだった。 ただ、オジさんは超真顔で話していたし、村人のダイヤモンドも時間が無く確認出来なかったので、これから行く人は是非ホントか否か調べてみて欲しい。で、見つけたら是非教えてください。
We took a walk on the highland at 3000m altitude around Sani pass, with our head down. As a matter of fact, the old man with whom we became friends the day before at the lodge told us a story. He used to live in Maseru until he turned over 50 with his children all away from home, and recently decided to come to Sani pass to make some money for his remnant life and children's attention. It is the diamonds brought him over. 50% of the world diamond is found in Africa. The world first diamond deposit is in the Orange County of South Africa, the west side of Lesotho. It didn't sound too fictitious. Moreover, he said that the local village people hide the diamonds they pick and that we could negotiate with them for like 300 dollars. he also said that diamonds are found in the river. We walked around Sani pass looking down all the way, headed towards the river looking for shining objects through sheep shit. Consequently, we found many pieces of shiny stone. With huge expectations, we brought them back and tried to smash them with stones. Smashed into pieces, they were quite soft diamonds. (If anyone planning on going there, please investigate about that though. The old man looked so serious and we didn't have enough time to check the hidden diamond of the village people. and let me know if you find out.)
translated by Mizue Kawamura
