ORANGE FREE STATE.
The Dutch settlers at the Cape had always been strongly in favor of
slavery; hence, when Great Britain caused the emancipation of slavery
throughout her dependencies in South Africa, great dissatisfaction and
discontent were felt and manifested by the Boers.
Their only desire seemed to be to get into a country where they might
not only steal land from the original owners, but capture and enslave
the natives of the sections they chose to invade; in fact, to do as
seemed best in their own eyes, irrespective of what others might think,
and regardless of the laws of humanity and brotherly love. Accordingly,
a large number migrated, with their wagons and various possessions, in a
northerly direction across the Drachenberg Mountains and the Orange
River. Here they settled in the territories now known as Natal, Orange
Free State, and the Transvaal, or South African Republic.
The British government, however, did not relinquish its power, but
asserted it to such an extent that in a few years Natal was no longer a
refuge for these independently inclined Dutchmen, who, anxious to live
after their own fashion, had little regard for the distinctions between
mine and thine.
After much trouble and fighting, creditable to neither party, the Dutch
were permitted to locate in the central district of South Africa. This
concession was made only on condition that they would not molest the
native tribes.
The present republic was then established between the two main streams
of the Orange River, west of the Drachenberg Mountains.
Errors in the government which was established threatened, at one time,
to sink the country not only into bankruptcy but anarchy. The discovery
of the Diamond Fields gave the state a great advantage, and it is now
thriving and flourishing, and will continue so while the government can
keep on good terms with the neighbors, both black and white.
Orange Free State can never become a very great country. Its natural
situation is a disadvantage, shut off as it is from the sea, and
accessible only by long railway or wagon journeys either from Port
Elizabeth in the Cape, or from Port Natal in the colony of Natal.
Orange Free State is like all this portion of South Africa. As part of
the plateau of the inner section, it comprises undulating grassy plains.
These are elevated four thousand feet above the level of the sea. They
stretch to the north, with scarcely a break to interrupt the view, for
miles and miles. In the south we find a little exception to this rule;
for the broad level is broken by a number of small, detached hills.
Agriculture is pursued only where there is water or where the system of
irrigation can be applied; hence, the people occupy themselves mainly in
sheep and cattle grazing. Wool, consequently, is the staple export.
The mineral wealth is considerable. Diamonds, garnets, and other
precious stones have been found, and gold is reported to exist.
The Dutch settlers have not cared to encourage the search for the hidden
treasures of their country. They neither wished to awaken the greed of
their neighbors nor to attract crowds of adventurers to invade their
land.
The climate is favorable to Europeans. The winters are cold, but the
summers are not very hot. Even when the heat is intense, its remarkable
dryness keeps it from being unhealthy in its effect. Frequently the
weather will be sultry for days, with a sulphurous odor in the air.
Suddenly the rumbling and the rolling of thunder is heard, and amid a
veritable storm of lightning the superabundance of electricity is
discharged, and the air becomes once more cool and pleasant.
It is interesting to note the contrast in the lives of a Dutchman and an
Englishman in South Africa. Even when a Boer has accumulated
considerable wealth, he is content to live in a house the floor of which
consists of the hard-trodden earth. Here he will live happily, with
scarcely any of the luxuries, or even comforts, which the average
English settler would deem necessary to his well-being.
The Dutchman is a picture of content; the Englishman one of discontent
with the country, the government, the climate, the soil,--with
everything and everybody, his neighbors, even, not excepted. He draws
the line only at himself and his own disposition.
While the Englishman is naturally a social body, liking company and the
general gossip heard among his own people, the Dutchman is rather
solitary in his tastes. He cares for no neighbors, and would resent the
sight of smoke rising from any chimney within sight of his own. His
tastes are pastoral, and this leads him to acquire vast tracts of land.
He is tormented by the fear that, in the course of time, his cattle and
his sheep will increase to such an extent that he will not have grass
enough to offer them, nor land enough on which to pasture them.
A Dutchman finds nothing forbidding in the aspect of the dreary country
lying north of the Orange River; the stranger, however, finds the change
from the most unattractive sections of the Cape to either the Orange
Free State or the Transvaal a most depressing one.
There is nothing of a picturesque nature. The land is not wooded, and in
the season of drought no more unattractive country can be thought of
than this of the Orange Free State.
Still, it is far from being a wilderness. Work is plenty; for it is a
country that is well adapted to keep men from indolence or from drifting
into that dreamland of ease and idleness, in which the rich man is often
led to wander when he has not had to toil for his possessions.
There is much English property and capital, and a good deal of energy is
displayed by the English subjects. A few of the Englishmen, or
"Africanders," were born in the Cape.
They are scattered through the country, and occupy themselves mostly as
shopkeepers in the English towns, where the English language is
generally spoken.
Mr. Trollope does not advise the ordinary traveler to visit the Orange
Free State in search of scenery; still, there are other attractions to
the tourist, one being the promise of renewed health. At Bloemfontein,
the capital, situated on a branch of the Vaal River, the dryness of the
air renders it a safe resort for invalids. It is, in fact, an inland
Madeira for persons suffering from weak or diseased lungs. The only
objection is the tedious five or six days' journey by coach,--even
though the railway has now reached Kimberley and promises to cross the
border,--which renders the journey not only expensive, but very trying
to nerves and patience.
The town itself lies very solitary, but is perhaps the most attractive
spot in the country. Kimberley, which is its nearest neighbor of any
special importance, is more than one hundred miles away. Cape Town is
nearly seven hundred miles distant to the southeast, while Port
Elizabeth, from which it obtains most of its supplies, lies about four
hundred miles to the south of it.
Bloemfontein is situated upon a plain. Its boundaries are well defined,
but it has no suburb, if we except the native village of Wray Hook.
To the traveler, who has been wearily jolted over grassless plains, the
sight of even this isolated Dutch town is as welcome as an oasis in the
desert.
The inhabitants number about four thousand people. There is nothing
about the town to indicate its importance; yet, here the Orange Free
State has established a capital, and here it is in this quiet,
respectable, and scrupulously clean town that the government assembles
to transact its business without display or ostentation, but with
dignity, common sense, and judgment.
The town seems like a Dutch metropolis with a veneering of English and
African customs and ways. Very few of the houses are more than one story
high. While water is plenty, fuel is very scarce, and, in consequence,
very expensive. In fact, everything commands a high price. When Mr.
Trollope visited the place, butter was more than a dollar a pound, which
indicated that dairy farming was not a very general occupation.
The town--in fact, the whole country--is well supplied with schools.
Dutch is the special language supposed to be taught, but English is the
far more important, and, as a rule, most of the school books are printed
in that tongue.
To quote from the author, Mr. Trollope, who has so charmingly described
it: "I will not say that Bloemfontein is itself peculiarly beautiful. It
has no rapid rivers flowing through it, as had the capital of Tyrol; no
picturesqueness of hills to make it lovely, as had Edinburgh; no glory
of buildings, such as belongs to Florence. It is not quaint, as
Nuremberg, romantic as Prague, or even embowered in foliage, as are some
of the Dutch villages in the western provinces of Cape Colony. But it
has a completeness and neatness which make it very pleasing to the eye.
No one is kept hungry there, or is overworked. The work, indeed, is very
light. Friday is a half holiday for every one. Three o'clock ends the
day for all important business. I doubt whether any shop is open after
six. At eight, all the servants--who, of course, are colored people--are
at home at their own huts in Wray Hook. No colored person is allowed to
walk about Bloemfontein after eight. This, it may be said, is oppressive
to them; but, if they are expelled from the streets, so also are they
relieved from their work. At Wray Hook they can walk about as much as
they please, or go to bed."
Orange Free State, like most of the South African countries, is now
provided with railway lines. The Grand Trunk line extends throughout the
state and connects with the chief ports of Cape Colony.