We at last reached a cool, inviting-looking hotel, and we thoroughly
enjoyed that well-served dinner laid before us on clean linen and bright
silver, the delicious viands seeming all the better for our temporary
deprivation. If any one troubled with dyspepsia should travel for three
months through Africa, and live as the people do, never hurrying, and
occasionally getting a jolting in a long coach ride, his would soon be a
forgotten malady.
Bloemfontein, being the seat of government, is by far the largest, best,
and most important town in the Free State. It is a very pretty town,
well planted with trees, the streets wide, the houses well built, and an
air of cleanliness pervading everything. It nestles at the base of a
long, low mountain, one of a range of hills that fade away in the
distance and form a pretty picture in the red and golden tints thrown by
the rays of the setting sun. It looks like a pretty toy town.
Many of the leading men both here and elsewhere through the country are
Germans, and excellent colonists they make. To be sure, we found a
number of adventurers of the same nationality of a totally different
sort, agitators and demagogues. There are, indeed, many who say that it
is owing to the German element in the Transvaal that the dissensions
existing in the country are directly owing. But the greater number are
good citizens, readily adopting the country and state in which they live
as their own, and training up their children to protect its interests.
An enterprising German is the leading dry goods merchant in this upper
country. His storerooms were stocked with merchandise, from hardware to
the finest laces. His home was in the midst of well-kept grounds, laid
out like a park, in which were planted many Australian gum trees. These
are trees which, with a little care, grow thriftily and to a great
height wherever they are planted in Africa.
On one of our drives in the neighbouring country we drove to the farm of
the merchant, and chanced to meet him there. He had planted hundreds of
young trees on his large farm, mere saplings. We remarked, "Why do you
pay so much attention to the planting of these slips of trees? They
grow so slowly they will never give much shade during the lifetime of
any of us."
"Well, well," he replied, "the children of the next generation may come
out here from B--and enjoy their picnics under the trees I have planted
for them." We found the same spirit among most of the German
land-owners. They propose for the sake of their children to make no
mistakes.
Among the first settlers were German missionaries, who have in time
amassed wealth and founded schools, built churches, and assisted in
making the laws of this successful little republic. The town is largely
given over to educational and religious establishments. The English
Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches have each a bishopric and a
cathedral. The former is very active, particular attention being paid
to the college and schools attached to it. One of the institutions
connected with the English church is the "Home," carried on by the
sisters of the church, who come from England to assist in the schools
and hospitals, most of them being ladies of fortune and culture. The
good that has been effected through them and their institutions cannot
be computed by figures. They dress like the French sisters of the Roman
Catholic Church. Although every now and then one of them marries, as a
rule they do not marry. They live lives of strict self-denial.
The Roman Catholic Church is a large structure, with a convent and
school attached. We listened to an excellent sermon here during the
visit of the Bishop, and heard some good music, as the tenor brother had
a fine voice, and travelled, it was said, with the Bishop. The nuns'
voices were very sweet, one especially having such a sad, plaintive tone
that it made the listener wish to see the face hidden behind the
grating.
Many English visitors go to Bloemfontein for the benefit of their
health, but they do not look so robust nor gain strength as quickly as
persons who have been six months in the Transvaal. The fine climate of
that country, if sought in time, is almost a certain cure for any lung
disease or asthmatic trouble. The dry climate of this upland region
cannot be too highly extolled, and the best way to gain the full benefit
of it is to try the primitive mode of travelling by ox-wagon. This,
however, should be done as comfortably as possible, and during the dry
season. The hotels in Bloemfontein and the Transvaal are so superior in
point of comfort and table to those in the colony that they are greatly
appreciated by the tired invalid. Our hotel parlour had a fine Brussels
carpet on the floor, tinted walls, comfortable and handsome furniture, a
Bimsmead piano, and lace curtains.
During the several hot months we were there we had an opportunity of
studying the characteristics of the Dutch Boer, who is met with in this
part of the country in his primitive state. The Africander Boer is
usually a tall, lanky, narrow-chested individual, with black hair,
straggling beard and whiskers, cautious, suspicious, and
undemonstrative, his countenance expressing little imagination and his
body great physical endurance. He is never quarrelsome if it can be
avoided; he is as shrewd at a bargain as any Scotchman, and in all his
dealings displays an odd mixture of cunning and credulity. His
contradictory history, however, makes it difficult to determine whether
he is a brave man or the reverse.
He is usually dressed in a yellow cord jacket, vest and trousers, with a
flannel shirt, and veldt _schoen_ (low shoes of untanned leather with no
heels), the whole surmounted by a broad-brimmed slouch hat with a green
lining. When he wishes to be particularly fine, as, for instance, when
he goes a-courting, he sticks an ostrich feather in his hat, squeezes
his long feet into a pair of patent leather congress gaiters, and
encases his legs in showy leather leggings. He then mounts a horse that
"_kop-spiels_," gets into a new saddle with a sheepskin saddle cloth,
and imagines himself just lovely!