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.