It skirts the northern edge of Cape Colony throughout almost its entire course. It thus serves to separate this colony from the Orange River Free State and from the adjoining territories, occupied by various independent native tribes.
Orange River Free State was settled by the Dutch who had previously occupied Natal. When Great Britain established her rule, the Dutch boers, or colonists, migrated from their former home, and settled in the section now known as the Orange River Free State.
The Vaal, a tributary of the Orange River, skirts the northern edge of the State. The Orange River skirts its southern edge.
The Vaal River flows west, then bends a little to the south. The Orange River also flows west, but bends a little to the north.
As the two rivers sweep around, they inclose the Orange River Free State, not only forming its northern and southern boundaries, but turning their courses so as to unite about midway on the western border. Under the name of the Orange River, the united streams flow west, along the northern edge of Cape Colony and the southern edge of Great Namaqua Land, to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Orange River Free State may be called the connecting link between Cape Colony, the Transvaal Republic, and Natal. The total area of the State is estimated above fifty thousand square miles.
A SCENE IN THE DRACHENBERG MOUNTAINS.
The whole region drained by the Orange River may be considered as a vast plateau, which rises from three thousand to five thousand feet above the level of the sea. Very little woodland is to be found except along the banks of the river and its tributaries.