The flag of Sarawak, a territory of some forty thousand square miles, on the north-west of Borneo, is shown in Fig. [252]. The Government was obtained in 1842 from the Sultan of Borneo by an Englishman, Sir James Brooke, and it is still ruled by one of the family, a nephew of the first Rajah.
In Africa, the only flags that we need particularize are those of the Orange Free State, Liberia, the Congo State, and the South African Republic.
The Orange Free State was founded by Dutch emigrants from the Cape of Good Hope. It was proclaimed British territory in 1848, but by a Convention entered into in 1854, the inhabitants were declared to be "to all intents and purposes, a free and independent people, and their Government to be treated thenceforth as a free and independent Government." The flag, Fig. [249], is the only one that has orange in it, clearly in allusion to the name of the State, while the canton of red, white, and blue, equally shows the pride of the people in their Dutch origin.
The flag of the Independent Negro Republic of Liberia, is shown in Fig. [250]. The population largely consists of freed slaves, emigrants from America and their descendants, plus the aborigines. The flag, it will be seen, even to the thirteen stripes, is largely based on that of the United States, though one would have thought that that would have been about the last thing they would have selected.
The Congo Free State in Central Africa was established in 1885 by the King of the Belgians; its flag is the golden star on the blue ground that we see in Fig. [251], a device at once simple, expressive and pleasing.
In 1840, a number of Dutch Boers, dissatisfied with the Government of Cape Colony, established themselves in Natal, where their treatment of the natives was so unjustifiable that a general rising was imminent, and the British Government was compelled to interfere, and itself take charge of the district. This the Boers resented, so they crossed the Vaal and established themselves afresh in the wilderness. In 1854, the British Government recognised the Transvaal or South African Republic, and in 1881 a fresh Convention was agreed to by which the Boers were confirmed in full possession of the land, subject to the recognition of the British suzerainty. The flag of the Transvaal Government is shown in Fig. [253].
Now have we journeyed the whole world over and found in every land the emblems of nationality and patriotism. Unfamiliar as many of these may appear to us, they each represent a symbol endeared to thousands or hundreds of thousands of hearts, and thus are they full of warm human interest. For these various strips of gaily-coloured bunting, men have given without hesitation their lives, have poured out blood and treasure without stint or count of cost, and wherever they encounter them the wide world over, the wanderers forget for a while the alien shore or waste of ocean as their thoughts turn to the dear homeland.