ORANGE RIVER FREE STATE. The Orange River Free State is the name assumed by the republic of Dutch boers. who, after retiring from Natal when declared a British colony, established themselves in the country lying between the two great branches of the Orange river, the Ky Gariep and the Gariep, known to the colonists as the Vaal and: Orange rivers, and separated from the coast region by the great chain of the Quath lamba, Maluti, and Drachenberg mountains.
The Orange River Free State forms a sort of connecting link between the Cape Colony, the Transvaal Territory, and Natal. It consists of vast undulating plains, which slope down from the Miami mountains to the Vaal river, dotted over here and there with rocky hills, locally called "Kopjies," although in the northern part hundreds of square miles are found with hardly a break on the horizon. It comprises an area of above 00,000 square miles.
When the emigrant Dutch boors took possession of this country, it was inhabited by different tribes of Betjouauas and Corannas, all of whom have been dispersed, except the powerful Basuto tribe, under the chief Moshesh, who still maintain themselves in the fastnesses of the Miduti mountains, and a few Batchtpi and other Bctjouanas, who dwell round the Wesleyan mission station of Thab' Unchu and Merametsu.
All the rivers of this region are afiluents of either of the branches of the Gariep; amongst them may be named the Modder, Valsch, Great and Little Vet, which run into the Ky Gariep or Vaal river, and the Caledon, it considerable stream, which joins the Orange river after draining the Basuto country.
This region is a vast plateau, rising from b,000 to 5,000 ft. above the sea-level, with very little wood, except along the lines of the water-courses that traverse it. Travelers crossing this state from the Cape Colony to Natal arrive at the top of the passes leading to the flitter colony without a mountain being in sight, and then find themselves suddenly on the edge of an immense mountain-chain, with the coast region several thousand feet below them, extending to the Indian ocean. Immense herds of the larger antelopes for merly tenanted these vast plains, and arc vividly described by rapt. Harris, Gordon CU111111111g, and others; they are noel' fast disappearing. The diamond-fields recently dis covered lie in this state and in Griqua Laud, a narrow strip of territory bounding it on the west.
The Free State is divided into the following districts: Bloem Fontein (chief towns, Bloem Fontein the capital, Boshof); Winburg (chief towns, Winburg, Cronstadt); Smithfield (chief town, Smithfield); Harrismith (chief town, Harrismith); Fanresmith (chief town, Fauresmith). The chief town, Bloem Fontein, is situated about 150 in. n.w. of Colesberg, on a tributary of the Modder river, in lat. 29° 8' south. It contains about 250 houses; Dutch, Episcopal, and Roman Catholic churches; has two local banks, and is the scat of an episcopal see of the church of England. It is distant about 860m. overland from Cape Town, and has a post twice a week with it. The other villages or small towns are all increasing and flourishing, but do not present anything remark.
able, By the latest estimate the population of the Free State was 50,000 whites and 25,005 colored inhabitants. In 1875-70 the revenue, principally derived from local taxation and quit-rents of farms, was .C103,091.
The history of the country forming the Free State may be summed up in a few words. Capt. Harris describes it, before 1830, as a howling wilderness, inhabited by wandering hordes. of Bushmen and broken tribes of Betjounna and Zulu refugees from the armies of the gr-at Zulu tyrants, Chaka, Dingaan, and Maselikutse. After the Kaffir war of 1835 30, a cdirit of dissatisfaction arising in the minds of many of the frontier hoers, an exten sive emigration took place along the u.e. frontier of the Cape Colony; the majority of the emigrants, however, having Natal as their ultimate goal. However, after the British government had declared it an English colony in 1843, the boors again fell back on this Jgion, and by degrees declaring their independence of the British crown, and forming a sort of Alsatia on our very borders, after some opposition, and one or two conflicts with our troops, the country was annexed by sir Smith to the British empire, under the name of the Orange River sovereignty; and continned so until 1854, when sir G. Clerk formally gave it up, and allowed the inhabitants to form a government according to their own wishes. The government is now in the hands of a president, freely elected by the landrost and heemraden it. the several districts; while the volksraad, or peoples' council, exercise legislative functions. This state labors under the very serious disad vantage of being, like the kingdom of Bohemia, entirely inland, and has no port on the ocean at which customs dues can be collected; thus throwing the whole of the expense of government on local taxation.
About the year 1802 a large number of Griquas—a tribe of bastard Hottentots, who inhabited the south part of the state—sold their to the Free State government, and migrated in a body to the coast side of the mountains in Independent Kaffraria, occupy ing a large tract of country there known by the name of No Man's Land.
In 1800 a treaty was concluded with Moshesh, chief of the I3asutos, by which a por tion of the territory known as Basuto Land was ceded to the Orange River Free State. The boundaries agreed on by this treaty were, however, somewhat modified by the gov ernor of Cape Colony in 1809—a significant fact.
The Dutch Boers profess the Dutch Reformed faith, and speak a dialect of Dutch, corrupted with Hottentot and English words. They marry young, and keep up, to some extent, nomadic habits. The roads and internal communication arc good. Lime and timber are rather scarce, but building-stone and thatch abundant. Wooled sheep have increased amazingly within the hist few years; and farms that 10 years ago would hardly fetch £50, now sell at from £2,000 to £3,000. The value of imports in was £697, 025; of exports, £1,530,883.