Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/256

 198 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. bidden by law either to vote, to bear arms, or to acquire the ownership of a square yard of land ; nor will cuBtora even allow them to dwell in the vicinity of the whites. Accustomed if not always to till the land, at least to superintend field opera- tions, the Boers — that is, "peasants" — as a rule fully justify this designation by their solid, square-set figures and heavy, awkward gait. They lack neither strength nor courage, but can make no claim to phyfe'ical beauty or grace. They display no sense of taste or elegance in their dress or their household surroundings. On the other hand, they are richly endowed with the solid qualities of most rural populations — thrift, method, and perseverance, besides a vigorous vitality, shown in their large families and the great excess of births over deaths. Hence their numerical preponderance over the other whites would appear to be secureil for some time to come, at least unless the equilibrium of the population be com- pletely changed by unforeseen events. But if the English are still in a great minority, thoy are none the less the representatives of a decidedly superior culture, intercourse, and still more of general instruction. Most of the teachers being Knglish or Scotch, their language naturally prevails in the schoolroom. It is also acquiring the supremacy in all the towns, where the immigrants — traders and mechanics — come chiefly from Port Elizabeth and other parts of the British colonies. Thus the transition from the rude Dutch dialect to the world-wide English tongue is being slowly but surely effected through the thousand subtle changes daily taking place in the very heart of the social system. The wealth of the Orange tree State is derived mainly from its pastures, the extent of land under tillage being estimated at little more than 125,000 acres. The whole territory is parcelled out in great domains, treated chiefly as grazing- ground?, and at present supporting as many as five million sheep. Over nine- tenths of tlie wool exported by the English dealers through Durban comes from the Free State, where stock-breeders have also turned their attention to ostrich- farming. Agriculture, also, has acquired a real importance in recent times, especially in the eastern districts watered by the ramifying streams of the Caledon and its numerous afthjents. In the central and western parts, where water is sc'irce, the landowners are at great pains to capture and husband it in every pos- sible way. Not a drop is wasted, and the farmsteads dotted over the monotonous sheepwalks are now usually encircled by a rich zone of pleasant gardens and orchards, interspersed with clumps of trees. At the time when the diamond fever was attracting thousands of fortune-hunters to the arid plains of Griqualand West, the supplies of provisions were drawn chiefly from the agricultural districts of the Orange Free State and Basutoland. The Free State itself possesses some diamanliferous clays, which, like those of KimlxM-ley, are found in pits or crater-like formations, apparently of igneous origin. But these industrial resources can scarcely be turned to much account until this territory, as is now proposed, is brought within the network of the South African railway systems. The junction that is to be effected between the numerous
 * in(l their speech already rivals the official language as the current medium of