Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/257

 THE ORANGE FREE STATE. 109 lines in Cape Colony und those being pushed forward in Trunsvaal and the upltmd valleys of Natal can be realised only by carrying out tlie projected intt'nnediatc links in the Free State. The gap to be bridged over in onler to connect Kinjberley in Griqualand West with Ladysraith in Natal is about 300 miles long, while a line double that length will be required to effect the junction between Kiraberley and the Louren(o Marques line. Topography of the Orange Free State. The only town worthy of the name in the Orange Free State is the capital. liloemfotitcin, which is situated in the middle of u treeless plain at an altitude of 4,500 feet above sea-level. It stands nearly midway between Kimberley and the liasuto frontier, on a mostly waterless stream, whose valley inclines to the Modder and Vaal, From a little eminence on the east side, which was formerly fortiti«'d, liloemfontein presents a pleasant prospect, with its regular streets lined by black and white houses. Near the European quarter are grouped the humble dwellingH of Wnitj-JIook, a suburban village, where all the natives are bound to pass the night. Bloemfontein, seat of a high school and centre of the political and com- mercial life of the republic, presents other advantages to strangers. It is an extremely healthy place, highly recommended by South African physicians as a sanatorium, especially to consumptive patients. A number of invalids from the Cape, and even from Europe, form a part of the population, which still falls con- siderably under three thousand. East of liloemfontein lies the Ba-Rolong district, till recently an independent little native State, forming an enclave in the Orange Ilopublic, just as the latter is itself completely encircled by the other South African States. About fifteen thousand of the lia-Ilolong nation dwelt peacefully in this little territory, over six thousand being grouped within the enclosures of the capital, Thuhn Ns/m, so called from the hill whose crest and slopes it covered. But in 1884 a decree of the Bloem- fontein Volksraad (Assembly) put an end to the autonomy of the petty Ba-Rolong Republic. Since then hundreds of the natives, indignant at the breach of faith committed by the Boers, have quitted their homes and sought refuges amongst their eastern neighbours and former enemies, the people of Basutoland. Befon* this event Thaba Nshu was the largest centre of population in all the non-British lands comprised between the Vaal and the Orange. The provincial chief towns in the Free State, although for the most part little more than rural villages, possess. some importance as market-places, well stocketl with provisions of all kinds to supply the needs of the flourishing farmsteads round about. Ladi/hnnitl^ lying to the north-east of Thaba Nshu, has the distinction of being the central point of the most fertile province in the republic, a province violently wrested from the Basutos. Smithjii'ld, on the Lower Caledon, and Rottxri/Zr, near the Orange, almost opposite the British town of Aliwal North, are also buj»v Hgricidtural centres. lieihulic, founded by the French missionaries, close to the Orange and Caledon confluence, has becon-e one of the chief stations on the route