The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

COLESBUEG.—HOPETOWX. 187year 1888 the conference of the Cape Colony, Xatal, and Orange Free Statedelegates at Cape Town unanimously agreed to a report recommending theeslablishnient of a South African Customs Union, and the extension of thecolonial railway system through the Free State to the Yaal River, the extensionto he undertaken by the Free State Government.East of AUwal Xorth the region comprised between the course of the Orange,the ToUe Eiver, and the crest of the Drakensberg, is still included in the territoryof Cape Colony. In this Alpine district the two chief centres of popuhition arethe villages of Herschel, on the left bank of the Orange, and Barhhj, situated in anupland valley near the river Kraal, which falls iulu the Orange a short distanceabove Aliwal North.Towards the west, the zone of the colonial territory belonging to the basin ofthe Orange gradually broadens out with the northern trend of that river. 15uttowns and even villages are rare on these arid upland plains formerly inhabitedby mj'riads of large mammals, and now mostly converted into vast grazinggrounds.Colnhurg, now connected by rail with Port Elizabeth, is the chiefdepot for goods intended for the Orange Free State. An "international " bridgecrosses the Orange about 20 miles to the north-east of this place. Two otherbridges follow towards the north-west, between the colonial territory and that ofits late acquisition, Griqualand "West. One of these belongs to the railwaywhich runs from the Cape in the direction of the Diamond Fields ; the other, atIlopetoicii, lower down, is the most remarkable structure of this sort hithertoerected in Cape Colony ; it has a total length of no less than 1,400 feet. Hopetown,which is distant over 600 miles from the Atlantic, is the last riverain townon the Orange, which from this point to its mouth traverses an almost uninhabitedregion. Nothing occurs along its banks except a few isolated farmsteads,some Hottentot kraals and missionary stations, the German " colony " ofStolzerfels,and some Bushman camping-grounds. At the base of the hills far inland arca few market villages, such as Hanover, Richmond, Victoria West, Fraserburr/, andCarnarrou, whence the stock-breeders of the surrounding districts draw theirsupplies.M.\Tt:iUAi, Resources of Cape Colony.—AGKicri/ruRE.The population of Cape Colony is rapidly increasing by the natural excess ofbirths over the mortality. Families are verj- numerous, and cases are mentionedof patriarchs whose family circle comprises over two hundred living descendants.*Nevertheless the actual number of inhabitants is still verj- slight compared •withthe vast extent of still unoccupied lands suitable for colonisation. South Africa,at least throughout all the coastlands below the Tugela basin, enjoys an excellentclimate, presenting no obstacles to field operations, and every farmer makes it apoint of honour to make his holding yield simultaneously " corn and wine, meatand wool." Land is not yet very dear, except in the neighbourhood of the towns* Vou llubiier, op,