ORANGE FREE STATE. 131 



The general condition of the inhabitants of the 

 Orange Free State appears prosperous; although, 

 perhaps, fortunes are not accumulated, wellbeing 

 and content is a general characteristic of social 

 life. The absence of wood for fuel in most parts 

 of the country does not enhance the comforts of 

 either the traveller or inhabitant, especially as for 

 many months of the year a keen air prevails during 

 the day and the nights are decidedly cold. For 

 cooking purposes dung is but a poor substitute for 

 wood, and the scent of it in a calcined state 

 impregnates the food and atmosphere to an extent 

 only to be ignored by long-acquired habit. 



The Free State has been fortunate on the whole 

 in the selection of its Presidents, and to young 

 republics nothing is more essential than the com- 

 petence of the head of the State, as his real 

 position is autocratic. His Parliament is helpless 

 as an initiating factor in politics, attributive to the 

 prevalent narrow-mindedness incidental to the 

 very limited education encouraged, or I may say 

 hitherto permitted, by the omnipotent Dutch 

 clergy. Signs are not wanting that the cleric will, 

 in this respect, soon have to simulate a change of 

 views, however disinclined he may be in reality. 



