The Orange Free State, which, with the Transvaal, form the only non-English states in South Africa, also lies in the plain or veldt district, and is of hardly any commercial importance. Three decades ago it found itself in almost the same situation with England as the Transvaal is to-day, but, unlike the South African republic, feared to demand its rights from the British Government. At that time the Kimberley diamond mines were discovered on acknowledged Free State soil. England purchased an old native chief’s claims, which had been disallowed by a court of arbitration, and pushed them as its own. The Free State was weak, and agreed to forfeit its claim in return for a sum of four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The mines, now owned by a syndicate, of which Cecil J. Rhodes is the head, have yielded more than four hundred million dollars’ worth of diamonds since the Free State ceded them to England for less than half a million dollars. The natives, who less than one hundred years ago ruled the whole of South Africa with the exception of a small fraction of Cape Colony and several square miles on the east coast, have been relegated by the advances of civilization, until now they hold only small territories, or reservations, in the different colonies and republics. They are making slow progress in the arts of civilization, except in Cape Colony, where, under certain conditions, they are allowed to exercise the franchise, and on the whole have profited but little by the advent of the whites, notwithstanding the efforts of missionaries and governments. They smart under the treatment of the whites, who, having forcibly taken their country from them, now compel them to pay rental for the worst parts of the country, to which they are circumscribed, and to wear brass tags, with numbers, like so many cattle. Comparatively few natives work longer than three months of the year, and would not do that except for the fear of punishment for non-payment of hut taxes. With the exception of those who are employed in the towns and cities, the negroes wear the same scanty costumes of their forefathers, and follow the same customs and practices. Witchcraft and superstition still rule the minds of the majority, and the former is practised in all its cruel hideousness in many parts of the country, although prohibited by law.