ORANGE
268
ORANGE
formed). Those of English origin belong to the difTer-
ent dominations usually found in the British colonies
and in the United Slates of America. The Oraiifje
Free State contains a good number of neat little towns
with pojjulations varyinf; from one to eight thousand.
Woemfontein, capital ni the province, so called from a
spring (fontein) on the farm of Jan Bloem, an early
German settler, is a spacious, clean, and well-built city
of 33,000 inhabitants, and the seat of the provincial
council a.s well as the legal and judicial centre of the
entire Union. It is distant 400 miles from East Lon-
don, the nearest seaport, and 290 miles from Pretoria,
the executive capital. Other important towns are
Kroonstad, Harrismith, Jagersfontein, and Smith-
field, in each of which there is a Catholic church. The
total number of Catholics in the Orange Free State is
about 2000, mostly of European origin or descent.
The province forms part of the Vicariate of Kimber-
ley (q. v.), which is in the Cape Province, and in which
the vicar Apostolic resides. The present (1910) vicar
Apostolic is the Right Reverend Alatthew Gaughren,
O.M.I., titular Bi.shop of Tentyra. Cathohes enjoy
absolute freedom of worship, but receive no govern-
ment aid for their clergy or schools. The Roman
Dutch Law, which is administered in the courts, is
favourable to Catholics on such points as tenure of ec-
clesiastical propert}', marriage, wills, and charitable
bequests. The clergy are not liable to serve on juries
or as burghers "on command ' ' , nor are churches taxed .
Flourishing convent schools and academies are di-
rected by the Sisters of the Holy Family at Bloemfon-
tein and Jagersfontein, and by the Sisters of Notre
Dame (of Namur) at Kroonstad.
WiLMOT, Hist, of our own times in South Africa (London. 1897- 9); Tbeal, Hist, of S. A. since ITfjr, (London, 1908); Deher.\in, L'expansion des Boers au XIX' siecle (Paris, 1905) ; Hist, of S. A. to the Jameson Raid (Oxford, 1899); Can.\, S. A. from the Great Trek to the Union (London. 1909); Bryce, Impressions of S. A. (London, 1899) ; Cappon, Britain's Title to S. A. (London, 1901); Browk, Guide to S. .4. (London, 1909-10); Catholic Directory of S. A. (Cape Town, 1910).
H. MacSherrv.
Orange River, Vicariate Apostolic of, and the Prefecturs Apostolic of Great Namaqdaland, in South Africa. The vicariate was erected in 1897 after having been a prefecture Apostolic since July, 1885. It comprises the whole of Little Namaqualand (beginning on the northern line of Clan William County in Cape Colony, i. c. 30° 35' S. lat.); extends to the Atlantic Ocean on the west, and to the Orange River on the north. It further includes Bushmanland, the districts of Ken- hardt. Van Rhyns, Dorp, and Frazerburg on the east, and beyond the Orange River, the district of Gordonia in Bechuanaland. The prefecture, detached from the vicariate in July, 1909, is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. It extends from the Orange River as far as Damaraland (23° 20' S. lat.), and com- prises the city of Rehboth and its district. The east- ern boundary line is 20° E. long.
Great Namaqualand. — For thirty or forty, or in certain districts even a hundred miles inland, this dis- trict is only a sandy d&sert, which extends on the east- ern side to the great Kalahari desert . The central por- tion depends for its fertility almost exclusively on thunder-storms, without which it would be nearly des- titute of water. The vicariate is but little better in this respect. When, however, a sufficiently long rain waters these forlorn regions, the richest pastures spring up in an incredibly short time. The very air then becomes saturated to such a degree with the odour of vegetation that many suffer from headache. Swarms of locusts devour the exuberant, produce, un- less some powerful east wind c;irries them into the sea. The "aristocracy" in Great Namaqualand consists of German immigrants, and, in the other parts of the mis- sion, of Enghsh, Irish, and Boer settlers, while the Hottentots form the bulk of the scanty population in the two Namaqualands. They are not negroes. Their
skin is like that of whites much browned by jaundice,
and their build more like th:it of the Egyptians as seen
on ancient monuments; o?- n^^Min, resembling that of
the Chinese, oidy exereiJiiiL^ llierji oi- any cjiher nice on
earth in their ugliness, espi cinlly when burdened with
years. Unselfish lu:spit;dii.\' ;Lppears to be their only
natural virtue. They lo\c music. Their habit of imi-
tating is such as to rouse either a smile or exaspera-
tion; a crowd of Hottentots at Holy Mass, when re-
ceiving the priest's blessing, all repe:ite(l the sign of
the Cross over him! The late Miix Miiller, neverthe-
less, vouched for their ancestors having been a cul-
tured race. Although they have in their language a
word signifying Deity, it took a long time to make
them understand spiritual doctrines other than that of
the existence of the devil. They are extremely disin-
clined to any form of labour or exertion. To induce
them, for example, to navigate, the missionaries built a
boat by which to cross the Orange River. For weeks,
neither encouraging worfls nor exhibitions of safe sail-
ing appeared to make any impression on theln. One
missionary relates that, among his Hottentot catechu-
mens, there was one who never could learn how to
make the sign of the Cross, nor the answers of the cate-
chism, nor any prayer except these words of the Pater
Noster: "Our Father, give us this day our daily
bread." The missionaries have shown here what an
uplifting influence the Catholic Church exercises over
the most forlorn nations, since the younger generation,
trained by the missionaries as far as circumstances
allowed, are considerably more intelligent and suscep-
tible of culture than their elders.
BusHMANL.\ND. — In this territory are found the Bushmen (or Bojesmen), a tribe kindred to the Hot- tentots. They are short in stature, and generally ma- licious and intractable. Intellectually and morally they are not on a higher level than the Hottentots, but, as far as they have been accessible to the mission- aries, they have improved in both respects.
Bechuanaland. — The Bechuanas belong to the Kafir race. Many of them show some skill in iron and copper working and in mining, also in tanning hides. Very difTerent from the Hottentots, many of them present a pleasing appearance, and some are hand- some.
Missions. — When the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales arrived in Little Namaqualand, to which the mission w.as then confined, they found not one hun- dred Catholics. In 1903, v\'ithout any change of popu- lation, they counted 2735. There were six stations with churches and resident priests, five other stations regularly attended, 125 conversions during the year, and 98 children were baptized; 122 confirmations, 25 marriages; 3 hospitals and homes for the aged, 8 schools, 3 orphanages, 82 orphans, 8 missionary priests, 3 catechists; 15 missionary sisters aided the mission. Some fifty places are now visited by the priests to attend to the spiritual and temporal wants of the people. In several places, all Catholic adults receive Holy Communion on the first Friday of every month and the great feasts of the year. Sella is the residence of the vicar Apostolic, and Hierachalis that of the prefect Apostohc. These results are most encourag- ing, when the great difficulties confronting the mis- sionaries are considered. In 1909 the approximate statistics for the two missions were: 1 bishop; 14 priests; 3 catechists; 22 mis.sionary sisters; 480 chil- dren in Catholic schools; 175 baptisms of children, 315 of adults. In Little Namaqualand the natives under- stand Dutch or English; but in Great Namaqualand, besides German, the extremely difficult language of the Hottentots has to be mastered.
For reports and statistics of the missions, consult the following periodicals: Annates saUsiennes (Paris), an illustrated monthly; Lichi (Vienna); Echo of the Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales (Childs. Maryland). Cf. also Missimes CathoUca (Rome, 1007); Statesman's Year Book (London).
J. J. ISENRINO.
