The Boers, who, as we have said, are a quiet farming people, were not
pleased with this invasion of foreigners. They christened them Uitlanders,
which means outsiders, and they are decidedly not in love with them.

The capital of the Transvaal is a town called Pretoria. It is the seat of
the government, and is a simple, unpretentious town, situated in the
centre of the little Republic.

When the Uitlanders poured over the borders into the gold-fields, they
desired to have a town somewhat nearer to the Rand and the gold-fields
than Pretoria was, so they founded Johannesburg.

This town flourished amazingly, and soon far outstripped Pretoria in size
and importance, just as the Uitlanders had outstripped the Boers in point
of numbers and wealth.

The native population of the Transvaal is very scattered. They are a
nation of farmers, and at the present time there are only about 15,000
Boer men in the whole territory, while of the English-speaking Uitlanders
there are more than five times that number.

No sooner did Johannesburg grow to be a powerful city, than the
Uitlanders, her citizens, demanded that they should have a voice in the
government of the country.

They complained that they were hardly used by the Boers, and made to pay
heavy taxes.

The taxes are certainly heavy, but they are levied upon the gold miners,
who have come to the Transvaal for the sole purpose of making fortunes out