132 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



tributary of the former, and joins it, not many miles below 

 our present route. 



The general character of the country here is almost the 

 same, with regard to vegetation, as the. Zuureberg, on the 

 left bank of the Orange River ; extensive plains, with a luxu- 

 riant herbage in a favourable season, but scantily provided 

 with bushes, bounded in all directions by small hills, with 

 flat, table-shaped tops, principally belonging to the red sand- 

 stone formation. There is a very extensive tract of country, 

 seemingly of one formation, being strikingly uniform in cli- 

 mate and vegetation. The former, with respect to moisture 

 and temperature, is very much alike at all seasons, and so are 

 the phenomena of the weather. The atmosphere during 

 winter is clear, very cold, and dry. Summer, from Novem- 

 ber till March, is the rainy season; the air then is very 

 damp and hot in the forenoon, with heavy and sudden thun- 

 der-showers ; after which, it clears up towards evening, gene- 

 rally to repeat the same the next morning. 



Considering the high elevation of that part of the country, 

 together with the advanced number of degrees of southern 

 latitude, there must be a great difference of temperature 

 between the lower part near the soil, and the higher 

 atmosphere. The air contiguous to the ground becomes con- 

 siderably heated and dilated by a burning sun, but soon enters 

 into a cool and rarified atmosphere above, where it quickly 

 becomes condensed, which may be the reason for frequent 

 and sudden thunder-showers during the hottest season. The 

 limits of that vast region may be superficially drawn in the 

 following way, to give an idea of its extent. The most 

 southern point of that region falls about 32° 30' S. lat. and 

 26° 50' E. Ion., near the Moravian Institution, at Shiloh, in 

 the Tambuki country, where it forms a sharp angle. A 

 natural line of mountain chain, running in an easterly and 

 afterwards north-easterly direction towards Delagoa Bay> 

 constitutes its south-easterly and easterly limit. Turning 

 westward, about S. lat. 25°, almost parallel with the same 

 degree of latitude, over a considerably elevated tract of coun- 



