CHAPTER IX 

 THE SOUTH TEMPERATE ZONE 



South Africa 



As the whole of Africa lies north of 35° south latitude, the Cape 

 and the adjacent regions of South Africa all are within the warm 

 temperate zone; and on account of the elevation of the central 

 plateau, temperate conditions prevail over much of the area lying 

 close to the Tropic of Capricorn, and even extending beyond it. 



As a whole, South Africa is a region of moderate or scanty rain- 

 fall. The best watered regions are near the south and eastern 

 coasts, while the west coast, except for a small part of the extreme 

 southwest, including the Cape, is very arid and is continuous with 

 the great desert regions of the Karroo and Kalahari, north of the 

 Cape district. 



The southwest coast of the Cape has a rainfall of 60-70 cm. of 

 which the greater part falls in the winter months: May-Septem- 

 ber. The summer is nearly or quite rainless as in the Mediter- 

 ranean region, California and southern Australia, and there is a 

 marked superficial similarity in the vegetation, although it is 

 composed for the most part of very different species. 



To the east of the Cape is a small strip (Knysna forest) where 

 the mountains approach the coast, and this is the rainiest portion 

 of the south coast. The mountains in places support a fairly 

 heavy evergreen forest, but elsewhere in the Cape region the forests 

 have been almost entirely destroyed, and they have been replaced 

 by a dense growth of evergreen shrubs resembling the "macchie" 

 of the Mediterranean countries, or the Calif ornian " chaparral." 



Following the coast eastward the rainfall becomes more evenly 

 distributed through the year, and grasslands or savannas take the 

 place of the evergreen forests and chaparral on the hills to the west. 

 Further north, the summer rainfall exceeds that of the winter, and 

 in the interior nearly all the rain falls in the summer months. This 

 is much less favorable for vegetation, owing to the great loss of 

 moisture due to evaporation. Because of the light rainfall, most 



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