540 



.r. W. BEWS. 



o-reat variety of natural conditions. It rises bv a series of 

 terraces, but these have been cut through by the main river 

 valleys, so that in each terrace there are portions at a higher 

 level — the high veld region, and portions at a lower level — 

 the low veld region. Natal, as a whole, is a region of summer 

 rainfall, 77 per cent, of the average annual rainfall coming 

 between October and March. The winters are very dry. 

 Towards the end of winter hot, dry winds blow from the north 

 or north-west. 



On each terrace the high veld region receives the greatest 

 proportion of the deposition of moisture both in the form of 

 rain and mist ; it does not have great extremes of tempera- 

 ture ; the hot winds do not affect it so much, and its southern 

 slopes are sheltered from them. The soil on the more level 

 parts is loose, well aerated and of considerable depth, rich in 

 the higher oxides of iron, but poor in nutritive salts. On the 

 steeper slopes the soil conditions are more variable, and large 

 and small blocks of dolerite are frequent. The slopes with 

 north exposure are often bare and rocky. 



The low veld region is much drier, since the rain-clouds tend 

 to pass over it withovit depositing moisture; it has great 

 extremes of temperature ; the hot winds are both hotter and 

 stronger in the valleys, the air being heated by compression 

 as it descends from above. The soil is a dry, hard-baked, 

 compact clay, badly aerated, but rich chemically. Over the 

 river flats the soil is alluvial, growing more shallow on the 

 rising ground till it becomes transitional to the high veld. 

 Where the rivers have cut down deeply rocky slopes or cliffs 

 are formed, often covered with blocks of dolerite. 



The soluble salts are dissolved out of the soils of the high 

 veld and re-deposited in the low veld. Here and there iron- 

 pans are formed, and lime is re-deposited as nodules. The 

 soil itself is washed down, and during the dry season blown 

 down, to lower levels. After the grass fires the ashes are also 

 blown down over the low veld. 



The vegetation has been, and is being, greatly changed 

 through the influence of man, both direct and indirect. Fire 



