NATAL. Iiy 



the spirit of " bonhomie " formerly characteristic of 

 the little community of this little Colony. Be that 

 as it may, the picturesque beauty of the country 

 and the fertility of the limited areas of soil avail- 

 able for cultivation are unaltered. Fringing the 

 principal lines of traffic, well-built, trim, and 

 cheerful-looking homesteads rejoice the eye of the 

 traveller from the more sterile districts of the 

 greater part of South Africa. 



The fruit and flowers of temperate and tropic 

 climates abound in suitable localities, and nowhere 

 perhaps within the small extent of a country 

 hardly so large as Scotland can such varieties 

 of climate be found and enjoyed, being, as it 

 is, essentially healthy throughout. The great 

 Drakensberg mountain range dominates the whole 

 Colony, except on the Zululand border, and its 

 spurs and rocky undulations are the chief com- 

 ponents of this settlement. Everywhere pure 

 water abounds, but although large streams, such 

 as the Tugela, Umgeni, and Moie Rivers, flow 

 through the land, they are not, and never can be, 

 made navigable. 



On the coast-line between Durban and the 

 Tugela the sugar industries flourish to some 



