240 AFRICA 



occupation as it requires a combination of soil and water 

 which is realized in but limited areas. 



Hoogeveld. The South African plateau continues in 

 an increasing gradient towards its south-eastern edge, 

 which is called the Drakenberg. The combined influence 

 of winds, drought, and soil has prevented tree-growth, 

 and, following upon the boschveld, the hoogeveld 

 extends on the south at an elevation of from 4,000 to 

 5,500 feet, a vast, level, treeless expanse ; a steppe with 

 a short and irregular sward, only to be compared to the 

 other vast steppe-regions, the American prairies and the 

 Asiatic steppes. Table-like eminences called kopjes rise 

 here and there above the general level of the plains, 

 a thin sprinkling of stunted bushes on their often steep 

 and rocky scarps. Otherwise, not a pebble, not a shrub, 

 breaks the monotony of the endless plateaus : trees are 

 restricted to the immediate vicinity of the water-courses 

 and of human settlements. The dry and cool climate of 

 the hoogeveld renders it the healthiest part of Africa. 

 The pastures originally supported quantities of wild 

 cattle and big game, and the huntsman and the herds- 

 man found there abundant occupation. Large numbers 

 of cattle, however, could not be grazed permanently on 

 the same spot ; hence arose the necessity of shifting the 

 pastures and hunting-fields and, partly, of the nomadic 

 life led by the white invaders, in their turn. 



Drakenberg. The pastures are carried right over the 

 raised edge of the plateau which has been so carved into 

 hills as to deserve the name of mountain- range. A 

 rain-supply falls upon the Drakenbergs sufficient to 

 justify the presence of forests, were not these mountains 

 exposed to the full strength of precisely those south- 

 easterly blasts which bring the rain. Thus the beneficial 

 effect of the latter is counteracted, as far as tree-growth 



