388 THE ZAMBEZIAN CLIMATE 



of heat and quiescence, comes the second phase. 

 The rain, which about midsummer holds oif for a 

 time, now deluges the earth in tremendous down- 

 fails, thunderstorms are frequent, and floods occur. 

 April comes, and suddenly Nature holds her hand. 

 The swollen rivers and inundated plains shake 

 themselves free from the redundant waters. The 

 grasses have now reached a formidable height, and 

 the sorely encumbered earth looks for fire to rid it 

 of this immense mass of useless vegetation. So 

 the rains now cease, and the land begins to dry up. 

 Rich greens turn to copper, and brown, and yellow, 

 and little by little, with the advent of May, the 

 winter returns with its sober greyness. 



On the Zambezi the rainfalls are often astonish- 

 ingly heavy, and have been known to continue 

 without intermission for a day and a half at a time. 

 The annual measurement varies more than can be 

 accounted for, however, but probably averages 

 about forty to forty-two inches. Naturally in the 

 hills it is considerably more than this, but on the 

 whole I should think the amounts mentioned 

 would be found to be a fair average on most of the 

 well-forested lower levels. It must not, of course, 

 be supposed that rain falls daily, even at the height 

 of the wet season. Sometimes none may fall for a 

 week or ten days, or — about the middle of December 

 — even longer. The heavier falls occur about the 

 latter end of the African summer, which occasionally 

 prolongs itself into May, but fortunately not very 

 often. 



The summer temperature, especially in the 

 vicinity of the river, is without doubt exceedingly 



