NATAL.
"In all the world there is not a fairer country than the pleasant land of Natal, stretching in steps from the Drachenberg, which bounds it like a mighty wall, downward to the shore of the Indian Ocean. The coast belt is covered with subtropical vegetation, for it is heated by the warm Mozambique current, which runs southward along it, and gives it a higher temperature than is due to its distance from the equator.
"Each terrace, as the traveler ascends, is cooler than the one below, though it is nowhere cold. It is a well-watered land. Numerous streams, issuing from the Drachenberg and the fronts of the lower terraces, rush along in deep gorges to the sea, and carry off the super-abundant moisture, so that it is also well drained."
Its soil is rich, its forests produce excellent timber, and its grazing valleys resemble meadows. Its climate everywhere is healthy for Europeans.
Compared with Cape Colony, Natal is of slight importance. It is much smaller in size, having an area only about one half that of Scotland.
One writer has described the country as spurs of wooded mountain and picturesque hills, which slope down like the fingers of a hand from the higher cliff-like edge of the Drachenberg, some eleven hundred feet high.
Fertile valleys, watered by steadily flowing rivers, lie between these mountain fingers of the land; while between the coast and the mountains lie tracts of level grass-covered land, or fertile undulating sections, on which are pastured great herds of cattle, sheep, and goats.
The climate of Natal we may consider as semi-tropical. It has a favorable position, hence the summer heat is not excessive. The winters are unusually pleasant.
Probably no portion of South Africa is so well watered as Natal. As many as twenty-three rivers flow through the country and enter the Indian Ocean. Owing to the mountainous nature of the country, none of these rivers are navigable.
In many places the scenery is very picturesque. Only a small portion of the colony is as yet settled. There are sugar plantations scattered here and there throughout the entire country, however; for they can be worked to advantage by Indian coolies. These coolies have, upon trial, been found more skillful and more steady laborers than the natives.