Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/292

Rh 270 AFRICA [STATES. districts, namely, about 200 miles. Tlie capital, St Paulo de Loando, contains 12,300 inhabitants, and has a fine har bour. St Felipe de Benguela is situated in a picturesque but very marshy and most unhealthy spot. uth The coast from Benguela to the Cape Colony may, in a rica. general arrangement like this, be included either within West Africa or South Africa. The whole coast is little visited or known, being of a most barren and desolate description, and possessing few harbours. Ichabo island and Angra Peguena Bay are visited for their guano deposits, and are claimed as British possessions. Under South Africa the Cape Colony only is generally comprised. It takes its name from the Cape of Good Hope, and extends from thence to the Orange river in the north, and to the Kai river in the east. A large proportion of the territory included within these limits, especially in the north, is either unoccupied, or, excepting missionary stations, entirely in the hands of the aborigines. Apart from the shores, the country consists of high lands, forming parallel mountainous ridges, with elevated plains or terraces of varying extent between. The loftiest range, styled in different parts of its course Sneuw-bergen, Winter- bergen, Nieuveld-bergen, and Roggenveld-bergen, names originated by the Dutch, is the third and last encountered on proceeding into the interior from the south coast. This and the other chains are deeply cut by the transverse valleys called kloofs, which serve as passes across them, and appear as if produced by some sudden convulsion of nature, subse quently widened by the action of the atmosphere and run ning water. The high plains or terraces are remarkable for their extraordinary change of aspect in the succession of the seasons. During the summer heats they are perfect deserts, answering to the term applied to them, karroos, signifying, in the Hottentot language, &quot;dry&quot; or &quot;arid.&quot; But the sandy soil being pervaded with the roots and fibres of various plants, is spontaneously clothed with the richest verdure after the rains, and becomes transformed for a time into a vast garden of gorgeous flowers, yielding the most fragrant odours. Adapted thus to the support of gramini vorous animals, the karroos are the resort of antelopes, zebras, quaggas, and gnus in countless herds, and of the carnivorous beasts that prey upon them, the lion, hyaena, leopard, and panther. These quadrupeds, however, with the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, giraffe, buffalo, and ostrich, have been largely banished from their old haunts by the advancing footsteps of civilised man, and are only found in the more secluded parts of the interior. The country has a singular and superb flora, but it comprises few native plants useful to man : many such have been now introduced. Heaths of varied species and great beauty abound; and geraniums are treated as common weeds. Many highly productive districts occur; corn, wines, and fruit being the chief objects of cultivation in the neighbour hood of the Cape, while the more inland settlements are grazing farms. Some fine natural forests clothe the sides of the mountains; but in general the colony is deficient in timber trees, as well as in navigable streams, perennial springs, and regular rain. A great deposit of rich copper ore occurs near the mouth of the Orange; and salt is ob tained for consumption and sale from salt lakes. The climate is exceedingly fine and salubrious. There are two seasons, characterised by the prevalence of certain winds. During the summer, which lasts from September to April, the winds blow from south-east, cold and dry; during the winter, namely from May to September, north-west winds prevail In the most elevated regions the winters are occa sionally severe, and snow and ice occur. The chief native tribes within the British territory are the Hottentots, Bechuanas, and Kaffres. &amp;gt; T o manufacture is conducted at the Cape except the making of wine, of which from 10,000 to 40,000 gallons are annually exported to England. Various articles of provision are supplied to ships sailing between Europe and the East Indies. Cape Town is the capital of the colony, and contains 28,460 inhabitants, of whom 15,120 are Europeans. Its commerce is considerable, and the port is frequented by 500 to 600 vessels every year. The Orange river sovereignty, added to the British terri tories in 1848, but subsequently given up and constituted a free republic, extends north of the Orange river as far as the Ky Gariep orVaal river. In consequence of the dis covery of rich diamond fields on the lower Vaal river and in the neighbouring territory of the Griqua chief Water- boer, who also petitioned to have his lands subjected to British rule, a wide country surrounding the diamond- fields was incorporated with the Cape Colony in October 1871, under the name of Griqua Land West, divided into Griquii the districts of Pneil, Griqua Town, and Klipdrift. The Land V population of this new territory was estimated at 50,000 in 1872, concentrated in camps round the chief diamond- fields. In 1869, Bassuto Land, a mountainous territory at Bassutx the head waters of the Nu Gariep branch of the Orange river, Lan ^- and on the inward slope of the Drakenberg range, was incorporated as a British possession. Natal or Victoria, a district on the east coast, and sepa- Natal. rated from the Cape Colony by Kaffraria, is a recently formed British settlement, which was created into a colony in 1856. It is highly favoured in those respects in which the Cape is most deficient, having abundance of wood and water, with coal and various metallic ores, a fine alluvial soil, and a climate adapted to the cultivation of the products for which the home demand is large and constant^cotton, silk, and indigo. Pietermaritzburg, the capital of the settle ment, lies 50 miles from the coast. Port Natal, now D Urban, seated on a fine lake-like bay, is the only harbour. The Transvaal Republic is an inland state, between the Vaal on the south and the Limpopo river on the north, having the Drakenberg edge on the east, and the Bechuana tribes, which occupy the region bordering on the Kalahira desert, on the west, founded by the Dutch loe^s emigrating from the Cape Colony. Its surface is an elevated plateau, thinly wooded in some parts, but generally affording excel lent pasture. The chief town is Potchefstroom, on a tribu tary of the Vaal; but the seat of government is at Pretoria, in the region of the head streams of the Limpopo. East Africa extends from Natal northwards to the Red Sea, comprising Sofala, Mozambique, Zanzibar, and the Sot ala. Somali country. But little is known of that region beyond the shores. The Sofalti Coast, extending from Delagoa Bay to the Zambeze river, is flat, sandy, and marshy, gradually ascending towards the interior. It abounds with rivers, which are the source of yearly inundations. The soil is very fertile, and produces chiefly rice. In the interior, gold and other metals, as well as precious stones, are found. The Portuguese have settlements at Sofala, in an unhealthy spot, abounding with salt marshes; it consists of only huts, a church, and a fort in ruins. Inhambane, near the tropic of Capricorn, has an excellent harbour. Mozambique extends from the Zambeze to Cape Delgado, Mozam- and is similar, in its natural features, to the Sofala Coast. Wquo. The greatest river is the Zambeze. The principal settle ment of the Portuguese is at Quillimane, which is situated in a very unhealthy position on the northern arm of the delta of the Zambeze, surrounded with mangrove trees. The Zanzibar or Sawahili Coast extends from Cape Del- ZanziLai gado to the river Jub, near the equator. The coast is generally low, and has but few bays or harbours : its northern portion is rendered dangerous by a line of coral reefs ex tending along it. The region possesses a great number of