Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/140

104 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. groups, such as that of the cyperucea), are seen as far inland as the slopes of the hills in the basins of the Great Kei and Great Fish Rivers, and the country becomes more and more verdant as we follow the coastline in the north east direction towards Kafirland and Natal. The trees increase in size and the spread of their branches, while most of them nssuine a greater wealth of foliage and more brilliant blossom. In Natal no season of the year is destitute of plants in flower. The thickets of leafy trees are here and there interspersed with two species of palm, the Phoenix reclinata, and another whos«i roots are as polished as vegetable ivory. Here also the superb if«/ww cijcndifolio raises its gracefully curved fronds resembling the plumage of an ostrich. Although still lying far to the south of the tropical line, the flora of this region is no longer that of the temperate zone. Beyond the coast ranges, where begin the arid plateaux rarely watered by the life-giving rains, the aspect of the vegetable world suddenly changes. Here we enter the botanic region of the Karroos, which is sharply limited towards the south and south-east, but le>s clearly detined on the west and north-west in the direction of the Namaqua plateau, and on the north towards the deserts traversed by the Orange River. The zone of the Karroos is destitute of trees, and even of shrubs, with the exception of the doniboom or " thorn-iree " of the Dutch settlers, a species of acacia [Acacia hoynda) which fringes the banks of the wadys. Neither the heiths nor many other families characteristic of the Cape flora have penetrated iu'o the Karroos, where leguminous plants are also extremely rare. But the Bar- bary fig, after overrunning the plains of the Cape, is now encroaching on the northern upland plateaux, notwithstanding the efforts to extirpate it round about the farmsteads. This arid region abounds especially in thorny species, to all of which might well be applied the term " wait-a-bit," given to one variety of acacia (Acacia deienens), because the unguarded wayfarer often finds himself suddenly arrested by its sharp spines. About one-third of the whole flora comprises such plants belonging to the Cape region as have succeeded in adapting themselves to the dry climate of the Karroo by means of their succulent roots, stems, atid foliage. The l>lains and the heights dominating them are usually of a uniform grey colour, but after the rains Nature suddenly assumes a festive garb. The stunted plants burst into blossom in all directions, and the ground becomes draped in an endlessly diversiherl mantle of yellow, blue, and purple bloom. But this bright array is of short duration, and the vegetation soon resumes its sombre ashy aspect. Here are numerous monocotyledonous species, which never blossom for years together, lacking the favourable conditions of light, moisture, and heat needed to stimulate their florescence. North of the highlands which border the Karroo, and which are remarkably rich in compound species, stretches the zone of steppes and deserts, to which is generally applied the term Kalahari, although it really begins south of the Orange River below the region so named. In its more fertile districts, the Kalahari presents the aspect of a savannah of tall grasses growing in isolated tufts and interspersed with a few stun'ed shrubs. In the northern districts it is occupied by open forests J