Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/246

Igg SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. Natal ; next to the mother country comes Austrah'a, from which it receives con- siderable supplies of farinaceous substances. But, strange to say, notwithstanding its close proximity. Cape Colony maintains less trading relations with Natal than India, the United States, and even Brazil. The local retail business with the Hindus and natives is almost entirely monopolised by the Arab and other Asiatic dealers resident in Durban. On the road from Durban to Pieter Maritzburg the only place laying claim to the title of a town is Pinetoicn, centre of the German population in Natal. A neighbouring missionary station bears the comprehensive name of Neu-Deutschhnd (" New Germany "), and an agricultural establishment has been founded in the vicinity by some Trappist monks, mostly Germans by birth. Pieter Maritzburg, or more briefly Maritzburg, capital of Natal, is pleasantly situated at an altitude of over 2,000 feet above the sea, on a fertile plain which is watered by a southern affluent of the Ura-Geni, and which is completely encircled by gently sloping hills. Maritzburg is one of the most delightful cities in the whole of Africa, and the rich vegetation of its gardens and surrounding wood- lands resembles that of the European temperate zone rather than that of tropical lands. Although less populous than Durban, it has a far more numerous propor- tion of Government officials and employes. Here also is situated the military camp occupied by the principal division of troops stationed in the colony. Holding a central position in the country close to the seat of Government, this little army can easily be moved in the direction of any point where danger may threaten. The agricultural colony of Wilgefontein, established in the neighbourhood of Maritzburg, has turned its attention with great success to the cultivation of spring fruits and vegetables, which here yield excellent returns. On the opposite side of the Zwaartkop Range north of this district flows the Um-Geni, a river famous for its magnificent cascades. One of these, near the little town of Hoirick, tumbles in a single foaming mass over a basalt ledge from a height which has been variously estimated at from 280 to 320 feet. Lower down the stream ramifies into several branches, and here numerous picturesque little falls, separated by intervening reefs and clumps of trees, are disposed in a long line following the rocky bed of the main channel. Lidgettmni, north of Maritzburg, is situated, like the capital and Howick, in the same valley of the Um-Geni. " Dutch" Grcytoxcn, as it is called, lies in the Upper Um-Yoti basin ; but all the other centres of population belong to the region watered by the Tugela, the chief river in Natal. Estcourt and Weenen (" Weeping") follow in succession along the left bank of the Bushman affluent; Cofenso has been founded on the main stream, Ladysmith on its tributary the Klip; Newcastle (4,100 fiet) at the northern extremity of the colony, on a small affluent of the Buffalo, or Upper Tugela. North of Newcastle, at the point where the territory of Natal impinges on the Orange Free State and Transvaal, rises the steep Majuba (Ama-Juba) Hill, memorable for the victory gained by the Boers in 1881 over the British troops entrenched on the summit. On these uplands the crests, peaks, tables, or domes of the mountain ranges rise but little above rolling