The Monmouth inquirer., 1925-08-20


r ATAL. one of the provinces of
N the Union of South Africa,
1 which the prince of Wales re-
Gently visited, is probably
Great Britain's best hope for a real
eotton-producing region within the en-
pire. A projected railway in the prov
inee will open up a quarter of a mill
lion fertile acres of what British ex-
perts consider as good cotton land as
any to be found in America.
Natal is not well known to the out
side world, because it is merged / n a
greater whole that attracts all the at
tention at a distance. Natal is now
enc of the divisions in Africa's United
States,' the Union of South Africa.
But like our own Texas it started u
as a colony of another power and later
had an Independent existence of It's
W as a republic, Settlers from Hol-
land first placed it in the fold of Euro
pean colonies and later organized it as
an independent country. Great Britain
took it over in 1912 and merged 1t into
the Union of South Africa when that
federation was formed in 1910.
Natal lies just around Africa's COR
ner, only a little way teyond the Cape
of Good Hope, by turning which Vasco
da Cana, in 1897, found the all-impor-
tant water route to the East. Natal
fronts, therefore, on the southern part
of the Indian ocean. 1t extends rough
ly between south latitude q and 80,
and has a position corresponding, in
the northern hemisphere. to that OF
northern Florida and the southern and
central portions of the other Gulf
states.
In area Natal is some 5000 square
miles greater than South Carolina. AS
in that and other of u South Atlantic
states, the coastal belt is relatively
low and warm with a subtropical eli
mate. 1t is in this zone that Natal's
potential cotton lands are situated.
There, too. is a considerable sugar
industry. and large tea plantations.
The tea industry, however, is losing
ground since the province placed strict
limits on immigration from India.
Back about thirty miles from the coast
the midland belt begins. This zone is
higher and cooler, as is the back coun-
try of the American Gulf states, and
constitutes a ''corn belt" Still farther
from the coast are the uplands of Ma
tai, where higher altitude and lower
temperature combine to create condi-
lions like those of the plains of Texas
and Oklahoma. And, as in the uplands
of those states, stock raising and ce-
real production are the dominant in
dustries.
Called the Garden Province.
Although the smallest of the prov
inces of the Union of South Africa,
Natal is in many ways the most ia
vored. Because of its agricultural pos
sibilities, already pretty well devel-
oped, Natal is known as the Garden
province It's scenery Is more varied
than that of any other province it has
the heaviest population Of British ex-
traction: and its native population is
Of a much higher type than that Of
the rest of South Africa. being largely
Zulus.
The chief scenic factor in Natal is
the Drakensberg rampant. This is
loosely called a mountain range. In
reality it is the seward edge of a
high plateau that stands clifflike over
the low country about a hundred miles
inland. This rampant. in most places
difficult Of access, gives Natal an iso-
lation that has shown itself in the de-
veIopment Of a marked individuality
among its people.
At the Drakensberg n encounters
scenery that is stupendous. At places
the great cliffs rise almost sheerly for
1000 feet. The edge is scanned with
canyons, many of which seem choked
with a tumble of gigantic powders as
big as houses.
The ~Drakensberg Is not only a fea-
ture of beauty. Over Its edge streams
dash In mighty leaps, creating poten-
tIal power that will some day be har-