he winds as they advance
west and north contain less and less moisture, so that over the larger
part of the country drought is common and severe. Along the valley of
the lower Orange rain does not fall for years together. The drought is
increased in intensity by the occasional hot dry wind from the desert
region in the north, though this wind is usually followed by violent
thunderstorms.

Whilst the general characteristics of the climate are as here outlined,
in a country of so large an area as Cape Colony there are many
variations in different districts. In the coast-lands the daily range of
the thermometer is less marked than in the interior and the humidity of
the atmosphere is much greater. Nevertheless, the west coast north of
the Olifants river is practically rainless and there is great difference
between day and night temperatures, this part of the coast sharing the
characteristics of the interior plateau. The division of the year into
four seasons is not clearly marked save in the Cape peninsula, where
exceptional conditions prevail. In general the seasons are but
two--summer and winter, summer lasting from September to April and
winter filling up the rest of the year. The greatest heat is experienced
in December, January and February, whilst June and July are the coldest
months. In the western part of the colony the winter is the rainy
season, in the eastern part the chief rains come in summer. A line drawn
from Port Elizabeth north-west across the Karroo in the direction of
Walfish Bay roughly divides the regions of the winter and summer rains.
All the country north of the central mountain chain and west of 23 deg.
E., including the western part of the Great Karroo, has a mean annual
rainfall of under 12 in. East of the 23 deg. E. the plateaus have a mean
annual rainfall ranging from 12 to 25 in. The western coast-lands and
the Little Karroo have a rainfall of from 10 to 20 in.; the Cape
peninsula by exception having an average yearly rainfall of 40 in. (see
CAPE TOWN). Along the south coast and in the south-east the mean annual
rainfall exceeds 25 in., and is over 50 in. at some stations. The rain
falls, generally, in heavy and sudden storms, and frequently washes away
the surface soil. The mean annual temperature of the coast region,
which, as stated, is 63 deg. F. at Cape Town, increases to the east, the
coast not only trending north towards the equator but feeling the effect
of the warm Mozambique or Agulh