Barotseland as described above were
declared to be outside the dominion of the paramount chief and therefore
not in the British sphere of influence, while tribal boundaries were
complicated by the introduction of a longitudinal and latitudinal frontier.
Though this award altered the political boundaries, ethnologically
Barotseland remains much as above described. The area of the country under
British protection is about 182,000 sq. m.

Excluding the ridge of high ground running east and west which, culminating
at a height of 5000 ft., forms the Congo-Zambezi water-parting, the extreme
east (Batoka) and the district in the immediate vicinity of the Victoria
Falls (_q.v._) throughout which, with local variations, a red laterite clay
predominates, the main physical features of Barotseland may be described as
a series of heavy white sand undulations covered with subtropical forest
vegetation. These are intersected by alluvium-charged valleys through which
streams and rivers flow inwards towards the central basin of the Upper
Zambezi. There is evidence that this has at one time been the site of a
large lake. These valleys, which towards the close of the wet season become
inundated, afford rich cattle pasture, the succulence of which prevents
cattle losing condition towards the end of the dry season, as is the case
in many parts of Africa. There seems to be little or no indication of
mineral wealth in the white sand area, but in the north and east there is
not only every prospect of a great agricultural and pastoral future but
also of considerable mining development. Though basalt predominates in the
neighbourhood of the Victoria Falls and large fields of granite crop up on
the Batoka plateau and elsewhere, there is every indication of the
existence of useful minerals in these districts. Gold, copper, tin, lead,
zinc and iron have been discovered.

Much of the area of Barotseland is within the healthy zone, the healthiest
districts being the Batoka and Mashikolumbwe plateaus in the east with
extreme altitudes of 4400 and 4150 ft. respectively, and the line of the
Congo-Zambezi watershed which rises to 5000 ft. in many places. The Zambezi
valley from the Victoria Falls (3000 ft.) to the Kabompo confluence (3500
ft.), though involving little or no risk to health to the traveller, cannot
be considered suitable for white settlement. Taking into consideration the
relative value of altitude to latitude, the plateauland of Barotselan