Natal

British colony on the s.e. coast of Africa; acquired IMG:content-1496.jpg:[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed] IMG:content-1497.png:[blocks in formation] Map of Natal. from the Boers 1843; area ab. 20,500 sq. m. The coast is mainly low, the land rapidly rising by terraces to the w. boundary, which consists of the Drac hens berg mountains, 10,000 ft. high and 4,000 ft. above the plateau at their base. The lower country is fertile and covered with tropic vegetation. As the land rises it becomes more arid, the higher plateaus being gra covered. Agriculture and stock-raising are the principal pursuits. Pop., 1891, 543,913, of whom ab. 9 per cent were Europe ans and 83 per cent Kaffirs.