2-888-442 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Bay and Settlement of Natal, now D'Urban, 1850. 'Great exertion is making at this moment to direct the great stream of emigration towards the new colony of Natal...a long strip of fertile country in South Africa...its port lying 1000 miles to the north-east of the Cape of Good Hope. Mr. J. S. Christopher, one of the promoters of the company...explained the advantages of the colony, which he stated to possess one of the finest climates in the world, capable of producing tobacco, cotton, flax, silk, indigo, &c., in greater abundance than any other British colony...the temperature of Natal ranged from 55 to 100 degrees, but the air was so pure that the heat was not so oppressive as in this country. The soil was so productive, that two, and even three, crops were frequently obtained from the same lands in a year without any dressing. Natal was intersected throughout with a great number of rivers'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.