From The Barotse Valley Northward
It Is Questionable If It Ever Freezes; But, During The Prevalence
Of The South Wind, The Thermometer Sinks As Low As 42 Deg.,
And Conveys The Impression Of Bitter Cold.
Nothing can exceed the beauty of the change from the wintry appearance
to that of spring at Kolobeng.
Previous to the commencement of the rains,
an easterly wind blows strongly by day, but dies away at night.
The clouds collect in increasing masses, and relieve in some measure
the bright glare of the southern sun. The wind dries up every thing,
and when at its greatest strength is hot, and raises clouds of dust.
The general temperature during the day rises above 96 Deg.:
then showers begin to fall; and if the ground is but once well soaked
with a good day's rain, the change produced is marvelous.
In a day or two a tinge of green is apparent all over the landscape,
and in five or six days the fresh leaves sprouting forth,
and the young grass shooting up, give an appearance of spring
which it requires weeks of a colder climate to produce. The birds,
which in the hot, dry, windy season had been silent, now burst forth
into merry twittering songs, and are busy building their nests. Some of them,
indeed, hatch several times a year. The lowering of the temperature,
by rains or other causes, has much the same effect as the increasing mildness
of our own spring. The earth teems with myriads of young insects;
in some parts of the country hundreds of centipedes, myriapedes, and beetles
emerge from their hiding-places, somewhat as our snails at home do;
and in the evenings the white ants swarm by thousands.
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