VRYHEID  , a

town of northern Natal, 291 M. by rail N. by W. of Durban . Pop . (1904) 2287, of whom 1344 were whites . It is the chief town of a district, of the same name, rich in mineral wealth, including copper, coal and gold . The coal-fields of Hlobane are S.E. of the town . Originally part of Zululand the district of Vryheid was ceded by Dinizulu to a party of Boers under Lucas Meyer, who aided him to crush his opponents, and was proclaimed an independent state under the title of the New Republic in 1884 . In 1888 it was incorporated with the Transvaal and in 1903 annexed to Natal (see TRANSVAAL, § History; and ZULULAND, § History) . V-SHAPED DEPRESSION, in meteorology, a narrow area of low pressure usually occurring between two adjacent anti-cyclones, and taking the form of a V or tongue, as do the isobars representing it on a weather-chart . Such a depression may be regarded as a projection from a cyclonic system lying to one side of the two anticyclones . A similar depression, however, is frequently formed within a larger area of depression, i.e. an ordinary cyclone, and sometimes develops so far as to have a complete circulation of its own; it is then known as a " secondary." The line of lowest depression following the axis of the V brings with it heavy squalls and a sudden change of wind from one direction almost to the opposite . It is pre-ceded by signs of break in the weather such as usually herald the approach of an ordinary cyclone, and is followed by the usual signs of clearance . The occurrence of a V-depression or secondary within an ordinary cyclonic system intensifies, often to a dangerous degree, the usual disturbances in the weather accompanying that system .

Conditions exactly opposite to those accompanying a V-shaped depression are provided by a "

wedge " (q.v.) .