Natural convection through a vertical porous stratum is investigated both analytically and numerically. Analytical solutions are obtained using a perturbation method valid for small values of buoyancy parameterN and the numerical solutions are obtained using Runge-Kutta-Gill method. It is shown that analytical solutions are valid forN < 1 and several features of the effect of large values ofN are reported. The combined effects of increase in the values of temperature difference between the plates and the permeability parameter on velocity, temperature, mass flow rate and the rate of heat transfer are reported. It is shown that higher temperature difference is required to achieve the mass flow rate in a porous medium equivalent to that of viscous flow.