interior there are mountains of granite, gneiss, and quartz, and that the gold is collected from the alluvial sands and clays formed from these rocks. Nothing particular is known of the rocks or soils of the Slave Coast.

Our young friend and pupil, Thomas Park, son of the celebrated but unfortunate Mungo Park, possessing the enthusiasm and courage of his father, determined on traversing Africa, with the view of ascertaining the history of his father's fate, at that time in some degree unknown, and also of enlarging our knowledge of its natural history and geography. He was landed by order of government at Accra, on the west coast, in 5° N. The last letter we received from this promising young traveller, -for shortly after the commencement of his journey he perished,- -was as follows:-" Accra, 17th September, 1827.-I intend to set off to-morrow morning. I have been, as you know, three months here, during which time I have been principally busy with the study of the Ashantee language. Some time ago I made an excursion of about fifty miles into the interior, by way of experiment, and did not fail to look around me and notice the rocks and other natural productions. I have only time to say, that the valley of Accra is about 12 miles in breadth, and 50 miles in length; the bottom is covered with a soft sandstone, and this sandstone, in one place, was observed resting upon clay-slate. The mountains forming the sides of this long valley, as far as I could observe, appear composed of quartz rock and clay-slate, alternating with each other, and disposed in strata ranging S.S.W. and N.N.E., the dip from 30° to 80° (the direction of the dip not mentioned). The quartz rock contains

grains of gold, as I ascertained by careful examination. In some blocks of rock (syenite) I noticed a good many crystals of sphene, and in one place saw what I considered to be black manganese ore. It is very hard and heavy, and is fashioned by the Ashantees into balls. The cover of alluvium, in the bottom of the valley and extending down to the seacoast, is of such a nature as to lead me to conjecture that it is of marine origin, and, therefore, that the sea formerly extended a long way inland. The bases of the hills are richly clothed with trees; but these diminish in number towards the coast, where there occurs only a bush here and there."

The occurrence of gold in the quartz rock, as ascertained by Mr Park, is a very interesting cbservation, as it allows us to infer that probably much of the gold collected in Africa may have been derived originally from this kind of rock, which, in its broken down and disintegrated state, may have formed the sands and gravels in which gold dust is generally found.

In Benin there are mountains (those of Cameroon on the seacoast) said to be 13,000 feet high. The Congo district, through which the Zaire flows, was examined for some distance up the river. The rocks met with were granite, syenite, primitive greenstone, gneiss, mica-slate, clay-slate, and primitive limestone or marble.

The kingdom of Angola contains salt pits, from which are extracted large slabs of solid rock-salt. According to Battel, beds of rock-salt, three feet thick, extend over a considerable part of the province of Dembea.

The mines of Loanga and Benguela furnish good iron. Copper and silver ores are said also to occur in

Angola, particularly in the kingdom of Majomba. There are also some considerable mines of copper in Anziko.

Bamba, situated on the coast, has large salt pits. Its mountains, rich in metals, extend as far as Angola. The province of Sandi contains ores of iron and of yellow copper ore.

The coast from Cape Negro, in lat. 16° S., to the mouth of the Orange River, an extent upwards of one thousand miles, consists of sand hills, without a tree or drop of water, having in this great space only three bays, which are completely exposed to the north-west wind, viz. the Great Fish Bay, Walvisch Bay, and Angra Pequina. The geology of this coast is entirely unknown.

Cape of Good Hope District. This district is bounded on the north and east by the Orange and Fish Rivers; on the west and south by the ocean. The country extends from S. lat. 26° to S. lat. 33° 55′ 40′′, that of the Cape of Good Hope. It includes the country inhabited by the Hottentot race and the Boshuanas.

Distribution of the Chains of Mountains, Plains, and Valleys or Kloofs.-Two great chains of mountains run parallel with the western coast, having between them and the coast a sandy plain from five to ten miles in breadth. From the most easterly of these two chains branch off three others, running in a direction parallel with the equator, between which are the like number of terraces, including altogether a space of between two and three degrees of latitude. The two southernmost of these chains are united at several points with the western, and form the vast ridges which, under the names Zwartebergen or Black Mountains, run

like a steep wall from west to east, broken only at intervals by the streams which flow from them from the Karroo. The two principal of these chains terminate at Kromme Rivers' Bay and at Algoa Bay. Smaller branches run down to Mossel Bay and Plattenbergs Bay. The level country between the southern chain and the coast constantly decreases in breadth, from the spot where this chain branches off from the western mountains till it is lost near Kromme Rivers' Bay. Towards the north several long and spacious valleys run between the chains of the Black Mountains, the principal of which are, the Kokman's Kloof, Kango, the Valley of the Elephant River, and Long Kloof. It is only at a few points, and even at these not without some danger and difficulty, that the Black Mountains can be crossed to the terrace north of them, and which is some thousand feet higher than the other two terraces, known under the name Great Karroo.* The tract enclosed between these two chains of mountains is partly fertile, but interspersed with tracts of arid clay-land called Karroo. This plain or terrace, forming the third terrace of Southern Africa, about 300 miles in length and 80 in breadth, and principally a parched desert, occupies the whole of that very large space lying between the Black Mountains and the third great branch from the western hills, called the Nieuweveld Mountains. These latter again unite themselves, after running for a long extent from west to east, with another chain of mountains running from north to south, forming at their junction that remarkable group of

* The word Karroo, written Karro by Burchell, belongs to the Hottentot language, and signifies dry or arid.

mountains called the Sneuwbergen or Snow Mountains. The Nieuweveld and Sneuwberg Mountains are said to be the highest in Southern Africa, some of them being 10,000 feet above the level of the sea. The country, from this vast range of mountains to the northern boundary of the Cape Colony, may be considered as a lofty plain, part indeed of the great Table-Land of Africa, free from large mountains, but here and there varied with ranges and hills of moderate dimensions, having very few rivers, and all of these nearly dried up in summer ; quite destitute of trees and grass, but everywhere covered with bushes springing out of a naked red soil, deprived of moisture during a great part of the year. The bushes are not more than a foot or two in height, excepting various kinds of lycium, and almost exclusively belong to the natural order of composite flowers. One general cast of features, not peculiar, however, to this district, pervades all these vegetables,-a minute and arid foliage. Yet on these all the cattle browse, and such wild animals as are herbivorous. The mountains vary in form; the most prevalent shape is the tabular; and, of these, splendid displays occur in many parts of the country, which are well represented in the plates in Professor Lichtenstein's Travels, and also in those of Mr Burchell. Deep and extensive cliffs are of frequent occurrence, exhibiting all the magnificent scenery so characteristic of the great sandstone or quartz formation, which predominates in Southern Africa. The mountain-ranges are in many places traversed by deep valleys, named kloofs. These are the passes that lead across from one part of the country to the other, and which appear to have been originally vast rents, which have become