tions. 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 clayslate, 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 observation, 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 Loango 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.

DISTRIBUTION OF MOUNTAINS, ETC.

269

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. 160 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 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 every where 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 herbivoThe 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,

rous.

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

which predominates in Southern Africa. The mountainranges 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 wider by the action of the atmosphere and running water. The inclined plain, or space between the most southern range of mountains and the seacoast, varies from 20 to 60 miles in breadth, and, reckoning from the interior of the country, forms the third terrace of Southern Africa. The flat tract enclosed between the southern chain and the Zwarteberg forms the second terrace. The vast tract, or the Great Karroo, contained between the Zwarteberg and the Nieuweveld Gebirgte, is the first terrace. The second and first terraces, which con tain so much Karroo ground, may formerly have been inland seas or lakes. The great bank of gravel, sand, and clay which ranges along the coast and under the sea, from the Cape of Good Hope to Natal, and to south lat. 37°, may be considered as another terrace.

Description of the Karroo Plains.-The Karroo ground, which forms so striking a feature in the external aspect of the Cape district, is loam or sandy clay, mixed with particles of ochre of iron. Lichtenstein says it is not more than a foot in thickness. This may apply to some, but by no means to the greater number of localities. From the nature of the soil, and other concomitant causes, the vegetation must at all times be very meager; and in summer, when the sun has dried the soil to the hardness of brick, it ceases almost entirely. The mesembryanthemum, and some other succulent plants; some kinds of gorteria, of bergia, and of asters, whose roots, like the bulbs of lilacious plants, nature has fortified with a tenfold net of fibres under the upper rind, to protect them against the hardened clay : such plants alone resist the destructive nature of this inhospitable soil.

As soon as, in the cooler season, the rains begin to fall and penetrate into the hard layer of loam, these fibres imbibe the moisture, and, pushing aside the clay, the germ of the plant, under their protection, begins to shoot, and in a few days the arid waste is covered with a delicate green covering. Soon after, myriads of flowers ornament the whole surface. "The mild midday sun," says Lichtenstein, "expands the radiated crowns of the mesembryan

themums and gorteriæ, and the young green of the plants is almost hidden by the glowing colours of their full-blown flowers, while the whole air is perfumed with the most fragrant odour. The odour is more particularly delightful, when, after a calm day, the sun declines, and the warm breath of the flowers rests quietly on the plain. At this time the whole dreary desert is transformed into one continued garden of flowers. The colonist, with his herds and his flocks, leaves the Snowy Mountains, and, descending into the plain, there finds a plentiful and wholesome supply of food for the animals; while troops of the tall ostrich and the wandering antelope, driven also from the heights, share the repast, and enliven the scene. But how soon is the country again deprived of all its glory! It scarcely continues more than one month, unless late rains, which must not often be expected, call forth the plants again into new life. As the days begin to lengthen, the increasing power of the midday ray checks once more the lately awakened powers of vegetation. The flowers soon fade and fall, the stems and leaves dry, and the hard coat of soil locks up the germs until the rains return; the succulent plants alone still furnish food for the herds and flocks. The streams soon begin to dry, the springs almost cease to flow, till at length the universal drought compels the colonists to return to the mountains; yet even then they quit the plain with reluctance, and the flocks, accustomed to endure thirst, still linger behind, feeding on the succulent plants, which afford at once food and drink, and are particularly salutary to those that bear wool. Every day, however, the Karroo becomes more and more solitary, and by the end of September it is wholly deserted. The hardened clay bursts into a thousand cracks, which evince to the traveller the great power of an African sun. Every trace of verdure is vanished, and the hard red soil is covered over with a brown dust, formed from the ashes of the dried and withered plants. Yet among these ashes is the seed nourished that is to produce future generations, and the relics of one year's vegetation furnishes manure that is to cherish the germs till the next year's rain again brings them forth."

Lichtenstein thus describes his first view of the Great Karroo :-"The space between the mountain-ranges is the Great Karroo, as it is called a parched and arid plain,