224 Defcrlption of the Table and the 



plctoly hollowed out, fo aS to be nothing more than a cruft 

 or fhel! ; and thev have alnioft invariably a fmall aperture 

 on that fide of the (tone which faces the bottom of the hill 

 or the fea fhore. Such excavated blocks of coarfe granite 

 arc very common on the hills of Africa, and are frequently 

 inhabited by runaway (laves. 



Reding on the granite and clay is the firft horizontal ftra- 

 t.um of the Table Mountain, commencing at about five hun- 

 dred feet above the level of the fea. It is filiceous fand-ftone 

 of a dirty yellow colour. Above this is a deep brown fand- 

 ftone, containing calciform ores of iron, and veins of hema- 

 tite, running through the folic! rock. Upon this refts a mafs, 

 of about a thoufaud feet in height, of a whiti(h-gray mining 

 granular quartz, mouldering away in many places by ex- 

 pofure to the weather, and in others paffmg into fand-ftone. 

 The fummit of the mountain has entirely undergone the 

 tranfition into fand-ftone; and the fkeletons of the rocks, 

 that have hitherto refilled the ravages of time, arefurrounded 

 by myriads of oval-ihaped and rounded pebbles of femi-tranf- 

 parcnt quartz that were once imbedded in them. Thofe 

 pebbles, having acquired their rounded form by friction, 

 when the matrix, in which they are dill found buried, had 

 not aflumed the form and confidence of ftone; and the fitua- 

 tion of this ftratified matrix on blocks of primaeval granite, 

 clearly point out a grand revolution to have taken place on 

 the furface* of the globe we inhabit. No organized remains, 

 however, of the old world, fuch as (hells buried in the rock, 

 petrifactions of fifties, or impreffions of plants, appear on 

 the fides of the Table Mountain, as has been afierted. 



To thofe whom mere curiofity, or the more laudable defire 

 of acquiring information, may tempt to make a vifit to the 

 fummit of the Table Mountain, the beft and readied accefs 

 will be found directly up the face next to the town. The 

 afcent lies through a deep chafm, that divides the curtain 

 from the left baftion. The length of this ravine is about 

 three-fourths of a mile, the perpendicular cheeks at the foot 

 more than a thoufand feet high, and the angle of afcent 

 about forty-five degrees. The entrance into this deep chafm 

 is grand and awful. The two fides, diftant at the lower part 

 about eighty yards from each other, converge within a few 

 feet at the portal, which opens upon the fummit, forming 

 two lines of natural pcrfpective. On palling this portal, a 

 plain of very confiderable extent fpreads out, exhibiting a 

 dreary wafte and an infipid tamenefs, after quitting the bold 

 and romantic feenery of the chafm. And the adventurer may 

 perhaps feel ftrongly difpofed to a(k himfelf, if fuch be all 

 9 the 



