MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 291 



We make a short extract on the general geography of the Cape, as well to 

 furnish information as to give some general notion of the work before us : 



" Southern Africa is generally composed of chains of lofty mountains and 

 intervening plains and valleys, extending east and west, excepting one range 

 beginning at Table Bay, opposite to Cape Point, and stretching to the north- 

 ward along the western coast about 200 miles, which is as far as Olifant's 

 River. 



" The first great chain running east and west has, along the southern coast, a 

 belt of undulating land, varying from ten to thirty miles in width, indented by 

 several bays, and intersected by numerous streamlets; the soil is rich, the hills 

 are well wooded, and the climate equable and mild, from its proximity to the 

 ocean. 



" The next great chain is the Zwaarte Bergen, or Black Mountains, more 

 lofty and rugged than the coast chain (in some places consisting of double and 

 treble ranges), and divided from it by an interval from ten to twenty miles 

 wide, the surface of which is very varied, in some places barren hills predomi- 

 nating, in others naked and arid plains of clay, termed by the colonists the 

 karroo, while widely interspersed are patches of well watered, fertile, and 

 beautiful grounds. 



" The third range is the Nieuw veld's Bergen. Between these mountains and 

 the second range is the Great Karroo, or Desert, an elevated steppe or terrace, 

 nearly 300 miles in length from E. to W., eighty in breadth, and 1000 feet 

 above the sea, exhibiting a clayey surface, thinly sprinkled over with sand, 

 studded with occasional isolated hills, with here and there a few stunted 

 shrubs which seldom receive a friendly shower. 



" Along the western coast the country also ascends in successive terraces, 

 the most elevated of which (the Roggeveldt) unites with the last-mentioned 

 chain of mountains, the Nieuwveldt. Indeed the Roggeveldt Bergen range 

 may be said to commence in nearly 30 S. latitude, running nearly south for 

 two and a half degrees, when its course is bent to the E. and subsequently to 

 the N.E., until the range reaches Delagoa Bay, that part of it forming the 

 north boundary of the Great Karroo, being termed Nieuwvelds Bergen. 



" At the most southern extremity there are several eminences, the heights 

 and names of which are Table Mountain, feet 3,582 ; Devil's Peak, 3,315 ; 

 Lion's Head, 2,760; Lion's Rump, 1,143; Muyzenberg, about 2,000; Elsey 

 Peak, 1,200 ; Simon's Berg, or Signal Hill, 2,500 ; Paulusberg, 1,200 ; Con- 

 stantia, 3,200; Cape Peak, 1,000; Hanglip Cape, 1,800 feet. 



" I rode to the summit of Cape Peak in 1825. The surface was covered with 

 piles of huge stones, loosely thrown together, as if giants had been at play. 

 The cliff was so perpendicular as to prevent my descent, except at some dis- 

 tance from the point ; but I had an opportunity of sailing almost underneath 

 this singular promontory in his Majesty's schooner Albatross, in 1823, when 

 we ran inside the " Bellows Rock," on our passage from Table to Simon's 

 Bay. I scarcely know whether my feelings were more excited in the latter 

 situation, or when viewing the vast expanse of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans 

 from the wild and desolate extremity of Southern Africa. 



" But the most conspicuous feature of these lofty ranges is Table Mountain, 

 the north front of which, directly facing Cape Town, presents nearly a hori- 

 zontal line of two miles in length, rising to the height of 3,582 feet above the 

 level of Table Bay, with a plain at the summit of about ten acres in extent. 

 In front are two wings the Devil's Mountain, 3,315, and the Lion's Head, 

 2,760 feet, which evidently at one time formed a continuation of the table, 

 the summits being washed away by torrents and the crumbling hand of time, 

 the base is still attached to the " Table" at a considerable elevation. The 

 Devil's Mountain is broken into irregular points, but the upper part of the 

 Lion's Head is a solid mass of stone, rounded and fashioned like a work of art, 

 and resembling, it is thought, in some points of view, the dome of St. Paul's, 

 placed on a high cone-shaped hill. 



