The Stone Ages of South Africa. 141 



the very edge of the high-water mark, enormously large examples of 

 marine shells, of limpets mostly Patella, but also of Turbo, many 

 of them of a size and thickness that are certainly not now met with 

 in the neighbourhood. 



Close to the Mouille Point Lighthouse (now disused) the removal 

 of sand for building purposes left exposed lately a heap of calcined 

 stones, the examination of which showed plainly that a kitchen had 

 formerly been erected thei-e under shelter of the higher sand-hills 

 that pi'otected it from the prevailing boisterous south-east winds 

 which rage so violently in these parts for half the year. The imple- 

 ments found near these calcined stones tell plainly of the occupa- 

 tions of the dwellers or makers. They are querns or mortars, 

 muUers or pounders, a few scraper-knives of a very rude manufac- 

 ture, together with a thick accumulation of all kinds of local sea- 

 shells, and also a sprinkling of undecorated potsherds. 



At a distance from this very spot were found close to each other 

 six mortars,* one with an artificial depression on each side, and with 

 the accompaniment of pounding utensils. Some of these mortars 

 are so heavy as to preclude the possibility of their removal by 

 nomadic people having no means of transport. They were thus 

 permanent fixtures which the natives used, while camped on the 

 spot, or when they returned to it. (I know of a group of some 

 sixteen such mortars near the edge of a small lagoon in the Cape 

 Peninsula.) 



There is no evidence that this midden is very old, yet, singularly 

 enough, it lies on a raised beach, which, however, unlike that of 

 the Klein Brak Eiver, has yielded me, so far, no traces of artefacts. 



The type of these mullers or mortars, ! kwes and scrapers in 

 nowise differs from those found in similar situations, but the absence 

 of bone tools, and the relative paucity of scraper-knives might be 

 taken to imply that the dwellers had the use of iron. I have, in 

 truth, met with no smithies there, but it must be remembered that 

 vestiges only are left of this once extensive midden, and also that 

 the smithies of the Cape Flats are near by. 



This shell mound is not the only one met with in the vicinity of 

 Cape Town. The road that skirts Table Mountain towards Hout 

 Bay has been cut through three such shell-mounds now covered 

 with vegetation, while at Hout Bay itself there is an extensive 

 deposit at a small distance from the mouth of the small river. 



The same culture as evidenced by the remains of this Cape Town 

 midden prevails along the western coast of South Africa from Cape 

 • For the shape of these mortars or querns see PI. XXII. 



