Sedimentary Deposits in Natal. 73 



mentioned, and that they have been broken off as the result of sub- 

 aerial denudation, and have weathered in the spots where they are 

 now to be found. Although no actual glacial striae are observable, yet 

 the underlying shales have in most places a clean-washed surface, 

 which tends to show that the volume of water or other transporting 

 agency must have been great in those regions. The present site of 

 the town of Ladysmith, encircled as it is by a loop of the Klip 

 River, denotes the site of the former bed of the river. The course 

 of the river would appear to have travelled in those times over the 

 entire town. In a small single horizontal bed of fluviatile deposit 

 projecting from the present bank of the river, I discovered a 

 palaeolithic scraper, which shows that man in those days frequented 

 this river-bed. 



In Southern Natal, however, results of research are more 

 encouraging from a commercial point of Aiew, and the. country lying 

 between Umzinto and the Southern Borders of Natal warrants 

 diligent and systematic search for base and precious metals, and 

 gems. Here the country is very rugged in parts, and here also is 

 to be encountered the belt of primary rocks, that traverses the 

 Colony from end to end along its central parrs. Typical granites, 

 gneisses, schists, pegmatites, and sedimentary rocks, are to be found. 

 The granites, gneisses, and schists, seem to form the basement rocks 

 on which the others have been laid down ; but to correlate them is 

 beyond question owing to the total absence of fossil remains and 

 the extreme complexity of their structure. Attention, however, 

 should be drawn to the occurrence of a particular rock in this 

 quarter. It is of sedimentary origin, and portions of it are to be 

 found at various spots along the Umzinto and Southern Natal 

 Districts. It contains fragments of pure quartz, possessing an 

 extremely high degree of transparency, fragments of felspar both 

 triclinic and monoclinic, garnets, alivine, zincon, tourmaline, 

 hematite, mica, cyanite, hornblende, carbons, ilmenite, and 

 other minerals. The diamondiferous nature of this ground is 

 beyond dispute. The soil was first discovered by me some ten months 

 ago, on a farm in Southern Natal, and after careful microscopical 

 and other examination, I decided on the diamondiferous nature of 

 the deposit. Since then, on continuing further research into the 

 matter, I have located the same soil in other distant parts, and of 

 a better quality to that previously found. No distinct layer, bed 

 or outcrop, can be found, so as to fix the extent, the actual site or 

 the stratigraphical horizon of the formation, and thus research is 

 rendered extremely difficult, but there is one thing that is certain, 

 and that is, that the rocks are a wash of a diamond-bearing nature. 

 My attention was drawn to the possibility of finding diamondiferous 

 soil in Natal from the fact, that the soil of such a nature had been 

 found in the Matatiele District, in East Griqualand, in the Cape 

 Colony, which I found on examination, to be of good quality and 

 a good tvpe of ' blue-ground,' such as is usuallv found in diamond 

 pipes. Other pipes, bearing diamondiferous soil, have been found 

 in Cape Colony. Orange River Colony, and the Transvaal, and 



