IN SOUTH AFRICA. 563 
lecting plants. The Paarl Hill, situatedjin the district of 
Stellenbosch, between thirty and forty miles N.E. of Cape 
Town, is a detached ridge of granite, a few miles long, and 
of moderate height, running nearly N. and S., parallel to 
the much higher, and more rugged chain of the Drakensteen 
Mountains, from which it is separated by a wide and fertile 
valley. Its outlines are smooth and rounded, its sides co- 
vered with bushes, and its top studded with enormous round 
masses of naked granite rock, from one of which it is said to 
have derived its name, signifying “ the Pearl" These rocky 
knobs, or protuberances, are of such a size, that on a clear 
day, they may plainly be discerned from the mountains be- 
hind Cape Town. At the foot of the hill, in the valley of 
the Berg River, lies the pretty village of Paarl, consisting of 
neat white houses, very widely scattered, intermixed with 
gardens, vineyards, corn-fields, and rows of pine and oak 
trees. The Berg River, a considerable stream, (though its 
Source is not far distant), winds through the valley in a 
northerly direction, its banks clothed with a thick jungle of 
various handsome shrubs. It divides the district of Stellen- 
bosch from’ that of Worcester, and falls at last into St. 
Helena Bay, between the 32nd and 33rd parallels of S. lati- 
tude. 
The Drakensteen Mountains are a part of that great chain 
of mountains which, divided into several subordinate ranges, 
and distinguished by various local names, extends north- 
ward from Cape Hangklip, on the east side of False Bay, 
through the districts of Worcester and Clanwilliam, se- 
parating the climate and productions of the coast from those 
of the interior. A few miles S. of the Paarl, a branch juts 
out to the westward from this chain, dividing the valley of 
the Paarl from that of Hottentot Holland. The village of 
Stellenbosch lies just under this branch, and in the angle 
between it and the principal chain of mountains is the 
Fransche Hoek pass, leading to Worcester. The Draken- 
steen Mountains present bold and lofty escarpments to the 
valley of the Berg River, and it is evident, from their forms 
