Remarks on the Geology of South Africa. 2(if) 



idea of the situation of himself and his companions, as could be 

 wished ; and convey clear views of his operations. But we 

 may, at the same time, perceive, that, wearied out by numerous 

 troubles, he was already anxious to be relieved from the com- 

 mand of the Fort Good Hope; and, writing on this subject, he 

 styles his wished-for successor, " a Deliverer," and his desired 

 departure for Batavia, " a deliverance." 



. On concluding this Chapter, if we review the uncommon 

 variety of his views and plans, and the disappointments, 

 cares, fatigues, and other labours, mental and bodily, which 

 this extraordinary man endured in the year, 1652, the words of 

 an old poet, " Tantae molis erat Romanum condere urbem" (sr> 

 much trouble did it cost to build Rome,) will net be entirely 

 inapplicable here, though my readers will agree that many 

 changes would be necessary ere Cape Town could become the 

 Rome of the southern hemisphere. 



(To be continued.) 



Remarks on the Geology of South Africa. By Georgk 

 Thom, d. d. Minister of Tulbagh, Honorary Member of 

 the Bombay Literary Society, and Corresponding Mem- 

 ber of the South African Institution. 



[Read at the South African Institution.} 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON ORGANIC REMAINS. 



" These physical researches elevate the mind ahove objects simply material : 

 they inculcate great moral truths," — Uhe. 



Several writers on this Colony have given little encourage- 

 ment to suppose, that, it could afford any remarkable facts to 

 enrich our knowledge of geological phenomena; particulary, 

 that monuments of a former world could be found in Organic 

 Remains.* Private persons have, however, made observations 

 on the peculiar appearances of hill and dale which have led to 

 the discovery of fossils of various, numerous, and distinct 

 characters in shells ; while some crustaceous deposits are very 

 obscure, which only time and further discovery can fully 

 unravel. 



Our inland plains, and undulations beyond the Tulbagh, 

 Worcester, Swellendam, and George high primitive mountain 

 range, chiefly present these on their surfaces, or slight! 

 imbedded in argillaceous schist; while the continuation of the 

 same chain northward from Tulbagh Village, forms the barrier 



Ofltli April, 1653. And Despatches to the Directors of the 14th and 15th oi 

 April, 1652. 



* Professor Lichtenstein, of Berlin, is, I hclieve, the only writer who observed 

 luntain in the Hantam, impressions on Schist. 



