CHAPTEK I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE backbone of the Cape Colony is the watershed be- 

 tween the rivers that drain into the Atlantic and those 

 which flow south and east into the Indian Ocean. The 

 watershed lies in a general east-north-east direction 

 from the neighbourhood of Ceres and Tulbagh, where 

 two systems of mountains converge, the Cederbergen 

 and those parallel to them on the west, with a north and 

 south trend, and the Langebergen and parallel ranges 

 on the south, with an east and west trend (see Fig. 3). 

 The watershed is formed by the Klein Roggeveld, 

 Nieuweveld, Winterbergen, Stormbergen and Drakens- 

 bergen, and as a whole it is the highest belt of ground 

 in the country, although certain peaks in the southern 

 and western mountains rise to a greater height than 

 many parts of the watershed. From this main water- 

 parting the surface slopes gradually northward to the 

 Orange River, by which the greater part of the area 

 north of the watershed is drained. Towards the west 

 coast the country which feeds the rivers running directly 

 to the Atlantic south of the Orange River is consider- 

 ably broken ; the two escarpments of the Roggeveld and 

 the Bokkeveld Mountain, which eventually become one 



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