CHAPTEE V. 

 THE FEE-CAPE KOCKS OF THE NORTH (CONTINUED). 



1. THE MATSAP SYSTEM. 1 



MATSAP in Hay is situated at the foot of a range of hills 

 made of grits and quartzites. The same beds make a 

 most conspicuous range of mountains in the north of 

 the Colony, but it is broken up by stretches of flat ground 

 and by the poorts of dry rivers. The southernmost part 

 is the Ezel Band of Prieska ; the middle portion, called 

 the Langebergen, consists of a main ridge separated from 

 lower hills by tracts of sand ; and the northernmost 

 part is the Korannabergen, a group of mountains which 

 gradually become lower northwards and finally dis- 

 appear under the sand of the Kalahari. 



Though not so long or so continuous as the ranges 

 made of the Griqua Town beds these western mountains 

 have much steeper sides, while the tops of the higher 

 ridges have smooth outlines, like the Griqua Town 

 ranges, in spite of the fact that the beds usually lie at 

 high angles. 



1 These rocks are called the Langberg beds by Prof. Passarge in 

 Die Kalahari, 1904, and Sild Afrika, 1907. They are probably the same 

 group as the Waterberg system in the Transvaal, though a distinct con- 

 nection between the two has not yet been traced. The earliest descrip- 

 tion is that of Stow, Q. J. G. S. t xxx. Fuller descriptions will be found 

 in G. C., iv., p. 82 ; x., p. 190 ; xi., p. 50; ; xii., p. 69 ; xiii., p. 89. 



103 



