THE CRETACEOUS SYSTEM 315 



the sides of the valley while the finer grained sediments 

 were being deposited farther away from the hills. Al- 

 though the conglomerates are chiefly found in the 

 peripheral portion of the area they are not confined 

 to it, for near Oudtshoorn thick beds of conglomerate 

 occur at a much higher level than the sandstones on 

 which the town is built. The sandstones are seen 

 between Calitzdorp and Vlakte Plaats, and at the town 

 of Oudtshoorn, where they are much used for building 

 purposes. They are rather soft sandstones, not quart- 

 zitic, and are usually greenish in colour. The sand- 

 stones and shales contain bits of fossil wood, and near 

 Vlakte Plaats masses of lignite sufficiently large to be 

 dug out and used for fuel have been found, but this 

 lignite, as is the case with similar materials elsewhere 

 in the Uitenhage beds, near Herbertsdale and in the 

 Sunday's Eiver Valley, is not found in layers that are 

 thick and constant enough to repay systematic working. 



From the Oudtshoorn basin Dinosaurian teeth and 

 fragments of Gladophlebis have been obtained. 



The depth to which the Uitenhage beds in this basin 

 extend below the surface is not known. 



In the Vlakte Plaats area there are two distinct 

 bands of conglomerate, a red band at the base and a 

 white conglomerate higher up in the series ; these two 

 bands are repeated in the Georgida basin to the east, 

 which is traversed by the Traka Eiver below Tover 

 Water Poort. Two small patches of Uitenhage beds 

 (of the Enon type) at the head of the Olifant's Eiver ] 

 are interesting because they lie at a higher level than 

 1 G. C., viii., p. 115, and Map attached, 



