372 THE KNYSNA LIGNITE 



much vegetable matter. A thin layer of conglomerate 

 made of pebbles of the underlying Table Mountain 

 series in a brown lignitic sandy matrix was found at 

 the bottom of a shaft north of Park Station. The 

 lignite occurs in several layers which in places have a 

 total thickness of seventeen feet. 



The beds must be rather over 200 feet thick in all, 

 and they rise to a level of 1,300 feet above the sea be- 

 tween Mill Wall and Park Stations. There are other 

 areas of reddish false-bedded sand at a much lower 

 level, and these may also belong to the Knysna series. 



Though but little is known of these rocks they have 

 an important bearing on the geology of the south-east 

 coast. They rest on the high-lying coastal plateau 

 which rises to altitudes of 1,500 or 1,600 feet. It is un- 

 likely that the sea has ever covered these beds, for in 

 that case they would have been swept away during 

 their emergence ; it is also unlikely that they were de- 

 posited at the present level, for the lignite and associ- 

 ated sandy clay were probably laid down in lagoons 

 which could hardly have been formed near the coast 

 and also at a considerable height above sea level. So, 

 assuming that the form of this part of the African 

 coast has not been radically altered since the Knysna 

 beds were deposited, they must have been uplifted rela- 

 tively to the sea level. 



2. THE OLDER GRAVELS, SURFACE QUARTZITES, ETC. 



In many places in the southern part of the Colony 

 on the coastal side of the Langebergen there are the 

 remains of a plain covered with gravel, ferruginous 



