396 THE SAND VELD 



only five stream beds to be found : the Zout, Verloren 

 Vlei, Lange Vlei and Jackal's Eivers and the Zand 

 Leegte. The Zand Leegte is a very well-marked valley 

 about twenty miles long, commencing near Konaqua's 

 Berg and terminating on the coast at Strand Fontein. 

 The lower part of the valley is almost a gorge, some 180 

 feet deep, and at places only a few yards wide at the 

 bottom, cut oat of the hard Table Mountain sandstone. 

 No water has been known to flow down this valley 

 during the period covered by tradition in the district, 

 perhaps 150 years, although a severe thunderstorm 

 sometimes about once in fifteen years makes a stream 

 of short duration in its upper part. The valley is being 

 filled in with sand chiefly brought there by the wind. 

 It is decidedly a striking proof that the district is drier 

 now than it was at no very remote period, for there is 

 no doubt that the valley was cut by a stream, and it was 

 made since the advent of the still-living species of mol- 

 lusca ; for at the mouth of the gorge a raised beach lies 

 about 100 feet above sea level, and appears to have 

 stretched across the ravine ; the raised beach contains 

 the shells of mollusca of the same species as those found 

 on the modern beach in addition to the water-worn 

 pebbles and boulders that make a conspicuous feature 

 on the top of the cliffs. 



The evidence afforded by the Zand Leegte will explain 

 the development of the Sand Veld. The tops of the 

 sandstone hills still project above the sand, but the old 

 valleys, that were carved out by rivers before the climate 

 became as dry as it now is, are almost entirely filled up 

 by the sand derived mainly from the sandstone hills 



