GEOGNOSY OF THE CAPE PENINSULA. 2/3 



stretching out to such an extent that the vast hills by which 

 it is terminated are almost lost in the distance. The beds 

 of numberless little rivers cross, like veins, in a thousand 

 directions, this enormous space ; the course of them might 

 in some places be clearly distinguished by the dark-green of 

 the mimosas v^rhich spread along their banks. Excepting 

 these, nowhere, as far as the eye could reach, was a tree 

 to be seen, nor even a shrub, or any signs whatever 

 of Ufe." 



As the geology of the country in the vicinity of Cape 

 Town is that best known to us of any part of Southern 

 Africa, we shall first describe the arrangements observed in 

 that quarter, and afterward notice what is known of the 

 rocks of other parts of this division of Africa. 



Geognosy of the Peninsula of the Cape of Good Hope.— 

 The peninsula of the Cape of Good Hope is a mountainous 

 ridge, stretching nearly north and south for forty or fifty 

 miles, and connected on the east side, and near its northern 

 extremity, with the main body of Africa, by a flat sandy 

 isthmus, about ten miles broad, having Table Bay on the 

 north of it, and False Bay on the south. The southern ex- 

 tremity of this peninsula, extending into the sea, with 

 False Bay on the east, and the ocean on the south and west, 

 is properly the Cape of Good Hope, and is nearly the most 

 southern point of Africa. At this point the chain of moun- 

 tains which forms the peninsula, though rugged, is lower 

 than at the north end, where it is terminated by Table 

 Mountain and two others, which form an amphitheatre 

 overlooking Table Bay, and opening to the north. The 

 mountains of the ridges extending from the Cape to the 

 termination of the peninsula in the north, vary in shape ; 

 but the most frequent forms incline more or less to sharp 

 conical. The three mountains that terminate the peninsula 

 on the north are, the Table Mountain in the middle ; the 

 Lion's Head, sometimes called the Sugar Loaf, on the west 

 side ; and the Devil's Peak on the east. The liion's 

 Head, which is about 2160 feet above the level of the sea, 

 is separated from the Table Mountain by a valley that de- 

 scends to the depth of 1500 or 2000 feet below the summit 

 of the Table Mountain, which is itself 3582 above the level 

 of the sea. On the west of the Lion's Head there is a 

 lower eminence, named the Lion's Rump, 1142 feet high, 



