TABLE MOUNTAIN. 277 



Granite forms a considerable portion of the Lion^s Head. 

 It is composed of pale-red felspar, gray quartz, and brown- 

 ish-black mica. It is more frequently coarse granular than 

 fine granular, and is often porphyritic. It is occasionally 

 traversed by veins of quartz, or of felspar, or of granite. 

 In some parts the granite is traversed by veins of dolerite or 

 augite-greenstone, and one of these veins, as described by 

 Dr. Abel, appears divided and shifted. This appearance is 

 represented in No. 3 of Dr. Abel's Geological Views at the 

 Cape of Good Hope. As we ascend the mountain, we find 

 the granite succeeded first by a reddish sandstone, and this, 

 in its turn, is covered by a brown sandstone that reaches to 

 the summit. These sandstones are principally composed 

 of granular concretions of quartz, with a few disseminated 

 grains of felspar and scales of mica. The sandstone is 

 distinctly stratified, and the strata dip at a small angle all 

 around the Lion's Head and the north-west side of the 

 Table Mountain. On the opposite side of the latter, how- 

 ever, from the seabeach, we may see it, beyond the gorges, 

 making an angle with the horizon of not less than 45°. 

 Dr. Adams says, " During a ride to Constantia one day, I 

 observed this high inclination more particularly on the ridge 

 extending from the Devil's Peak by Simon's Bay : and, 

 having afterward visited the spot on purpose, /owntZ the 

 sandstone very much elevated in its position above the common 

 level of the strata, and, at one place, nearly perpendicular to 

 the horizon, running from north-east to south-west.^* 



Table Mountain. — The next and highest mountain, the 

 Table Mountain, presents many interesting appearances. 

 The lowest part of the mountain, on one side, is red sand- 

 stone ; higher up, and apparently rising from under it, are 

 clay-slate, greywacke, and gneiss. These rocks are dis- 

 posed in strata, arranged nearly in a vertical position, with 

 An east and west direction. They are intermingled with 

 granite, which is the next rock on the ascent of the moun- 

 tain. The granite, at its line of junction with the slate, 

 both gneiss and clay-slate, is often much intermixed with 

 them ; and numerous veins of granite shoot f'om the mass 

 of the granite rock itself into the bounding strata. At a 

 higher level than the granite, sandstone makes its appear- 

 ance, and continues upwards to the summit of the moun- 

 tain. The lowest of the summit sandstone is of a reddish 

 A a 



