280 RECENT EMERGENCE OF LAND DISPROVED. 



retired, and left exposed mountains, and chains of mountain* 

 of sandstone. Other Plutonians are of opinion that the 

 slate, greywacke, and sandstone were deposited, in unmler- 

 rupted succession, at the bottom of the sea ; and that the 

 whole mass of stratified matter was raised gradually or sud- 

 denly above the level of the ocean, forming mountains, chains 

 of mountains, and table-lands, by that igneous agency which 

 sent up the granite, and probably also the augite-greenstone 

 rocks. This, of the two Plutonian views, is the most plausible, 

 and indeed is that explanation which may be viewed as most 

 in accordance with prevailing geological hypotheses. 



Vegetables incrustcd with Calcareous Sand confounded vrith 

 Coral, atid adduced as a Proof of the very recent Emergence^ 

 from ike Ocean, of the Lands supporting them. — Somewhat 

 to the eastward of Simon's Town is a large bank, one hun- 

 dred feet above the level of the sea, formed by an accumula- 

 tion of sand and shells, brought there by the action of the 

 wind. On this bank Abel observed a number of cylindrical 

 calcareous bodies scattered about, which at first appeared 

 like bleached bones. On a closer examination many of them 

 are found to be branched, and others are discovered rising 

 through the soil, and ramifying from a stem beneath, thicker 

 than themselves. They are incrustations of sand and cal- 

 careous matter on vegetables. Similar bodies have been 

 found by Vancouver, Flinders, and Perron, on the shores of 

 New-Holland, at considerable elevations. The first-men- 

 tioned traveller considered them all as coral, and as proofs 

 of the land having been lately withdrawn from the dominion 

 of the waters. The last has described two kinds of sub- 

 stances ; the one he considers as coral, the other as incrusta- 

 tions on vegetables. Captain Flinders, at page 48, vol. i. 

 of his Voyage Round the World, says, — " The appearance 

 of this country along the coast resembles, in most respects, 

 that of Africa about the Cape of Good Hope. The surface 

 seemed to be chiefly composed of sand, mixed with decayed 

 vegetables, varying exceedingly in point of richness, and, 

 although bearing a great similarity, yet indicating a soil su 

 perior in quality to that in the immediate neighbourhood ol 

 Cape Town. The principal component part of this country 

 appeared to be coral ; and it would seem that its elevation 

 above the ocean is of modern date, not only from the shores 

 and the bank which extends along the coast being, generally 



