THE SOUTH-AFRICAN PLATEAU. 187 



plants grow in a rank and luxuriant chaos which we designate by the 

 name of jungles, in whose dense obscurity the tiger makes his lair, 

 and the serpent conceals his deadly venom ! 



In the immense triangle denned by that portion of the African 

 continent which extends from the Mountains of the Moon to the 

 Cape of Good Hope, nature has maintained almost intact her savage 

 independence ;- but she displays there her most varied forms, from 

 the snow- crested ice-bound mountain to the lowest and most mono- 

 tonous plain, from the impenetrable forest to the nakedest and 

 barrenest steppe. 



To enable the reader to comprehend these widely different aspects, 

 and to describe the peculiar characteristics of each region of this 

 immense continent, it will be necessary for us to recapitulate its most 

 important geographical features. 



A vast plateau, of comparatively slight elevation, occupies all 

 Southern Africa, extending eastward as far as the fifth or sixth degree 

 north of the equator. To the north-west, it is bounded by the 

 mountains of Senegambia ; to the north-east, by those of Abyssinia. 

 On the east and west, the mountains descend to the very shore in 

 secondary chains ; to the south the table-land is brought down to the 

 sea in a series of terraces which separate the mountain-ranges. 



At its southern extremity, the African continent is from 550 to 

 600 miles broad. It is occupied by the British colony of the Cape, 

 which is bounded on the north by the Orange River. The most 

 striking features of the physical geography of this part of Africa, and 

 which determine in the main its climate and natural productions, are 

 three chains of mountains disposed parallel to one another and to the 

 southern coast. These are separated by terraces or upland plains, 

 each range forming the boundary of the lower and the abutment of 

 the higher terrace. The communication is maintained by transverse 

 valleys, which are often of a highly romantic character. The loftiest 

 and most inland chain is christened in different parts of its course the 

 Roggeveld Bergen, the Nieuveld Bergen, and the Sneeu Bergen, or 



