TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 405 
also occur, One above the coal seams has a large amount of ferruginous matter. 
Fossils are not plentiful. A portion of a reptilian humerus has been obtained from 
the conglomerates. 
The Red beds lie conformably on the Molteno beds, being distinguished princi- 
pally by their prevailing colour, It is extremely difficult to make any definite 
separation from the beds below. They consist of Red sandstones, blue, green, and 
chocolate-coloured mudstones and shales. Ripple marks and false bedding occur. 
No fossils have been found except a few specimens of silicified wood. The 
average thickness is about 300 feet, but in many places much more. They are 
thicker in the north of Basutoland and the Orange River Colony, The Cave Sand- 
stone beds are extremely difficult to separate from the Red beds, as they pass into 
each other gradually. The cave sandstone forms the crests of the hills, Its bed- 
ding planes are not well developed, and individual beds rather thick. It weathers 
into huge pillars, which in fulling down strew the slopes with large blocks. It 
contains caves formerly used by Bushmen, and later by cannibals. These caves 
sometimes contain Bushmen paintings, e.g., that at Qalo. A large cave near Cana 
is still called the Cannibals’ Cave by the natives, from the red colour of a sandstone 
ledge, where the cannibals are said to have slaughtered their victims. 
Fossils are comparatively rare, but reptile tracks are fairly abundant. At 
Qalo two impressions can be seen on a fallen slab, the middle toe of which is 
13} inches long. At Morija there are two slabs, the smaller of which contains 
one large and a few small impressions. The larger contains three sets of impres- 
sions, evidently belonging to different individuals. Those of the largest set are 
12 inches long, with a stride of from 2 feet 7 inches to 3 feet. Fish have been 
found at Ficksburg and Masitise, but it is uncertain whether they came from cave 
sandstone. A skull described in Zittels’ ‘Paleontology’ is said to have come 
from Thaba Chou, Basutoland, but the locality cannot be identified. 
The volcanic beds occupy the higher ridges of the Malotis and Drakensberg 
ranges, with a few outliers such as Thaba Isuen, &c. Their total thickness must be 
4,000 feet. There seem to have been two phases of volcanic activity, yielding, respec- 
tively, the lava beds and the intrusive sheets. The latter do not penetrate to the 
Red beds, while the former occupy the tops of the hills. Basaltic dykes, in con- 
nection with the intrusive sheets, traverse the lava beds. On Thaba Isuen an 
interesting section can be seen. The mountain consists of three terraces, each with 
certain characteristics. The lavas are doleritic near their junction with the Cave 
Sandstone, higher up they are amygdaloidal upon what was probably the old 
crater-wall, while the plug consists of dolerite and agglomerate. East of Morija 
are two other examples of volcanic plugs, with characteristics similar to Thaba 
Isuen. They are also found in the north-east of the Orange River Colony at 
Fouriesberg. 
The intrusive sheets, or at least some of them, seem to be later, as the dykes in 
connection with them traverse the volcanic beds, and run for miles across. the 
country. 
The Cave Sandstone and Red beds lie horizontally upon some sheets, which 
would show that they are more recent than the lava-flows. 
Recent and superficial deposits occupy the plains, and comprise stratified clays, 
sands and gravels, through which the present rivers have cut their channels. The 
drainage of the country seems to have followed pretty much its present lines, the 
Caledon and other rivers having cut deep channels, which indicates that their 
courses have not undergone alteration for a long time. 
The most interesting of these recent deposits is the blown sand on Thaba Bosin, 
occupying a space of many acres, The sand travels gradually east or west, owing 
to the direction of the prevailing winds, but does not fall over the precipice owing 
to the updraught of the wind rushing round the hill. 
A few fossils have been found in these beds belonging to existing species, 
some of which, as the hippopotamus and warthog, no longer exist in the country. 
This paper is only a sketch of a small part of the country, and therefore is in 
no sense complete. 
