3840 8G. C. Orick—Cretaceous Rocks of Natal and Zululand. 
More than fifty years ago the presence of rocks of Cretaceous age 
was recorded on the coast of Pondoland,! to the south of Natal, and in 
geological literature these are not infrequently referred to as Cretaceous 
rocks of Natal, but the first record of the occurrence of Cretaceous 
deposits in Natal and Zululand was made in 1871 by Mr. C. L. 
Griesbach in his paper ‘‘ On the Geology of Natal in South Africa,” 
who, when describing more especially the Cretaceous deposits of 
Pondoland, records the existence in Natal of Cretaceous outcrops ‘“‘ on 
the Impenyati River and at some of the more southern rivulets which 
run into the sea between the boundary of Natal and the St. John’s 
River (Umzimvooboo).”” ‘‘The same,” he goes on to say, ‘‘are 
also recognised in the bed of a small stream, running into the St. Lucia 
Bay, in the Zulu country.” Shortly afterwards Mr. St. V. W. Erskine 
recorded the occurrence all the way up from St. Lucia Bay to the 
Zambesi River of limestones and arenaceous beds; these Mr. Anderson 
considers to be of Upper Cretaceous age, excepting perhaps some 
deposits in isolated positions that are probably of Tertiary age. 
In Natal proper there are only two localities in which Cretaceous 
rocks are known to occur. The more southerly of these is on the 
south-east coast, and extends between high and low water marks 
northwards from the mouth of the Umpenyati River (about nine or 
ten miles from the Umtamvuna River, which forms the southern 
boundary of Natal) to within half a mile of the mouth of the 
Umhlengeni River, a distance of about a mile and a half. The other 
locality is at Durban, between 80 and 90 miles further north, where 
the rocks were met with in a boring at the Bluff. 
In Zululand the most southerly point at which Cretaceous rocks are 
known to occur is on the north side of the Umhlatuzi Lagoon, close to 
the coast, where they have been found in borings, but Mr. Anderson 
thinks it is probable that they are also present under the most super- 
ficial deposits nearly as far south as the Umlalaaz River, which is 
some twenty miles farther south, i.e. about five or six miles south of 
Port Durnford, although no deposits of this age have actually been 
seen on the coast between the Umhlatuzi Lagoon and Durban in 
Natal, a distance of about one hundred miles. 
Of the surface outcrops of the Cretaceous rocks in Zululand the 
most southerly is at Umkwelane Hill, near Lake Isitesa, on the south 
side of the Umfolosi River. It is entirely confined to the hill. This 
deposit, of which the fauna has been described by Mr. R. Etheridge 
in the ‘‘Second Report of the Geological Survey of Natal and Zulu- 
land,’’ 1904, is some 20 miles north of the Umhlatuzi Lagoon and 
about 15 miles from the coast. According to Mr. Anderson the lime- 
stone in the two localities is almost identical petrologically, whilst 
some of the fossils obtained from the bores at the Umhlatuzi Lagoon 
were identifiable with some of those occurring at the Umkwelane Hill. 
At the common exit of the Umfolosi River and the drainage of 
St. Lucia Lake into the sea at St. Lucia Bay, there are calcareous 
1 R. J. Garden, ‘‘ Notice of some Cretaceous Rocks near Natal, South Africa ’’ : 
Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. xi (1855), pp. 453-454. W. H. Baily, ‘* Descriptions: 
of some Cretaceous Fossils from South Africa, collected by Captain Garden of the. 
45th Regiment”: ibid., vol. xi (1855), pp. 454-465, pls. xi, xii, xiii. 
