88 The Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society 
First of all, I tried to light the lamp of the hypsometer, but, 
although I constructed a sheltering wall of stones and snow around it, 
I did not succeed, for the wind was so strong that the flame was 
extinguished as soon as I lit it; hence I had to confine myself to the 
reading of the aneroid and the thermometer. 
I calculated the results by comparing the readings on the mountain 
with those of the barometer at Hex River East ; and making all cor- 
rections for the effect of the temperature on the mercury, the aneroid 
and the atmosphere, I obtained a difference of altitude of 5,694 feet. 
As the altitude of Hex River East station, as determined by railway 
levelling, is 1,566 feet, the height of the mountain above sea-level would 
be 7,260 feet. 
When I had completed these calculations, I received the observations 
from Ceres. Taking them as a basis, and comparing them with the 
reading of my pocket aneroid on the top of the mountain, I find the 
height of Matroosberg to be 5,899 feet above the village, which gives a 
total height of 7,392 feet above sea-level. This, you will see, is only 
33 feet less than that obtained by trigonometrical measurements. 
The difference of 132 feet between the results from observations at 
Hex River East and Ceres—places situated on opposite sides of the 
mountain, at nearly the same altitude (1,566 and 1,493 feet respectively) 
—must be a warning to all who use an aneroid not to trust too much to 
single readings, as only a series of observations could eliminate such 
errors. 
As the results obtained by theodolite and aneroid approach each other 
so closely that they are practically identical, they must be very near 
the truth, and I think there can be no question that the Matroosberg, 
Hex River pile, is at least 400 feet higher than the Winterhoek.* 
In winter the higher parts of the mountain are covered with snow, 
generally from May to November, or even to January, as has been 
observed by many a traveller who admired the grand scenery of the 
Hex River Pass from the windows of a railway carriage. 
Seen from this distance, however, one cannot realize what enormous 
quantities of snow really exist on these mountains. Even now, in 
October, after the sun has melted most of it, it still covers wide fields, 
and it covers them so completely that all irregularities of the surface 
disappear, and that some summits still bear a smooth and spotless white 
cap. The snow has neither the dusty appearance of fresh flakes, nor 
the compact character of the firn of the Alps, but is granular, like 
snow on which the sun has acted for some days, without giving it time 
to freeze again during the nights. 
* About a month after this meeting, Mr. Meiring has settled the question 
definitely by trigonometrical observations from three different points. The mean 
of the three observations is 7,434 feet above sea-level. See Mountain Club 
Annual, 1894. 
