M 



Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



the plateau of which they are part must have at one time been very- 

 extensive. The Witteberg hills by Prince Albert, rising to 3,500 to 

 4,000 feet, are also part of a plain which at one time was very 

 extensive, and thus it is almost certain that the two plains were at 

 one time continuous, and that what remains of them now has been 

 •separated by the rivers, of which such mighty chisels of erosion 

 exist in the Gamka or Lion Eiver and the Dwyka. These northerly 

 hills only extend as far as the Prince Albert Division ; eastwards, 

 beyond, we get the immense plains of the flat Karroo, the Beaufort, 

 Aberdeen, Willowmore, and Graaff-Eeinet flats, in which the rivers 

 have an immense thickness of Witteberg quartzite to traverse, 

 and have to do so along their strike, which is always the 

 least susceptible to river erosion; the rivers, therefore, are to 

 a certain extent dammed back and have cut out a plain exactly 

 as I have supposed them to have done on 



a higher level in 



Fig. 5. 



M.C.S. Malmesbury Beds. T.M.S. Table Mountain Series. BV. Bokkeveld 

 Beds. WS. Witteberg Beds. DW. Dwyka Beds. E. Ecca Beds. BF. 

 Beaufort Beds. 



Generalised Section from the Zwartebergen to the Prince Albert Goldftelds, 

 showing the old High-Level Plateau ivhich has now nearly disappeared. 



bygone days. Should a channel be cut through the Witteberg 

 hills, by which a shorter passage could be obtained for the flood- 

 water from these plains of the Flat Karroo to reach the ocean, 

 there is little doubt but that the plain formation would be broken 

 up, and a Eugte veld or Kopjes veld produced, as in the hills north 

 of Prince Albert. 



It is in these northerly hills that the gold has been found in the 

 Prince Albert Division on the farms Spreeuw Fontein, Klein Water- 

 val, and north of Commando Kraal. The gold has always been 

 alluvial, for the most part being found in the mud and dirt extracted 

 between the joints of the sandstones. Prospecting has everywhere 

 been vigorously prosecuted, but up to the present no signs of any 

 reef has been discovered. I have known these fields for ten years, 

 and have always been very sceptical as to whether any gold-bearing 

 reef will ever be found in this part of the Karroo ; there are abun- 

 dant quartz reefs, some pure, solid, white quartz, others locular, and 



