GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 239 



20. A Contribution to the Geology and Physical Geography of the 

 Cape Colony. By A. H. Green, M.A., F.R.S., Professor of 

 Geology and Mathematics in the Yorkshire College, Leeds. 

 (Bead January 25, 1888.) 



In the year 1882 I was commissioned by the Colonial Government 

 to examine and report upon the Coals of the Cape Colony. My 

 attention was of course chiefly directed to this special object ; but, 

 to carry out my task successfully, a clear comprehensive view of the 

 geology of the Colony as a whole was needed, and this I did my 

 best to arrive at. I was able to devote about four months to the 

 work, and during that time I traversed a very large part of the 

 Colony. Bat it is an extensive tract, and travelling over it is very 

 slow, and it was obviously impossible in so short a time to do more 

 than get a broad general notion of its geological structure. Two 

 things stood me in good stead. First, the great physical features are so 

 strongly marked that they stare you in the face as you go along ; 

 and, owing to the leisurely rate at which you travel, they remain in 

 view long enough to be stamped on the memory ; while the barren 

 ruggedness and bare stony character of much of the country enable 

 the observer, as he passes along, to note even from afar the character 

 and lie of the rocks, the clear dry atmosphere making this possible 

 at distances where, in our climate, all distinctness would be lost in 

 haze. It is at first very striking, for instance, to find that you can 

 distinctly trace the outcrop of a trap-sheet along a hillside ten miles 

 or more away, and assure yourself that in some places it is running 

 parallel to the beds and in others cutting across them. Secondly, 

 the ground had been very largely cleared for me by the labours of 

 previous observers. As far back as 1852, Andrew Geddes Bain 

 drew in with a bold firm hand all the leading lines in South- African 

 geology*. The masterly sketch, which he then put forward t, and 

 which has required but little in the way of addition or correction 

 since, was the work of a man who had no special geological training, 

 but who had a good eye for a country, strong common sense, sound 

 judgment, great enthusiasm, and untiring industry, every quality 

 that is wanted to make a first-rate pioneer, and he will always stand 

 high among the pioneers of geology. That some of his theories 

 savoured of the extravagant cannot be denied ; but this is excusable 

 in a man who had had no special scientific training. In matters of 

 fact or observation he was very seldom at fault. Among the South- 

 African geologists who have followed him, I may mention Mr. E. J. 

 Dunn as the one whose work I have had most frequently to refer 

 to. Labouring with indefatigable perseverance, often under very 



* Mr. Wyley published, in 1859, 'Notes of a Journey in two directions across 

 the Colony in 1857-58.' I have had no opportunity of seeing this, and know 

 only the abstract given by Mr. R. Tate, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxiii, 

 (18B7), p. 172. 



t Trans. Geol. Soc. of London, 2nd ser. vol. vii. pp. 53, 175. 



