rHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE CAPE COLONY. 



259 



The question, then, for the pre- 

 sent remains open, but I am in- 

 clined to look upon the Dwyka 

 Conglomerate as the basement- 

 bed of the Ecca group, and I shall 

 have more to say as to the method 

 of its formation further on. 



This finishes all I have to tell 

 about the southern half of the belt 

 of folded and contorted rocks that 

 runs across the south of the Cape 

 Colony ; the northern half of that 

 belt is occupied by Ecca Beds, and 

 varies very much from place to 

 place in its surface aspect. In 

 the so-called Karoo Deserts a plain 

 that looks, and is almost, a dead 

 flat stretches away on all sides as 

 far as the eye can reach, in parts 

 all strewn over with loose stones, 

 in parts overspread with a coating 

 of sand. A scanty growth of 

 shrivelled spiny bushes covers the 

 ground, and enhances rather than 

 abates the general parched and 

 arid aspect of the whole. The 

 only relief is afforded by long 

 winding lines of refreshingly green 

 trees, which grow alongside the 

 river-courses, the beds of which, 

 except after a heavy downfall of 

 rain, are for the most part dry, 

 though moisture enough is present 

 in the subsoil and in a few scat- 

 tered pools to keep alive a fairly 

 vigorous vegetable growth. Else- 

 where the Ecca Beds form mode- 

 rately hilly country, the hard 

 bands giving rise to long parallel 

 ridges, and the softer to inter- 

 vening valleys. 



The boldest country I saw on 

 this formation was on the first 

 part of my journey from Grahams- 

 town to King- William's Town. 

 Here the country is strongly di- 

 versified by hill and valley, and 

 covered by a luxuriant growth of 

 Acacias, prickly pears, Euphor- 

 bias, and other plants. 



