446 W. M. DAVIS OBSERVATIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA 



eroded on Mesozoic or older rocks; nothing to parallel the well defined 

 east-and-west ranges of Cape Colony compressed and folded in Mesozoic 

 time and since then little disturbed. South America has gained breadth 

 by relatively modern growth ; South Africa has lost breadth by relatively 

 modern marginal submergence. 



The result of all this is that continental homologies should no more be 

 based merely on present outline and gross configuration than should 

 et}anological analogies be based on the present appearance of words. The 

 establishment of a historical correspondence is necessary in both cases 

 before any real analogue can be accepted. The assumption that South 

 America and South Africa are analogous continents is on a par with the 

 assumed etymological relationship between carbon and charred bone. On 

 the other hand, the search for continental analogies based on similarity 

 of development may bring to light close relationships that would be as 

 little suspected from outward appearance as would be the consanguinity 

 of such words as pecuniary and fee. 



