VI.— The Cretaceous Rocks of Pondoland, 



by 



W. J. Plows. 



With Plate VIII. 



A T the beginning of July, 1919, I accompanied Mr. E. C. Chubb, 

 Curator of the Durban Museum, on a visit to Pondoland for the 

 purpose of exploring the Cretaceous deposits there and making a 

 collection of their fossils. 



The field of investigation is wide. So long ago as 1851, Mr. H. F. 

 Fynn, who knew of the existence of these rocks 27 years before, 

 pointed them out to Captain R. J. Garden, as a result of which a small 

 collection of fossils was made which Capt. Garden took to England and 

 gave to Mr. W. H. Bailey. That gentleman figured and described the 

 specimens in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of 1855, 

 vol. XI, pp. 454-465, pis. xi-xiii. This paper, which is prefaced by 

 a short account from the pen of Capt. Garden of the discovery of the 

 rocks, is the first record of this highly interesting series. For 15 

 years no one seems to have followed in Capt. Garden's footsteps, but 

 in 1870, Mr. C. L. Griesbach visited the district, and on December 

 7th of that year Mr. Henry Woodward read a paper by Griesbach 

 before the Geological Society which is published in vol. XXVII of the 

 Quarterly Journal, pp. 53-72, accompanied by a map and plate, and 

 in that paper a detailed description of the rocks and contents is 

 given. 



This author calls the series the Izindhluzabalungu Deposits, that 

 being the native name for the caverns in the cliffs on the sea shore. 

 The word means " white men's houses," and it has been conjectured 

 that at some period these caves were used for shelter by a ship-wrecked 

 crew. Whatever the reason for the name the Natives in the locality 

 still use it. 



Griesbach gives a rough section showing five zones resting uncon- 

 formably on " Karoo shales and Sandstones," but, as we shall see later, 

 there are many more than these. He was of opinion that the five 

 zones were distinguished by their respective faunas, but that has been 

 disputed. 



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