SOUTHERN AFRICA. 



861 



Marriage Celebration. 



hy shouting, drinking, and firing guns, and the bride is carried to her husoand's house on tne 

 shoulders of an old woman, who walks all the way upon mais spread before her. There are, 

 in the African concerts, also, pipes, horns, drums, and old brass pans. 



CHAPTER CXXXII. SOUTHERN AFRICA. 



1. Boundaries and Extent. Under this head, we include all the country extending from 

 the last described territories, southerly to the Cape of Good Hope, comprising the Cape Col- 

 ony, CafFraria, and all the Hottentot and Cimbebas regions. It will thus extend from the Cape 

 of Good Hope, or rather Cape Agulhas, the southern extremity of Africa, in latitude 34° 55' 

 South, to about 16° S. latitude, on the Western Coast, and 2G° S. latitude on the Eastern 

 Coast. Its boundaries are Guinea, unknown countries, and Monomotapa, on the north, the 

 Indian Ocean on the east, the Southern Ocean on the south, and the Atlantic on the west. 



2. Cape Colony. This district occupies the southern extremity of Africa. The leading 

 feature in the aspect of the Cape territory, consists in 3 successive ranges of mountains, run- 

 ning parallel to each other, and to the southern coast of Africa. The first range, which, at 

 least in a great part of its line, is called the Lange Kloof, or Lnng Pass, runs parallel to the 

 coast, at a distance of from 20 to 60 miles, widening towards tlie west. The second range, 

 called Zwarle Berg, or Black Mountain, is considerably higher and more rugged, than the first, 

 and consists, often, of double or even triple ranges. The belt, interposed between the Zwarte 

 Berg and the Lange Kloof, is nearly of the same average breadth, as that between the latter 

 and the sea, and it is of considerably greater elevation. Beyond the Zwarte Berg, at an inter- 

 val of 80 or 100 miles, rises the J^ieuweldt''s Gebirge, or Snowy JMounlains, the highest range 

 of Southern Africa, and the summits of which are generally covered with snow. They have 

 not been accurately measured, but are not supposed, in their greatest height, to fall short of 

 10,000 feet. The passes, between these mountains, are called Kloofs, in Dutch. The fol- 

 lowing cut represents a pass, called Hottentot Hollands Kloof. The belt, or plain, interposed 

 between these two last chains, is considerably more elevated than either of tin; two others, so 

 that Southern Africa forms, as it were, a succession of terraces, rising above each other. 

 The plain next the sea, is covered with a deep and fertile soil, watered by numerous rivulets, 

 well clotl ed with grass, and with a beautiful variety of trees and shrubs. Rains are frequent ; 

 and from its vicinity to the sea, it enjoys a more mild and equable temperature, than the inte- 

 rior and remoter parts of the colony. 



