RANGES OF MOUNTAINS. 
65 
ranges. The belt of land, interposed between 
the Zwarte Bergen and the Lange Kloof, is 
nearly of the same average, as that between the 
latter and the sea, and it is of considerably 
greater elevation. Beyond the Zwarte Bergen, 
at an interval of 80 or 100 miles, rise the 
" Nieivveldts Gehirgc" or u Snowy Mountains," 
the highest range of Southern Africa, the sum- 
mits of which are generally covered with 
snow. They have never yet been accurately 
measured, but are not supposed, in their great- 
est height, to fall short of 10,000 feet. The 
belt or plain interposed between these two last 
chains, is considerably more elevated than either 
of the 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 clothed with grass, and with a beautiful 
variety of trees and shrubs. Bains here are 
frequent ; and from its vicinity to the sea, it 
enjoys a milder, and more equable temperature 
than the interior and remoter parts of the Colo- 
ny. The second terrace contains a considerable 
portion of well-watered and fertile lands ; but 
interspersed with large tracts of the arid desert, 
called Karroo. The third belt, called "the Great 
Karroo," is composed of one vast plain, 300 
F 
