SOUTHERN AFRICA. 51 
and active woman ; and all the people, who made their ap- 
pearance from the Black Mountains, were of a stature much 
exceeding the common size of man. The peasantry of the 
colony have always been represented as a gigantic race of 
men. Living nearly in a state of nature, with the advantage 
of having at all times within their reach a supply of food, 
procured without bodily exertion or the fatigue of labor, they 
sometimes attain the greatest possible siz^e to which the hu- 
man species seems capable of arriving. 
From this place may be seen to the northward, across the 
Karroo plains, the chain of mountains which forms the high- 
est step or terrace that has yet been ascended by European 
travellers. The desert rises towards them in a fine swell that 
is clearly perceptible to the eye. An attempt to estimate the 
height of the Nieiiwveld Mountains, by having merely passed 
over the country, can be considered as little better than a 
guess. I should suppose, however, from attending to the 
general slope of the country to the northward, as well as the 
sudden elevation from one terrace to another, that the sum- 
mit of this screen of mountains cannot be less than ten thou- 
sand feet above the level of the sea. Snow falls upon them 
to the depth of five or six feet, and continues to bury them 
for as many months. The inferior range of Zwarteberg was 
at this time, for a considerable distance from the summit, 
covered with snow. These mountains were apparently com- 
posed of the sanie materials as those already passed ; but the 
detached hills, near their base, consisted entirely of that spe- 
cies of rock called by Mr. Kirwan the amygdaloid, which is 
nearly allied to the stone that the miners of Derbyshire 
have distinguished by the name of ioad-itone. The rounded 
