A F R I C A. 135 
conjedure the force of truth, when we furvey 
the low plain, and fee that it confifts of nothing 
but a mixture of fand and fhells half decoiii- 
pofed. 
To this evident faft I fliall add another, 
which is, that this part of Africa, which 
I affirm, and with gr^at reafon, to have 
been an ifland, has formed three very diftincft 
ones. I had a proof of this in croffing the 
chain of mountains of granite, of which I 
have before fpoken. I obferved there two 
long defiles, lying in a diredion from eaft to 
weft, and which, it is probable, were formerly 
ftraits. That which ends at the bottom of 
Falfe Bay, is ftill covered with a fand-hill ; the 
other terminates at Bale-aux-Bois f woody 
bay. j To point them out to the reader, I 
have taken care to dot them in my chart. In 
fhort, being on different levels, it cannot be 
doubted that they were formed at different 
periods. However ancient may be that epoch, 
there is one ftill more remote ; when the Table 
mountain itfelf, elevated as it is above the level 
ef the ocean, feems neverthelefs to have been 
partly covered by its waters. 
As to the natural hiftory pf this part of 
K 4 Africa 
