SOUTHERN AFRICA. 37 
in the rock, petrefadions of fiflies, or impreflions of plants, 
appear on the fides of the Table Mountain, as has been 
alTerted. 
To thofe whom mere curiofity, or the more laudable defire 
of acquiring information, may tempt to make a vifit to the 
fummit of the Table Mountain, the beft and readieft accefs will 
be found diredlly up the face next to the town. The afcent 
lies through a deep chafm that divides the curtain from the left 
baftion. The length of this ravine is about three-fourths of a 
mile ; the perpendicular cheeks at the foot more than a thou- 
fand feet high, and the angle of afcent about forty-five degrees. 
The entrance into this deep chafm is grand and awful. The 
two fides, diftant at the lower part about eighty yards from each 
other, converge within a few feet at the portal, which opens 
upon the fnmmit, forming two lines of natural perfpe6tive. 
On pafling this portal, a plain of very confiderable extent fpreads 
out, exhibiting a dreary wafte and an infipid tamenefs, after 
quitting the bold and romantic fcenery of the chafm. And the 
adventurer may perhaps feel ftrongly difpofed to afk himfelf if 
fuch be all the gratification he is to receive for having under- 
gone fo great a fatigue in the afcent. The mind, however, 
will foon be relieved at the recolle£lion of the great command 
given by the elevation ; and the eye, leaving the immediate 
fcenery, will wander with delight round the whole circum- 
ference of the horizon. On approaching the verge of the 
mountain — 
*' How fearful 
** And dizzy 'tis to call one's eyes fo low ! 
***** 
" The 
