SOUTHERN AFRICA. 45 
five degrees. The entrance into this deep chasm is grand 
and awlul. The two sides, distant at tlie lower part about 
eight}' yards from each other, converge to the width of a few 
feet only at the portal, which opens upon the summit, forming 
two lines of natural perspective. On passing this portal, a 
plain of very considerable extent spreads out, exhibiting a 
dreary waste and an insipid tameness, after quitting the bold 
and romantic scenery of the chasm. And the adventurer 
may perhaps feel strongly disposed to ask himself if such be 
all the gratification he is to receive for having undergone so 
great a fatigue in the ascent ? The mind, however, will soon 
be relieved at the recollection of the great command given 
by the elevation ; and the eye, leaving the immediate 
scenery, will wander Avith delight round the whole circum- 
ference of the horizon. On approaching the verge of the 
mountain — 
How fearful 
" And dizzy 'tis to cast one's eyes so low ! 
***** 
** The fishermen that walk upon the beaeh 
" Appear like mice ; and yon tall anchoring bark 
" Diminish'd to her cock. * * * 
***** The murmuring surge 
** That on the unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, 
** Cannot be heard so high." 
All the objects on the plain below are, in fact, dwindled 
away to the eye of the spectator into littleness and insignifi- 
cance. The flat-roofed houses of Cape Town, disposed into 
formal clumps, appear like those paper fabrics which chil- 
