96 
MINERAL SPRINGS OF THE COLONY. 
10 April, 
I discovered nothing that could be fancied to be the remains of 
a volcanic crater ; nor is there, I am inclined to think, much reason 
for entertaining the idea that such had ever existed. Excepting just 
at this spot, all the springs which flow from the Zwarteberg are of 
the ordinary temperature ; and, although the bath-hill be of a nature 
different from that of the great mountain to which it is connected, 
yet, as it also gives rise to a cold spring, it is difficult to avoid 
the conclusion, that the cause of heat in this water must be very 
local. * 
I shall not here amuse myself in proposing or supporting 
any hypothesis on the cause of hot springs ; but shall confess myself 
very much at a loss in attempting to account for the great sub- 
terranean operations of Nature, whose dark recesses in the centre 
of our globe are not less out of the pale of observation, than the 
wide space beyond the starry system. Is, it may be asked of the 
lovers of hypothetical philosophy, the solidity or the cavity of 
this sphere, a fact which will ever admit of proof? or will mortal 
sagacity ever ascertain, whether the great space within the ter- 
restrial shell be inhabited by animated beings, or occupied by 
nouo-ht but lifeless matter ? The numberless desiderata in human 
knowledge, either shew us the narrow limits of our faculties and 
mental powers, or teach us that there remains yet more to be 
known than we have hitherto learnt. The many noble discoveries 
and deductions which the divine gift of reason has already enabled 
man to make, give him, indeed, a just hope that, by pursuing 
an unprejudiced investigation of facts, he may yet arrive at a 
* Besides the hot spruig at Z-mrteherg^ and that in Brand Valley, (described here- 
after, on lith April,) some others have been discovered within the colony; particularly 
one in the valley of the Western Elephant's River ; another near the Eastern Elephant's 
River, in Kamnasi-land ; and a third in the arid country behind Kokman's (or Kogman's) 
Kloof: but all ai'e inferior in heat to the two first mentioned. There is also a warm 
spring on the northern side of the Gariep, in Great Namaqualand. Springs of mine- 
ral waters, of the common temperature, have been noticed in various places ; one near 
Graqff-Reynett, another not far from Uitenhage, and one also in the Tarka : nor is it 
improbable that several others, equally remarkable, exist in various parts of the colony. 
