298 
MOUNTAINS OF REMARKABLE SHAPE 
10, 11 Sept. 
in this remarkable Pass, they attract attention, and create wonder, 
by their uniformity and perfectly regular shape. Two on our right, 
which were too striking to be left unsketched, were of the most 
exact form of half-truncated cones, and more resembled gigantic 
artificial mounds, than works of nature. Their horizontal strata 
of a harder rock, encircling them at intervals with, as it seemed, 
bands of masonry, gave them very much of an architectural charac- 
ter ; and if their general resemblance to all the mountains around, 
did not clearly indicate what they were, they might, at a little 
distance, have been easily mistaken for some mighty remains of 
antiquity. * 
On reaching the northern opening of this Pass, which bore the 
names of the Schiet Fonteins Poort, or Karreehergen Poort, a wide- 
extended prospect burst at once upon us. From the foot of the 
mountains, an immense plain lay spread before us, where the scope 
of vision was terminated only by far distant hills. The labor of 
dragging the waggons through this Pass, had exhausted the strength 
of our oxen, and we were obliged to halt a quarter of an hour, to 
allow them to recover breath. 
In the mean time, I made a couple of sketches, and ascended 
the nearest mountain. It was composed of a compact hard stone, 
evidently containing a great proportion of iron. My labor was 
rewarded by an unexpected harvest of new plants, f 
At half-past five the waggons began to descend the northern 
side of the Karreehergen. For the remainder of this day, our track 
was over the plain, the soil of which was hard and even. That part of 
it next to the Karreehergen, abounded in bushes, three and four feet 
* Near this spot were found Anchusa Capensis and Chciranthus [Matthiola) torulosus. 
+ Among which were species of the genera 
Melianthus Hcrmannia^ 2 sp. Aptosimuin 
Verbena P Thesium Calendula 
Anthospermum, Tritonia Cissampelos 
Acanthus Pelargonium Tetragonia, .&c. 
Lidbeckia Asparagus 
