66 
Transactions of the Boyal Society of South Africa. 
which I found was a glossopteris impression on a fine-grained sandstone. 
The sedimentary series certainly belongs to the Karroo System, and the 
probability that it represents a horizon considerably lower than that of the 
reptile- bearing beds near Cradock may be inferred from the general 
direction of the dip. 
The farm appears to have taken its old name " Driefontein " from the 
occurrence on it of three springs of warm sulphurous water which seem 
to have enjoyed a somewhat restrictedly local reputation of being beneficial 
to sufferers from rheumatism. 
Since the present owners, Messrs. Eayner and Eoberts, came into 
possession of the farm in 1903, eight boreholes have been made, six of 
which are situated in the vicinity of the natural springs. Five of these 
six have tapped supplies of sulphurous water which flows at the surface of 
the boreholes. 
The boreholes are all of 6-inch diameter, and the following boreholes 
have been named as follows : — 
No. II. is 204 feet deep 
No. III. is 167 
No. IV. is 65 
No. V. is 65 
No. VI. is 225 
The sites of these boreholes are arranged in two groups : Nos. II., III., 
and VI. are within 185 yards of each other. Nos. V. and IV. are within 
225 yards of each other and about 1,420 yards distant from the first group. 
(See Diagram 1.) 
The aggregate yield of Nos. II., III., IV., and V. when they were first 
opened in 1903 was reported by the ofiicers of the Government Public 
Works Department to be about 1,250,000 galls, per twenty-four hours. 
The initial yield, as is generally the case in this country, was not main- 
tained, but continued to diminish for some time. This diminishing 
process appears to have nearly, if not entirely, ceased now, and a fairly 
constant yield to have been established. In the case of No. V., however, 
a periodic fluctuation of yield soon attracted the attention of the owners. 
In all five boreholes the water comes up accompanied by a large quantity 
of inflammable gas which bubbles out at the surface and smells strongly 
of sulphuretted hydrogen. 
In the case of Nos. III. and VI. the escaping gas can easily be ignited 
by the mere act of throwing a burning match on the surface of the water 
as it escapes from the borehole. If the borehole has been closed for a 
quarter of an hour before the experiment the lambent flame from 1 to 2 feet 
high plays over the surface of the escaping water. By day the flame is 
