Geognosy of the Cape of Good Hope. 
4. A second layer of compact dark red sandstone, passing 
5. Into a conglomerate, consisting of decomposed crystals of 
felspar, and fragments of quartz in a sandstone basis. 
6. A bed composed of the decomposed constituents of gra- 
nite and red sandstone, passing 
7. Into granite 
The above is the only spot to the southward of the range of 
mountains near Cape Town, which has been particularly de- 
scribed. To the northward of Cape Town, it is reported 
that the mountains are principally composed of the same 
rocks as those which occur throughout the peninsula, and 
whose characters and position have been examined with consider- 
able attention in the Lion’s Rump, Lion’s Head, Table Moun- 
tain, and Devil’s Peak. As these mountains give a good gene- 
ral idea of the composition and structure of the whole peninsu- 
la, and also of much of southern Africa, we shall now present 
our readers with a concise description of them, drawn up from 
information communicated to us by Dr Adam of Calcutta, and 
from the published accounts of Captain Hall and ]\Ir Clarke AbeL 
Lion^s Rump. 
The Li(yrCs Rtimp ^ises by an easy ascent, and, excepting at 
©ne or two points, is covered to the summit with a thin soil, 
bearing a scanty vegetation "f*. 
It is composed of clay-slate, and sandstone. The sandstone 
rests upon the slate. The clay-slate is distinctly stratified; 
* Clarke Abel’s Travels^ p, 295. and 297. 
Dr Adam remarks, that vegetables appeared to be most luxuriant over the 
sandstone, less so on the soil formed by the decomposition of the granite, and least 
©f all over clay-slate, as on the Lion’s Rump, where clay-slate is the predomina» 
ting rock. Although this latter hill has been cultivated in some places, yet it pre- 
sents a stunted vegetation, while the upper parts of Lion’s Head and Table Moun- 
tain, though much more elevated, display rich and more vigorous shrubs. Con- 
stantia, so much celebrated for its wine, is situated at the bottom of the range 
leading from Cape Town to Simmon’s Bay, where sandstone is the predominating 
rock, and the soil of the farm of the neighbouring ground appears to be composed 
of it, in a state of decomposition and of vegetable mould. That it is the sandstone 
which essentially contributes to the excellence of the soil, Dr Adam is inclined ta> 
believe, from having observed several spots at the foot of the same range nearer 
Cape Town, with a soil richer in vegetable mould, but whose produce was held 
much inferior. The principal rock there was granite, and its superincumbehS 
sandstone has suffered less decomposition than that adjoining to Constantino 
VOL. T. NO. % OCTOBER 1819^ XT 
