Geognosy ^ the Cape erf Good Mope. 
presented No. 3. of the geological views at the Cape of Good 
Hope of Mr Clarke Abel) is rather remarkable, as it appears di- 
vided and shifted. As we ascend the mountain, we find the 
granite succeeded first by a reddish sandstone, and this in its 
turn is covered by a brown sandstone that reaches to the sum- 
mit. These sandstones are principally composed of granular 
concretions of quartz, with a few disseminated grains of felspar, 
and scales of mica. The sandstone is distinctly stratified, and 
the strata dip under a small angle, all around the Lion’s Head, 
and the north-west side of Table Mountain. On the opposite 
side of the latter, however, from the sea^beach, we fifiay see it 
beyond the gorges, making an angle with the horizon of not 
less than 45°. Dr Adam remarks : “ During a ride to Con- 
stantia one day, I observed this high inclination more particu- 
larly, on the ridge extending from the Devil’s Peak by Sim- 
mon’s Bay ; and having afterwards visited the spot on purpose, 
found the sandstone very much elevated in its position above 
the common level of the strata, and at one place nearly perpen- 
dicular to the horizon, running from north-west to south-east.” 
Table Mountain. 
The next and highest mountain, the Table Mountain^ presents 
many interesting mineralogical appearances. The lowest part 
of the mountain, on one side, is red sandstone ; higher up, and 
apparently rising from under it, are clay-slate and gneiss. These 
rocks are disposed in strata nearly vertical, with an east and 
w^est direction. They alternate with granite, which is the next 
rock in the ascent of the mountain. The granite at its line of 
junction with the gneiss and clay-slate, is often much intermix- 
ed with them ; and numerous veins of granite shoot from the 
mass of the rock itself into the bounding strata, and cotempora- 
neous portions of granite are seen enclosed in the gneiss, and of 
gneiss in the granite. At a higher level than the granite, 
sandstone makes its appearance, and continues to the summit 
of the mountain. The low^est sandstone is of a red colour, the 
next is of a yellowish colour ; and the upper part, or that on the 
summit, of a greyish colour, and Sometimes so coarsely granular, 
as to appear in the state of conglomerate. It many places, the. 
sandstone passes into quartz-rock. 
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