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HYDROLOGY OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



Preparing for the Press, j 

,0B, RECORDS OF THE REPLANTING OF THE ALPS, THE CEVENNES, AND THE 

^PYRENEES, WITH TREES, HERBAGE, AND BUSH, ! 

WITH A VIEW TO ARRESTING AND PREVENTING THE DESTRUCTIVE CONSEQUENCES 1 
AND EFFECTS OF TORRENTS. ' 

Compiled by JOHN CUOUMBIE BROWN, LL.D. 



HYDROLOGY OF SOUTH AFRICA ; 

OR DETAILS OF THE FORMER HYDROGRAPHIC CONDITION 
OF THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 

AND OP CAUSES OF ITS PRESENT ARIDITY, 

WITH SUGGESTIONS OF APPBOFBIATB BEMEDIBS FOB THIS ABIDITY. 



OOBCPILED BY 

JOHN CROUMBIE BROWN, LL.D, 

Formerly Government Botanist at the Cape of Good Hope and Professor of 

Botany in the Scmth African College, Capetovniy 

Hmwi^ary Vice-Fresiderd of the African Institute of Far is. 

Fellow of the Eoyal Geographical Society, 

Fellow of the Linnean Society, dsc. 



HENRY S. KING & CO., 

65 COBNHILL, and 12 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 

1875. 



THE MEV^ Ycr-:i-: 
PUBLIC LlBKAdi 



d.i.^ 






A8TOR, LFNCX a'^D 
TILDEN F" .' /MIONS. 

1901 






ALL RiaaiB BBfiOEVia). 



CONTENTS AND ARGUMENT. 



PAQl 

Preface, .1 

Introduction . .7 

States how the sahject of the Hydrology of Sooth AfHca came nnder the consider- 
ation of the Author ^ gives his experience of drought at the Cape (p. 8) ; and of 
deluges (p. 12^; and ohservations of the similarity of several districts to features 
of the LaKe Districts of North America and of Finland (p. 14). 



PABT I. — ^FoBMEB Htdrographic Condition op South Africa, . 18 



Chapter I. — Testinwny supplied hy the Physkal Geography of South 

Africa^ . . . . . . .18 

Descrihes the general contour of South Africa (p. 18] ; specifies at greater length 
similarities to features of the Lake Districts of North America and to Finland 
(p. 21) ; adduces indications that the land had been long under water, and that 
valleys specified had been created by the flow of ocean-currents (p. 27); 
describes the composition of Table Mountain (p. 31) ; and draws the conclusion 
from the physical geography of the locality that the land must have upheaven 
from the bottom of tUQ ocean, and, it may be, have been again submerged 
and subsequently upheaven, and this done oftener than once (p. 33). 

Chapter II. — Testimony in regard to the former Geographical conditicm 

of South Africa supplied hy Geological Observations, , 35 

Section I. — Geological Formations of Table Mountain, . . 37 

States that these belong to the Primary, Metamorphic, Silurian, and Devonian 
formations (p. 38) ; supplies indications of the land having been for ages of 
untold duration at the bottom of the ocean (p. 47) ; and quotes descriptions 

S'ven by Hugh Miller of what may be supposed to have then been the state of 
e ocean (p. 57). 

Section II. — Geological Formations less ancient than those of 

Table Mountain, . . . . .62 

Refers successively to the lower and upper karoo shales, with imbedded fossils, in- 
dicative of theezistence of dry land ^- 62) ; to trap conglomerate rocks, indicative 
of volcanic eruptions (p. 64) ; and dicjmodon fossils, indicative of the existence 
of extensive lakes— quotes description given by Hugh Miller of the supposed 
condition of land at this period (p. 68), and description given by Page of coal 
deposits (p. 69) ; cites account given by Dr Grey, of Oradock, of carboniferous 
deposits m the vicini^ of dieynodon beds (p. 75) ; and refers successively to 
new red sand stone rarmations (p. 78), ooletic formations (p. 80), tertuuy 
deposits (p. 82], boulder formations (p. 85), and the drymg up of the Great 



OOMTJfiMTS. 



Mf 



PA«I 



Chapter III. — Indications of the former Hydrographic condition of 

the country supplied by Arborescent Productions found in 

the interior of South Africa, . . . .93 

Describes groups of olive trees, accacias, and baobabs, seen beyond the Colony 

of the Cape o| Good Hope (p. 95) ; and states how information in regard 

to the desiccation of the country might be obtained from sections of sach 

trees (p. 97). 



Chapteb rV. — Hydrographic condition of the country within the 

historic period. .....' 102 

States what time may be considered as embraced by the historic period (p. 102) ; 
cites observations made by Moffat, by Livingstone, and by Chapman (p. 104) ; 
and conclusions drawn by Fox Wilson in regard to the progress of desiccation 
(p. 108) ; and concludes with the intimation that, in regard to the former 
hydrographic condition of the country, we have indications of a progressive 
desiccation having gone on from the last emergence of the land from beneath 
the ocean up to die present day, producing as a result the existing condition 
of aridity of climate and of soil (p. 113). 



PART II. — Cause or Occasion op the Desiccation op South 

Africa, ....... 114 



Chapter I. — Primary aind Principal Cause of the Desiccation and 

consequent Aridity of South Africa, . . .114 

Reference being made to the phenomena of elevation and subsidence throughout 
extensive areas of the earth's surface (p. 115) ; there are cited indications of 
South Africa being, or having been, within a period not very remote, upheaveu 
from a lower level (p. 115), including the phenomena of the cataracts of the 
Shire (p. 118), the rapids of Kebrabasa (p. 119), the Makololo valley (p. 123), 
and the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi (p. 125) ; and indications of extensive 
upheavals having occurred in other lands— including Great Britain (p. 131), 
and the Continent of Europe (p. 133), and of upheaval and sujbsidence 
going on throughout an extensive area of the Southern Ocean (p. 134). 
The theory generally adopted in regard to these phenomena is explained 
(p. 137) ; and objections to it are met (p. 139). 

Section II. — Application of this as a Hypothesis to the Geological 

Phenomena and Physical Geography of South Africa, , 145 

It is shown to fit in with these as does a key with the wards of a lock in regard to 
dykes and faults (p. 145), with the indications of a progressive depression of the 
ocean-bed beyond, supplied by the island of St Helena (p. 147), with the inclined 
position of layers of cla^^-slate at base of Table Mountain (p. 149), the thickness 
of the geological strata in South Africa (p. 151); and the removal of large por- 
tions of these by ocean currents (p. 152) ; and illustrations of what has occurred 
in the upheaval of South Africa are supplied from what is going on in other 
lands (p. 153), hot springs and subterraneous rivers indicate the flow of the 
water by other courses (p. 154) ; there are cited indications of the existence of 
subterraneous rivers and subterraneous reservoirs of water in other lands 
(154), and of the existence of such in South Africa (p. 155) ; and it is 
stated that to water being carried off by superficial and subterraneous water- 
courses may be attributed primarily and principally the desiccation of South 
Africa (p. 167). 



Chapter II. — Secondary Causes of tJie Desiccation and co7isequent 

^^ridity of South Africa, . . . , ,158 



GONTSNTfl. 



PAM 



Section I. — Phenomena of Evaporation, aind ModificatwM of this pro- 

dvced by Atmospheric Moisture and by Shade, . .158 

Evj^omtion in referred to as a terrestrial pheuomenon, ezten^yely manifested 
(p. 158), diminiahed by atmospherio moistare (p. 159), and by shade (p. 160) ; 
and illustrations are given of effects produced by the destrucdon of trees, 
and by sylricnlture, in St Helena (p. 161), and by the destruction of forests 
elsewhere (p. 163). 

Sbctiox II. — Denudation of South Africa hy Destruction of Herbage 

and Trees, . . . . , . 167 

There is adduced testimony that the destruction of herbage and trees has been 
carried on from former times to the present (p. 167) ; tiiere is described the 
effects on forests at the Cape of Good Hope of tne reckless destruction of these 
(p. 171) ; and details are given of the destruction of these at different times by 
fire (p. 175). 



Section III. — Effects of Denudation of the Country on Evap(yration, 194 

These effects, in accordance with experiments cited, are stated to be the promotion 
of evaporation of moisture from the soil (p. 194) ; the consequences of this are 
shown by quotation of statement by Mr J. F. Wilson, on the desiccation or 
diminution of the water supply in the basin of the Orange River (p. 197), 
with remarks on the same by Dr Livingstone, and by him by Sir Koiderick 
Murehison, Dr Eark, Mr GhUtoUj Colonel Bafour, and Lord Stratford de Bed- 
cliffe (p. 204), and correspondmg testimony by Dr Rubidge and by Mr 
J. H. iJiiyis (p. 207). 

Section IV. — Effects of Denudation of the Country on the Rainfall, 208 
It is stated that one effect produced by forests is a comparatively equable destribu- 
tion of the rainfS&ll over time and space (p. 208) ; testimony of meteorologists 
and others to this fact are cited (p. 209) ; and illustrations of the irregulanties 
of the distribution of the rainfkll in South Africa are adduced (p. 211). 

Section V. — Effect of Denuda;tion of the Country on the Hydroscopidty 

of the Soil, ...... 213 

Reference is made to the effect of vegetable mould in attracting moisture from 
the atmosphere (p. 213) ; testimony is adduced to show that such soil is 
decomposed by sun-light and then losses this property (p. 214) ; and soil 
deprived of covering is liable to be washed away by the ram and blown away 
by the wind (p. 214). , 



PART III. — ^Aridity and Water Supply op South Africa, . 216 



Chapter I. — Aridity and Water Supply beyond the Colonized pmiion 

of South Africa, ...... 216 

Section I. — Aridity beyond the Colonized portion of South Africa, , 216 
This is illustrated by accounts given by Dr Livingstone of his experience 
at Kolobeng (p. 216), by the great sufferings of Mr Helmore and his family 
in the interior (p. 217), and by accounts given by Mr M'Kenzie, of 
Shooshong, (p. 222). 

Section II. — Water Supply in regions beyond the Colonized portion of 

South Africa, ...... 223 

Contains account given by Bakwains to Livingstone, Oswell, and Murray (p. 224) • 
notices of the Congo (n. 224), of the plains of the Lobele (p. 224), and of ^e 
pUOnB of Leebft (p. 225). 



comnsMTs. 



Chapter II. — Aridity and, Water Supply within the Colony of the 

Cape of Good Hope. . . . . .227 

The aridity is illnstrated bj the freezing of water near Hopetown. (p. 227) ; and 
water snp^^lj bj an enumeration of alternate dronghts and demges that hare 
occurred since 1863, with dettuls of delnges and floods committing devastations 
at Port Elizabeth, (p. 229) ; and other parts of the Colony in 1867, (p. 232) ; at 
Natal in 1868, (p. 234); Capetown and the adjacent districts in 1869, (p. 238); at 
Beaufort in 1870, in Victoria West, 1871, (p, 241] ; at Capetown, 1872, and in 
Tarious ^ts of the Colony at the breaking up of the drought in 1874, (p. 244); 
ii^ormation is supplied in regard to the natural history of hail storms, called 
forth by report of a hail storm in connection with this, which otherwise might 
have been bought incredible, (p. 245) ; the accounts of the breaking up of the 
drought is resumed (p. 249) with a summary of the damages done, estimated 
at aTOUt £300,000, (p. 251), and an account of similar damages done at Bloom- 
fontein, in tiie Orange River Free State, (p. 251), a reference is made to the con- * 

trasts (p. 252); and the Chapter concludes by a picture given by Mofiat (p. 253). 



Conclusion, ....... 258 

It is stated that corresponding accounts might be given of the hydrology of other 
lands, (p. 258), and that appropriate remedies are the erection of dams to pre- 
vent the escape of a portion of the rainfall to the sea ; the abandonment or 
restriction of the burning of the veldt ; the conservation and extension of 
existing forests, (p. 259) ; and the adoption of measures similar to the reboise- 
ment and gassonnement carried out in France, with a view to prevent the forma- 
tion of torrents, and the destruction of property occasioned by them. 



INDEX TO AUTHORITIES CITED- 



ADAMSON, page 99. Alexander, 172. Allan, 91. Ansted, 73. Asbjoernsen, 209. 

BABBAGE, 100. Baden Powell, i. Bain, 19. Balfour, 207. Barber, 170. Barrington, 175. 
Barth, 209. Bazalgette, 228. Belgrand, 209. Belknap, 29. Bellzonie, 256. 
Blore, 160, 231. Boussingalt, 209. Boiat, 246. 

CAMPBELL, 104, 252. Cape Argus, 179, 234, 238, 241, 243, 244, 249, 257. Cape 
Standard md Mail, 251. Cassilis, 167. Chapman, 95, 104, 107. Glewe, 209. 
Gowper, 59. Oradoch BegisUr, 250. 

DARNELL, 1^* Baubenj, 45, 148, Davis, 207. De la Beohe, 65. Delorosse, 246. 
Dunn, 248. . 

EASTERN PROVINCE HERALD, 182, 187, 229, 231 Esman, 161. Espy, 247. 

FOI88AC, 161. Fox, 50. Fox Wilson, 108, 109, 197. Friend of F^StaU, 257. Fries, 167. 
Fritsoh, 98. 

GALTON, 205. Green, 107. Qrej, 75. 

HALL. 50, 77, 105, 115, 212. Harrisse, 209. Harrison, 172, 177. Helmore, 207. Hender- 
son, 66. Herodotus, 102. Hersohel, 153, 154, 209, 246. Hohenstein, 209. 
Hooker, 5, 166. Home, 257. 

JANI8CH, 161. Johnstone, 115, 159. 

KIRK, 205. Kloeden, 210. 

LEONARD, 174. Livingstone, 19, 65, 74, 104, 106, 108. 118, 154, 168, 204, 216, 224. 
Lombardini, 160. Lyal, 53. 

MANN, 238, 247. Marsh, 90, 91, 154, 160, 163, 209, 214. Maurj, 163. M'Kenzie, 169. 222. 
M'Lear, 238. M 'Vicar, 212. Metcalfe, 159. Mejer, 172. MiUer, 57, 60, 68, 
80, 83, 92, 131. MofEjAt, 99, 104, 154, 168, 211, 253. MorohisoD, 201. 
Murray, 95, 154. 

NIOOL, 134. 

08WELL AND MURRAY, 105. Owen, 19, 94. 

PAGE, 43, 47, 50, 69, 78, 81, 82, 84, 86, 145. Pappe, 172. Pears, 174. Port EUzabeth 
Telegraphy 189. Baden Powell, L PuUen, 175, 176. 

REOLU8, 159. Rubidge, 9, 41, 146, 207. Buskin, 58. 

80HACHT, 209. Schleiden, 165, 167. Shaw, 39. Smith, 170. Smyth, 132. Somerset 
Oowrant, 176, 193. Somerville, 46, Sprengel, 99. Steytler, 238. Stratford 
deBedcliffe,206. 

THEVIT, 99, Thomassy, 154, Thomson, 246. ToUemache, 101. 

UITENHAGE TIMES, 184. 

WALLER. 195. Ward, 88. Watson, 239. White, 157, 169. Wilhehn, 160. Wilkes, 23 
Fox WUson, 108, 109, 197. Witham. 70. WyUe, 44, 45, 57, 58, 146, 338. ' 



4 \. 



PREFACE. 



This Volume owes its publication in some measure to the phrase Postal 
University having come under my notice in a passage in a review, which 
appeared in the Spectator, of a work by Mr George Baden-Powell, entitled 
"New Homes for the Old Country," of which the following is an extract ; — 

"The squatters or landed proprietors of Australia are mainly drawn from 
the highest class of immigrants, and have generally received some, at least, of the 
elements of a liberal education ; but they enter, many of them, on their new work 
very young, and find themselves at certain seasons of the year with ample 
leisure, but, as Mr Baden-Powell remarks, separated by their new life from all 
the centres of learning : 

" * Could they but bridge over this separation by means of the post, they might continue 
tj do a modified amount of work on some u<'eful subject. A Board of prof'esdors forms 
^e centre of the system, and all the instruction is carried on by letter. The idea might further 
P® elaborated into examinations, and even to the granting of degrees. Peculiarly and 
"pmediately useful would be the study of engineering, and of veterinary science, of natur:d 
^^story, of law, and many other matters of immense, benefit to the dwellers in the bush. 
And a young " super," by devoting any leisure hours, more especially of his first three or four 
years, to the study of veterinary science, would assuredly become a far better manager of 
e*ttle, sheep, and horses, than if his knowledge of the subject were confined to limited personal 
experience. The value of runs, again, is greatly enhanced by the proper storage of water, 
l^y the erection of dams, and by j udicious clearing and planting. For such purposes engineering, 
geology, and botany, practical and to the point, may prove of immense use. In short, many 
*fe the branches of knowledge which might be successfully studied by the means of such 
"Wtructors, and which in the end would prove invaluable to the success of the squatter. A 
postal university might be made to form an efficient substitute for training colleges, which 
^ould be of little use in a country where the requisite amount of leisure time at the disposal 
of the would-be students is so broken and uncertain that their attendance would be an impossi- 
Duity, even though we leave out of the question altogether the immense distance they i^ould 
*^ve to journey to any fixed centre. Heading by post could be carried on at any available 
opportunity, and at any distance from the central courts.' " 

In connection with this it is said : — 

. ** Sydney possesses a University of its own, at which, however, at present, it is 
impossible to get that real University education whose chief charm lies not so 
Diuch in the book-learning that it gives as in that mutual intercourse and rubbing 
wgether of those of every character with learned, clever, and good men, which 
pfoves 80 useful in after life. N ew South Wales, though fortunate in possessing 
the Services of several clever professors, is as yet too young to provide a sufficiently 
wge number of undergraduates. 

** Situated on the top of a neighbouring eminence, the University Buildings 
form a conspicuous and handsome feature ia the Sydney landscape, and closer 
^^^pection will show them to be of very high order with regard to size, plan^ 
^terial, and finish. 

*,' The happy idea of starting what may be called a Postal University has lately 
claimed attention. Such method of education should prove an immense boon to 
Australia. Thousands and thousands of miles of bush country are held by the 
Jlttatters, and their work, necessarily of a very isolated character, is mainly in 
wie hands of young men, mos«; of whom have entered on its life fresh from school 
^^ fall of aspirations. At times they have a great amount of leisure on their 
"ftoda, and this a large majority of them would probably be very glad to deyote 



U PBEFAOE. . 

to self-improyement. At school their minds have been trained ; thus they know 
the way of working, bat their new life separates them from all centres of 
learning." 

Such was the statement of Mr Baden-Powell. On seeing this I addressed 
to the editor of the Colonies a letter on the subject, of which the following 
is the substance : — 

" The term Postal University is new to me, but the desideratum is not. For 
some years I held the chair of Botany in the South African College, Capetown, 
and in professional tours which I made throughout the colony and districta 
beyond its limits, I met with not a few men such as are referred to, giving 
thought in their isolated homes to the requirements of the country for the 
development of its resources and its capabilities, and giving wilUng labour to 
the perfecting of devices which could only be entertained in ignorance 6f what 
was well known to practical and scientific men in Europe. 

" On some of the tours which I made, I gave field-lectures on the vegetaUe 
products of the locality, which were attended by numbers varying from fifteen 
to eighty ; and not a few availed themselves of the opportunity thus afforded 
to them to propound questions of considerable importance to the interests of 
the colony — questions relating not only to economic botany, but to mining; 
to metallurgy, to motive force developed in connection with magnetism and 
electricity, and to other subjects. 

" On other tours I encouraged arrangements being made for open pubUo 
conferences on subjects connected with agriculture, arboriculture, and irrigation. 
These were attended by still greater numbers ; and information was given and 
obtained on a wide range of subjects. On one occasion, at an isolated farm, 
some twelve or fifteen miles from Montague, from twenty to thirty farmers met 
me, and the conference was continued, with a short intermission for refreshments, 
from 10 a.m. till 5 p.m. At these conferences there occurred sometimes «a 
adjournment in a body to the vineyard, the water leading, or the dam, forljie 
purpose of testing information given, and continuing the discussion in view 
of facts and phenomena referred to. 

'* Subjects broached at the field lectures and conferences were discussed more 
fully in letters, which were franked at the Colonial Office. Copies of these lettem 
were appended to annual reports to the government which I made as Colonial 
Botanist. These were printed and submitted to both Houses of Parliament, 
by command of the governor, and a number of copies were put into circulation 
on loan, while copies were sent to ofiicials and others, who might desire to poaseBS ' 
copies for reference. 

*^ The following list of these shows the kind of subjects upon which informa- 
tion was sought :t- 

*' Appended to Beport of Colonial Botanist for 1863— (1) Memoir on the Conservation and 
Extension of the Forests as a means of counteracting disastrous consequences following the 
destruction of Bush and Herbage by Fire. (2) Report on the Capetown Botanic Gardens. 
(3) Copies of Letters to and from the Colonial Botanist on subjects connected with tihe 
jOevelopment of the Resources of the Colony, viz. : 1. Letters from and to the Rev. T. D. 
Philip Haukey on Destruction of Orange Trees ; 2. Letter to the Rev. P. Smail, Bathorst, 
on the Rust in Wheat ; 3. Letter, sent in triplicate, to A. N. Ella, Esq.j-Queeu's Town, F. W. 
Hopley, Esq., Bureersdorp, and D. Arnot. Esq., Colesberg, on Grasses and Pasture Herbs ; fL, 
Letter to J. Mosei, Esq., Uitenhage, on the possibility of obtaining a substitute for India' 
Rubber or Gutta-Percha from the Milk Sap of the Euphorbia; 5. Letter to W. Lemark« 
Esq., Port Elizabeth, on the Growth of Chicory ; 6. Letter to Mr Titterton. Kracha Kama« 
on the Cultivation of the PrioUy Pear, with a view to the Preparation of Cochineal ; 7. Letter 
to the Rev. T. Merrington, Bethelsdorp, on the Cultivation of the Soccotrine Aloe, and th» 
Preparation of the Drag ; 8. Letter to Mr Buckley, Knysna Forest, on the Cultivation of th9 
Olive and Kei Apple; 9. Letter to the Rev. W. Stegmann, Adelaide, on the Spread of the 
Bhenoster Bosh; 10. Letter to Mr Hayward, Swellendam, on the Planting of Trees br 
Water-Courses ; 11. Letter to the Rev. J. Brownlee, King William's Town, on Plants found 
fey him in British Kaffraria; 12. Letter to Dr Harvey, Professor of Botany, Trinity 
Gollflge, Dablin, on South African Plants ; 18. Letter to John A. Merrington. Esq., on 
Irrigation, Afborienlture, Wine>Makiug, the Utiliiation of Night-Soil, and the CoUMtiBg of 
£kdl aa anpplyiug Remunerative Employment for Capital. 



PREFACE. 

' Appended to Report of Colonial Botanist for 1864— (1) Letter to J. A. MemngtoUt Esq.* 
London, on the Jjiour, the Sweety and the Mixed Yeldts, and the Karoo^ on tbeir Aju-ricoltural 
3apabi]itLeflf and on the Emplojintnt of IrH^atioot Arbari culture, AgricuUural MNchicery, 
|Dd Manaxei aa means of devt loping tfat^e. {^) Letter to the same, iu at^swer tu itie q^ue^tion 
^Can ¥re incrsas^ tbe number of Vegetable Frodootions of ^utb Africa, or e^ix we render 
o&e alreadj obtained more valuable?— inoludlng notices of Lmdaeeo t^il^ Culza Oil, 
ustard. Chicory, Beeti Tobacco* Wire, Euphorbia Kap, AIoeb, Timber^ Maize- Fibra^ 
DJives^ Castor Oil, Myrtle-Berry* Wax, Kenrboom Gom, Bucbu* and Indigo. {^] Letter to 
the same, on the impravemetit of the manufacture of Cape Aloca. [4) Letter to the t-ariie, on 
^e preparation of Ebonite and Vulcaoite from the milk sap of the Euphorbia. (5) Letter to 
Uie Mine, on the iaiproTement of the Cape Wines, (fi} Letter to the ^me, on the import^ 
ice of the e^tahlidtiment of an experiinental farmj with a view to the development of the 
fricultural reaoufces of the Colony. (7) Letter to J^ H. Davia* Eaq., J.R, Uolesberg, on 
^^rasaes and Herbage, found oti the Sour, tlm Sweet, and the Mijted Yeldta* and the Karoo, 
jB) Letter to F. W. Hoply, Ehq., M.L,Am Burgheradorp, seut in dui>licate to A. N. Ella, Esq., 
Gaeen'a Town, on Pasrure Herbs and Grasaea of the difc^tricEs of Albert and Queen's Town. 

H6] Letter to John Dioki^oD,, E^q,, Port Kll^abethf on Gra^aea aiiapted to arrest drifting sandi. 
to) Letter to F, Tudhope, Edq*, Graham'tt Town, on the question — ^Whtther good or evil 
irepouderates in tke resultiJ obtained by burning the veldt ? embodjfing an illubtratiou of the 
^^mprobabiliiy of the paateiral condition of the Colony b>-iug perp€tuat»jd by the practice, (11) 
Letter to Dr Harvey, ProfeeBor of Ilotany, Trinity Collegcj Dublin* on tsouth African Pbnta* 
p2) Letter to James Chiipnmni Esq., Cape Town* on ttte Welwit<*chja nftjriibiij5. {IS] Cir- 
olar addreasPid to Mi^iofiaries labouring io Bouth Africa beyond the Culouy^ requesting 
heir co-operation in oa tending the aequniutar ce of botaiii.<»ts with the l!ora of South Africa. 
,{14] Ktrport on the accommodation providk^d for the herbarium of the late Dr Fappo. and on 
|ba expediency of provitjing accouimodation for a museum of South Afriei&n Vegetable 
Economic Products. (Ui) Letter to the Honourable the Colonial Secretary on measures 
Iculated to devaiope the vegetable resources of the Colony. 

"* Appended to Report of Colonial Botanisit for 18G5.— (1) Letter to G. A. T. de Graaff* Eiq., 
HoiJu iSecretary to Mosat^l Bay Agricultural Society* on Experimental Farms adapted to the 
;irauta of the Colony. [2) Keport on the Potato Disease, iubmitted in aceordaneB with the 
desire of Belect Counnitteea of LeglsiatLvo CoimciL [3 ) Report on Hu^ts and other destruc' 
tiTre grt^wths on Cereals. [4] Iteport on the Deatruction of Orange Treaa in tho Ctlony, with 
'apecial notices of the Bcale, the J^oot-like substanee, and the Ants and other Instcts found 

Lnpon diseased Orange Trees, and of the probablii cause of the evil, and the remedy* [5) 
Bepurt on the D(?j*truction of Chesnut Treta and Walnut Tree^ in dtftcrent parts of the 
—Colony. (6) Ueport on the Blfgbt alTtetiug Apple Trees in the Colony. (7) Latter to E. V, 
Williams* Esq., biujon^ti I'owUj on the afftiOtion of Peach Trees. (8) Letters to Albert 
Kennedy* Esq., Land burveyur, Humansdorp* on the iirreat of Drifting tiand, and on plant- 
ing the aanie with Trees* (0) Letter to J. F. J. Wrei>j?oh, Esq.* See, tu Divljgional Council of 
district of Albert, on Tree3 deemed suitable for enltuie in that and similar districts,, (lOJ 
X^etter to J. H. L Schumann* Esq,) Aht^rdeen, South Africa, on Trees deemed suitable for 
eultnre in the Katoo and SweetveMt, and on rai^-^ing Trtes from Seeds. (11) Liitter to E. L. 
Layardf Eiiq, Cape Town* on Trees deemed auitab'e for euHiire at Cafie LAgnlbas and other 
diitriets exposed to a strong aua breeze, (12) Letbi^r to Dr Mueller, Government 
Botaniat and Director of MeJbourue Botanic Garden^* relative to Shrubs and Trees used 
mt the Capo for Fenceat Avenues^ and Burying-grounclB. (13) Letter to Walter G. Frji 
Esq,* Victoria Taiiery* Bristol relative to Tannin-yie'riing Plants growing in the Colony, 
(14) Letter to D, D, Williamson. Esq.* Manager of the North British Uubber CoTnpany* Edin- 
burgh* on the utilisation of jrilk-sap of the Euphc^rbia. (15) Letter to the Rev. ilr Rouaaeau, 
Glaowilliam, on the Culture and Manufacturti of Lidigo. (16) CircuLlar relative to facilities for 
Irrigation in dtffurent parte of the colony. 

Appended to Report of Colonial Botanist for 1866.-^(1) List of South Afriran Trees* ShrnbSf 
and Arbore-scent ilerbii^npon the natural history* or botanic oharacterSt or econOEiJie uses 
of which a report is forth coining if necessaiy* (2) Abstract of niemoir prepared oti the Forests 
and Forest Lands of touthem Africa. [^] Abstract of memoir prepared un the Forest Economy 
of the Colony, (4) Abstract of memoir prepared ou Arboriculture in the Colony. (S) Ab- 
^>act of memoir prejiared oi3 the Hydrology of Southern Africa. (6) Abstract of memoir 
pfepATed on Irrigatiun, and its application to eericuUnral operations in South Africa. (7) 
Obiervatiotis on tha agricultural capabilities of thu Colony^ and requirements for the develop- 
ment of the^B : A resume of the results and observationa made during tenure of office in the 
years 1^63* 18Ij4* 18Go*and J8G(j. (8) Copy of circular relative to South African Plants der 
aired by the Directors of Botanic Gardens ia Europe and elsewhere. 

*^ Siicb are subjects on wLicii iiiformation haa been desired atid transmitfeed 
bj pout in one colony, and it may be iufeired that correBpondiDg infortnaiion 
Will be deal red iu others, 

** TUe desideratum might be supplied in part by the publication of a fietidfl 
uf trt^atiBes on tliacovetiea of mod'^rn science applicable to tbe deYelopo^eAt 
d colonial eettlemunts* priuted in small type aod on tbjn paper, that they 



IT PBEFAOK. 

may be tnuunnitted by book-post from the place of publication if need be to 
whererer they may be required. In such treatises it would be desirable that all 
■tatemeota iu other work^ cited should be quoted in full, as those for whose 
perusal they are designed liv^e far from cities, haTe not access to works of refer- 
ence, and rarely have an opportunity of entering a bookseller's shop. 

*^ More efficiently would the desideratum be supplied if arrangements were also 
made for answering queries. This might easily be done by combining with the 
publication of such treatises as have been referred to the publication of other 
works calculated to meet the craving of colonists having little access to general 
litwatore, issuing the whole periodically, keeping each number within a speci- 
fied postal w^ght, and bringing each up to this by appended sheets appropri- 
ated to answers to correspondents, and by encouraging subscriptions for the 
whole by annual pre-payment by post-office orders. There is not an outstation 
to which letters can be sent to which these could not be sent from London, 
the postage bttng sabi^tated, if necessary, for the trade allowance to book- 
■eUen. 

*' In the absence of any such arrangements, may I submit to your consideration 
the expediency of making the Colonies a medium for such communication ? What 
I attempted to do single-handed at the Cape might be done much more efficipntly 
and extensively by the editor of a newspaper or periodical extensively circulated 
in the ookmies, published in London, where access could be had to sources of 
▼aloable information on subjects connected with the practical application of science 
to the physical development of nature. I do not conceal from myself that it 
would be unreasonable to expect that professional counsel would always be 
ol»laiiied by the oondncton simply for the asking ; and I question whether any 
inereaae of drcnlation which would result from arrangements for obtaining infor- 
matkxi from professional men on all subjects, on which information miji^ht be 
denied, woold oover the expenditure which would be incurred in procuring this. 

^ T^a ia one of the considerations on the ground of which I would recommcmd 
Ha poblieation of treatiseB with the provision for answering queries.'' 

Practical effect has not been given to the suggestion, nor is it deemed 
probable that it would be found remunerative to do so ; but it may be some 
one may be able to give a practicable and remimerative form to the idea 
■nggested to me by the proposal of Mr Baden-Powell ; and having had of 
late some time at my command, I have, partly with a view to supply an 
ilidicatiixi oi the kind of treatises which I consider to be likely to meet the 
ease oi such agonists, of the character described by him, with whom I have 
bad corre^KHidence or personal intercourse, recast the materials I had col- 
lacted oa the Hydrolc^y of Southern Africa and embodied in the Memoir on 
that subject referred to above, in which the desiccation of South Africa 
hoai pre-Adamic times to the present day is traced by indications supplied 
by geological formations^ by the physical geography or general contour of 
the country, and by arborescent productions in the interior, with results 
confirmatory of the opinion that the appropriate remedies are irrigation, 
arbodcultnre, and an improved forest economy ; and in recasting this I 
bave added information which has in the interval come into my possession. 
The treatiae, even in its present form, is designed primarily for the benefit 
of Gtdonists at the Cape of Crood Hope, but it embodies information which 
nay be naefol in odier lands beside South Africa. In view of what I have 
stated in regard to the difficulties experienced about stations and getting 
access to wosks cited, I have quoted in full many passages to which it 
Bli|^ bff?e sufficed to refer in a Isneatise designed primarily for readeis 
'* rwiae situated. In doing so, I have availed myself gladly of permisstoo 
L to ms by Umb Hchl GSeorge P. Marsh, minister of the United States of 
f qiHite firad^ from hia valuable woA, "" The Earth as 



Modified by Hiimaii Action " and of permlsaton to do bo horn a Taluable paper 
by Mr J. Fox Wilson on the desiccation of the Yalley of the Orange River^ 
i*ead before a Meeting of the Royal Geograpbical Society, I haye also 
qnoted lEirgely from the works of Dr Livingstone and others* 

If cncom-ngemeiit offers, the publication of this will be followed by the 
publication of one or more of similar treatises on the following snbjectSy 
which have been prepared with a view to being ultimately deposited in 
manuecript in the Poblic Library in Capetown, Cape of Good Hope, for con- 
sul tat ion by scientific and practical meo desiring the information they con- 
tain^ but which will admit of introduction into the text, or of additions in 
the form of foot-notes, of snch illustrations or explanations as may appear to 
be desirable to meet the requirements of colonists and residents in localities 
in vhich it is diflficnlt to get access to the various sonrces of information 
open to those who dwell in towns and older settled lands : 

L J^ehoisemeni in France : or, the Replanting of Forests on the Alps and 
Pyrenees and Mouutaiua of Central France, with a view thereby to prevent 
the occurrence or the destructive effects and consequences of torrents. 

2. Sylviculture m Belgium, with a study of the Dunes or Sand-hills in 
Belgiinn, Holland, and France, and of the arrest and utilization of the drift* 
eands of the Gh*onde by plantations of trees, 

3. Bie Bewaldunff of the Karst, iu Illyria : or, the re-foresting of the 
countr}'', with a view thereby to restore fertility to a land reduced to sterility 
through the destruction of trees. 

A, The Forest Economy of Russia, and the arrangements which are 
there being made to introduce the improved forest mangement of the day. 

5. The FoTCHt Economy of Finlandj and arraugementa which have there 
been made to carry out a sj^stematic management of forests, in accordance 
with the requirements of Forest Science, 

6. The Foi-eat Economy of Sweden, in which country the latost arrange- 
ments suggested by discourses of Forest Science are being introduced and 
rigorously carried out 

7. Forest Science and Forest Economy of France- 

8. Forest Aclministration in Germany, 

9. Improved Forest Management in India and Burmah, illustrative of the 
practicabihty of introducing with success into the management of colonial 
forests measures suggested by the most advanced Forest Science of the day, 

10. Forest Limds and Forest Management in Great Britain and IrelEmd. 

11. American Forests^ and treatment of forests in the United States, in 
the British Dominion of Canada, in Honduras^ and in British Guiana. 

On the subject of Forest Science, which these treatises were designed to 
unfold, I find the following statement by Dr Hooker quoted in a number of 
the " Journal of Applied Science " for August 1872 :~ 



** Forefitryt ^ aabject ao utterly neglected in this country that w© are forced 
to Bend all candidates for forest appolatments in India to Franc© or Germany for 
instruction, both lu theory and practice^ holds on tbe contioent an honourable and 
CfTen a dii^dn^uisbed place amongst the branches of a liberal education, Iq the 
ettimation of an iiverage Briton, forests axe of infinitely less importance than 
tlie game they shelter, at>d it is not long si nee the wanton destruction of a iiue 
joung trte was considered a venial offence compared with the snaring of a 
plieasant or rabbit. Wherever the English rule eztends, with the single excep- 
tion of India, the aame apathy , or at least inaction, preYailB. la South Afiica, 



Tl PBEFAOE. 

Aooording to the ooloDial botanists* report, millions of acres haye been made 
desert, and more are being made desert annually, through the destraetion of 
the indigenous forests; in Demerara the useful timber trees have all been 
removed from accessible regions, and no care or thought given to planting others ; 
from Trinidad we have the same story ; in New Zealand there is not now a good 
Kauri pine to be found near the coast, and 1 believe that the annals of almost 
every English colony would repeat the tale of wilful wanton waste and improyi- 
dence. On the other band, in France, Prussia, Switzerland, Austria, and Russia, 
the forests and waste lands are the subjects of devoted attention on the part of the 
Government, and colleges, provided with a complete staff of accomplished 
professors, train youths of good birth and education to the duties of state foresters. 
Kor, in the case of France is this law confined to the mother country ; the Algerian 
forests are worked with scrupulous solicitude, and the collections of vegetable 
produce from the French colonies of New Caledonia, &c., in the permanent 
museum at Paris contain specimens which abound in evidence of their forest 
products being all diligently explored/^ 

I accept the statement of what has occurred and of what is going on in 
South Africa as a legitimate inference fron^ what is stated in the reports in 
question, by any one looking only to the effects of trees by retaining 
bmnidity in the soil ami atmosphere, and modulating the rainfall ; but I 
hold that herbage and grass produce similar effects, less only in degree to 
those produced by arborescent regetatiun, which, I doubt not, will be 
generally admitted ; and in accepting the statement cited, I do so on the 
understanding that the effects referred to are attributable to the destruction 
of indigenous forests, together \nth the destruction of herbage and grasfl, 
effected both chiefly by fire — chiefly, but not exclusively, the axe having 
aided the fire in the destruction of forests, and sheep having aided the fire 
in the destructi«.>n of herbage and grass. 

Besides the treatises mentioned, memoirs or treatises on the following 
subjects have been placed at the command of the Government at the Cape 
of Good Hope, any or all of which are forthcoming if ever publication 
should be desired : — 

1. The Water Supply of South Africa : Its sources, its quantity, the modes 
of irrigation required in different circumstances, the facilities for the adoption 
of these in different districts, and the difficulties, physical and other, in the 
way of works of extensive irrigation being carried out at the Cape, and the 
means of accomplishing these which are at conmiand. 

2. Forests and forest lands of South Africa. 

3. South African trees, arborescent shrubs, and bushes described under 
their popular names in English, Dutch, Kaffir, Sechuana, and Hottentot, 
arranged alphabetically, with notices designed to present in phraseology 
rntellj^ible to readers unacquainted with botanic terms what has been 
learned in regard to the natural history of each, and in regard to the 
economical uses to which it is applied. 

4. Arboriculture in South Africa, with details of what has been done, and 
of what might be done in planting trees in the Cape colony, with notices of 
the natural history of Australian and European trees which have been 
recommended by arb« •riculturists for plantation there. 

5. Agricultural capabilities of the Cape of Good Hope, and measures 
adapted to the development of these. 

6. The Herbage and Grasses of the Cape of Good Hope, with notices of 
economic uses to which many may be ajiplied, and Guide to the Study of 
Botany in newly-settled lands. 

Haddington, JOHN C. BROWN. 



HYDROLOGY OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



INTRODUCTIO^N. 

J conclusions at which I have arrived, from a somewhat extensive know- 
;e of the physical geography and of the history of South Africa, is, that 
r having been long a portion of the basin of the sea, and after, it may 
repeated upheavals and submersions of the land, in whole or in part, it 
been upheaved from the depth of the sea, drained, dried by evaporation, 

covered with vegetation, much of which has been destroyed by man, 

the removal of this has permitted a freer evaporation, the effect of 
ch has been a drying up of lakes, and a diminished flow of streamlets 

streams within the memory of the present inhabitants, with the some- 
it frequent occurrence of destructive torrents carrying off to the sea 
er hurriedly precipitated from the atmosphere in thimder showers, leav- 
an arid atmosphere and a desiccated land. 

?he aridity which has been thus produced is unfavourable to the culture 
lereal and other plants, which those who now inhabit the land desire to 
16, and it is sought by artificial means to secure the moisture desired, 
perience has proved the efiSciency of some of these, and it is proposed 
atly to extend the application of them. I think it probable that the 
usion of the knowledge of observations by which the views stated have 
m suggested, or confirmed, may tend to give confidence in the measures 
•posed — suggest, it may be, modifications of these, whereby their efficiency 
y be increased — and suggest the adoption also of other measures, whereby 
I accomplishment of the end in view may be promoted. Under this 
)ression the following statements have been prepared for the press. I 
not consider a knowledge of the past former condition of the coimtry 
uisite to enable a man of intelligence to devise means of turning to 
ount, in horticultural or agricultural operations, what water and moisture 

still at command, or to enable legislators and others to form a trust- 
rthy opinion in regard to the expediency of giving or withholding the 
istance of the Government, as representative of the commimity, in the 
Tying out of measures of extensive application proposed as means of so 
ng. But such knowledge, though not absolutely required, may be useful, 
1, though not desired, it may be acceptable and valued when freely given ; 
1 provision having been made by Parliament for the employment of a 
iraulic engineer, with a view to irrigation works being afterwards under- 
:en, I offer the information I possess as a contribution towards the 
mation of an enlightened public opinion on the subject. 
The information thus submitted should be tested by its accordance with 
t, and I have no desire it should be treated otherwise ; it is the truth 
ne which I desire should be discovered. But in view of the importance 
ich I attach to the discovery of the truth, whatever the truth may be, I 



^ INTBODUCnOV. 

would fain secure for my statementB an attentive perusal and calm eonrid» I a 
ation ; and for the information of those who are interested in the meason lis 
proposed but know me not, I shall state the circumstances in which I gaTe Ih 
attention to the subject, and thus indicate the oportunities I have had of Iz 
studying some of the phases which it presents. 

In the autumn of 184-1: I went to the Cape of Good Hope, at the instance 
of the directors of the London Missionary Society, to take the pastoral chazge 
of a congregation in Cape Town, while passing through the transition fircm 
their connection with that Society to a position of self-reliance and inde- 
pendence which they wished to acquire — the Congregational Church now 
meeting for worship in Calcdon Square. 

This being accomplished, I took occasion in 1847 to make the tour of tlie 
Colony. While passing through the Karroo, I witnessed the privations to 
which the inhabitants were subjected through the aridity of the climate. 

My recollections of the joiuiiey call up vividly even now oft-recurring 
visions of bones of oxen at varying distances along the road — the bones of oxen 
which had succumbed by the way travelling in a land where no water is. 
And they call up incidents more definitely declarative of the characteristic of 
the land, amongst which are the following : 

At one place at which we arrived on a Saturday we learned that beyond 
that place there was no water to be obtained within a distance of 84 miles 
on the road to Beaufort — whither we were boimd — and we foimd this to be 
the case, llesting the horses on the Sabbath, when we resumed our journey 
we started before day-break, and managed by night-fall to reach the fountain, 
but water the horses touched not by the way. 

The day following we had at midday to send our horses six miles ofif the 
road to slake their thirst while we rested, letting them brouse by the way 
in going and coming, the achttr reiters driving them slowly, very slowly 
along, that they might not be unfitted for resuming the jomiiey on their 
return. 

At a farm house, at which towards evening we were, in accordance with 
colonial hospitality, welcomed and sened with tea, I, inconsiderately per- 
haps, but stay-at-home travellers will say very naturally, said I would be 
obliged if they would give me also a little bread. "Bread," said iihe I 
farmer, "we have not seen bread for nearly three years." "Why, how is \ 
that ] " said I. " Because of the drought," was the reply, " we cannot rais® 
com " (the name given in the Colony to wheat). " Then what do y^^ 
raise?" I asked, "Nothing," said the farmer, "we have occasionally b^^ 
showers, and after these we have sown beans and they grew ; but scarc^^^ 
were they above the ground when they died away." " Then what do y^\ 
eat ] " ""Mutton." " iiut what do you eat with the mutton." " Muttot^- 
" What do you mean ] " "I mean what I say, we eat the fat with the le^*-^ 
and the lean with the fat, and so do the best we can." 

A more extended acquaintance with the Colony showed me that thou^-*^ 
such privations as thus indicated might be rare, they were not imknown i^ 
other parts. From a missionary of the Wesleyan body, who had bee^ 
stationed in Great Namaqualand, I learned that while he was there it wa-^ 
only by a six weeks journey that he could procure flour for his family, an<^ 
that a journey made with difficulty. The statement with which this wa^ 
followed is now recalled, eight-and-twenty years after it was made, and 
there may be slight inaccuracies in my report of it, though I do not see thi^ 
to be possible. It waa «ubstantiaDy this, that they could not grow wheat 



iNTBODUOnON. 9 

and had to send into the Colony for flonr, and in doing so their waggons 
had to be got across the Orange River, where there was neither ford nor 
ferry. They sent on the waggon a boat ; the waggon was taken to pieces 
on the bank of the river ; the boat was launched ; the waggon was carried 
across piece by piece, and when reconstructed on the colonial side of the 
river, the journey to the nearest village was resumed. Supplies baviog been 
obtained, in returning the same operation had to be gone through in re- 
crossing the Orange River, and the supplies carried across in a similar way ; 
six weeks in all being in general consumed in the journey to and from the 
Colony. 

Dry and arid as was the Karroo, I was told that within a few days after 
a thundershower it is clothed with verdm-e on every spot on which this may 
have fallen ; and if the rain were copious, within perhaps three weeks there- 
after it would be studded with flowers, many of them of exquisite beauty, 
delicate in structure, and brilliant in hue. So copious at times, I was told, 
are the showers which fall in connection with a thunderstorm, that they 
deluge the land. Shortly before it had happened, 1 was told, that the in- 
habitants of a village which was named to me, but the name of which I 
have forgotten, were roused dming the night by the noise of a rush of 
waters threatening to carry all before them, and one man stepping to the 
door to see what it might be, found himself on crossing the threshold more 
than knee deep in the stream, and scarcely able to maintain his footing 
against its flow. And I subsequently witnessed what satisfied me of the veri- 
similitude of what I had heard. I was on one of my journeys overtaken in 
a Kloof by a thunderstorm, in little more than five minutes the road was a 
river, the waters rushing along with a rapidity such as is seldom seen in a 
river-bed, and from six to ten inches in depth from bank to bank. 

In accordance with this is the testimony of others. The late Dr Rubidge, 
of Port Ehzabeth, in a paper on Irrigation and tree planting, which appeared 
in a volume entitled The Cape and its People, published in 1869, says, " In 
October 1866, I passed over the bare plains between the Milk River and 
Graaffreinnet just after a heavy shower of rain. The " by-road " was run- 
ning knee-deep, in every hollow was a fine running stream, while the 
gullies were great torrents now, which in a few hours you could pass dry 
shod. Yet most of these channels presented spots where much of the 
water that was rushing uselessly and destructively to the sea might have 
been stored. 

" It was sad to contrast the beautiful orchards, vineyards, and com fields 
we had just left with the dreary monotonous flats, and to reflect that all 
that was wanting to convert that wilderness into a smiling garden, was 
speeding away to swell the rivers into dangerous torrents, and carrying 
along with it some of the most fertile soil of the country." 

Similar were my feelings in witnessing what I did on the journey to 
which I am now referring. While I witnessed what I have detailed, it ap- 
peared to me, that it was quite practicable greatly to modify the condition 
of the Colony and of its inhabitants, by a proper storage of the waters 
which fell from the heavens during the rainy seasons in districts in which 
tliese annually occur, and the water which fell in thunder showers, and tro- 
pical torrents of rain in districts in which annual rainy seasons were 
unknown. 

It seemed to me that the country oflered considerable facilities for storing 
up such waters. There might be difficulties to be overcome, but I knew of 



10 INTRODUCnON, 

nothing great which has been accomplished by man without difficoltj. . It ! 
might be difficult to get labourers ; it might be difficult to cany to them 
needed provisions for their support while engaged in the work ; it might be 
difficult to find the money required ; and it might be difficult to do a i 
hundred other things. But the practical questions resolved themselves into 
two, Was it practicable 1 and, Would it pay 1 On the latter point I wu 
not then, nor am I now, in possession of the data necessary for a solution 
of the question, and therefore I could not speak. But in answer to the 
first I could say I see no physical hindrance which may not with reasonable 
effort be overcome ; and on my return to Capetown I conmiuhicated to 
others the impressions I had received of the practicability of greatly modi- 
fying the effects there produced by the aridity of the climate. ' 

It was known to many that I had given attention to several branches of : 
physical science, and before I left the colony I received a communication 
from the Secretary of the South African College, stating that he was | 
instructed by the Committee of Coimcil to offer to me the appointment of 
interim Professor in the College. The number and nature of my engage- ! 
ments at the time prevented me from accepting the appointment ; but in ! 
1863, on the death of the Colonial Botanist, who was also Professor of 
Botany in the South African College, I was invited to return and undertake 
the duties of these offices, which I did. 

While in Scotland I had for years filled the chair of Botany in 
University and King's College, Aberdeen ; and I was pleased to have an 
opportimity of studying the rich flora of the Cape, with the facilities for 
doing so which such appointments supplied. 

I had scarcely entered upon the discharge of the duties of my office aB 
Colonial Botanist at the Cape, — which office, originally established in tb© 
year 1858, was created with the two-fold object, 1st, Of ascertaining aad 
making generally known the economic resources of the Colony as r^ards iii^ 
indigenous vegetable productions and its fitness for the growth of valuable 
exotic trees and other plants ; and 2nd, Of perfecting oiu: knowledge of tb.^ 
flora of South Africa, and thus contributing to the advance of botanicatl- 
science — when I found it necessary to make an extensive tour of observfi^- 
tion, that I might acquire a general idea of the physical geography of th^ 
Colony, its capabilities and its productions, make the acquaintance of 
practical and scientific men resident in different districts, and endeavour iX> 
raise up everywhere a body of intelligent observers of the vegetation of th^ 
country. 

In the course of this tour I passed through the divisions of Stellenbosch^ 
Paarl, Tulbagh, Caledon, Swellendam, Riversdale, Mossel Bay, Geoige^ 
Knysna, Hmnansdorp, Uitenbage, Albany, and Victoria East, BritislB- 
Kaffraria, the divisions of Queen's Town and Burghersdorp, the landdrosd/" 
of Philippolis, and the divisions of Colesberg, Middleburg, Cradock, Bedford, 
Alexandria, and Port Elizabeth, whence I returned by sea, having been pre-* 
vented by the state of the Fish River from carrying out arrangements I haA 
made for visitiuo; Somerset East, Pearston, Graaff-Reinet, Aberdeen, Beaufort^ 
Dyselsdorp, Oudtshoom, Amandelboom, Montagu, Robertson, and Worcester. 

The villages, of which the three last named villages are centres, and th© 
district of Clanwilliam, I had afterwards an opportunity of visiting, some of 
them oftener than once, and most of the others I had previously visited. 

In the course of that tour I found in very many places — I had almost 
•aid eyerywhere — ^lamentations over the consequences of a severe and long- 



INTROpugTION. 11 

imljnaed drought from which the Colony was suffering, though ram had 
len fallen and was falling in torrents, and reviving hope was beginning to 
leer the drooping spirits of the community. 

Of this drought, which had reached its climax in the preceding year, I 
jceived the most saddening accounts. It prevailed not only throughout 
lie Colony, but far beyond it. In the tropical regions of the Great Lakes 
) was felt. In the district of the Lesuto, which is generally at stated 
leriods blessed with abundance of rain, it was severely felt, — the vast 
^assy plains being changed into deserts of sand. Clouds which appeared 
lassed away, and clouds of dust took their place. The largest streams 
eased to flow. At one place the Orange River could be stepped across by 
i child, and after a time it ran dry in some parts of its course, exposing in 
ts bed near Hopetown the remains of a waggon which had been lost in a 
judden flood while crossing the river some thirty years before. 

Within the Colony cattle died by the thousand, and many of the farmers 
liad lost more than half their substance. I heard of lambs being killed in 
Imndreds, lest both they and the dams should perish if these were allowed 
to suckle them. 

At Colesberg cabbage was sold at a penny the leaf; and there was 
shown to me a bundle of fodder, which I grasped with my forefinger and 
thumb, which was kept as a memorial specimen of what had been sold for 
hdf-a-crown each. I was there told of travellers — one of them a personal 
friend of my own — ^having had, on a journey to Hopetown, to stop again and 
again and rest, till by a few handfuls of grass roots, gathered from the 
ground, the horses were refreshed. I was told that at Bloomfontein 
emaciated horses had been seen — ^by my informant, if I remember aright, — 
hanging about the doors of stores while the floors of these were being swept, 
returning again and again when driven away, and afterwards tearing and 
eating old gunny bags and sheets of paper swept to the street. 

I was told that many were anticipating absolute ruin, and possibly death 
by starvation, as the probable effects of the drought, when the rain came to 
tiieir relief. 

My previous experiences in Africa enabled me to enter into the feelings 
which were described to me ; and sometimes while listening to details of 
privation and suffering I was reminded of the Word of the Lord that came 
to Jeremiah concerning the dearth — " Judah moumeth, and the gates 
thereof languish ; they are black imto the ground ; and the cry of Jerusalem 
is gone up. And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters ; they 
came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels 
empty; they were ashamed .and confounded, and covered their heads. 
Because the groimd is chapt, for there was no rain in the earth, the 
plowmen were ashamed, they covered their heads. Yea, the hind also 
calved in the field and forsook it, because there was no grass. And the 
wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like 
dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass." — Jer. xiv. 2-6. 

At other times I was reminded of what is recorded of the sufferings 
endured during the three years drought which occurred in the reign of 
Ahab, illustrated, incidentally as they are, by the reply of the widow 
woman whom Elijah saw gathering sticks, and to whom he called and said, — 
"Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And 
w she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said. Bring me, I pray 
thee, a morael of bread in thine hand. And she said. As the Lord thy God 



12 nrTBODucnoir. 

li vcth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little ofl 
in a oniino : and, behold, I am fTAthcring two sticks, that I may go in and 
droMH it for nio and my son, that we may eat it and die." — 1 Kings xyiL 
10 I 'J. in coinu'ction with this we read that after three years and six 
months (irrontiiuuMl droujjjht, during which there seemed to be neither rain 
n(»r tK'\\, *• Alial) tho kin«i: caUod Obadiah, who was the governor of his 
h»»ii.si', anl s.iid inito hin), lio into the hind, unto all fountains of water, unto 
all l>rooks ; pi'iM<lvfnturo wo nmv find «^niss to save the horses and mules 
alivo, that \\i' lost' not all the boasts. So they divided the land between 
thoni, to [)ass throuirhout it : Ahab wont one way by himself, and Obadiah 
wont anothor wav by hinisolf." — 1 Kinp^ xviii. 5-6. These are life-pictures 
to ono who is oonvoi*sant with fann life in South Africa, and with the 
dn»uj^hts whioh provail ; and tho narrative is suggestive of details of what 
many a funuor at tho Tapo had to say to his sons, and his sons-in-law, and 
his bonis, durinu: tho drought to whioh reference is made. 

Ihit tho similarity doos not stop hero. In the one case as in the other, 
tho long-oontinuod ili\)ught issuod in torrents of rain. In the one case, as 
wo ivad, in tho hour of oxtivmity " Elijah said to Ahab, get thee up, eat 
and drink ; for thoiv is a sound of abundance of rain. So Ahab went up to 
eat and drink : and Klijah wont up to the top of Carmel ; and he cast him- 
solf doNxn upon tho oarth, and put his face between his knees, and said to 
his SiU-vant, lu> up now KK>k towanls the sea. And he went up, and looked, 
and said, thoiv is nothing. And ho Si\id, Go again seven times. And it 
camo to pass, at tho seventh time, that ho Siud, IWhold, there ariseth a little 
cloud out of tho soa, like a man's Iiand. And he said. Go up, say unto 
Ahab, Ihvparo thy chariot and got thoo down, that the rain stop thee not 
And it oamo to {uiss, in tho moanwhilo, that the heaven was black with 
clouds and wind, and thoro was a groat rain." — 1 Kings xvii. 41-45. 

S.> was it thou, and so has it oft on l>oon seen at the Cape, after the 
dn.>ught, a deluge. Some cases of this I shall afterwards have occasion to 
detail, at |»rt^sont I contino myself to what 1 experienced and witnessed on 
tho tour V. liicli I thou made. 

Kvory\vl,.'n.^ I found that there had been copious rains, in some places 
torr:nt.s. F«>r days I was courtued to the house by drenching rains, which 
made tho n.nids rivers. 1 met the Govoniment Railway Engineer returning 
fpnn tho Kastoni Province, at a farm house near Caledon at which we both 
outspauned, by wh«>ui I wii;> told that I should tind the roads in the Lang 
Kltx.^f im[.nis}<able for the vehicle in which I travelled, the clay in many 
places having boon couvorted into mu»l throe toet deep, the sur£skce cl 
which caked and hanlontrd w«.ndd in all probability, like rotten ice, again 
and ag:.iin -^ive way, and my h«.>rses would be unable to drag out my convey- 
ance. My informant haol hi rase If only got thn.High by the strength of has 
to-ini, wiiiuh wiis doui^Ie that which I tlrove. and his vehicle Ughter by one- 
half. 

I di"l ^«?t ^afolv chn)iigh. but I saw evidence of the correctness of my in- 
formant's oJ"»sor\'arious. 

At Rivcr^dale I was detained tbrty-eight hours by the state of the riTer. 
Tho cnjssings of the BLnjom River L found to be uot unaccompanied with 
dimger. 

hi appp:)aching Van Staden's River I found one-half of the breadth of the 
rL'ad converted into a «leep gully, leaving uot breadth enough for my cart ; 
and we passed it by letting one horse dx^ the cart, with one wheel on the 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

road, the driver and I holding it level by bearing up the other. The Van 
Staden's River I found in flood, and I got through only by the help of a 
bired team. 

At Grahamstown I was prevented day after day by rains from making ex- 
cursions for botanical observations in the neighbourhood; and I, learned 
that the Fish River was so full that to go to Kaffraria by Fort Peddie, as 
was my intention, was impracticable. 

Leaving Grahamstown for Fort Beaufort I passed a streamlet where, 
during my sojourn of a few days at Grahamstown, a post-rider had been 
drowned in attempting to cross. 

Further on my way, I found the Fish River had so flooded the road by 
its side that in the middle of the highway the water was some eighteen or 
twenty inches above the axle of my cart. 

The Buffalo River I crossed with difl&culty at a ford where a few hours 
before, and again a few hours later, it was impassable for man and beast. 

Leaving Queenstown for Burghersdorp, I travelled over ground high and 
dry, where within a few weeks before two farmers had been drowned. 

I had adventures more ludicrous than perilous in the course of my tour. 
One of these occurred shortly after this in my ascent of Pen Hoek. The 
surface of the road was soft clay, which had been brought to something like 
the consistency of cream, by the abundant or rather superabundant rain, 
and some three inches deep covered clay, somewhat more tenacious but not 
less slippery to the foot. Ere we reached the top of the pass, my horses, 
tired of sprawUng, the four feet of each going sometimes in as many direc- 
tions, refused to go one step further. A friend from Queenstown, who had 
kindly accompanied me so far, to see me beyond all danger, asked me to 
mount his horse while he tried what could be done with mine. I had 
scarcely moimted when his horse quietly and deliberately lay down on its 
side,^ giving me time to withdraw my foot from the stirrup, but then throw- 
ing me flat on my back in the mud. It was raining hard, and happily I 
had on a waterproof topcoat and waterproof splatterdashes. But the horses 
in the cart would neither be coaxed nor scolded, fondled nor flogged, to put 
forth another effort ; and we made the hills around to ring again with the 
noise of our laughter. " Stop," said my friend, " I'll make them go ! " and 
tying the tail of his horse to the head of one of mine in such a way that if 
his advanced mine must either follow or die ; causing my driver to mount 
the cart and take the reins ; and taking his horses by the head, he and the 
driver gave simultaneously a tremendous shout, shook the reins and made 
an unearthly commotion, under which the horses took to their feet as if the 
cry had been, " Woe betides the hindmost ! " I followed, encased in clay, 
and we stopped not till in this fashion we cleared the pass ! Whatever may 
have been the drought and however long it may have lasted, there was no 
lack of rain then ! At Borgjhersdorp I found the Civil Commissioner, after 
having been twice to the river, had given up all expectation of my being 
able to cross it. 

On my return from beyond the Orange River, I re-crossed the Fish River, 
but within forty-eight hours after I had done so and was safely housed in 
Cradock, it was tearing along fall from bank to bank impassable. 

In proceeding to Bedford I had to cross the Tarka. But on the banks of 
the Tarka I was, along with many others, detained several days, the river 
which the day before that on which I was to have crossed might almost 
have been croBsed diyshod, having come down in the afternoon, and con- 



1 4 INTRODUCTION. 



il 



tinuiiig day after day to rush and roar and tear along in a torrent, nopnc 
in depth as shown by the figures on the unfinished bridge from twen^ to 
four-and-twenty feet. Not deeming it expedient to remain longer, I was at 
length conveyed across in something like an old soap-box suspended firom a 
strong rope attached to trees on the opposite bsmks, and to which vera 
attached cords by which it could be drawn from the one bank to the other, 
conveying the mails when the river was in such a condition. 

My sensations, when suspended between heaven and earth above a roar- 
ing ton'ont, were somctliing difterent from any I had previously experienced. 
But a gentleman well-known in the Eastern Province, who left Grahamfl- 
town for King William's Town about the same time I did, but by anotiher 
route, must have had more to tell of his sensations than I, if what was told | ^ 
me be true. 1 w^as informed that he had to cross the Buffalo in a way 
similar to that in which I had to cross the Tarka; but there the 
conveyance was a basket and not a box, and there were no cords attached 
to it whereby it could be drawn from the one bonk to the other, but the 
passenger had by a hand -over-hand movement, on the suspending rope, to 
pull himself and the basket across ; and this rope was not quite so tight as 
that by which I was suspended. Getting into the basket and being some- 
what corjiulcnt, his weight distended the rope into a beautiful curve, and 
the basket and he almost flew half way towards the further shore; but 
there it stopped ! the slope of the rope made it equally difficult to go for- 
ward or to return, the weight of the aerial voyager, which so greatly fitcilir 
tated his passage thither, seemed to say to his basket or to himself, what 
Canute is said to have said to the sea, " Thus far but no further, and here 
shall thy proud course be stayed." At length, by strenuous eflFort, the fiu^ 
ther bank was reached in safety. My transit was comparatively a pleasant 
flight ; but both speak of the abimdance of rain which had fallen. 

I proceeded to Adelaide and Bedford en route for Somerset and Graaff- 
Reinet. But at Bcilford I was again detained through the Fish River being 
again impassable. It had come do\sTi and had continued to flow for a great 
many days, 1 think ten days or a fortnight, and that with a current so 
impetuous that the ferrjmen had refused a fare of £10 to carry across a 
medical practitioner, whose ser^'ices were required on the further side ; and 
there being no appearance of subsidence, 1 had to abandon my purpose of 
crossing it, and to change entirely my route in retmning to the Westem 
Province. 

Hearing everywhere of the drought, and seeing the deluges of water 
rushing in torrents to the sea, I was often ready to cry out, Wherefore is 
this waste ? and the feeling prompting to this was the more intense that 
almost everywhere I saw focihties for preventing this, and indications that 
formerly the water was not so lost to the land. In elucidation of this 
remark, I must state 1 had previously travelled both in Finland and in the 
lake district of North America, and in many of the districts through which 
I passed in the Colony of the Cape I was reminded by what I then saw of 
what I had seen in these lands ; in these lands were lakes of water — some 
of them like inland seas in extent, — in the country through which I was 
passing there were none ; but there were what looked like basins of lakes, 
whkhit required no effort of the imagination to picture as filled with water, 
though then drained and dry. 

The l*^^*"^ 0^ N(x^ America cover an area of 84,000 square miles • nearly 
a fourfli part of the whole area of Canada; and two-fifths of the whole am 



miEODUCTlOKi 



\s 



of Finland Bie covered by lakes, a hundred of wliiuh timy sometimej» be men 
in tlie coiu'se of a single day's journey. Lake Superior, in America, covers 
an area of 31,000 square mOee, the others are of corresponding extent. In 
^inlaud — called by its inhabitants, The Land of a Thousand Lakes, and The 
Ijost Daughter of the Sea— they are smaller, but of a magnitude not to be 
ti.espised ; one measures nearly 30 miles long by 30 mUes broad, and Lake 
Ijadoga, through which its waters flow in their progi*esa to the sea, coTers 
6190 square miles, an area equtd nearly to the whole principality of Wales* 
And such were the scenes I'ccaEed by what 1 saw of the general contour of 
the colony as I jomned from place to place \ but what was seen spoke of this 
as having been the case long^ long ago* Now ail w^a« changed ; the waters 
had ail eaeaped and the dry basin alone remained, with^ in some cases, 
gorges thi^ough which the waters had poured in seeking a lower level, and 
finally made their escape. 

I considered that it not only came within the sphere of my duties as 
'Uolonitd Botanist to give attention to such subjects, but that, in accordance 
with the primary object for which that office w^as created, as stated in the 
comnxunication made to me when I received the appointment, and which 
1 have quoted,- — ^that *' of ascertainiiig and making generally know^n the 
economic resom*cca of the Colony as regards its indigenous vegetable pro- 
ductions, and its fitneaa for the growth of valuable exotic trees and other 
plants/' — the moisture and supply of water available, or which might be 
made available, for agricultural and horticultiu'al purposes^ w^as one to 
which, in the pecidiar circumstances of the Colony, I ought to give special 
attention } and 1 did so in all my tours in the Colony. 

In my official report for 1866 I reported — '*In my capacity of 
Professor of Botany in the South African College, I am required to deUverj 
annually, a course of lectures on Botany at that setison of the year which is 
least favourable to the prosecution of my other official duties. I have 
twice in the course of the year reported myself ready to do this if a class 
could be formed ; but on neither occasion did a class offer. 1 also publicly 
intimated during the severe drought which prevailed in the beginning of the 
year that I was prepared to lecture in any place in the Colony, how^ever 
remote it might be, on the causes of the aridity of South Africa, and on the 
remedies which could be applied, and to hold conferences on the subject^ 
either in the lectiu^-room or on the veldt, on condition that mj travelling 
oxpenses should be met, either by several applicants for my services 
conjointly, or by one and another as I moved from place to place. This 
measure wa^i carried out in whole or in part at Capetown, Wynberg, Koeberg, \ 
Stellenboschj Frensche Hoek, Worcester, Robertson, and Montagu, 

** At CVadock and some other places my services were desired if I should 
come within the bounds of the Eastern Province. Arrangements vfGte 
made for my free conveyance through the district of Namaqualand, if I 
could get to Clanwilliam. An offer was made to me of free conveyance 
throughout an extensive tour from Mossel Bay, if 1 could find my wbj 
thither. And on the occasion of a conference on irrigation being held at 
Geoi^G a letter was addressed to the Colonial Office by the Civil 
Commissioner of Moasel Bay, in which that oiiicer WTOte as follows : — 

''''By a resolution of the Mossel Bay Agricultural Society I have beeBv 
desired to soHcit the official attendance of Dr Brown, the Colonial Botanist, 
if he would kindly come, at the meeting of delegates from other societies at 
Cbot^ei invited for the purpose of discussmg a scheme for irrigation and 



16 INTBODUOTION. 

model farms which the Mossel Bay Society intends to offer for oritioism 
and improvement. This meeting will take place about the 7th Mazch, 
during the combined agricultural show for Geoi^e, Oudtshoom, and Mossel 
Bay divisions. 

"'Such a suitable opportimity rarely occurs for the hearing of that 
gentleman's scientific views and suggestions for the increase of products 
founded on the practical observations of others. Considering that many of 
the farmers from four important divisions will be congregated on the occa- 
sion, the committee trust that the general benefit to be derived will justify 
His Excellency the Governor in graciously acceding to the request, and in 
incarring the sm-.ill expense which will be incurred thereby. The committee 
had hoped to be in a position to aiford the expense, but unfortunately find 
that the show will necessitate again an extra subscription on the part of 
the members. The hospitality which will be gladly shown to Dr Brown 
will limit his expenditure to the transport alone between Capetown and 
Mossel Bay. 

" * In my official capacity I am of opinion that incalculable advantage to 
the central part of the Colony is likely to be derived from his viva voce 
lectures by the agriculturalists, who are keenly alive to their present criti- 
cal state, and anxious for some practical scheme whereby labour wiQ be 
made remunerative in the production of better and other articles for export 
and for home consumption.' 

" It was intimated, in reply from the Colonial Office, that no provision 
was made for meeting such expense. And having thus an opportunity of 
showing what I have experienced in many other ways, that the salary and 
allowance of £400 per annum is insufficient to meet the expenses which are 
necessarily incurred in the discharge of the duties to which I have been 
called as Colonial Botanist, I presented to the Honoiuuble the House of 
Assembly a petition, praying that adequate provision might be made for the 
discharge of these duties ; but it was deemed more expedient, with a view to 
retrenchment, to abolish the office. 

"In the report of the Colonial Botanist for 1863 in reference to a 
lengthened tour through the Colony which had been made that year with a 
view to the study of the physical geography of the Colony, and to the 
raising up everywhere a body of intelligent observers of the vegetation of 
the country, and of phenomena connected with agriculture, it is stated that 
having visited the more populous districts of the Colony, it was my inten- 
tion to visit also the more sparsely peopled districts, and some of the mis- 
sionary stations beyond the Orange River, in accordance at once with nay 
own views of what was desirable, and with the corresponding views of the 
late Dr Harvey communicated in letters quoted in that report ; but that the 
outlay I had incurred in making the tour then completed would prevent me 
from carrying out my intention at that time. 

" When the recommendation of the select committee on retrenchmen* 
appointed by the Honourable the House of Assembly, that the office I hold 
should bo abolished, was adopted by the House, I was engaged in corr^ 
pondence relative to a journey towards the Limpopo, to be undertaken ^ 
like manner, at my own expense, in the beginning of the year, provided Hi^ 
Excellency the Governor should approve my going so far beyond the 
boundary of the Colony. This journey would have taken me through the 
Karroo, the country intermediate between that and the Orange River, th^ 
Orange Eiver Free State, the State of the Transvaal Republic to th^ 



iNTRODUCTIOl^. l7 

advanced northern limit in lat. 22° S., and either through the colony of 
Natal or through the country of Moselekatze and the district of the 
Kuruman on my return to the Colony. 

" The proposed object of this journey was to obtain verifications or cor- 
rections of observations and conclusions embodied in the memoranda pre- 
pared on the Hydrology of Southern Africa, on the forest and forest lairds 
of Southern Africa, and on the natural history of South African trees, before 
these should be published, and at the same time to secure a more extensive 
observation of South African flora. But the resolution of the Assembly to 
abolish, at the close of the year, the ofl&ce of Colonial Botanist rendered it 
necessary for me to abandon at once all thoughts of prosecuting this enter- 
prise." 

Appended to this report were abstracts of several memoirs on subjects 
connected with the development of the agricultural capabilities of the 
Colony, and amongst these one on the Hydrology of South Africa, — the sub- 
stance of this recast, with the addition of details of facts which have subse- 
quently come under iny notice, constitutes the substance of the following 



PART I.-FORMER HYDROGRAPHIC CONDITIONS 
OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



CHAPTER I. 



TESTIMONY SUPPLIED BY THE PHYSICAL GEOGILVPnY OF SOUTH AFRICA TO 
THE FORMER HYDROGRAPHIC CONDITION OF THE COUNTRY. 

By physical geography I understand the general contour and superficial 
condition of the face of the country, marked as this is by hills, and kloofs, 
and plains, passes, forests, and watcrcoiu^es, or what may be remarked by 
an intelligent traveller, — though, on the one hand, he may know nothing of 
geology or the structure of the earth's crust, and, on the other hand, know 
nothing of botany or of the characteristics of the vegetation with which it is 
clothed, — travelling, it may be, in pursuit of health, or in pursuit of wealth, 
or in pursuit of pleasure, or in pursuit of game, and of nothing else, but 
travelling with his eyes open and looking intelligently upon what he sees. 

To derive from the physical geography of South Africa, or of any land, 
all the information it may be made to yield in regard to the previous 
hydrographic condition of the country, it is necessary to look upon it in th^ 
light of observations previously made — made, it may be, in childhood, oO- 
the muddy basin of a tidal harbour emptied by the ebb of the tide — or mad©^ 
it may be by others and read of in advancing youth, or at a riper age- 
But there is much t!iat is told by physical geography which may command 
the assent of one who has not consciously gone through any such training* 
when what is seen is read oflf by another ; and this is what I propose to do. 

In my mind, and in the minds of many others, what is chiefly and most- 
powerfully associated in thought with the mention of South Africa is the 
Cape of Good Hope, and associated with this Table Mountain, and the Devil's 
Hill, and the Lion's Head. We must commence oiu* survey at some point, 
and we may as well commence at this point as at any other. 

The tabular outline of the summit of Table Mountain, and the conical 
outline of the summit of the Lion's Head, as these are seen from Table Bay, 
are characteristic of the summits of many other isolated mountains through- 
out extensive districts of South Africa. 

The summits of such mountains, and the summits of mountain ranges 
ten, twenty, or forty miles distant, are not imfrequently found to be, or 
they appear to be, of the same deposit. In some instances — as is the case 
with the so-called Gates of the Oomzimvooboo and the next mountain range 
beyond — ^they are either at the same elevation or at an elevation indicative 
of a continuous dip. All of these appearances are suggestive of the land 
baying been tilted up in a mass from a subaqueous depth, the stratification 
or otl^ indioatioiis of depoait from water being strongly marked; and of the 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 19 

intervening level valleys having been, either previously or subsequently, 
scooped out by the erosive action of currents. 

Besides linean level valleys of great extent, there are numerous level val- 
leys of circular outline of considerable extent, from which there is a narrow 
cleft-like outlet as in Tulbagh Kloof, or one less marked as at Colesberg. 

These, together with much more extensive beds of deposit characterised 
by fossil remains of the Dicynodon, speak of the subsequent silting up or 
escape and drying up of lacustrine sheets of water. 

By Bain, who gave much attention to the geology of South Africa before 
it commanded the attention which it has received of late years, the 
Bkynodon beds were conjectured to have been the bottom of an ancient 
lake or inland sea, which extended north as far at least as the Zambesi ; 
and this now is supposed to have been one of the outlets by which its waters 
escaped. According to Professor Owen, there are good reasons for referring 
this formation to the age of the New Ked Sand Stone, of which age I shall 
afterwards have occasion to speak. 

But the draining off of the waters from the estuaries between the 
mountain ranges in the south, and the drying up of the lakes and filling 
the level valleys of circular outline, to which reference has been made, may 
have occurred — the former perhaps, but the latter certainly — ^long subse- 
quent to that remote era. On these points we may afterwards enquire 
what may be learned from the records to which we are directing our 
attention ; but that pertains to geology, and it is physical geography alone 
witb. which we have at present to do. 

I>r Livingstone has read off for us much of what may be learned from the 
coantry further to the north ; and there is a pleasure in being able to cite 
the observations of such a man. 

One supposition in regard to the general contour of Southern Africa is, 
that it is a succession of table-lands, at several successive elevations, from 
the coast to the interior of the continent, where level deserts of sand, dry 
as dust through the effects of torrid heat, bid defiance to vegetation. But 
of late years this supposition has been by many abandoned, and by others 
it has been modified to bring it into accordance with the recorded observa- 
tions of travellers and the reasonings of men of science. 

Br Livingstone, in his NaiTative of an Expedition to the Zambesi and its 
tributaries, describing what he saw in the district of Lake Nyassa at Ndonda, 
where the boiling point of water showed an altitude of 3440 feet above 
the sea, says — "Looking westwards we perceived that" which from below 
had the appearance of mountains was only the edge of a table-land, which, 
though at first imdulating, soon became smooth and sloped towards the 
centre of the country." 

Of the country in that district, after discussing the water-shed as indicated 
"7 the alleged and by the observed courses of known rivers, he says — " Some 
P^rts of the continent have been said to resemble an inverted dinner-plate. 
This portion seems more of the shape, if shape it has, of a wide-awake hat, 
with the crown a little depressed. The altitude of the brim is in some 
parts considerable, in others, as at Tetle and the bottom of Murchison's 
C'ataracts, it is so small that it could only be ascertained by eliminating the 
daily observations of the barometer by simultaneous observations on the 
coast and at points two or three hundred miles inland. So long as African 
levers remain in what we may call the brim, they present no obstructions ; 
bat no sooner do they emerge from the higher lands than their utility is 



20 HYDROLOGY OP SOUTH AFRICA. 

.impaired by cataracts. The low-lying belt is very irregular, at times sloping 
up in the manner of the rim of an inverted dinner-plate, while in other 
cases a high ridge rises near the sea, to be succeeded by a lower district 
inland before we reach the central plateau. The breadth of the lowlands is 
sometimes as much as 300 miles, and that breadth determines the limits of 
navigation from the seaward." 

Dr Livingstone was very careful to ascertain as certainly as possible the 
fact of the inclination or dip of the land towards the interior of the conti- 
nent. 

Not only does he record the observation made from the summit at 
Ndonda, where the boiling point of water showed an altitude of 3440 feet 
above the sea, that looking westward they perceived that what from below 
had the appearance of moimtains was only the edge of a table-land, which, 
though at first imdulating, soon became smooth, and sloped towards the 
centre of the country; "but," he subsequently writes, "We have taken 
pains to ascertain from the travelled Bapessa and Arabs as much as possible 
about the coimtry in front, which, from the lessening time we had at our 
disposal, we feared we could scarcely reach, and had heard a good deal of 
a small lake called Bemba. As we proceeded west, we passed over the 
courses not only of the Loangwa, but of another stream called Moitawa or 
Moitala, which was represented to be the main feeder of Lake Bemba. 
This would be of little importance but for the fact that the considerable 
river Luapula, or Loapula, is said to flow out of Bemba to the westward, and 
then to spread out into another and much larger lake, named Moero, or 
Moelo. Flowing still further in the same direction, the Loapula forms 
Lake Mofue, or Mofu, and after this it is said to pass the town of Cazembe, 
bend to the north, and enter Lake Tanganyika. Whither the water went 
after it entered the last lake, no one would venture an assertion. But 
that the course indicated is the true water-shed of the whole country, we 
believe from the unvarying opinion of native travellers. There could be no 
doubt that our informants had been in the country beyond Cazembe, for 
they knew and described Chiefs whom we afterwards met about thirty-five 
or forty miles west of his town. The Lualaba is said to flow into the 
Loapula, and when, for the sake of testing the accuracy of the native tra- 
vellers, it was asserted that all the water of the region round the town of 
Cazembe flowed into the Luambadzi, or Luambezi (Zambesi), they remarked 
with a smile, " He says that the Loapula flows into Zambesi — did you ever 
hear such nonsense," — or words to that effect. We were forced to admit, 
that, according to native accounts, our previous impression of the Zambesi's 
draining the country about Cazembe's had been a mistake. Their geogra- 
phical opinions are now only stated, without any further comment than that 
the itinerary given by the Arabs and others shows that the Loapula is twice 
crossed on the way to Cazembe's. We may add that we have never found 
any difficulty from the alleged incapacity of a negro to tell which way a 
river flows. 

" The boiling point of water shows a descent, from the edge of the plateau 
to our farthest point west, of 170 feet; but this can only be considered as 
an approximation, and no dependence could have been placed on it, had we 
not had the courses of the streams to confirm this rather rough mode of 
ascertaining altitudes. The slope, as shown by the water-shed, was to the 
Loangwa of the Maravi, and towards the Moitala, or south-west west, and 
north-west. After we leave the feeders of Lake Nyassa, the water drains 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 21 

towards the centre of the continent. The course of the Kasai, a river seen 
during Dr Livingstone's journey to the west coast, and its feeder, was to the 
north-east or somewhat in the same direction. Whether the water thus 
drained off finds its way out by the Congo, or by the Nile, has not yet been 
ascertained." 

The question thus raised has commanded the attention of others besides 
that noble man ; and perhaps there has not been an observation in connection 
with its solution which does not add to data which may be used in 
determining the former hydrographical condition of South Africa, but in what 
has been cited there is enough for the purpose for which this has been done. 
In accordance with the illustration of the contour of South Africa, as 
observed by Dr Livingstone, is much which may be seen within the colony 
of the Cape of Good Hope. 

In almost every map of the colony may be seen indications of the position 
of successive mountain ranges, more or less parallel to one another,- and 
more or less parallel to the coast. Between these lie plateaux of seeming 
level ground ; and it may have been remarked, or it may be recollected 
vhen mentioned, that the mountain ranges are frequently precipitous on the 
seaward side, but much less, if at all, on the further side, — sometimes 
slanting away or sloping gradually towards the level land beyond. 

Thus it is with Table Mountain — almost perpendicular where it faces 
Table Bay, and scarcely less so where it overlooks the camp-ground, 
Rondebosch and Newlands, but sloping away towards False Bay. Thus it 
is with the Hottentot Holland range of mountains — somewhat precipitous 
towards False Bay and the Atlantic, much less so towards the interior. 
Thus is it with many of the mountain ranges in the colony. Thus is it 
with the mountain range carried across the mouth of the Oomzimvooboo, in 
Kaffir land. The celebrated Gates of the Oomzimvooboo, or the St John's, 
through which the river emerges from the country behind, rise almost 
perpendicularly by two successive precipices of 600 feet each, to a height 
ascertained by measurement to be 1263 feet, but the land behind is only 
1 1000 feet above the level of the sea, while beyond it stretches away a broken 
Baountainous country, varying in elevation above the sea from 1000 to 800 
feet. And from the descriptions I have had of mountain ranges in Natal I 
am led to conclude that so is it also with these. In all this there is much 
vbich is in accordance with the idea gained by Dr Livingstone from more 
extensive observations. 

At present this is adduced as in accordance with the illustration of a 
^de-awake hat with the crown slightly depressed, to which I shall afterwards 
have occasion to revert, and which I therefore deem it expedient thus to 
^ail down for future use, while I proceed to make another use of some of 
the corroborative observations which T have cited. 

In all the regions near to the colony, as in the colony itself, we find the 
fivers flowing from the interior of the country to the sea, and there is no 
truer indication of the comparative elevation of land than is afforded by the 
yaterflow, as it always flows from a higher to a lower level. But when, as 
18 the case with the Oomsimboovoo, the river flows through an opening in a 
Daountain rahge, while this gives proof that the shore is at a lower level 
than is the land behind, it aftects not the evidence otherwise supplied that 
the summit of the range is at an elevation still higher than is the country 
through which that river has flowed in its course to the sea, and higher even 
than are the mountains there, 



22 HYDROLOGY OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

Ere that river fell into a course leading directly towards the sea, many i 
streamlet flowing into it must have flowed in what seemed a landwar( 
du'ection; and but for this outlet by the Gates, as they are called, th 
waters must have accrunulated behind that mountain range, forming a vas 
inland lake, rising and increasing in depth till it began to ovei-flow som^ 
mountain neck, when, abrading and washing away, and thus, as it were 
sawing down, as doth the overflowing water of a reservoir the dam by whicl 
it is confined, and, it may be, undermining by the swirl of its waters at th« 
outer base of the neck over which it flows — as the waters of the Xiagari 
have done through many miles of rock — the barrier was lowered, whereby ; 
freer and yet freer and more destructive flow of water was allowed, to th* 
still further lowering of the restraining neck at that part over which th( 
water flowed, and the consequent lowering of the water behind, until thi 
barriers being swept away — ages, it may be, being required for the work— 
the lake became drained and its basin converted into dry land, througl 
which the river-bed sufticed to carry off" the superfluous rainfall of tin 
district ; and there is nothing improbable in the supposition that what it i 
likely would have been the case if this outlet had not existed may hav< 
been what actually occurred in the formation of this outlet — a lake o: 
inland sea shut up behind finding here a way of escape, lowered the leve 
of the outlet, and silted up the basin till the sheet of water disappeared. 

The contour of many, if not of all, the plateaux lying between th( 
mountain ranges of the Cape presents indications of something similar t< 
this having given to them their form. I say something similar, for in manj 
of them are indications of oceanic — as well as of lacustrine sheets of wate: 
— -floes — as well as lakes, having at sometime filled these vales, indication, 
of the draining off" of the ocean from these ocean beds, and of the silting u] 
of the lacustrine beds till the raising of the bottom of the lake by earth;] 
deposits met the frotting away of the confining neck of land, and of tin 
level required for the conversion of the lake into dry land having thui 
been produced. 

And here a more detailed reference to the lake district of North America 
and to Finland may illustrate both what may temporaiily — though fo: 
centuries — have been the condition of the country, and the operations or pro 
cess by which this state of things was changed. 

In the lake country of America to which I have referred, we have Lak* 
Superior pouring its waters through a somewhat lengthened vale into Lab 
Huron, into which flow also the waters of Lake Michigan with its Greei 
Bay — itself a lesser lake, — the waters of Nipissing Lake, and the waters o 
Lake Simcoe. From Lake Huron, the superabundant waters flow by th( 
Kiver St Clair into Lake Erie ; whence, with such accessions as they hav( 
there received, they pour themselves over the falls of Niagara and flow b;; 
the Niagara River into Lake Ontario, and thence passing through the mids 
of the Thousand Islands, aad through successive rapids in the upper bet 
of the St Lawrence, they find their way by that river to the sea. 

These Lakes, as has been stated, cover an area of upwards of 84,00( 
square miles, which is nearly one-fourth of the entire area of Canada : Lak< 
Superior alone having an area of 31,000 square miles. 

The elevation of this lake is about 627 feet above the sea. The eleva 
tion of Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie, is not much less 
the difference of level between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario is considerable 
ftnd at the Falls of ^' *^ the waters are precipitated to a depth of 1 63 feet 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 23 

The upper Lakes are of considerable depth, but Lake Erie is shallow and 
it is slowly, but gradually, becoming shallower still. 

In Finland — called by its inhabitants The Land of a Thousand Lakes, and 
The Lost Daughter of the Sea — two-fifths of the countiy is covered by lakes, 
a hundred of which may often be met with in the com'se of a day's joiuney, 
and beautiful and picturesque they are. They constitute some five distinct 
series or water systems, the lakes and lakelets of which flow one into 
another as do those of the lake district of America, and they thus poiu* their 
waters through successive basins into the sea. One of these, after passing 
through nimierous lakes and gorges in the moimtains, spreads itself out into 
the lake of which I have spoken as being nearly 30 miles long and 20 miles 
broad, from which the waters flowing onward in successive rapids some few 
miles further down precipitate themselves through the falls of Imatra into 
another lake below, and find their way to Lake Ladoga, the largest lake in 
Europe, having, as I have stated, an area of 6190 square miles, and being 
nearly as large as the whole principality of Wales. Into this lake flow also 
the waters of Lake Onega and the waters of Lake Ilmen, while the northern 
extremity of Lake Onega almost connects it with Lake Sigh and the White 
Sea. By the Neva, which flows through St Petersburg, the waters of these 
lakes empty themselves into the Gulph of Finland, and the Baltic, and the 
ocean beyond. 

Both in America and in Finland are indications of the waters having for- 
merly stood at a higher level than they do now. At the falls of Niagara 
may be witnessed the comparatively recent results of the operation of the 
waters in eating away retaining barriers.* And the cataract is said to have 

* Of the fall of Table Rock the following graphic picture was given in the 
Philadelphia Bulletin. George Wilkes writes : — 

" I said I had something to do with the fall of Table Rock, that broad shell on 
the Canada side, which in 1850 looked over the very cauldron of the seething 
waters, but which tumbled into it on a certain day in the month of June of that, 
by me, well remembered year. About noon on that day 1 accompanied a lady 
from the Clifton House to the Falls. Arriving at Table Rock, we left our carriage, 
and as we approached the projecting platform 1 pointed out to my companion a 
Tast crack or Assure which traversed the entire base of the rock, remarking that it 
had never appeared to me before. The lady almost shuddered as she looked ab 
it, and, shrinking back, declared that she did not care about going near the edge. 
*Ah/ said I, taking her hand, 'you might as well come on, now that you 
are here. I hardly think the rock will take a notion to fall merely because we 
are on it' 

** The platform jutted from the main land some sixty feet ; but, to give the 
▼idtor a still more fearful projection over the raging waters, a wooden bridge, 
or staging, had been thrust beyond the extreme edge for some ten feet. This ter- 
minated in a small box for visitors to stand in, and was kept in its position, and 
enabled to bear ixA weight, by a ponderous load of stone heaped upon its inner 
ends. The day was very bright and hot, and, it being almost lunch time at the 
hotels, but very few visitors were out, so we occupied the dizzy perch alone. We 
gazed fearfully out upon the awful waters, we stretched our heads timidly over 
the frightful depth below, and we felt our natures quail in every fibre by the 
deafening roar that seemed to saturate us, as it were, with an indefiable dread. 

" * Tlus is a terrible place,' said I. « Look under there, and see on what a mere 
ihell we stand. For years and years the teeth of the torrent, in that jetting, 
angry atream, have been gnawing at that hollow, and some day this plane must 

'*Mj companion shuddered , and drew herself together in alarm. Oar eyes 
iwepi tlie xoariog circle of the waters once again ; we gazel about in fearful 



.1 .»• Ill- ,»--f:i! •.'•nr.11'7 Zeii'.xthe 

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I , .. .1 I- .■.'li.. 1 k' «l I. ■ 'if July, and being near 

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FHTSIOAL GEOGBAPHY. 25 

the whole extent of Finland. The lower, as has been intimated, is con- 
nected with Lake Ladoga, whence flows the Neva into the Gulf of Finland, 
which opens into the Baltic. 

Like the Falls of Niagara, the Falls of Imatra present an appearance 
differing greatly from the conception generally formed of a waterfall ; but 
this it does in a different way. In the Falls of Niagara the immense stretch 
of the fall in breadth, and the great excess of this above the height of it, 
occasions to many a feeling of disappointment on its first being seen, which 
contmues until the spectator is enabled to realize what the height of the 
fall actually is, and then what the immensity of the flow must be, seeing that 
it is a fall of such a breadth and of such a height. In the Falls of Imatra, 
we have what the spectator is at first disposed to call a rapid, rather than 
a waterfall ; but such a rapid ! The falls reminded me of the Falls of Clyde; 
but while there is a similarity, what u difference ! Here you have Corralinn, 
and Stonebyres Linn with its upper and its lower faU, and much more, all com- 
bined into one continuous plunging, dashing, foaming, pouring torrent, rushing 
through a rocky defile, apparently exceeding half-a-mile in length. There 
is on the eastern side a table-rock, whence the whole can be seen in one 
C0MJ5 (f o«7 — or rather, I should say, whence the whole can be traced with a 
contmuous sweep of the eye — for this cannot take in the whole at one 
glance. But view it whence you may there it is, the torrent like a charge 
of cavalry, the cavalry rushing onward — broken — trying to re-form, all the 
while pushmg on — failing to form — rushing and plunging, dashing, foaming, 
roaring on, on, still on. I have seen it in sunshine and rain, at simrise and 
at sunset, by moonli<5ht and in darkness, such darkness as there was when 
<?awn and dusk constitute a single twilight, in clear light, and with an over- 
cast sky, and I was filled with a growing and continually expanding idea 
which 1 received of the Falls. 

The vegetation of the whole locality was luxuriant. Amongst its pro- 
ductions were many of my countrymen — plants with which I at once 
claimed acquaintance, as often do townsmen and even fellow-countrymen 
when they meet in a strange land, though, perhaps, had they met at their 
home they might have passed without even a look of recognition — and with. 
these were many which told of a foreign land, and this gave a peculiar 
rehsh to the enjoyment experienced in recognising the former by the assur- 
ance they gave that we had met in what was really a land of strangers. 
-^ongst the most luxuriant were wild Canterbury beUs, and other species 
of campanula, agrimony, golden rod, sb?pherd's rod, willow herbs great 
and small, tormentil, silverweed, milfoil cranberries, blaeberries, goloo- 
bitza, broosnika, and sweinelange, in abundance. Ferns were not awant- 
|ng, and mossei there were in plenty, and lichens — ^but mich lichens ! — 
^ number, variety, magnitude, colouring, beauty of form, and height of 
^owth far surpassing every thinly in that class of plants I could previously 
»iave imagined. There were rocks — and rocks of such magnitude ! — enam- 
elled with them as is a field in Iritain with buttercups and daisies. I 
brought away a Canina peltidea, 12 inches in diameter. With the flowers 
learned, there were very tine knapweeds, St John's Worts, chrysanthemimis 
^ considerable variety, and exquisitely fojmed blue com flowei:s, and 
cow-wheat; but the campanules and lichens were what arrested the eye — ^the 
^^panules on this side, the lichens on yonder. 

. The village in the vicinity of the Falls is a wretched ruckle of old houses, 
^bited apparently by the poorest of the poor; but I have seen more 



26 HYDBOLOGT OF SOUTH AFBIOA. 

than one peasant — ^apparently, however, peasants from a distance and 
Kussian — not Finjiish — enjoying the scenery as much as did I ; one pea- 
sant I still see, now launching trees into the torrent, witnessing their 
sudden disappearance, watching for their reappearance, tracing their pro- 
gress with the rapidity of arrows, which told of the velocity with which 
they were carried down the stream, and of the desire of the observer to 
catch yet another sight of the Sea^erpent-like body rushing on — now 
standing in silent amaze : I sympathized with his feelings, both in the one 
case and in the other. 

Not the least exciting of the adventures of the day was the crossing of 
the ferry, in a smooth reach between two rapids, in a large boat with trees 
for oars — trees cut at one end into oar-like blades, and at the other cut so 
as to allow of their being held and plied. There, was the rapid above 
threatening to come down and engulf us ; and there, was the rapid below, 
from which, had it caught us, there was no escape, and the Falls apparently 
but a little way, though really some two miles, below the ferry. 

Next morning I was up by six o'clock as usual, and down to the Falls ; at 
eleven we started for Willmann Strand, distant some forty versts, on our re- 
turn to the coast by another route. The scenery was lovely ; it was like 
that of the Trossacks and that of the Cumberland Lakes combined, with 
some resemblance to the Thousand Isles in Lake Ontario — ^hills wooded to 
the water-edge. Such land may be improductive to the inhabitants, but to 
the tourist it is most delightful to see. 

Such, it seemed to me, must have been the appearances presented by 
what is now the Colony in some bye-gone time. Friths and inland seas 
converted into lakes, from which water flowed from higher to lower levels, 
in some places in torrents like those of the Falls of Imatra, precipitating 
themselves through gorges like Tulbagh Kloof, Cogmans Kloof, Lunkel 
Kloof, and m^y more ; and some eating away the restraining rock a3 do 
the Falls of Niagara — lowering thus the level of the lake above, while its 
basin was also being silted up by the deposit of earthy matter brought from 
a higher level. 

There remain now only the lake basin and the torrent bed, but these 
have a tale to tell ; and I would find it difficult to read off the physical 
geography of the Colony without seeing the hydrographic records with which 
in many places it is interlined, and which in places compose the text — the 
geography or contour of the country, telling what it is — ^these records telling 
what has been, and in some places telling how the had been had been trans- 
formed into the is. 

But many, perhaps most — ^nor would I greatly err if I were to say all — 
of the moimtain ranges by which these extensive valleys are surroimded 
are capped with sand in regular strata, or bear other indications that they 
themselves must have been imder water, and that for long, a part it may 
have been of the ocean bed, from which the whole land has been upheaven, 
taking in the process the peculiar contour which Livingstone has sug- 
gested. And not a few of them show in the contour of their sides such 
lines of slope, surmoimted by precipitous cliffs, as may be naturally sup- 
posed to be the effect of the retirement of the water and the consequent 
withdrawal of the lateral support it had supphed. This also demands our 
attention. 

It may have been remarked that the slope at the base of some mountains 



PHY^OAL GBOGBAPHY. 



and mountain ranges present an outline similar to tkat which earth rolling 
or falling from a height to the bases of a precipitoua cliff or of a wiili would * 
assume ; while the eountrj beyond preaeota the appearance of the compara* 
tire level a,'3snnied by the baein of a frith or bay of the sea, suggest ivc of the 
thought that the valley majr have, at a period subsequent, and it may be long 
enbaequcnt, to t!ie deposit of the stratii cajiping the mountain eummits, and 
after these were exposed high and dry, remained filled, or haye been agaiu 
tilled ^ itk water which was subsequently drained off by the outlet ; and aa it 
iubsided, the moantain sides, being deprived of the support which it afibrded| 
mkd off J and the debris not washed away, fell into the shape of thesQ 
sbpmg masses, filling up the angle formed by the base of the precipice 
and the level ground bey^md. 

There rise before me ns I write the appearances presented by the sides of 
tile naountains extending from Table Monntain towards Kalk Bay aa some- 
thing similar to whiLt I would fain describe. 

In such slopes we seem to have iodicaliona of an earlier hydrographio 
coudition of South Africa than wlis that when it was a land of lakes — that 
of a time when it was extensively covered by the sea. It requires no great 
effort of imagination to pietm*e the Flats between False Bay and Table 
Bay ao covered, and the Table Mountain range an island; and whde it re- 
quires no great effort of imagination to picture this, nothing seems more 
natural when we look upon tbe scene from an elevation on either side thaa 
to cocchide that at one time — and that a time perhaps not very remote — it 
must have been so. Something Bimilar to this may have been, and appar- 
ently must have been, the case with some, if not with all of those plateaux 
or elongfited xdains to wliich. reference has been made, they appearing as 
msrino lochs^ or friths, or elongated bays, if not as straits by the shores of 
which the mountain ranges appeared as islands separated thus from the 
mainland ; and the strata of sand with which many of these mountains are 
capped toll that they also must have been at one time covered by the sea, 
Ettorei it may be^ than *' twenty fathoms deep»" 

Such are some of the teachings of physical geography, and the testimony 
ittpplied by the general contour of South Africa in regai\i to the previous 
hydrographio condition of the conn try. It tells of the whole as having formed 
part of the ocean bod ; it teUs of a time when the mountains towered above 
the surface of tbe sea while the valleys were covered by its waters ; it teDs 
of a time when what is now bo arid [md dry was once a land of lakes imd 
torrents, with all the aspects beantiful and sublime of a land which might 
be characterised as a land of momitain and of flood- But we have come to 
a point which seems to mark the transition from testimony snppbed by the 
Physical Geography of South Africa to the previous hydi'ogmphie condition 
of the country, to that afforded by Geological diseoveries. We aroj how- 
ever, still some way from the boaudary line beyond which lie the domains of 
geologyj and of geology — pure and simple geology— alone. Though we may 
have, in proceeding thus far, learned a good deal of the previous hydro- 
graphic conditioa of South Africa, we have not exhausted the testimony on 
this subject supplied by the physical geography of the country^ or learaed 
mil that may be learned in the course of a leisurely tour, or even in the 
course of a rapid and somewhat hiu*ried tour, through the Colony of the 
Cape of Good Hope. There, as elsewhere, there is much to be seen by 
ikoBQ who have eyes to aaa it, which speaks of the past, and wMoh may, if 



26 HYDBAJJJJGY OF bOUTH AFBIC^ 

questioned, tell imifh iiiuiv. of jirijueval times limn many dream of, adding to, 
if iutt extt.'ijttili^, uiir il]f<;i-iJJ:ili<;li ill n'^fanl lo tii:tt ])iist. 

Hi-fure tin; Viiyaj/«i- juakiii^'^ for 'i'ahir liav lisis reacljed j>ort and has landed 
fi'DiJi liiH hiiip, lie liaH, it iii.iy he, Inokrii wltii cxcitcfd feelin^rs at what have 
l)L'tMi lalliul tilt: twtlve a|n»«lli'!s, on the Lion's Hea<l, on tlie Devil's Hill, and 
lubt ot' all, ati he t-ntiTti tlu^ Hay, on Tahle Moiuitiiin, with its precipitous 
fnml faeiiig the ocean aial HlielliTin-^ tlu* town, which nestles at its base. 

Ui:l"i!rt:iu!e has alreadv lau-n nia(l(> to similarity of strata, cai>ping moun- 
laius \\idel,\ separateil hy intervenin*; plains, iialicating that these sti'ata 
were once eimtiuiioius, and to eorrespomlenee of elevation, being indicative of 
llie iuleiveiiiiig plain havini; been scooped out by ocean eunvnts. And thus 
does it appear to ha\e been the ease with the valley separating the Table 
Mvamtaiu range lV\au the notlenli»l Holland range of mountains l»evond. 

It may be new tv» some v»f my readers to read of m nmt.iins being re- 
muiusof elevatcvl platv'au\, iuvlebted for their mountain nis ch.irAJtvr to the 
waahiug away v»f the grovmd once contimunis with tho:u in h:ij.:. k^ving 
them u mount aiu rivlge lining a valley, vU" leaving a iii.>v.i::.iiLi. <::i::.ling by 
itself alone iu the midst K^i a plain ; iiud it may soeiii to :1:-:ili iiicrt'lible 
that it can bo true. 

biui I have K»uud ic imi.vs.si Mo t,^ look v.y 
v.»f South Africa v^ithoiu ^ooi'Jg tii.i: ic '_•. 
Siuco thi.> observaton wa* iLUi..l.\ I ■'..i\-j 
lio:k-.o h;Li ^hov^u c'.iaC tri'.LS b.a^o '.ocl'. " 
nuij^oi in tho tl'.^h'ands A Xv..i:ii.o. : a-..«.l 
mud-b^iiiis oi u oidal hiiiboLLi' :Iio O'-'i-iiiCL! 

lao \^iLCer 'Iraining jd' :»*'.'iii :!io ^iia.ss .f 
h;v;Qor v.- Legation 'iKuic ■jur-:.ii;;s u :iK '.e'. ■. 1 
Cip*tu;LS bvvis ji LUiiny S.\ii:i .VV-ciin V'. is 
iiiiuou zh\:y :el.i : a y^^.l^z ji 'Viiar Aaii -ms :': 

rt'UivUU "U "iho Jvl'llOi" XCA'.'.il --Iv. *.l^-. ■[■u'.'US Kiiilv lii'.i :K- 'i-'L l -'iik.- Li-iiii; 

— UiOl't; 'lOJ. :U, tii'.l '11' IX. '.l-.'.l ■ •- '. ir i't.- ;:'.'>.:!_ ■.i:'i. '. : i:::.," ' .'.-j -^l '\' -.'.LiC 

miUid VeSLiUg .l;^alu.>L .lit ••L't.'.-j'.M'i.LS »;Miii >y * li.il C X:-.:? -;::': ii- LllLi.-L, :iie 

pl't'Cipituii* :.Mjttl'.'U >tiir_; .»•-'.■ lliiiL.i-.^iK'.L Li l. _ :. i^-L ". :. -L "j J, 

grtiiiicr ■-ListiU.Lce injui 'lu v'O'.-mCl >:ii'i. .\..:-.i -^.l:.-. . .---^ :.'. .- _■. ii v;;iit: 

oil 'liiC li. .ia.L : riiCO ■-• £ " 1 Iv ?iLL"i iv. U": i •. = : I :^" ' • i"t. <. . ■ li. 'i l . ■ . ..■?;■.,■■'.■ ^.■•. ' ... liiLl J, 
rouna^ra .\Ulk rk-pal'LiCtLL a*-. ■ 'L: :■-!.». I T-'Lit ' n: :■. . .■ .; ....■:.. 

Ulltu <iUco lliis '.Vii* ■•.!.>*.••' '-•!., "^1 ■.::•- :•-.'? .1 11- ..... LiL .'.■.. i:-. 'r I 

looked iroai ^JoiJic -L'ltiO .i:i:1:m3«.i '.•-•j1 S<^».!I i.-. .-::•■.'. ■■■ . ": i.-' -.1 t 

lai'^ei* >v.'J.kiv? .it; S^'Uic '.MiTS l ■.> •<<i-"'»f -l ::■, :ii.-L.^ : ..>. :.. v n 

Aow^zhl'ijil^a £uXs>li -.. CUiitil, luii n ?v./l:h, i ' :^ i.' .■..■.i.«.>. . -vi. '. _.L. :..ll^ 
silliiiai" U -UaLiy .1 ^liiij.' ViiiJ.il ■*tMi'v."^<.ii".-:i •. .ii;u_ i .. -S L: 1 1 . .v.. « i. . r; ■ ::> ; 

ikUvi '»viiLti3 .L ".Ufve .setu 11 :iit ■Lecjj 'fTLii-'i :■■'.,-! a*_i:? i il.i^-. . •: .i* .. :*e 
CftpO '.viuiC LOojiS .lk.L* :ilt :n>»C ?C;i.:,»- i Viiul -j l . -.*: m..*.. ^,: ••r:-r...;v 
COiiiULuUCcvi 'VULer-«il'itiJlagt:» > .liivv: *OJja .11 U,i^ - i. *x^t .ii.ii:: iw 
Soucil -Urica 'viUiC :i[^pt::a' CO Llie :'j 't; u\.-.'ii-i- .iU •L'.'V.L.Lv.-.'.-ii 
scales Ol SUoil a i.iruina;4;ti .'U »t itUptUvii.ula ••;:u.^,•. 

Tho mu^uicude ol the s<:aio upon auicu 'uia j'r;:.^a,'0«-sc* ■..!;;«. 
must have tiowed may iistiif suggest la ui u.it;..L.<.a j ml 
thac it is iacrodible; but thid objeuciou cau cci.&Ly - 1: ^ec. 

Fizs^ aft to the quantity of water required tor oui'i-eaii^ sucii .-.6 .ae ndi- 
p. in rsHBdmunbeEft about 50 miliioui* ox squiu-e Jiilea oi 



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PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 29 

the earth's surface dry land, but about 150 millions of square miles are 
covered with water, and observations have been made which lead to the 
conclusion that the average depth of the sea must be between four and five 
miles. There are nimierous instances of lines measuring 10, 20, 30, and 
even 40 thousand feet having failed to give distinct evidence of their having 
reached the bottom. Assuming then the average depth to be four miles, 
there must be in the ocean 788 or nearly 800 millions of cubic miles mea- 
surement of waters, and if these cover 150 millions of square miles of the 
earth's surface to an average depth of between four and five miles, they 
would suffice to cover the whole 200 millions of square miles to a depth of 
between three or four miles — a depth amply sufficient to meet the demands 
of all that is required by the observations which have been now advanced. 

And again, while the average depth of the ocean now is between four and 
five miles, there are depths in the ocean bed, and these in connection with 
ocean currents, far in excess of the difference between the elevation of linear 
valleys and adjacent hills. The Commander of the United States steamer, 
" Tuscarora," engaged in deep-sea soundings in the Pacific, reported to the 
secretary of the navy at Washington, under date of Jime 26, 1874, that the 
difference between two of the soimdings made by him, about 100 miles east 
by south from Kinghasan or Sendai Bay on the east coast of Japan, was 
1594 fathoms ! The height of Table Mountain above the Flats is short of 
4000 feet ; but the next cast showed a depth beyond that which I have 
mentioned of upwards of 1216 fathoms ! 

One sounding gave a depth of 1833 fathoms, the next a depth of 3427, 
and in the third, " the sinker carried the wire down 4,643 fathoms without 
reaching the bottom, and the report states that — 

**.0n this occasion, when some 500 fathoms of wire had run out, the 
sinker was suddenly swept under the ship's bottom by the strong imder- 
current, and all efforts to get the wire clear and keep it from tending under- 
neath were unavailing, the difficulty being increased by a fresh breeze and a 
moderately heavy sea. Finally, when 4,643 fathoms of wire had run out, and 
only 150 fathoms of wire were left on the reel, it broke close to the surface, 
and about five miles of wire were lost. 

" The strain on the reel was very great, and notwithstanding a weight of 
130 lbs. on the pulley line, it took three men to check and hold the drum, 
and the wonder was that the wire had not parted sooner. This great 
strain must have been due to the action of the strong undercurrent upon 
the sinker, sweeping it with great force from the ship, as since that cast we 
have soimded repeatedly in depth of more than 4,000 fathoms, and had no 
trouble in reaching the bottom." 

It must be mentioned that there was a distance of 30 miles between the 
first cast and the second, and of 45 miles between the second and the 
third ; but these distances are not greater than the distance between the 
Bosjesveld and the Caledon valley, and the Flats between the Hottentot 
Holland range and Table Mountain. And it is not imreasonable to suppose 
that the strong current reported by Captain Belknap had had something to 
do with the scooping out of the ocean valley to the depth of upwards of 
2,800 fathoms 'more than the depth of the sounding 75 miles distant; 
compared with such erosion — ^the erosion indicated by the low level of the 
Flats compared with the elevation of Table Mountain and that of the 
Hottentot Holland range beyond is little — ^but though comparatively little, 
it must have been effected by a ourrent of tremendous force ! 



30 HYDROLOGY OP SOUTH AFRICA. 

It may be new to some of my readers, I have said, to learn that there are 
mountain ranges which have not been thrown up in their existing form, but 
are only the remains of land of the elevation they have, much of which has 
been swept away by ocean currents, leaving them standing where they are — 
and that they owe their mountainous character, not to their elevation abov^ 
the boimding valleys, but to the scooping out of these. But it is only im^ 
accordance with what is going on even now, both on a scale, which, com- 
pared with what must have occurred here, may be called infinitely less ^ 
and on a scale, which, compared with that, may be called infinitely greater*^ 

The abrupt termination in Table Mountain of that southermost rang^ 
of elevated ground, remains of ground not washed away by the ocean cuir- 
rent which scooped out the portion between it and the Hottentot HoUaa^ 
range, leaving only the Flats and some little mounds, such as Blueberg, &C5.^ 
on the valley, and to some extent lowered even this mountain range, teVla 
its own tale in addition to what has already been learned ; and in doing so 
it tells of a change in the ocean current, of a cessation, or of a new set of 
an old current which had left upon it and upon the land behind its mark; 
or it tells of either a subsidence of the sea or of an elevation of the land, 
which took place either while this current was in flow, or which itself occa- 
sioned the new current, and gave to this current a new set and direction, 
as well it might with the extent of ocean bed affected by it, or terminated 
the flow by raising the land above the ocean's surface. That you may be 
prepared to receive and enabled to imderstand and to appreciate testimony 
on these points which it has to give, look to any little tail of sand behind 
a shell or pebble on the beach, and study its direction and appearance. 
That you may do so the more thoroughly, study the formation of others 
even now under the waters of a receding wave ; that wave as it advanced 
in its pomp and grandeur like a great sea-horse with flowing mane, with 
dappled neck of foam, and snorting spray, levelled and washed away ft 
hundred such; but its strength e^austed, it returns to the ocean still 
strong in its weakness, and restores again, as it returns to the ocean whenco 
it came, the little hills it had washed away in the moment of its fury and 
its pride, or it replaces them by others scarcely to be distinguished fix)m those 
it destroyed, either in form, direction, or position. And mark how this is done. 
Look to the little ridge. What is its form ? a precipice in miniature, 
with a lengthened tapering prolonged declivity behind. Are the prolonged 
declivities in the same or in diftcrent directions in relation to this LiUipu- 
tion precipice "i Generally the same, and those which are otherwise may be 
said to be also the same ; but the same with a difference. And what in 
that direction in regard to the land, or the sea, or in regard to the flow rf 
the receding wave by which they are formed 1 Always in the line of the 
flow of the receding wave, heading towards the land, tapering towards the 
sea. Mark, then, how it is formed. The current washes away and "beaw 
away all sand from the front, but leaves what is behind, and deposits there 
also in the long tapering line much that it has brought along. The shell 
or stone seems to break the current, the two halves of which, separatedi 
meet again beyond, leaving still water immediately behind the obstruction, 
and in this still water the sand is left, or deposited; and it seems as if what 
takes place on either side of the obstacle takes place over its top, or say 
rather, all over it, leaving not a triangular but a rounded conical-shaped 
BtUl water beyond, in which the tapering tail of diminishing height finds iti 
resting place. And here ! see where the shell has fallen; the ourrenty 






PHYSIOAL GEOORAFHY. 31 

the returning wave is washing away the mound, but it is doing it retaining 
the same fashion of the little mound, undermining the front, and as the 
Buperincumbent sand falls down washing it away, and in part depositing it, 
in a prolongation of the tail ! Well, so it is ; and if you go to any stream- 
let you may find many little eminences of similar formation always heading 
up stream or against the current, with the tail in the direction of the cur- 
rent's flow. Aid something similar may be seen upon a comparatively 
gigantic scale in the rocks and ridges surmounted by Stirling Castle, in 
Stirlingshire, and surmounted by Edinburgh Castle, in Mid Lothian. 
Some similar current — an ocean current — ^four thousand feet in depth, at 
the very least, must have formed this. A new current in the primeval 
ocean, or an old current, with a new direction given to it — a current diverted, 
it may be, by what is now called Riebecks Casteel — ^then another like thing 
than it is now — dashing direct on the face of what is now Table Mountain, or 
rather of what stood before, pouring along over it, on either side and above 
it, undermining, washing away the debris as it topples down, the divided 
current pouring over and washing into shape the irregular prolonged tail 
heyond into the original form of the outline which it now presents, a division 
of the current falling over the Kloof, and threatening to level down the 
whole ridge, as it did that, — the remains of which form Blueberg. 

But it is stopped ; a new direction is again given to the current. How, 
we need not now enquire ; or the whole was elevated above the ocean surface; 
and there is the work left — left as it was when this occurred. I write from 
memory, and there may be points on which I am in error ; but I doubt not 
nay statement on the whole is correct. 

Looking thus at the physical geography of South Africa, we learn not 
only of the existence of a primeval ocean covering deep the land, and what 
we now the highest mountains of the land, but we learn also of ocean cur- 
rents in that primeval deep, scooping out valleys, reducing mountains to 
the level of the plain, and of these currents diverted into new directions, 
leaving traces of their effects, and in these traces of their effects records of 
their history, which he who is learned therein may be able to read, and 
understand^ and eicplain. 

But we have not yet done with the lessons to be read from Table 
Mountain -as she stands there inscribed with records, crossing each other in 
diflPerent directions, which tell of what occurred in those old-world times. 
Look at her as she stands there magnificent and glorious, whether covered 
^th fleecy cloud, or rejoicing in the sunshine which is ever bringing out new 
lights and shadows, every one of which is beautiful ! Look at her ! she ex- 
hibits in herself a section of the crust of the earth between 3000 and 4000 
feet in thickness, such as it then and there was, placed in a light and in a 
position which reveals far more of its structure than could have been 
learned by sinking a shaft or pit to a corresponding depth from the surface. 
There it is the whole breadth of the ridge, with an outlying flank on either 
fide, the whole exposed to the light of day — and what do we see 1 Layers 
^ strata of sand at the top, with the stratification distinctly marked ; 
JMiderlying these well-defined strata a mountain mass of matter, with 
"^cations of its having been deposited from and imder water, resting upon 
Panite which presents indications of its having been projected from below in 
* state of fusion and of intense heat through the then existing crust. And 
'ssting <m the sides of this upheaven granite, we see slaty matter with well- 



32 HTDBOLOOT OF SOUTH AFBIOA. 

marked indications in its slate-like structured-it also having been de- 
posited from water like the impalpable dust bom by the wind far from the 
spot from which it had been brought, but deposited at last. But these 
strata- could not have been deposited on the granite with such a dip or in- 
clination as they have, which leads us to conclude that this must have con- 
stituted a portion of the solid crust through which the granite was 
protruded. The superincumbent mass seems to rest on the uptilted edge 
of these slaty strata, and the granite protruded throughout them suggests 
the conclusion that these strata were deposited from water before, and 
the overlying deposits after, the upheaval and protrusion of the granite. 

We are thus introduced into acquaintance with another set of phenomena 
which have also their testimony to give in regard to the Hydrology of 
South Africa, and if we would make a precognition of all the testimony 
tendered in regard to this matter ; to this also we must attend. To do this 
fully, it is necessary that we proceed from what is known as Physical Geo- 
graphy into the domains of Geology. Physical geography has to do with 
the surface, and the contour of the earth's surface ; geology has to do with 
the structure of what has been called the crust of the earth, and with the 
operations by which it has become what it is ; and we are trenching appar- 
ently upon this in advancing to the consideration of what is taught in re- 
gard to the former hydrographic condition of the land by what is seen of 
the structure of Table Mountain. But as the border land of separation 
may, without impropriety, be considered as in some measure common to 
both, there is no imperative necessity why we should not read off the 
lesson from the position we have reached, and return to the record, if neces- 
sary, after we have entered on the consideration of the testimony in' regard 
to the former hydrographic condition of the country supplied by geological 
observations. 

We scarcely need the geologist to tell us, while we look at Table Moun- 
tain as a monmnent of the past, that the underlying slate tells of a slow 
deposit of slaty matter in minute sub-division from water scarcely coloured 
by it, so small the quantity, so minute the particles, and so diffused ; and 
of the water being there then still and motionless as it was limpid and 
transparent. Nor can the time have been short during which such a 
thickness of slate was so deposited. How long it was, we cannot now enquire. 

The superincmnbent mass of hardened mud, thousands of feet in thick- 
ness, tells another and a different tale : it tells of muddy waters and of mud 
borne by the water from a distance greater or less from the spot where it 
has been deposited and hardened into rock. And if, as we have been led to 
conclude, the bed of this deposit extended continuously to the mountain ranges 
beyond, the intervening Flats being the result only of the washing away of 
what had then been deposited, what a quantity must have been suspended 
in the waters, and what a length of time must have been occupied 
in the deposit of such a mass ! Language fails — thought fails — we can only 
muse and be silent. 

And the strata of sand capping Table Mountain and the Lion's Head 
have also their tale to tell. It has been observed, that as in motion 
communicated to a quantity of loose matter in sieve or in a vessel more 
confined, the larger pieces came to the surface, so is it also with the 
shingle put in motion by a stream or by waves on the shore, and that some- 
thing similar occurs with a mixture of sand and mud when subjected to 
movements in a similar way. 



FHYBIOAL eiOORAPHT. 38 

Looking at the strata of sand in the light of these observations, and in 
Tiew of the &ct that the mass of &e mountain is composed of a mixture of 
sand with some impalpable matter, the thought is suggested that the. 
strength of the current which bore thither that mass of matter suspended 
in its waters^ may have become relaxed, with the result that the sand was 
dropped, and the bulk of the more impalpable matter carried farther. Or, 
either through the silting up of the basin or some other means, the mud de- 
posited there may have been brought so near to the surface of the water as 
to be subjected to such movements by its waves as led to a separation of the 
sand from the more impalpable matter with which it was co-mingled, a 
large portion of this being either washed away and deposited elsewhere, or 
allowed to fall through the interstices between the grains of sand allowing 
these to come to the surface. This seems to be the more plausible con- 
jecture of the two, but in either case the production of sand tells of the 
depth of water being diminished, and so diminished that the bed of the ocean 
is moved by the movement of the waves. 

Thus are we able to carry our study of the former hydrographic condi- 
tion of what is now the southern extremity of South Africa back ages be- 
yond those in which, by denuding currents, the plains which now separate 
mountain ranges were scooped out. "We touch upon a time when the depth 
of water covering what is now Table Mountain was not so deep as it had 
been previously, but what was there the surface of the ocean basin was sub- 
jected to movement with the movement of its waves. We look through 
earlier ages during which, at a greater depth, was deposited the mass of 
underlying mud, to a period also, it may be, extending over ages, during 
which in perfect stillness was deposited from comparatively pellucid waters, 
the slaty matter imderlying that mass of mud and resting on the sides of 
protruded granite, the protrusion of which may have been, and probably 
was, connected with what led to be the vast deposit of superincumbent 
mud. 

Thus far have we gone, and thus much have we learned, without leaving 
the border land common to physical geography and geology. To go further 
and take up the question which has thus been mooted would take us into 
the domains of this latter science, which has also its tale to tell, and revel- 
ations to make, in regard to the distant past ; and the question which here 
presents itself for consideration is. Shall we, or shall we not advance 1 

For myself, I may state I am not a geologist, nor do I make any preten- 
sions to be such ; but I have heard what geologists have to say. I have 
looked at what I have seen in South Africa as I have looked on what I 
have seen elsewhere, in the light of what they have said. I have found 
what I have seen to be in wonderful accordance with what they have said ; 
and it seems to me, in this case, that the geological formations at the Cape, 
when viewed in connection with the conclusions to which geologists have 
come after careful observation, study, comparison and reasoning on pheno- 
mena brought under their consideration in the course of their investigations, 
supply important testimony to the primeval hydrographic condition of this 
part of the earth's siuface, supplying indications of the following sucoesive 
positions and conditions of the land : — 

First. The whole under water at the bottom of the sea. 

Next. An upheaval of it tiU portions rose above the ocean surface. 

D 



31 HYDBOLOGT OP SOUTH APBIO^ 

Then the submersion of the whole again for ages. 

The subsequent upheaval of it again to a greater elevation, and for a time 
so protracted that for ages the projecting islands were covered with 
arborescent vegetation. 

And the continued upheaval, until in the course of ages what was at first 
a thousand isles became a continent studded with lakes and inland seas ; 
and the continued upheaval until these were drained, and the continent pre- 
sented the appearance it has now assumed — but not so arid as it now is. 

To the study of the geological formations which are indicative — or, if I 
must so limit my phraseology, which are alleged to be indicative — of all this, 
I would invite such of my readers as may be willing to place themselves 
under my guidance in the study of the same. Others may, if they be so 
disposed, cross the ridge by the mountain path while we are working our 
way through it, and await or meet us on our arrival at the other side, when 
we can proceed to what may form a more interesting subject of study than 
this woiUd prove to them. In other words, let them pass the next chapter, 
and take up the study of the subject at the beginning of the chapter which 
follows. 

To those who are willing to go with me I would say, Come along ! Now 
for it 1 Hard work it may be ; but hard work has its rewards. 

" Life is real ! Life is earnest I 
Let as then be np and doing, 
With a heart for any fate ; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 
Learn to labour and to wait." 



GBOLOGIOAL OBSEBVATIONS. 36 



CHAPTER II. 

TESTIMONY IN REGARD TO THE FORMER HYDROGRAPHIO CONDITION OP SOUTH 
AFRICA SUPPLIED BY GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. ^ 

The historical records of South Africa are all of them of modem date, and 

they do not embrace a very lengthened period ; with the physical geography 

of the country it is otherwise, and the superficial aspect of the country, 

its moimtains and its plains, with their arborescent productions, enable us 

to carry our study of the Hydrology of the coimtry back to a period very 

remote from the present; if we wish to carry our enquiries still further 

back into the distant past the means are at command. The geologist is 

ready to read off for us, what we may not be able to read for ourselves, of 

the records of the rocks — either leaving us, if we so desire, to draw our own 

conclusions, or stating conclusions at which his fellow-students have arrived 

in regard to the length of the eras embraced by these records. This 

may perhaps make us feel as if the records of physical geography were but the 

records of what occurred yesterday, and we had got back to the times of 

which Wisdom spoke some 3000 years ago from the mountains of Palestine, 

the times " When there were no depths, . . . when there were no 

fountains abounding with water ; before the mountains were settled, and 

before the hills : . . . while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the 

fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world ; when he prepared the 

heavens ; . . . when he set a compass upon the face of the depth : 

when he established the clouds above : when he strengthened the fountains 

of the deep : when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not 

pass his commandment : when he appointed the foundations of the earth." 

—Prov. viii. 24-29. 

My attention was given those matters from a bias in favour of such studies, 
and a feeling that he who would tender to others counsel which is not 
sought, ought to see to it that he has not wittingly overlooked any of the 
circumstances of the case in regard to which he desires to speak, but has 
studied it thoroughly it all its aspects. But, it may be, that to some this 
chapter on the testimony in regard to the former hydrographic condition of 
what is now known as South Africa, supplied by geological observations, 
and not a little of what has been stated in the chapter relating to that 
supplied by the physical geography of the country, may be uninteresting ; 
and being uninteresting to them, it may be deemed by them to be 
unnecessary; and I have intimated that I do not consider that it is 
necessary to the formation of an intelligent judgment in regard to 
the adaptation of remedial means, which may suggest themselves, or may 
be proposed, as means of counteracting the desiccation which has taken 
place and the aridity of climate and of soil which in consequence exists, 
that the matters therein discussed should be clearly apprehended. But I 



M HTDROLOGT OP BOTTTH AFRICA. 

consider them to be matters deserving the attention of any students of 
the subject who may desire to have it before them in its entirety. 

In writing what I have written, or rather in determining and pre- 
paring to do so, I have been reminded of what is recorded of David having 
in the uprightness of his heart made every preparation for the building of 
the temple which it was in his power to make, though to him was denied 
the honour of laying so n^uch as the comer-stone of the building. But there 
exists no necessity for anyone perusing all that has been written, and with- 
out detriment to the opinion to be formed in regard to the practical 
measures to be adopted in existing circumstances, any reader may pass over 
all and confine his reading to what is said in Part II. relative to the 
different causes of the aridity of South Africa, leaving others to read, if 
they will, what is written in the chapters preceding. 

Chaucer has said to his readers in a prologue to one of his Oante):buiy 
Tale8,r— 

** And therefore whoso list it not to heere, 
Tome over the leef and cheese another tale, . 
For he shall find enow bothe gret and small 
Of storial thing that Macbeth gentillesse, 
And eke moralite, and holinesse — 
Blame ye not me, if that ye cheese amis." 

So would I say to my reader here ; and follow up what is said with the 
counsel with which it was followed up by the poet, 

** Avise, ye now, and pnt me ont of blame." 

Physical Geography I have used as a term applicable to the superficial 
aspect of the country. The term Geological Observations I employ as a 
term applicable to observations made upon the substance and structure of 
what gives to it its superficial aspect, and of what lies under, observations 
similar to those with which the latter portion of the preceding chapter was 
occupied, but prosecuted to a somewhat greater depth. 

In places innumerable in which the structure of the superficial portion 
of the earth has been examined, there have been found a greater or less 
nimiber of strata of homogeneous or heterogeneous, of the same or of different, 
kinds of matter, lying upon a kind of stratified granite, and this upon a 
granite in which no indication of stratification are observable, and through 
which we cannot penetrate to ascertain what is enclosed therein, or beneath 
it. Whatever that which it covers may be in its composition, it is con- 
jectured by many that it must be in a state of fusion, and therefore is it 
that the name of crust has been given to that of which we have spoken. 

None of these strata, it may be remarked, go completely round the earth 
as do the coats of an onion around the parts they enclose ; through friction 
or abrasion many of them have become fragmentary, if ever they were more 
eftensive than they now are. Neither are they of imiform thickness either 
throughout their extent or throughout their succession ; some are compara- 
tively thick, others are comparatively thin ; while some are thick in one 
place and thin at another, and some thick throughout one portion of their 
extent diminish in thickness more or less gradually towards the edge 
of the mass. Neither is there any part of the earth's crust in which the 
whole of them exist superimposed one upon another; sometimes not more 



GI&OUK^IOAL DB&ERVATIONB. 



» 



I 



than one is to be found lying on the grauite ; nor ie thii always tlie aamej 
but sotnetinies one and sometimeB another, and sometimes when there are 
more, it ifl with a similar variation. This only has been observed, wbere- 
ever they are found it is always in the same snccesaion, whioh, excepting 
by those who in ignorance of the disooYeries of modem science suppose the 
world was created so, is believed to have been the succession in which they 
were deposited on the spot firom water by which it was cove red j in which 
the matter had been Buspended or by which it was borne along, with the 
exception of some etrata-like beds of matter which appear to be solidified 
matter, which, expelled by some orifice in a gtate of fusion from below, had 
epread itself oat as does the molten lava from a volcano, and eome few 
similar beds. 

So familiar is the experienced practical geologist with the appearance and 
composition of these strata^ that he can often tell as easiJy to which of 
them a stone which he finds in the field belongs, as you, my reader, can dis^ 
tinguish the fruits of an apple tree or a pear tree, a quice or a pomegranate, 
an apricot or a peach, a fig or a grape. 

But though the deposits are always, when found, fonnd in the same 
8no<;eB8ion, the first above and not below any of the others in connection with 
which it may be found : the sixth always below the first, eecond, third, 
fourth and fifth, if found in connection with any of these, and always above 
and not below the seventh, eighth, &l\, with which it may be found, they 
are sometimes so contorted that one portion may seem to be otherwise 
eituated, but even then the seeming exception is easOy reduced to accordance 
with the rule. Thus i 

Not nnfrequently they are found not in a horiaontal position, but in a 
poeition more or less inclined to the T^^rtical or upright, through disturb- 
ances to which they have been subjected after deposit* The protrusion of 
matter from below, for instance, may bend them as one may with the thumb 
bend up the whole of the leaves of a book lying flat upon a table. By 
lateral compression some have been crushed up to such a degree as to form 
a loopj a section of which at some places may give us the strata so com- 
pressed in their regular order, then these in their reverse order, and then 
again the same strata in their natural order, while a horizontal section may 
show them m a vertical^ or more or less inclined position. 



Sbotiost h— Geological formatioTis of Table M<mntai7i. 

It matters little where we commence our examination of the geological 
formations of South Africa^ everywhere they tell the same tale — a tale of 
deposit from waters of great depth — and they confirm all that is indicated 
by the physical geography, or general contour of the superficial aspect of 
the countiy. There exist what may seem to be exceptions to what I have 
stated ; but even these, when examined, corroborate the general testimony. 
It happens that Table Mountain supplies in succession some of the earliest 
indications which are to be found of the primeval state of what is now the 
dry laud of Southern Africa, corresponding with corresponding indications 
existing elsewhere, but existing here in such collocation as facilitates the 
investigation upon which we are about to enter ; and with these we may 
c/omm&Dioe, 



38 



HTDBOLOGT OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



The vertical section of the mountain range presented bv Table Mountam 
as it feces Table Bay enables us without difficulty to examine its structure. 
At Sea Point we see granite upon which the mountain has been deposited; 
we find leaning upon this, as it were, a slate-like rock, to which I have had 
occasion to refer, presenting the appearance of having been uptilted, and 
having had the irregularities of edge, which might have been occasioned by 
any such process, planed down ; and above we see a mountain of hardened 
mud and sand, which, in the Lion's Head and the upper portion of the fece 
of Table Moimtain, presents a very distinctly mark^ stratified structure. 
And we have to enquire what may be learned from what we thus see in 
regard to the particular subject of our inquiry. 

In doing this we may commence with the granite. From the presence of 
this we learn first of all that we have reached the foundation of the conti- 
nent, and we are thus enabled to commence our studies as far back as it is 
necessary to go. 

There is reason to believe that everywhere, underlying all stratified 
formation, there is granite. It is too hard to be penetrated that "we niay 
see what lies beneath, or lines its under surface ; but there is truth in the 
truism if we only penetrate all stratified formations to sufficient depth, we 
shall come at length to granite, or to gneiss which is something like it. 
We have thus, it would appear, reached the bottom — ^the foundation— the 
hard interior shell of the crust of the earth. 

Besides the granite found at Sea Point and other places around the baae 
of Table Moimtain, and penetrating that mountain, granite is foimd at 
different places in the districts of the Cape — thm Paarl, Malmesbury, and 
George, and in Namaqualand in abundance. And the conclusion to which we 
come is, that either no deposits of such stmtified deposits as are foimd else- 
where have ever taken place on some spots, or, what is much more probable, 
that similar deposits have been deposited there, but these deposits have 
been planed down by such oceanic currents as by partial denudations have 
scooped out the valleys between the moimtain ranges, and this to have 
been the case, whether the granite exposed on the surface at such places has 
retained there its original place, or has been protruded, as has been that at 
the base of Table Mountain, through a superincumbent deposit covering the 
shell of granite around. 

In Namaqualand, in Bushmanland, in the Kalahari Desert, and in various 
parts throughout the interior of South Africa, is found a granite-like 
substance, varying in its composition, and in regular beds of more or lesfi 
stratified layers, — rocks, known to geologists as granitic-gneiss, as gneiss, 
and as metamorphic schists, with some of which are found, and that verj 
abundantly, in the Kalahari Desert, what is known as metamorphic lime- 
stone. And the mention of these renders necessary a description of granite 
and also of these in so far as they resemble and in so far as they differ froit: 
this, that we may learn what they teach in regard to the hydrology of th€ 
district in which we are interested. 

Granite sometimes consists of felspar and quartz and mica, sometimes o: 
felspar and quartz and hornblende, sometimes of felspar and hornblende 
alone, and otherwise of various combinations of these several minerals. 

It does not come within the scope of this treatise formally to teach geo- 
logy, and I stop not minutely to describe the appearance and constitution 
of these different substances, as it is the oonstitution and appearanoe of tho 



OBOLOOIOAL OBSERYATIOyS. 39 

composite mass of granite which concerns us chiefly in our special enquiry ; 
but I may mention briefly that quartz is a very hard crystaline substance 
— so hard that it cannot be scratched with a knife. Felspar is like quartz, 
but softer, and is easily scratched with a knife, and the other constituents 
of the granite are imbedded in this as the fruit of a plum-pudding is im- 
bedded in the bread or dough of its composition. Hornblende is a black or 
dark-green mineral, which fractures like horn, from which circumstance it 
has received the name it bears. Mica is a glistening transparent or trans- 
lucent substance, in scales apparently homogeneous in structure, very thin, 
or capable of being split up into very thin subdivisions. 

Mica is sometimes found in sheets of considerable size and thickness. In 
Siberia such sheets are used as window panes. In England they have been 
used in place of glass or horn in the construction of lanterns, with the 
advantage that they are less liable to crack and break than is glass, and 
less Hkely to be burned than is horn. In America they are used in the 
construction of doors for Chamber stoves, allowing the cheering light "of the 
fire to be seen while the door is kept closed. The thin laminae of which 
they are composed being easily separated, scales of Mica have been em- 
ployed in covering objects mounted for examination with a microscope, and 
sparkling shining sand often owes its sparkling shining metallic-like lustre 
to small fragments of Mica.* 

There is much in the general appearance of the granite to suggest that 
felspar, the imbedding material, must have been fused, and from this state 
of fiision crystallized around imfused crystals and angular fragments of the 
imbedded material ; but it is alleged that there are amongst these minerals 
some which fuse at a much lower temperature than does the imbedding 
felspar ; and it is conjectured that had the felspar been in a state of fusion 
these also would have been fused, and the non-solidification of the felspar 
before them in the process of cooling would have prevented them from 
assuming the forms in which we find them. From this it is inferred that 
the felspar must not have been solidified from a state of fusion, but de- 
posited from a state of solution. And in oiu* ignorance of the existence at 
that time of other solvents, it is natural that it should be supposed that the 
solvent was water. 

* Mr Barnabas Shaw, who was hononred to establish the first Wesleyan Mission in 
Soatib Africa, tells of the commencement of his work at Wjnberg, in the rear of Table 
Mountain :— 

**0n my first going thither, I met with a few soldiers who regularly assembled for 
religious worship. They had erected for themselves a small chapel in the midst of a 
fOTMt, which was beautifully adorned with flowers, by the taste of corporals Tate and 
Kirby, and in this delightful spot 1 opened my commission among them. Previously to 
the erection of this chapel, they had built one in the village, which, by the order of the 
cdonel of the regiment, had been burned to the ground. An officer, however, of the same 
regiment, Captain Proctor, then gave them liberty to build on his own private property, 
of which offer they willingly availed themselves. While digging for a foundation, they 
found a number of shiniug particles, both white and yellow, from which circumstance they 
conceived that they had discovered a silver or gold mine. Mrs Tate, the wife of one of 
the corporals alluded to, a pious and active woman, immediately filled her apron therewith 
and hastened to exhibit the treasure to Capt. P., saying, at the same time, *Look here. 
Captain Proctor, the Lord is blessing you for allowing us to build upon your ground. We 
have found a mine I ' As it had been reported that a s^'lver mine was discovered during 
ths time of the Dutch Government, and as there is a place not very far distant still called 
by that name, it was natural enough for the soldiers to suppose that they had hit upon a 
vein. The shining particles were well examined, and although better informed persons 
than the corporal's wife thought them valuable, after all, instead of gold or silver, they 
piored to be but pieces of common quartz and granite 1" 



40 HTDBOIiOOT OF B0T7TH AFBXCUL 

It may be felt to be an objection to this supposition that granite does not 
appear do dissolve in water now ; but neither does lime, or stucco, or roman 
cement after it has once set ; it is alleged that even quartz is dissolved in 
minute quantities in water, that constituents of the constituents of granite 
may be fully soluble, that the solution in water of some other substance 
than the salt which gives to the water of the sea its present characteristic 
may have modified its solvent powers in primeval times, and that these 
solvent powers may have been modified by pressure and by heat, either, or 
both, apart, or combined, as is often done in the laboratory of the chemist, 
all which allegation, though not advanced as fact, theory, or conjecture as to 
what actually occurred when advanced thus, seems to me satisfactorily to 
meet the objection. 

There are spots covered with material which has been protruded from be- 
neath, but with the exception of these, wherever the superficial strata have 
been removed or penetrated to their lowest depth, there granite, or one or 
other of the modifications of granite which have been mentioned, cfr some 
corresponding composite rock, has been found. From which it seems to 
follow, if felspar be a crystallization from a state of solution, and not from 
one of fusion, that we have in this everywhere existing granite indications 
of the various parts of the world in which it exists, and South Africa 
amongst the rest, having been at the time — or the times of its formation — 
covered with water, though water, perhaps, of a temperature much higher 
than that at which water imder the existing atmosphere is converted into 
vapour. 

The structure of granite, it is remarked, is always massive and irregu- 
lar ; its texture is of various degrees of fineness from a hard and close- 
grained rock, to a coarse and loose aggregation of primaiy crystals. 

Gneiss, like granite, consists of felspar, quartz, and mica, and sometimes 
hornblende and garnets enter into its composition. But in granite, the 
crystals of felspar, quartz, mica, and hornblende are entire and distinct, in 
gneiss their faces are broken as if water-worn. It is alleged that in granite 
there are no traces of a laminated or stratified structure; in gneiss this 
structure is evident, even when the strata are most indurated and con- 
torted. 

The metamorphic schists differ from gneiss chiefly in the degree of appar- 
ent attrition, to which the minerals of which they are respectively composed 
have been subjected and reduced ; and the different names given to the 
schists indicate only this, and the characteristic constituent of each. Mica 
ichist consists of mica and quartz, with hornblende and garnets imbedded 
in it. Talcoae schist has talc instead of mica combined with the quartz, and 
differs only in this respect from the mica schist, Hornhlende schist consists 
of hornblende and quartz, and is occasionally foimd with actynolite in it. 
Chlorite schist consists of chlorite and quartz. 

The designation metamorphic is given to sedimentary deposits, which, 
subsequent to their deposition, have undergone a metamorphosis or change 
in their sedimentary appearance by fusion or otherwise, so that they mani- 
fest indications of igneous action. Talc, which gives its designation to tal- 
cose schist, i& a transparent mineral like mica, but softer and not elastic as 
it is. 

Actynolite is a crystalline body of a greenish-gray colour, which has ob- 
tained its name from the pointed thorn-like appearance of its crystals. 



GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 41 

Chlorite is found sometimes of a crystallized and sometimes of a foliated 
or scaly structure ; it is of a greenish-black colour, and from this it has got 
its name. It is this which gives colour to a greenish slate called chlorite 
slate. 

Greenstone is what is known as whinstone, which is composed principally 
of felspar and hornblende, with a mixture frequently of a substance called 
hypersth^ne. It is a rock of igneous formation. 

Whatever other end may be subserved by these explanations, it is deemed 
necessary that the reader, wherever and however ^ ituatcd, may be able to 
carry with him a definite idea of the formation spoken of. The characteristic 
feature of these formations to which attention is specially called is the in- 
dications of attrition and of stratification, which seem to tell of the action 
and consequently of the presence of water, and, I may add, of the depth of 
water covering at the period of their formation the places where now they 
are. I do not deem it necessary to distract the attention of my readers by 
adducing other hypotheses which have been advanced in connection with 
the subject. 

The strata of gneiss are sometimes so thick as to render it difficult for an 
unexperienced observer to determine whether the material be granite or 
gneiss, and the difficulty is increased if the constituent minerals have been 
but httle abraded. "JThus is it with what is spoken of as granitic gneiss ; and 
connected with this or near to it is sometimes found what is called quartz 
rock, which consists chiefly of quartz, but has generally hornblende or mica 
irregularly imbedded in it. 

It may be mentioned that it is in connection with quartz rock that gold 
has been found, in connection with gneiss that copper has been found in 
Namaqualand and in mountain ranges further inland, and in connection with 
schist that tin has been found in the neighbourhood of SwcUendam. 

The late Dr Rubidge, who at the instance of a mining company visited 
Namaqualand in 1854, to examine and report upon its metal-producing 
capabilities, states that at Namaqualand he found the gneiss assiuned so 
granite-like an appearance that the dip and the strike were scarcely 
distinguishable. " I find it," says he, " a matter of great practical difficulty 
often to say whether a rock is granite or gneiss — therefore I call these rocks 
* gneiss-like granite' or * granite-like gneiss,' according to the appearance." 

Elsewhere he writes : — " The centres of the axes are very frequently 
composed of granite, but this is not always the case ; and I do not know 
any mine in which granite is not to be found in the works, though the gneiss 
may meet in well-defined character and with an opposite dip over it. In 
this country I have stood on granite with gneiss forming the sides of a 
ravine on either hand, with continuous dip. I have also seen hornblende 
schist (felspar and hornblende) passing, insensibly as it were, into syenite 
and greenstone of perfectly well marked characters near Pclla. The ravine 
just noticed is between Pella missionary station and a detached station 
caUed Klein Pella." 

Dr Rubidge foimd the veins of ores on what seemed axes of dislocation, 
though not on all such axes; and he found the axes numerous, often 
comciding with the dip of the country, or nearly so, but occasionally at 
angles to it interrupting the main dip for from 5 to 50 or 100 paces, and in 
these axis were the metalliferous deposits. The surface of these metalliferous 
veins he found to be much fissured in the direction of the magnetic 
meridiaiiy or near thereto, as well as in others. Some fine lumps of oxide, 

E 



42 HYDROLOGY OP SOUTH AFRICA. 

containing as much as 60 per cent, of copper, were found in the fissures or 
on the surface. When these were followed downwards they often widened at 
first into good-sized veins, which gave promise of a rich return of ore, but 
when a depth varying from 4 or 5 to 25 feet was reached they were gener- 
ally found to contract, and sometimes they terminated abruptly. In either 
case they were rarely traced beyond that depth, though occasionally the dip of 
the rock carried them somewhat further. At a greater depth purple 
sulphurets are found, and these give way to pyrites which are contained 
either in fissures between masses of slightly decomposed felspathic granite 
or diffused in grains in the substance of the granite. 

" In fact the formation of all these ores," he writes, " appear^ to be the result 
of a process of infiltration" — and thus do his observations become serviceable 
to us — " infiltration by which the original constituents of the rock are 
gradually removed, and their place occupied by silicates, oxides, or purple 
and yellow sulphurets, as the case may be — the silicates and oxides 
generally occurring on the surface, the sulphurets below. Masses of oxide 
of iron, in a state to be acted on by the magnet, are often found on the 
surface of these metallic axis. Sulphuret of molybdenum is foiuid accumu- 
lated with copper pyrites at Concordia and at Kildunem ; and tungstate of 
lime in a lump of about a pound weight was found enclosed in a mass of 
red oxide of copper in Springbok mine. Manganese, too, has been found in 
various parts of the country ; and near Gams I found green oxide of chrome 
accumulated in small quantities between the layers of gneiss in an axis of 
disturbance." 

This term he uses to designate axes which do not permanently change 
the dip of the gneiss, in contradistinction to those of dislocation, on either 
side of which the dip sometimes continues nearly the same for miles. 

Some of the other terms employed in this statement may require explana- 
tion to make them perfectly intelligible to all. 

Oxides are combinations of the substance named with oxygen, the 
constituent of the atmosphere by which life and combustion are sustained. 
Rust is an oxide of iron, or of some other metal, and such also are many of 
the ores. 

Pyrites is a compound of sulphur and iron found often in cubic crystals 
in slates, of a bright yellow metallic colour. It occasionally produces 
spontaneous combustion, and from this it has obtained its name, which is 
derived from ^yr, the Greek word for fire. 

Sulphurets is the name given to combinations of sulphur with metals. 
Sulphuret of molybdenum is such a combination of sulphur with a metal 
of that name. 

Silicates are combinations of what is called silicic acid with other 
substances, and silex may be considered the principal constituent of flint 
and of quartz. 

Garnet is k reddish or iron-coloured mineral found in some mica slates 
and volcanic rocks. 

Returning to the subject under consideration, it appears from observations 
cited, that in the metallic deposits in the copper districts — as there is in 
much besides connected with gneissic and schistose rocks — there are indi- 
cations of their being composed of material supplied by the disintegration 
of granite or other primitive rocks, and indications of aqueous action in the 
deposit of the metalUferous ores, which fit in with the evidaaoe otherwise 
obtained of the hornblende, quartz, and felspar, &3., having been deposited 



GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. i3 

from water, movements occasioned by which caused the abrasion of angular 
projections, both of fragments and of entire crystals, by the friction of these 
upon one another. The suspension in the water, together with the movements 
of this, allowed the larger and heavier fragments first to find a restmg^place, 
after which the lighter, together with material resulting from the fiuther 
disintegration of these, woidd be deposited, and possibly raised again by a 
disturbance of the waters following such convulsions as produced those 
changes in the continent, and the dip of the granite gneiss and other rocks 
of which Dr Rubidge speaks. 

We shall afterwards find that there .occurred many such disturbances of 
the indurated crust, occurring, it may be, sometimes after protracted periods 
of repose, and sometimes in rapid succession. At present, it is the order 
in which these difierent formations occur here and elsewhere, and the 
indications thus supplied of the former hydrographic condition of the 
country with which we have to do. 

" There is nothing like a regular order of succession among the primary 
strata," says Page in his Eudiments of Geology, published in Chambers' 
Educational Course, which I quote here, and shall have frequent occasion 
to quote again, as supplying the very information I wish to communicate. " It 
may be stated generally, however, that gneiss underlies mica schist ; that 
mica and other crystalline schists are the lowest in the system, and that 
quartz rock, primitive limestone, and clay schist, make their appearance to- 
ward the upper part of the series ; " and, otherwise than we fold to be the 
case with higher lying strata of what are known as secondary rocks, in the 
primary system to which these belong, " the strata thicken, thin out, and 
disappear in a very capricious manner, and most of these rocks pass in- 
sensibly into each other, and thus many compounds are formed of which 
the student can only obtain a knowledge by the study of actual specimen." 
As to the origin of the gneiss and mica schist systems, he goes o^ to say, — 
" As to the origin of the gneiss and mica schist systems, it is abundantly 
evident that the materials of which they are composed were derived from 
the underlying granite. It has been stated that this rock forms a solid 
and irregular basis, on which all the sedimentary strata rest ; and if this be 
true, it is evident that its surface must have been partly under and partly 
above water, and subject to the degrading influence of atmospheric, aqueous, 
and chemical agencies. Moreover, if the granitic crust was formed by the 
cooling of an originally fused globe, the waters resting in the hoUows must 
have been heated to a high degree, and the air must have been loaded with 
vapours. All this would further tend to hasten the degradation of the 
granite ; the runnels and streams would carry down the loose particles, lay- 
ing down the heavier first, and carrying out the lighter and smaller to 
deeper water. In process of time the loose matter would get consolidated 
by the pressure of its own mass ; the high temperature then pervading the 
globe, together with chemical agency, would assist in producing the crystal- 
line texture ; and thus a variety of schistose rocks might be formed at one 
and the same time. That a high temperature existed during the formation 
of the primary rocks, we have ample evidence, not only in their hard and 
crystalline texture, and in the absence of all organic remains, but in the 
occurrence of certain minerals, such as garnet, whose presence denotes that 
the rocks in which it is found have experienced a degree of heat sufficiently 
high to form such a fusible mineral, but not enough to melt the other con- 
stituent^, of wh^' U they are composed." 



H HTDBOLOGT OF SOUTH AFBIOA. 

There is a wide field for the exercise of the imagination in picturing what 
the effect of this heat on the water above may have been ; but it is evidence 
of the previous existence of water above the land, now known as South Africa, 
which is alone at present under consideration. And it may be borne in mind 
that a different hypothesis than that of subterranean heat to account for the 
crystalline texture of the rocks has been proposed, and has commanded the 
attention of many geologists. 

The mountain limestone of the Kalahari, associated with the metamor- 
phio schists, has also its tale to tell ; but the slate-like rock leaning upon 
the granite at Sea Point demands at this stage of our enquiry our first at- 
tention. Sea Point is not the only spot in the Colony in -which such beds 
of slate-like flakes and other form of slates are found. In some places they 
are associated with grits or coarse sandstone, and both grits and slates are 
found, both of a greenish gray, and of a brown or brownish colour. 

These have been identified by Mr Wylie, formerly Government Geologist 
at the Cape of Good Hope, with the so-called Silurian deposits of Europe 
and other lands — deposits which have received that designation from a dis- 
trict in England in which the same formation exists having been known in 
ancient times as the land of a people called the Silurii. They are found 
extending over regions of vast extent, and are much better known than ever 
the Silurii were in their day, and are more extensively known than but 
for this circumstance the Silurii ever would have been. 

Subsequent to the deposit of the material constituting now the meta- 
morphic rocks, and prior to the deposit of the silurian, there occurred in 
England the deposit of what has became known as the Grauwacke system. 
This is a term used by German miners, signifying Gray rock ; but that to 
which it is applied in Germany is better known to English readers as the 
Cambrian system, so designated by English geologists from its covering a 
large portion of Wales — the ancient Cambria. 

According to Mr Wylie, no trace of this is found at the Cape of Good 
Hope, but a reference to it is necessary as supplying an indication of the 
lapse of time which may have occurred between the deposit of the gneiss 
and schists, and the deposit of the slates and grits to which attention is now 
directed ; in JEngland the Cambrian rocks, including the Bala limestone, and 
the Festiniog and Bangor slates, show a verticle depth of some 26,000 feet, 
or about five miles ! What time would be required for a series of deposits 
five miles in thickness, I must leave my readers to conjecture, only remind- 
ing them that this should be taken into account in all conjectures relative 
to the primeval hydrographic condition of the country. The deposits which 
have to be considered are records, not only of what materials have been 
deposited, and of how this was done, but also of the period in the world's his- 
tory in which it occurred. 

The succession of strata in the clay slate grauwacke or Cambrian, and 
the Silurian systems have not been very clearly ascertained. But an 
approximate classification of them may be formed, in doing which important 
assistance is given by fossil remains of vegetable and animal structures 
found imbedded in them. 

We have no evidence that any organic structures — vegetable or animal 
or aught other, if aught other there have been or can be — did exist in the 
times of earlier formations ; but neither have we evidence that they did 
not. And it is alleged, though perhaps prematurely, that we are not likely 
ever to olbtain any evidence on the subject, as the fusion of which the 



GEOLOGICAL 0B8EBVATI0NS. 45 

granite and the gneiss and others of the metamorphic xx)cksgiTe indications 
indicates a temperature which must have destroyed all traces of organic 
Btmctures, if such had existed at the time of their deposit, whether from 
solution or suspension ; or if this be disproyed, the changes issuing in crys- 
tallization, whether effected by heat or by chemical action, by electric or 
magnetic, or any other form of these correlated forces, may have been fatal 
to dieir preservation. 

In the clay state, which is the lowest lying formation of the older palae- 
zoic rocks, or rocks in which are imbedded remains of primeval animated 
organic structures, and in the grauwacke, which is the next in succession, 
it is allied that no trace of vegetable organisms have been found, but 
there have been found fossils of animal structures. And the existence of 
these may be considered indications of the contemporaneous existence of 
also the others, for animals require food, and if these animals, were con- 
stituted as are the animals with which we are acquainted, they could not 
find food in inorganic matter. If any of these were carnivorous, as are many 
now, the animals on which they preyed must have lived on something else, 
and if they also preyed on other animals, and these again on others, follow 
back the train of thought, and we are brought to the conclusion that the 
last, if not many besides, must have lived on vegetable diet, so that the ex- 
istence of animal remains in the deposit from that waste of waters supplies 
BTidence of the contemporaneous existence of vegetable structure, floating, 
it may be, in the same. 

It is well known that wherever animal remains have existed, the fact, 
although not the least visible trace of them may remain, is cognizable to 
the chemist by the presence of phosphoric acid in the soil, and I find it 
stated that the late Dr Daubeny, Professor of Botany and of Chemistry in 
the University of Oxford, with a view to ascertain the prevalence of this 
in different beds, sowed a certain number of grains of baiiey in each, and 
compared the amount of phosphoric acid in the crop with that in the seed. 
As this substance does not exist in the atmosphere, it was supposed that any 
excess which might be found must have been taken up by the roots of the 
plant. When the experiment was tried with earth derived from any one of 
the fossiliferous strata, an excess appeared ; but when with that supplied by 
the Cambrian foiination, this was not the case; and it is alleged that 
nothing can be more conclusive than this ingenious experiment, as to the 
absence of animal life on the earth or in the ocean during the period in 
which the sedimentary deposits in question were formed ; and it furnishes 
a striking instance of the way in which every branch of knowledge will 
sooner or later be brought to bear upon every other. 

Against this, however, must be set the alleged fact that fossil remains have 
actually been found in such deposits. I accept both testimonies, and infer 
that organised beings, both vegetable and animal, did at the period of these 
deposits people the waters in certain localities at least, but that they may 
have been limited both in number and in their diffusion. 

Mr Wylie describes the Silurian rocks of the Cape Colony as slates and 
grits, usually of a greenish-grey or brownish colour, in beds which as 
usually seen are vertical or at high angles, broken through and altered by 
granite. The designation grits employed in this description is one 
generally given to hard sandstones, in which the grains of quartz are sharp 
and angular, such as may be seen in what are designated millstone grit and 
grindstone grit, &c. Such particlc-3 liiiiut hare been subjected to less 



46 HTBROLOOT OF 80T7TH AFRIOiL 

abrasion by friction and long-continued movement in the water than those 
which are more roimdcd, and they thus seem to speak the strata in which 
they are to be found of a very early formation ; and that they and the slates 
were formed by deposit from suspension in water no one who carefully 
examines them without prejudice in favour of the views formerly prevailing, 
that they were created so by God out of nothing, by the word of his power, 
can for a moment doubt. The evidence is unquestionable, and conflicting 
evidence of igneous agency there is none, excepting in circumstances in 
which, according to the popular use of a trite saying which has a very 
different import, the exception prove the rule. 

And thus we are brought to feel in the study of these that we are almost 
if not altogether clean escaped from the difficulties connected with the 
study of what I have likened to the early fabulous history of nations, and 
entered upon the study of the records of that which, in contradistinction to 
the other, may be called the historic period, though in this we are studying 
formations deposited ages — and ages upon ages — anterior to the appearance 
of man upon the globe. 

Occasionally we find — and may find at Sea Point, where granite in a state 
of fusion has been protruded through superincumbent stratified rocks — for 
some distance, an inch, six inches, or more from the protruded granite, the 
stratified rock shows evidence of having been there fused by the heat, while 
all beyond retains unchanged its stratified appearance of deposit, indicative 
of its aqueous origin. 

Mrs Somerville, in her treatise on Physical Geography touching, on this 
subject, wrote : — " According to a theory now generally adopted, which 
originated with Mr Lyell, the metamorphic rocks, which consist of gneiss, 
micaschist, statuary marble, (fee, were formed of the sediment of water, in 
regular layers, differing in kind and colour ; but, having been deposited 
near the places where plutonio rocks were generated, they have been 
changed by the heat transmitted from the fused matter ; and in coming 
under heavy pressure, and at great depths, they have become as highly 
crystallized as the granite itself, without losing their stratified form. An 
earthy stratum has sometimes been changed into a highly crystallized rook 
to a distance of a quarter of a mile from the point of contact by transmitted 
heat, and there are instances of dark-coloured limestone, full of fossil shells, 
that has been changed into statuary marble from that cause ; and similar 
alterations may frequently be seen to a small extent in rocks adjacent to a 
stream of lava." 

The animal remains which have been found in the clay slate are corals 
and shells, and with them remains of Crustacea, which are organically allied 
to the lobster, have been found in the Grauwacke. But in what is more 
strictly called the Silurian, with corals, shells, and Crustacea, fish bones and 
teeth have been found ; and it has been alleged that there have been found 
some fragments of sea-weeds, and also fragments of equisitacese and 
of ferns, belonging to the period of this formation ; but on this point 
doubts exist. 

I have spoken of equisitacese. The English designation of the different 
species of equisita, from which the order is named, is horse-tails. I 
hesitated to use this term, lest the expression " fragments of horse-tails " 
should have conveyed an erroneous idea whether that term were associated 
with the mare's-tail — a very different plant, hippiiris vulgaris — or with the 
animals from which both botanic designations have been borrowed. 



GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 47 

Whatever opinion may be adopted in regard to the terrestrial origin and 
be period of the formation of the fossils resembling the structure of the 
Kjuisitacese and the ferns, it will be admitted that all the others speak of an 
ocean home. 

Land there may have been somewhere or other above the surface of the 

ocean, but the rocks of the Colony all tell only of sea — if not of a sea 

intiiout a shore — of a deep sea, at the bottom of which they found a 

TCBting-place after suspension and transport in its waters. This is indicated 

most distinctly — indicated in the lamination seen in the rocks of fine 

wgillaceous composition, and in the stratification of the arenaceous or 

aandstone and the limestone formations. 

Of the systems of rock now under consideration Page says, — 

^*The clay-slate system presents a vast thickness of fine-grained fissile 

iigillaceous rock, of considerable hardness, varying in colour, and of 

glisteiiing aspect. The prevalent colours of slate are black, green, bluish, 

purplish, and mottled ; some varieties being hard and splintery, others soft 

and perishable. The character of any particular slate is, however, very 

persistent ; the accidental or imbedded minerals are few — those being 

chiefly cubic-iron pyrites, and crystals of chiastolite and hornblende. 

" The composition of the grauwacke is much more varied and irregular. 
As sandstone may be said to be consohdated sand, and conglomerate 
consolidated gravel, so may grauwacke be defined to be an aggregate of 
clay, grains of quartz, felspar, and mica, with fragments of jasper and other 
minerals. The cementing material is clay, which often constitutes the 
greater portion of the rock, and in such cases the texture differs little from 
that of clay-slate : but in many strata fragmentary ingredients prevail, so 
that the texture varies in fineness from that of a coarse slate to a 
conglomerate of pebbles more than an inch in diameter. Like clay-slate, 
grauwacke presents various degrees of hardness, though, generally speaking, 
it may be described as a highly indurate conglomerate — vindicating most 
clearly its origin from the waste of earlier siliceous and argillaceous forma- 
tions. Associated with the slates and grauwackes are occasional beds of 
concretionary limestone, which partake of the argillaceous character of the 
locks with which they are associated. 

"/» the Silurian system limestones occur more frequently, so that the cal- 
careous type, or, at all events, an intimate blending of argillaceous and 
calcareous compounds, may be said to prevail. Until a recent period, this 
system was considered as a portion of the grauwacke group, and as marking 
its passage into the grey micaceous beds of the old red sandstone. Merely 
looking at cabinet specimens, it would be impossible to distinguish between 
DMUiy of the grauwacke and Silurian rock, but taking them in the mass they 
we readily distinguishable. In the first place, their sedimentary character 
is very marked ; they present more rapid alternations from one kind of strata 
to another ; they have undergone fewer changes by heat ; and are generally 
looser and more earthy in their texture. The limestones are less cyrstalline 
^ those of the early grauwackes ; the arenaceous beds are also less 
slicious, and more closely resembling ordinary sandstone, while the abund- 
•'WJeof organic remains justifies their arrangement in a separate system." 

In clay slates we find, besides the lamination, a cleavage, or tendency to 
cleavage, which facilitates or occasions its spliting up into thin plates ; but 
ftese, it may be observed, are generally at right angles, or nearly so, to the 
^ of Btratification, and this is attributable to some change which has 



48 HYDROLOGY OF SOUTU AFRICA. 

taken place in the matter of which it is composed subsequent to its deposit 
in lamince, and which must not be confounded therewith. 

The thickness of the deposits of the greenish-gray and brownish-coloured 
slates and grits at the Cape of Good Hope have not, so far as I am aware, 
been ascertained. In England they constitute an aggregate thickness 
measured by miles. I have already spoken of the Cambrian formation, 
including the Bala limestone, the Festiniog, and Bangor slates, <kc., as 
estimated to be 26,000 feet in thickness. Above this in the series is the 
Lower Si aiviu, 1.500 feet : the Coi-adoc sandstone, 2,500 feet ; the Upper 
Silurian, embracing the Ludlow and Wenlock rocks, the Woolhope lime- 
stone, (fee, 5,000, or in all 9,000 feet deposited, apparently subsequent to the 
deposit of the 26,000 feet of the Cambrian deposit, and supplying in like 
manner an indication of the lengthened duration of the period of deposit 
brought imder consideration, throughout the whole of which, it may be, 
what is now called South Africa was at the bottom of the sea, making its 
emergence as dry land but an event of yesterday when compared with its 
previous service as a part of the ocean bed. 

And here I would meet a difficulty which may present itself to some 
entering upon such studies for the first time. 

It may be asked. How can such measurements be determined^ The 
answer is ready. It has been stated that in the Colony the beds under 
consideration are usually seen vertical, or at high angles, broken through 
and altered by granite. By measiu-ing across the upturned edges, and 
noting the angle at which they are inclined, the actual thickness may be 
easily determined. The experiment may be made by attempting thus to 
determine the thickness of the upturned bed of slate reclining upon the 
base of the Lion's Head above low-water mark at Sea Point. I do not 
remember whether their aspect indicates lamination or cleavage ; my 
recollection of the appearance presented by them inclines me to conclude 
the former ; but the purpose now in view may be accomplished whatever 
may be the case in regard to the origin of the appearance referred to. 

The slate-like layers in question have apparently yielded to the force by 
which the granite was protruded. They have thus been thrown into a 
position such as the leaves of a book are made to assume by running the 
thumb across them. In this position they may present a greater breadth 
of surface than they would of thickness if they had been completely tilted 
up into a vertical position, or had been allowed to retain their original 
horizontal position, which is their true thickness. But by determining the 
angle at which they are inclined, we are enabled, from the measurement of 
their breadth of surface, to calculate exactly their thickness ; and thus it is 
that the thickness of some of the thicker layers have been determined. 

At the high rocks on the sea shore at Sea Point these uptilted strata of 
laminated structure may be distinctly seen, and from them not a little may 
be learned. If my memory serves me right, they may be seen again in 
some of the roads skirting the base of the Lion's Rump. By the removal 
of a little soil they may probably be traced from the rocks at Sea Point to 
a considerable distance. It is the upturned edges of them which are seen, 
and the cause of the upturning appears to have been the protrusion of the 
granite on the sides of which the strata at Sea Point are seen to rest. If 
my recollection of the appearance they present be correct, it is natural to 
comslude from what is seen and from what is known that originally they 
must have lain in a horizontal position, and from this they have been 



OKOLOOIOiL 0B8IiBVAII0KB. 



4ft 



P 



P 
I 



thrust by tite protrusion of the granite In ciuestion. If io, a yagtie idea 
may be obtained of tiie force witli which that granite was protrudedf and 
from the distance to wliich this effect of the protrusion may be traced. 
But we are thus supplied also with the means of ascertaiiiing tho thickneea 
of the bed of strata thus disturbed. This is not the measurement of the J 
distance from the granite at Sea Point to "where they terminate. It wonld 1 
haye been this had they been rertical. The thickness of the seam of the 
leaves of a book is the same whether the book lie npon the table or stand 
upon its edge ; but when, by the thumb being passed over the edges of the 
leaves while they aro hold against the fingers near to the binding, they are 
spread out, and they measure acit>ss the edges double or triple w^hat they 
do in an imdisturbed horizontal position ; so is it with the strata in 
question. But with the lueaenrenieut of the extent of these, and of the 
angle of inclinationj we have ull the data required for a trigonometrical 
calculation of their original thickness. And thus are we supplied with an 
indicationj if not with a moasurement, of the lapse of time^ and of the lapse 
of time during which there was hero a continuous calm- — unbroken, 
undisturbed* 

During the protracted era of the deposit of the gneiss and schist forma- 
tion there were probably numerous disturbances of the deposit* But 
during the deposit of the clay-slate there may have been — must have been 
— ^in this locality at least, a long-continued quiet. 

It has been shown by geologists that though identity of strata indicates 
identity of circumstances, they do not necessarily indicate cotemporaneona 
ibrmation or identity of time of deposit ; for a deposit commencing near the 
locality of disintegration may be there abimdant, while as yet it is only 
slowly extending, and that perhaps by the continnous re-transport of the 
deposited matter, Should these coloured slates be identified with the 
coloured clay-slate found elsewhere, immediately overlying the granite or 
the gneiss, it may be that the deposit of these clay-slates may have 
extended throughout a great portion, if not the entire period, of the time 
occupied in the deposit of the superior lying grauwacke or Cambrian 
formation, measuring in England 26,000 feet in thicknesa I It is only 
towards the close of the period required for this that we have any indication 
of the existence of dry land supplied by fossil plants of terrestrial produc- 
tion, imd it has been questioned whether what have been deemed such iu 
some of the upper strata should be so considered. 

Let an estimate he formed of the length of time requisite for the deposit 
of such an accumulation of flaky strata in the calm depth of a deep, deep 
sea, and it will appoai' that for a long, long period indeed this land must 
have been covered w^ith a waste of waters — a shLpless, shoreless sea^ 
countless fathoms deep— where in its depths, whatever storms agitated the 
surface, raising biUowSj all was calm and peaceful as the waters of a 
monntain lakelet on a summer ^s eve* 

But long-continued as this calm had been — and how long none but 
h student of geology can imagine — it was not to continue for ever. These 
beds of gi'eenish, gray, or brownish coloured grits and slates, it has been 
atatedj are in the Colony usually seen in a vertical positiou, or at high 
angles broken through and altered by granite, as may be seen at Sea 
Paint, This appears to have been effected fi*om beneath by a protnision of 
gnmlte in a viscid semi-fluid state of fusion, as was the granite seen in 
ooimcction with these islaty, flaky etrata at Bea Point, where aeverul 



6g •. HTDROLOOT OP flOUTH AFRICA. 

phenomena arising ent of this protrusion of granite, which was probably 
of a high temperature, may be studied. 

* It is not necessary that I should stop to discuss at length how this 
upheaval and protrusion of granite came about. It may suffice to state in 
plassing that it is not improbable it was effected by some such operation as 
in later times produced earthquakes and volcanoes, and that these have 
been attributed to the percolation of water through cracks in the basin of 
the earth, which, when it came iito contact with the heated material at 
some depth below, was converted into vapour, and by its expansion heaved 
up the earth under which it passed towards a rent which already existed, or 
which it could make for itself, blowing up the viscid fused material before 
it. Or it may have been protruded by a more steady pressure on the 
somewhat elastic crust of the earth under the sea, occasioned by the 
accumulated deposit of matter measuring miles in depth. The phenomena 
is not peculiar to South Africa, and we have here only a representation in 
miniature of what about the same time was occurring on a scale of 
tremendous magnitude. 

. . It is said-—" There is scarcely a development of the clay-slate or 
grauwacke systems without associated granitic rocks ; and the greater part 
of the Silurian strata are thrown into inclined and contorted positions by 
the same agency, while effusions of trap make their appearance among the 
later strata. 

" The , Grampians, the Welsh range, the Pyrenees, Hartz mountains, 
Dofrafelds, Uralian, Himmaleh, Atlas range. Mountains of the Moon and 
other African ridges, the Andes, and Alleghanies all seem to have received 
their elevation at the close of the transition period" — ^the period now 
engaging our attention. 

Captain Hall, in his Manual of South African Geography, commends the 
geological appearances on the flank of Table Mountain as supplying a good 
study for any one commencing the study of geology and desirous of 
extending his acquaintance with that science. " He will there," says he, 
" find the clay-slate rocks, . once probably lying horizontally, violently ' 
upheaved, and standing, as it were, on edge against the mass of granite 
which appears to have been protruded in a state of fusion through the 
same, as will be seen in the line of junction on the beach near Sea Point, 
and above the gardens on the Kloof road — the clay-slate being intercepted 
by veins of the granite in every direction, and a band of rock alternately 
changing from clay-slate and granite into gneiss." 

The gneiss, it is alleged, has been produced by the heat of the granite 
having sufficed to fuse portions of the material broken through and left 
reclining upon it. And the cleavage of the clay-slate has been attributed 
to the same cause. 

"The peculiarities of this structure," says Page, "have given rise to 
many speculations and experiments. Mr R. W. Fox submitted a mass of 
moist clay, worked up with acidulated water, to a weak electmc action for 
several months ; and it was found at the end of that time to present traces 
of cleavage, the laminae being at right angles to the electric forces. Others 
are of opinion that cleavage is superinduced, when considerable chemical 
action takes place in any finely pulverised substance as clay — cleavage 
being thus regarded as a species of rude crystallisation. Another class of 
theorists, from observing that slaty cleavage occurs among the shales of the 



GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 51 

coal measures, when these are in the neighbourhood of igneous rocks, 
attribute the structure to heat. It is not imlikcly that all these causes 
may have been concerned in producing cleavage ; for, when better under- 
stood, it is more than probable that heat, electricity, and chemical action, 
are only modifications of one universal agency." 

The granite appears to have been here protruded to a considerable eleva- 
tion. A continuation of that seen at Sea Point may be seen on the Wynberg 
side of Table Mountain ; and it continues to appear along the beach on both 
sides of the peninsula to its termination at Cape Point. Perhaps this moun- 
tain range owes its preservation to resistance presented by the granite to 
the ocean current, by which the land along its sides was washed away. 
But the point to which I wish to call attention is, that while there ai'e 
indications of this granite having been protruded through the clay slates, 
everything seen goes to show that the silm-ian deposit, of which the bulk of 
Table Mountain and the mountains beyond are formed, was deposited around 
and above the protruded granite, and consequently, after its protrusion, 
supplyii^ us with a measurement of time elapsing after that protrusion, 
during which what is now a dry land was then the bed of an ocean a 
thousand fathoms deep. 

Capping this deposit, thousands of feet in thickness, may be seen on 
Table Mountain and on the Lion's Head well defined horizontal strata, 
differing in substance as well as appearance from the mountain mass which 
they cover. This is characterised by abundance of clay, these by beiu^ com- 
posed in a great measure of sand, and all round the flanks of the mouutaiji 
are beds of what is called ironstone gravel — indurated clay — the debris, it 
may be, of the sandstone cliffs which have been undermined, and of the 
schistose beds of clay slate by which they were sustained. It is said that 
many of the mountains both in Great and Little Namaqualand show, hori- 
zontal beds of sandstone or quartzite, identical, seemingly, with that which 
overhes the clay slate and granite of Table Mountain ; and it i& probable 
that the extensive plateau of Bushmanland is practically composed of beds 
of the same rock, covered with deposits of tufaceous limestone ; and it is 
alleged that similiar deposits in patches of various size are found. sm-mount- 
ing all of the rocks which have been previously described — in some cases 
with peculiarity of inclination which will call for subsequent remark, — iiiid 
that they have few or no fossil remains, and that they are principally com- 
posed of silica, which is often stained with oxide of iron, corresponding 
with the descripting given by Wylie of strata examined by him. ^ 

Thus the sandstone of Table Mountain was identified by Mr Wylie, when 
he was Geological Surveyor to the Colony, with some of the lower btruta of 
what is called the old red sandstone, which, having been found in Devon 
shire, has come from this circiunstance to be known as. the Devonian 
formation, though it is also found on extenisivc districts elsewhiire ; audsii^h 
also are the sandstones of what he calls the ^ar range of mountains. 
He describes these as "gray sandstones, C^. ijmeritic at bi-isc', with 
reddish shaly sandstone below." He visited tlij Knysna, and though iio 
mentions he had veiy little opportunity of seeing much of the goolugy, |ic 
says, " The hard, yellowish, iron-stained sandstone of the Heads appeared 
to me to belong to the Table Mountain sandstone, or Lower Ddvoniaii. In 
all probability it is a continuation of the sandstone of Cape St! Blaize and 
the AfiBvogelberg, near Riversdale." And he subsequently says," On going 



03 BYDROLOOY OF SOUTH AFBIGA, 

ashore for a few minutes at Mossel Bay, I could see that the sandstone there 
and at Cape St. Blaize was the same as that of Table Mountain." 

In all of these observations we find indications of the extent, though not 
of the limits, of the deposit, and indications of all the spots named having 
been at the time of their deposit a portion of the ocean bed. 

The question. Whence came all the material covering to such thickness 
areas of such extent ? may press upon some who feel disposed to crave an 
answer before proceeding further. A question more pertinent to the 
subject under consideration is, How came the material to be deposited 
there ] But this is no reason why a reply to the other should either be 
withheld or postponed. 

In all the deposits which have been under consideration we have foimd 
no materials but what exist as constituents of granite ; and this is sugges- 
tive of the alternate conclusions that either granite may have been formed 
firom a solution or fusion of these and other deposits, or that these all are 
the products of the disintegration and decomposition of granite. 

There are those who are inchned to adopt the former of these hypotheses 
— i^he latter has commanded more general attention. 

The various schists present us with constituents of granite in various 
degrees of disintegration ; quartzite, or quartzose sand, appears to be 
quartz in a state of greater or less comminution ; clay is an abundant product 
of the decomposition of felspar, &c. ; and gneiss appears to be only 
another form of granite itself. 

The opinion has been advanced that the gneiss seen at Sea Point has been 
produced by the effects of heat on the stratified rocks, through which the 
granite in a state of fusion was protruded ; and a friend of my own, a 
German Professor of f^hysical Science, whose scientific attainments I highly 
respect, maintains that all granite is the product of the fusion or solution of 
materials which at one time composed stratified rocks, similar in every 
respect to those of what are how superincumbent strata. Such are not my 
tiews. But be the case as it may in regard to the formation of granite, 
tiiere is much in the general appearance of the superincumbent strata to 
favour the supposition that gneiss is composed of disintegrated granite ; 
Bchists, of the same, with the process of disintegration carried somewhat 
fiirther ; sandstone formations, something of the same ; and clay, one of the 
products of the decomposition of felspar, or of some of the otiier primary 
minerals in the composition in which it takes part. 

The appearance of the gneiss and of the schists is indicative of the 
possibility and to some extent probability of the material of which they are 
composed having previously existed in the same locality. But it is not so 
with the superincmnbent stratified rocks: The material composing these 
may have been conveyed to the spot in which they are found from a con- 
siderable distance, aud there are not awanting indications of the deposit of 
•ome having followed ah arrest, sudden or gradual, of the velocity in the 
ocean current by which they were being suspended and borne along; and it 
is at this point of the history of these deposits that they become more 
particularly interesting to the student of Hydrology. 

It has been observed — ^the observation has been tested and illustrated by 
experiment, and the feujt has been turned to practical account in washing 
for gold and in many other operations besides — ^that a ciurent of force 
sufficient to carry with it heterogeneous matter, when weakened, allows the 
heavier materials to drop, and bears along only the lighter to a greater dis- 



GEOLOOICAI. 0B8EHVATI0NS. 



53 



I 



I 



fcaaee. And from the size and weight of BtonOB which have apparently been 
tbm deposited, some idea may be formed of the force of ocean cuiTents 
ifhioh esiated in the locality at the time of their deposit. 

The strata of sandstone capping Table Monntain and the Lion*s Head 
hft'je been identified with the so called Devonian or Old red sandstone 
deposits in Britain; amongst these are beds of conglomerates in which 
etones of conaiderable bulk are fomid, I tise with ixjluctanco a phrase so 
vague, but I have not the meana of ascertaining their magnitude. Stones 
of a con-esponding magnitude have been fomid in conglomerates at the 
Cape of Good Hope, and these supply indications of what must have been 
the rapidity of the current by which they were borne along. 

Deposits of conglomerate speak of the rapidity and consequent force of 
tbe ocean currents, and they tell at the same time in some cases of the 
depth of the ocean at the time of their depoaitj and of the length of time 
throughout which that deposit was going on ; they leave however much to be 
inmgined. Let the reader imagine the depth of an ocean in which a deposit 
could go on until it had attained a thickness of 4000 feet, which is the 
thickness of some of those deposits, and the length of time which must have 
b^n required for such a deposit ! 

Such may have been the time represented by these stratified Old red sand* 
atone deposits capping the Silurian deposits, aomo 3000 feet in thicknesa, 
previously deposited. But that sand has also another tale to tell. Allusion 
haa already been made to its tale of diminished depth of ocean. 

Of this shallowing of the waterj in whatever way it may have been 
brought about, we have also other indications^ — indications as instructive as 
WHS to K"oah the indication afforded by the oHve leaf in the mouth of the 
dove — that the waters were abated. 

Besides these mountain-capping stnita, there are in the district over 
which they extend strata which have been identified with strata of the 
same system in other lands, and these of an aggregate thickness of 1100 
feet These are described by Mr Wylie as ooosisting of *'dark-gniy and 
brownish shades, with fossils abundant- — of a Devonian or carboniferous Ume- 
stone type^^and of beds of brown rippled sandstone with long winged 
^erifers." 

These are of a later formation than the strata on Table Mountain, but 
they confirm their testimony — they tell of shallow water, if not also of adjacent 
land. We are approaching the time of which it is written, " And God said. 
Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and 
let the dryland appear, and it was so." 

The ripple mark so conmion on the surface of sandstones of all ages, and 
which is so often seen on the sea-shore at low-tide, seeois to originate in tho 
drifting of materials along the bottom of the water. But it is by no means 
confined to the beach between high and low water ^ Jt is also produced on 
sands which are constantly covered with water. Similar undnlatory ridges 
and farrows may also bo sometimes seen on the surface of drift-snow and 
of loose sand. Sir Charles Lyal informs us he had once an opportunity of 
observing how the wind produced this effect on a large extent of level 
beach exposed at low-tide near Calais. The following is the account which 
he has given ; — 

" Clouds of fine wlute sand were blovm from the neighbouring downs, so as to 
OQver the ehore, and whiten a dark levd surface of aandj mud ; and tbia freah 
cording of sand was beautifuliy rippled. On leTeUing an the smaU ndges and 



54 HTDROLOOT OP SOUTH JLFBICA. 

farrows of this ripple over an area several yards square, 1 saw them perfectly 
restored in about ten minutes, the general direction of the ridges being always at 
right angles to that of the wind. The restoration began by the appearance here 
and there of small detached heaps of sand, which soon lengthenM^^ftad joined 
together, so as to form long sinuous ridges, with intervening 'Ahtows. Each 
ridge had one side slightly inclined and the otiier steep, the lee-side being always 
steep and the windward a gentle slope. 

** When a gust of wind blew with sufficient force to drive along a doad of 
sand, all the ridges were seen to be in motion at once, each encroaching on the 
furrow before it, and in the course of a few minutes filling the place which the 
furrow had occupied. The mode of their advance was by the continual drifting 
of grains of sand up the slopes — many of which, on reaching the sumndt, fell over 
the scarpSy and were under shelter from the wind, so that they remained stationary, 
resting, according to their shape and momentum, in different parts of the descent^ 
and a few only rolling to the bottom. 

'* Occasionally part of a ridge, advancing more rapidly than the rest, overtook 
the ridge immediately before it, thus causing those bifurcations and branches 
which are so comnK)n. We see this configuration in sandstones of all ages j and 
in them also, as now on the sea-coast, we may often detect two systems of npples 
interfering with each other— one more ancient and half effaced, and a newer one, 
in which the grooves and ridges are more distinct and in a different direction. 
This crossing of two sets of ripples arises from a change of wind and the new 
direction in which the waves are thrown on the shore.*' 

Thus i3 the ilpple mark produced, and in ths ocean-bed it tells in 
general of a rising beach, though it may be below low-water mark. At 
the Cape such indications of a shore are found, and if of a shore then of 
dry land behind. We are now in sight of land — ^not that cloud-land or bank 
by which a landsman might be deceived, but firm land, and no mistake. 

" Beds of brown rippled sandstone ?" Yes ! these ripples on the sandstone 
tell of ripples on the wave, and tell of a shore on which the waves rolled 
playfully — as they may be seen now to roll in seeming sport and play on 
the beach half-way between Sea Point and Camp Bay beyond. 

If the "beds of brown rippled sandstone" have been covered with other 
matter conformed to their shape, this shows that they may have been at 
some later time again submerged, and, it may be, submerged to a consider- 
able depth ; but these ripples show that they have been near, or at, or 
above the level of the sea, on a gently inclined, almost horizontal, shore. 

We are then brought to land at last ! 

Thus by the study of the granite, such as is seen at Sea Point, and the 
gneiss and the schists which elsewhere are associated with it, we are carried 
back to a time when " the earth was without form and void " — ^no earth, 
no sea, as these designations are generally understood — a lurid, incandes- 
cent mass — ^viscid and plastic — cooling down till the incandescence dis- 
appeared, "and darkness was upon the face of the deep." What now 
exists as water, if existent then, existed as vapour and cloud — ^thick clouds 
and dense, impervious to the solar ray. " And the Spirit of God moved 
upon the face of the waters " — ^the breath of God, a mighty wind — which 
might be described in the language of the psalmist David as raining snares, 
or as it reads in the margin, quick-burning coals, fire and brimstone, and an 
horrible or burning tempest — thunder, and lightning, and storm. " Then," 
to quote again from the sweet singer of Israel, "the earth shook and 
trembled ; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, . . 
There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth 
devoured : coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came 



GBOLOOIOAL 0BSEBVATI0N8. 55 

c^ywn : and darkness was under his feet. And he rode upon a cherub, and 
did fly ; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his 
secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick 
clouds of the skies. At the brightness that was before hin^ his thick clouds 
passed; hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the 
heavens, and the Highest gave his voice ; hailstones and coals of fire." 

Such are the phenomena suggested by what is learned of the primitive 
condition of the earth from the appearance of the granite. 

Afl the world cools down the violence of the tempest, the duration of 

' which, it may be, far transcends our wildest dreams of duration and time 

is allayed ; the clouds condensed into rain become translucent, " And God 

said Let there be light, and there was light." The process proceeds, and 

much of the moisture is precipitated while the clouds float aloft. " And 

God said. Let there be a firmament," or, as is stated in the margin it reads 

in the Hebrew, " Let there be an expansion in the midst of the waters, and 

let it divide the waters from the waters." And God made the [expansion 

or] firmament, and divided the waters which were u ider the firmament from 

the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so." And this is the 

era of the world's history to which we are led back by the study of the 

gneiss and -the schists, and other so called primary rocks. 

The hydrologic records of the granite and the so-called metamorphic 
rocks are, as has been said, in some respects like imto the fabulous chapters 
of the early history of many nations, in which fragments of pure history are, 
in minute fitigmentary portions, imbedded, and conglomerated by much 
which IS other than history pure and simple, but in which again there are 
often more minutely comminuted portions of fact. Even from such 
febulous history the true may, by careful study, be eliminated, and even 
from these metamorphic rocks generally considered to be manifestly igneous 
formations, may be produced evidence of a cotemporary or prior state and 
condition of things in which they were in their structure the consequences 
of aqueous action. 

The gneiss and the schists are apparently composed of disintegrated granite, 
and it may be the disintegration took plaoo ere water was precipitated from 
the atmosphere ; it may be that the materials of which they are composed 
were deposited where we find them by the mighty rushing winds, which it 
is possible may have been what was spoken of as the Ruach of the Hebrew, 
and the Pneiuna of the Septuagent, which moved upon the face of the deep ; 
it may be that the water-worn appearance of their constituents was produced 
by trituration and friction occasioned by the wind ; but the preponderating 
evidence is in favour of the supposition that the materials in question were 
deposited where we find them by the agency of water. But while the 
Bolyent power of water, pure, or in combination with other matter, at a 
higher temperature than that at which water now becomes vapourous and 
boils, and which might be the case if the pressure under which it lay were 
greater than is that of the atmosphere at present — while the solvent power 
of the water in such circumstances might be such as to hold felspar in 
Bolution, the preponderating evidence seems to be considered in favour of 
the supposition that these metamorphic rocks must have been subsequent 
to their deposit in an incandescent state ; and by much which is seen in 
these rocks we are led, whatever may have been the facts of the case in 
regard to these particulars, to think of the primeval ocean as differing in 
temperature, if not in other respects, from the ocean of the present, and to 



56 HTDBOLOOY OF SOUTH AFRIOiL 

conclude, that possibly there may have have been local if not uni- 
versal conversions of the water of the ocean into vaponr, to be agaiD 
deposited from the atmosphere ; and that that may have occurred ofteoer 
than once. 

It seems to be generally accepted as indicated by the appearances of 
these so-called metamorphic rocks — the gneiss and the schists — that Ae 
places in which they are found must have been at the time of their famar 
tion covered, and covered deeply, by the primeval ocean. If the crystaBii- 
ation of these rocks was a crystallization from a state of fusion, this fusum 
seems to indicate incandescence, and consequently a temperature sufficient ■ 
to convert the ocean, if subjected only to such pressure as that of tibe j 
atmosphere now, into vapour, and that a vapour in quantity sufficient ' 
when condensed in the atmosphere into cloud, to cause darkness agam to 
cover the face of the deep, until again, after a lapse of time for which I h»TB 
no measurement, the cooling of the molten mass — effected, it maybe, by the 
continuous influx and evaporation of surrounding water (if the incandescence 
were only local) — allowed of the condensation and deposit of the watery 
vapour; and there, as elsewhere, the waters under the firmament were 
again divided from the waters which were above. But even then the 
temperature of the ocean, as at first, may have been, and probably waflj 
far above the temperature of the present sea — ^approximating at first the 
temperature of the boiling point of water — if not rising above even this, and 
far above it. 

It was shown at the meeting of the British Association for the promotion 
of Science, held at Brighton in 1872, that while a red-hot ball of iron intro- 
duced into a vessel of pure water was quickly quenched, a similar red-hot ball 
of iron introduced into a vessel of water holding soap in solution continued 
incandescent for a length of time, and was seen through the water to be so. 
The rational^ is, a film of vapour formed around the ball was retained there 
through the stronger cohesion of the saponaceous water, and prevented fi)f 
a time the closer approach of the water around to be, as in the case of tho 
pure water, converted into steam, though after a time this failed, and an 
explosion followed. 

Dismissing all thoughts about this, but that of the phenomenon of an fur 
candescent mass surrounded by tvater, I avail myself of this to suggest th© 
possibility of what may be considered a wild dream having been actually tho 
case, though I do not consider this to be probable. It is conceivable that 
the pressure of the then existing atmosphere, and of the waters of the se»j 
and the mechanical constitution of these, might possibly have been such as to 
prevent the evaporation and escape of water heated by the fused mass ; and 
that, had there been eye to see it, there might have been seen through the 
depths of the ocean the glowing incandescent ocean-bed imparting a lurid 
hue to the thick cloud above impervious to solar ray ; while tempestuous 
storms swept the face of the deep as the Spirit of the Lord moved upon the 
face of the waters ! 

This weird dream I give as one which possibly might be descriptive o: 
what occurred; but the views I entertain are more in accordance wit! 
what is previously stated. 

So much for the testimony in regard to the early or primordial hydro 
graphic condition of what is now ^own as South Africa, supplied by titu 
granite, the gneiss, and the schists there found. 



QBOLOQICIL OBSEEYATIONS, 



8T 



\ 



Id the Kaleghori there Is found what is called mountain limeBtone, 
associated with metamorphic achiBti such ae w© have had under con- 
sideration. 

The design at ion mountain limestone ia given to limeatone strata^ which 
are generally foimd flanking or crowning trap hiUsj intermediate in age be- 
tween the Old Eed Sandstone and the so-called coal measurefl» and presenting 
hold escarpments. Sometimea it consiets of two, four, or six beds divided 
by portions of clayey matter ; at other times the beds are separated by 
layers of caJoarioua gandatone and shale ; while not nnfrequently it occurs 
in one mass of vast thickneBSj flanking some trap hills precisely after the 
maimer in which a coral reef skirts the island around which it is forming. 
The organic remains in the mountain limestone are evidently maa^ine. 
The occurrence in sc^me strata of seams of coal attest the presence of 
terrestrial plants which must have drifted into the sea of deposit* There 
is some doubt among geologists m to the origin of certain limestones in the 
lower strata ] bnt laying these aside, the whole character of the group ia as 
'decidedly oceanic as ia that of the living coral reefs of the Pacific. 

The zoophites, by which the limestone was produced there, may have 
lived subsequent to the deposit of the aandy strata capping Tabic Mountain 
and the Lion*s Head ; and if so, if the met amorphic character of the rock 
and of the schists with which it is associated be the result of fusion, we are 
led to conclude that the phenomenon of fusion must have occurred, in the 
pkces in which they are found at a period subsequent to the deposit of the 
whole of the material of which Table Mountain is composed 

These strata belong to w^hat is known as the Old Red Sandstone formation. 
There is no one whose name is so intimately and extensively associated with 
the name of this formation as is the name of the honoured and lamented 
Hugh Miller* Amongst wi-iters who have attempted reproductive descrip- 
tioDfl of former aspects of the earth, few have approached him, and I know 
of no one who has excelled him in the combination of gi'aphic description 
with acienfcific truth. 

He thus writes of iJio phenomena of the earlier eras of which we have 
bydrographic records at the Cape of Good Hope — the eras diuing which 
were deposited or formed the granite, tiie gneiss, the mica and talc schistflj 
tlie clay slates, and other so-called primary rocks ;— 

" At tbia'time/' says he, ** the temperature of the earth^s crust seems to have 
beea bo high tbat the strattt, depositcil at firet in water^ passed into a semf-fiuid 
■tAte, became strangely waved and contorted^ and assumed in its composition a 
highly crystalline atractare. Such is peculiarly the case with the fundamental or 
gneiis deposits of the period. In the overlying mica schist there m atill much of 
contortion and diBturbance^ whereas the clay -slate which Iks over all gives 
Cndence, in its more mechanical texture and the regularity of its strata, tliat a 
gradual refrigeration of the general mass bad taken place, aud that the close of 
thj» period was comparatively quiet and cool. 

^* Let us suppose that during the earlier part of this period of excessiye beat 
tke waters of the ocean had stood at the boilirig point, even at the surface, and 
©och btgber at the profounder depths ■ uLd further, that the half-molten cruet 
of the earth, gtretched out over a molten abyes, waB so thin thut it could not 
ittpport, save fur a short time after some convulsion, very small islands above the 
lea-leveL What, in such circumstance?, would be the aspect of the scene 
flptically exhibited from some point in space elevated a few fanodred yards over 
the sea ? It would be aimply a blank, Id which the in tensest glow of fire would 
Mi to be seen at a few yards distance. 



58 HTDBOLOOT OF BOUTH AFBIOA. 

'< An inoonBiderable escape of steam from the safety-ralYe of a laflwaj engine 
forms so thick a screen, that, as it lingers for a moment in the passing opposite the 
carriage windows, the passeDgers fail to discern through it the landwape beyond. 
A continuous stratum of steam then, that attained to the height of oar present 
atmosphere, would wrap up the earth in darkness, gross and palpable as that of 
Egypt of old — a darkness through which eyen a single ray of light would Ual to 
penetrate. Beneath this thick canopy the unseen deep would literally * boil as a 
pot,* wildly tempested from below ; while from time to time more deeply seated 
oonYulsions would npheaye sudden to the surface vast tracks of semi-moliea 
rock, soon again to disappear, — from which wayes, of bulk enormous, would 
roll outwards to meet in wild conflict with the giant wayes of other oonynl- 
sions, or return to hiss and sputter against the intensely heated and fast 
foundering mass whose violent upheaval had first elevated and then sent 
them abroad. 

** Such would be the probable state of things during the times of the earlier 
gneiss and mica schist deposits — times buried deep in that chaotic night which 
must have continued to exist for mayhap many ages after that beginning of things 
in which God created the heavens and the earth. 

" To a human eye stationed within the cloud all, as I have said, must have been- 
thick darkness. To eyes divine, that could have looked through the inveUing 
haze, the appearance would have been that described by Milton as seen by angel 
and archangel at the beginning of creation, when from the gates of heaven they 
looked down upon chaos : — 

*< ' Oh heavenly ground they stood, and from the shore 
They viewed the vast immeasurable abyss, 
Outrageous as a sea, dark, wasteful, wild, — 
Up from the bottom turned by furious heat, 
And surging waves as mountains to attack 
Heaven's height, and with the centre mix the pole.* ** * 

The Scripture record is, " In the beginning God created the heaven and 
the earth. And the earth was without form, and void ; and darkness was 
upon the face of the deep." 

It is added to this description of the then chaotic condition of the earth, 
" And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." I have indi- 
cated my opinion to be, that in this there is a reference to mighty rushing 
winds which then prevailed. 

A statement made by Kuskin, another master in the art of word-painting, 
enables me to give some idea of what I suppose to have been then the state of 
the atmosphere in proximity to the waste of waters covering the earth 
whilst such commotions and darkness prevailed. It occurs in a work on a 
very different subject from that of Hugh Miller, but it is not the less suit- 
able for my purpose. It is given in illustration of the power of representa- 
tion manifested by painters : — 

"There are comparatively few people," says he "who have seen the effect 
produced on the sea by a powerful gale, continued without intermission for three 
or four days and nights, and to those who have not it must be unimaginable, not 
from the mere size or force of surge, but from the complete annihilation of the 
limit between sea and air. Ihe water from its prolonged agitation is beaten, not 
into mere creaming foam, but into masses of accumulated yeast, which hang in 
ropes and wreathes from wave to wave, and when one curls over to break, Uiey 
form a festoon like a drapery from its ed^^e ; these are taken up by the wind, not 
in dissipating dust, but bodily, in wreathing, hanging, coiling masses, which 
*make the air white and thick as with snow, only the flakes are a foot or two long 
each ; the surges themselves are full of foam in their very bodies underneath, 

♦ Testimony of the Bock?, Pages 176-X77. 



GEOLOGICAL OBSEBrATIOKS. 



59 



i 

II 



g them all white throngh, aa the water is under a great cataract 5 
ftiid their magges being thus half w&t^r and half air, are torn to pieces 
by the wind whenever thej rise, and carried away in roaring stuoke, which cbokea 
&nd strangle B hke actual water. It seems also as if the spray of the sea were 
caught by air aod covered the surface of the sea, not merely with the smoke of 
fiuely divided water, but with boiling mist ; and the low rain clouds brought 
down to the rery level of the aea may be seen whirling and flying In rags from 
wave to wave. And finally, the surges themselves are to be seen in their utmoat 
pitch of power, velocity, vastneas, and madueaB, lifting themselvee through all 
this chaos in precipices aud peaks, furrowed with their whirl of ascent. 

** Bealize all this, and you will understand that in such a scene there is no 
visible distinction left between the sea and the air, that no object, uor horizon, nor 
any laodmark or material evidence of position is left, that the henveu is all spray, 
and the ocean all cloud, and tbat you can see no further in any direction than 
you could see through a cataract, 

* ' Few people have had an opportunity of seeing the sea at such a timei amd 
few when they have can face it. To hold by a mast or a rock and watch it is a pro- 
longed endurance of drowning which few people have courage to go through. To 
those who have, it is one of the noblest lessors of nature. 

** The following passage from Fennimore Cooper describes such a sceue^ aud it 
may be depended upon as entirely free from exaggeration : — 

" * For the first time I now witnessed a tempest at sea. Gales and pretty bard 
ones I bad often seen, but the force of the wind on this occasion as much exceeded 
that in ordinary gales of wind as the force of these had exceeded a wholesale 
breeze. The sea seemed crushed ; the pressure of the swooping atmosphere, as the 
currents of the air wcut howling over the surface of the ocean, fairly preventing 
them from risiug ^ or, whea a mound of water did appear, it was scooped up and 
borne off in spray j as the axe dubs inequalities from the log. When the day re- 
turned, a spiles of lurid sombre light was diffused or er the watery waste, though 
nothing was visible bat the ocean and the ship. Even the sea birds seemed to 
have taken refuge in the caverns of the adjacent coast, none reappearing witli 
tie dawn. The air was full of spray, and it was with difficulty that the eye could 
penetrate as far as half*a-mile into the humid atmosphere.* — MiUs WaUingford, 
Half-a-mile m an over estimate in coast. 

** Turner has attetnpfced to represent the ocean, after such a storm^ in the Slave 
Ship : — It is sunset on the Atliutic, after prolonged storm ; but the storm is 
partially lulled, and the torn and streamy rain -clouds are moving in scarlet liues to 
loae themselves in the hollow of the night. The whole surface of the sea 
included in the picture is divided into two ridges of enormous swell, not high nor 
local, but a low broad heaving of the whole o&^an, like the lifting of its bosom by 
a deep drawn breath after the torture of the storm ■ between these two ridges 
tti(^ sunset falls along the trough of the sea, dyeing it with an awfal but a glorious 
%htj tbe intense aod lurid splendour which burns like gold and bathes like blood* 
AJong this fiery path and valley the tosaiug waves, by which the swell of the sea 
h restlessly divided, lift themselves in dark, indefinite, fantastic forms, each 
Dieting a faint and ghastly shadow behind it along the illumined foam. I'hey do 
not rise everywhere, but three or four together in wild groups, fitfully and furiously 
IS the under strength of the swell compels or permits them ; leaving between 
them treacherous spaces of loose and writhing water ^ now lighted with green and 
Ump-Eke fire; now dashing biuik the gold of the decliuiug euu; now fearfuUy 
dyed from above with the indie ting u is bable images of the burning clou da, which 
tall upon them iu flakes of crimson and scarlet, and givin^j to the reckless waves 
the added motion of their own fiery flying. Purple aud blue the lurid shadows of 
the hollow breakers are cast upon the mist of the night, which gathers cold and 
bwj advancing like the shadow of death upon the guilty ship as it labours amidst 
the hghtnings of the sea^ — its thiu masts written upon the sky in liues of blood, 
girded with coudemnation iu that fearful hue, which signs the sky with horror, and 
toixm its flaming flood with the sunlight, andf easting this far along tho desolate 
lietf e of tho sepulchral waves, incaruadiaea the multitudinous sea*" 



60 HTDROLOOT OF SOUTH AFBIOA. 

To any one who can divest his mind of the anachronisms of a sunset while ai 
yet no sun had been seen, and a slave ship while as yet man was not, the 
triple picture supplied by what is said by Turner, Cooper, and Ruskin, may 
suggest some idea of what may have been the state of the atmostphere while 
darkness was upon the face of the waters, and the granite and the gneiss 
were being formed below. 

Again I betake myself to Hugh Miller's Testimony of the Rocks, At the 
place at which I broke off my quotation he goes on to say : — 

**At length, however, as the earth*d surface gradaallj cooled down, and the 
envelopiDg waters sank to a lower temperature, let as suppose, during the later 
times of the mica schists and the earliar times of the clay date, the steam atmos- 
phere would become less dense and thick ; and at length the rays of the sun would 
struggle through, at first doubtfully and confused, forming a faint twilight, and 
gradually strengthening, as the later age of the slate formation passed away, until 
at the close of the great primary period day and night — the one still dim and gray, 
the other wrapt iu a pall of thickest darkness — would succeed each other as now, 
as the earth revolved on its axis, and the unseen luminary rose high over the 
cloud in the east, or sank in the west beneath the undefined and murky horizon/' 

Turning to the Bible we read, " And God said, Let there be light : and 
there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good : and God 
divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and 
the darkness he called Night. . . . And God divided the waters which 
were imder the fimament from the waters which were above the fimament : 
and it was so.'' 

Then followed the deposit of the Cambrian, the Silurian, and Devonian 
systems, the grauwackes and sandy slates, the Silurian limestone, and the 
Old Red Sandstone : the first of which has been foimd 26,000 feet in thick- 
ness, and each of the others upwards of 8,000 feet : the first equivalent to 
about five miles, and each of the latter to about a mile and a half in 
measurement, — of which some idea may be formed from seeing in the face 
of Table Mountain a Silurian deposit upwards of half a mile in thickness. 

To prevent misapprehension, I may mention that the masses presenting 
such measurement represent local accumulations and not the thickness 
of deposits the whole world roimd ; and that they are referred to now, only 
as supplying rough measurements of the lapse of time. 

In all of these we find organic remains. Those found in the first 
mentioned stand low in the order of organic structures, those in the second 
stand somewhat higher in the order of classification generally adopted, and 
those in the third stand higher still. In the first, remsiins of mollusks — 
invertebrate animals — and fishes are foimd ; in the second appear remains 
of land animals; and in the later deposited strata of the last are found 
remains of ferns — lepidodendra — and coniferous trees, and of amphibious 
animals which lived in the water but breathed air; of none of which 
organic structures are remains found in the earlier deposits. Of what 
occurred in the course of the long vista of ages through which we thus look 
back to the periods of the deposit of gneiss, and schists, and slates, Hugh 
Miller writes : — 

** The invertebrate life of the Silurian period, or even the ichthyic life of the 
earlier Old Red Sandstone period, must have been comparatively inconspicuous 
from any sub-SBrial point of view, elevated but a few hundred feet over the sea 
level. Even the few islets of the later ages of the period, with their ferns, lepido- 
dendbrfty and eonileroas txees, forming as they did an exceptional feature in thiv 



aM)LOOI€AL OB6EBYATIOK0. 



« 



1^ of TftBt oeeanfl, and of orgaDiiinB aU but ezclusiTelj mame, may have well 
"b&en excluded from a represetitative diorama that exhibited gptiGjlljf the grand 
characterietica of the time. 

** Further^ it eeemi equally probable that the introduction of organised 
existencea on our platret waa preceded by changes in the atmospheric condition 
which had obtained during the pravioue period in which the earth h&d beeu u 
deaert and empty void. 

** VVe know that juafc before the close of the Silurian agea terrestrial planta had 
appeared, aod that before the close of the Old Red Sandstone age air-breathing 
animaii bad been produced ^ and we infer that the atmosphere io which both could 
hare existed tnusu hare been considerably different from that which lay dark and 
heavy oyer the bare hot rocka and tenantless ateam- emitting aeaji of the prenoai 
time, 

** Under a gray opaque sky in which neither sun nor iqood appear, we are 
not unfrequently presetited with a ■?aned drapery of clouds— a drapery varied in 
form though not in colour — a bank often aeema placed over a bank, abaded 
beneath and lighter above- or the w^ole breaks into dappled cloudleta which 
bear, to borrow from the poetic description of Bloomfield, the 
*^ Be&uteoua semblance of a Back at rest." 

And if such srlal draperies appeared at this early period, witb the clear apace 
V«iweeB them and the earth, which we so often see in gray sunless days, the 
Optio&i effect must have heeo widely di^erent from that of the previoua time iu 
which a dense vapourous fog lay heavy upon earth and aea, and extended fn)m 
tfae earth's surface to the upper heights of the atmosphere," 

He expresaes the opinion^ — " It is certainly possible that in & viaion of 
creation the atmospheric phenomena of the second great act of the creation 
drama might have stood out with much greater prominence . . , than 
any of its other appearances," And Ukening the record of ancient cosmo- 
gony in the beginning of Genesis to a Yisioa in which, *^ as in the vision of 
St John in PatmoSj voices were mingled with scones, and the ear as 
certainly addressed as the eye/' he goes on to say ;— 

"A * great darkness ' first falU upon the prophet, like that which in an earlier 
Age feU. upon Abraham, but without the * horror ;' and, aa the Divine Spirit rnoves 
on the face of the T?vildly-troubled waters, as a visible aurora enveloped by the 
pit^shy cloud, the great doctrine is orally enunciated, that ' In the beginning God 
filiated the heaveas and the earth.' Unreckoned ages, condeaaal in the vision 
iato a few brief monientSj pass away^ the creative voice is again heard, * Let 
there be light/ and straightway a gray d iff used light springs up in the east, and, 
caetiug its sickly gleam over a cloud-limited expanse of steamiug vaporous sea, 
jeumeys through the heavens towards the west. Que heavy, suaUs^ day ts made 
the representative of myriads ; the faiiit hgbt waxes faiuter, — it sinks beneath 
lihe dim nude hoed horizon ; the first scene of the drama eloses upon tbe seer ; and 
he aits awhile on his hi 11 -top iu darkness^ solitary but not sad^ in what seems to 
be a calm and starless flight. 

" Tbe light ag^iin brighteos, — it is day ; and over an expanse of ocean without 
ridble bound tht; horizon has become wider and sharper of outline than beforet 
There is life in that great sea, — invertebrate, majhap also ich thy ic life ; but, from 
the comparative distance of the poiot of view occupied by the prophet, only the 
ilow roll of its waves can be discerued, as they rise and fall in loug uudulationa 
he^fore a gentle gale ; and what most etrotigly impresses the eye is tbe change 
which has taken place in th3 atmospheric scenery. That lower stratum of the 
liea¥ena occupied in the previon*^ vision by seething steam, or gray, smoke -like 
fog, is clear and transparent ; and only iu an upper region j where the previc'Usly 
invisible vapour of the tepid sea has thickened in the cold^ do the clouds appear. 
iiat there^ in the higher strata of the atmosphere, they lie, thick and manifoM, — 
aa upper sea of great waves, separated from those beneath by the transparent 
^mainent, ftnd| Uke them toa, impelled In roUiog maaae^ by the wind. A mightj 



62 HTDROLOOT OP SOUTH AFRICA. 

adyance has takeu pkce in creation ; bat its most oonspioaooi optical rign is the 
existence of a transparent atmosphere,— of a firmament stretched oat over the 
earth, that separates the waters above from the waters below. Bat darkness 
descends for the third time upon the seer ; for the eyening and the morning have 
completed the second day.*' 

Thus are we brought on to the period of the formation of the Old Rod 
Sandstone, during which^was deposited the strata capping Table Mountain 
and the Lion's Head,— designated old in contradistinction to a later 
stratification of red sandstone, designated new. 



Section II. — Geologic Formations less ancient than those of Table Mountain. 

The gneiss and schistose deposits, associated with granite such as is seen 
at Sea Point, and the slate and clay and sandstone deposits, of which Table 
Mountain and other mountains once connected with it are formed, tell of the 
whole district having been for ages — ^for untold ages — covered by a deep, 
deep sea — ^with, it may be, an occasional temporary elevation of it, or of, 
some portion of the ocean bed near it, above the surface of the waste of 
waters only to be again submerged — ^but to establish this the evidence is 
defective. But the later formed deposits, with others of apparently a similar 
character and of the same age, seem to bring us within sight of what we 
may call dry land ; and that diy land studded, if not clothed and covered, 
with vegetation appearing above what erewhile may have been a shoreless 
ocean. And of this elevation of the land, " standing," according to the 
statement of the apostle Peter, " out of the water and in the water," we find 
in later formed deposits, the remains of which exist in other parts of the 
Colony, additional and abounding indications. 

In the Witteberg, in the Zuurberg at Winterhoek, and in the neighbour- 
hood of Graham's Town, are sandstones of a white or yellowish colour, and 
a few beds of red or yellow shales, or clayey deposits, more or less impreg- 
nated with bituminous matter like petroleum, or mineral oil as it is called, 
the product of the decomposition, probably, of vegetable matter or of fat. 

The aggregate deposits of dark-gray and brownish shales give a thickness 
of 1100 feet. Those in the Witteberg, the Zuurberg, and in the vicinity of 
Graham's Town, give a thickness of about 1000 feet. At Piennaar's Kloof 
and the Zuurberg are dark coloured shales, usually contorted like the sand- 
stone below them, which must, therefore, have been deposited after them 
and contorted with them, possibly by the unequal contraction of these 
and of underlying strata. These shales, though of small thickness, give an 
aggregate thickness of 800 feet. These are known as the lower Karroo 
shales 

Subsequent to the deposit of these must have been projected from beneath, 
through clifbs in the groimd, what is called trap-rock — a conglomerate of 
this material and '' numerous roimded and angular fragments of the older 
rocks, from the smallest grain to two feet in diameter, conformable as a 
mass to the beds above and below, showing a rude cleavage nearly at right 
angles to the general bedding." This, measuring from 500 to 800 feet in 
thickness, may be conjectured to be the product of submarine volcanoes. 

After this, apparently, were deposited dark-gray shales and beds of sand- 
atone about 1200 feet^ or about a quarter of a nule, in thickness — seen in 
tbe Kntoo plain and at Fort Brown Flats — and known as the upper Kanoo 



OEOiOGICAL aB8ERVATrOlia» 



8S 



phala} th&t b^low the trap being known, bs I haTO stated^ m the lower 
Karroo ehales. 

Both in the upper Karroo Bhole, in the lower Karroo shale, and In the 
■underlying sandstone are found remains aud impreBaiong of land plants ; and 
in the second of these are marine shells, from which it may he inferred that 
while laud had bj this time miaed its head above the ocean aurfacCj thea© 
were still a part of the ocean bed. 

In the Kleine RoggeTeldt, the Fiah River, and at Fart Brown are brown 
sandstone^ brown shd.es, and greenish shales of an aggregate thickness of 
1500 feet J or about a third of a mHop In these the remains of plants are 
pretty common. 

This supplies an indication that land upon which these had grown mufit 
have existed, and could not have been very remote from the place where 
they are founds though that place — the place of their deposit, may have been 
imder deep water and long continued to be so — if it were not then being 
slowly lowered to a lower level throughout or in the course of a protracted 
period, for the deposits are of a thickness estimated at 1000 feet. 

Thus are we brought to that port of the world's history of which we read, 
*' And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto 
one place^ and let the dry land appear : and it was so. And God called the 
dry land Earth ; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas : 
and God saw that it was good. And God said. Let the earth bring forth 
grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, 
whose seed is io itself upon the earth i and it was so. And the earth 
brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree 
yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind : and God saw that it 
was good/' Remains of what appears to have been a species of grasswrack, 
90st€raf or alva marina, which grows on sand or mud banks on the sea shore, 
and in creeks and salt water pools, have been found in Devonian or Old Red 
Sandstone deposits in Scotland, which were deposited long anterior to these i 
and it is only in strata deposited long subsequent to these that we find 
remains of what are known generally as trees yielding fruity we are, 
however, supplied with indications of a luxuriant vegetation of some kind 
having now appeared on the dry land. 

In these strata wo find remains of plants, and amongst these have been 
ideatiiied remains of the lepuiodendron, a plant the remains of which are 
frequently found in coal. In the best preserved specimens the inner por- 
tion of the plant has been petrified or decomposed and removed, and 
replaced by a deposit of soft quartzose sandstone, and the bark or skin haa 
been converted into coal. This portion presents the appearance of over* 
lapping scales^ which is the characteristic of the species referred to^ and 
from this it has received its designation, one fi*om the Greek composed of 
ifpiSf a scale, and dendronj a tree. 

It may be a help to some of my readers in enabling them to carry with 
them a definite idea of the ages of these formations, if I mention that some 
o£the strata which come now to be noticed belong to what arc known as 
the coal measnres, immediately underijing which is the mountain Limestone 
of which mention has been made, and which surmounts the t)evoman or 
OM Red Stone. With this in mind lot ns study those strata more in detail. 

While the snperficial aspect of the earth was at this period such aa haa 
he/eu indicated, there were then, ob there had been before, and have been 



64 HTVBOUMIT 09 SOUTtt AIUOtA. 

siiio6y {ntemftl oonunotioiiB protrading lO&ttOF in & Bt&t6 of nunoii frelii 
beneath, which in a yiscid state spread out extensively fix>m the rent by 
which it was ejected, crashed out by pressure on the elastic crust by 
increased deposits on some limited locality in the ocean bed, or blown out 
by steam produced fix>m water which had percolated or sunk through some 
rent in the rocks by which it was separated fix>m the molten mass of tiie 
globe. 

As has been stated, in the Karroo are found what haye been designated 
the lower Karroo shales, usually contorted like the sandstones below them. 

They are themselves of small thickness, but the aggregate thickness of 
the whole is estimated at 800 feet. They may be seen both at Piennaar^s 
Kloof and on the Zuurberg. 

These must have been deposited after the beds of sand upon which they 
lie were deposited, but there are foimd in them marine shells, which show 
that, though there may have been islands or more extensive expanses of dry 
land above the ocean surface, upon which lepidodendra and other land 
plants grew more or less remote, this district at least was then-a portion of 
the ocean-bed. 

But overlying these shales, and underlying the other shales, which firan 
this circumstance have been designated the ujyper Karroo shales, we find a 
kind of rook altogether different from all those which have come under our 
consideration hitherto. It is called trap conglomerate. 

The designation trap has been given from the Swedish word trappa^ a 
stair, — ^many hills formed of a kind of stone entering largely into the 
composition of this formation, presenting step-like terraced sides, having 
suggested the designation. It is applied to basalt, greenstone or whinstone, 
clinkstone, and several other similar rocks. 

And the designation trap conglomerate is given to this formation because 
imbedded in the trap rock of which it is composed are numerous rounded 
and angular fragments of the older rocks, varying in magnitude from that 
ef the smallest grain to two feet in diameter. 

This mass of trap conglomerate, it is estimated, is from 600 to 800 feet 
in thickness. 

It shows a rude cleavage nearly at right angles to the general bedding. 
It is in its lower surface conformable as a mass to the beds upon which it 
lies, and the overlying beds are conformable to its upper surface. 

These circumstances, and together with these everything connected with 
it, indicates its having been formed by the protrusion from below of the 
material of which it is composed in a viscid semi-fluid state, allowing either 
of its spreading out in beds of this thickness under the ocean, or of 
its subsiding, after a sudden eruption in a more limited space, to the 
varying level which it now exhibits over its more extended bed. Thus 
does it appear that we have come upon strata not deposited by precipitation, 
but of volcanic origin, and thrown up from below. 

Volcanoes in the form of burning mountains, as they are called by 
school-boys, may be confined apparently to dry-land, but in some cases it is 
only dry-Ian^ cast out by themselves, and the term is not so limited in its 
application by geologists and by students of physical geography. By them 
the term volcano, or some such term as volcanic, derived from it, is applied 
to other eruptions besides those of flame, including all discharges, through 
rents in the earth's crust, of cinders, ashes, stones, and rocky matter in a 
state of fusion. 



GBOLOGIOAL OBSEBVATIONS. 65 

Many islands of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans are accumulations of 
▼olcanic matter thrown up, it may be, through rents at the bottom of the 
sea, and the magnitude of some of these is very great. " Owhyhee," to 
quote from De la Beche, " is a magnificent example of such an island : the 
whole mass, estimated as exposing a surface of 4,000 square miles, is 
composed of lava or other volcanic matter, which rises in the peaks of 
Mouna Boa and Mouna Koa to the height of between 15,000 and 16,000 
feet above the level of the sea." 

Similar, apparently, has been the origin of this trap conglomerate. 

Whether it rose above the surface of the sea or not does not appear, but 

cases have not been imknown in our own day of islands of volcanic ashes 

having been thrown up, and again in a short time washed down and strewn 

upon the ocean basin. And thus may this trap conglomerate have found 

a resting-place, and after the temporary disturbance — if it did rise above 

the waves — ^the deposit of debris appears to have gone on as before ; but in 

this debris are imbedded indications that there was land not far off, for 

above this trap conglomerate, and conformed thereto, we find dark-gray 

shales and a few beds of sandstone, in which impressions of land plants are 

found. These strata, as has been intimated, are what are called the upper 

Karroo shales, being so designated in contradistinction to the lower Karroo 

shales, or those underlying this mass of trap conglomerate. 

These upper Karroo shales may be seen in the Karroo plain, and on the 
Fort Beaufort Flats, and with them have been identified the Ecca shales. 
They are of an aggregate thickness of about 1200 feet, which speaks of a 
long duration of the then existing state of things. 

With regard to the nounerous rounded or ar^ular fragments of the older 
rock imbedded in the trap, it is alleged, in accordance with phenomena 
observed in our own day, that a volcano in action throws up often red-hot 
stones, torn off, by the force of the current of molten matter, from the rocks 
through which it passes towards the natural orifice. 

I find it more satisfactory to attribute the severance of the fragments to 
the heat of the lava than to the force of the current, and to the impinging 
force of fragments thus borne along by the current. In illustration of what 
may be effected by iieat, I may state that Dr Livingstone, writing of the 
hi^ilands in the districts of Gova, says, "Several of the mountain sides 
in this country are remarkably steep, and the loose blocks on them sharp 
and angular, without a trace of weathering. For a time we considered 
this angularity of the loose fragments as' evidence that the continent was 
of comparatively recent formation, but we afterwards heard the operation 
actnally going on by which the boulders are split into these sharp fragments. 
The rocks are heated by the torrid sun during the day to such an extent 
that one is sometimes startled, on sitting down on them after dusk, to find 
them quite too hot for the flesh, protected only by the trousers, to bear. 
The thermometer placed on them rises to 137° in the sun. These heated 
surfaces, cooling from without by the evening air, contract more externally 
than within, and the unyielding interior forces off the outer parts to a dis- 
tance of one or two feet. Let any one in a rocky place observe the 
fragments that have been thus shot off, and he will find in the vicinity 
pieces, frx>m a few ounces to one or two hundred pounds in weight, which 
exactly fit the new surface of the original block ; and he may hear in the 
e?eiiing among the hiUs, where sound travels readily, the ringing echo of 
the reports which the natives ascribe to Mchesi, or evil spirits, and the 
move enlightened to these natural causes.'' h 



I WTumouofST av aocrs ambss^ 

Fmgmcnta aerczed tfana &0111 die solid rock by the heat of the trape in a. 
of Aiaiom borne aloiur ^th &rce. may. in jock :ui empcion. aa prodaced. 
this crap*9 fbrmadon, have brokjen otF othi^ dngnuHita 10 be borne along la & 

<pmilfty wav 'MK^ With ^Tnilrir elfeci. 

It mav ^gt»m CO some diac rh*^ roimded ibrm of some of the stones im~ 
tMwli-ifitfi in die israp speaka of vacer -action, but I do not &el myself shot np tck 
adopt this conciuaion. In :in luniTe volcano may be seen stones thrown np 
to a great height, which fiill Lkgain :ind again into die crator^ knocking 
ag^innt eaiih othor, and knocking die comiara izom. each, oth^ more qnicklj^ 
than ifl done bv die friction of ^himde on ^•=> beach« and thna maT these 
f^ft-^n**^ have be^ rounded. While diia Ja aot proven, it should be borne in 
mind that the rounded Dbrm. yf die pebble, attributed to water action, baa 
been produced by tiie duidity and not by die i.*oustitui3LCs of the water, and 
bv the liiiiditv ;i*»rinijr ji3 a mt^ATii* of <>ccadionini£ the nriction of one hard 
iBihfftainy on anotiu^, and dma leaving diem to do tiie work : and this 
might be accomplished by a current of erap aa well aa by a current of water. 

The Geysera in Iceland, cbuntaina of aot-water riaing to a height of 200 
feet, which, are intermitting in their action, have been brought to play at 
other times than they naturaHv would by tiir*:>wini£ q^uantities of stones into 
die oridce whimce issues the jet. Dr Henderson, in his Journal of a Resi- 
dence in Iceland during tiie years L^I4 and I:?Io« in narrating what 
oecnrred in connection with one of these induced eruptions, writes. "* Having 
made a speedy retreat. I now took my stadon on the windward isLde, and 
waa amomahed to observe the elevadon of the jet2a^ some of them rising 
hii^iiO' than two hundreiL ceet : many of the nrainnents of stones were 
thrown muck higher, and some of oonsiderabLe size were raised to an invisible 
KiHghii For some time every succeeding: jet ^seemed to surpass the 
preeedin^^ dH the quantity of water in die sub cernmean caverns being spent, 
they gave place to the columns of steam, which continued to ru^ i^ with 
a dea&aiing roar for upwanls of haIfHin-4iour.^ 

Next day he repeated die experiment. He writes* " Being anxious to ascer- 
tain the reality of my supposed discovery. I g(:>t my servant to assist me 
about dghc o'clock in casting aH che loose st^^ues we could ond into the 
spring: We had not ceased dve minutes when die wished-&>r pheno- 
meoa recemmenced^ and the jeis were carried to a aeiii:ht litde ini^rior to 
what dii^ had gained the preceding evening. At half-past nine I was 
obliged to set out on my journey, but ocben Look^id back on the thundering 
flnlrrmn of steam^ and reiiected with aaia^ment at my having given 
nch an impolse to a bodr which, no power on earth could controL*' 

In wrirmg of a nacoral empdon«. he mentiousv *' The kurge stones which 
we had previouidy thrown into the pipe were ejacuLaced to a great height, 
e^eeiaHy one which, was thr:>wn much higher than die wiiter ;*' and in 
writing of anni:h<ay he saysv ^ The jets of water now subsided : but their 
piaee waa oecnpied by the spray axLl stetua. which, aaving 6:ee room to 
play, nulled widi a deajpnrng roar to a heighc litde iuixirior to diat of the 
wat»: On throwing the larg^t stont» whick we could dnd into the pip^ 
tiitfy wse hutantly propeOed to an -•Mn;uEm»y; height; and some of them 
tibftt woe cast op mace perpeidiculariy than the others remained for the 
wgmte of fimr or five mhintBs within the indnence of the steam, being 
■■umiMJiiIj eJBctwiy and Ufing agva in. a vecj^ annirting laaaner.*' 

£^AH»1l»fenHqpHM9'flMiteHBijQ£tiEtt water Iiii the stons^beaeen. 
K^ lt»flH"»liHkmtikft«n^p&aQ£thtf tiapuLastateof 



OBOLOOIOAL OBSERVATIONS. 67 

fosion lometiiing fomilar may have occurred to the stones borne along by 
it, and such collisions as they had might suffice to give them something at 
least of the rounded form which many of them present. 

Superimposed on this trap conglomerate lie the upper Karroo shales. 

In the upper part of the scarp of Kleine Koggeveldt at Fort Brown, and 
at other parts of the Fish River valley, we find brown sandstone and shales, 
and greenish-coloured sandstone and shales, which appear to be of a still 
later deposit than the upper Karroo shales. In these the impressions and 
remams of plants are pretty common, which shows that though these parts 
were still under water there was land not far off, and this land probably 
gaining upon the sea in that region, for no such abundance of evidence of 
the existence of land plants is found in the lower-lying strata. 

The period over which this subsidence of the sea — or elevation of the 
land— extended must have been a very protracted one, for the aggregate 
thickness of these beds is estimated at 1,500 feet, those of the upper Karroo 
shales is estimated at 1,200, and those of the lower Karroo shales at 800, or 
3,500 feet in all ; and though some of these deposits may have been going 
on in diflferent places at the same time, the time required for the abrasion, 
suspension, conveyance, and deposit of the whole must have been long ; and 
at a corresponding slow progress periods of still greater changes were 
approaching. 

Towards the north of the Colony, and in regions beyond, we find 
deposited above those already described, and consequently of a later 
formation, beds of purple, gray, and greenish shales, intermixed with fewer 
sandstone beds, giving in the aggregate a thickness of 1,700 feet, or very 
nearly a third of a mile ; and in these are found remains of plants, fish 
teeth, and reptilian bones, — indicative of the existence of inland lakes 
separated fix)m the ocean by intervening land, which may have allowed of an 
outlet to the vast reservoir, but no entrance, or this only at times far 
separated, and even then only a partial one, to the waters of the sea. Islands 
rising above the level of the sea is all of which we have had indications hitherto; 
now we have indications of the lower-lying lands between these rising above 
the waters, and with them forming a continent, with a vast extent of it 
coTered with the waters of an inland lake, and that for such a length of 
time that the silt is of the thickness stated. 

The strata now under consideration have been called the Dicynodon 
strata^ fi-om the fossil remains of a reptile so named being foimd in them. 
They will afterwards come under consideration. 

In the Stormberg, the Sneewberg, Nieue veldt, Roggeveldt, &c., are foimd 
distinct tiers of sandstone, separated by shales containing abundance of 
land plants and beds of coal and of graphite or black-lead, which is 
apparently altered coal, together with remains of reptiles, but these in 
diminished numbers. The aggregate thickness of these beds is about 1,800 
feet, or upwards of a third of a mile. All these tell still of water imder 
which the deposits have been made, but they tell also of the great increase 
of dry-land. If the coal be formed from wood which had grown on the 
spot where it is found, they tell of alternations of periods of lengthened 
duration, during which the same land was above and below the water 
8urfiu5e. But if of this there be no indication, it may be conjectured that 
tte wood was carried thither by water currents. 

These later deposits have been identified with those of the coal measures 



of :dii?r !:unis. irn: -hify iziTr«"«fTi» as to indicazioiia wiuA gire us agUmpse 

•:r iz.':-j.':r iz.i :!;!.■: i "rry iz5=rfiii: ijirrerririiic cucdhi'jn of the land, 
fr :l. 'Ir z i i-..-: iz-i ^li. rr!-:*s :*:t:'dZL. fnxih u wie intiicated by tlie 
-rjniATv :e:2 -' .lifLA?. t ^!i.a-i. A:i«i .£ iiiize : izii the superimpoeed 
L\izi':rjji. ^-iLr.i::. iz."i Z»f'r r :tn ierisiri T: :^Tiote d^ain ftom the 
b-j-. r.Liz. z :!ic '^1: r.e: S:iz.':?c ce. ■ Yf^ i^am the liAt rises under ft 
c:ui' -^7 c" jliii . ' :: t!ic >."r!ie .i;ii jii;izc»fiL izii :iere is no longer an nn- 
br ii!i fiTin^ie c ^-i T'j.tf Tii_-d sir:" br^akj it the iistant horizon, on 
■.iz. ■ji.s.l.LrVi rffiL : niei z:j.-'.iiic rj T-ie Silir.az. :rOLd Red ct-ral zoophytes 
i.^a '.e: rr. i--rji^- -he r^^.ne 7farcrhi7 md beats ia loi:::^ lines of foam, 
-ifrLTfr i: .i.in.i. A«ri:=-=t i ■.■ t. t-.Z'T ".: ^h.rf. the aeaTriri barrier of a widely 
«-r-f»_.i :i .:z.Tr^ F r iz *lie r'.~'-LLe ^ ciJtiiiiiii the '.^xz*! '^-■^■8 arisen from the 
i-fft. — I. r ji:- Lia^..'i:'i.jl7 •.-•.: .z. s::ir:e'-fd .aleta. is it an earlier time, 
■r-v: Lz. f~:Z.-:-f -1:. ::^h ±i- .tt-i zi:irsi:7 jrctiz.eiit*w httle rkisel over the 
^.r:i liTf:. Lii-i i -:: fiT-^.r ±1'. lii^ J" -frr*! theci T-th the deep caihom- 
ZrT-Li z r-i. Ti'f s- ■:■-:-.- s ctf t z:_^!i~r :' rrsca :c xce-bearing trees,^- 
■:t;il_'. •::.: -r-f ■:-:'. rtia. .: ^•_"_:i -....■ .•'.■:"•--—•■ ?i«ie<. :ei the :cener slopes, and rf 
_r::: r- i i? .->-:r:i^ - :.. . ?: Lis c" ::.f Ltifs md iirk rjlling riveis. 
"u'l- :. ^ 'r-.- _-•;:- - :.ij r-^'.-scv-* c the Th-ckfr ▼■.•:•!?- ajid low thick 
:^ir.T jrirr7 .L ■:_; :..c Li_j. —llt?*! c *j.^;L:--ih s-v-izizs. Buz there is » 
jiz. "•1 '._'_-ci:_z^- f -.lie ?'i7 .-ir->u:id . .l? Lit £ei:ii:-.-s. :* redder flnab 
:^.Lz. 1. i i.-^fr' ". __:t : :>. .r <:>:■:: jills irhT-irt "irrL-CT: vered bank and 

JLi'i fL:t-*'b.cri he tt— d-*. • ? r seTfc fnniiti" us t.'eether — fr«n the 
j:-*fr -^l ZT'.iir. : :o: -.-.r.-tr ■.'.•: 7.oi S;Lz«:'jrxd — ur. j'.iirse his been over 

i:e:ir..^ "v.-h':!:- i ~'.?;b.-i *!:• n. *:!:• lu^b. _ii l'i. l'lzi'.'i:'* :tl his Toyai;je of difr 
:-:--r7. t.- Ll-; •_« v iii'i -b-.Li :■ iiz-i i l:-:lte f- ji:::^; -yiitid to indicate the 
ly r '.Ik:...:!:^ liiz.:. To.- T.->r itt— ? tlj: sulU*. -vzii:. — we are p-assmg int( 
Z'iv iwt-'.-::. *: L'i.r ■■.■i.'js:^ i ".r i.e. ":rin.;h w.th uhe leaves stil 

■^T--hi:r:'i. L-ii \:-.rf d t^-"? i '.-Jr z i-irz. — izL^i z*:^. zli'zn is umd ! Land 
A !• T -i>. Ti :iL::i ■ :■ "ir-.''. -.v-i: ■■■■.^■jr i^-, j^ ^^j t^-^i arcp:ttca it. 

• H L^-: "ZT:-"? . c V oi-T'.-Li :" rj. *ra:i'i *:: iir j;i zz^i wacct. There seemi 
zj. zitcr- rZ-zi: ";»::l..1i. a :l:.-.i ".iei^-»i z tvt:':.'* toll Ji* mzLscs oc pinnace 
r'^ il'.Cij -h'f i-i'itijr ".'{17?. ...ii vl:.!: iLurs .1: -rhe :*i:;e :f a lake. A rive 
'.c^iar ■r'rizj.'i j-.zitis "" ^-^^r tr£i: :he ziTcrj-p. iiirk.ini^ the water fo 
le:i;.-:'H T-.-h .'i i'jjz.': LZ'i z: :■:. xz.*z b«:ar'z^ ■^■-ii .t -.• the ■.cen sea reedf 
izii rerz^. iz.ii :■ ::i'5 .c :litf tLn";. iZ'i z-zictL'se i iizs :c ietives. :i:id now an< 
-hez. vn:<: :r,_£T -T-.r ■:ji'i':rL_.z.'.': i-<i -:;r-.. co: ':y -j.i jiirrin:. Enterin 
-he r »: z_iuj :-.•.- f = • r* f : i z: . ■^ ■= t . « : i ?<.■ -.lt-: v; ". y -1. U'. * r*ib L-j t hitl;iiu: 1: fe' reeds 
tiiii: itt.L.z 1.: tiitr j-j.^h" iH''. vil - 1^" :.it .■.. % z -j mz -rits. ranA^ed O! 
^:'.\\s7 i'.iii:. Thii c":«_: vZ' 1 -.'. &?7 ?:: *.:::.< s:t.iii r.'iii'.tC ^c Gothi 
:.■:«:":• -.le o L^'vi 1.i:l'.-; ir.Li.'i ■:: ^t^-.-, i: y .ry ;• iz*. ci'ir above tiei 
i:ir ; ".i:!' .■■:.si-:ii. Lz^' I. :* L' . ii.il vr..i I.'. T ui iZ'.-:-.!:: JT. "^'Z- ^:th the rav 
■..;:t:t:-: 'I-'vli'L: . Lz.i Ti i..*: i : ^- :z.i: z_.i.;- .c :.:i:tT "..ir\?i scii;£S cr viaskini 

• -fiTu:^:: I'l.rtiiiJ c ^rL:=-j..:-'i !_:■: ^.-y*-"-'^ z: :i:e iVrjsts behind . Caatha 
be I :-:i.>£iii -ni thiviil riLaes .ti ij.:::'iir .iijl;'-: r.vr zicre -hiui -50 feet firon 
:he ii:u . -r ::in -hese :all tiii.z. -.:_£.= tr.f* be J.^,•cv::ll f^msw and thes 
-jpraruiinii :rmehta mere nr:n«i:2 " Jlz«: :h.i ^-.li-iztii: r">:eds — Lire thevno 
niers vorier^ea zf the c::nizi- n b. r^5e-t.i. ? :( ,'i^ bi-sTJ and moradKS 
auicniiied dome aiiirf ;r a hiizdi*fi uL.ii.es ! 

■'Have we arrived at 3i:me auch viountrv aa -he ocntmeat visited bj 
Galliyov in which, he fbond thkketa of weeds and ;£ri£$» ^all a^ wucds c 



OIOLOGIOAL OBBIBfATIOVB. 69 

tfflnly yaafB growth, and lost himaelf amidett a field of com fifty feet in 

height 1 

"The lesser T^etation of our own countiy — its reeds, mosses, and ferns 
-4eem here as if viewed through a microscope. The dwarfs have sprung 
up into giants, and yet there appears to be no proportionate increase in size 
among what are unequivocally its trees ! 

" Yonder is a group of what seem to be pines — ^tall and bulky, 'tis true, 
but neither taller nor bulkier than the pines of America or Norway ; and 
the club-moss behind shoots up its green haiiy arms, loaded with what 
seem catkins, above their topmost cones. But what monster of the vege- 
table world comes floating across the stream — now circling round in Uie 
eddies, now dancing on the ripple, now shooting down the rapid? It 
resembles a gigantic star-fish, or an immense coach-wheel divested of the 
rim. There is a green, dome-like mass in the centre, that corresponds to 
the nave of the wheel or the body of the star-fish, and the boughs shoot 
out horizontally on every side, like spokes from the nave or rays from the 
central body. The diameter considerably exceeds 40 feet ; the branches, 
originally of a deep green, are assuming the golden tinge of decay ; the 
cyhndriciBj and hollow leaves stand out on every side, like prickles of the 
wild-rose on the red, fleshy, lance-like shoots of a year's growth, that will 
be covered two seasons hence with flowers and fruit. That strangely-formed 
oiganism finds, no existing type among all the numerous families of the 
Tegetable kingdom. 

" There is an amazing luxuriance of growth all around us. Scarce can 
the currents make way through the thicket of aquatic plants that rise thick 
from the muddy bottom ; and though the sun shines bright on the upper 
boughs of the tangled forest beyond, not a ray penetrates the more than 
twilight gloom which broods over the marshy platform below. 

"The rank steam of decaying vegetation forms a dense, thick haze, that 
partially obscures the underwood ; deadly lakes of carbonic acid gas have 
accumulated in the hollows ; there is silence all around, uninterrupted save 
by the sudden plunge and splash of some reptile fish that has risen to the 
Bupfece in pursuit of its prey, or when a sudden breeze stirs the hot air and 
shakes the fronds of the giant ferns or the catkins of the reeds. The wide 
continent before us is a continent devoid of animal life, save that its pools 
and its rivers abound in fish and moUusca, and that millions and tens of 
Diillions of the infusorial tribes swarm in the bogs and marshes. Here and 
there, too, an insect of strange form flutters among the leaves. It is more 
than probable that no creature furnished with lungs of the more perfect 
hind could have breathed the atmosphere of this early period and have 
lived." 

" At the close of the Old Red Sandstone period," says Page, " the earth 
seems to have undergone an almost total change in its geological conditions. 
The red sandstones and gravelly conglomerates which had been formed 
along the shores and bottom of the sea were upheaved into dry land ; thus 
•dding to the extent of land previously existing, and gradually circmnscrib- 
ing the limits of the ocean in which subsequent deposits were to take place 
As disintegrated granite furnished the felspar, quartz, and mica of the 
gneiss and mica schist, and as from these, again, were obtained the materials 
(^ the day-slate, grauwacke, and Silurian rocks, so from all these, together 
with the newly upheaved red sandstone, were derived the material of the 
loooeeding formation. These successive attritions would reduce quartz to 



70 HTDBOLOOT OV BOTSTH AFRICA. 

sand of Tarioos fineness, felspar to loose impalpable clay, mica from lajgo 
plates to minute scales, and ciystalline limestone to a dully powdeiy otm- 
sistence. The rocks formed of these ingredients would necessarily present 
a less compact texture ; and thus it ia in the Carboniferous System thiltUie 
sandstones are more arenaceous, the shales soft and earthy, and the lime- 
stones non-crystalline and often impure. Besides the sandstone, clay, and 
limestone, two new rock substances make their appearance among the stnti 
of this system, namely, coai and ironstone — the former being the result of 
compressed and altered vegetal i'jn, and the latter a chemical aggregation of 
the metallic particles an.'und sr»me earthy basis. The iron of the Old Red 
Sandstone was disseminated tlircai^h the mass as mere colouring matter; in 
the carl Kill i fen ais format inn it is principally collected in layers, or in 
nodules. The veiretati<:»n of previrais periods was so scanty, as to leave 
only a few dubious impressions amontr the strata. During this era it was 
»j abundant as tc» form numerous beds of coal, ranging in thickness from 
a few inches to twenty or even thirty feet." 

Writini^ of the organic remains frrnnd in the so-called coal measures, he 
remarks that, — " The abundance of terrestrial vegetation is by far the most 
distinguishing feature, tliougli, as might be expected from the nature of the 
deposit, marine shells, fi??hcs, and other aquatic excuvia), are not unfrequent." 

Having previously stated that coal is in its mass composed of plantar 
altered by compression and conversion into bitumen, he gops on to say,— 
" On account of this change, it is often impossible, at first sight, to detect 
any trace of vegetal)le structure ; but on closer inspection, the woody fibre 
may be seen in many siieciniens ; wliile it is possible in almost all to make 
visible the cells and fibre by ex])osing thin slices to the transmission of a 
powerful light. In this way Mr Witliam obser\'ed the various vegetable 
tissues in coal, thereby adding another testimony to the numerous 
evidences of its organic origin. In most of the bituminous beds, however, 
the external form is oblitenited, and it is to detached fossils in the sand- 
stones and lighter shales that the geologist is indebted for his knowledge 
respecting tlie Flora of the carboniferous era. About four hundred species 
have been already determined, chiefly gigantic equisetums, ferns, club- 
mosses, cactuses, pines, and plants allied to the bulrush, cane, and bamboo. 
Most of these resemble existing plants merely in their generic distinctions, 
having belonged to species which flourished during the coal-forming period, 
and became extinct with the peculiar conditions of the globe which gave 
them birth. Some of the most characteristic of the vegetable fbesils 
belonging to this formation are — 1. Sigillarui, so called from the graven 
appearance of its stem ; 2. Cataviites, from the reed-like jointings of its stalk; 
3. ^Stir/maria, from its stigmata, or punctures ; 4. Lepidodendron (Gr., Iqns, 
a scale, and deiidron, a tree), from the scaly appearance of its bark. These 
fossils occur in all the members, from the lowest white sandstone beneath the 
mountain limestone, up to the coinn\encement of the new red sandstone, 
at which Htn<_^<.! they disapf)e{ir, and d'» not seem to have flourished during the 
deposition oi' any subsecinent f'»nnati(>n. The best preserved specimens are 
found ill tbo shales and sanilstones ; the interior structure of the plant being 
converted in to soft (juartzose stmdstone, and the bark, or cuticle, into a glisten- 
ing bitumhious coal. In the coal, the vegetable structure is always more or less 
obliterated, though sometimes a solitary trunk occurs of the same quartzose 
material as those imbedded in the shales and sandstones. Of these fossil 
trees, many have been found of gigantic dimensions; as, for example a 



GEOLOGIOAL OfiSBBVA^^ONS. 71 



t 



lepidodendron in the Jarrow coal-field, 13 J feet wide at the base, and 39 
feet high, exclusive of the branches at the top, which wore also entire ; and 
a conifera of the genus auracaria in Craigleith quarry, 3 feet in 
I diameter, and 20 feet long. Besides the sigillaria, &c., above described, 
I there are numerous species of tree-ferns, club-mosses, equisetiuns, and 
other cryptogamic plants preserved in the shales ; their dark carbonaceous 
leaves and branches being often beautifully displayed upon the light- 
coloured ground of the material in which they are imbedded; namely, 
Asterophyllites (Gr., aster, a star, and phylloiiy a leaf) ; Sphe^iopteris (sphen, a 
wedge, and pteron, a wing) ; Fecopteris (pecos, a comb, aiidpte7'07i, a wing) ; 
all 80 named from the shape of their respective leaves. 

" Of the canditioiis of the world during the deposition of the carboniferous 
sj/steTfij we have more obvious evidence than of those under which any 
of the earlier systems were formed. The extent of the seas in which the 
deposit took place is very clearly indicated by the course of the mountain 
limestone, which must have been formed at no great depths from the shore, 
as its corallines, corals, shells, and other exuviee, prove it to be of littoral 
origin. All the members of the system, with the exception perhaps of the 
limestones, are eminently sedimentary ; and the numerous alternations of 
these strata evince frequent changes in the depositing agents. At one time 
the rivers seem to have carried down sand to form sandstones, at another 
clay and mud to form shale, and at a third period vegetable drift to form 
coal; for strata of these material often directly overlie each other. It must 
be borne in mind, however, that sand, clay, and plants, might be carried 
down at the same time, and that they would arrange themselves according 
to their gravity — ^the sand depositing itself along the shores, the mud 
ferther seaward, and the vegetables in any still bay where currents of wind 
or water might drift them. Such an arrangement would take place under 
the ordinary operations of water ; but during violent inundations, there 
would be a confused intermingling of sand, mud, and plants, and this we 
often discover ; so that, taking all things into account, we learn that the 
same agencies of rivers, waves, and tides, existed during the deposition of 
the carboniferous rocks as exist at the present day, only on a more gigantic 
and uniform scale. Looking at the abundance of marine life whibh must have 
thronged the waters during the formation of the mountain limestone, and at 
the vast amount of vegetation which the earth must hme sustained while the 
deposition of the coal measures took place, we are led to infer that the 
earth then enjoyed a much higher and more uniform temperature than it 
I has ever since experienced. At present, we find a faint analogy in the 
' Fauna of the tropical seas, and in the Flora of the tropical jimgles, to those 
of the carboniferous era ; but so faint, that we can scarcely institute 
a comparison between the results produced. The coral-reefs of the Pacific 
are insignificant compared with the thickness and extent of the mountain 
limestone ; and the vegetable drift of the Mississipi and Ganges combined 
would scarcely produce carbonaceous matter sufficient to colour one stratum 
of shale. Notwithstanding this there is a resemblance between the coral 
productions of the Pacific and those of the mountain limestone ; and between 
the palms, tree-ferns, canes, and cactacse of the tropics, and the fossil 
plants of the coal measures. The heat of the tropics is directly derived 
from the sun, and the torrid zone occupies but a narrow belt of the earth's 
sur&ce ; whereas the coal measures are to be found in almost every region 
of the g^obe. The sun could not, therefore, have yielded that temperature 



73 STDBoijaeT of mutk afeica. 

which n«:nrJ9hei rhe pLmrs ui^i in^Ti;tT»* jf zila 7erj?«i : 5?r choogh the son's 
hfiac haii "re«=ii jr«acer "rnar. iG pr;aeiiT. iz v:»-iilti iLri: hd.ve teen universally 
ii:fi*eil "Tie :»:Tn:i-L3L«:ii. liierfr' n. -.^ TTn.jii 21- r-t j»r<:I:vrl^Ta hAve come is, 
^iiau :ihe -iorih^ ir^lnallj m incaji«ieaeen!: miLss. xts jnii'iillj co»?led down 
— hr.c •*ii«:a:rh rii} rainier rieusa xzd iiica Honiara :i7^aILizie : cool enougk 
during zhe zna^ncke i^'i Silurian -jrLS :.:■ meruit t rrmrine ci-^rals. shell-fish, 
and cnatiicei : Conner <till ririnir the lire :t' -he "iLirai ishes of the old red 
aanddcone : iz-d -inlj nii^ciendj j?iiial :iir:ii:rh«:ii" tiie i»fp«:isiT:ion of the car- 
bcniferjoa ceri«:<i zo faster 1 jr: wth •:f terrestrjl vej:erati*:n all orer its 
auriice. t.: which the ■fxi:*tiiL;r "indies :f :b.e tr-^ws at? mere barrenness in 
C':nipiiri*^tL. Th::* hi;i:h md izit'-m ■:eniperirtir«?. ct:cibi:ied :as suggested 
by BrotTiian:' with 1 zi^iter rr-c«ni«:c :f carbtrnic icid -.rw in the atmos- 
phere. W'jul'i not ':nly ^tLstain a r'^.in::c and rr:Lidi: P.ori. but would also 
create -lenaer vap<-iirg. sb'wer?. lUii riir.-* ; an'L these. a;zain, zigantic rivers, 
perj^iical :nunddti«;ns. in«i icLtas. Th'is ill the cociiiti'^nsfortheextensiTe 
eariary 'iepi'siti wriil.i arise fr.ci this hi;rh temrenture ; and every circum- 
atance cn-nneoted with the ci^al meaaures pi.-ints to 5uch conditi«?n3. 

" WUh r^jari ro *m firm'iti.'in, :/ !:»u. .^lecloicists are not yet fully agreed. 
On examining 3an(isti:'ne -:r shaie. it is ea*y to rerjeive fern their structure, 
texture, and comuir-aiti-jn. that they ui'iit at .:ne time have been respectively 
loiwe sand and mud. b«?me d«:'wn and deposited by water; but the case is some- 
what iiitferent with beis -.'f ooal. This mineraL being chiefly composed of 
carbon, hyirotfen. auii oxygen — the same elements which enter into the 
Cijmpoaitiijn 'jf plants — and reveaHrj in its miiss evidence of vegetable 
structure, no d«:'ubt is entertained -.^f its -organic '.^rigin. But whether the 
plants of which it i* ci:mp«.»seii were drifted d-.^^wn by nvers, and deposited 
al«jng with layers '.-f mud and sand in estuaries, or whether dense forests and 
peat mosses were s:ib merged, and then 'Overlaid by deposits of sand and mud, 
are the quest i<:«ns at issue. According to the latter hypothesis, the vege- 
table matter must have gr^vn in dense jungles for many years ; then the 
land must have sunk, and become the basin ".^f a lake or estuary, in which 
situation rivers would wash into it mud and simd. and these would cover 
the vegetable mass, and f>.^rm beds of shale and sandstone. This being done, 
it is supposed that the area of dep.^sit was again elevated, so as to become 
the scene of luxuriant vegetation : again submerged, and overlaid by new 
deposits of sandsttme and shale : once more elevated, and covered with 
plants, and then submerseil : and this altemaciii:; process of submergence 
and elevation is contended ro iiave t.iken place ;U; otten as there are beds of 
cool in any particular coal-deld. The other theory is. that while partial 
elevations and submersions might take place as at the present day, the 
great mass of the coal measures was deposited in lakes and estuaries ; that 
the vegetable matter of which coal is formed was drifted into these estuaries 
by rivers and inundations ; and that various rivers might discharge them- 
selves into one estuary, some chiefly carrying down sand, while others 
transported plants, mud, and heterogeneous debris. This theory also supposes 
that the transporting rivers were subject to periodical inimdations, and that, 
during the intervals of overflow, the deltas were choked with a nvnk vegeta- 
tion, which, in conjunction with the vegetable drift from inland, went to the 
formation of beds of coaL 

** Both tkeoriet are aipreient beset with many dimcuitiifs : but the latter is the 
' leoerfed, as acoounting fiv most oi the phenomena connected with 
AeMffding to the iovmer thetny, a sabmeigenoe and 



- QEOLOOIGAL OBSEBVATIONS. 73 

eleyation must have taken place for every seam of coal ; and as in some 
districts from thirty to forty seams occur, varying in thickness from a few 
inches to many feet, it is impossible to conceive how the earth, in this 
unstable condition, could have nourished such a prolific Flora as the coal 
measures clearly demonstrate. It is also justly objected against this theory, 
that some thick beds of coal are subdivided by thin layers of sandstone, or 
ferraginous shale, a fact which would imply that many elevations and 
submergences took place even during the formation of a single coal bed ; 
whereas by the latter theory, those layers of sandstone, (fee, present no 
difficulty, as the river, while it bore down vegetable drift, would carry at 
the same time sand and other debris. Further, shells and fishes are some- 
times found imbedded in coal ; and it is difficult to conceive how these could 
have got there, imless in the ordinary way of deposit and sediment. Forests of 
conifersB, palms, and tree-ferns, could not have been submerged and covered up 
with sand and mud, without the trunks being abundantly found in an up- 
right position ; now, this upright position of fossil trees is rarely or ever 
met with. Again, had coal resulted from submerged peat mosses, instead 
of from growing forests, there is no means by which we can account for the 
occurrence of shells, fishes, and thin layers of sandstone in its mass. By 
the latter theory all these can be readily accounted for. Over vast deltas, 
such as those in which it supposes the coal measures to have been deposited, 
there would not only occur growing stems of palms, ferns, reeds, and the 
like, to be silted up perpendiculai*ly, but there would also occur morasses 
choked up with a rank growth of grasses, while in the creeks and lagoons, 
shell-fish, fishes, and other aquatic life would abound. In the deltas of 
existing rivers, the latter theory meets with a perfect analogy ; and when 
the student is told of the rafts of the Mississipi, the mangrove jungle of the 
Niger, and the sand and mud-banks of the Ganges, he can have little difficulty 
in forming a conception of the estuaries in which the sandstones, shells, 
shell-limestones, and coal of the carboniferous era were deposited." 

The vegetation of the coal period seems to have resembled, in some 
measure, that of islands in the middle of vast oceans ; and the prevalence 
of fems indicates a climate similar to that of New Zealand at the present day. 
In speaking of the island vegetation of the coal epoch. Professor Ansted 
remarks — " The whole interior of the islands may have been crowned with 
thicks forests, the dark mauve of which would only be interrupted by the 
bright green of the swamps in the hollows, or the brown tint of the fems 
covering some district near the coasts. 

" The forests may have been formed by a mixture of different trees. We 
would see then, e.g. the lofty and wide-spreading lepidodendron, its delicate, 
feathery, and mass-like fronds, clothing in rich luxuriance branches and 
stems which are built up, like the stem of the tree-fern, by successive leaf- 
stalks that have, one after another, dropt away, giving by their decay 
additional height to the stem, which might at length be mistaken for that 
of a gigantic pine. 

" There also should we find the sigillaria, its tapering and elegant form 
sustained on a large and firm basis, enormous matted roots, almost as long 
as the trunk itself, being given off in every direction, and shooting their 
fibres far into the sand and clay in search of moisture. The stem of this 
tree would appear like a fluted column; rising simply and gracefully, without 
brBQcheSy to a great height, and then spreading out a magnificent head of 
kaveSy like a noble palm tree. - 



7^ HYDROLOGY OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

" Other trees more or less resembling palms, and others like existing fin 
also abounded, giving a richness and variety to the scene ; while one 
gigantic species, strikingly resembling the Norfolk Island pine, might be 
seen towering a hundred feet or more above the rest of the forest, and exht 
biting teir after tier of branches richly clothed with its peculiar pointed 
spear-like leaves, the branches gradually diminishing in size as they | 
approached the apex of a lofty pyramid of vegetation. j 

" Tree-ferns, also in abundance, might there be recognised occupying a ^ 
prominent place in the physiognomy of vegetation, and dotted at intervab 
over the distant plains and valleys, the intermediate space being clothed ; 
with low vegetation of more humble plants of the same kind. These we 
may imagine exhibiting their rich crests of numerous fronds, each umj 
feet in length, and produced in such quantities as to rival even the palm 
trees in beauty. 

" Besides all these, other trees of that day, whose stems and branches ara 
now called calamites, existed chiefly in the midst of swamps, and bore their 
singular branches and leaves aloft with strange and monotonous uniformity. 
All these trees, and many others that might be associated with them, were 
perhaps gii-t round with innumerable creepers and parasitic plants climbing to 
the top-most branches of the most lofty amongst them, and enlivening, by tbe 
bright and vivid colour of their flowers, the dark and gloomy character of 
the great masses of vegetation." 

The condition of the country, indicated by the strata and the fossils of 
the coal measures of the Colony, must have extended far to the north of 
districts of the Colony in which they are found. The coal mines of Natal 
promises to be more productive than thosQ of the Cape of Good Hope, and 
hundreds of miles to the north of Natal their are similiar indications of a 
similar state of things having, in the same era, prevailed also there. 

Speaking of the Moio hills, which are hills close to or intersecting the 
Zambesi below the Victoria Falls, Dr Livingstone says — " They are gene- 
rally of igneous or metamorphic rocks — clay-slate or trap — ^with porcellanite 
and zoolite. The principal rock in the central part of the country, where 
no syenite or gneiss had been upheaved, seems to be a gray, coarse 
sandstone, known to us by the name of Tette sandstone. Large masses of 
it still lie horizontally or only slightly inclined. When much disturbed, it 
has been tilted up by the eruption of igneous rocks, and near the point pi 
contact it has either been hardened or melted, and the coal which elsewhere 
still lies under the undisturbed stratum is crystallized or entirely burned. 
The igneous rocks often form dykes, as that called Nakabele, which 
stretches like a dam across the w^estem entrance to the Kariba gorge. ^^^ 
the vicinity of the erupted rocks we usually meet soft, calcareous tufa, as ^ 
after the igneous action many hot fountains flowing had deposited lio^^ 
from their water. Previous, however, to this period of eruption aU^ 
upheaval, it is probable that the sandstone formed the bed of prodigious 
inland seas, along the low shores of which the plants of the coal flourished 
succeeded, as the land was gradually elevated, by the trees we now find 
silicified on the surface ; these may perhaps have been submerged, as the 
land again sank under some igneous agency, and became subject to the 
action of water, at a high temperature holding silica in solution. However 
that may have been, it is certain that a coal-field of unknown extent exists, 
for coal is found cropping out near to the lava or basalt, which is the 
principal rock of the Victoria Falls, and, with the ' faults ' alluded to, it 



GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 75 

extends to the east of Tette. Then again we saw it in the Bovum, with 
the same characteristic of fossil-wood lying in the gray sandstone. With 
abundance of fine iron ore, the existence of this prodigious coal-field leads to 
the belief that an important future is in store for Africa." 

Writing again of the Zungive, a little nearer the Falls, he says — " As in 
many other streams from Chicova to Sinamane, shale and coal crop out of 
the bank ; and here the large roots of stigmaria, or its allied plants, were 
found." 

The beds of coal found in the Stormberg and elsewhere have been 
identified with the coal measures of Europe and America. The aggregate 
thickness of those found in the Cape Colony is about 1,800 feet, but these 
represent deposits which in Wales measure 15,000 feet in thickness. And 
in the one country as in the other there are indications of many successive 
elevations and submergences of land having occurred in the course of the 
protracted period of their formation. 

Knowing that Dr George Grey, of Cradock, Fellow of the Geological 
Society of Edinburgh, had given much attention to the geology '<)f the 
district in which he dwelt, I took occasion to write to him, requmtfng 
infonration in regard to fossil-vegetable remains which had come under his 
notice, and the condition in which they were found. I received in, reply 
the following letter : — 

" Cradock, November 80, 1865. 

"My dear Sir, — 1 duly received your note of the 16th inst., in which ^ou 
ask me to send you any printed notices relative to the Botanic Geology of the dis- 
trict, and would have answered it by first post, but I have been since its receipt 
a good deal engaged with country work at considerable distances, which has pre* 
vented me till now. It would give me great pleasure to be of any service to you in 
such a way. Unfortunately, all printed letters or notices on geological subjects, 
which might be considered as of any interest, have had reference chiefly to the trap 
and other igneous rocks, greenstone dykes, quartz rocks and their connections, and 
sometimes general remarks on the Dicynodonts — written in a popular style, being 
designed for perusal by ordinary readers. 

"The only letter on carboniferous deposits was published in our local paper 
ahout two years since, when I alluded to some mineral carbonaceous substances 
belonging to the northern part of our district, and located on the southern edge 
of the Stormberg carboniferous series. These substances seemed to approach in 
nature to a mineral, discovered a short time previously, named *Dysodile.' 
Dysodile of itself is not quite a combustible matter ; the largest part of it is 
inorganic, the following being its analysis in 100 pts. : — 

Combustible matter, - - - - - 36-51 

Water, &c., ------ 2-30 

Mineral matter (containing Silica, Alumina, Iron, &c.), 61-19 



100.00 



" In the same letter I stated the carbonaceous substances in question to be 
iningled with the shales of the upper coal measures, presenting the appearance of 
a brownish -gray slate, rather than that of any kind of fuel, burning freely though 
with an offensive smell. The odour evidently results from the impregnation of 
Bulphurets, which obtain extensively throughout our igneous chains of hills, 
whether the latter are clothed with carboniferous formations, as in the Stormberg, 
or with the calciferous marls and sandstone of the secondary deposits of the moun- 
tain masses in our more immediate neighbourhood. 

*' The fossil coal plants of the Stormberg series (a goodly number of specimens 
of which I lately sent to the Geological Society of Edinburgh) consist chiefly, as 
f&r as I have seen, of well-marked specimens of calamites, lepidodendra, zamites. 



76 HYDROLOGY OP SOUTH AFRICA. 

sigillariiL and yanocu feniB of the order nenropteriB, pecopteris, sphenopteriB, &c. 
A friendf who lived for aome time in the looJity of the Stonnb^ teUs me that 
* Calamite reticulatioiis (called *' rootleta'' in the Graham's Town maseam) are 
obeervable in all the sandstones of the Stormberg, from the base to the recurring 
sandstones of the upper Stormberg oyerlying the co^-beds. ' Graphitehas frequently 
been found in the black shales, which contain also impressions of ferns. Doubt- 
less, coal seams may be found to prevail in all the series of the Stormberg shales 
and sandstone, say 1000 feet or so beneath the present coal-beds. From the base 
of the Stormberg range, the district of Queenstown extends away towards the 
south, and as viewed from the Stormberg presents the appearance of a great plain 
studded all over with mountains of every variety of shape. 

" The deposits of the upper coal measures of the Stormberg series are shaley and 
thin, alternating with sof tish dark sandstone and marly clay admixtures. It is very 
doubtful whether the expenses of transport will admit of the coal being made use 
of for economic purposes. * 

'' Mr W. Baillie, of Andries Nek, was good enough, a short time since, to send 
me a large sack of his ^ best' coal. It contained a good deal of lignite. Some speci- 
mens were hard, approaching to anthracite, it barned pretty fairly, giving out a 
moderate amount of heat which, however, was of rather limited duration. 
Andries Nek is about three hours ride from Queenstown. I should suppose its 
coal affords a fair illostration of what may occur in the whole Stormberg seams. 
Igneous causes beneath had probably rendered the coal in many parts semi- 
anthracitic Various kinds of mineral pyrites, and other sulphurites abound 
thereabouts, probably in considerable quantities. 

*' The fossu-wood deposits near here are distinct from the upper coal measures 
which stop at the southern edge of the Stormberg. These wood deposits are to 
be found in combination with the Dicynodon b^, and would appear to have 
been disintegrated from below by eruptive force. lu the Dicynodon beds the 
matrix of the animals is in juxtaposition to these broken up and triturated 
materials, which are doubtless disintegrated from older carboniferous formations ; 
whilst other particles of various kinds uow lying in the same beds may have been 
detached from metamorphic and crystalline compounds, according to their 
composition, as noticed in situ. It is therefore not to be wondered at that the 
matrix and bones of the animals are quite commonly found to have precipitated 
on their surface deposits of silica, mica schist, &c. 

'^ The carboniferous fossil fragments of these beds are confined to the secondary 
rocks, and have nothing in common with the tertiary sandstones or the argil* 
laceous beds conjoining them. These fragments can be occasionally picked up in 
small detached pieces, and not unfrequently present the appearance of having 
belonged to trunks of a goodly size ; but, having been subjected to action of a 
decidedly convulsive nature, they are, as a rule, of an indeterminate class. They 
have in all probability been broken up and propelled by eruptive forces identical 
with those which have probably worked the beds themselves into their present 
position. 

^* Igneous agency below and aqueous agency around must have in the course of 
time effected curious transformations iu the deposits of these beds in olden days ; 
and this is shown in the fact of many of the sandstones of these beds forming 
conglomerates with all sorts of foreign deposits, as igneous rock fragments, 
forming, to the present view, nuclei for clays and sandstones, chalybeate oxides. 
The above-mentioned fossil woods, &c. , &c.* in fact almost every imaginable kind 
of petrified material, inclusive of the Saurian organisms, may there be found. 

** The Dicynodon beds, with their deposits, are visible only where they have 
been propelled through superiocumbent sandstone, by means of the eruptive forces 
I have just alluded to. Denudation by action of water has worked out for them 
a comparatively recent bed of a blue argillaceous nature ; and these beds are only 
to be round on the slopes of the igneous hills, or where or cks or fissures have 
occurred in the superincumbent sandstones. 

'^ That the true coal formations stop short at the southern edge of the Stormberg 
is evident on inspection. The upper coal measures are, as I think I have already 



OIOLOQIOAL OBSBBVATIONS. 77 

■iftted, shalej and thin, alternating with dark Bhalea of softish sandstones. Al- 
thoagh they are pretty prolific in fossil monocotyledonous plants and ferns, yet 
the * carfooniferons or mountain limestone* on which they rest, and which as a 
formation seems pretty extensive, contains very few organic remains. The 
^ Millstone Grit,* I shoiodd suppose, may be pronounced, in these parts, as incor- 
porated with the carboniferous limestone. 

'* FoBsQ faooid impressions may occasionally be noticed on the sandstone 
connected with the ccMd measures. Perhaps you may recollect my subjecting a 
small specimen to your notice on your visit here, on which at the time you 
expressed doubt as to whether it might have beloDged to marine or fresh- water 
alg». Is it not possible that in these ancient days there may have been, as in 
oti^er continents, here and there a line of transition between marine and fresh 
water deposits, and characters according to the deposit be now found conse- 
quently common to both? Again, in some places, previous to eruptive distur* 
Dances, decidedly marine deposits have existed below, and fre^^h- water deposits 
have been found located above. It is possible, in such lengthened periods, there 
may have been gradations or alternations from one to the other. 

**Wylie seems inclined to think that the surfaces of the later deposits may 
have been subjected to marine action. I will not venture to offer an opinion to 
you at present on this subject, but 1 may state that no salt water shells or other 
organic maiine remains have ever been found beyond a distance of about 50 miles 
from the coast*' 

The Dieynodon strata lie generally on Devonian rocks. "They are 
generally," says Hall, "little disturbed, and then locally assume the 
horizonl^ position, and are intersected in all directions by dykes of igneous 
rocks, which, when large, form the central axis of mountain chains. They 
abound in fossil remains, bones, shells, and vegetables." And he goes on 
to say — " There seems, according to Professor Owen, to be good rcaison for 
refeiring them to the age of the New Red Sandstone, nearly. They also 
abound in lime and salt, and are probably of lacustrine orio:in. Mr Bain 
considers these beds as the bottom of an ancient lake or sea, which extended 
north as far as the Zambesi, which was probably one of the outlets by 
which its waters escaped. The Nieuweveld, Roggeveld, Sneewbergen, 
Winterbergen, Stormbergen, and Quathlamba mountains are all composed 
of these rocks, more or less capped with greenstones." 

The greenstone spoken of is elsewhere known as whinstone. It is a 
species of trap which, with clinkstone and basalt, appears to have been 
protruded extensively about the period of the earth's history to which we 
have now been brought. 

The greenstone capping the mountain ranges must have })cen protruded 
pjior to the elevation of the district above tfie surface of the water, and not 
only prior to the silting up of the valley by lacustrine and other deposits, 
but prior to the scooping out of the valley by ocean currents. 

Towards the close of the period, during which these limestone deposits of 
1700 feet in thickness were silting up their mediteiTanean sea, or inland lake, 
there must have been going on other changes of which indications have been 
left m what are now mountain ranges, but which w^ere at the ]:ori()(l referred to 
still under water, either fresh water of the lake or salt water of the sea. 

The mention of the reptilian Dieynodon indicates our having entered upon 
the times of which we read, " And God said. Let the waters bring forth 
abundantly the moving creatures that hath life,* and fowl that may fly above 
the earth in the open firmament of heaven." And again, " God said. Let 
the earth bring- forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping 
thing, and beast of the earth after his kind : and it was so." 



78 HTDROLOGT OF SOUTH A7BI0A. 

" After the deposition and upheaval of the carboniferous system," s 
Page, " a new era occurs in the history of the globe. Overlying the c 
measures in some places conformably, and in others not, there appears a 
of red sandstones, variegated (yellow, purple, and greenish) shales, thi 
bedded magnesian limestones of a cream colour — all of which present 
aspect not to be mistaken for any previous system of strata. As to tl 
organic remains : there are a few species of marine zoophytes, shells, i 
fishes, but scarcely a trace of vegetation, showing that the conditions wh 
gave birth to the exuberance of terrestrial plants during the coal era 1 
undergone an extensive and peculiar change. To these red sandstoi 
magnesian limestones, and mottled shales, the term ^ew Bed Sandsi 
System has been applied, in contradistinction to the Old Red which unde 
the carboniferous strata. 

" The extent of country over which this system is spread is not ^ 
ascertained. Slight traces of it occur on the western coast and islands 
Scotland, and on the Fife shores of the Forth ; it occupies a wider area 
the basin of the Solway and its tributaries ; spreads largely over the cen 
districts of England from the Tyne southwards ; and is found in the nortJ 
Ireland. Extensive areas are covered by it in the continent of Europe- 
France, Germany, Poland, along the flanks of the Alps, in Austria, i 
between the Volga and the Ural mountains ; and, according to I 
fessor Hitchcock, it is spread over considerable spaces in some of the ri 
valleys of the United States. 

" The physical aspect of New Red Sandstone districts, as may be con; 
tured from the limited force of the igneous rocks, is rather flat and gen 
There are no picturesque craigs, mountain ranges, or deep ravines 
diversify the scenery ; which consits of rounded terraces of magnesian li] 
stone, and level expanses of Red Sandstone and shales, here and tt 
dotted with a gentle eminence of limestone or gravel. Over the limest 
the sward is thick and verdant, and the soil above the red sandstone ij 
average fertility ; but where the retentive shales spread out in flat hollc 
they form the basis of extensive morasses — as, for example, those of so 
Lancashire, in England." 

At Enon, and at Bushman's River, and at the Knysna are beds of ( 
glomerate which have been identified with the New Red Stone formati< 
and which must have been deposited long after the formation of the < 
measures. The thickness of these is unknown, but Mr Wylie conjectu 
that they might be in the aggregate about 300 feet — a measurement trif 
compared with the 1000, 1800, and 4000 of which we have previously 
occasion to speak, — but requiring for the deposition of their constituen 
length of time of which it is diflicult for us to form a conception. 

During the period of the deposit of this formation the districts in wl 
it occurs appear to have been covered, and covered deep, with still wat 
What few fossils have been found in the strata tell of progress. - "V^ 
calamites, like those of the coal formation, are mingled cycas-like pla 
— plants of the same order as the zamia, or encephalartos, the kafferhroo 
the Eastern province. But like the vegetation of the coal era the plants of 
New Red Stone are chiefly vascular cryptogamia, with traces of marine pla 

The most important minerals of this formation which have commer 
value are magnesia and rock-salt. Of this Page writes : — 

" The formation of rock-salt is a subject, in connection with this syst 
which has much engaged the attention of speculative geologists. ' 



GEOLOOIOAL OBBBBVATIONS. 79 

sandstone and marls with which it is associated are eyidently derived from 
deposition in water ; but the irregularity of the salt beds, the fact of their 
occurring in masses of vast thickness, and the soluble nature of the 
compound, all point to a somewhat different origin. At present, salt lakes 
and superficial accumulations of salt occur in various parts of the world, 
and these have furnished data for reasoning as to the saliferous deposits of 
earlier eras. Salt lakes are chiefly derived from salt springs, and being 
subjected to the vaporising influence of the sun, which carries off* only fresh 
vapour, their waters become in time saturated with saline matter. But 
Tatar can hold only a fixed amount of salt in solution \ and so soon as this 
amount is attained, the salt begins to fall to the bottom by its own gravity. 
In the course of ages, these layers will form a thick bed, iiiterstratified, it 
may be, with mud^ or other earthy sediment ; and if the lake should be 
ultimately dried up, the salt will constitute a deposit something analogous 
to the rock-salt of the New Red Sandstone. Such is the process which 
some geologists have advanced to account for the formation of rock-salt — 
supposing that portions of the seas of deposit were occasionally cut off" from 
connection with the main ocean, and subjected to a rapid evaporating power, 
without receiving fresh accessions of water. The limited extent of rock-salt 
basins seems to favour such a theory ; but when we consider the frequency 
of disturbance by volcanic forces in earlier ages, and the fact of many of 
these deposits occurring near to, or in connection with, mountain elevations, 
it is more than probable that igneous action, as well as a high atmospheric 
temperature, had to do with their formation. If such were the origin of 
rock-salt, it must have been formed during the deposition of other systems 
than the New Red Sandstone ; and this geological research has confirmed ; 
for, although the most extensive accumulations do occur amid the sandstones 
and shales of the system imder review, still, deposits of considerable thick- 
ness are found in connection with oolite, green-sand, and tertiary rocks, 
while numerous salt springs issue from the carboniferous strata. 

"The formation of magnesian hmestone has also given rise to several 
theories. Minute quantities of magnesia occur variously combined in the 
crust of the earth ; but only in the limestones of this system is it sufficiently 
developed to constitute a peculiar and distinguishing feature. The most 
prevalent hypotheses advanced to account for this peculiarity are — first, 
that the carbonate of magnesia was deposited at the same time as the 
carbonate of lime ; and, second, that it was subsequently injected in the 
form of gaseous vapour. Neither hypothesis seems to account for all the 
phenomena presented ; although the former is that which admits of most 
extensive apphcation." 

Another peculiarity of these strata is the occurrence in them of what are 
called Ichnites. 

" Ichnites, or fossil footsteps, present a curious example of the means by 
which geologists are enabled to decipher the history of the earth. Most 
people must have observed how distinct the impressions of the feet of birds 
and other animals are often left on the mud or sand of ebbing rivers. K 
this mud should remain exposed to the sun and air till sufficiently dried, 
and then be overlaid by some new sediment, the impression of the foot will 
form a mould into which the new matter will be deposited. Should the 
two layers ever be consolidated into stone, on being separated the one would 
present a mould, and the other a cast of the footsteps ; and tlus is precisely 
what takes place among the strata of the earth's crust. Fossil footsteps 



80 HYDROLOGY OP SOUTH APWOA. 

have been discovered in the New Red Sandstone of Cocklemuir in Dumfri^ 
shire, and in that of Hildburghausen in Saxony, supposed to be those 
reptiles ; hence termed sauroidichnites. Others have been detected in fc:^ 
sandstones of Connecticut, United States, and ascribed to gigantic bi^ 
allied to the ostrich family; consequently called ornithichnites, from "^ 
Greek words ornis, a bird, and icknon, a trace or footprint. To tb^ « 
Professor Hitchcock adds a third class, tetrapodichnites, or the footsteps, 
some unknown four-footed animal." 

In regard to South Africa, to quote fix)m a letter appended to my Be^^ 
as Colonial Botanist in 1863 : — 

" In several parts I have found a salt efflorescence on the soil ; bub 
other parts there are saltpans, fix)m which there is obtained, and maj^ 
obtained continuously, an unlimited supply of salt for sale. 

" I visited the saltpan at Bethelsdrop, and I found the salt for more t.'hii 
a mile covering the dry portion of the valley like snow. The salt whicli j 
solid is raked from the water like the half-melted snow with wiiicJ 
occasionally rivers and pools in Britain are filled. It requires no furtiei 
preparation if it has been washed from sand, and it is sent off in waggon 
loads to Port Elizabeth, which is not ten miles distant. 

" The production of this salt cannot be accounted for on the supposition 
that it is brought thither by streams from the surface. Within the memoi5 
of inhabitants of Bethelsdrop the saltpan was a fr^sh-water pool. 

" I can best account for what I have seen by supposing that the wate^ 
communicates by cracks in the bed of the lake with a bed of rock-salt n(^ 
far from the surface, and a saturated solution being made when the water t< 
most abundant, the evaporation during the dry seasons occasions th^ 
deposit of salt. Not many miles distant are two more pans, one larger, th^ 
other smaller. Upon these I look as indications that the bed of salt is ol 
considerable extent ; the correctness of my surmise can easily be tested by 
boring ; and should there be found not far from the surface a bed of salt of 
considerable thickness, I have no doubt it would be found Inghly remuner- 
ative to work it." 

Among other ichnites preserved in this formation are footprints of birds 
of the existence of which we have now no earlier indications. And thus does, 
Hugh Miller tell of the changes which have meanwhile passed upon 
the world : — " Whilo the fourth evening has fallen on the prophet, he 
becomes sensible, as it wears on, and the fourth dawn approaches, that jei 
another change has taken place. The Creator has spoken, and the stan 
Jook out from openings of deep imclouded blue ; and as day rises, and th< 
planet of morning pales in the east, the broken cloudlets are transmuted 
from bronze into gold, and anon the gold becomes fire, and at length the 
glorious sun arises out of the sea, and enters on his course rejoicing. It is 8 
brilliant day ; the waves, of a deeper and softer blue than before, dance and 
sparkle in the light ; the earth, with little else to attract the gaze, has as- 
sumed a garb of brighter green ; and as the sun declines amid even richer 
glories than those which had encircled his rising, the moon appears full- 
orbed in the east, — to the human eye the second great luminary of the 
heavens, — and climbs slowely to the zenith as night advances, shedding its 
mild radiance on land and sea. 

" Again the day breaks ; the prospect consists, as before, of land and 
ocean. There are great pine woods, reed-covered swamps, wide plains, 
winding riyers, and broad lakes ; and a bright sun shines over all. But the 



GEOLOOIOAL OBSERVATIONS. 81 

mdscape derives its interest and novelty from a feature unmarked before. 

xigantic birds stalk along the sands, or wade far into the water in quest of 

iheir ichthyic food ; while birds of lesser size float upon the lakes, or scream 

discordant in hovering flocks, thick as insects in the calm of a summer 

eyening, over the narrow seas, or brighten with the sunlight gleam of their 

wings the thick woods. And ocean has its monsters : great * tanninum * 

tempest the deep, as they heave their huge bulk over the surface, to inhale 

the hfe-sustaining air ; and out of their nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a 

'seething pot and cauldron.' Monstrous creatures, armed in massive 

scales, haunt the rivers, or scour the flat rank meadows ; earth, air, and 

water are charged with animal life ; and the sun sets on a busy scene, in 

which unerring instinct pursues unremittingly its few simple ends, — the 

support and preservation of the individual, the propagation of the species, 

and the protection and maintenance of the young." 

"After the deposition of the New Red Sandstone," says Page, " a further 

Aange was effected upon the general conditions of the globe, so as to produce 

not only an entirely different set of strata, but also different races of plants 

and animals. In most districts, the red sandstones and magnesian limestone 

were upheaved, to form new land, while portions of the former dry land 

were submerged beneath the ocean. By this process of elevation and 

depression the courses of previous rivers would be altered, former seas 

circumscribed and rendered more shallow, plants and animals subjected to 

a new distribution, and thus a different set of deposits would necessarily 

ensue. Instead of magnesian rocks, we have dark argillaceous and oolitic 

limestones ; for variegated saliferous marls, we have blue pyritous clays ; 

ind instead of red and mottled sandstones, yellow calcareous grits. All 

this points to a new epoch in the terrestrial conditions of the world ; and to 

the system of strata thus deposited geologists apply the term oolitic 

(Gr., oon, an egg, and lithos, a stone), from the resemblance which the 

texture of many of the beds bear to the roe or eggs of a fish. Oolite, or 

foestone, is an aggregate of rounded calcareous particles, varying from the 

size of a millet-seed to that of a marble — the smaller being almost perfectly 

spherical, the larger irregular, and having their interstices filled with 

calcareoils matter or broken shells." 

These also find their representatives in South Africa. At Sunday's 
riyer, Bushman's river, the Koega, and Swartzkop, are beds of an aggregate 
thickness of 400 feet, which have been identified with the Jurassic, which is 
anoohtic, formation. 

" The extent of country occupied by the oolite is by no means extensive, 
though partial deposits are very generally disseminated over the globe. It 
is most fully developed in England, occupying the eastern sea-board from 
Yorkshire to Dorset ; it occurs in a small patch at Brora in Sutherland, in 
Skye, and other of the Hebrides, and partially in Ireland and Wales. 
Portions of the system are also found in France and Germany ; skirting the 
Alps j in Spain and the Balearic islands ; flanking the Apennines and Atlas 
range ; on the southern slope of the Himmalehs ; but no true equivalents 
to the European oolite have hitherto been detected in America." 

The beds at Sunday's river contain, together with marine shells, fossil- 
wood and land plants, which shows that it was a marine and not a 
lacustrine or alluvial deposit, and that though found in the depths of the 
sea there was dry land not far off. And thus are we brought to the close 

K 



82 HTDBOLOOT OF SOUTH A7BI04. 

of another protracted period of the world's history — ^that known as th« 
period of the secondai^ formation, separated from the so-called primary 
formations — ^the gneiss, the schists, and the slates — by the so-called transi- 
tion series, the Cambrian, the Silurian, and the Devonian or Old Bed 
Sandstone formations, — and including the mountain limestone, the coal 
measures, the New Red Sandstone, the saliferous marls, the oolite 
limestones and grits, covered by green sandstone and chalk beds, seen in 
J;he chalk cliffs which have given to England the name of Albion. 

All this must have occurred very long anterior to the creation of 
man. But we are not without indications of what occurred in the interval 

Near Oliphant's Hoek are beds of marine clay and limestone, and at the 
Cape Flats are beds of lignite and clay; all of which, together with the 
Tygervley sandstone, have been identified with the formations of the 
Tertiary period. 

According to the statement of Page : — " The tertiary system comprises all 
the regular strata of limestone, marl, clay, sand, and gravel which occur 
above the chalk. Before the labours of the celebrated Cuvier and M, 
Brogniart, these beds were regarded as mere superficial accumulations, not 
referrible to any definite period. Now, however, they are recognised as con- 
stituting a distinct formation — differing from the cretaceous not only in its 
mineral composition, but in the higher order of organisms which it contains, 
and from the superficial sands and clays, in being regularly stratified, and 
in imbedding the remains of animals distinct from existing races. In 
general the strata are loosely aggregated, are of no great Uiickness, and 
present appearances which indicate frequent alternations of marine and 
fresh-water agencies. Thus, marine remains are found in some beds, while 
others contain exclusively land animals and plants, and fresh-water shells. 
The whole suit being less consolidated than any of the secondary systems, 
and containing plants and animals approaching to existing forms, it presents 
a freshness of aspfect which serves to distinguish it from older deposits ; at 
the same tin..? the regularity of its deposition prevents it from being mis- 
taken for any mere alluvial accumulation. In gene "al it occupies very 
limited and detached areas, as if it had been formed in shallow inland seas 
and estuaries, to which the waters of the ocean at times had access, and 
where at other periods fresh-water inundations prevailed. Another essential 
difference between the tertiary and the more ancient formations consists in 
the fact, that the latter maintain a wonderfril uniformity in their composi- 
tion and character all over the globe ; whereas the former present almost as 
many distinctions in composition as there are areas of deposit. For this 
reason it is impossible to give a description applicable to all tertiary strata ; 
those of England and France, however, may be taken as types sufficiently 
characteristic. 

" Respecting the composition of the system, arenaceous and argillaceous 
beds may be said to prevail, with interstratified limestone, calcareous grits, 
and marls. The arenaceoics members are either pebbly conglomerate of a 
rusty yellow, or sands little indurated and variously tinted by the oxide and 
silicate of iron. The sands are seldom sufficiently consolidated to form sand- 
stone ; and the conglomerates are often mere layers of rolled pebbles, 
without any cementing matrix. The argillaceous beds also present many 
Tarieties ; some being almost pure laminated clay of a dull blue coIouTi 
others of a brownish tint, with a slight admixture of sand, while many 



GEOLOGIOAL OBBERTATlOKe. 



83 



pass into marls more or tesi calcareous, l^onB of thesa days are so compact 
as to form ehaleg ; indeed lanuiiation is more frequently abseil t than other 
wise, there being nothing except their fossils and associated beds to dis- 
tinguish them from the clays of subsoqueut alluvial valleys. The eulcareouM 
layers are atiB more varied in their composition and aspect, and bear no re- 
eemblance to the indurated half-crystalline limestones of older formations. 
The marine limestone of the Paris basin ia of a coarse sandy texture ; that 
of Austria a rough corraline rock : the freah- water beds near Weimar are 
hard and compact ; those of other districts are soft, marly, and full of 
sheila. In some localities marls are so calcareous as to be used as lime- 
stone, while in others they pass into soft friable clays. From this extreme 
^liversity of composition, it is evident that many agencies have been con- 
cerned in the deposition of the tertiary system, and that most of them have 
been of a local chaxacterj producing results not differing widely from those 
of the present day* , . . 

" As to the extent of oonntry occupied by tertiary deposits, there is yet 

m very accurate knowledge, inasmuch as many sands and clays^ now 

regarded as the alluvinm of existing yalleys, may hereafter be referred to 

tiiis ajBtem ; and several areas of gravel, now looked upon as tertiary, be 

classed with more recent accumulations. As dt^vcloped in Europe, the 

ttjstem spreads over wide areola, all remarliable for their conformation and 

ooonection with the outline of existing aeaid. Indeed, were the islands and 

continent of Europe to be submerged to the depth of 600 or 800 feet, the 

waters of the German, Baltic, English Channel, and Mediterranean seas, 

would cover most of the tertiary strata, showing that, with the exception of 

the general elevation which raised them into dry land, there has been 

comparatively littlo subterranean disturbance since the time they were 

deposited. In BriUiin the formation is exhibited iu Hampshire, Ible of 

Wiglit, in the basin of London, and from the Thames northwards along the 

coast to the mouth of the Yare; but baa not been detected either in 

Ireland or Scotland, though sevei-al gravel and clay deposits in the latter 

couniry may yet be discovered to belong to the same era. It occura 

interest iagly developed near Paris i trends along the north coast of France, 

Belgium, Westphalia, Holstein, and Jutland, in apparent connection with 

the German Ocean j spreads over the level tract lying between the Baltic 

and Northern Ocean in Russia ; and occupies the greater portion of the 

ceotral flats which lie between the Baltic and Black seas. Besides these 

esipaiises, there are many secluded patches along the valleys of the Rhone 

mid Danube, the Swiss lakes, and the Italian shores of the Mediterranean. 

The system has also been detected along the southern basis of the 

Hiinmalehs, and in several of the North American valleys ; fmd when 

geological research has been further extended, there ia httle doubt of its 

being discovered in other (Quarters of the world. In speaking of the extent 

of country occnpied by deposits of iucoherent sands, majls, and clays, like 

those of the tertiary epoch, it must be borne in mind how much more waste 

they would suffer by denudation than the older and more consolidated 

strata. No doubt eveiy rock system, on its being elevated into dry land, 

must have suffered diminution by denuding causes ; but most of all those 

whose materials are loosely aggregated like the strata now under review/* 

Of this period Hugh Miller w^rites ■ — " The curtain drops over this 
ancient Flora of the Oolite in Scotland ■ and when, long after, there ii a 
t»>nier of the thick enveloping screen withdrawn, and we catch a partial 



84 HYDROLOGY OP SOUTH AFRIOA. 

glimpse of one of the old Tertiary forests of our country, all is new. Trees 
of the high dicotyledonous class, allied to the plane and the buckhom, prevail 
in the landscape, intermingling, however, with dingy funereal yews ; and the 
ferns and equiseta that rise in the darker openings of the wood approach to 
the existing type. And yet, though eoiis of the past eternity have elapsed 
since we looked out upon Cycas and Zamia, and the last of the calamites, 
the time is still early, and long ages must elapse ere man shall arise out of 
the dust, to keep and to dress fields waving with the productions of yet 
another and different Flora, and to busy himself with all the labour which 
he taketh under the sun. Our country, in this Tertiary time, has still its 
great outbursts of molten matter, that bury in fiery deluges, many feet in 
depth and many square miles in extent, the debris of wide tracts of wood- 
land and marsh ; and the basaltic column still forms in its great lava bed ; 
and ever and anon as the volcanic agencies awake, clouds of ashes darken 
the heavens, and cover up the landscape as if with the accumulated drifts 
of a protracted snow-storm. Who shall declare what, throughout these 
long ages, the history of creation has been 1 We see at wide intervals the 
mere fragments ' of successive Floras ; but know not how what seem the 
blank interspaces were filled, or how, as extinction overtook in succession 
one tribe of existences after another, and species, like individuals, yielded to 
the great law of death, yet other species were brought to the birth, and 
ushered upon the scene, and the chain of being was maintained unbroken. 
We see only detached bits of that green web which has covered our earth ever 
since the dry land first appeared ; but the wel5 itself seems to have been 
xjontinuous throughout all time ; though ever, as breadth after breadth issued 
from the creative loom, the pattern has altered, and the sculpturesque and 
graceful forms that illustrated its first beginnings and its middle spaces have 
yielded to flowers of richer colour and blow, aijd fruits of fairer shade and 
outline ; and for gigantic club-mosses stretching forth their hirsute arms, 
goodly trees of the Lord have expanded their great boughs ; and for the 
barren fern and the calamite clustering in thickets beside the waters, or 
spreading on flowerless hill-slopes, luxuriant orchards have yielded their 
ruddy flush, and rich harvests their golden gleam." 

All the fossil remains of these deposits, those of vegetable and animal 
structures alike, are much more like to the corresponding structures of the 
present than were those of earlier ages. 

According to linger, what is called the Eocine fossil flora resembles much 
that of Australia at the present day, and the Tertiary flora has a marked 
resemblance to that of North America. 

Page writes, " Of the conditions of the world during the deposition of the 
tertiary strata, we are enabled to form some estimate from the nature of 
their fossils, and from the peculiar composition and aggregation of their 
rocky materials. So far as Europe is concerned, part of the existing land 
must have been then elevated above the waters, forming a series of insular 
ranges, with flat valleys and shallow seas between. From these islands, 
and from continents now submerged, rivers of considerable extent seem to 
have borne sand, clay, and vegetable debris, and to have deposited them in 
the seas and estuaries,- while gravel, flint pebbles, broken corals, and shells, 
were strewn along the shore by ordinary littoral influences. Such materials 
would give rise to beds of sand, clay, gravel, lignite, and calcareous con- 
glomerate, enclosing marine remains, with others of fresh-water ai^ji terres- 
trial origin brought down by the rivers. But several tertiary basins exhibit 



aSOLOOIOAL OBSBBVATIONB. 85 

strata of decided fresh-water origin, alternating with others as decidedly 
marine ; and to account for this phenomenon, we must have recourse to 
another set of agents. In the deltas of many modem rivers, like that of 
the Niger, lagoons of fresh-water are frequently cut off from connection 
either with the branches of the river or with the ocean, and in these myriads 
of shell-fish, aquatic plants, crocodiles, hippopotami, and other fresh-water 
and amphibious races abound. At some subsequent period the connection 
with the ocean is renewed — there being in general only a slight eminence 
of mud or sand to separate them — and thus the succeeding deposits assume 
a character decidedly marine. By these means it is easy to conceive how 
alternations of marine and fresh-water strata would occur ; and particularly 
when we know that the south of Europe (central France and the Alps) was 
during the tertiary era subjected to extensive volcano disturbances, which 
would give rise to frequent submergences and elevations. We are thus 
enabled to account for the composition and aggregation of the tertiary 
strata ; and when we reflect on their comparatively recent origin, and the 
fact that they are in many places not overlaid by other material, there is no 
difficulty in perceiving how they should be so loose and incoherent in their 
texture. Again, when we look at the nature of their fossils, we are led to 
associate with them ideas of a warm and genial climate. The lands which 
furnished the cycadese, palms, cocoa nuts, and monkeys of the English 
tertiaries, and the mastodons, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, croco- 
diles, and turtles of the Paris basin, must have enjoyed a temperature 
similar to that of the present tropics. The beds of lignite bear evidence of 
a luxuriant vegetation for the support of so many huge graminivora ; while 
the presence of birds, insects, and the higher orders of mammalia, point to 
atmospheric and other vital conditions little different from those now 
existing. In fact, we find in the deltas of the Ganges and Niger — in their 
jungles, lagoons, and swamps — in their elephants, hippopotami, and croco- 
diles — almost perfect analogies to those estuaries and shallow seas in which 

the tertiary strata of Europe were deposited 

" After the deposition of the Tertiary Strata, a great change took place 
in the relative distribution of land and ocean. Most parts of Europe, 
America, and the other continents were elevated above the waters ; other 
regions seem to have been submerged, and an arrangement of physical 
conditions estabhshed not differing widely from those now existing. But 
these new conditions did not for an instant arrest the degrading and trans- 
porting power of water, the wasting effects of the atmosphere, the disturbing 
efforts of volcanoes, or the progressive development of organic life ; the same 
agents which had exerted themselves, from the beginning of time, in 
modiifying the physical features of the world, continued their career, only 
differing in power and degree according to this new arrangement. Thns, 
accumidations of sand, gravel, clay, vegetable and animal matter, took place 
above the previously deposited strata — every river, lake, sea-shore, shell- 
bed, coral-reef, and peat-i][^oss, contributing its peculiar quota." 

One of the deposits of this period is that of blocks of stone, far from the 
mountains whence they had been borne, and dark tenaceous clays. Of this 
Page writes, — " The terms * erratic block group,' * boulder formation,' 
* diluvium,' and * diluvial drift,' are indiscriminately given by geologists to a 
thick mass of dark tenaceous clay which overlies extensive districts, inter- 
mingled with numerous boulders hayiiig a rounded and water-worn 



86 HTDBOL06T OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

appearance. There is nothing like regularity of deposit in this formation, 
unless it may be said that it attains the greatest thickness and uniformily 
of composition on extensive plateaus like those of the coal measures, at the 
eastern extremity of certain valleys, and on the south-eastern flank of hilb 
belonging to the secondary period. The clay is generally of a dark blue 
colour, though in some localities it assumes a reddish hue. There aie no 
lines of lamination in the mass, and no appearances of stratification, unless 
in some districts where there is a sort of natural division into * upper and 
lower clays ' — the lower being dark and more compact, the upper lighter 
in the hue, and separated from the other by a thin reddiiah streak. 
Waiving these minutice, the whole may be described as a covering of 
compact dark clay, from 10 to 120 feet in thickness, full of boulders and 
rolled stones from the size of an egg to many tons in weight ; these blocks 
occupying the bottom, middle, or smface of the mass, without regard to 
gravity or any other law of arrangement. The boulders are of granite, 
syenite, primitive greenstone, gneiss, mica schist, and other crystalline rocks 
of a hard and durable texture. Limestone blocks are of very rare occurrence, 
and the more friable rocks of the upper formations are seldom or ever to 
be met with. This clay, with its intermingled boulders, generally rests 
upon the denuded outcrops or edges of the rock formations ; is sometimes 
imderlaid by masses of gravel ; and not unfrequently contains ' nests,' 
or irregular patches of roimded pebbles. 

" Besides these patches which are interwoven with the clay, there are 
independent accumulations of gravel, and rubbly masses of rock-fragments, 
which seem to have been formed contemporaneously with the boulder-day^ 
and by the same agency. In Britain such accumulations generally occupy 
the eastern proximity of longitudinal valleys, where they form curious 
ranges of flat-topped hillocks; abut against the base of some mountain; or 
gather, without regard to any order of arrangement, along the eastern ^Etnk 
of those trap hills which present a bold front or * crag * to the westward. 
They are found for the most part in more open situations than the clay, as 
if they had been arrested in their progress eastward by prominences and 
shallows, while the clays were borne to deeper and more sheltered recesses. 
Like the dark clays, they are destitute of organic remains, their larger 
pebbles are derived from primitive rocks, interspersed with fragments of 
sandstone, shale, and coal from the secondary formations. 

" To account for the origin of the group thus described, many theories 
have from time to time been advanced, of which only two deserve notice, as 
being at all adequate to the purpose intended. The first is that which sup- 
poses a set of powerful currents to have passed over Britain and ihe 
adjoining continent ; these currents taking a course from the north and north- 
west towards the south and south-east, and sweeping before them clay, sand, 
gravel, and loose blocks, which were deposited, as the force of the waters 
abated, without any order or arrangement. How long the currents con- 
tinued, theorists do not aver ; but from the water-worn aspect of the 
boulders and gravel, an indefinite period is allowed. With respect to the 
direction of the drifting force, little doubt is entertained, for many reasons : 
— 1. Blocks of granite, gneiss, <fec. which must have been derived* from 
the Grampians, are foimd scattered along the eastern lowlands of 
Scotland; primitive rocks from the Lammermuir and Cheviot ranges 
are detected in the vale of the Tweed and in Northumberland ; otlvBts 
from the Cumberland mountaow are widely dispersed over Duriiam 



aEOr/)0ICAr OB8EHVATtO»B. 



87 



t 



ABd the eaflt of Yorkshire ) boulders &om tb^ Welsh range are found m the 
midland comities of England ; while the erratio blocks of Friesland and 
Germany point to the Scandinavian ridge as the sonrce firom which thej 
were derived. 2. Those hills which range east aod west have, without 
exception, their western brows swept bare, while their eastern flanks are 
thickly strewed with gravel and boulders. 3. Manj accumulations of 
gravel hear evidence of their having been piled up by a force from the north- 
west, 4, Blocks evidently derived from the outcrops of certain strata are 
often found among the debris a few yarda to the aouth-eost, showing clearly 
that the transporting power passed over them from the north-west, 5. The 
supposed currents have been modified in their direction by ranges of hills j 
so as to set the volume of water with gi'eater rapidity down the valleys 
which lie between them, as the greatest accumulationa of drift tiud boulders 
are found at the eastern extremities of such gorges and y alleys. But while 
no doubt is entertained either as to the agency of water in tlie formation of 
these accumulations^ or as to the direction in which the waters flowed, great 
difficulty is felt in conceiving any current sufficiently powerful to sweep be- 
fore it blocks of several tons weight, and that over heights aud hollows for 
many hundreds of miles. Indeed it seems impossible to reconcile the theory 
of violent currents with the phenomena presented; for^ granting the occur- 
rence of some extraordinary cataclysm, during which the waters of the ocean 
were thrown over the land^ the ciurents must have abated in velocity as they 
drew to a close, leaving the detritus to arrange itself more in accordance with 
the laws of gravity than what is exhibited in a mass of clay aud boulders. 

" The second theory supposes that those portions of Europe now covered 
with erratic blocks were submerged after the deposition of the stratiiied 
formations ; that this submergence was caused by some extraordinary 
revolution in the planetary relations of our eaith ; that it was accompanied 
by a change of climate^ and other terrestrial conditions ; that wbOe in this 
statej icebergs and avalanches formed around the earlier mountains which 
were still left above water ; and that these icebergSj as they were loosened 
from the shore hy the heat of summer, and floated southward by the 
currenta of the ocean, dropped their burden of boulders aud gnivel precisely 
aa Captain Scoresby found modem icebergs dropping their debris 
in the uothem seas, and as the officers of the recent Antartic expedition 
observed similar phenomena in the Southern Polar Occam It is fmther sup- 
posed, that while icebergs distributed the erratic blocks and other del}ng in 
deep waters, avalanches and glaziers were forming moraines of gmvel in the 
TaUeys of the then existing land analogous to what is observed in the alpine 
glens of Switzerland, Again, one cannot read Mr Siinpsou's account of 
the shores of the Polar Seas, and learn that the ice formed during 
winter oyer whole leagues of gravely breaks up dmi-ing the summer, and is 
blown on the beach by winds, or piled up by the tides, where, melting, it 
leaves long flat-topped ridges, without perceiving a wonderful resemblance 
between these eflbcts and the long singularly-shapen ridges of ' lieliivial * 
gray eh According to this theory, it is easy to account for the south-east- 
wanl direction of the drift, for the Polar Ocean still maintnins its great 
southward current to the equatorial seas, modified, undoubtedly, in Ob 
course, by the inequalities of the bottom over which it passes. The chief 
difficulty to be obviated is the temporary diminution of temperature which 
the north of Europe must hare then experienced ; and this can only be 
accounted for by some derangement in the plant^tary relatit^ns of our globe. 



L 



88 HTDROLOOT OF 0OUTH AFRICA. 

'' Both th^ries are beset with many difficulties, and though the latter 
accounts more satisfactorily for most of the phenomena of the erratic block 
group, still there are many points respecting the distribution and extent of 
the deposit to be investigated before either can be finally adopted. All 
that can be affirmed in the present state of the science is the composition 
and natiu-e of the clay, gravel, and boulders, as above described — ^the course 
of the currents concerned in their deposition — ^the fact of the land having a 
configuration of hill and valley not differing much from what now exists — 
and the peculiar scantiness, if not total absence, of organic remains. If the 
latter theory be adopted, it is easy to perceive how the soft bottom of the 
ocean, as it was elevated into dry land, would be furrowed and channeled 
by the receding waters — here being swept bare of its mud, but retaining • 
the boulders ; there being covered by accumtdations of transportable clay 
and gravel; while the deeper hollows, being left undrained, would form 
lakes and morasses, which were in turn to be silted up by subsequent 
material." 

We have what may look like memorials of the drift period in South 
Africa in the bed of tenacious pit-clay, underlying a thin covering of soil, 
throughout extensive districts of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and 
in the boulders found on the Paarl and on the sides of Table Mountain and 
of the Lion's Head, at Wynberg, and at other places in the locality. But 
what is of more interest to us, in the study of the hydrology of the country 
is the circumstance that it has been conjectured that the drift period" was 
synchronous with the conversion of the Great Sahara from being a sheet of 
water of immense extent — well entitled, whether its waters were salt or 
fresh, to be called an inland sea — into a sandy desert ; and an attempt has 
been made to account for the cold of that glacial period by the existence of 
that sea. 

The Rev. Mr Ward, of Bridgenorth, in a paper which appeared in a 
number of the Jmirrud of Science for April 1861, says — "A large number 
of our most eminent geologists appear to have given in their adherence to 
the theory that the glacial epoch was coincident with the period during 
which the Sahara of North Africa formed the bed of an ocean or vast 
inland sea. Many, I believe, consider further that these physical conditions, 
so different from existing ones, were not merely coincident but were closely 
connected as cause and effect — that is to say, that the phenomena of the 
glacial epoch may (to a certain extent) be accounted for by the fact of the 
existence, during that epoch, of an expanse of water where now is to be 
found only one of sand." He goes on to say — " It would be needless for 
me to dwell on the facts and reasonings by which this theory is supported, 
for by this time they must be tolerably familiar to the readers of this 
periodical ; but so far as I am acquainted with what has been written on 
the subject, only the immediate and direct influence which the former of 
these states exerted on the climate and temperature of Southern, Western, 
and Central Europe has been touched upon, whereas it appears to me that 
the indirect influences must have been far greater and more widely felt." 

In illustration of his views he submits for consideration the following 
argument — " Everyone now-a-days is aware that the warm climate of 
Western and North Western Europe is owing to the gulf-stream." Of this 
gulf-stream he says — " Subsidiary causes there may be, but undoubtedly 
the main one is the north-east trade wind, blowing incessantly and with 
considerable force in the Atlantic, from a few degrees north of the equator 



OlOLOOICAL OBBBRTATIOira. 89 

to about th6^7th or 28th pasrallel. The effect of this steady pressure all 
in one direction, over so enormous an expanse of water, ... is an 
abnormal elevation of the water on the north-east coast of South America 
to the height of about 30 feet. . . . This enormous accumulation of 
water streams off northwards until, released from the pressure of the trade 
winds, but still retainingits northern impetus, it trends to the north-east, 
towards our own shores [Britain], Iceland, and even Spitzbergen." 

Enquiring then, " What causes the N. E. trade wind ]" he says, " Most 
geographers I believe will reply, without hesitation, mainly the Sahara." 
And he proceeds to account for its action by the general heat of the tropics. 
" The air throughout the whole of the tropics being heated, and thus 
rarified, ascends into the higher regions, and its place is supplied by the 
colder air streaming in from the north and the south. This simple state- 
ment, however, requires of course many modifications. I must confine 
myself to two immediately connected with our subject : — ^the first is this, 
as the air streams in from the arctic regions, where the velocity of the earth 
on its axis is small, to the tropical regions, where it is considerable, it is 
obvious that the motion of the earth from west to east being only partially 
communicated to the air, the latter will be left behind as it were — i.e., there 
will be an apparent motion in it from east to west on those parts of the 
earth's surface towards the equator. I^orth of the line, then, this westerly 
direction of the wind continued, with the southerly direction spoken of 
before, gives (by the well known mathematical parallelogram of forces) as a 
resultant a direction of the wind from the north-east — this is the trade 
wind of the North Atlantic." 

So far all is intelligible, and commands assent, but not so is it with what 
follows. " But next," says he, " let it be observed, this wind owes almost 
all its force to the fact of the enormous radiation of heat from the surface 
of the Sahara, causing a prodigious rarification in the atmosphere above it 
—hence a vehement impetus is given to the current of air traversing it from 
the north-east — that is to say to the wind, which, as we have seen by its 
action on the waters of the Atlantic, is the main cause of the Gulf Stream." 
It appears to me that Mr Ward over-estimates the effect of the Sahara in 
the production of the trade winds, which both in the northern and the 
southern hemispheres are produced by the ascending body of air over the 
whole longitudinal extent of the tropics. That that upward flow is likely 
to be much more marked over an expanse of sand than over an equal 
expanse of ocean is more than probable; but the hypothesis seems to 
assume that it bears a much greater proportion in its effects to the effects 
of that upward flow over the whole superficial extent of the tropics than I 
know facts sufficient to warrant me to believe. 

Further, I do not see how a vehement onward impulse can be given to a 
north-east wind advancing to the tropics by its traversing the Sahara, 
extending from 15° to 30° north latitude, while the ecliptic passes from 23|° N. 
to 23J° S. latitude. Toward the Sahara, extending from say 15° W. to 15° 
E. long., there may be an influx of air from all sides to follow the ascending 
column, or fill the vacuum occasioned by it ; this may be most powerful 
on the north-east side; but the effect may be appreciable, even if not 
perceptible, on all other sides beside. With these observations I resume 
the thread of the argument as laid down by Mr Ward : — 

" Suppose then the Sahara to be an expanse, not of sand as now, but as 
formerly, of watery what would be the results 1 The trade wind would cease, 

L 



90 HTDROLOOT OP SOUTH AFRICA. 

or be 80 reduced in strength as to exert but slight pressure on the surface 
of the Atlantic ; then, as a consequence the Gulf Stream would either cease 
or sink into insignificant dimensions ; the icebergs from Greenland, instead 
of being melted by the heated T^aters flowing towards the north, would 
encroach more and more southwards; the seas around our own island 
(Britain) and a portion of those more to the south would again present the 
character of an arctic or subarctic climate, at least as severe as that of 
Labrador in the same latitude, in short, — 

* Grave rediret sseculam,' — 

the phenomena of the glacial epoch would be renewed over the greater part 
of temperate Europe." 

The subject was taken up in a subsequent number of the same journal 
(p. 565), but I have not access to what was then written. 

In connection with the Hydrology of South Africa, I may mention that 
the project of converting the Sahara into an inland sea by a cutting through 
the mountain range which keeps from it the waters of the Mediterranean, 
which fill a basin at a higher level, has been submitted to men of science, to 
practical engineers, and to statesmen in Europe, by M. Leseep, the engineer 
to whom the world is indebted for the formation of the canal across the 
Isthmus of Suez ; and it was one of the subjects discussed at an international 
conference of geographers, hydrographers, and scientific travellers, held in 
Antwerp in the autumn of 1871. 

It is mentioned by Marsh, in his treatise on The Earth as Modified hy 
Human ActioHy that some interesting observations on the secular desiccation 
of the Sahara and of Persia are given in the L* Anriee Geographique for 
1873 (pp. 72 and 176). 

In regard to the project of converting it again into an inland sea, he 
writes : — " It is now established by the observations of Rohlf and others 
that Strabo was right in asserting that a considerable part of the Libyan 
desert, or Sahara, lay below the level of the Mediterranean. At some 
points the depression exceeds 325 feet, and at Siwah, in the Oasis of 
Jupiter Ammon, it is not less than 130 feet. It has been proposed to cut a 
canal through the coast dunes, on the shore south of the Syrtis Major, or 
Dshun el Kebrit of the Arabs ; and another project is to re-open the com- 
munication which appears to have once existed between the Palus Fritonis. 
or Sebcha el Nandid, and the Syrtis Parva." And he states in an 
appendix : — " The subject has been, at least, partially studied, has been 
entertained by the French Chambers, and has become a subject of much 
discussion. The most careful estimates I have seen allow to the new 
internal sea a length of 350 kilometres, a width of 60, and a depth of 
.from 40 to 60 metres [or about 200 miles long, 30 miles broad, and 150 
feet deep]. 

" There has been much wild conjecture in regard both to the ameliorating 
eflfects of such an expanse of water on the climate of Northern Africa, and the 
injurious consequences to Europe of the large addition of moisture to the 
atmospheric currents, which it is argued might increase the rain and snow 
on the Alps to a very prejudicial extent. The possibility of the scheme is 
by no means yet established, and the doubt whether it would be practicable 
to keep open, through the sandy isthmus, a channel wide enough to furnish 
a sufl&cient supply of water to counterbalance the evaporation deserves con- 
sideration." In the text he mentions : — " The rapid evaporation would 



GEOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 91 

require a constant influx of water from the Mediterranean, which might, 
perhaps, perceptibly influence the current through the Straits of Gibraltar." 
Such are the far-reaching consequences reckoned on ; and from such con- 
sequences being contemplated as possible consequences of the refilling the 
basin, there may be conjectured how great and far-reaching may have been 
the hydrological consequences of the drying up of that former sea. 

With a view to impressing these more deeply on the mind of any of my 
readers who may now, for the first time, have his thoughts directed to such 
subjects, I may bring under consideration consequences contemplated as 
possible should another basin in the vicinity of the Mediterranean be 
converted into an inland sea. 

In 1855 were published two volumes, entitled "The Dead Sea a new 
route to India." The project of the author, Captain Allan, was to connect 
the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, by a canal between the Mediterranean 
and the Dead Sea, and a canal between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea. 
The watershed between the latter is not less than 300 feet, but the summit 
level between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, near Jezreel, is believed 
to be little, if at all, more than 100 feet, above the sea; and writing on the 
question raised Mr Marsh says : — 

" Although, therefore, we have no reason to believe it possible to open a 
navigable channel to India by way of the Dead Sea, there is not much 
doubt that the basin of the latter might be made accessible from the 
Mediterranean. 

"The level of the Dead Sea lies 1316*7 feet below that of the ocean. It 
is bounded east and west by mountain ridges rising to the height of from 
2000 to 4000 feet above the ocean. From its southern end a depression, 
called the Wadi-el-Araba, extends to the Gulf of Akaba, the eastern arm of 
the Red Sea. The Jordan empties into the northern extremity of the Red 
Sea, after having passed through the Lake of Tiberias, at an elevation of 663*4 
feet above the Dead Sea — or 653*3 below the Mediterranean — and drains a 
considerable valley north of the lake, as well as the plain of Jericho which 
lies between the lake and the sea. If the waters of the Mediterranean were 
admitted freely into the basin of the Dead Sea, they would raise its surface 
to the ground level of the ocean, and consequently flood all the dry land 
below that level within the basin. 

" I do not know that accurate levels have been taken in the valley of the 
Jordan above the Lake of Tiberias, and our information is very vague as to 
the hypsometry of the northern part of the Wadi-el-Araba. As little do we 
know where a contour line, carried around the basin at the level of the 
Mediterranean, would strike its eastern and western borders. We cannot, 
therefore, accurately compute the extent of the now dry land which would 
be covered by the admission of the waters of the Mediterranean, or the area 
of the inland sea which would be thus created. Its length, however, would 
certainly exceed an hundred and fifty miles, and its main breadth, including 
its gulfs and bays, could scarcely be less than fifteen, perhaps even twenty. 
It would cover very little ground now occupied by civilized or even uncivilized 
Dian, though some of the soil which would be submerged — ^for instance, that 
watered by the Fountain of Elisha and other neighbouring sources — is of 
great fertility, and, under a wiser goveniinout and better civil institutions, 
might rise to importance, because, from its depression, it possesses a very 
warm climate, and might supply south-eastern Europe with tropical products 
laore readily than they can be obtained from any other source. Such a 



92 HTPBOLOGT OF SOUTH AFRIOA. 

canal and sea would be of no present oommercial importance, because they 
would give access to no new markets or sources of supply ; but when the fertile 
valleys and the deserted plains east of the Jordan shsJl be reclaimed to agri- 
culture and civilization, these waters would fiimish a channel of communica- 
tion which might become the medimn of a very extensive trade. 

" Whatever might be the economical results of the opening and filling 
of the Dead Sea basin, the creation of a new evaporable area, adding not 
less than 2000 or perhaps 3000 square miles to the present fluid surface of 
Syria, covQd not fail to produce important meteorological effects. The 
Qlimate of Syria would probable be tempered, its precipitation and fertility 
increased, the courses of its winds and the electrical condition of its atmos- 
phere modified. The present organic life of the valley would be extinguished, 
and many tribes of plants and animals would emigrate from the Medi- 
terranean to the new home which human art had prepared for them. It is 
possible, too, that the addition of 1300 feet, or forty atmosphers of hydro- 
static pressure upon the bottom of the basin, might disturb the equilibrium 
between the internal and the external forces of the crust of the earth at 
this point of abnormal configuration, and thus produce geological convulsions, 
the intensity of which cannot be even conjectured." 

This may show that there is much, very much, connected with hydrology 
involved in the remoter consequences which may have followed the drying 
up of the Sahara, and in the consequences which might follow the filling that 
basin with water from the Mediterranean. 

The drying up of the Sahara it has been attempted to identify with what 
is known to geologists as the Drift Period ; and with the consideration of this 
we are brought to the close of another epoch. To quote again from Hugh 
Miller — " Again the night descends, for the fifth day has closed ; and morning 
breaks on the sixth and last day of creation. Cattle and beasts of the field 
grajse on the plains; the thick-skinned rhinoceros wallows in the marshes; 
the squat hippopotamus rustles among the reeds, or plunges sullenly into 
the river ; great herds of elephants seek their food amid the young herbage 
of the woods ; while animals of fiercer nature, — ^the lion, the leopard, and 
the bear, — ^harbour in deep caves till the evening, or lie in wait for their 
prey amid tangled thickets, or beneath some broken bank. At length, as 
the day wanes and the shadows lengthen, man, the responsible lord of 
creation, formed in 6od*8 own image, is introduced upon the scene, and the 
work of creation ceases for ever upon the earth. The night falls once more 
upon the prospect, and there dawns yet another morrow, — ^the morrow of 
God's rest, — that Divine Sabbath in which there is no more creative labour, 
and which 'blessed and sanctified' beyond all the days that had gone 
before, has as its special object the moral elevation and final redemption of 
man. And over it no evening is represented in the record as falling, for its 
special work is not yet complete. Such seems to have been the sublime 
panorama of creation exhibited in vision of old to 

* The shepherd who first taught the chosen seed, 

In the Deginning how the heavens and earth 

Bose out of chaos ;' 

and, rightly imderstood, I know not a single scientific truth that militates 
against even the minutest or least prominent of its details.'' 



TBEfii OF OBBAT JU^E. 



n 



CHAPTER III. 



HfDICATIO^ErS OF THE FORMEH HTDROGRAPHIO COS^^DITION OF THE COUNTRY, 
BUPPLim? BY ABBOREaOENT rEODUOTlOKS F0T7ND IN THE INTERIOR 
OF SOUTH APRICA. / 

It was the branch of aii olive tree which told Noah of the assuaging of 
the waters of the deluge, and it happens to be clumps of olive trees to which 
I shall first have occasion to refer, as eupplyiug indications of such Bubsidence 
of the waters as thia chapter treats of. But let ns, ere we leave the 
geological observations cited, take a retrospective glaace at what has been 
rerealcd by them. 

Far back as are carried our thoughts hy physical geography when it is 
made to discourse of the former hydrographic condition of South Africa, to 
a period so much more I'cmote are they carried back by the geological 
phenomena which there pi's sent themselves when these are made to speak of 
the past^ that it tseems as if it were but yesterday that the dry land appeared ; 
wid we are brought, both by the one and by the others, to hear of eras, and 
[wriods, and times, for the representation of the duration of which we have 
m aumherSj and to form a definite conception of which we have no power — 
our conception of this lb as vague as is our conception of eteiiiity, in regard to 
which we speak of a i>ast eternity, and an eternity to come, and an eternal Noiv, 

But there are the voiceless, mute records looking as if they would compel 
m to read and think. And though *' There is no speech nor language ; 
their voice is not heard ; yet their line is gone out through aU the earth, and 
their words to the end of the world/' 

Passing without remark the gncles and schiets, while with dumb 
eloquence they solicit oui" attention, What a tale of duration of time is told 
by the strata of clay lying at the foot of Table Mountain, resting on the 
flanks of the protruding projected granite, by which it was upheaved and 
torn I And what a tale of dm^ation of time is told by that Mountain of Silurian 
deposit surmounting it, well-nigh a mile in thickness ! 

la the prevalence of sand io the strata with which this is capped, we find 
m indication of these having been covered hy shallower water than that 
iroDi suspension in which was deposited the clay, slate, and Silurian mud j 
aad in accordance with this we find in upper beds of this formation, seen 
elsewhere in the Colony, a rippled sandstone, like to what may be seen on 
the sea*shore of the present day. But the aggregate upper and lower 
Devonian deposits are 5100 feet or nearly a mile in thickness, and the time 
i*Bquired for the deposit of this is what is represented by those few cM-like 
irtiuta seen capping Table Mountain and the Lion's Head, 

But this is not all. There is an interval indicated by the composition of 
these strata w^hich must not be overlooked if we w^ould read the detaUe of 
the record* They may be conformable m their under surface to the upper 
lor&ce of the Silurian deposit, but it follows not that the pi'ooesi of deposit 



94 HYDB^DLOGT OF S0X7TH AFRICA.. 

was continuous. We have found it stated that the Dicynodon strata lie 
upon the Old Red Sandstone or Devonian formation, but we have seen 
enough to satisfy us that untold ages separated the eras of their deposit — 
and so was it here, or so at least it may have been. The mass of the 
mountain is Silurian, the capping strata belong to the Devonian or Old Red 
Sandstone formation ; and the difference of the fossils found in the one and 
fovmd in the other of these formations tell of the lapse of ages of the 
duration of which we can form no conception, but of which no other 
indication is here given ; and during this period the upper surface of the 
Silurian may have been above the water's surface, or may have received 
accessions which were subsequently washed away by the water's flow. 

Surmounting these, and of a deposit subsequent to them, we have the 
mountain limestone, 1000 feet in thickness, the lower Karroo shale, 800 
feet in thickness, and the coal mcivsures and upper Karroo shale, which 
together give an aggregate thickness of 6200 feet — together 8000 feet — or 
strata a mile and a third in thickness, deposited after dry land had 
appeared, before we come to the formation of the Dicynodon beds j and how 
long these took to silt up, who can tell ] 

But only South African deposits have thus been brought forward. 
Elsewhere, as has been stated, the Devonian or Old Red Sandstone strata 
are 8000 feet in thickness, surmounted by strata of carboniferous slates and 
yellow sandstone 2000 feet thick ; while the coal measures — consisting of 
shale, and sandstones, and grit, with intervening seams of coal — measure in 
Wales 15,000 feet in thickness, in all 25,000 feet, or well-nigh six miles in 
thickness; and the Permian system, so named from its being widely 
developed in the Kingdom of Permia, which extends for several hundred 
miles along the western flanks of the Uralian chain, and thence westward 
to the River Volga, and which seem to have been deposited cotemporaneously 
with the New Red Sandstone, is reckoned to be 1000 feet in thickness. 

All of these deposits tell of the lapse of time between the deposit of the 
strata capping Table Mountain and the Lion's Head and the deposits of the 
Dicynodon beds, supposed to have been the bottom of an ancient lake or 
inland sea, extending from the district of Cradock, if not farther to the 
south, to the district of the Zambesi, if not beyond it to the north. Of. 
this I have mentioned that, according to Professor Owen, there are good 
reasons for referring this formation to the age of the New Red Sandstone. 
The draining off of the waters must have taken place a very long time after 
the first formation of the lake, the thickness of the deposit being so great 
as it is. This may have been effected by the Zambesi, as was conjectured 
by Dr Livingstone. I have no means of determining the time, as 
indicated by geological observations made elsewhere, at which the waters 
were dried up ; but an attempt has been made to identify the disappearance 
of an inland sea supposed to have covered the Sahara with the close of the' 
drift or glacial period ; and coming nearer to our own times, we have, I 
think it not unlikely, a means of determining the time at which lakes and 
lakelets, the boimdaries of which in some cases are well defined, had subsided 
or sunk to levels not less well defined. 

From travellers in the interior of South Africa I have, in the prosecution 
of other researches, heard of groups of trees growing on low knolls in 
extensive plains, and on slightly elevated ground surrounding or lining such 
plains, wluch groups of trees present an appearance suggestive of their 



TBEBS OF OBBAT AOB. 95 

cdtes baying been fonnerly islands and banks of lakes. All tbe trees in eacb 
group are said to approximate a uniform magnitude, but the magnitude of 
the trees in diflferent groups varies much ; and these facts collectively have 
suggested to me the probability of the different groups of trees being the 
produce of seed which germinated after the waters had subsided to a level 
a little below the elevation at which they severally are situated. 

Much remains to be done for the verification of what is thus advanced, 
and of what is implied in the application proposed, but it appears not 
Tuireasonable to hope that, should such verification be obtained, we may, by 
determining the ages of the trees in the different groups, possibly obtain a 
series of measurements of the gradual subsidence of the waters once covering 
the land, and of the progressive desiccation of the country. 

With this caution or protest against premature reliance on results which 
may be obtained by the application of the supposed standard, I proceed to 
ahow the application of it which may be made. 

I was informed by the Kev. Chas. Murray that in travelling from the 
Cape Colony to Porcherfstrom, or Mooi-Rivers-dorp, he observed many trees 
of Olivienhout (Olea verrucosa Link), growing in remarkable quadrangular 
patches on the eastern slopes of hills, and on rising grounds. The trees in 
KHne of these he estimated to be of about 12 feet in girth. They were 
laige and old trees. He remarked that in general the trees of each patch 
were apparently of imiform magnitude, but that the magnitude of the trees 
in different patches varied considerably. The statement may appear vague ; 
I give it as I received it ; it was the statement of an intelligent traveller 
tkrough the district, observing what he saw, unbiased by any foregone con- 
elusion j and it was these observations, communicated to me by Mr Murray, 
which first suggested to me the views I have just advanced. These views 
subsequently received confirmation from my learning that numerous obser- 
Tations, similar to those mentioned to me by Mr Murray, had been made by 
the late Mr James Chapman, in journeys made by him far beyond the 
Colony, and noted by him, though he found nothing significant in the fact 
Mtil we had together talked over the matter; so- that he also was unbiased 
m the observations made by him. 

My conjecture is that the trees observed by Mr Murray commenced their 
growth when the slopes and rising grounds on which they stand were a little 
•bove the level of the waters covering the ground below — the seed having 
germinated before the land on which they grow had become anything like 
80 arid as it now is. And supposing such a position and condition of soil to 
have been characteristic of the land on which patches differing in magnitude 
lie found, at different periods, separated it may be by centuries, it seems 
to^oUow that the time which has elapsed between these different periods and 
the present might be ascertained, or determined approximately, by counting 
the number of concentric rings in the tnmks of the trees in different patches ; 
while the comparative thickness of rings in the same, or in trees felled in 
different patches, and the order in which these appear, might supply data 
for the solution of other questions connected with the progress of desiccation ; 
and this, even though it should turn out that these trees are only remains, 
and at the same time the only remains, of more extensive forests of which 
the other trees have perished by fire or otherwise. 

Mr Chapman had travelled extensively in the interior of the country 
heyond the Colony : he had travelled from Natal to the Zambesi, from the 



96 HTDBOLOOT 6t SOUTH AVRIOA. 

Zambesi to Walvisch Bay, and hither and thither in many directionft in die 
country between. From him I received much information on subjectiB 
embraced by Natural History which was afterwards verified by the observa- 
tions of others; while I never had information communicated by him 
subsequently disproved. 

By him I was informed that to the west of Lake Gnami are beds of 
limestone, on which grow a great many Motjcharra (Comhretumt) and 
Omboroomboongo (Acacia) trees, the former in clumps, and the latter around 
vleies or other spots where there is a moist soil. On intermediate ground is 
found in abundance the Haakdom (Acacia detinens) of a comparatively later 
growth. On elevations which appear to have been at one time islands are 
clumps of eight or ten baobab trees (Adanwnia digitata) with trunks 
averaging 60 feet in circumference, with bark nearly a foot in thickness, as 
is seen when, in accordance with the usuage of the nation, from time to time 
immemorable, vertical stripes have been cut oflf for fibres to be employed in 
the manufacture of bags and baskets; and over the whole district are 
scattered thickly trees of the Sweet Gum Acacia. 

To the westward of Twass is a sandy wilderness covered with trees of no 
great height, but amongst these appear here and there fine groups or small 
forests of Kameel doom (Acacia giraffaea). Near Elephant's Fountain these 
forests of Kameel doom are very extensive, and the trees are of considerable 
age. And the Karroo doom (Acacia horida) is conspicuous in the valleys 
and in the vicinity of vleies. To the west of Elephant's Fountain are here 
and there large trees of the same kind, and forests of smaller ones vaiyyig 
greatly in bulk and apparently in age ; but most or all of the trees in each 
clump, or patch, or forest are apparently all of the same age, suggestive of 
either a succession of periods of drainage, in accordance with the views now 
advanced, or the recurrence at lengthened intervals of seasons favourable to 
the germination of seed — ^there being neither young trees nor solitary trees 
of intermediate ages. 

In the course of his journey Mr Chapman travelled some way up the 
banks of the Shua, a large periodic stream flowing westward from the 
country of Moselekatsi. In the country through which that river flows he 
found large baobabs (Adansonia digitata) growing in the vicinity of 
springs and limestone rocks, and Mopani (Bauhinia) forests growing on level 
ground which looked like hardened mud containing a good deal of lime- 
stone, but near the river were only grassy plains, intersected by what appeared 
to have been river beds, and these were covered with an efflorescence of salt. 

It is conjectured that these baobabs grew on islands of limestone rocks 
rising above the waters of the lake, while these as yet filled the basin ; and 
that at a later period the mopani trees sprung up and grew while the waters 
were receding, and covered only the space now appearing as grassy plains ; 
and that these stood above the level of the waters while they still filled, and 
afterwards only partially filled, the river beds ; and that at a later period 
still did the waters left in them by the disturbance of level, evaporate and 
leave the efflorescence of salt. 

By sections of these baobabs and mopane trees interesting chronological 
data might be obtained. Nor is it the times of the more marked eras sJone 
which might thus be determined ; for, according to Mr Chapman's observa- 
tions, " The mopane trees are small in the lower portion of the Shua 
valley," — which is that part which would be longest under water — " but 
they are longer and stronger the higher that valley is ascended," — in 



JBTDICATlONa fttTPPLDSD BY TBEE8 OF GREAT AQE, U i 

ortioQ, ttat is, as the soil has been longer free finom the ctwemig of 

rater- — ** and very much longer in the vicinity of the River Nat6, which 
[»meB in a direction frcmi the town of Moaolekatzi, where they have attained 
a considerable magnitude f and sections of trees at different elevations might 
reveal approximately the respective periods at whicli the spot became fitted , 
by the draining off of the waters, for the production of these treca. 

Of tlie Mad^nisana and Kaleghari deaerts, he said— ** There are here 
ontinnous forests, but more frequently the trees are in clumps or patches, 
onaiating sometime a of one kind of tree and sometimes of several different 
kiiid« of these, with occaisionally solitary trees of gigantic growth towering 
above the others or standing in solitary grandeur. Some kinds are found 
covering mountain slopes, others are found on sandy plains, others near to 
ivera or river beds* and others in the neighhourhood of loeghtiea of greater 
' less extent j some iu all of these sitUiitions^ Init decreamnff in 7iumlftr or 
ftutgmtude, and peHmp» iucredaiiig in one of these particiil<irs whUe 
fdet^reoHiti^ in anothpr^ according as they grmo m&re near to OTie or otket* of 
tk !fiinatio?iS referred to.'' These may supply in a aimihar way chronological 
<itvta which might prove important In such an investigation, 

"To the stmth of Tsamasechie," he said, *^ there are found springs and 
, foniit-ains in the Band, and in some places immense ripple-iike parallel eleva- 
l^oui 30 or 40 feet high. On the tops of these are generally large trees 
^grtjwing, the most prevalent being the Knsh^ (Milletla Caffra) and the 
iihasbaugai while in the level plateau of sand between them, meaaiuring 
kthree, four, or five miles in breatdth, are forests of the Magonane (Grei&ta 
ami I) and in the valleys and depressions, in the soil of w^Mch water m 
bund near the surface, grgivs the Makow, 

** At Mottomoganyani, to the west of this, are beds of limestone like con- 
solidated mud. To the east is Moselekatzi's country. It is very level, and 
abounds in salt-pans and salt vleies, especially to the south, where they 
seem to represent the beds of ancient lakea. In the north are forests of 
mopane trees, but the moat characteristic arhoreseent feature of the country 
is baohabs growing on islands in these saltpans, and around the fountains, 
at a distance of about 200 feet, and slightly above the water's level," 

And in connection with the same thing he mentioned, " That to the 
north-eastward of this are incipient forests of very young mopane trees. 
No large trees, however, are there to be found/' 

These Mopane treea in other districts are found of a great magnitude. 
The youth of the forests found here I attribute to the comparatively recent 
time at which tbe ground had become suitable for the germination of the 
seed and the growth of the trees ; and in the drying up of the vley, within 
thememoi'y of the inhabitanta of tbe district, I aee an indication of the natural 
operation whereby this preparation of the soil w^as etfected, A section of 
the trunk of one of these mopane trees would reveal, by the number of con- 
centric rings in its substance, how long it has been growing there ; and 
from similar dat^ much might be collected in regard to the hydrography of 
,the disstnut* 

if this be admitted, as I doubt not it will^ and that at once, a ponderous 
irolume of hydrolpgic reoords ia at our commaild. 

In illuatratioii of the ^*vt that information bearing on the hydrology of 
South Africa, adilitional tu i-uvi dilferent from ivhat has been refen'od to, may 
obtained by thfi study of tht^ arborescent produotiona of the country, I 

M 



M STDBQLOOT OF SOUTH AVBIOA* 

'may mentkni I was told by Dr Fritsoh, that in traYelling in the distriot 
lying between Sicklagole and the Morizane, and between these riTers and 
tiie Molapo, he found a great many Kameel Dooms (Acada gytajfma)^ the 
typical form of which was a double-dome-shaped growth of branches, 
widely separated by a comparatiyely naked stivteh of trunk, the upper 
crown fiar overspreading the lower dome, the branches of which sometimes 
showed signs of decay, while those of the crown did not. Many branches 
were frequently seen strewn around the trees; these were apparency 
branches which had fallen by their own weight after decay had commenced ; 
and the &11 of these, it may be, had left the tree with its upper dome-shi^>ed 
umbrella-like crown supported by a naked trunkrising through the lower dome. 

Something similar to this has been seen elsewhere by Dr Moffiit and 
others, but tiie form was not the same, and it was exceptional, while this 
was characteristic of those found in the district marked out by the riyers 1 
have named ; and it was suggestive to me of a possibility that a lengthened 
period of ordinaiy growth on a dry soil and in an arid atmosphere, daring 
which the lower dome of branches was produced, had been suocedded by 
a period of abnormal growth, arising, it may be, out of an abundant or super- 
abundant supply of moisture, during which the general growth of brandieB = 
was more rapid — ^more rapid but less dense — ^the products of which were lees 
durable ; but the trunk or ascending axis, carried throughout this period of 
rapid growth to a higher and still a higher elevation, gave permanent sup- 
port to the larger and upper dome, produced during a subsequent period of 
comparative aridity extending to the present time, in accordance with the 
normal growth of the tree, being enabled to do so by the strength imparted 
by the exogenous layers of wood produced in it by the leaves, and twigs, 
and branches which it sustained, while the branches of intermediate growth, 
being liable to decay, and lacking these, fell. 

The correctness of this supposition might possibly be determined by 
inspection of a section of the trunk of one of these trees, and an examinsr 
tion of the concentric rings of which it is composed ; and if thus confirmed, 
we may find that we have in these data by which not a little might be learned 
in regard to the hydrographio condition of the country throughout the 
period of the growth of its trees. 

While this is stated, it is admitted freely that there is much connected 
with the conjecture which has been advanced — ^namely, that a section of the 
trunk of trees growing in such clumps as have been referred to, by revealing 
the number of concentric rings of which it is composed, and thus revealing 
its age, might be made to reveal the period at which the waters had 
subsided to a level a little lower than that on which it stands, — ^which 
requires to be verified before aught worthy of the designation scientific use 
can be made of it for this purpose. It may be admitted that proof may 
thus be obtained that for the time indicated by the number of concentric 
rings the ground has been above the level of the waters, but that this comes 
far short of proof of what is desiderated. It may be alleged that in 
the conjecture — ^that sections of the trunks of trees such as are referred 
to might be made to yield information in regard to the whole time that the 
land on which they are growing has been above the surface of the subsiding 
waters approximately correct — it is implied that these trees are of a growth 
so protracted as to carry us back, by thougifts of them as seedlings and 
saplings, to a period so remote as t^at spoken of. 



UTDICATlOSf 8 eiTPPUKD BY 



OP 



9tt 



It is ; aiHi that 00 obvioufily »o that it may seem like a traigm to say It ; 

but it is Baid that it may be showu^ first, that this haa not be^Q orerlooked^ 

Mid seoondiy, that there are amongst the trees referred to trees of dimemiofia 

I BO great, and by infereBce of a growth so protracted, that it is not unreason- 

I able, on this account, to entertain the conjecture if it be not on other 

I p>unds found to he untenable. 

L Amongst these trees is the baobab ; and elsewhere there are baobabs 
Hmkoned by savants to be of an age measured not by centuries only but by 
Vthouaanda of years, — and there are oliye trees belonging to the same genua, 
I if not the same species, as those of Gethsemane, where, it is aU^ed^ still 
grow trees which must have been old trees in the days of our Lord, 

Moffat says—" In the course of my journeys 1 have met with tmuke of 
ensnnons mze, which, if the time were calculated necessary for their growth, 
« 18 Trail as their decay, one might be led to conclude that they sprang up 
. immediately after the flood, if not before it*" And there are facts known 
m regard to the baobab which are in accordance with the opinion he 
eiprewses, I have been informed that both Dr Livingstone and Dr Kirk 
We entertained and expressed the opinion that the baobab ia a tree of 
quick growth, and that those which they saw and examined, some of which 
were of great size, were probably of an ago not exceeding 300 years, or 500 
jeara at most; and I am prepared to accept their statements without 
baiitstion, but I accept also the statements which have been made by others, 
According to Spreugelj who was Professor of Botany in Halle, the earliest 
Jiooount we have of the baobab occurs in the travels of Cadmoeto, who 
viaited the Cape de Verds and the western coast of Africa in 1456, and who 
mentions having seen a tree of this kind 17 ellH, or 30 English feet, in 
diameter. 
The baobab was afterwards described by Thevit, who saw it in 1555* 
Adanson, who subsequently studied the natural history and botanic 
chiimeteristics of the tree, and after whom it has been named by WiUdenow 
mui other botanistSi Ada?isonia dit/Uataj entered into some curious calcula- 
tions m regard to the age of some of the specimens which he saw. He was 
an eccentric but a learned man — certainly very learned for his time. He 
was bom in 1725, and published various works. Of these the most remark* 
able are the acconnt given of his voyage to the Senegal, and his FamUle$ 
(ka Plants. It is in the latter work that the calculations are given. 

One of the calculations made by Adanson waa founded on the supposition 
that he had remarked on one of the trees letters which indicated their 
hiring been cut in the thirteenth century^ — five hundred years before I 

But another, and that a more satisfactory calculation, was founded on 
the iue*isurement made of a tree, which he ascertained to be a tree which 
had been observed by Thevit in 1555 — two hundred years before. He 
considered that this tree when seen by Thevit must have been from three to 
four feet in diameter* In his time tt was six feet— showing an increase in 
diameter of from two to three feet in two hundred years. 

From data thence obtained — for it is not a question of simple arithmeti- 
Cil progression — he calculated that a tree of this species would acquire a 
diameter of 10 feet in 550 years ; of li feet in 1080 years ; of 20 feet in 
2S0O years ; of 30 feet in 5150 years. 

Many trees c, bis species are met with from 25 to 27 feet in diameter, 
Admiflon saw some which were from 75 to 78 feet in circumference. Barrow 
law a gpecimen in Bt Jago 56 feet in oircamfereace, and 80 feet high. 



iia 




100 HYDROLOGY OP SOUTH AFRICA. 

Baobabs, to the west of Lake Gnami, have been found measuring 60 feet in 
circumference, indicating, according to Adanson, a growth of 2800 years; 
and baobabs found to the east of the Lake are of much greater magnitude; 
I possess a photograph of a baobab growing near Lake Gnami, called after 
some native chiei^ainess Mama Kakuwe, which measured 70 feet in circum- 
ference ; but they are frequently found measuring 90 feet in circumference, 
indicating, according to Adanson, a growth of 5150 years. And Mr 
Chapman, to whom I was indebted for the photograph mentioned, states 
that in the course of his travels he found one measuring 154 round tiie 
trunk.* On an application to this tree of data furnished by Adanson, the 
results are such as to stagger belief. The tree seen by Thivet in 1555, con- 
jectured to be from 3 to 4 feet in diameter, took to attain 6 feet 20(i years, 
whence it is calculated a diameter of 10 feet requires a growth of 550 years; 
increase from 10 to 14 feet, 530 years more; increase from 14 to 20 feet, 
1720 years more ; increase from 20 to 30 feet, 2350 years more; increase 
from 30 to 50 feet — ^we fear to advance ! It seems a reductio ad c^mrdum; 
but there stand the figures still. 

A more satisfactory mode of estimating ages of trees than was at the 
command of Adanson is one now followed — namely, that referred to aboTe 
— counting the numbers of concentric rings in a trunk, and reckoning each 
as the product of a year : and this could be applied to such trees as aie 
referred to. The rule cannot be considered absolute ; but it supplies an 
approximation upon which reliance may be placed. I have been told that 
Dr Livingstone applied it to baobabs, and never found one with a trunk 
consisting of more than 300 concentric rings ; but I have failed to obtain 
an explicit statement of his observations, and therefore I cannot use them 
otherwise than as a ground of caution against relying with perfect confi- 
dence on bulk as an indication of a growth of thousands of years, according 
to the calculations of Adanson. But this is not essential to the argument 
embraced in the conjecture ; the argimient is the same be the ages of the 
trees what they may ; it is the age we wish to ascertain ; and by ascertaining 
the ages of baobabs, growing in different localities — whatever these ageB 
may be — ^we may learn that for a period, equal at least to that of the age of flifl 
tree, that spot, and all in the vicinity of it of a higher level, has been 
dry land. 

Mr L. A. ToUemache reports of Babbage : — " It seemed to him possible 
to obtain an exact record of the succession of hot and cold years for long 
periods in bygone ages. His plan was as follows : — ^Among the stumps rf 
trees in some ancient forests, he proposed to select one in which both th® 
nimiber and the size of the rings that have been annually produced were 
clearly marked. He would write down the succession of hot and cod 
simimers as marked in this tree, assuming that the larger the ring in eadi 
case the hotter has been the summer. He then proposed to examine other 
trees of about the same date, until he found some which recorded a series 
of hot and cold seasons exactly similiar to that which he had already noted 
down, and until the series extended far enough for him to be sure that the 
resemblance was not accidental, but that he had before him a natural 
register of the same seasons which had been recorded in the first tree. At 

* The baobab, though presenting snch a balk of trunk, is not a tree of g^reat height 
Specimens of the tree may b3 seen at SierrJi Laoae ; bat there the tree does not grow, or 
has not ffrown, larger than an orchard apple tree. I hare seen a similar specknea in the 
JardinaitPlantimV$ii», 



MCATIOJTB SUFFLLED BT TREES OF GRFJ^T XQ^, 



101 



iQfme of these trees would be somewhat older than tbe tii*at tree, whila 
(thers would have Bar\^Ted it, he couaidered that it would be poasible, so to 
ftay, to piece out the iufonaation obtained from one tree bj means of the 
others; and that^ after examiuing a great uumbcr of treeSj his record 
of warm aud cold seasons might be extended at both ends almost 
indefinitely," 

From this it may be eeon that it baa been considered probable, and that 
thfi conjecture is not without plausibility, that there are in the histology 
and atracture of trees valuable records of the past, which may add to our 
knowledge of what has occurred in that past if we could decipher and traos- 
Iflte them. 

All that has been referred to as implied in the assumption that by 
these trees we may determine at what time tbe watera had subsided to a 
little below the level of the ground on which they are growing is, first, that 
they are of an age sufficient to do so, and second, that their age can be 
ascertained ; in the conjee ture that sections of the trunks of the trees 
refen^d to might be made to yield the information desired, it is implied, 
tbird, that they are the produce of seeds which germinated shortly after 
tb snbaidance of the waters to a little below the level of the ground on 
which they grow. But how is this to be proved 1 

Proof positive we have not and cannot obtain. We have only circum- 
stantial evidence ■ we can obtain no other ; and the circumstantial evidence 
ii Buch as has been obtained accidentally, a circumstance whiuh may add to 
itfiTftlue but leave it less fall, complete, and satisfactory than may be 
desired. 

Obftervationa made by students of botany have led to the conclusion that 
tor the germination of seeds a certain degree of moisture, varjdng, it may be, 
^tk different kinds of soedsj but confined in the case of many within a 
liaiifced i-ange, is requisite, deficiency and excess being both prejudicial to 
t^e proeesK ; the ^Imnps of trees are found growing upon what appear, by 
t^ir slight elevation above the adjacent ground, to have been the banks of 
hikes or islands in large sheets of water ; such banks and islands would offer 
hydrometic conditions favoiurable to the germination of seeds ; and the com- 
Isiiied circumstances, that the trees in such clumps, though differing in size 
fi^m those in other clumps, have been oh.^erved to be of a uniform size 
th^mjielvcs, and that the trees are, to a considerable extent, found on these 
eminences aud not on the level ground around^ are favourable to the sup- 
iKJsition that the seeds from whieh they sprung germinated there at a time 
whoa the ground was a little, and only a little, above the level of the waters 
of a lake or river of which they are the banks, or islands which they enclosed, 
*hea the soil was, and probably had only shortly before become, adapted to 
pi^oiote the germination of such seeds, and to sustain their subsequent 
P^wth ; aud if this be in accordance with the facts of the case, we are sup- 
plied thus with indications of the progress of the drainage and desiccation 
&f the conn try » in the ^eater age^ indicated by the larger growth of the 
^B on the more elevated ground, and in the lesser age, indicated by the 
i^er magnitude of these in low^er situations in the same locality ; and thus 
*e may be atipplied with means of determining at what distance firom the 
present time it was that the w atera liad sunk to different levels, or an 
^approximation thereto, by ascertaining the ages of the trees growing on such 
^i^erent ler^lSt 



102^' HTDBOLOOT OF SOUTH • AfBIOA^ 



CHAPTER IV. 

HrDBOQBAPHIO CONDITION OF TH£ OOUNTBY WITHIN THE HISTORIC FKUOD. 

Thb hydrographic picturo of the land suggested by the supposed testimony 
of the baobab, and other trees of corresponding age, is such as the physical 
geography in many districts also suggests — extensive sheets of shallow 
water, the remains, it may be, of larger, deeper lakes, lowered in their 
surface level by the lowering of the outlets as these have worn away, or 
shallowed by the silting up of the basin. The trees on slight elevations 
add little to our data beyond supplying an indication of the time at which 
things were so, and enabling us to fill up the outline pictured, with groups 
of trees and the reflection of their trunks and foliage in the waters beneath 
them. And something of the same thing may be said even of the baobab 
and mopane trees growing on the banks of the Shua and the Nat^. 

We cannot say we are thus in our chronological review brought up to the 
historic era, but we are apparently brought within sight of it, for within this 
we find notices of the drying up of such sheets of water as these appear to have' 
been in the testimony of natives in regard to what has occurred within 
the memory of man, and in the testimony of European travellers of our own > 
day. The historic period goes further back, and may be said to embrace 
four centuries ; but the earlier centuries supply little information beyond 
what we have obtained, and in so far as the hydrography of the country is 
concerned the historic period of its hydrology may be said to embrace little 
more than the last fifty years. 

It is customary to speak of the Cape of Good Hope as having been 
discovered by Bartholomew Diaz, the Portuguese navigator. Of him it is • 
said that, " After having traced nearly a thousand miles of new country^ . 
and endured innumerable hardships, he at length came in sight of the Cape 
which terminates South Africa ; but he proceeded no further, fancying that 
he had arrived at the boundary of the earth ; and being intimidated with 
the darkness and tempests with which he was surrounded, on account of 
the heavy gales which he experienced he gave it the name of ' Caho des 
totos Tormmtosy or the Cape of Storms ; which was subsequently exchanged 
by John II. of Portugal for * Caho du Buonne Esperance^ or Cape of Good 
Hope, from the prospect which it afforded him of opening a mwitime patii to 
India.'' It may be that at that time the country was in a condition 43uch 
as we have pictured ! 

But there are much earlier records of South Africa than is thus si^plied. 
According to Herodotus, the Phoenicians circumnavigated the continent of 
Africa in the time of Pharaoh Necho, or about 600 b.o. Fourteen hundred 
years, thereafter, a.d. 800, we find the coast of South Africa known to the 
Arabs, :a& £ar south as Delagoa Bay, in latitude 28"^, which bay was by. them 
called Dugutha. In 1480 Sofala was visited by a Portuguese r fronS' 
Abyssinia — ^Pedrao Oavalliao — and in 1484 Diego Cam, a Portuguese 



HISTOBJC FERIOP, 



IM 



wptain, and Behem of Nuremburg reached 22° south latitude^ and erected 
across on Cape Padronej or Cape Cmss, neivr Walviach Baj. 

In 14S6 Bartholomew Diaz planted a cross on SieiTa Piijda, in 24** aonth 
latitude, a few miles sonth of the present Sandwich Imrbour,; landed at Cape 
Voltas, to the sonth of the Omnge Eiver, now Alexander Bay ; rotinded the 
Cftpe without seeing it, and lauded in Angm dea Vaqueiuo. On 14th 
September of that year he landed and planted a cross on St Crotx Island, in 
Mgoa Bay, and he penetrated as fiir east as the Great Fish Riirer — which he 
calls after one of his captaiuts liio del Infante— and it was on his return 
voyage homewarda that he sighted the Cape. 

After the discovery of the Capo by Bartholomew Dia? it was next -visited 
hj Vasco de Gama on a subsequent voyage of discovery. He too had his 
tmtibles. *'It was on the 8th July 1497 that Gama left the Tagus, and 
lua 7oyage was extremely tempestuous. Duiiug any jyfloomy interval of the 
Btorm the sailors, wearied out with fatigue^ surrounded their conimauder 
md implored him to retunj homewards. But Garaa's I'e solution was 
mialterable ; and having suppressed a formidable conspiracy against^ 
WmBelf, in which all the pilots were ringleaders, he^ with his brother and a 
*iteady band of adherentSj stood night and day at the helm. And on the 
twentieth of November hope was turned to fruition Vasco de Gama 
rocmded the Cape which had long been the bouudaiy of navigation. 
Soon after this event the King of Portugal despatched ships with orders 
to touch there, which they did ; but, fearftd of approaching the mainland, 
they anchored near Robben Island, which is at the eutnmce to Table Bay, 
flod proceeded from thence with their boat to see the natives." 

In 1497, on Xovember 7, Yasco de Gama landed in St Helena Bay, 
where he was wounded in the leg by the natives while he was taking the 
altitude of the sun ; on the IDth he doubled the Cape on his way to India ; 
on December 25 he discovered the coast of Natal, to which that name was 
given in consideration of its having been discovered on the natal day of our 
Savioiu"; and he explored the east coast as far as Mel in da, —including 
Delagoa Bay, Qnillimane, and Mozambique. The first-named place was by 
him called Aguaido de Boa Pax. 

In the same year the Portuguese Kio del Infante, then an Admiral, 
landed in Table Bay. 

In 1499 Yasco de Gama, on his return voyage, landed at Hossel Bay,^ 
called then Angra San Bias ; and in that year Bartholomew Diaz perished 
off the Cape in a ship of a fleet under Pedro Alvarez, 

In 1500 the Portuguese began to form settlements on the west coast of 
Angola, and Pedro Alvarez Cabral landed at Mossel Bay. 

Equally numerons are the notices of the landing of European navigators 
on different parts of the coast of South Africa in subsequent years. Fain 
would I learn in what state they found the country in regard to hikes and 
forests ] I cannot ; hut this 1 have leamedj that in some of the earliest 
notices we have of the eastern coast it is spoken of as "a veritable Ten^ 
dd Fuegfi "; and from this I draw infereuces which 1 shall afterwards atat<>. 
It was not till upwards of a hundred and fifty yemu aft^r this^viz., lu 
1652 — that possession of the comitry was taken by the Dutch East India 
Company, and a fort was erected under the direction of Jan van Kiebeck, who 
had previously visited the coiintryj and to whom was entrusted the govern- 
menb of the infant settlement ; and it was not until aimut a 1 mud red and 
^y years later that it came into the hands of the British, Id 17^6 it 



104 HYDROLOGY OP SOUTH AFRICA. 

came into their possession by capitulation ; in 1801 it was restored to thfi 
Batavian Government ; and in January 1806 it again became Britigh by 
capitulation. Since this time well nigh three-quarters of a century have 
passed away, ^nd it is only of late years that we have learned anything d 
the drying up of lakes. From all of the records of these events to which 
I have had access we learn nothing of the former hydrographic condition of 
the coimtry, and it is not until we come to our own day that we find Uiis 
matter of observation and testimony. What we have learned may be little, 
but it is significant and suggestive. 

Dr Moflfat has graphically described the eflfects of aridity of soil and 
atmosphere, witnessed and experienced by him on his coming to Africa, as 
Mr Campbell and others had done before him ; and he mentions that ^* on his 
settlement some years later at Latakoo, in 1821, the natives were wont to 
tell of the floods of ancient times, the incessant showers which clothed the 
very rocks with verdure, and the giant trees and forests which once studded 
the brows of the Hamhan hills and neighbouring plains. They boasted of 
the Kuriman and other rivers with their impassable torrents, in which the 
hippopotami played, while the lowing herds walked to their necks in' grass 
filling their makukas (milk sacks) with milk, making every heart to sing for 
joy." And he incidentally, again and again, supplies testimony confirmatoiy 
of their testimony that such had been the case ; while he also supplies 
testimony of the progress of the desiccation extending over the fifty years 
of his residence and labours in the country^ and so diminishing the flow of 
rivers that the country was more arid when he left it than when he came. 

Mr Chapman, in narrating to me what he saw on the journey he made 
from Natal to the Victoria Falls, describing the country through which he 
passed before reaching the Botletlie River, stated that to the eastward of 
the route by which he crossed the eastern extremity of the Kalihara desert 
the country is covered with open grassy plains, in which are extensive salt- 
pans, from which, in many cases, the water has dried up, leaving only a 
thick encrustation of salt on the surface of the ground, and in other cases, 
though containing water, presenting the appearance of thousands of tons of 
beautiful salt on and towards the margin. One discovered by him in 1853, 
and marked in accordance with his discription in Hall's Mass of the district, 
it took him several days to travel round. Yet within the memory of men 
then living in the district this was a pool of water connected with the 
Botletlie river. As it dried, thousands of fish, from time to time, were lef^ 
to perish, and for months the vultures hovered about unable to devour all 
that had died. 

Livingstone, by gi-aphic sketches of what he saw on his expedition to the 
Zambesi, and of what he inferred from what he saw must have been the 
former level of the waters through extensive regions of that district, has 
enabled us to feel as if we were looking upon the scene — ^both as it now is- 
as it must have been ; and references made by him to baobabs of gigantic 
size tell that that past must have been anterior to the present by a period 
equal at least to the age of the baobabs, if not greater, for these baobabJ 
could not have grown in the bottom of a lake. 

The supposition of Dr Livingstone, was that these lakes were drained o 
in a great measure by the Zambesi. 

To the south of the high-land, constituting the water shed south of th< 
Zambesi, in the longtitude of the falls, is a portion of the Madenisana desert 



HISTORIC PERIOD. 105 

wUch was described to me by Mr Chapman as characterised by springs and 
foimtains found at some little depth in the sand, and presenting an appeaiance 
Buggestive of the waters from the upper country having at one time 
drained oflf through this level as well as through the valley of the Zambesi, 
and left lines of vleies in which, under the surface of the sand now filling 
them, water is obtained, but all the water which filled, while flowing over, 
the district is now only a thing of the past. 

luthe account given by Dr Livingstone of his second voyage up the 
Shire, in 1859, he says, — " As we ascended we passed a deep stream about 
thirty yards wide, flowing in from a body of open water several miles broad. 
Numbers of men were busy at difierent parts of it filling their canoes with 
the lotus root, called Nyika, which, when boiled or roasted, resembles our 
chestnuts, and is extensively used in Africans* food. Out of this lagoon, 
and by this stream, the chief part of the duckweed of the Shire flows. The 
lagoon itself is called Nyanja ea Motope (Lake of Mud). It is also named 
Nyanja Pangono (Little Lake), while the elephant marsh goes by the name 
of Nyanja Mukulu (Great Lake). It is evident from the shore-line still to 
be observed on the adjacent hills that in ancient times these were really 
lakes ; and the traditional names thus preserved are only another evidence 
of the general desiccation which Africa has undergone; which is even now 
going on there, and has already been accomplished in other parts of 
the district." 

Dr Livingstone describes a salt-pan to the west of J^gami, called Ntetwe, 
the width of which he estimated at ten miles, and its probable length at 
a hundred ; and south of it is the still larger pan discovered by Mr J. 
Chapman. 

The whole of these large surfaces, says Hall, are generally perfectly dry, 
and covered with reeds. 

Within the Colony is a salt-pan, in Bushmanland, known as the Com- 
missioners* Pan, described by Hall as a shallow basin with a circuit of 
eighteen or twenty miles, its surface generally dry and covered with a 
crust of salt. 

" Many of the rivers and fountains in Great Namaqualand, Bushmanland, 
and the Kalihari country,' permanent in the recollections of many now living, 
have," says Hall in his Manual of South African Geography, " been dry for 
years. Livingstone tells us that the water supply of the Lake Gnami takes 
place in channels prepared for a far n^ore copious flow. It resembles a 
deserted eastern garden, where all the embankments and canals for irriga- 
tion can be traced ; but where the main dam and sluices being allowed to get 
out of repair, only a small portion can be got under water. When Sebituane 
theMakololo chief passed through the Kalihari desert, about the year 1820, 
tte Sarotli fountain was a large pan of water ; the burnt up and gaping 
Makoko, in the remembrance of many living, was a flowing stream ; and the 
fountain at Kurumangve, when Mr Moffat settled there, gave a much more 
popious supply than it does at present. Many deep pools formerly existed 
'^ the Kuruman and Malapo rivers, now long dried up ; and it would also 
Jppear that in general the fountains of the Nieuwe-Veld, Winter Veld, and 
^dden Veld, or the country forming the northern slope of the great moun- 
^in range, have been getting for years weaker." 

The passage in which Dr Livingstone speaks of the appearance of the 
'^cinity of the Gnami in the manner cited is the account given by him of 
^is visit to the lake with Messrs Oswell and Murray, on the first of August 

N 



106 HTDBOLOGT OF SOUTH AVBICA. 

1849. The account given by him is as follows : — " Twelre days after oar 
departure from the waggons at Ngabisane, we came to the northeast end of 
Lake Gnami ; and on the first of August 1849 we went down together to 
the broad part, and, for the first time, this fine looking sheet of water was 
beheld by Europeans. The direction of the lake seems to be N.N.E and 
S.S.W. by compass. The southern portion is said to bend round to the 1 
west, and to receive the Teoughe from the north at its northeast extremity ! 
We could detect no horizon where we stood looking S.S.W., nor could we 
form any idea of the extent of the lake, except from the reports of the 
inhabitants of the district ; and as they profess to go round it in three days, 
allowing twenty-five miles a-day, this woidd make it seventy-five, or leas than 
seventy geographical miles in circumference. Other guesses have been 
made since as to its circumference, ranging between seventy and one 
hundred miles. It is shallow, for I subsequently saw a native punting kia 
canoe over seven or eight miles of the northeast end; it can never, therefore, 
be of much value as a commercial highway. In feicty during the months 
preceding the annual supply of water from the north, the lake is so shallow 
that it is with difi&culty cattle can approach the water through the boggy, 
reedy banks. These are low on all sides, but on the west there is a space 
devoid of trees, showing that the waters have retired thence at no very 
ancient date. This is another of the proofs of desiccation met with so 
abundantly throughout the whole country. A number of dead trees lie on 
this space, some of them imbedded in the mud, right in the water. We 
were informed by the Bayeiye, who live on the lake, that when the annual 
inundation begins, not only trees of great size, but antelopes, as the 
springbock and tscssebo ((icronotus hinata), are swept down by its rushing 
waters. The trees are gradually driven by the wind to the opposite side, 
and become imbedded in mud. 

" The water of the lake is perfectly fresh when full, but brackish wbea 
low ; and that coming down the Tanunak'le we found to be so clear, cold, 
and soft, the higher we ascended, that the idea of melting snow was suggeS^ 
ted to our minds. We found this region, with regard to that fix)m wWc1> 
we had come, to be clearly a hollow, the lowest point being lake Kumadau } 
the point of the ebullition of water, as shown by one of Newman's barometri<^ 
thermometers, was only between 207^° and 206°, giving an elevation of no'*' 
much more than 2000 feet above the level of the sea. We had descended 
above 2000 feei in coming to it from Kolobeng. It is the southern ani^ 
lowest part of the great river system beyond, in which large tracts of 
country are inundated aimually by tropical rains, hereafter to be described. 
A little of that water which in the countries further north produces inundar 
tion comes as far south as 20° 20^, the latitude of the upper end of the 
lake, and instead of flooding the country falls into the lake as into 8 
reservoir. It begins to flow down the Embarrah, which divides into the 
rivers Tz5 and Teoughe. The Tzo divides into the Tamunakle and 
Mababe ; the Tamunak'le discharges itself into the Zonga ; and the Teoughe 
into the lake. The flow begins either in March or April, and the descencUng 
waters find the channels of all these rivers dried out, except in certain pools 
in their beds, which have long dry spaces between them. The lake itself 
is very low. The Zonga is but a prolongation of the Tamunak'le, and an 
arm of the lake reaches up to the point where the one ends and the other 
begins. This last is narrow and shallow, while the Zonga is broad and 
deep. The narrow arm of the lake, which on the map looks like a coutinua- 



HISTORIC PERIOD. 107 

tion of the Zonga, has never been observed to flow either way. It is as 
stagnant as the lak^ itself. 

" The Teonghe and the Tamimakle being essentially the same river, and 
receiving their supplies from the same source (the Embarrah or Varra), can 
never outrun each other. If either could, or if the Teoughe could fill the 
lake — a thing which has never happened in modem times — then this little 
arm would prove a convenient escapement to prevent inundation. If the 
lake ever becomes lower than the bed of the Zonga, a little of the water of 
the Tamunakle might flow into it, instead of dowTi the Zonga. We should 
then have the phenomenon of a river flowing two ways ; but this has never 
been observed to take place here, and it is doubtful if it ever can occur in 
this locahty. The Zonga is broad and deep where it leaves the Tamunakle, 
but becomes gradually narrower as you descend about 200 miles ; there it 
flows mto the Kumadau, a small lake about three or four miles broad and 
twelve long. The water which, higher up, begins to flow in April, does not 
make much progress in filling this lake till the end of Jime. In September 
the rivers cease to flow. WTien the supply has been more than usually 
abundant, a little water flows beyond Kumadau, in the bed first seen by us 
on the 4th of July ; if the quantity were larger it might go further in the 
diy rocky bed of the Zonga, since seen still further to the east. The water 
supply of this part of the river system, . . . takes place in channels 
for a mucli more copious flow. It resembles a deserted eastern garden, 
whire aU the embankments and canals for irrigation can be traced, but 
where — the main dam and sluices having been allowed to get out of repair — 
only a small portion can be laid under water. In the case of the Zonga the 
chsimel is perfect, but water enough to fill the whole channel never comes 
down ; and before it finds its way much beyond Kumadau the upper supply 
ceases to run, and the rest becomes evaporated. The higher parts of its 
bed even are much broader and more capacious than the lower towards 
Kumadau. The water is not absorbed so much as lost in filling up an 
empty channel, from which it is to be removed by the air and sun. There 
is, I am convinced, no such thing in the country as a river running into 
sand and becoming lost. This phenomenon, so convenient for geographers, 
haunted my fancy for years ; but I have failed in discovering anything 
except a most insignificant approach to it." 

According to the statements of others, the situation of the lake Gnami, 
determined of course by the part at which the observation was made, is 
given as lat. 20° 40\ and long. 23° east. It is said to be at an elevation, 
above the level of the sea, of 3713 feet; to be about fifty miles long ; and 
of an average breadth of eight or ten miles. It was visited by Mr F. Green, , 
who found the depth of the centre to be only six feet, and with difficulty 
Muld he push a boat of light draught through its shoals ; and now its depth 
seems to be still less. 

I first heard of the lake in 1845, and what I heard was of natives from 
a distance having visited it and been confounded on seeing men of the 
locality fleeing from them, disappear in its waters, and afterwards reappear 
on the shore beyond ; a fact, if a fact it was, suggestive of its having been a 
lake of depth sufficient to allow of a man swimming in its waters, if not, 
of a depth so great as to prevent him wading across, which is in accordance 
irith the statement of Mr Green. By Mr Chapman I was told of its having 
been visited by him in 1864, and that then nowhere was it of a depth 
which would bring its waters above the knee of a wader. 



lOS HTDROLOGT OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

Dr Livingstone tells of the indications of its greater extent at a fonaar 
day than its extent when visited by him and his fellow travellers. In 
accordance with this I have been told that at a considerable distance from 
its present shores there are what by a little stretch of language may be 
called mines of ivory and bones, the remains of animals which, coming there 
to drink, have there perished, probably killed by beasts of prey. The earth 
covering these appears to have been deposited over these remains from sus- 
pension in water, and this indicates that so far at least the lake then 
extended. 

Thus are we enabled to connect the distant ppst with the present, and 
trace the dessication from pre-adamic times to the present, and to see going 
on in remote regions what had occirred, in the land now colonised by Euro- 
peans, ages before. 

In a paper read before more than one of the Scientific Societies of Britain, 
amongst others, before a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, on 
the 15th March 1865, which the author has placed at my service, there 
occur the following statements on this subject : — ** A very noticeable 
physical fact, which has of late years attracted considerable attention from 
residents in South Africa, is the gradual drying-up of large tracts of country 
in the Trans-'Gariep. That great expanse of wilderness, called tbfi 
Kdl^hdri, remarkable for few inhabitants, little water, and considerable 
vegetation, seems to be gaining in extent, gradually swallowing up large 
portions of the habitable country on its confines, and slowly, but surely, 
assimilating their fertile character to its own sterile one. It has become 
matter of notoriety that springs, which a few years ago supplied a sufficient 
quantity of fluid to irrigate considerable breadths of garden and field, have 
diminished in their flow and dwindled away, causing the migration of the 
inhabitants to a more favourable dwelling-place ; while desert sucking-places 
and well-filled pools, such as that of Serotli, described by Livingstone, are 
at present either completely dry, or afibrd only a small quantity of liquid 
after much digging, where formerly existed a large piece of water. 

" At Lop^pe and other places on the road to Lake 'Ngami this is the 
case, as well as at Tunobis in Damaraland, and elsewhere ; but it is most 
conspicuous in the territory of the Bakwain tribes, in which, as one of the 
many evidences of the growing desiccation of the country, streams, e.g, the 
Mahalapi River, that at Lopel61e and at Porapora Pass, are pointed out 
where thousands and thousands of cattle formerly draiik, but in which 
water never now flows, and where a single herd could not find fluid for it8 
support. 

" When Mr Moffat first attempted a settlement at the Ktirtiman fortj 
years ago, he made a dam six or seven miles below the present one, and led 
out the stream for irrigation, where not a drop of the fountain water evei 
now flows ; and other parts, fourteen miles below the Ktirtiman gardens, ar< 
pointed out as having contained, within the memory of people now living 
hippopotami and pools sufficient to drown both men and cattle. 

" The fovmtain at Griqua Town, which a few years ago yielded a sufficienc; 
of water to irrigate four square miles of com and garden ground, has of lat 
years and in the most marked manner diminished its supplies, almost ceas 
ing to flow, and occasioning the emigration of many of the Dutch-speakinj 
inhabitants to other and more fertile localities not subject to the absenc 
of moisture. 

'^Ai» thi» dimiiiution of water has been, coincident with the fiailnie i 



HISTORIC PERIOD. 109 

fountains over a wide e^nt of territory in Bucbuanaland, it is evident that 
from some cause, more or less obscure, a great change in the external physical 
ckaracteristics of the entire region between the Orange aud the ^Ngami Lake has 
taken place since the country was first explored hy Europeans, 

" This great change has not, however, been confined to the comparatively 
short space of time during which missionaries have been in the country. 
On the contrary, the traditions of the natives point to more remote periods, 
when the country was far more fertile and much better watered than at 
present — ^when the Ktirtiman and other rivers, with their impassable 
tonrents, were something to boast of. Mofifat says that accounts of floods 
of ancient times, of incessant showers which clothed the very rocks with 
verdure, and of the existence of giant trees and forests which once covered 
the brows of the Hamhana Hills, are wont to be related by garrulous elders 
to the utter astonishment of their younger listeners. In those ancient days 
the lowing herds walked up to their necks in grass, and filling their owners' 
milk-sacks with rich milk, made every heart to sing for joy. 

" But, independent of this oral and traditional testimony, travellers have 
before their eyes, in the immense number of stiunps and roots of enormous 
trunks of the Acacia girafifeea, where now scarcely a single living specimen is 
to be seen raising its stately head above the shrubs, and in the ancient 
beds of the dried-up rivers Matlaurin, Mashaua, Molapo, and others, positive 
demonstration of the departed former fertility of the lands of the Bechuana 
nation. In fact the whole country north of the Orange River, and lying east 
of the K414h4ri Desert, presents to the eye of a European, to use the words 
of the missionary just quoted, * something like an old neglected garden or 
field.'" 

The statement is made preparatory to a statement of the conclusions to 

which the writer (Mr J. F. WUson) has come in regard to the cause of this 

desiccation of the land: these conclusions will afterwards be cited; but at 

present we have imder consideration the state of the country. Having 

i made the remark that we must seek reasons for the continued spread of 

I drought in the physical characteristics of the Gariepine Basin itself, and in 

some of the customs of its inhabitants, he goes on to say, " In the first place, 

the countries drained by the Great River are naturally arid, both from their 

interior position and from the interposition of the Quathlamba Mountains 

between them and the Indian Ocean, whence the chief supplies of rain are 

evaporated. It will be necessary, therefore, to speak here of the three 

meteorological zones into which South Africa may be divided, and at the 

same time give a description of the different sections into which the 

'Gariepine territories are apportioned by recent writers. The nleteorological 

divisions may be regarded as three zones of climate (Livingstone) : the 

eastern, comprehending Zulu-land, Natal, Independent and British 

S^aflraria ; the central, comprising a portion of the elevated Central Basin 

of the continent, and divided from the eastern by the Drakensberg, Malutis, 

and other ranges ; and the western, including the Kdldhdri Proper, the 

wastes of Namaqualand^ and the wilds of Bushmanland — the latter situated 

to the south of the Orange River. 

" The first of these, which may be called the zone of the Kaffirs, is pro- 
nounced by travellers to be decidedly fertile. It is covered with evergreen 
succulent trees, oecasional extensive forests, and gigantic timber. The zone 
Is comparatively well watered by numerous streams, and has a considerable 
ammal rainfiall. 



110 HTDROLOOT OP SOUTH AFRICA. 

" The second, or zone of the Bechuana, consists for the most part of 
rolling plains or arid prairies, with but few fountains, fewer permanent 
rivers, and forests (if such they may he called) gradually diminishing to a 
final destruction, which from present appearances cannot long be delayed. 
Rain here, as a rule, is far from abundant ; irrigation is absolutely necessaiy 
to raise European grain, and droughts are of frequent occurrence. 

" The third, or zone of the Namaquas and Bushmen, sterile and barren in 
the extreme, is dependent upon thunderstorms alone for the rain, which 
rushes down its periodical rivers or supplies the vegetation of its deserts. 

" The prevailing winds of most of the country thus divided are from the 
northeast. Heavily laden with vapour from the Indian Ocean, the clouds, 
under the influence of these easterly currents, are driven over the Zulu 
territory,' Natal, and Eaffirland, watering those lands luxuriantly ; but when 
the moisture-bearing nimbi arrive at the peaks of the mountain ranges, not 
only have they parted with a large proportion of their water, bu£ they are 
then on the edge of the more arid central basin, and begin to meet witii the 
influences of the heated and naked plains, under the radiation from the 
surface of which, and in an increasing degree as the Bechuana tribes are 
past and the K^^iri is reached, the clouds rise higher above the earth, l^e 
moisture evaporates in a thinner vapour, and as a consequence fewer 
showers fall upon the hot thirsty soil beneath. 

" The further we journey from the Drakensberg eastwards, the greater 
becomes this diminution of water. 

" Leaving the moimtains, the Lesuto or Basuto land, as it is frequency 
called, is, without doubt, the best-watered portion of the central meteoro- 
logical district, mainly, it is presumed, on account of its being intersected 
by the Malutis range. Towards this important section of country, from 
November to April, the northeast winds blow from the shores of Mozam 
bique and the delta of the Zambesi immense masses of cloud, which sweep 
heavily over the earth, darkening the sky, and preceded in their course by 
dreadftil peals of thunder. On reaching the high land, the atrial lake is 
shut in by the huge table-headed mountains ; as a consequence, a rapid con 
densation takes place, and then a veritable deluge ensues. In a few 
moments cataracts rush from the mountain heights, the smallest and most 
thread-like rivulets are transformed into torrents, and the rivers, over- 
flowing their banks, cover the plains : this sometimes lasts for days together 
(Casalis), It is from the accumulation of these waters that the Lekoa, the 
Caledon, and many other tributaries of the great Orange River, which with 
slow and majestic course flow to the westward across the vast plains of the 
centre of South Africa, take their rise. As the mountains, however, merge 
into the plains, and these again into the K^^dri, we are reminded by the 
gradually diminishing rivers of the continual aridity of the soil, till we 
reach Great Namaqualand, where the occurrence of periodically filled water- 
courses again testifies to the descent of rain. 

" In this latter district, however, as well as in the desert, rain falls only 
from thunder-clouds. These rise from the northeast, and are always hailed 
with delight by the inhabitants of those parched and burning r^ons ; but 
they are partial in the distribution of their previous treasure, the storms 
frequently passing over with tremendous voilence, striking both European 
and native with awe at their terrific grandeur, while not a particle of rain 
descends to cool and fructify the barren waste. There is something terribly 
sdblime in a real Namaqualand or K^^^ thunder-storm. The air becomeB 



HI8T0RI0 PERIOD. Ill 

snltiy and oppressiye to an unusaal (^gree ; the whole animated creation is 
silent as death ; not a breath of wind is perceptible. Low down the horizon 
a denBe black cloud emits a faint rambling, which momentarily becomes 
louder and louder, while the threatening mass, ever increasing, gradually 
rises, lighted up with the quick flashes of forked lightning. At 
length a cloud of dust approaches, a storm of wind rushes over the plain, 
overturning trees, uprooting bushes, and sweeping everything before it in 
its tumultuous course ; a few large spattering drops are heard, and then, 
▼ith the almost simultaneous blinding glare of lightning and deafening 
crash of thunder, torrents of mingled hail and rain descend. In a few 
minutes the country is flooded ; currents of turbid water, half-a-mile wide, 
roar through a ravine which has not shown a drop of water for years pre- 
viously, rivulets flow where one would think water had never run before, 
and the ear is charmed with the sweet strains of a long-silent music. 
Perhaps in less than an hour the cloud has passed over, and may be seen 
speeding onwards to pour out its treasures over many a sunburnt plain and 
parched mountain. 

" Barren, burnt up, and roasted by the sun as are the desolate territories 
in the western meteorological zone, there are few spots, nevertheless, even 
in the Kil^hiiri Proper, which are covered with shifting sands, or are wholly 
destitute of vegetation. Even large trees are occasionally to be met with ; 
and some of the periodical ^vers of Namaqualand and the Cis-'Gariepine 
plateaux, in which water seldom flows, may be traced in their winding 
courses by the mimosa and camel-thorn trees that thinly line their banks. 
The parched and arid plains of a large portion of the northern division of 
the British Colony support sheep on the thin sprinkling of grass and ice- 
plants which covers them ; and undoubtedly the alpaca and the camel might 
here be introduced with advantage both to commerce and the highest 
interests of the native tribes. In ftict, however barren and quasi-desert the 
different sections of the 'Gariepine Basin may be, there are none which do 
not support coimtless hosts of wild animals fitted by Providence for dwelling 
in droughty countries ; and the presence, wherever water can be found, of 
the wandering Bushman and Molala (poor Mochuana), the lean Mok^ldh^i, 
tiie stupid Koranna, and avaricious Namaqua, who make up the sum of the 
desert's human inhabitants, testifies that the great market of the world 
mist derive some commodities even from its least inviting districts. Water, 
however, in the shape of a fountain (sometimes hot in Namaqualand), a 
Backing-place or subterraneous expanse of wet sand, generally in the bed of 
a periodical or dried-up river, or a shallow desert pool (vley), is an absolute 
necessity to the small communities which war, poverty, or choice, has led 
to the wilderness. 

" In those countries, generally remote from the sea, where the average 
ndnfidl is but a few inches in the course of a year, the diminution of an 
inch or two is felt with very much greater intensity than in those favoured 
lands where the rainfall is more abundant. In arid countries similar to the 
lands now under consideration, the revolution of the weather in cycles of 
years is also much more marked than elsewhere. It follows, therefore, that 
meteorologists find in such countries a sphere for their observations of the 
greatest interest and importance as connected with the phenomena of drought. 
In Britain, happily, a dry season conveys only an inadequate idea of drought ; 
bat in South Africa extreme droughts sometimes continue for whole years 
together, reducing the natives to the direst misery, depriving them of their 



112 HYDROLOGY OF SOUTH ATOICA. 

scanty harvests, destrojring their herds, and driving thetn from their hom 
to wander in search of subsistence. 

" During the year 1862, an' unexampled and very widely-extended droug 
prevailed thronsjhout the Cape Colony, and made itself felt far into tj 
tropical le^. Olio m iM. iieiuiibv-ii ^'«r- ^ Ir^ Or "^T^'os. ^^wasve 

severely felt in the Lesuto, which is a territory generally blessed wn 
abundant ruins at stated peri^^ds. In this portion of the country, by t] 
month of November, no traces of vegetation remained, the vast grass plaii 
becoming mere sandy deserts from the excessive heat that prevailed. Tl 
clouds which overcast the heavens, apparently laden with fertilisir 
treasure, if they would but part with it, seemed to mock at the hop 
of the inhabitants. They passed away with the wind which bore c 
its wings thousands of tons of dry dust, gathered in its sweep over tl 
parched ground for miles and miles ; and which went on gathering and sti 
gathering over mountains and plains, imtil it reached the South Atlant 
and Indian Oceans, blasting and destroying vegetation on its way. Tl 
largest streams, too, ceased to flow. The cattle died by thousands, ax 
famine began to appear throughout the land. Scarcely any crops could 1 
got into the ground. The sun scorched the earth with its fire, and tl 
rain-makers, whose assumed power over the elements had been nearly ov€ 
thrown by the advance of Christianity and civilisation into these regior 
again attempted to re-establish their waning authority. The mighty Oran^ 
River could be stepped across by a child, and in its upper part at last n 
dry, exposing in its bed, near Hope Town, the remains of a waggon whic 
had been lost in a sudden flood while crossing the river some thirty yea 
before. At last, when articles of food had risen to extremely high figure 
breadstufls being higher in price than during the Kaffir war, and cabbage 
selling at the rate of a penny the leaf at Colesberg, the heavens, whois 
inexorable serenity had lasted more than a year, were covered with cloudf 
and drops, of rain were heard to fall upon the parched ground, soon to b 
saturated with delightful showers. Although late in the season, the peopl 
were enabled to sow a little com, and by degrees the visitation passed away 
leaving behind it the remembrance of a dark dismal dispensation during th< 
continuance of which men's hearts failed them for fear, thousands losini 
more than half their substance, and multitudes looking forward to absolute 
ruin and starvation." 

It was at this time I returned to the Colony, after an absence of fiftee- 
years, and I found everywhere lamentations being made over the consequence 
of the severe and long-continued drought, from which the community wa 
tiien suffering, though reviving hope was beginning to cheeir the droopiu 
spirits of many. And several of the facts mentioned by Mr Wilson wer 
stated to me also in the localities in which they occurred, connecting th. 
geological record of the past with its experiences and observations of th. 
actual present. 

By a study of the physical geography of South Africa much may b 
learned in regard to its former hydrographic condition ; by the consideratio: 
of deductions which may be drawn from geological observations which man^ 
have made within the limits of the portions colonised by Europeans, mucl 
may be learned in regard to the hydrographic condition of what is now d 
named in the earlier ages of the world's history ; by observations made b; 
these Eurepean colonists, and the comparison of these with what they hav) 



HI8TORI0 PERIOD. 113 

learned from the aboriginal, or at least earlier, inhabitants of the land, it 
appears that the desiccation, which seems to be extreme, is a process which 
las been going on from earlier times until now, and which is still going on. 
We have indications of the whole land having lain long covered deep by 
vliat may have been a shoreless sea, but experiencing, it may be, changes 
of temperature, causing it to hiss, and bubble, and boil, and rise in vapour, 
—as does the drop of water falling on the stove, — covering the heavens 
above with blackness^ and darkness, and cloud ; a sea, for ages limpid as . 
the waters of the ocean rising with a waveless tide ; for ages charged with 
mud, dense as that of the waters of the Yellow river ; for ages placid 
and motionless in its depths as the mirror-like lake in the mountain recess 
by which it is sheltered and shielded from every wind that blows ; for ages 
disturbed by ocean currents which cut deep into the ocean bed, making 
Yalleys where ere while it was a plain, and leaving moimds intact a mile in 
beight, to show to what a depth they have cut and planed away the ground 
around. We have indications of portions rising or being raised above the 
surface of the waste of waters, sometimes to be again submerged, and again 
raised to be again submerged, but only to be raised again. We have indica- 
tions of land thus raised having appeared, and it may have been for ages as 
it slowly rose, as the land of a thousand isles, and passing by degrees, as 
changes are eflfected in dissolving views, from a land of a thousand isles into 
a land of a thousand lakes, and these, as time rolls on, emptied and dried 
up, and converted into arid valleys and arid plains, and the whole converted 
■ in extensive districts into a land in which there is no water. 

And we can trace the latter progress of the desiccation subsequent to the 
drainage and evaporation up to the present day from a period extending 
M fttr back as that vaguely, but frequently, described as embraced by the 
memory of man. 



114 EnrDBoiiOOT of south afbioa. 



PART II.-CAUSE OR OCCASION OF THE DESICCATION AND 
ARIDITY OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

The desiccation and consequent aridity of South Africa is attributable, 
primarily and principally, to the draining off of the water, in consequence of 
the elevation of the land above the level of the sea ; and secondarily, to the 
evaporation of water and its subsequent dissipation in the atmosphere, 
which evaporation has been promoted by the clearing away by man of 
arborescent and herbaceous vegetation which otherwise might have retarded 
the process. 



CHAPTER I. 



PBIMABT AND PBINOIFAL OAUSE OF THE DESIOOATION AND OONBBQUENT 
ARIDITY OP SOUTH AFRICA. 

In the hydrographic records which we have had under consideration, 
we have foimd indications of the whole land having been, at one time, lying 
deep in the bottom of the ocean, to which, like the fabled goddess of beauty, 
it may trace its birth ; indications of its rising or having been raised, before 
emergence, to near the level of the ocean's surface ; of portions of it rising 
above that surface and looking out upon the waste of waters around; of 
either these portions, or other islands adjacent or not far distant, having 
become clothed with vegetation — marine vegetation at a little below the 
water's edge, and terrestrial vegetation of primitive forms on the land 
beyond ; of extensive districts long after this remaining still under cover of 
the ocean, or if they, too, had risen above that covering, of their having 
been again submerged, and having remained submerged for ages; of 
extensive districts rising above the ocean to a greater elevation, and some of 
these either carrying with them in natural depressions portions of the ocean, 
or retaining in similiar depressions water collected in them from the rising 
ground around, and that for ages, till at length finding or making a way of 
escape they returned to the mother Sea, leaving debris accumulated in 
their basins as records of what had occurred during the continuance of their 
existence as lakes or inland seas. And combined with these indications we 
have met with indications of the recession of the waters having, from a very 
remote period, been the consequence of the land which was under the ocean 
bed having been raised above the ocean level, the waters, in accordance 
with the law of gravity, flowing off to that lower level. 

To this relative elevation of the land we may attribute, primarily and 
principally, the desiccation and consequent aridity of the land^ this 
elevation I attribute to an upheaval of the land : and this upheaval I 



PRIMART CAUSE OF DESICCATION. 115 

ibute to a depression of the ocean bed elsewhere. In the cause or 
asion of this depression may be found the original cause or occasion of 
that has followed ; but the desiccation commenced only with the elevation 
ave the ocean's surface of the upheaved land, and therefore do I speak of 
at elevation as the primary cause or occasion of the aridity, and I speak 
it as the primary and principal cause of this in reference to the evapora- 
on which has been going on ever since that elevation occurred, and which 
I going on still, and to which may be attributed the completion of the work, 
a carrying on the evaporation to the stag^ which has resulted in the degree 
i aridity which now prevails. 

To the consideration of this elevation of the land : its cause and its effects, 
is this chapter confined. 

L The fact that the land is above the level of the soa is apparent — it is 
imquestioned and unquestionable. That it has been elevated or upheaven 
is not less a fact, but it is not so apparent. It is a fact, the elucidation of 
which is pertinent to the subject of this treatise ; but it is one which might 
be discussed apart without detriment to the practical object of the treatise. 
There are, however, advantages to be secured by its being discussed in con- 
nection therewith ; and therefore is this done. 

To whatever it may be attributable, the fact is demonstrable that there 
is going on still, as heretofore, depressions and elevations of the earth's 
crust throughout extensive regions of the earth's surface. 

Maps, representative of the regions thus affected, may be found in Atlases 
iOustrative of physical geography. On reference to a map illustrative of 
tfeas of subsidence and elevations in the southern oceans, onp^aved and 
tpparently prepared by Messrs A. W. <k A. K. Johnston, of Edinburgh, as 
•n accompaniment to the late Professor Nicol's work, entitled Tlioughts on 
tome Important Points relating to the System of the World, the only map 
Wmg on the subject to which I have access while writing this, I find 
that in the Indian Ocean throughout a region extending from 15° S. to over 
W N., and over about 20° of long., is a district of depression ; while along 
the corresponding east coast of Africa — ^with the exception of a small portion 
Jbout 10° N. lat. where the elevation is stationary, and a small portion 
ibout 20° N., or half-way up the Red Sea, where it is being depressed — the 
isoMt and adjacent sea basin from the Mediterranean to beyond the 
Kmthem point of Madagascar is represented as an area of elevation ; as is also 
that portion of India to the east of the area of subsidence, the Gulf of 
Bengal and islands beyond, the elevation of which may be considered 
inrelated to the depression of the western portion of the Pacific and 
Australia, and connected with the elevation of the eastern portion of the 
ftwjific and a large portion of the continent of America. 

It is difficult to lift a fiill bowl without its overflowing; and the 
hypothesis offered almost necessitates with the supposition of one portion 
bemg elevated to a greater height in a certain time than another the 
wpposition that an outflowing and draining off of a portion of the water 
twild be the consequence. A glance at Hall's map of South-Eastem 
Africa shows, from the Kei northward to Delagoa Bay, a river system 
nactly accordant to what may be seen in the runnels along an exposed mud 
iMok of a tidal river from which the ebb has withdrawn the life-like stream ; 
lod this 18 seen not only in the depicted courses of the rivers on the map, 
Kit in the zelatiTe dep>Ui8 of the different river-beds, at the mouths of the 



116 HYDROLOOT OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

rivers, and also at points nearer to their source ; and corresponding indications 
of the declivity or rapid slope of many of the water-courses of the Colony of the 
Cape of Good Hope are supplied by the rapidity or velocity of their currents. 

When a river comes down there is a torrent where before there was, it 
may be, a dry river-bed. Quickly does the water flow away, and in a day 
or two, it may be, the stream is as it was before A measurement of the 
altitude, above the level of the sea, of the upper part of the course, and a 
measurement of the length of the river-bed, might have given the fall per 
foot ; but not so impressive would a knowledge of the numbers be as is a 
sight of the torrent in its might. In the appearance of the country we see 
indications everywhere that the interior is far above the level of the coast, 
and in the directness of the flow of the rivers referred to indications that 
the upheaval must have occurred in what, compared with what is seen in 
other countries, may be called comparatively recent times, or with com- 
parative rapidity. 

The river-courses on the eastern coast, as represented on the map, seem 
to indicate a rapid slope from the foot of the moimtains to the sea. We 
see not the same thing in the rivers of the Cape Colony, and in the rivers 
further to the north, but characteristic of all of these are these torrents 
which in some cases are the only thing about them which entitles them to 
the name of river. To anyone acquainted with the Colony this needs only 
to be mentioned to remind them of numerous cases. South Africa is not 
the only Colony of which it is alleged that the rivers are without water, 
the flowers without fragrance, and the birds without song ; but such are its 
privations, and travellers in the interior of the country tell of going miles, 
it may be, up or down a water-course in quest of some pool or damp soil 
which may encourage them to dig in hope of finding water a little way 
below the surface. And there are water-courses within the Colony almost 
equally dry, it may be for months, perhaps for years, which at times are 
found filled from bank to bank with a torrent tearing along. All which 
speaks the greatness of the declivity towards the sea. 

tp Europe rivers are said to rise : the body of water flowing along gradually 
increases in bulk till it flows a swollen torrent. In South Africa the rivers 
are not said to rise : they do not swell : the terms are inapplicable to what 
is seen in them, and they are not employed. There the rivers are said to 
come down — and the rivers do indeed do so, — coming down a body of water, 
it may be, breast high ; and in a short time, in the dry channel, or channel 
of a stream a few inches deep, may be seen a torrent twelve, twenty, thirty 
feet in depth, tearing along as if for life — racing as if seeking to flee from 
ten thousand foes in hot pursuit. Seldom does a year pass without notices 
appearing in the colonial journals of some unfortunate party, who had 
encamped for the night in the river bed, being swept away, or if they escaped, 
escaped with their waggons and all its contents swept away to the deep ; 
and accounts of what seemed like hair-breadth escapes are numerous. 

The directness of the river course may be less apparent in the river 
system of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope than in the Transkie terri- 
tory ; but here we may see better how, on the assumption of such gradual 
upheaval, throughout what appears an older coimtry, though composed of 
strata of perhaps an earlier formation, the upheaval operates. Here it is 
less a slope than an intricate system of valleys — independent, or connected, 
or inter-penetrating each other — ^but often showing by their contour where, 
and there indicating how, the waters were drained off. 



PBIMART CAUSE OP DBSIOCSATION. 117 

In some cases it would seem as if overflowing, it may be gently, the 
lower portion of the basin, they had gradually fretted this away, untU now 
only traces of it can be- found. 

Thus does it appear to have been the case with the basin to a large 
sheet of water at Colesberg ; and thus may it have been with the outlet 
by which was drained off the waters of the Dicynodou, or reptilian, basin in 
the Orange River free state, examined by Dr Rubidge, in consequence of gold 
having been found there. An extensive district in the vicinity of Graaffreinet 
may also have been drained in a similar way. Of this Dr Rubidge remarks 
in a paper on irrigation and tree-planting, which appeared in the volume 
entitled The Cape and its People^ that a wall just above Graaffreinet, 200 yards 
long and 500 feet high, would form a lake nearly as large as Derwentwater ; 
and the river (the Sunday) might be led over a neck, deprived of its load of 
silt and shorn of its destructive and unmanageable impetus, to fertilise the 
great plain bounded by the Camdebo and Tantjesberg mountains. 

In the geological observations which have come under consideration in a 
previous chapter, not only have we had indications of successive depressions 
and upheavals of land, but mention has been made of dykes, cracks, or 
rents in the strata, filled with material different from that of which the 
strata were composed. These cracks or rents tell of breakages in the crust 
of the earth, occurriBg, most probably, in connection with these changes of 
leveL And in some places in the Cape Colony, and in places beyond it, it 
almost seems as if some rent, occasioned by the breakage of the sheet of 
land in its more rapid upheaval at one place than its weight or attachment 
at another would allow, had allowed a speedy escape of retained waters. 

Thus may it have been with the emptying of a lake covering the 
site and adjacent district of Montague, by Cogman's Kloof, while the rent 
extended towards the warm spring about a mile further inland. It would 
require careful consideration of all the appearances presented by the fissure, 
or at least of many of these, and of much besides, to justify a declaration 
either that it was, or that it was not so ; but enough is known by me of 
these to warrant a reference to these kloofs in illustration of what is alleged. 

In some cases an opening so produced may have extended but a little 
way below the surface of the stream ; but by some such process as that by 
which the Niagara has made for itself a bed from Lake Ontario to the Falls, 
may the river-bed have been lowered and levelled at a period so remote in 
the past that the weathering of the confining rocks — after, by the under- 
mining and removal of lower-lying portions, they had fallen into the angle 
of repose — ^has given them the appearance of a hoar antiquity. Thus may 
it have been with the Tulbagh Kloof and the Dunkel Kloof, referred to 
again only for illustration. 

More illustrations, and these perhaps more striking illustrations of the 
same things — ^the emptying of lakes or of inland seas, the pouring of water 
into rents or cracks, and the creating of coiu^es for themselves there, all 
connected with the upheaval of the land and illustrative of the dessication 
thus, carried on — are supplied by the narratives of travel in lands further 
to the north, given to us by Livingstone and others. Some of these I shall 
quote in extensoy as I wish to give to- my readers definite ideas of the 
resulting phenomena. 

The observations made by Dr Livingstone and his associates, in the dis- 
trict of the Zambesi; have made us acquainted with terrestrial operations 



118 HTDBOLOOT OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

going on even now, and, within a period not Teiy remote ftom the present, 
similar to what are indicated by appearances, presented in many districts 
within the colony of the Cape of Good Hape, as having occurred there at a 
time, it is impossible to say how long before. 

One of the rivers ascended, and that oftener than once, by that'intrepid 
traveller on his expedition to the Zambesi was the Shire. 

The upper Shire is apparently less a river than a prolongation of the 
Nyassa — a lake 200 miles long, at places 50 or 60 miles broad, and of 
unfathomed depth, for a line of 35 fathoms did not reach to the bottom. 

The lower Shire, for 200 miles above its confluence with the Zambesi, 
follows in peaceful tranquility what appear to be interminable windings. 
But these two portions of the Shire are separated by tremendous cataracts. 

Of these cataracts of the Shire, Dr Livingstone writes : — " They b^in in 
15° 20' S., and end in lat. 15° 55' S. The difference m latitude is, there- 
fore, 35'. The river runs in this space nearly north and south till we pass 
Malango ; so the entire distance is imder forty miles. The principal cats^ 
racts are five in number ; and are called Pamofunda or Pamozima, Morewa, 
Panoreba or Tetzane, Pampatamanga, and Pape Eira. Besides these, three 
or four smaller ones might be mentioned. While these lesser cataracts 
descend at an angle of scarcely 20°, the greater fall 100 feet in 100 yards 
at an angle of about 45°, and one at an angle of 70°. One part of 
Pamozima is perpendicular, and when the river is in flood causes a cloud of 
vapour to ascend, which, in our journey to Lake Shirwa, we saw at a 
distance of a least eighty miles. The entire descent fix)m the upper to the 
lower Shire is 1200 feet. Only on one spot in all that distance is the 
current moderate — viz., above Tedzane. The rest is all rapid ; and much 
of it being only fifty or eighty yards wide, and rushing like a mill-race, it 
gives the impression of water power, sufficient to drive all the mills in 
Manchester, running to waste. Pamoflmda, or Pamozima, has a deep, shady 
grove on its right bank. When we were walking alone through its dark 
shade, we were startled by a shocking smell like that of a dissecting room ; 
and on looking up saw dead bodies in mats suspended from branches of the 
trees — a mode of burial somewhat similar to that which we subsequently 
saw practised by the Parsees, in the Towers of Silence at Poonah, near 
Bombay. The name Pamozima means * The departed spirits or gods,' a fit 
name for a place over which, according to the popular belief, the disem- 
bodied souls continually hover. 

" The rock lowest down in the series is dark reddish-grey syenite. This 
seems to have been an upheaving agent, for the mica schists above it are 
much disturbed. Dark trappean rocks, full of hornblende, have in many 
places burst through these schists, and appear in nodules on the surface. 
The highest rock seen is a fine sandstone of closer grain than that of Tetle, 
and quite metamorphosed where it comes into contact with the igneous 
rocks below it. It sometimes gives place to quartz and reddish clay schists, 
much baked by heat. This is the usual geological condition of the right 
bank of the cataracts. On the other side we pass over masses of porphyritio 
trap in contact with the same mica schists ; and these probably give to the 
soil the great fertility we observed. The great body of the mountain is 
syenite. So much mica is washed into the river that on looking attentively 
on the stream one sees myriads of particles floating and glancing in the 
sun, and this too when at low water." 

These floating particles of mica tell of the eating away of the rock — 



PBIMABY OAUBB OF DE8I00ATION. 119 

alowly, but sorely — and the continuance of the cataract is only a question 

of time ; and in the KebrabaBa rapids of the Zambesi we have a later stage 

of the same process. 

What is going on at the Murchison cataracts of the Shire is a process 

through which tiie EebrabaBa rapids of the Zambesi have apparently passed 

through long ago. 

" The name as pronounced by the natives is Kaora-basa, ' finish or break 
the service.' The Portuguese word Kebra (Quebra) means the same thing, 
and refers to the break which occurs in the labour of toiling up thus far in 
heavy canoes, and then carrying the luggage thence overland to Chicova. 
These rapids, like the Murchison cataracts of the Shire, seem to debar the 
upper portion of the river from navigation by ships from the coast." 

From the Portuguese Dr Livingstone and his friends had learned " that 
some three or four detached rocks jutted out of the river in Kebrabasa, 
which though dangerous to the cumbersome native canoes could be easily 
passed by a steamer, and that if one or two of these obstructions were 
blasted away with gimpowder no difficulty would hereafter be experienced 
in the navigation of the river at that place." 

But this did not satisfy the enterprising traveller. He writes — " Our 
curiosity had been so much excited by the reports we had heard of the 
Kebrabasa rapids that we resolved to make a short examination of them, 
and seized the opportimity of the Zambesi being unusually low to endeavour 
to ascertain their character while uncovered by the water. We reached 
them on the 9th of November. The country between Tetle and Panda 
Mokua, where navigation ends, is well wooded and hilly on both banks. 
Panda Mokua is a hill two miles below the rapids, capped with dolemite 
containing copper ore. 

" Conspicuous among the trees for its gigantic size and bark, coloured 
exactly like Egyptian syenite, is the burly baobab. It often makes the other 
trees of the forest look like mere bushes in comparison. 

" The lofty range of Kebrabasa, consisting chiefly of conical hills covered 
with scraggy trees, crosses the Zambesi, and confines it within a narrow, 
rough, and rocky dell of about a quarter of a mile in breadth ; over this, 
which may be called the flood-bed of the river, large masses of rocks are 
huddled in indescribable confusion. The drawing, for the use of which, 
and of others, our thanks are due to Lord Russell, conveys but a faint idea 
of the scene, inasmuch as the hills which confine the river do not appear in 
the sketch. The chief rock is syenite, some portions of which have a 
beautiful blue tinge like lapis lazuli diflPased through them ; others are grey. 
Blocks of granite also abound of a pinkish tinge, and these with metamor- 
phic rocks, contorted, twisted, and thrown into every conceivable position, 
afford a picture of dislocation or inconformability which would gladden a 
geological lecturer's heart; but at high flood this rough channel is all 
smoothed over, and it then conforms well with the river below it, which is 
half-armile wide. In the dry season the stream runs at the bottom of a 
narrow and deep groove, whose sides are polished and fluted by the boiling 
action of the waters in flood, like the rims of ancient Eastern wells by the 
draw-ropes. The breatith of the groove is often not more than from forty 
to sixty yards, and it has some sharp turnings, double channels, and little 
cataracts in it. As we steamed up, the masts of the * Ma Kobert,' though 
some thirty feet high, did not reach the level of the flood-channel above, 
and the man in the chains sung out, * No bottom at ten fathoms.' Huge 



120 HYDROLOOT OF SOUTH AFBIOA. 

pot-holes, as large as draw-wells, had been worn in the sides^ and were so 
deep that in some instances, when protected from the son by overhanging 
boidders, the water in them was quite cool. Some of these holes had been 
worn right through and through, and only the side next the rock remamed, 
while the sides of the groove of the flood-channel were polished as smooth 
as if they had gone through the granite-mills of Aberdeen, The pressure 
of the water must be enormous to produce this polish. It had wedged 
round pebbles into chinks and crannies of the rocks so firmly that, though 
they looked quite loose, they could not be moved except with a hammer. 
The mighty power of the water here seen gave us an idea of what is going 
on in thousands of cataracts in the world 

" After we had painfully explored seven or eight miles of the rapid we 
returned to the vessel, satisfied that much greater labour was requisite for 
the mere examination of the cataracts than our Mends supposed necessary 
to remove them ; we therefore went down the river for firesh supplies, and 
made preparations for a more serious survey of this region, 

" The steamer having returned from the bar, we set out, on the 22nd of 
Nov., to examine the rapids of Kebrabasa. We reached the foot of the 
hills again late in the afternoon of the 24th, and anchored in the stream, 

" Leaving the steamer next morning, we proceeded on foot, accompanied 
by a native Portuguese and his men, and a dozen Makololos, who carried 
our baggage. The morning was pleasant, the hills on our right frimished 
for a time a delightful shade; but, before long, the path grew frightftilly 
rough, and the hills no longer shielded us from the blazing sim. Scarcely 
a vestige of a track was now visible, and, indeed, had not our guides 
assured us to the contrary, we should have been innocent of even the sus- 
picion of a way along the patches of soft yielding sand, and on the great 
rocks over which we so painfully clambered. These rocks have a singular 
appearance, from being dislocated and twisted in every direction, and 
covered with a thin black glaze, as if highly polished, and coated with 
lamp-black varnish. This seems to have been deposited when the river was 
in flood, for it covers only those rocks which lie between the highest water- 
mark and a line about four feet above the lowest. Travellers who have 
visited the rapids of the Orinoco, and the Congo, say that the rocks there 
have a similar appearance, and it was attributed to some deposit from the 
water formed only when the current is strong. This may account for it in 
part here, as it prevails only where the narrow river is confined between 
masses of rock, backed by high hills, and where the current in floods is 
known to be the strongest ; and it does not exist where the rocks are only 
on one side, with a scanty beach opposite, and a broad expanse of river 
between. The hot rocks burnt the thick soles of our men's feet, and sorely 
fatigued ourselves. Our first day's march did not exceed four miles in a 
straight line, and that we found more than enough to be pleasant." 

They waded across the rapid Lina, which took them up to the waist, and 
is about forty yards wide, and at length they reached Chiperiziwa. " When 
we reached the foot of the mountain named Chiperiziwa, whose perpendi- 
cular rocky sides are clothed with many coloured lichens, our Portuguese 
companion informed us that there were no more obstructions to navigation, 
the rivers being all smooth above ; he had hunted there and knew it weD. 
Supposing that the object of our trip was accomplished we turned back ; but 
two natives, who came to our camp at night, assured us that a cataract, 
called Morumbwa, did still exist in front, Drs Livingstone and Kirk 



PBIMABT QAUliE OF D£3lCCATt05, 



121 



paen decided to go forward witb three Makololog and settle tho question for 
libemaelves* It was as tough a bit of travel as they ever had in Africa, and 
after some painful marching the Eadema gxiidea refus^ to go fuj"ther, ^ the 
ianya/ they aaid^ 'would be angry if they showed white men the eountry ; 
and there was, besides, no practicahle approach to the spot^ neither elephBint, 
hippopotamnSj nor even a crocodile^ could reach the cataract.' The slopes 
of the mountains on each side of the river, now not 300 yards wide and 
irithout the flattish fiood-ehanntl and groove, were more than 3000 feet 
from the sky line down, and were covered either with dense thomhush or 
hnge black boulders ; this deep trough-like shape caused the sun's rays to 
coUTerge as into a focus, making the surface so hot that the soles of the 
feet of the Makololo became blistered. Around, and up, and dowUi 
the party clambered among these heated blocks, at a pace not exceeding a 
niile ail hour ; the strain upon the muscles in jumping from crag to boulder, 
and wriggling round projections, took an enormous deal out of them ; and 
they were often glad to cower in the shadow formed by one rock overhang- 
ing and resting on another j the shelter induced the peculiarly strong and 
overpowering inclination to sleep, which too much sun someiimes causes, 
ThiB sleep is curative of what may be incipient sun-stroke in its first gentle 
touches, it caused the dream to flit over the boiling brain that they had 
become lunatics, and had been sworn in members of the Alpine Club j and 
then it hecame so heavy that it made them feel as if a portion of existence 
t&d been cut out of their lives. The enn is excessively hot, and feels sharp 
in Africa ; but, probably from the greater diyuess of the atmosphere, we 
never heard of a single case of sun-stroke, so common in India^ The 
Makololo told Br Livingstone they * always thought ho had a heart, but 
now^ they believed he had aone,* and tried to persuade Dr Kirk to return ^ 
on the gronud that it must be evident that, in attempting to go where no 
livbg foot coidd tread, his leader had given unmistakeable signs of having 
gone mad. All their efibrts of persuasion, howeverj were lost upon Dr Kirk, 
&B he had not yet learned their language, and his leader knowing him to be 
equally EUisious with himself to solve the navigableness of the Kebrahasaj 
wag net at pains to enlighten him. At one part a bare mountain spur 
han^ the way, and had to he surmounted by a perilous and circuitous 
n^ule, along which the crags were so hot that it Tvaa scarcely possible for 
the hand to hold on long enough to ensure safety in the passage ; and had 
tlw foremost of the party lost his hold, be would have hurled all behind him 
into the river at the foot of the promontory ; yet in this wild region^ as they 
descended again to the river, they met a fisherman casting his hand-net into 
the boiling eddies, and he pointed out the cataract of Morumbwa ; within 
an hour thej were trying to ireaaure it from an overhanging rock, at a 
height of about one hundred feet. When you stand facing the cataract, on 
the north bank, you see that it is situated in a sudden bend of the river, 
which is flowing iu a short curve ; the river above it is jammed between two 
mountains in a channel with perpendicular sides, and less than fifty yards 
wide ; one or two masses of rock jut out, and then there is a sloping fall of 
perhaps twenty feet in a distauee of thirty yards. It would stop ail navi- 
gation eicept during the lighest floods j the rocks showed that the water 
then rises upwards of eighty feet perpendicularly. 

** Still keeping the position facing the cataract, on its right side rises 
Moimt Morumbwaj from 2000 to 3000 feet high, which gives the name to 
tha spot. On the left of the cata;ract stands a noticeable mouutaiu which 



124 HYDBOLOOT OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

Falls of Gonge furnished an outlet to the lake of the Barotse Talley, and so 
of the other great lakes of remote times. The Congo also finds its way to 
the sea through a narrow fissure, and so does the Chrange River in the wes^ 
while other rents made in the eastern ridge, as the Victoria Falls and those 
to the east of Tanganyenka, allowed the central waters to drain eastward. AD 
the African lakes hitherto discovered are shallow, in consequence of hmg 
the mere residue of very much larger ancient bodies of water. There can 
be no doubt that this continent was, in former times, very much more 
copiously supplied with water than at present; but a natural process of - 
drainage has been going on for ages. Deep fissures are made probably by 
the elevation of the land, proofs of which are seen in modem shells ini' 
bedded in marly tufa all roimd the coast line. Whether this process rf 
desiccation is as rapid throughout the continent as in a letter to the late .^ 
Dean Buckland, in 1843, I showed to have been the case in the Bechuana * 
country, it is not for me to say ; but though there is a slight tradition of 
the waters having burst through the low hills south of the Barotse, there is 
none of a sudden upheaval accompanied by an earthquake." 

" If we take a glance back at the great valley, the form the rivers hare 
taken imparts the idea of a lake slowly drained out, for they have cut otit 
for themselves beds exactly like what we may see in the soft mud of a 
shallow pool of rain water, when that is let off by a furrow. This idea 
would, probably, not strike a person on coming first into the country, but 
more extensive acquaintance with the river system, certainly, would convey 
the impression. None of the rivers in the valley of the Leeambye have 
slopes down to their beds. Indeed, many parts are much like the Thames 
at the Isle of Dogs, only the Leeambye has to rise 20 or 30 feet before it 
can overflow some of its meadows. The rivers have each a bed of low-water, 
a simple furrow cut out of the calcareous tufa, which lined the channel of 
the ancient lake ; and another of inundation. When the beds of inundation 
are filled, they assume the appearance of chains of lakes. When the Clyde 
fills the holms (haughs) above Bothwell Bridge and retires again into its 
channel, it resembles the river we are speaking of — only here, there are no 
high lands sloping down towards the bed of inundation, for the greater 
part of the region is not elevated fifty feet above them. Even the rocky 
banks of the Leeambye, below Gonge, and the ridges bounding the Baxotse 
valley, are not more than two or three hundred feet in altitude over the 
general dead level. Many of the rivers are very tortuous in their course, 
the Chobe and Shirwa particularly so ; and if we may receive the testimony 
of the natives, they form what anatomists call ' anastamose,' or a net-work 
of rivers. Thus, for instance, they assured me that if they go up the 
Sirwah in a canoe, they can enter the Chobe and descend that river to the 
Leeambye ; or they may go up the Kama and come down the Sirwah. 
And so is the case of the Kafue. It is reported to be connected in this way 
with the Leeambye in the north, and to part with the Loungwa ; and the 
Makololo went from the one into the other in canoes. And even though 
the interlacing may not be quite to the extent believed by the natives, tibe 
country is so level, and the rivers so tortuous, that I see no improbability 
in the conclusion — and here is a net-work of waters of a very peculiar 
nature. The reason why I am disposed to place a certain amount of con- 
fidence in the native reports is this, when Mr Oswell and I discovered the 
Zambesi in the centre of the continent in 1851, being unable to ascend it 
at the time ourselves, we employed the natives to d^w a map embodymg 



FEIHABT CAUSE OF PBQTOOATIOlf , 



128 



thetr ideas of that iiTer. We then sent the native map home, with the 
asmie view that I now mention their ideai of the river syetem— namely, in 
order to be an ai<i to others in farther investigations. When I was able to 
Bsc^nd the Leeambye to 14^ sonth, and Bubseqncntly descend it, I found, 
after all the care I could bestow, that the alterations I was able to make in 
the original plan were very trifling." 

The circumstance that such were the views formed by Dr Livingstone in 
the midst of the scenes by which they were suggested entitles them to 
Borne consideration, At present they are adduced as embodying evidence 
that there has been^and that apparently oftener than once — a great 
disturbance in the level of the land — a disturbance indicative of upheaval 
of the land J and of a consequent msh of water to the lower level of the sea 
— oorroharative of the supposition that to such upheaval of the land is 
attributable, primarily and principally, the deeieoation of the conn try 
fertber to the south. 

By the cutting down of some such dam may the waters have been drained 
ftwaj from the lacustrine valley near Smithfield, refen*ed to as a valley in 
which gold has been found, if thia was not effected in the way previously 
spcken of — overflowing water gradually eating down or sawing down the 
Wiers. 

Thus, in a time more near to the present, may have been drained off 
waters from behind the Gates of the Oomzimvoobo ; and in a time more 
iiemote, the waters from behind the Heads at the Knysn a, —whether these, 
either or both, have originated in a rent or otherwise ; and at a period still 
wm remote may what is now the entrance to the Knysna from the sea 
liave allowed a large body of water to have escaped. 

In the Victoria Falls we have a rent more like that of the Kogman Kloof 
at Montague, bnt differing from it in eittent, in fissure, and in direction, in 
regard to the river current. 

Of these Falla Dr Livingstone writes, — '* The entire Falls are simply a 

crack made in a hard basaltic rock from the right to the left bank of the 

Zambesi, and then prolonged from the left bank away through thirty or 

forty miles of hilla. If one imagines the Thames filled with low tree-covered 

hills immediately beyond the tunnel, extending as far as Gravesend ; the 

bed of black basaltic rock instead of London mud ; and a fissure made 

therein from one end of the tunnel to the other^ down through the keystones 

of the arch, and prolonged from the left end of the tunnel through thirty 

miles of hill a ; the pathway being a hundred feet down from the bed of the 

river instead of what it is, with the lips of the fissure from eighty to 

a hundred feet apart ; then fancy the Thames leaping bodily into the gulf ; 

ftnd forced then to change its direction, and flow from the right to the left 

bank ; and then rush boiling and roaring thro ugh the hills,— he may have 

some idea of what takes place at this, the most wonderful sight I had 

witnessed in Africa," 

Of his visit to these Falls he thus writes :— 

" After twenty minutes' sail from Kalai, we came in sight, for the first 
time, of the cohunns of vapoiu', appropriately called * emoke,* rising at a 
distance of five or six mileSj exactly as when large tracts of grass are burned 
in Africa. Five colmnns now rose, and bending in the direction of the wind, 
they seemed placed against a low ridge covered with trees ; the tops of the 
columns at this distance appeared to mingle with the clouds. They were 
white below, and higher up became dark^ ao as to simulate smol^ very 



126 HTDBOLOGT OV SOUTH AFBTOA. 

closely. The whole scene was extremely beautiful ; the banks and islands^ 
dotted over the river are adorned with sylvan vegetation of great variety of" 

colour and form. At the period of our visit several trees were spangled ove 

with blossoms. Trees have each their own physiognomy. There, towerin^^^, 
over all, stands the great burly baobab, each of whose enormous armr^ _j 
would form the tnmk of a large tree, beside groups of graceful palms, which..^^ 
with their feathery-shaped leaves, depicted on the sky, lend their beauty t^-.*,^ 
the scene. As a hieroglyphic they always mean ' far from home,' for on^^^^ 
can never get over their foreign air in a picture or landscape. The 8ilve rr._j . 
mohonono, which in the tropics is in form Hke the cedar of Lebanon, stan^^g^ 
in pleasing contrast with the dark colour of the motsouri, whose cypre^^^g. 
form is dotted over at present with its pleasant scarlet fruit. Some tra ^ 
resemble the great spreading oak, others assimie the character of our o^^a^ 
elms and chesnuts ; but no one can imagine the beauty of the view frcrzDm 
anything witnessed in England. It had never been seen before by Europ^^an 
eyes; but scenes so lovely must have been gazed upon by angels in tl^^^fr 
flight. The only want felt is that of mountains in the backgroimd. ^KZThe 
falls are bounded on three sides by ridges 300 or 400 feet in height, wl^ Sct 
are covered with forest, with the red soil appearing among the trees. Winen 
about half a mile from the falls, I left the canoe by which we had come 
down thus far, and embarked in a lighter one, with men well acquairxted 
with the rapids, who, by passing down the centre of the stream ilL the 
eddies and still places caused by many jutting rocks, brought me to ao 
island situated in the middle of the river, and on the edge of the lip over 
which the water rolls. In coming hither there was danger of being swept 
down by the streams which rushed along on each side of the island ; bat 
the river was now low, and we sailed where it is totally impossible to go 
when the water is high. But though we had reached the island, and were 
within a few yards of the spot, a view from which would solve the 
whole problem, I believe that no one could perceive where the vast body of 
water went ; it seemed to lose itself in the earth, the opposite lip of tb0 
fissure into which it disappeared being only 80 feet distant. At least ^ 
did not comprehend it until, creeping with awe to the verge, I peered do¥7'^ 
into a largo rent which had been made from bank to bank of the broai*^ 
2ambesi, and saw that a stream of a thousand yards broad leaped down 
hundred feet, and then became suddenly compressed into a space of fifte^ '^ 
or twenty yards. 

" In looking down into the fissure on the right of the island, oi^^® 
sees nothing but a dense white cloud, which, at the time we visited the spo' — ^ 
had two bright rainbows on it. (The sun was on the meridan, and tl^^? 
declination about equal to the latitude of the place.) From this cl ot^ 
rushed up a great jet of vapour exactly like steam, and it rnounted 200 C^^ 
300 feet high \ there condensing, it changed its hue to that of dark smc^ ^ 
and came back in a constant shower, which soon wetted us to the aki-^^' 
This shower falls chiefly on the opposite side of the fissure, and a few yarC^^ 
back from the lip there stands a straight hedge of evergreen trees, wh(^ ^® 
leaves are always wet. iFrom their roots a number of little rills run back im-^*^ 
the gulf \ but as they flow down the steep wall there, the column of vapour, ^^ 
its ascent, licks them up clean ofi* the rock, and away they mount aga.i'Z' 
They are constantly running down, but never reach the bottom. 

" On the left of the island we see the water at the bottom, a whi^ 
rolling mass moving away to the prolongation of tho fissurOi which bniuJi0> 



PRIMART CAUSE OF DESlOCATIOTr. 



off near the left bank of the rtYer< A pieee of the rock has fallen off a spot on 
the left of the ishmd, and juts out from the water below, and from, it I judged 
the distance which the water falls to be about tOO feet. The walls of this 
gigantic crack are perpendicular, and composed of one homogeneous mass of 
J?ocL The edge of that side over which the water falls is worn off tw^o or 
tkee feet and pieces have fallen away^ so as to give it somewhat of a serrated 
ap|>earflace. That over which the water does not fall ii quite straight, 
eicept at the left comerj where a rent appears, and a piece seems inclined 
to M off. Upou the whole, it is nearly in the state in w^hich it was left at 
the period of its formation. The rock is dark brown in colour, except about 
taa foet from the bottom, which is discoloured by the annual rise of the 
^ater to that or a greater height. On the left side of the island we have a 
good ¥iew of the mass of water which causes one of the columns of vapour 
to aficend, as it leaps quite clear of the rock, and forms a thick unbroken fleece 
all the way to the bottom. Its whiteneus gave the idea of snow, a sight I 
W not seen for many a day. As it broke into (if I may use the term) 
pieces of water aU rushing on in the same direction j each gave off several ray« 
of foam^ exactly as bits of steel when bnmt in oxygen gas give off rays of 
aparkfl* The snow-white sheet seemed like myriads of small comets rushing 
oain one direction, each of which left behind its nucleus rajs of foam. I 
^ever saw the appearance referred to noticed elsewhere. It seemed to be 
the effect of the mass of water leaping at once clear of the t«ck, and but 
slowly breaking up into spray, 

"I have mentioned that wc saw five colunms of vapom: ascending firom 
this stninge abyss. They are evidently forme d, by the compression suffered 
yy the force of the water's own fall, into an unyieldmg wedge-shaped siiace. 
^ the five columns, two on the right, and one the left, of the island 
»V'ere the largest, and the streams which formed thera seemed each to ex- 
't^ed in size the falls of the Clyde at Stonebyres, when that river is in 
ItXHi, This was the period of low water in the Lceambye, but as far as I 
*culd gnesa, there was a flow of five or six hundred yards of water, which, 
*.t the edge of the fall, seemed at least three feet deep. I write in the hope 
that others more capable of judging distances than myseif will visit this 
&ceue, and I state simply the impressions nmde on my mind at the time, 
I thoughtj and do still think, the river above the falls to be one thousand 
3?Miis broad } but I am a poor judge of distances on water, for 1 showed a 
tia?al friend what I supposed to be four hundred yards in the bay of Loanda^ 
End, to my surprise, he pronounced it to be nine hundred, I tried to 
measure the Leeambye with a strong thread, the only line X had in my 
poa^ession. but when the men had gone two or three hundred yards^ they 
got into conversation, and did not hear us shouting that the line had become 
eutangled. By stOl going on they broke it, and being carried away dowa 
the stream, it was lost on a snag. In vain I tried to bring to my recollec- 
tion the way I had been taught to measure a river, by taking an angle with 
the sextant. That I once knew it, and that it was easy, were all the lost 
ideas I could recall ^ and they only increased my yezation. However, I 
measured the river farther down by another plan, and then I discovered 
that the Portuguese had measiu'ed it at Tete, and found It a little over one 
thousand yards. At the falls it is as broad as at Tete, if not more so. 
Whoever may come after me will not, I trust, find reason to say I have 
indulged in exaggeration. With respect to the drawing, it must he borne 
in mind that it was composed firom a rude sketch as viewed firom the island^ 



I 



128 HYDBOLOGT OF SOUTH AFBIOA. 

which exhibited the columns of yapour only, and a ground plan. The srtM 
has given a good idea of the scene, but, by way of explanation, he htf 
shown more of the depth of the fissure than is visible, except by going c1q00 
to the edge. The left-hand column, and that farthest off, are the siitallogi^ 
and all ought to have been a little more tapering at the tops. 

" The fissure is said by the Makololo to be very much deeper farther to 
the eastward ; there is one part at which the walls are so sloping, that 
people accustomed to it can go down by descending in a sitting positioa 
The Makololo on one occasion, pursuing some fugitive Batoko, saw theodi 
unable to stop the impetus of their flight at the edge, literally dashed to 
pieces at the bottom. They beheld the stream like a ' white cord ' at the 
bottom, and so far down (probably 300 feet) that they became giddy, and 
were fain to go away, holding on to the ground. 

" Now, though the edge of the rock over which the river falls does not J 
show wearing more than three feet, and there is no appearance of the % 
opposite wall being worn out at the bottom in the parts exposed to view, 
yet it is probable that, where it has flowed beyond the falls, the sides of the | 
fissure may have given way, and the parts out of sight may be broader than \ 
the * white cord * on the surface. There may even be some ramifications of j 
the fissure, which take a portion of the stream quite beneath the rooks; bat ', 
this I did not loam. ] 

'' If we tako the want of much wear on the lip of hard basaltic rock as of \ 
any value, the period when this rock was riven is not geologically very 
remote. I regretted the want of proper means of measuring and maiking 
its width at the falls, in order that at some future time the question 
whether it is progressive or not might be tested. It seemed as if a palnp 
tree could be laid across it from the island. And if it is progressive, as it 
would mark a great natural drainage being effected, it might furnish a hope 
that Africa will one day become a healthy continent. It is at any rate very 
much changed in respect to its lakes within a comparatively recent period. 

** At three spots near these falls, one of them the island in the middle on 
which we were, three Batoka chiefs offered up prayers and sacrifices to the 
Barimo. They chose their places of prayers within the sound of the roar of 
the cataract, and in sight of the bright bows in the cloud. They must have 
looked upon the scene with awe. Fear may have induced the selection. 
The river itself is, to them, mysterious. The words of the canoe-aong are — 
M < The Leeambye ! Nobody knows 
Whence it comes and whither it goes.' 

The play of colours of the double iris on the cloud, seen by them elsewhere 
only as the rainbow, may have led them to the idea that this was the abode of 
Deity. Some of the Makololo who went with me near to the Gonge looked upon 
the same sign with awe. When seen in the heavens it is named ' mots^ oa 
barimo * — ^the pestle of the gods. Here they could approach the emblem, 
and see it stand steadily above the blustering uproar below — a type of Him 
who sits supreme — alone unchangeable, though ruling over aU changing 
things. But not aware of His true character, l£ey had no admiration of the 
beautiful and good in their bosoms. They did not imitate His benevolenoep 
for they were a bloody, imperious crew, and Sebituane performed a noble 
service in the expulsion from their fastnesses of these cruel 'Lords of 
the Isles.' 

'^ Having feasted my eyes upon the beautiful sight, I returned to myfriendi 
at Kalaiy and, saying to Sekeletu that he had nothing else worth d&owhig 



PBIICABY OAUBB OF DESIOOATION. 129 

in his country, his curiosity was excited to visit it the next day. I returned 
Vith the intention of taking a lunar observation from the island itself, but 
the clouds were unfavourable, consequently all my determinations of 
position refer to Kalai. (Lat. 70° 51' 54^ S., long. 25° 41' E.) Sokeletu 
Acknowledged to feeling a little nervous at the probability of being sucked 
into the gulf before reaching the island. His companions amused themselves 
by throwing stones down, and wondered to see them diminishing in size, 
and even disappearing, before they reached the water at the bottom. 

" I had another object in view in my return to the island. I observed 

that it was covered with trees, the seeds of which had probably come down 

with the stream fix)m the distant north, and several of which I had seen 

nowhere else, and every now and then the wind wafted a little of the 

condensed vapour over it, and kept the soil in a state of moisture, which 

caused a sward of grass, growing as green as an English lawn. I selected a 

spot — ^not too near the chasm, for there the constant deposition of the 

moisture nourished numbers of polypi of a mushroom shape and fleshy 

consistence — ^but somewhat back, and made a little garden. 1 there planted 

about a hundred peach and apricot stones, and a quantity of coffee-seeds. 

1 liad attempted fruit trees before, but, when left in charge of my Makololo 

friend, they were always allowed to wither, after having vegetated, by being 

forgotten. I bargained for a hedge with one of the Makololo, and if he is 

fiuthful, I have great hopes of Mosioatimya's abilities as a nurseryman. My 

only source of fear is the hippopotami, whose footprints I saw on the island. 

When the garden was prepared, I cut my initials on a tree, and the date 

j 1855. This was the only instance in which I indulged in this piece of 

vanity. The garden stands in front, and were there no hippopotami, I would 

have no doubt but this will be the parent of all the gardens which may yet 

be in this new country." 

Of another visit paid by him to the Falls he wrote, under date of 
Seaheke, September 10, 1860, to Sir Roderick Murchison, — " When within 
20 miles of Victoria Falls we could see the columns of vapour with the 
naked eye, and there I could not resist the temptation of acting the 
Bhowman to my companions, Dr Kirk and Mr C. Livingstone, though by 
difeiging from our straight course to Sesheke we added some forty miles to 
oar tramp. The hippopotami had eaten all my trees, so henceforth we shall 
have war with them to the knife. They are good food, half beef and half 
pork, and lots of fat, that serves as butter. This is part of the ' casus belli.' 
By the way, our good friend. Professor Owen, and the gastronomic 
eommittee, will stand very much in their own light if the she-giraflFes die a 
natural death. If they praised the eland so, which we consider but so-so, 
a dinner of she-giraffe will leave them all lying on their backs." 

And again, — "Tette, November 26, I860.— My dear Sir Koderick,— We 
unfortunately missed the opportunity of sending overland by the elephant- 
hunters, so I open the letter written at Sesheke to insert some further 
particulars. The river was so low we could easily see the bottom of on4 
half of the fissure which forms Victoria Falls ; and, indeed, people could 
wade from the north bank to my Garden Island, to form a stockade for 
fresh seeds. The depth is not 100 feet, but 310 feet — probably a few feet 
more, Bfl the weight attached to the line rested on a slope near the bottom. 
The breadth from bank to bank is not 1000 yards, as I conjectured in 1855, 
bat between one statute and one geographical mile — we say 1860 yards to 
the memoiy, but it is a little more, yet not quite 2000 yards. The 

Q 



130 HTDROLOOY OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

lips of the crack at Garden Island may be more than 80 feet, as we could 
not throw a stone across, but the sextant gave that. Now come to the 
other, or south-eastern, side o^ the crack, and the fissure, which from the 
upper bed looks like the letter L, is prolonged in a most remarkable zigzag 
manner. The water, after leaping sheer down 310 feet, is collected from 
both ends to the upright part of iiie letter as the escape, and then flows 
away on the zigzag part. The promontories formed thereby are flat at the 
top, and of the same level as the bed of the river above the Falls. The base 
of the first on the right is only 400 paces from the Fall fissure, and that on 
the left about 150. Their sides are as perpendicular as the Fall, and you 
can walk along among the trees, and by a few steps see the river some 300 
or 400 feet below, jammed in a space of some 20 or 30 yards, and of a deep 
green colour. As a whole, the Victoria Falls are the most wonderful in the 
world. Even now, at extreme low water, or when it is two feet lower than 
we ever saw it, there are 800 feet of water falling on the right of Garden 
Island. And the two columns of vapour, with the glorious rainbows, are a 
sight worth seeing. A fall called Momba, or Moamba, below this, is 
interesting, chiefly because you look down it from a height of some 500 feet. 
It is really nothing like Mosioatimya. We visited the river twice on our 
way down to Sinamani*s, and found it in a very deep crack. The standing 
point gives 1600 of descent from the Falls to Sinamani's." 

In this wonderful rent we see what, had it extended to the mass of mattei- 
in a state of fusion below, might have become a dyke filled and overtopped- 
with igneous rock ; or, had it been in position favourable to the influx from, 
above of clay and sand and gravel, as perhaps it is, it might have been, a& 
perhaps it may yet become, a dyke of such debris as may be seen in not a» 
few of the dykes in the diamond fields. But it is cited here as a rent^ 
indicative of such a disturbance of level as might be occasioned by an. 
upheaval of land having occurred — and as a rent which, had it extended, 
over any part of a mountain range, confined a lake, or might have drained 
off the mass of waters and converted the lake into a plain ; and as it is it 
may have had some effect in draining off the waters from that higher level. 

II. I have used freely the word upheaval as descriptive of the cause of the 
elevation of the land above the level of the ocean into which the water 
flows. Two demurrers may suggest themselves, one to one class of readers, 
and the other to another. To some the idea of upheaval — ^the upheaval of 
a whole continent — may be a new idea, and if new, startling, so startling as 
to awaken scepticism not only in regard to that having taken place, but 
scepticism in regard to that which may extend to much besides which has 
been advanced. And to others it may appear that if upheaval has been 
the cause of the elevation, which is the cause or occasion of the water flow, 
— ^to the cause of that upheaval, or the cause of the cause of this cause of 
desiccation, should be applied the designation primary and principal cause 
of the desiccation and consequent aridity of South Africa. I have the 
necessary leisure, and have no objection to provide for half-an-hour's con- 
sideration of the questions raised, giving notice thus to any to skip this 
and the following sections of the chapter, and pass on to the perusal of 
what follows, if so disposed. 

I proceed first to adduce evidence of the upheavals of land being a 
phenomenon fully established as one of which there are indications in 
various countries ; and then to state how it appears to have been effected. 



PRIMARY CAUm OF DESICOAXrON. 



lai 



I. Directing attention to the well-defined strata capping Table Mountain, 
the Lion^s Head, and the othor mountain ranges in South Africa, as indica- 
tions of these mountaiDs having been at one time a portion of the sea haam, 
in accordance with what is admitted by all students of geology, I would ask, 
How does it come to pasa that they now occupy the elevated position which 
they do, thousands of feet above the ocean's bed 1 There seems to be but 
tvo suppositions possible : the sea must have subsided, or the land must 
have been raised. These two suppositions may be so maintained that they 
will be seen to resolve themselves into one^being so correlated that what 
taused a subsidence of the sea might and must at the same time have 
miised the elevation of the land ; and such is the hypothesis as will be 
ifWrwEtrds explained* 

Before proeeeding to the exposition of the hypothesis, I may revert to the 
fact already mentioned, that such a correlated elevation of land and aubsid- 
«nca of the sea basin is going on at present over extensive areas of the 
irorld, and state that in Britain and elsewhere there exist satisfaetoiy indi- 
catious of such elevations having occurred also in ages which may be con- 
sidered remote from the present. 

Hugh Miller, in a lecture which he delivered in Exeter Hall to the Young 
Meu's Christian Association, some years before his death, speaking of one 
oftliesg indicationsj aaid,^ — -*^ There runs around the shores of Groat Britain 
itnd Ireland a flat terrace of imequal breadth, backed by an escarpment of 
Tarie<l height and character, which is known to geologists as the Old Coast 
line. On this flat teniae e most of the seaport towns of the empire ai-e built 
The Bulisoil, which underlies its covering of vegetable mould, consists ujsually 
of stratified sands and gi'avels, arranged after the same fashion as on the 
neigbboming beach, and interspersed in the same manner with sea-shells, 
Tha escarpment behind, when formed of materials of no great coherency, 
Bttch aa gravel or clay, exists as a sloping, grass-covered bank,— at one place 
i'ttuning out into promontories that oneroaeb upon the terrace beneath, — 
at another receding into picturesque, bay-like recesses ; but where composed, 
M in many localities, of rock of an enduring quality, we find it wom^ as if 
by the action of the surf, — in some parts relieved into insulated stacks, in 
others hollowed into deep caverns, — in short, presenting all the appeomncea 
of a precipitous coast line, subjected to the action of the waves. Now, no 
leologist can, or does, doubt that this escarpment was at one time the coast 
liue of the island, — the line against which the waves broke at high-water in 
some distant age, when either the sea stood from 20 to 30 feet higher along 
t>ur shores than it does now, or the laud sat from 20 to 30 feet lower. Nor 
can geologist doubt that along the flat terrace beneath, with its stratified 
beds of sand or gravel, and its accumulations of sea-shells, the tides must 
have risen find fallen twice every day, *is they now rise and full along the 
Ijeach that girdles our country. But, in reference to at least human history, 
tbc age of the old coast line and teiTOce must be a veiy remote one. 
Thougli geologically recent, it lies far beyond the reach of any written re- 
cord It has been shown by Mr Smith of Jordanhill, one of onr highest 
authorities on the subject, that the wall of Antoninus, erected by the 
Rc*mans as a protection against the northern Caledonians, was made to 
terminnte at the Friths of Forth and Clyde, with relation, not to the level 
oi the old coast line, but to that of the existing one ; and so we must infer 
[fiiat, ere the year a.d. 140 ( the year during which, according to our 
'aatiquariea, the greater part of the wall was erected), the old coast line had 



182 HTDBOLOOY OF SOUTH AFBIOA. 

attained to its present elevation over the sea. But we know, historicaUy, 
that for at least twenty centuries the sea has been toiling in these modem 
caves ; and who shall dare afi&rm that it has not been toiling in them for 
at least ten centuries more ) But if the sea has stood for but even two 
thousand six hundred years against the present coast line ( and no geologist ' 
would dare fix his estimate lower), then must it have stood against the old 
line, ere it could have excavated caves one-third deeper, three thousand nine 
hundred years. And both periods imited (six thousand five hundred years) 
more them exhaust the Hebrew chronology. Yet what a mere beginning 
of geologic history does not the epoch of the old coast line form ! It is but 
a mere starting-point from the recent period. Not a single shell seems to 
have become extinct during the last six thousand five himdred years. The 
shells which lie embedded in the subsoils beneath the old coast line are 
exactly those which still live in our seas. Above this ancient line of coast, we 
find at various heights beds of shells of vastly older date than those of the low- 
lying terrace, and many of which are no longer to be found living around our 
rfiores. I spent some time last autmnn in exploring one of these beds, — once a 
sea-bottom, but now raised 230 feet above the sea, — in which there occurred 
great numbers of shells now not British, though found in many parts of 
Britain at heights varying from 200 to nearly 1400 feet over the existing 
sea-level. But though no longer British shells, they are shells that still 
continue to live in high northern latitudes, as on the shores of Iceland und 
Spitzbergen ; and the abundance in which they were developed on the sub- 
merged plains and hill sides of what are now England and Scotland, during 
what is termed the Pleistocene period, shows of itself what a very protracted 
period that was. But in a still earlier period, of which there exists unequi- 
vocal evidence in the buried forests of Happisburg and Cromer, the coimtry 
had not only its head above water, as now, but seems to have possessed 
even more than its present breadth of surface." 

And there are other shores on which the same thing can be seen. In the 
Morea there are no less than three, or perhaps four, ranges of what were 
once searcliffs — well preserved — ^rising one above the other, at different 
distances from the shore, the summit of the highest and oldest occasionally 
exceeding 1000 feet in elevation ; and at the base of each there is usually a 
terrace which is in some places a few yards, in others above a hundred yards, 
wide — the ocean shore of a former time. 

I have before me notes of an excursion, made some years ago by the 
members of the Geological Society of Edinburgh, along the coast from 
Portobello to Newhaven. Near Seafield they examined an ancient oyster 
scalp, which is situated about two feet above ordinary high water mark, 
and extends for about 118 yards along the coast. This oyster bed lies 
beneath a stratified deposit of sand and gravel of from four to five feet in 
depth, and it has been traced inland to a height of more than forty feet 
above the level of the sea, and nearly a quarter of a mile from the shore. 
Mr Smyth, by whom the company were conducted, stated that, as the habitat 
of oysters in the Firth of Forth was from four to seven fathoms deep, this 
ancient oyster scalp showed that there must have been an upheaval of about 
thirty feet since it was formed. No storm wave, he said, could have transported 
those shells for such a long distance inland, and to a height of forty feet. 
It had been ascertained from actual measurement, he added, that the 
highest storm-wave along a level coast never exceeded, even in the greatest 



PBDIABY CAUSE OF DEBICOATION. 133 

Irarricane, an altitade of 28 feet aboVe the usual level of the sea. Mr 
Smyth then pomted out a boulder on the shore, which must have been 
embedded there for ages, and from which parties forty years ago were in 
the habit, when about to bathe, of stepping into the sea at ordinary high 
tides. At the present day the same parties would have to walk over sixty- 
six yards of a sandy beach before they could touch the water at those tides, 
and, vertically, the boulder is 2 feet 1 inch above the present level of ordi- 
nary high tides. The same difference of level has been observed on the 
solid rock near Ck>ckbumspath, Tantallon, South Queensferry, and elsewhere, 
and from the examination of several old maps, the testimony of many 
witnesses stijl alive, and Mr Smyth stated that, from the comparison of the 
records of various tide-gauges along the coast, he had arrived at the con- 
clusion that the whole of the southern shore of the Firth of Forth, and that 
part of the east coast of Scotland between North Berwick and St Abb's 
Head, are at present rising at the rate of about five feet per century. And 
what is supposed to be going on there is going on also elsewhere. 

By Page it is stated, — " As in Scotland, so in England, evidences of a 

former searbeach have been detected along the coasts of Lancashire, York- 

I shire, and Durham, in the valley of the Mersey, and in the Bristol Channel. 

The same terraced appearances, with the remains of existing sea-shells, are 

found on the coasts of France, Portugal, Sicily, Greece, Norway, Sweden, 

and other parts of the Eiux)pean sea-board. In the Mediterranean, one 

terrace, nearly 50 feet above the sea, and full of shells, is discernible at many 

distant parts of the shore ; on the coast of Norway, accumulations of marine 

shells are foimd nearly 200 feet above the existing beach ; and along the 

borders of the Baltic, well-defined plateaux of marine detritus occur at 

elevations varying from 50 to 100 feet. All these examples, with many 

others which might be adduced from the coasts of South and North 

America, point to successive elevations of the land, analogous to those by 

which the stratified formations were raised from their seas of deposit into 

open day. The remains found in the gravel and sand of these beaches are 

chiefly shells belonging to species now inhabiting the ocean, though a careful 

examination detects varieties apparently extinct. The more elevated terraces, 

like those of Scotland and Scandinavia, are evidently of great antiquity." 

The Rhone, it is said, has gained from four to six miles on the Medi- 
terranean within the last thousand years. Notre Dame de Port was a 
harbour in a.d. 898, but it is now a league from the shore. Psalmodi was 
an island in a.d. 815, but it is now two leagues from the sea. The town of 
Tignaux, on the shore in a.d. 1737, is now a French mile distant from it. 

I have slept in a Chateau, separated from the Gulf of Finland by a bolt 
of fir trees half-a-mile broad, but which, within the memory of the older 
inhabitants of the district, stood within a hundred yards of the waves on 
the beach. In returning thence to St Petersburg I saw a fortress miles 
distant from the gulf, which in the last century was approached by boat. 
In some cases the encroachment of land upon the sea near the mouths of 
rivers may be attributable to the lodging there of detritus brought down by 
the river from its upper course, but we cannot thus account for raised 
beaches such as have been seen in various parts of the world. 

Sometimes the process is sudden-— almost instantaneous — and the pheno- 
menon of submergence is not unknown. In 1596 several towns in Japan 



134 HTDBOLOOT OF SOUTH AFBICiL 

were covered by the sea ; in 1688 St Baj^emia became a lake ; in 1692 
Port Royal, in Jamaica, was submerged; in 1775 the great earthquake of 
Lisbon sank many parts of the Portuguese and African shores 100 fathomB 
under water ; in 1819, at the mouth of the Indus, a large tract of country, 
with Tillages, was submerged, while a new tract was elevated, called the 
" UUah Bund ;" in 1822 about 100 miles of the Chili coast was elevated to 
the height of four or six feet. 

The late Professor Nicol gave the following beautiful illustration of the 
fact of depression and upheaval of land going on over extensive areas of 
the world's surface, in his work entitled The System of the World : — 

" The vast expanses of the Southern ocean are peopled near the surface 
by inconceivable throngs of creatures of extreme minuteness, whose continual, 
incessant, and inexplicable activities, are nevertheless, efficient towards 
building up the Coral rocks. The chemistry by which the Nautilus 
elaborates its gorgeous shell, apprehended by the instinct of these living 
molecules, enables them, as they work in myriads, now to erect a fabric 
solid and extensive as a bed of limestone, now regular and convolved like 
the human brain, and again so delicate in fibre and of whitenes so snowy 
that it equals some cherished plant in fragihty and beauty. Now when 
traversing the Pacific, the Natuitdist meets with a display of this archi- 
tecture of most peculiar arrangement, and which by its magnitude, and 
immense diffusion — for its separate instances are strewn along many thou- 
sand miles — has never failed to fill him with a just astonishment. It is an 
island — if island it may be called — which consists simply of a circular coral 
reef, of the average width of a quarter of a mile, enclosing an area varying 
from a mile to fifty or sixty in diameter. The features even of one such 
object are sufficiently singular. The insects, for instance, that formed it 
cannot live beneath a certain depth, and the coral fabric often arises in the 
midst of waters so deep that we can nowise fancy it to have been built up 
from the bottom of the ocean. The difficulty was at first apparently over- 
come by the supposition that the creatures had reared their (Stupendous 
walls on the rim of the crater of a submarine volcano long probably extinct ; 
but, overlooking the improbability of craters existing there of a size that 
rather likened them to the prodigious formations in the Moon than to any 
exemplar upon Earth, the explanation failed in regard of the two most 
important and characteristic facts of the case. In the first place, the 
existence of the coral reef has been recognised at depths quite beyond the limit 
at which any insect can now carry on its work : but, inasmuch as this 
phenomenon might be supposed only to point to a disappearance, in the course 
of the world's history, of species of creatures fitted to live at such profundities, 
I insist the most on another argument, which seems to admit of no reply. 
The proposed solution takes no account whatever of the countless number 
of those islands which stud iho Pacific, along a line of upwards of four 
thousand miles. The question as to the various depths at which corals, 
living or extinct, could possibly have elaborated these rocks, is doubtful 
only in regard to a number of feet wholly insignificant in respect of any 
large elevation ; so that the foregoing hypothesis would imply the existence 
over that immense extension of ranges or groups of submarine volcanos, or 
other mountains differing by no appreciable amount in altitude ; and this also 
without regard to the absolute depths of the ocean on whose floor they rest. 
It were, in fact, as if over some wide continent — irrespective of valley, lowland, 



FBUlAfiY OATJBE OP DESIOOATIO!*. 



135 



H or table-land— groups and ridges arose, aoross whose peaks a plane might 
^M be etretched ao as nearly to touch thera all \ and surely nothing can be con- 
^1 oeived more opposite to what is viBlble— nothing less analogona to the Jatrgod 
^m ftnd varying outline of the most regular masses of existing mountains. That 
H tli^e coral reefs must rest on the tops of enbmarine elevations, is manifest ; 
H but some new feature or element is thus clearly wanting to render the theory 
V inolusive of all the phenomena. Now this element is supplied, ifj as aug- 
M geated by the sagacity of om* tidmirable Darwin, we suppose these mountains 
H placed on an area of subsidence. Pictare, for instance, some island, whose 
H coaats are now encircled by a fringe of coral, gradually sinking, first beneath 
W the surface of the waters, and by continuation of the same mysterious 
I workiDgs of Natnre, afterwards deeper and deeper in the sea. The process, 
■ aa asiial with mighty operationSj being eminently slow and gradual, 
H contains nothing to disturb the labours of the tiny architects who 
H L&d, in the shape of a fringe, laid the foundation of their wall, 
H Ever m the island sank, their edifice would rise to the surface ; on the dis- 
H appearance of dry laud in its interii>r, it would first assume the aspect of a 
H eircb of coral ; and this^ ever Ekdded to with perseverance the most 
H marveUons, might, through all future ages, preserve its crest on a level with 
H the waves, although the soHd land that constitutes its base had long disap- 
H fieored among the profoundest depths of the ocean. But the esplanatioDj 
H ffiiich thus meets every ditficulty in the case of a single atollj can account 
B for their diffusion over any extent j or in whatever numbers. Suppose, for 
T iustauce, that these islands of ours had, in the coui^se of the mutability of 
I Natm'e, passed through their epoch of stability, and were now slowly sub- 
I siding. In the com'se of centuries — their mainland having sunk imder the 
I confluence of the Atlantic and German Oceans — there would remain, of 
I their present gi-eatness, only a number of islets, constituted by our moun- 

Ititins, around which we may fancy coital fringes to begin to grow. Now^— 
Bubsi deuce continuing — the lowest peaks would first disappear, bequeathing 
aiily an atoll as their memorial, and although Ben Nevis might remain for 
centuries longer, with its crest above the waters, it, too, would be submerged, 
mxd we should have no other trace of its existence. The area of Great 
■Britain would thus be changed into a sea of circles of coral, presenting, in 
miniature, what exists at present over an immense etpanse of the Pacific- 
The conclusion, however strange, seems irresistible. Occupying that mighty 
at^a, — in length, according to Darwin, 4500 miles, and now filled only by 
these atolls and a few groups of islets (summits of mountains not yet wholly 
submerged) — a majestic continent must have existed, and taken part in the 
history of the E^irth's evolutions, during epochs comparatively recent ; and, 
of all the gorgeous life and lofty activities which must have thronged it, 
there remains but the incessant working of those infinitesimal creatures, 
whose structures so emphatically indicate the place of its tomb. 
^ ** But other features of those seas are equally pregnant ; and we must 
H penise them ere the picture can be complete. Whilst immense and imin- 
% termpted tracts are characterized by the exclusive presence of these atolls, 
maiUy in their neighbourhood exhibit a totally different character They 
are occupied, also, by islands ; but, among them the coral rocks abound lu 
the interio'ry often rising in terraces as wo proceed inward, until we follow 
them almost to the tops of the highest interior elevations. Now, it cannot 
for a moment be doubted that these corals were formed under the only eon- 
ditiou in which coral can be formed, vis.^ below the Btir&£e of the wares j 



136 HTDBOLOOT OV SOUTH AFRICA. 

and knowing of enei^es manifested in the Tolcanoes, which can rend the 
solid earth, and force large mountains through its crevices, the inference is 
easy, that these islands must have been devoted, and, as indicated bj the 
terraces, perhaps gradually, from a former inferior leveL But this inference 
is rather sustained and its significance extended by two important facts : 
First, as in the previous case, the symptoms of elevation exclusively charac- 
terize large isolated tracts, being, for the most part, unmixed except at their 
margin, by symptoms of depression, so that we cannot refer them to partial 
elevating movements, but to an action including ^r^o^ areas within its range ; 
and this is confirmed by the circumstances, that to these areas our clearest 
evidence of the energy of a protruding or upheaving force from below, viz., 
the volcano, is at present confined. How extraordinary the scene we have 
here unfolded ! Through all the wide solitude of the Pacific, from which 
no tidings were wont to come, except of scattered tribes of savage people, 
or of new and rich aromas, we are now summoned to discern the manifest 
progress of the most stupendous changes to which our world can be subject ; 
mighty movements of its solid crust, here subsiding and carrying for ever 
from human sight the marvels of great continents, and, elsewhere, promising 
the birth of new ones, amidst the deepest silences of the ocean." 

And he goes on to say, — " That there is no portion of these continenta 
which has not been subject to such memorable revolutions. That the wholo 
land now protruded above the waves, had long lain at the bottom of oceans^ 
appears from the character and contents of all the sedimentary rocks ; for" 
while these demonstrate, by their structure, that they must have been, 
deposited by the agency of superincumbent waters, they envelope, now 
turned into stone, the remains of the sea-creatures that lived on the floor of 
the ocean, when the stratum of mud, or sand, or lime, was there spread out, 
which through the course of ages has become hardened into a corresponding 
rock. To dwell on a consideration, at the present time so generally under- 
stood and accepted, does not appear needful ; but a careful analysis of the 
rocks of these continents has revealed another feature in the history of the 
changes which have aflected the Earth by far too remarkable to be passed 
slightly by. Not only have our existing masses of land been subjected to a 
process of emersion, such as those tracts in the Pacific are undergoing, by 
whose gradual rise novel forms and combinations are visibly preparing, but 
it is certain that they have experienced msuiy and signal oscillations, now 
sinking beneath the sea, now reappearing, so that those grand metamorphoses 
of the surface of our Planet seem almost without limit or end. Look in 
illustration to the south-eastern counties of England. We discern there, as 
characteristic of extensive localities, three singular formations of consider- 
able thickness. 

" The lower and upper formations are marine, that is, they contain solely 
the relics of creatures that lived in the sea ; while the middle one, consis- 
ting of three distinct beds, is entirely, or very nearly, of freshwater origin. 
Now observe the significance of this curious intermixture. When the 
stratum No. 1 was deposited, it is indubitable that the whole wide surface 
over which it is diffused must have been the floor of the ocean. On the 
deposition of No. 2, which required the agency of a lake or river, the first 
bed must have arisen from its previous depths, and constituted part of the 
dry land. Ages then had passed, — ^the beds of No. 2 being meanwhile 
formed, in quiet and perfect order ; and, at the close of this period, the 
land must again have sunk^ and received from the ocean the superincumbent 



PEIMAAY OAUSE OF DKSIUCATION, 



137 



ohaJi of Ko. 3, which by one more of those etupendous r^Tolutiona has since 
been heaved up, ao aa now to constitute the bright cliffs of that portion of 
our ialand* Two grand niovenienta of upheaval^ and one at least of 
Bubaidence, are thiia demanded for the explanation of this mere leaf in the 
antials of the earth ; and a minuter inL[uiry would only add to the varietji 
and the bettor impress the majesty of these changes. The intermediate 
(reah-water formation, for instance (the Wcalden), was the estuary of a river 
rivaUiDg the Gauges, which there delivered its volume of water into the 
ocean. Now that river must have drained some continent of magnituda 
corresponding J — a continent (as we leam from the scattered bones buried 
in the mud of its estuary) filled with life in some of ita strangest and most 
gigaiitic developments ; and that has wholly disappeared ; carried downwards, 
either entirely or in parts, by the subsidence which prepared the Wealden 
to receive the chalk." 



I 



I 



M has been already intimated, in many atlasea published in illuatration 
df physical geography, there may be found maps representing the results 
of oheervationa carefully made by scientific men of similar changes in various 
parte of the world, horizontal lines being employed to indicate areas of sub- 
iideuce, while those of elevation are marked by vertical lines, and inter^ 
wMiftte districts of indecision are pointed out by crossings of the two seta 
of lines. 

By a representation of these already spoken of, it appears, aa has been inti- 
mated, that throughout the region of the West Indies and the western coast of 
Meiico and South Americaj and throughout a triangular space included hj a 
IinB through these places, subtending an angle at and Including the Sand- 
wicli Islands, a right angled triangle, measuring upwards of 100^ of longi- 
tude and 75° of latitude, the land and ocean bed are rising ; that, throughout 
ftn irregularly formed figure^ including Australia and the islands of the 
South Pacific, 14:5"^ of longitude and 75^ of latitude, the land and ocean bed 
are being depressed ; that, thronghont the gulf of Bengal, the China Sea, 
aad east to the Carohua*s, including iSumatm, Borneo, and the PhiUipine 
Mauds, the land is being elevated, which is also the case in the Kauritiua, 
Madagascar, and along the east coast of Africa," whQe that portion of the 
Indian Ocean which lies between these and the w«st coast of India is being 
depressed. 

In regard to these atatomonts this gonOTal remark must be made,— the 
taeiiaure of the elevation or of the depressioiij and the evidence of the fact, 
varies greatly in ditferent localities in the regions specified ; b^it, with every 
allowance which may legitimately be demanded on thia account, enough will 
remain to abow that we have evidence of the procesa of change of elevation 
going on now on the coast, and of Its having been going on long, and that 
to an es-tent corresponding to the elevation of the continent iu its present 
form and contour — not of South Afirica alone, the Cape of Goood Hope and 
knds adjacent, but of the whole of the vast continent of which this is the 
Bouthem extremity, 

% This may prove more credible if, pausing here, information be giveu in 
regard to the process or operation by which the depression and upheaval is 
auppoaed to be effected. 

There is scarcely a river in the world that is not carrying down in its 
waters the debris of mountains and of the lands through which it flows. 



F-rT irr ■_--.•:■: o: ^r-.jL.^-a.-ir.-. -ii i -!i- Li.!- lirnr:-:!! :f :Les€ xhicharenot 

A T z^- - •• . i — :■■ •_•-:::•: - -.-:i-r "rL'-ir;. AzLilTsia Trill show 

-j:;r i_t.-.- V .."i _.-r —■_-'. :. i.-- -- - .„^_-. :■ C' :::■;! "J. izd "'eiriz^ iviv other 
r-:-i.r-tr n ?• . :". ii ..i i :" :.. " '.-.•- - xj.. :L :lz. j.rLsa =:i.jri a trial and 
■z:clk :' r:L t:-1 i ::."_ l.. . ..— ... t.-.h -iirriii iI-.-scIt ind voti will see 
•£iccj.. ." 11:: 7 .»^ -.-r-L.-...!-. .' _..!_• 1 vn _ .i It!! siZ'i IF .chcF material 
fr c^ ".ii-: :r''»:r .- -hl-t- - • _ ■'. — * •.- iiszhU'li'l in "dieir waters. The 

L'.'-k ir i-T rirj:L'z'. ir -7 ?•:.-. J ■ i in iz.7 r.~-zr -jl tiie colony cc-ming 
i-.-m .7. :-.rr=r :!•:.'! -vi-irr ■-.■. r:.- >f:r rr -iiTrr T-er^ clj iL'-n-^-Ie and pools; 
l.i.i: r.-.n i^-i T--:r- eL^ z. '.irrr ltz.«L=. ir:'i tL-t :«:e:i2. or ocean-beds 
■■•jT.ii';. «.»t Ti-': iL-:.-:.'--?:".:. .- ..i ■•rt-Hi -'-j.t "iri-f -rii.-.Lfr Talley of the river- 
h»ii:. iii::Lsi:7:z.^' rr ci -.-..r:- -. -f"7 z:J.ka .- crrriii-h, iH'i it izs mouth 120 

z'r.-i i.j^-'.-r Ij.-J 1:1-77. ^li. Lij-ci-iij -. . CijiTi.iiz. HalL dep^-sits are 
r'/n.!-^: .f n::* .t Ir.r: tt:*:?* ii;t~.-i * :'j'rr.ii.rr iiLto L»r^w:rks nany yards in 
•Jiiijki.r?:.'*. iLfi i':nz^r.7.\^ .T-tr i iizjiir^fii .c *;-iar» lea^Ties. or a dioosand 

*« -IT'S ll.l'rS. 

TL»i ^^li.zi'iii': :t "lii-r Aii.iz:ii :.i«j':'L-.:irs the waters of the ocean for 

•in-rir '1 ll.L*r: 11.1 .:• .r 17 CI '.Or •sil'JT'r. 

Tl'T L'':!.-..i :'■..■- '.-1.1^. -• '/.'ir. ■:* !•■ It??.': TJ-Jir. -t-t.';'!'''* sqoare miles, and 
•ii'r "?».-i 1 •."• .".." 7.-. ~.r ."'■ "7''.r./;^:;ir:ii'.7 r;L:i*:7 ii—'T'* ir:iii :he co-ast. 

.'^.r •.T4-.7J5 '^r.i .1- .1 .:-:".-7r:'i i7 .:_ .izrr.u- fiitfrLii^ii:^ that the H-xingo-ho 
cijc.-.i.ii.'f :i.r -.tltt .: T*T'L-i-.--: jl -"^T '"^'- -"^^i^^^ Tur:* i-f its water, and 
cr5*...iij.tiiij \'.s •-"-T'.i^'f ir". "1 .i" .1 I it". 1-f i*i..j'^-j.t»is tiLit thjs river by 
i^rtcl: :.i .::t:al:L-f .l' .■ .:i--fr:ii^- iz. r.rjLi-yh. a«,;^ijfcre ziile of the coast at its 

At tL: ii:-, 1 : "iir .L ir-.i": :. :Li ?. iz.i :-:i.rr ftrfams haye brousrht 
'i.."v- ^: Li::ii ^.r.i.i_ri:. -.:...- zr-.n :j..: - riL-fmnirrit point of the Golf of 
Tr.r-t^. r:i:ii mi :.-r-_ -. :i-.. s-. i:"i :' E-.i-fizii- :Lt re is an ^uninterrupted 
itzr.r:ri :z 7--z'::z^- ■. .:.'r-"«: . LI? .:1-... i 11 74 :li:Lz. I ». liilfs in lcn:2:th. which 
wi-.Ln '.'.L'i '. 1-- i .' ' y-. -.7^ I.-.-; .i.r;-,.--.:'i ir iitch :•: i^^ez.ty miles in breadth. 

All "rlr T..1. i i-^::.:r " 7 :».".-: i -v- ' 7 :Ln:S.- m-l other rivers is borne 
.1^x7 '.7 "i^-ri- :7'. __ ".. j:-:7 .;.--: .■I'i-. Zi-i: :i; i_A:-:r::"vi thus transported 
Li ii.j: .1I7 7.r:i. .i-i i.';_- :Lf }l.\.v -117^ i: tjj. 1- :i deposited elsewhere. 
Ma':h :f :-. li i-f7«;s:-:.:d ii. :i: '. .i.^iz. .f tiie sfa : and flrcm this important 
cocse^j^'irn':^ m'^t f-i-i^rw. 

On-r of th-r tTst Ics*;c.s Jif ciilinrn. ■:v!rr ci-ensLTe 'districts of Britain, 
some LTty years -x^:-, o.-Id :t a thirsty raven -i-r cr:w comiiti to a jug con- 
taining a Lttle water, c^iz this in the bott.rm -jf the vessel beyond the reach 
of its ".ilL and of its ^ithcriOi and 'ir.ip^.La^z into the jar pebble after pebble, 
ltx>kiiij: at the result and h'r'ppin:^: o!f to -^z atL-rther :.tnd o^ainto get another 
until isZ len^^h the water was raised :..• the ncok of the jug., when it was 
enableti to 'j-aench its thirst. Even in an iniant-Si^h*.^:! may be found many 
who can tell that if into a basin full of water you p^ur sand or mud it will 
overflow. And what seem to be effects somerhin:^ similar may be seen in the 
ocean-bed. 

Under the clear waters of the Mediterron-ean. it is sai'i. may be seen in 
some places buildings which at one time must have sto.>i on dry land, on 
or above and beyond the level of the beach ; and •.>n other shores may be 
fleentmnksof tzee% not as m a gxowixig poAUioo^ buc deep under the suzCace 



FBDIABT 0AU8B OF DE8I00ATIOK. 189 

Bat these'are only a part of the phenomena of the present time ; and it 
would be rash, in ignorance of all, to conclude that in this effect of material 
brought down by the rivers of all lands, and deposited in seas connected 
with the whole ocean waters of the world, we have learned all that may be 
learned in regard to the process whereby, in some quarters, the land gains 
upon the sea, and in others the sea gains upon the land. We must examine 
more fully the facts of the case. 

Water always finds its level ; but we do not see everywhere along all 
shores indications of the rising of the water. In some places the rising of 
the waves of ocean, rolling in upon the land in their pride, has apparently 
been stopped at the same point for ages, and in other places they never 
reach the high-water mark of a former day. We see indications of acces- 
nons of land having been gained by alluvial deposits on the shore ; but 
there are other phenomena, similar in character to these, which cannot be 
thus accounted for, and to these also we must attend. 

The ocean-bed must, throughout very lengthened periods, be within a 
veiy limited range of variations, always the same ; and we are thus led to 
the conclusion that the encroachment of the ocean in some portion of its 
many-bayed and tortuous shore, and the subsidence of it in others, must be 
the counterparts of each other. And assuming that the level of the whole 
rmains nearly the same, that these correlated phenomena must have been 
occasioned by the depression of some portion of the ocean-bed together, it 
may be, with adjacent land, as in some parts of the Mediterranean, and by 
the elevation of some portion of the sea-bed and adjacent land, or of some 
portion of the ocean-bed alone, at a distance from all dry land — island and 
continent alike — a power or force adequate to the production of this we 
have in the solid matter carried down by rivers and deposited in the depths 
of the sea. 

According to a generally-received opinion, the earth is a hollow globe of 
solid crust, enclosing a mass of material in a state of fusion. The crust, 
though solid, is to some extent elastic. The weight of matter deposited 
from rivers causing a depression — slight, it may be, but appreciable — a 
corresponding elevation must take place elsewhere ; and thus regions of the 
earth's surface of inunense extent may be elevated and depressed, producing 
such encroachments of the sea upon the dry land, and of the dry land upon 
the sea, as those to which I have referred as seen in the present time. 
To some such operation as this may be attributed the elevation of the 
vast continent of Africa, and the elevation of it in a mass ; and it happens 
that we have what may be considered by some a corroborative testimony to 
the correctness of the supposition in evidence supplied by the outlying 
island of St Helena of the depression of the ocean-bed beyond from what 
was once its level. But it would be premature to do more here than allude 
to that circumstance as an intimation that, while advancing what it is 
deemed proper to advance, there is more to follow. The subject I shall 
treat in sections. 



Section I. — Objections to the ffypotJiesis, 

It may be objected, that the alleged fact of this upheaval is a mere cou- 
jeoture; and by some it may be contemptuously spoken of as a mere theory. 



140 HTDBOLOOT OV SOUTH AnUOA. 

It is more of a theoiy than a conjecture, but I do not yet claim for it even 
this title ; all that I allege at present is, that it is a hypothesis which is in 
accordance with the general contour and the geological formations of 
Southern Africa — a hypothesis which much that I have seen, and much 
that I have read of the coimtry, supports — ^while nothing has come under 
my own observation, or been reported to me of the observations of others, 
which is inconsistent with its truth — and I find it to be a hypothesis which 
enables us to accoimt satisfactorily to a great extent for the desiccation of 
the land. 

The general contour of the coimtry I have already described. A succes- 
sion of mountain ranges, separating plains or level valleys, at higher and 
yet higher elevations as they recede from the sea, untU, in the interior, 
is reached a vast basin-shaped expanse, finding outlet — ^if outlet it have^ 
fiu" away from the southern promontory of the Cape. It has been conjec- 
tured that one outlet is by the Congo, and that another is the Nile ; while 
the Zambesi drains a portion intermediate between the valley of the Orange 
River and the extensive basin of Central Africa. 

Some idea of the superficial aspect of the continent as thus depicted may 
be suggested by the accumulation of ice sometimes seen on the banks of a 
river, on which the continuous sheet has successively given way at different 
places in consequence of the rising of the water under the continuous sheet, 
and has subsequently collapsed when the river had again subsided within 
its usual limits, or, escaping by the rents, had overflowed the dislocated ice. 
The overlapping sheets of ice, and even some which are not overlapping, 
are somewhat precipitous at the edge of the rent looking towards the bank, 
but slope more gently from the summit of that precipice towards the river 
beyond. While the unbroken sheet of ice beyond that, though not through- 
out its extent lower than the ice at the edge, is much lower than the up- 
tilted edges of sheets of ice between, and in some places depressed below even 
the ice at the edge, and is overflowed with water, as was at one time the 
Great Sahara. 

It is the contour of the continent of Africa alone which I seek thus to 
illustrate. But I proceed to remark that such a contour of the continent 
is in accordance with the supposition that the whole has been upheaven in 
a mass, excepting where it may have given way, and, by rents and fissures, 
allowed of one portion being elevated, whole another remained for a 
time at the elevation it had attained, or temporarily sunk back again 
beneath it. 

The contour of the continent speaks not of a sudden upheaval but of an 
elevation of the land, effected by a slow and lengthened process, in the 
course of which the comparatively thin crust of solid matter supposed to 
cover the molten mass of the globe, though yielding to the pressure from 
below, being unable to maintain itself unbroken, has given way in long 
rents, which, though now appearing as dykes, while empty, or filled only 
with the matter they now contain in a state of solution or fusion, allowed 
the portion raised highest to raise also the portion on the other side of the 
rent by the tenacious consistence of the crust, and its continuous hold at 
one or both of the extremities of the rent. 

And the hypothesis is not otherwise than in accordance with the geological 
observations brought forward ih a preceding chapter. 

Of some of the mountain ranges I have given an account which may be 
thought to be different and somewhat at variance with what is now advanced ; 



PBDIABT 0AU8B OF DESIOOATIOV. 141 

bat it is not so. The mountains and mountain ranges referred to are not 
overlapping edges of continuous sheets terminated there by a rent or dyke, 
but, as has been intimated, portions of the elevated land left standing, while 
the portion on one side or other, or all round, was washed away by ocean cur- 
rents. And here lies the only ground on which I anticipate that an objection 
to the hypothesis is likely to be raised, a hypothesis which I scarcely need say 
is not one which I have had the honour of originating, but is one generally 
received, and is only adduced by me to show its applicability to South Africa, 
and the extent to which it enables us to account satisfactorily for the desicca- 
tion of the country. The difl&culty in the way of its acceptance by others, 
which I anticipate, is one arising from the consideration of the extent of 
the country which must have been elevated in a mass, if the hypothesis be 
applied to the phenomenon — the inmaensity of the force which would be 
required for the production of this. It is not the mountain range alone, 
nor even at successive times one mountain range with the tableau beyond, 
but the whole of Southern Africa, nor yet the whole of Southern Africa 
alone, but the whole vast continent of what it is but the southern extremity, 
which it is alleged has been raised ; and great is the elevation to which the 
whole continent, throughout its vast extent, must have been raised, if this 
hypothesis be correct. 

Even on this southern extremity projecting into the ocean, and continuous 
with its unfathomable depths, there are not only mountains but extensive 
plateaux, thousands of feet above the level of the ocean. The plains of the 
Free State are 5000 feet, the plateaux of Damaraland are 6,000 feet, above 
the level of the sea ; and besides these plateaux there are mountains, con- 
nected therewith, or apart, of still greater height. There is the Stormberg 
range, near Queenstown, the average height of which is 7,000 feet ; the great 
Winterberg, near Fort Beaufort, 7,800 feet in height ; Komsberg, in the 
Roggeveld mountains, estimated to be upwards of 8,000 ; the Mont aux 
Sources, in Basuto land, estimated by the French missionaries by whom it 
was first visited at 10,000 feet above the level of the sea; and Lievenberg, 
Omhotozu, and the Omatko mountains, in Damaraland, reported by Messrs 
Galton and Anderson as respectively 7,200, 7,300, and 8,800 feet in height: 
the lowest of them more than double the height of Table Mountain above 
the sea, this being only 3582 feet. 

Nor is it mountains and moimtain ranges alone which force themselves 
upon our thoughts, but ^ong with these the observations previously referred 
to that several of them owe their elevations above the height of circum- 
jacent land, not to an upheaval of themselves above that level, but to some 
accidental occurrence determining their conservation, while the kloofs and 
valleys on their flanks, and the valleys or the plains beyond, were scooped 
away by a process of denudation occasioned by ocean currents, or terrestrial 
torrents of resistless force, leaving them as intimations of the elevation from 
which the intervening earth had been cut down to form these kloofs, and 
valleys, and plains, and their summits leaving indications that they, too, 
had bcNBU subjected, for times more ar less protracted — it may have been 
ages — ^to the same denuding operation, whereby they were reduced to 
mere stumps compared with what otherwise they had been. 

And the mention of this sends the thoughts onward to the mountains and 
mountain ranges of the interior, towering to a height above the level of the 

sea of ^Who shall say what 1 

We have not the evidence necessary to prove that the whole continent at 



142 HTDB0L06T OP BOUTH AFBIOUL 

any one time exhibited the form of an extensive bulging, of which thes6 
moimtains remain the measurement of the height of the arc above the level 
of the sea or of the sea-basin, but something of the kind is suggested ; and 
the question or doubt raised by the consideration of the whole case is, How 
is it possible that any upheaval at all corresponding to this could be 
effected 1 And it may be felt by some that this question must be met before 
the hypothesis can be entertained, even for consideration. It does not 
seem to me to be unreasonable that such an objection should be started, 
but neither does it appear to me to be unreasonable to meet it, not in 
argument for victory but in the quest after the truth, with the question in 
reply — There it is, once under the sea, now far above its level ; and if not 
by upheaval of the whole land how has this come to be the case 1 

To escape from the necessity of connecting all that has been remarked 
with some supposed upheaval, and that an upheaval of the whole continent 
to such an elevation as any reading of the phenomena would demand, it 
may be asked — Could not the whole be accounted for satisfactorily by the 
supposition of a falling in or depression of the basin of the sea when the 
waters were gathered together into one place 1 If it were, again my answer, 
if given, would be in Scottish fashion — ^answering one question by asking 
another, — How, when, or where did any such depression ever occur 1 And 
if it be admitted to be only a supposition I would ask. Would it not be as 
difficult, or perhaps more so, to account for such a depression as to account 
for the upheaval if taken by itself alone 1 And yet again — How would the 
supposition account for the indications of portions of this land, at least, 
having been submerged subsequently to their first emergence, and having 
again emerged, and this, it may be, oftener than once 1 

This much, however, may be admitted : the hypothesis in question embodies 
the supposition of some such depression as being the cause or occasion of 
the upheaval, or prior con-sequence with the upheaval of a common cause ; 
and to this correlated depression is attributed one-half of the elevation of 
the mountain summit above the lowest ocean depth, as one-half of the 
apparent height of the wave on lake, river, or sea may be attributed to the 
corresponding depression which precedes or follows it. But it must be 
borne in mind that the sea level taken generally as a standard of measure- 
ment corresponds to the medial line which that measurement of the wave 
supposes ; and it is only an approximation to the truth that even that 
illustration supplies. Assuming that in both cases the elevation and 
depression are correlated — the one depressed as much below as the other is 
elevated above the true level — if it be the case that at one time the waters 
covered the whole earth, the cubic contents of the depression below the 
water line must necessarily be greater than the cubic bulk of the elevations 
above, — containing, as they must do in such a case, not only all the water 
displaced by the upheaval of the land, but in addition to this all the waters 
covering at a prior time their own surface. 

At the present day the proportion of land to sea is reckoned as one to 
three in superficial extent — one-fourth of the earth's surface being land, and 
three-fourths covered with sea — and while Chimborazo in America towers 
21,450 feet above the level of the sea, and Jamatri and Dhawalagiri, in the 
Himialaya range of mountains, rise respectively 25,500 feet and 26,862 feet 
above that level, it is estimated that the extreme depths of the Atlantic 
are about 50,000 feet, or more than nine miles, below the surface of 
the ocean. 



PRDIABT OAUBB OF DBSIOOATION. 143 

Such are the elevations and depressions with which we have to do in such 
inyestigations as those upon which we have entered, and while it may 
surprise, it may also prepare for the further prosecution of the investigation 
to state, that, great as such measurements may seem, compared with the 
Uttleness of man, they are actually as nothing compared with the bulk of 
the globe. A mile more or less in height of a mountain, or a mile more or 
less in the depth of an ocean bed, is only l-8000th part of the earth's 
diameter, and has been compared to a single grain of sand, more or less 
bulky, or a scratch with a pin, more or less deep,on a globe a foot or more in 
circumference. 

And with regard to the extent of the surface supposed to have been 
aifected, we have evidence that within certain limits such changes of elevation 
and depression are even now going on in extensive regions of the earth's 
Burfoce. Facts have been stated showing that such is the case, from the 
East Indies and eastern coast of America, roimd by the Pacific and the 
Indian Ocean, to the eastern coast of this continent, where upheaval is still 
going on. 

These are facts or phenomena with which scientific men are well acquainted; 
tiiey lie at the very threshold of the cognate sciences of Physical Geography 
and Geology ; the means by which they are brought about have been to 
some extent determined, and that thus, as has already been intimated, it 
is by many scientific observers held, that the earth is a mass of matter in a 
state of fiision inclosed within a crust consolidated by the cooling of its 
external surface, which crust, though reckoned thick when measured by 
measurements with which we are familiar, is really thin when comparedwith 
the bulk of the earth. Objections have been raised against this view of the 
constitution of the earth, and other views have been offered, but this view 
18 held by many. 

It is not impossible that irregular contractions of this crust, as it cooled 
and became consolidated at different depths, may have caused blisters, con- 
tortions, eruptions, and irregularities of surface, or inequalities in elevation 
of superficial portions, and these irregularities of surface may have been 
still further magnified and increased by volcanic action, of the occurrence 
of which, while, or when, the earth was still covered deep with the primeval 
ocean, we have innumerable indications in many lands. 

Even there and then there may have been levelling and transporting in- 
fluences at work, and that with similar effects to those which we see upon 
dry land; and as these we have it in our power tp study, to these we must 
give for a little our attention. 

It may have been remarked in the course of ordinary observations of what 
is taking place around us, that, whatever is raised in elevation upon the 
earth's surface tends by gravitation to descend to a lower level, as if the 
object were, as the tendency is, to reduce the surface of the earth to a 
smooth and perfect spheroid : undermine what constitutes its support, and 
down it rolls to the lowest level it can reach. And thus has the under- 
mining of rocks by the lashing of the waves allowed mountain masses to 
find a resting-place in the ocean-bed. 

What has been effected thus is probably trifling compared with what 
has been effected by the continous action of the rain and the dew, which, 
compared with that, may seem scarcely deserving of a thought. 

Besides the masses which were thus buried in the sea, there were many 
fisagments of rock, fragments some of them small as the dust of the street^ 



144 HTDROLOOT OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



I 



left behind, and similar fragments are to be found in numerous plains beside. 
They too would follow the mountain n^ass, but supports, which under these 
would have been crushed, sustain them far above the ocean-bed, and there 
they must abide their time. All that they require is a little water to 
partially float them over the barrier, and that water put in motion to pro- 
mote their downward movement, and they too are off and away for the 
deep deep sea. This, it may be the dew or the mist-cloud, or failing these ]; 
the first shower of rain, may supply, and accordingly we find that not a 
shower falls but some of them seize their opportunity and run. 

The water which forms the dew-drop, or falls in the form of rain, is pure 
and limped as is the air of heaven ; but in the runnel or the streamlet it is 
discoloured with mud, which mud is composed of such fragments of earth 
as it is aiding to escape. It is the feeder of a river. By the streamlet to 
the river, by the river to the sea, is aided on the mud — and at length it also 
finds its resting-place in the ocean-bed. The quantity of debris thus borne 
downward is sdmost incredible. 

The power of water to tear away and transport earthy matter has been 
made the subject of calculation and experiment. Water moving with the 
velocity of 3 inches per second will tear up fine olay ; moving with double 
that velocity, or 6 inches per second, it will lift fine sand ; with a velocity 
of 8 inches it will raise sand as coarse as linseed; and of 12 inches, fine ' 
gravel ; with a velocity of 24 inches it will roll along rounded pebbles an 
inch in diameter ; and with a velocity of 36 inches per second it will sweep 
away angular stones of the size of a hen's egg. Rivers in flood often acquire 
a much greater velocity than this, and stones of considerable weight ar^ 
then borne down by their current, while the ocean in a storm has movecS. 
stones tons in weight. 

Water in motion can not only bear away, but it can tear-away, the soli<^^ 
matter over which it flows. Loose soil, clay, and sand yield readily to il^^s 
impulse — granite or basalt offer more resistance ; but all rivers carry diniii^ i 
sand and gravel, and these rubbing and striking against rocks, with th_ -^ 
momentum given to them by the velocity of the stream, they rasp, or fil *- < , 
or hammer away the hardest of these. " The Nerbuddah, a river of Tiiilifc i. 
has thus scooped out a channel in basaltic rock 100 feet deep. Mess^^ars 
Sedgwick and Murchison give an account of gorges scooped out in beds ^^^f 
the rock called conglomerate, in the valleys of the eastern Alps, 600 an^^Bd 
700 feet deep. A stream of lava, which was vomited from iEtna in 163 -0, 
happened to flow across the channel of the river Simeto. Since that tim^^^e) 
the stream has cut a passage through the compact rock to the depth oi 

between 40 and 50 feet, and to the breadth of between 50 and seveEi^a«l 
hundred feet. Allusions have already been made to the Niagara, the Oang^^vBS, 
and the Amazon. The cataract of Niagara, in North America, has, as h^^BflC 
already been intimated, receded nearly 50 yards during the last 40 yea^L—- i'S« 
Below the falls the river flows in a channel upwards of 150 feet deep a"~" "'nd 
160 yards wide, for a distance of seven miles ; and this channel has evidentav^ 
been produced by the river." 

To the presence of material thus being removed from a higher to a loT^^er 
level do turbid rivers owe their turpidity. And it is alleged t^fciai 
the transference of the pressure from the land whence the material iB 
brought to the basin of the sea is sufficient, in the elastic condition of ^Aft^ 
earth's crust, to deepen the depression of the ocean-bed, and to allon^^ of 
compensation being obtained, by the incompressible matter in a stat^ of 



PHIMABT OAUBB OF DESIOOAf lOIT* 



U6 



fiisioii, for the Bpace when it is diaplaced, by pressing up to a oorreeponduig 
eitaut 3ome portion of the crust elBewhere, Aud thus maj objeotioiiB 
taken in Hmente to the hypotbesiB be met 



Section IL — AppHcation of tlie hypothesis to the Geological Fhemmmei and 
Fhysiml Geography of South Africa* 

If a hypothasia be complete and tme it should fit in with all the facti 
Mid phenomena observed , as does a key with the wards of a lock for which 
it was made ; then, and not till then, may it be legitimately employed aa a 
working hypothesis in directing inquiries designed to elicit information in 
regard to the mitiiown. I know of no test which can be supplied by the 
geological phenomena or physical geography of South Africa with which 
thla hypothesis does not fit in exactly ; of this I shall give a single 
illufitration* 

hi Europe miners meet often with what are called dykea and faults — 

dykes and faults which occasion to them no little expense and trouble* 

Dykes, in accordance with the Scottish use of the term, is the designation 

applied by geologists and miners to interruptions to the continuity of strata, 

wliich seem like a wall to terminatej or bound, or separate one portion from 

a continuation of it which lies beyond. Sometimes these dykea are a few 

feet in thickness, sometimes they are as many yards ; sometimes they are 

composed of igneous rock ejected from below, sometimes of clay and gravel 

washed in from above ] in every case they appear to have been cracks or 

i^ts occasioned by a disturbance of level, extending, in the case of those 

filled with igneous rock^ to the matter in a state of fusion below, bnt in the 

case of the others, extending only a compm^atively little way below the sur- 

faee^ and indicating thus their relative position in i-egard to the upheaval by 

^hich they were occasioned — ^the onoj it may be^ being made nearer to the centre 

of depression, the other nearer to the centre of upheaval. In some cases, 

^ten the dyke is cut through it is found that the strata beyond are not the 

Same as those by which the dyke has been reached, but strata corresponding 

*o strata far above or far beneath^ — indicating in the latter case that the 

portion wrought had been wrenched away and npheaven, in the former that 

*he portion reached had been thus npheaven. Sometimes it is found, alsOj 

tliat the inclination of the strata has been changed, through variations in 

^le direction of the upheaval. It is to such disturbances that the designa^ 

^ion fwtdt has been given ; and there may be a fault where there is no 

^yke^ no vacant space having been left between the masses on the 

^ides of the rent. 

This mode of fractm-e ia one with which the working of coal-iielda has made 
geologists and miners well acquainted, and they tell of the irregularities in 
"th© npheavings or depressions which have taken place as iUnstrating, in a 
striking manner, the nature of the agitatioua which have taken place. 
Some thing like to them may sometimes be seen in accnmulationa of ice 
t-hrown upon a river's bank when the sheet of ice covering the river has 
Xjroken up. 

** In the vale of the Esk, in Mid-Lothian, which does not measure more 
than 10 miles each way, the coal-field shows 120 aacertained dislocations j 
one of which at Sheriff hall throws down the strata [or upheaves them] 500 
feet. In the Newcaatle coal-field there ia a famous slip, caUed the nijietjf 



146 HTDROLOOY OF BOUTH AFRICA. 

fathom hitch, the deviation from the line of stratification bding no less than 
450 feet. The coal-fields of Fife and Clackmannan abound in such disloca- 
tions, several of them throwing the strata from 400 to 1200 feet up or down, 
as the case may be, frx)m the general position." 

All of these speak of upheaval ; and such dykes are not awanting in 
South Africa, in accordance with the hypothesis in question. 

Dr Rubidge, in a paper written shortly before his death, maintains that 
" The elevated lands, whether moimtains, hills, or chains of hummocks 
(locally called ' Koppies'), have generally dykes of igneous rock for their axes, 
and these run in sti^dght lines through the country for miles, some of them, 
perhaps, for hundreds of miles;" and I may remark, in passing, such igneous 
rocks manifest much greater power of resisting the erosive action of water cur- 
rents than do Silurian and Devonian deposits ; and thus may they, when they 
projected above or beyond masses of these, have diverted the flow, and thus 
to some extent determined the direction and the contour of the valley 
created by the process of denudation. 

The rents in the rocks into which flows the Zambesi at the Victoria Falls, 
and which extends for thirty or forty miles beyond, is suggestive of the 
back-bone of a mountain i-ange, or elevated table-land, having broken, 
through the disturbance of level. The dicynodon valley is seamed with 
dykes \ and Dr Rubidge's observations in the Copper Mines show that/at^ 
exist as well as dykes ; so that thus far the key fits the ward of the lock. 
So is it also with all the geological phenomena reported in preceding 
chapters, and in the preceding sections of this. And a similar accordance may 
be remarked all along, as we proceed to make the application of it to these 
phenomena and others, in illustration of the efl*ect of the upheaval of the 
land on its desiccation, and the production of the aridity by whidi it is 
now characterized. 

In Table Moimtain we have a mass of deposit well-nigh 4000 feet in 
thickness overlying the granite, and evidently deposited from water in which 
it had been suspended, floating not on the surface but in the water. The 
weight of such a deposit, whencesoever it may have come, may have been 
sufficient to occasion some depression, more or less extensive, throughout 
the locality in which it was formed. And thus may it have been in the 
district in which Table Mountain stands. 

Overlying sandstone, which was apparently a continuation of that with 
which Table Mountain and the Ldon's Head are capped, there is in some 
places a deposit of dark-gray and brownish shales, of an aggregate thickness 
of 1100 feet; and there are not awanting indications that this proved 
sufficient, notwithstanding the increased thickness of the earth's crust, to 
produce a local depression where it was deposited, for, from observations 
made by Mr Wylie when Geological Surveyor to the Colony, and from 
memoranda frimished to him by Captain Bayley of the trigonometrical 
survey, the Table Mountain sandstone, identified by the former in the Lower 
Devonian, dips southward at about an angle of 70° ; and from the same 
memoranda, says Mr Wylie, " It would appear that the Potteberg sandstone 
dips the opposite way, or northward, thus indicating a basin in the Devonian 
rocks extending from the Drakenstein eastward to the sea, in the hollow of 
which it is that the Upper Devonian or fossiliferous shales probably occur 
all along from the Bosjesveldt to Cape Barracouta and the KafirkuilsHiver." 

All the strata which have been brought under our notice are the results 
of denudation, being formed of deposits of the debris of older deposits^ (x 



PRIMABT CAUSE OF DE8I0CATIOX. 147 

of primitiye vockB, and the changes thus produced by the lemoyal of the 
puperiACiiiubent weight &6m one locality to another may have been 
followed by local changes of elevation, leading to yet other changes in the 
course of ike ages, the eras— or by whatsoever name may be indicated the 
lapse of time during the transformation of the globe into its existing 
condition — ^which followed. 

Passing other deposits of 500, 800, 1000, 1200, and 1500 feet in 
thickness, we find — ^higher, and, it may be, much higher in the series of 
deposits than these, &ough probably not overlying even portions of the 
whole of ihem — ^the Reptilian or Dicynodon beds of purple, greenish, and 
gray shales, a lacustrine deposit 1800 feet in thickness. Even this may 
have sufi&ced to produce the lacustrine basin, or at least to deepen the 
depressiop in which it was formed. 

But notwithstanding, and over and above all this, there appears to have 
been produced contemporaneously or subsequently a depression of the ocean- 
bed beyond, but continuous with the immense mud-banks, sand-banks, and 
rocky islands of the nascent continent, a depression of the ocean-bed 
correlated thereto, — the continuous, or oft-renewed, increased, and extended 
depression of which may have caused an elevation of the whole mass, not 
<»ily in its entire thickness, but throughout its vast extent to its present 
elevation above the sea. This could not be effected without a far greater 
extent of the surface being raised with it ; but it is with this portion of the 
continert alone I have at present to do. 

It may be asked, Can any indications of such depression be adduced ? 
And the demand implied in such an enquiry is not unreasonable. It is 
easily met. 

We have both indications of such depression having occurred in the 
remote past, and indications of a similar depression going on at the present 
time having apparently gone on for ages. 

The former is that which bears primarily upon the subject now under 
discussion; the bearing of the latter is adventitious, only illustrating upon a 
smaller scale by what is going on in the present what the hypothesis 
assumes has gone on in the same land on an extensive scale in the past. 

Much that has been said in regard to the Baltic and the Mediterranean 
and the South Seas might be cited in illustration of such depressions and 
such upheavals as these imply having gone on elsewhere. What is called 
for are indications of such depressions having occurred in the vicinity of 
Southern Africa, and these are supplied by the island of St Helena. In 
regard to this I find amongst my memoranda the following : — 

" The island' of St Helena is composed of basaltic streams of a gentle 
inclination. Taking a section of the coast cliffs and bottom of the sea, we 
find that from the foot of High Knoll to the edge of Ladder Hill they slope 
from an elevation of 1600 feet to one of 510 feet above the level of the sea. 
Were this line produced it would extend at least to a point now covered by 
the sea to a depth of 30 fathoms, and it is ^probable much farther, for the 
inclination of the streams is less near the coast than further inland. And 
other sections of the coast would have given still more striking results if 
the exact data had been at command. Thus, on the windward side the 
diflfe are about 2000 feet in height and the cut-off lava streams very gently 
inclined, and the bottom of the sea has nearly a similar slope all round the 
island. 



146 BTDBOLOOT OF BOUTH AFRICA. 

" Eyerything thus leads to the conclusion that this is a mountahi of 
Tolcanio origin— composed, in its external ooyering at least, of matter which 
had been thrown up in a molten state, which found emission somewhere 
near the centre of the mass, and which, running over on all sides — a viscid 
mass — amoving onwards till it reached the more level ground at the base of 
its nucleus, if nucleus it have of other matter than the basalt of which it is 
composed, and if it have not, the more level ground of the ocean-bed. 

" If so, the question is raised, — How has all the hard basaltic rock, which 
once extended beneath the surface of the sea, been worn away 1 According 
to Captain Austin, by whom the coast was surveyed, the bottom is uneven 
and rocky only to that very small distance from the beach within which 
the depth is from 5 to 6 fathoms ; outside this line, to a depth of about 100 
fathoms, the bottom is smooth, gently inclined, and formed of mud and 
sand; outside the 100 fathoms it plunges suddenly into unfathomable 
depths, as is very commonly the case on all coasts where sediment is 
accumulating. At greater depths than the 5 fathoms it seems impossible, 
under existing circumstances, that the sea can both have worn away hard 
rock, in parts to a thickness of at least 150 feet, and have deposited a 
smooth bed of fine sediment. 

" But now, if we had any reason to suppose that St Helena had, during 
a long period, gone on slowly subsiding, every difficulty would be removed ; 
for, looking at the diagram and imagining a fresh amount of subsidence, we 
can see that the waves would then act on the coast cliffs with fresh and 
unimpaired vigour, whilst the rook ledge near the beach would be carried 
down to that depth at which sand and mud would be deposited on its bare 
and imeven surface ; after the formation, near the shore, of a new rocky 
shoal, fresh subsidence would carry it down and allow it to be smoothly 
covered up." And thus does this island appear to supply evidence of the 
gentle subsidence of the bottom of the ocean. 

For this illustration I am indebted, if I mistake not, to the late Dr 
Daubeny, Professor of Botany and Chemistry in the University of Oxford. 
And the argument founded on the outline of the island, illustrative of the 
probable clionological history of the reduction of the volcanic rock, I under- 
stand to be this, — 

The lava stream of which the superficial rocks are composed, extended 
originally far — very far — beyond the present outline of the rock. The 
led^e, now extending a short distance beyond the present beach, and upon 
which the water is from five to six fathoms in depth, has been formed by 
the action of the waves on rock, which formerly covered that space, to a 
height corresponding to the height of the mountains on the face of the 
island rising from that shore. The ocean and the atmosphere, the water 
and the air, through, it may be, a long succession of ages, disintegrating 
these solid rocks, the debris was deposited, it may be in part, in a gently 
inclining plain ; while a part may have fallen from the edge into the depth 
beyond, and there found a resting place 100 fathoms deep. 

But that this resting place is only a ledge, is shown by the circumstance 
that beyond it the plumet plunges into an unfathomable deep ; from which, 
it may be inferred that that ledge was formed in the same way in which 
that now used as a roadstead was formed, — for there, too, ** the bottom is 
smooth, gently inclined, and formed of mud and sand." But the action of 
the waves being limited to a depth of five fathoms, we seem to be shut up to 
the adoption of the inference that that ledge, and probably all intermediate 



PBUfAST OArSE OF DBSIOCATIUtr. 



149 



I 



points above it^ muat have been in earlier timee level with the oeean 
surface* And it is more reagonable to suppose that the ocean-bed has been 
depressed, canying this island ivith it, than to snpposc that the oce an has 
otherwise increased, throughout its extent, in a corresponding vol ume of 
its waters^ or that the island has sunk in altitude through a displa cement 
of its base, or its ioterpenetration of undcrl jiug rocks. And the t bought 
m suggested — May not the precipitous frontage of these rocks on aU s ides be 
the result of the continuous, or occasionally interrupted, operation of the 
disintegratiug process by which these two ledges have been formed, the 
diversity of vertical outline on this side of the island being attributable to 
some difference in the density , friability , or facility of decomposition of rocks 
found at or abont the levels at which these ledges occur 1 

Be this as it may, the island seems to stand like a measuring-rod indica- 
tion of depression to which the ocean-bed then has been subjected by the 
deposit of earthy debris, supplying another iUustration of the hypothesis 
fitting in with the phenomena. 

That island is surrounded by iLofathomable depths, and such depths 
apparently have at one time covered the land of South Africa ; but 
it should be borne in mind that we are not shut up to the conclusion that 
the depths were such as, without change, to receive in succession all the 
suceessive deposits found upon it. 

The science of geology has made us acquainted with numerous indications 
of repeated alternations of elevations, and of subsidence beneath ihe sea 
level of extensive areas of the earth's ani'face; there may have been 
accompanying alternations of elevation and depression elsewhere at a lower 
level *j and there may have been either continuous or intermitted depression 
brought about by the same means. But it is the general qnestion of 
upheaval in connection with the Hydrology of South Africa with which we 
have at present chiefly to do, and in connection with this I proceed to 
remark that, as has been ah'eady stated, there may be seen at Sea Point, 
and along the beach towards Table Bay, and even on the streets of Cape- 
Town — as at a street at the back of the Custom-House at North Wharf — 
strata of these slate-like flakes, which look not leas like successive deposits from 
water than do any strata of sand, and much more so than do many strata 
attributed to such deposition ; but these, instead of lying hcrizeutaily, as 
layers of deposit of solid matter from water in which it had been deposited 
generally do, ai'e inclined, and in some places, almost perpendicular to the 
horiaon— a line of deposit of solid matter from water in which it has been 
ensp ended which is almost impossible. 

These thin flakes or strata have the usual appearance of thin flakes or 
strata of slate deposited from water, but their position gives them very 
much the appearance of having been subsequently uptilted. Looking at 
them as they crop up, and examining them with attention and care, there 
teems to be nothing unreasonable in supposing that they were originally 
depoaited in a position almost horizontal, but that, at a time while they 
were yet elastic, if not plastic^ a little of the land adjaeent had been 
upheaved by the protrusion of a quantity of granite in a state of fusion, 
which, bursting through them, bent upward the edges of the fissure, so 
that they assumed the position of reclining against the base of the 
protruded mass— a position which they may still be seen retaining at the 
base of the Idon'e Head* 



150 HTDBOLOOT OF SOUTH AFBIOA. 

The hypothesis enables us to account for this by supposing the prossaxie 

at some part of tlie ocean-l)Gd on which debris had accumulated to have 
been greater than the cohesion of these strata could resist when it was 
bearing upon them from below, in accordance with the hydraulic paradox of 
a few ounces of water in a long tube of small bore raising a greater weiglit 
on a wider upturned tube with which it is connected, and in accordance 
with the practical application of such pressurein the hydraulic press ; and 
the cohesion which held them together on an extended level giving way, 
relief from the pressure was obtained by the protrusion of what is now solid 
granite, but what was then this material in a state of fusion. 

But if the strata had not given way, and the pressure had been the same, 
and if no rent had been obtained for the pressure elsewhere, the crust being 
elastic, there must have been raised what would look like a blister, and 
according to the tenacity of the cohesion this would have been more or less 
extensive. This, according to the hypothesis, is what subsequently 
occurred, extensive regions being more or less elevated according as the 
cohesion of their substance was more or less tenacious ; and the result of 
the process came to be the slow steady elevation of the whole by a 
force from beneath, as steady in its operation as the force of the hydraulic 
press, which slowly, but apparently with a force irresistible by the material 
to which it is applied, elevates the board on which this rests. 

With the view thus obtained of the comparatively puny application of 
force in the hydraulic press, to which tons are as ounces to the unaided 
powers of man, we can look upon the whole continent of Africa as a blister 
thus raised by the pressure of the fused material below, in consequence of 
the pressure to which it is subjected by the deposit, on the equally elastic 
crust of the ocean, of the material carried down by runnels and rivers from 
this and other lands which have been so upheaven from the ocean's depth 
to the elevation they have reached above the ocean's surface. 

There may be mountain ranges — whole ranges of mountains — ^formed of 
material protruded ages and ages ago through lengthened rents in the earlier 
formed strata, as was the granite protruded through the slaty deposit, prior 
to the deposit of the Silurian and Old Red Sandstone, with which both now 
are covered. But most of the mountains which have come under our consider- 
ation are apparently indebted for their mountainous character to the remoyal 
of material, by ocean currents, from the district around them, leaving them 
as indications of the elevation to which the whole district had been raised. 

Thus may be obtained some idea of the pressure which the deposit, 
formed here must have exerted when it was a portion of the ocean-bed ; 
and thus may be obtained some idea of the pressure to which portions of 
what is now the ocean-bed may be being subjected. 

Excavators, to facilitate the measurement of work done by them, often, 
leave, in the excavated plot, pillars of the soil and underlying materiid, by 
the height of which may be determined how much and what have been re- 
moved. I look, as I have formerly intimated, upon the mountain ranges to 
which I have referred asthe counterpart to these. 

I have had occasion to speak of the Gates of the Oomzimvooboo, or St. 
John's River, in KafiTraria, and I have spoken of these as upwards of 1200 
feet in height, with the land behind varying in height from 800 to 1000 
feet. At a distance of about 25 miles is Thaba 'Nkooloo, a remarkable 
moimtain, which, from its outline, its formation, and its composition, 
appears to have been at one time continuous with the so-called Gates of 




FBIMAST 0AU61 O? DSBtOOATlOlT. 



151 



© Oomzimvooboo. This is a mountain which may be considered a 
rtmterpart of the excavator's pillars to which I have referred. And the 
cnption given to me by Mr A. S. White of OomzimvooboOj who had 
een long resident in the district, was that this, with the Gates and the 
hgweli monntaina, indicated clearly what must have been at one time the 
Bvel of the whole of the intermediate country. 

So does it appear to have been the case with the land intermediate 
tetween Table Mountain and the mountains beyond. If an unexperienced 
observer would foi*m for himself lome idea of what the thickness of this 
deposit must have been, let him pace on a straight road three-quarters of a mile; 
t^uswill ho learn something of what the statement that a mountain is 4000 
feet in height means ; or lot him, if he care to do so, take his stand on the 
etpoaed granite at Sea Pointy and with his eye measure the elevation of the 
Lion'e Head ; let him then, with the data thus obtained, walk round this 
by the Kloof road, and compare with the height of the Lion's Head the 
height of Table Mountain, and estimate then the elevation of Table Moun- 
tain above the level of the sea, and bear in mind that this is 3582 feet. 

With the data thus obtained let him nei:t endeavour to form a definite 
idea of the naoimtaina and elevated lands beyond. The summit of Rieheck's 
CSaateel is 3109 feet. The summit of Sneewkop, in the Hottentot Holland 
Monntaina, bounding the flats connecting Table Bay and False Bay, and 
bounded on the nearer aide by the Table Mountain range, is 5066 feet. 
Let him then estimate, if he can, what must have been the pressure of a 
coatinuouB sheet of deposit, of such a thickness, over the whole district and 
fer beyond- 

When he has done this, or perhaps before it is accomplished, incredidity 
will steal over himj and he will be ready to say, No — It is impossible — or 
at least incredible, that any ocean-current can have so deeply furrowed the 
eftrth's crust l 

But, there, are the atrata capping Table Mountain and the Lion's Head 
distinctly seen by whoever looks upon them ; and, there, is the testimony of 
n geologist that what must have been a continuation of them remains on 
the mounttiina far beyond ; there, are the uptilted strata of clay slate 
nesting on the protruded granite exposed at the base of the Lion's HlI], 
the exposed extremities of which exhibit not any of the forms usually seen 
in % mass uptilted from a horizontal position, the curvea of a plastic and 
ductile mass, or the sharp comers of a mass more solid and unyielding, but it 
is comparatively level, as if all projections had been planed down, an appear- 
ance with which geologists are familiar, and which they attribute to a 
process of denudation affected by water in movement bearing along sna- 
pended in it stones, saud, or mud, whereby is effected what the friction 
occasioned bj a flow of pure water might have done, but would have done 
more slowly- 

The force of a wave, or of a torrent, or even of a douche bath may be more 
iban a man can withstand, and before such force mud, sand, and stones may 
}Q home away like chaff before the wind. Sand driven before wind will 
^lish hard rock over which it passes, I have seen fossik beautifully polished 
ly being exposed to such a current of sand blou^ over a beach by a west- 
rly wind ; and figures are now beautifully traced on glass by simply expos- 
bg to a current of sand the portion requiring to be groxmd down. The flow 
Kf water alone might suflice to have eflected the denudation ; but the flow 
d water suspending atones and aaad and mud would efleot it more mpidly ; 



152 HTDROLCfGY op aOUTH AFRICA. 

nor arc there awantinq depoaita of atones and sanda and mnd which may 
have \tf:en thus bi.»me alonjr. 

Mention has l>een made of con (glomerate. In this we have rounded stones 
imbc^lc'l faAt in irr^natone or cLiv or other cement, and there are whole 
mountiind com^ioaed of auch material, the atones in which are not angnlar 
but rounded, as would l>e the ahape of atones subjected to mutual attrition 
in beini^ rolled about to;L'ether and atriking one upon another as they might 
have dune in the rapid of a river, or on a ahingly beach, or in an ocean current, 
till every angular project i«in of a rough firacture was worn down. Much 
more would require tu be known abrmt them than is here stated before 
we would be warranted in attirmiii;/ that the last stated was the occasion of 
their collis:»jn, but they cannot have been rounded in the place in which 
they arc : the mu«I which now harrlene^i around them cements them into a 
con Lf 1 « >i 1 lerat^.-rl m nun wo u M when soft have prevented attrition. The moun- 
tain maaaea of conglonienitc muat then have been transported from some 
other apot, and muat have l>een deposited after these stones had acquired 
their aumewhat rounde<l form. 

The current by which theae were borne along, whencesoever it may be 
they were brought, muat have been a current of great force and of great 
depth ; and auch a current may have sufficed to sweep away the four thousand 
feet thickneaa of material formerly covering the Flats and plains beyond. The 
submarine valley cunnccted with an ocean current which Commander 
Belknap, of the American Navy, attempted to fathom in his surveying voyage 
in the east coast of Japan, waa one of much greater depth than those 
with which we are convcraant at the Cape ; and by Greikie it has been shown, 
as I have formerly intimated, that both the longitudinal outline of moun- 
tain ranges in the Highlands of ;Scotlaud, but also intersecting and connecting 
valleys, may be the reault of a proceaa of denudation ; it is not less manifestly 
the case that thus alao it may have been here. 

Imagine then the preaaure which must have been exercised by such a 
mass of material collected here before relief was afforded by these ocean- 
currents relieving it by scooping out the plains, and carrying away the 
material to deposit it elsewhere ; and mark a consequence, the ocean-bed 
has been deeply depressed in the locality in which St Helena stands, and 
there has bceu a corresponding bulging upward here. The plateau of the 
Great Karroo is 3000 feet above the level of the sea ; the plateau of Bush- 
manland 3500 feet ; the plateau of Damaraland is 6000 feet ; the town of 
Colesbeig is about 4000 feet ; and the plains of the Orange River Free State 
are about 5000 feet above the ocean level. 

As the land rose the water would recede, drain off, leaving latteral valleys, 
as lakes ; as it rose these would tilt up and drain off; by the same courses rain 
which subsequently fell would follow their waters to the sea, and the diy 
chamiels would become open drains by which the land, to at least the depth 
of these chaimels, would be drained dry; and by rents and cracks which 
occurred in a>miection with the disturbance of the level in the upheaval of 
the huid, other channels were opened up for the draining off of the rainfeU, 
and that, porhai^s, to an extent of which few of the inhabitants of the land 
have any conooptiou. It is in view of all this that I have spoken of the 
upheaval of the uuul as tho prinuurj- and principal cause of the desiccation 
and conaoquontandity of iikmth Africa. « ut»iu««» 

It tnij be •"««^ ^^ that iH only »ayiu^ of South Africa what may be 



f^RIMABT OAUBB OF DEttlCX^ATION. 153 

taid of any land under heaven. It is — and something is accomplished if it 
have been made apparent that so far there is nothing exceptional in the 
primary cause of the aridity which it is desired to counteract — and something 
more may be effected if it can be made apparent how the effect, such as it is, 
has been brought about. 

In connection with this I would call attention to the circumstances that 
in the general contour of the country we have many indications that the 
upheaval has been in general gradual and slow. 

By Sir John Herschel it is stated, in a treatise on Physical Geography, — 
"In the upheaval of any extensive tract of land from the sea hollows fitted 
for lake-basins cannot fail to be left. If the upheaval be rude and parox- 
ysmal, resulting in the formation of moimtain chains, and accompanied with 
fracture and dislocation of the strata, such hoUows will be deep, precipitous, 
and narrow, in proportion to their length. Such is the general character 
of the lakes in mountainous regions — of the Swiss lakes for instance, those 
of North Italy, of Cumberland, Westmoreland, Scotland, &c. On the other 
liand, where the upheaving forees have acted more gently, and gradually, 
and have raised the country with more imiformity, producing extensive 
jdains and low steppes, lakes will not only be more numerous, by reason of 
the less erosive power of running water to drain them by deepenir^ the out- 
lets, but will affect more rounded forms, and cover the country with shallow 
pools or ponds void of all picturesque beauty, as we see exemplified in Poland, 
and in the districts between the Gulf of Finland and the White Sea, which 
are almost connected by a chain of shallow lakes. Some of them (as those 
of Onega and Ladoga) Yerj extensive." And such seems to have been the 
character of most of the sheets of water which covered South Africa, both in 
times more recent and in times more remote. The drainage of the lakes 
may in some cases have been sudden, but the formation of the lake slow, 
and the lake have been in its origin a product of the sea, rather than a product 
of the land. In the precipitous banks of most of the water courses we have 
indications of the upheaval having been continued to comparatively recent 
times, if it be not still continued ; and we see the result. 

As the land rose the water would flow off. As the mountain ranges rose 
«tbove the level of the sea the water would drain off from their sunmiits and 
their sides. When water was retained in hollows by erosion waterfalls 
'Would be converted into rapids and rapids into waterfalls, — each successive 
change producing a state of things more favourable to the escape and flow 
of the water from the lake than was the state of things before. At the same 
time, these lakes and expanses of water, formed by the spreading out of 
water traversing a valley in its flow towards the lower level, would be silted 
up with the debris brought from a higher level, and the bottom of the outlet 
would be worn down ; and by the silting up of the one and the lowering of 
the other going on simultaneously a medium level would be reached by both, 
and the lake become a plain, while the river-bed now dry would remain a 
channel for the rapid conveyance of what might fall as rain, and draining off 
what might percolate through the soil, till the land became dry, and drier, 
and drier still. 

This much is open and seen ; but the fountains, the hot-springs, both of 
which are numerous in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hop© and sub- 
terranean rivers, which are not unknown, tell of the draining off or flow of 
water from the higher lying lands by other channels than the superficial 
hver-coimeB. In other lands there is much of the rainfall carried off thus^ 



154 BJDBQIMQY OF SOUTH JJFBIQA. 

and there is abundance of indications, if not of evidence, that as it is in 
these so is it in this. 

Marsh, citing Thomassy*s Esmi mr V Hydrologies says — " In the low 
peninsula of Florida, rivers, which must have their sources in mountains 
hundreds of miles distant, pour forth from the earth with a volume 
sufficient to permit steamboats to ascend to their basins of irruption. In 
Januaiy 1857 a submarine fresh-water river burst from the bottom of the 
sea not far from the southern extremity of the peninsula, and for a whole 
month discharged a current not inferior in volume to the River Mississippi, 
or eleven times the mean delivery of the Po, and more than six times that 
of the Nile. We can explain this phenomenon only by supposing that the 
bed of the sea was suddenly burst up by the hydrostatic upward pressure 
of the water in a deep reservoir conmiunicating with some great sub- 
terranean river or receptacle in the mountains of Georgia, or of Cuba, or 
perhaps even in the valley of the Mississippi" And he goes on to say, — 
" Late southern journals inform us that the creek under the natural bridge 
in Virginia has suddenly disappeared, being swallowed up by newly-formed 
fissures of unknown depth in its channel. It does not appear that an outlet 
for the waters thus absorbed has been discovered, and it is not improbable 
that they are filling some underground cavity like that which supplied the 
submarine river just mentioned." 

Sir John Herschel, writing of the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi, where 
"the river, 1000 yards in breadth, is suddenly swallowed up in a narrow 
perpendicular cleft, 100 feet deep, in a black basaltic* rock directly across 
its course, which is prolonged from the bank 40 or 50' miles, in which the 
river takes its new course, compressed in a deep channel of 15 or 20 yards," 
goes on to say, — " The hydraulic system of the interior of South Africa, 
disclosed by Dr Livingstone's travels, is anomalous in the extreme, and is 
only compatible with the idea of a generally level plateau deluged with 
periodical rains, but not, like the plain of the Amazon, dominated by a 
great range of high-lands on one side, with a slope to the other, but as if 
the periodical rains fell on a gently rising convexity so as to leave the waters 
undecided by what channels to seek the main external drainage. It would 
seem very probable that the clift of the Victoria Falls has been of compara- 
tively recent origin, and has determined a new system of drainage by which 
the water of these regions has been carried oflf more rapidly than heretofore, 
since the general tenor of Dr Livingstone's narrative points to what may be 
termed secular desiccation of the districts traversed by him." 

By the consideration of such cracks and rents in the rock crust 
of the earth, thought is directed to the possibillity of a quantity of water 
being carried off by subterraneous as weU as by superficial rivers. There are 
more than one Zorider einde river in South Africa — drivers which have no 
issue, but are apparently lost in the sand, as is the Kuruman. 

One name of the Zambesi is Leeambye, both names mean the same thing 
— ^the RiVEB — ^yet Livingstone writes in his Missionary Travels in South 
' Africa, — " An untravelled gentleman who had spent a great part of his life 
in the study of the geography of Africa, and knew everything written on 
the subject from the time of Ptolemy downwards, actually asserted in the 
Athenaeum, while I was coming up the Red Sea [on return from Africa], that 
the magnificent river the Leeambye had * no connection with the Zambesi, 
but flowed under the Kalahari desert and became lost.' " To this I refer, not 
to call attention to the mistake, but to intimate that the phenomenon of the 



PRIMA BT CAUBE OF TUffllOCATFOK. 



i«& 



\ 



I 



I 



disappeamnce of riveta in Africa is one of such frequent occurrence that a 
student of the riyer system of the country puhHcly refers to this as the 
ppobable or certain termination of a mighty flowing river which he had failed 
to trace to the sea. And while rivers thus lost may haTe been eyaporated 
or abstracted, or partly both, subterranean rivers are not miknown in South 
Africa — such is the Mooi river throughout a part of its course. 

This Mooi river is formed by the commingling waters of some three 
or four streams, eight, ten, or twelve feet wide, and it may be sixteen 
inches deep. 

In the Gatzrand there is an inunenae cavern called Wonder Fontein ; 
and it is stated that cbaff thrown into this cavem has come out in the 
Mooi river, some eighteen miles distatit, conveyed by a stibterranean stream. 
This information my informant, the Rev. Dr Murray, of Wellington, who 
had laboured as a minister over the whole of that region, gave me as he 
receiTed it — without discrediting it^but vouching only for the fact, that it is 
said ; and it is only in keeping with what the whole of the facts conmiu- 
nicated to me in regard to that district or region woidd lead me to consider 
possible. 

All fountains, indeed, may be considered outlets of subterraneous water- 
courses, of greater or leaser size, carrying away water from a higher level, and 
some of them must be of considerable magnitude. Such is the Kuruman, 
described by Mr Backhouse, at its source, as " A stream, which would turn a 
mill, issuing from under sand rocks." It is a clear permanent stream, but 
one which, unlike most, is largest at its source, and ceases about ten mQea to 
the north westj disappearing and reappearing at intervals, and at length 
terminating in a diy water-conrsej which is only filled in rainy weather. It 
is thus described by Dr Moffat : — 

*/ It issues from caverns in a little hill, which is composed of blue and 
grey limestone^ mixed with considerable quantities of flint, but not in 
nodules as found in beds of chalk. From the appearance of the caves, and 
the irregularity of the strata, one might be led to suppose they have been 
the results of internal convulsions. The water, which is piu-e and wholesome, 
is rather calcareous. It is evident that its source must be at a very great 
distance, as all the rains which fall on the hiUs and plains for forty miles 
round, in one year, could not possibly supply such a stream for one month. 
Although there are no sandstone formations nearer than thirty miles, great 
quantities of exceedingly fine sand come from it ; it appeiws to boU up 
out of the smaller springs in front of the larger, and it is to be found in 
deposit in the bed of the river for miles distant. The substratum of the 
whole of the country, as far els the Orange River, is compact limestone^ 
which in some of the Hjimhana hills rises considerably above the neighbour- 
ing plain; but these only form the basis of argillaceous hills and iron-schist, 
on the top of which the compass moves at random, or according to the 
position in which it is placed. The strata of these schistose formations are 
often found to bend and curve into all shapes, frequently exhibiting an 
appearance of golden asbestos, but extremely hard. The common blue 
asbestos is to be found at Gamapcri, in theneighbourhood^ the same as that 
found near the Orange River. The limestone extends to Old Lithako, where 
there are bills of basalt and primitive limestone ; among which masses of 
serpentine rock of various colours, usually called pipe-stone, are to bo met 
with. Beyond the Batlapi dominions, towards the Molapo, there is abun- 
dKDce of granite, greon stone, etc., while the limestone foundation, towards 



lr>6 HTDBOI/^iT or 9CfC7n AnOCJL 

the west, terminates mmong the auidj wflds of the aoathem Zahua. 
Fountains, throoghoot the whole extent of the limestone basing are pre- 
carious, and independent of caoses described in a preceding chapter ; nor 
does that of the Komman continue to send forth the t<»Tent8 it once did." 

The mention of limestone, and the mention of its being so abundant and 
extensiTcly difiujsed OTcr the district, is in accordance with the supposition 
that there may be there numerous and extensive lines of caTes, and in 
accordance with the fact of there being there this subterranean liTcr, 
which onlv from its issue is called the Kuruman ; and the Kuruman is only 
one of such. 

There is, I am informed, a large plateau in the latitude of-Delagoa Bay, 
26"' S., and extending firom 2>?^ to 30' K long., from which the river 
systems of the Limpopo to the north, and of the Oruige River on the south, 
take their rise. It may be about 7000 feet above the level of the sea. On 
this plateau, if I have understood my informant correctly, there are what 
can scarcely be called springs — they surpass so much in magnitude what 
are generally so designated — but streams, issuing like Minerva from the 
head of her father, in the full perfection of strength ; not springs giving 
birth to rills and streamlets, spending their infancy and childhood in play 
amongst the hills, glancing or glinting in the sunshine, tumbling over stones, 
and playing such like childish freaks, — ^but streams in all the vigour of early 
manhood, like that of the Kuruman which has just been described. There 
are more than thirty such earth-bom streams to the north of this plateau, 
and upwards of twenty to the south, but they do not all die in their bed 
like the Kuruman, some of them commingling themsdves, and unitedly 
draining the valleys of the Limpopo and Ckiriep ; and besides these there 
are many of a smaller size. 

I am further informed that there are here and there scattered over the 
plateau hollows with somewhat precipitous sides, it may be 100 feet deep 
and from 100 to 200 feet across, which may have been formed by a swirl of 
water drawn off into a subterranean channel when the plateau was a water- 
bed, or may have been formed by a subsidence of superficial strata roofing 
a cavern, which I consider more likely to have been the case, but which, in 
either case, are indicative of subterranean hollows, which might serve as 
reservoirs or water-courses. 

I may not ignore the existence of subterranean cavities of great extent 
into which water may escape by percolation or by rents in the rock, but 
I attach not importance to these as by themselves affecting the withdrawal 
of water from the surface of the land. I look upon them as bearing the 
same relation to subterranean rivers which lakes do to the rivers which flow 
through them, and estimate the drainage by the flow at the exit, not by the 
contents of the reservoir. 

Besides these, the numerous hot springs — some of them such as those at , 
Brand Vley near Worcester, at Caledon, at Balmoral near Uitenhage, and 
elsewhere, of considerable magnitude — and the water found, as it used to be 
foimd, by the divining rod [I], all tell of the drainingoff of water from higher 
levels by subterranean water-courses. 

With so many fountains, hot springs, and subterranean rivers, within the 
region colonized, it is reasonable to suppose that many more may find an 
exit \mder the sea. When coming from a higher level they must flow freely, 
notwithstanding the depth of water above the orifice, as in the cases cited 
hr Tammtj and by ICmh. Oases of such fresh-water spnngs under the 



PRIMARY 0AU8E OF DF»10CATIO!f. 157 

Bea are hy no meanB rare ; and not more rare are cases of fountains existing 
on islands at a higher level than that of the surfiftce of the ocean, and of a 
greater flow than can be attributed to the percolation of a water from a 
hi^er level on the island itself, — ^leaving room for the supposition that it 
may have come from some more distant locality, and suggestive of the 
thought that we know not, and cannot know, the quantity of water which 
may thus be drawn off from the land. 

Thus does it appear that from the higher position to which the land has 
been elevated over its surface, from it, and under it, water is constantly 
flowing off to the sea : and the channels thus created so facilitate the flow that 
apparently all the water that falls upon it — and other source it has none — finds 
its way, without let, or hindrance, or detention, to the same great reservoir. 
Does a thimder-storm pass over a district, deluging the district with rain, 
the water thus precipitated rushes headlong to the sea. Every year do the 
newspapers record the fact, and no phenomena enter so largely into the 
subjects of talk and conversation of travellers within and beyond the colony. 
Some of the water may escape by cracks and rents, but only to find another 
course to the same resting-place ; and if the land be soaked and saturated 
by the rain, not a little of the water so retained for a time is drained off 
into some one or other of the water-courses leading to the sea. In view of 
all this it is that I attribute the desiccation of South Africa, primarily and 
principally, to its upheaval and elevation above the level of the sea. Thus 
have the waters which covered it been drained off; and thus have been 
drained off all the rains which have subsequently fallen upon it. 

It would only be a controversy about the propriety of the phraseology 
employed which would be involved in the discussion, whether the relative 
position in regard to the elevation of the land and the sea — or the upheaval 
of the land — or the depression of the ocean-bed — or the cause of these 
disturbances — or the gravitation which brings the water from the higher to 
the lower level — should be spoken of as the primary cause of that desicca- 
tion : to the relative position in regard to the level of the land, of the bed 
of the ocean, and to the upheaval of the land as the cause of this, and to 
the drainage thus occasioned may be attributed, primarily and principally, 
the desiccation and consequent aridity of South Africa ; and thus to the 
elevation of the land may be traced back the desiccation of the land. 

But we meet with yet another class of phenomena connected with the 
desiccation of South Africa — the drying up of lakes from which there is no 
apparent outlet, and the drying up of these subsequently to the draining off 
of the waters to the level of the only outlet seen — the level of which may 
be somewhat, and in some cases is considerably, above the level of the 
lowest part of the bed of the lake ; and to the cause or occasion of these 
phenomena we must next inquire. 



158 HTDROLOOT OF SOUTH AVBIOA. 



CHAPTER II. 

8E0ONDART CAUSES OF THE DESIOOATION AND OONSEQUElTr ABIDITY OF 

SOUTH AFRICA. 

The rush of waters, whether from the lakes and inland seas of a former 
age or from districts on which the thunder-showers now fall, may be 
attributed to the upheaval of the land, and to this rush of waters may be 
attributed the fretting away or undermining and fall of barriers by which 
it was at one time restrained. 

The removal of some of these barriers must have occurred long, long ago, 
and there are indications that the process of upheaval may be still going on, 
and thus may the rainfall be allowed to be carried off more rapidly, and in 
increased proportion, to the sea. 

And thus the disturbance of level of the elevation of the land may be 
proved to have been the primary and principal cause or occasion of the 
desiccation of the land ; but it is not the only cause or occasion of this. It does 
not account for all the phenomena observed. We have had under consi- 
deration lakes drying up after the surface of the water had fallen below the 
level of the outlet, and that expression — drying up — at once describes the 
fact and indicates the cause. Water exposed to the atmosphere dries up ; 
the greater the heat and the drier the -air the more rapid is the process : the 
water assumes the form of vapour, and it is said to evaporate or to evapo- 
rate away ;^and to this, as a secondary cause or occasion of desiccation, 
may be attributed the aridity which prevails. 



Section I. — Phenomena of Evaporation, and Modifications of this produced 
by Atmospheric Moisture and by Shade, 

To such a process of evaporation may be traced all the supply of water 
brought to man, and bird, and beast, wheresover in the wide, wide world 
man, or bird, or beast doth live. 

While there are, in round numbers, about fifty millions of square miles 
of the earth's surface dry land, there are about an hundred and fifty 
millions of square miles of its surface covered with water. To evaporation 
from this is attributed the continuous supply of moisture, condensed into 
clouds, and precipitated as hail, and snow, and rain, and dew, all the world 
over, and to a portion of what is thus precipitated the formation and 
supply of all the streamlets, and streams, and rivers, and torrents, which 
fertilize and beautify, or tear up and destroy, the lands through which they 
flow. The supposition is not far from the truth, and it is in accordance 
with what was written by the Hebrew poets : " All the rivers run into the 
sea ; yet the sea is not full : unto the place from which the rivers came, 
thither they return again. They go up by the moimtains; they go down 
by the valleys, imto the place which Thou hast founded for them. Thou 



saoONDART CAUSE OP DSSIOOATION. 159 

hast set a bound that they may not pass over ; that they turn not again to 
cover the earth/' having '' placed the sand for a bound of the sea by a 
perpetual decree that it cannot pass it : and though the waves thereof toss 
themselves yet can they not prevail ; though they war yet can they not 
pass over it." 

The evaporation from such an extent of ocean must be great. From 
shallow water in warm and temperate regions it is probably proportionately 
greater. The annual evaporation from the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, 
and the Sea of Azov, is reckoned at 50 inches of their depth over the whole 
extent of their surface. ^ This surface being equal to about 1,500,000 
square miles, a simple calculation shows that, if the fact be as stated, 
the quantity of fresh water thus evaporated would measure upwards of 500 
cubic miles of water; a corresponding estimate and calculation ^hows that 
the annual evaporation from the Bed Sea must amount to 165 cubic miles 
of water. Of the evaporation of moisture from the sea, some idea may be 
formed from the quantity returned to it daily by rivers throughout the 
earth. This is calculated by Metcalfe to be 135,000,000,000 cubic metres 
per day, by Keith Johnston to be 175,000,000,000 cubic metres, by 
Eles^ Reclus to be 85,000,000,000 cubic metres, — quantities of which it is 
impossible to form an idea. From lakes situated inland and raised to a higher 
temperature, under a drier atmosphere^ the evaporation may be expected 
to be greater still ; and to this may be attributed the partial drying up of 
the lake Gnami, and the complete drying up of the salt-pans mentioned by 
Livingstone and by Chapman, and of others, which have been dried up within 
the memory of man, and the previous final drying up, at what may be called, 
in comparison with times which we have had under consideration, compara- 
tively recent times, and of others of which mention has been made in the 
review which has been given of the hydrographic records presented in the 
geological phenomena and in the physical geography of the country. 

When one breathes upon a cold sheet of polished steel, the condensed 
vapour seems to remain for a time confoimded, knowing not what to do ; 
after this it begins slowly to evaporate, and the process goes on with acceler- 
ating rapidity, until at last the dew-drops seem to run or fly as fast as feet 
or wings will bear them. So seems it to be with the drying up of a lake in 
a hot and arid atmosphere, — the rapidity of the evaporation increases as the 
depth and quantity of the water is diminished. With still greater rapidity is 
moisture evaporated from what is only moistened land. And it can not only 
be proved by experiment that the drier the atmosphere the more rapid wiU 
the evaporation proceed, but it can be shown how it comes to pass that 
such is the case. 

Firsty In whatever way it be brought about — be it in accordance with the 
law of gaseous diffusion or through chemical affinity — ^when the two are in 
contact moisture is absorbed by the air of the atmosphere up to a point of 
saturation varying with the temperature ; by adhesion, or it may be, by 
chemical affinity, but more probably the former, moisture is retained by the 
soil, but up to a certain point, varying with the composition of the soil, 
the absorbent power of the air is in general more powerful than is the 
retaining power of the soil ; the excess of power of absorption manifested 
by the air over the power of retention manifested by the soil appears to 
aitnwiah as the air approacbeB to saturation ; and the statemeat that the 



160 HTDBOLOOT OF SOUTH ANUCA. 

drier the atmoBphere the more rapidly will the eraporaiion proceed is only 
one which is the converse of this. 

Marsh, citing Der Bodtn und das Wcuser, by Wilhelm, a work published 
in Vienna in 1861, and Set Klimaat van NedeHandy by Erecke^ says : — 
" The relative evaporating action of earth and water is a very complicated 
problem, and the results of observations on the subject are conflicting. 
Schuebler found that at Geneva the evaporation from bare loose earth in 
the months of December, January, and February, was from two and Srhalf 
to six times as great as from a like surfeu^ of water in the other months. 
The evaporation from water was from about once and a-half to six times as 
great as from earth. Taking the whole year together the evaporation from 
the two surfaces was 199 and 8-12thfl lines from the earth, and 536 and 
1-1 2th lines from water. Experiments by Van der Steer, at the Holder, in 
the years 1861 and 1862, showed for the former year an evaporation of 
602*9 millim^res from water, 1399*6 millimetres from ground covered with 
clover and other grasses ; in 1862 the evaporation from water was 584*5 
millimetres, from grass ground, 875*5." 

''On the other hand," he says, citing Saggio Idrdogica ml Nilo^ by 
Lombardini, a work published in Milan in 1864, ''the evaporation from the 
Nile in Egypt and Nubia is stated to be three times as great as that from 
an equal surface of the soil which borders it. The thermometrical condi- 
tions of land and water in the same vicinity are constantly varying, and the 
hydrometrical state of both is equally unstable." 

Secondly, The power of absorption is increased with the temperature of the 
air ; the air is raised in temperature by the sun's rays penetrating to the 
earth ; these rays are compound, or produce at least the three correlated 
phenomena of light, heat, and chemical action ; there are substances 
permiable by some but not by others of these constituent rays ; glass of a 
particular colour is impermiable by the chemical ray, and photographers 
avail themselves of this to secure, without detriment to their wori^' the 
light necessary to manipulate their negative photographs ; glass allows free 
passage to solar but not to reflected heat, hence its use in horticulture ; and 
water allows not a free passage even to radiated heat ; in accordance with 
this jBk cloud throws back the heat which falls upon it from the sun, 
lowering the temperature of a hot day wherever its shadow falls ; and it 
throws back the heat radiating from the earth, and raises thus the tempera- 
ture in a day of intense frost in the same way that a thin veil increases 
warmth by throwing back the heat radiated from the face which it protects ; 
this it does whether it be in the solid, the liquid, or the gaseous state which it 
is in the air by which it is absorbed or held in a state of solution. And 
the more of it is thus held the greater will be the reflection ; the less or the 
drier the air the freer the passage for the solar heat ; the drier the atmos- 
phere the greater will be the difiference of temperature between day and 
night, and, it may be, between sunmier and winter; and the higher 
temperature of the air during simshine will increase its power of absorption 
beyond what will be compensated by the diminished power of absorption 
during the night, — in this way also bringing to pass that the drier the 
atmosphere the more rapidly will the evaporation proceed. 

But whatever may impede or reflect the rays of heat will, as does the mois- 
ture in the way now stated, retard desiccation ; and the removal of anything 
thai does so, will pr^miote it — operating negatively. 



SBOONDABT OAUSB OF DESICCATION. 161 

Experience and observation have shown that desiccation, both of atmos- 
phere and of soil, is impeded and prevented by vegetation. Throughout the 
whole period embraced by the memory of its inhabitants, and in earlier 
times, there has "been carried on one continuous destruction of grass and 
herbage by fire, and partly by the hand of man, the effect of which must 
have been, as in some cases it has been seen to be, to facilitate evaporation, 
and thus to expedite the process of desiccation ; and to this, as the immediate 
cause, I attribute the degree of aridity which now prevails. 

Far more moisture, it may be, is carried off by drainage than by evapor- 
ation ; and the increase of evaporation, attributable to the removal of vege- 
tation it may be, bears but a small proportion to the evaporation which 
goes on irrespective of this, but yet the quantity of moisture thus with- 
drawn from the soil may be absolutely great ; and whether it be great or 
small, seeing that it is this which has crowned or completed the process 
whereby the desiccation has been carried to the extent that it has been, it 
deserves, if it do not demand, attention ; and when attention is given to it, 
it may be foimd that it is no less deserving of attention than are the indi- 
cations of the former hydrographic condition of the country, and of water 
haying been drained off extensively by the elevation of the land to the 
altitude it has attained. 

That trees have'some effect, whatever that effect may be, in attracting, 
or creating, or retaining moisture, is extensively believed ; and therefore 
would I refer, first, to the great and extensive destruction of trees which has 
taken place in South Africa, and to the effect which this must have had upon 
the climate and soil as promoting the desiccation, and so producing the aridity. 

The records of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope do not happen to 
supply evidence that this has been the case. But St. Helena, which, in 
connection with this discussion, may be considered a South African island, 
supplies illustrations of effects produced on the climate, both by the 
destruction of trees and by extensive sylviculture. 

From a note appended by Emsman to his German translation of a work 
on meteorology, in relation to cosmical phenomena by Foissac,* it appears 
that in the beginning of the sixteenth century the forests of St Helena must 
have been extensive, for it is stated by him, on the authority of the intro- 
daotoiy chapters in Beatson's St, Helena, that "it was the goats which" 
destroyed the beautiful forests which, three hundred and fifty years ago, 
covered a continuous surface of not less than two thousand acres in the 
interior of the island, not to mention scattered groups of trees. 

While I was at the Cape I wrote to St. Helena for information on the 
subject, and in reply his Excellency, H. R. Janisch, now Governor of the 
island, at once supplied me with the following information, embodied in 
notes published in the Natural History of St. Helena : — " Viewed from the 
sea the island offers little or nothing to the eye but an assemblage of lofty and 
barren hills, intersected in all directions with deep and narrow valleys, in 
many cases little better than ravines, and generally devoid of vegetation, 
excepting here and there patches of prickly pear samphire and profitless 
weeds, ^e wooded peaks in the interior being in most positions hidden from 
view by the almost perpendicular cliffs running down to the sea. But when 
first discovered, in 1502, it was in the valleys almost covered with trees 

* Meteorologie mt RUcksight auf die Lehere vom Kosmos. Deutsch von A. H. 
Emsman, Leipzig, 1859. 

U 



162 HTDBOLOGT OF SOUTH AFBIOA. * 

right down to the water's edge. These trees appear to have been principall j 
gum-wood, ebony, and red-wood." The gum-wood flourished nearest to the 
sea ; the ebony and red-wood covered the slopes of the mountain ; while the 
hill tops appear to have been covered with the cabbage tree and ferns — ^the 
former presenting from a little distance the appearance of a singular-looking 
tree bearing stocks of cabbage, or of brocoli, at the extremeties of its 
branches. While such was the state of vegetation, it must have been an 
island well watered everywhere. 

But the earlier governors and settlers made sad havoc among the trees ; 
and herds of goats and of swine being allowed to run- loose on the land, 
yoimg growing trees, which might have supplied the waste, were destroyed, 
and the island became almost denuded. All the ebony trees have long 
since disappeared ; the last, a tree remarkable for its excessive hardness, 
size, and density, was found on Deadwood. The red-wood is now scarce, and, 
like the ebony, would altogether have disappeared, had not Governor 
Byefield caused two young trees to be set at Plantation House, from which 
two all at present on the island have been propagated* And a comparison 
of the cabbage trees of the present with the remains of those of the past 
tell of a stimted growth. What was the consequence of this extensive 
destruction of trees ] " Incidentally we find," says my correspondent, " in the 
records of the last century, accounts of repeated and almost periodical visita- 
tions of very severe drought, occasioning ruinous losses of cattle and crops." 

Towards the close of the last century, however, the denudation of the 
island had been carried so far that wiser governors saw it to be necessary 
to adopt some strenuous measure to restore the vegetation. Nurseries were 
made, and experienced gardeners were introduced by the Company, and 
trees from all parts of the world were introduced and flourished. Prizes 
were given for the number of trees reared, irrespective of their character. 
The cluster pine (pinus pinaster) was sown very extensively, and several 
plantations of this tree remain in a thriving condition. But a variety of 
other forest trees, greatly preferred both for beauty and use, were planted 
about the same period and have flourished well. Lists have been sent to 
me of 133 exotic trees and shrubs, and of 39 fruit-bearing plants, now 
growing on the island. And what have been the results 1 My corres- 
pondent writes : — " For may years past, since the general growth of our 
trees, we have been preserved from this scourge ; and droughts, such as were 
formerly recorded, are now altogether unknown. We have no means, how- 
ever, of otherwise comparing the rain-fall of the two periods, as no tables, 
or even estimates, of the rainfall can be had for the earlier dates. Our fall 
of rain now is equal to that of England, and is spread almost evenly over the 
year. The showers fall more heavily in two or three months of the year. 
But this period, though called on this account the rainy season, is in no way 
to be compared to what is imderstood by an inter-tropical rainy season." 

Meteorological observations are or were kept at Longwood and at Plantar 
tion. I have at command only the record of the rainfall from 1841 to 1848. 
The amoimt of rain which fell in these years was : — 

1841, 68-925 1846, 19-509 

1842, 90-458 1846, 26-556 

1843, 37189 1847, 42441 

1844, 20026 1848, 45-630 

Giving as the mean annual fall 43*813 inches — a rainfall corresponding to 
that^at Wynberg, at the back of Table Mountain. 



SBOONDABT OAITSB OF DBSIOOATION. 163 

In iUnstration of the importance of noting the locality in which such 
observations may be made, I give the following records of the rain which Jtell 
during a period of nine months in the first of these years (1841), at four 
stations, varying in altitude, but comprehended within a circle of little 
more than a mile radius : — 

At 414 feet of elevation 7*63 inches. 

At 1782 „ 43-42 „ 

At 1991 „ 27-11 „ 

At 2644 „ 22-63 „ 

While proper corrections and eliminations may be necessary to make any 
series of meterological registers of great value, in the absence of these, 
general popular observations become of considerable importance. And the 
observations I have cited may command an attention which a bare record 
of observations — made by we know not whom, and instruments we know 
not what — cannot. 

The statement furnished by Mr Janisch is not only in accordance with 
popular opinion, but in accordance with the testimony of others, in rpgard 
to what has been observed elsewhere in regard to the rainfall on mountains 
and forests. 

" There Is good reason," says Marsh, in his work on The Earth, as 
modified hy Human Action^ " to believe that the surface of tie habitable 
earth, in all the climates and regions which have been the abodes of dense 
and civilized populations, was, with few exceptions, already covered with a 
forest growth when it first became the home of man. This we infer from 
the extensive vegetable remains — trunks, branches, roots, fruits, and leaves 
of trees — so often found in conjunction with works of primitive art, in the 
boggy soil of districts where no forests appear to have existed within the 
eras through which written annals reach ; from ancient historical records, 
which prove that large provinces where the earth has long been wholly bare 
of trees were clothed with vast and almost unbroken woods when first made 
known to Greek and Roman civilization ; and from the state of much of 
North and South America, as well as of many islands, when they were 
discovered and colonized by the European race." 

In a foot-note he says — " The recorded evidence in support of the 
supposition in the text has been collected by L. F. Alfred Maury, in his 
Histoire des grandes Forets de la Gaule et de VAndenne France ; and by 
Becquerel, in his important work, Des Climats et de VInfiueTice qv! exercent 
les Sols boises et non-hoises, Liv. II., C. I~IV." And he goes on to say — 
" We may rank among historical evidences on this point, if not technically 
among historical records, old geographical names and terminations etymo- 
logicsdly indicating forest or grove, which are too common in many parts of 
the eastern continent now entirely stripped of woods, — such as in Southern 
Europe, Breuil, Broglio, Brolio, Brolo ; in Northern, Brueil, and the 
ei3idii^s, dean, den, don, ham, holt, herst, hurst, lund, skaw, shot, skog, 
skov, wald, weald, wold, wood. The island of Madeira, whose noble forests 
were devastated by fire not long after its colonization by European settlers, 
takes its name from the Portuguese word for wood." 

The name given originally to the island by the Portuguese was Materia, 
in allusion to the apparently inexhaustible materials it supplied for ship- 
building and for the construction of houses. 

And in another foot-note, appended to a statement that the surface of 



164 HTDBOLOaT OF 80UTH AfBIOA. 

Palestine is composed in a great measure of ronnded limestone hills, -which 
were once, no doubt, covered with forests which were partially removed 
before the Jewish conquest, Marsh remarks, — "* Forests,' 'woods,' and 
'groves,' are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament as existing at 
particular places, and they are often referred to, by way of illustration, as 
familiar objects. ' Wood ' is twice spoken of as a material in the New 
Testament, but otherwise — at least according to Cruden — ^not one of the 
above words occur in that volume. In like manner, while the box, the 
cedar, the fir, the oak, the pine, * beams,' and * timber,' are very frequently 
mentioned in the Old Testament, not one of these words are found in the 
New, except the case of the ' beam in the eye,' in the parabl# in Matthew 
and Luke. 

" This interesting fact, were other evidence wanting, would go far to prove 
that a great change had taken place, in this respect, between the periods 
when the Old Testament and the New were respectively composed ; for the 
Scriptural writers, and speakers introduced into their narratives, are 
remarkable for their frequent allusions to the natural objects, and the social 
and industrial habits, which characterized their ages and their coimtry." 

And following up the statement in the text, he says, — " These evidences 
are strengthened by observation of the natural economy of our own time ; 
for whenever a tract of country, once inhabited and cultivated by man, is 
abandoned by him and domestic animals, and surrendered to the undisturbed 
influences of spontaneous nature, its soil sooner or later clothes itself with 
herbaceous and arborescent plants, and at no long interval with a dense 
forest growth. Indeed, upon surfaces of a certain stability, and not 
absolutely precipitous inclination, the special conditions required for the 
spontaneous propagation of trees may all be negatively expressed, and 
reduced to these three : — exemption from defect or excess of moistiu*e, 
from perpetual frost, and from the depredations of men and browzing 
quadrupeds. When these requisites are secured, the hardest rock is as 
certain to be over-grown with wood as the most fertile plain, though for 
drier seasons the process is slower in the former than in the latter case. 
Lichens and mosses first prepare the way for a more highly organized veger 
tation. They retain the moisture of rains and dews, aud bring it to act, in 
combination with the gases evolved by their organic processes, in decom- 
posing the surface of the rock they cover ; they arrest and confine the dust 
which the wind scatters over them, and their final decay adds new material 
to the soil already half-formed beneath and upon them. A very thin 
stratum of mould is sufficient for the germination of seeds of the hardy 
evergreens and the birches, the roots of which are often found in immediate 
contact with the rock, supplying their trees with nourishment from a soil 
deepened and enriched from the decomposition of their foliage, or sending 
out long rootlets into the surrounding earth in search of juices to feed them." 

But with all the provisions which have been made for the production of 
forests, and for the restoration of small portions which have been destroyed, 
it is possible for man to counteract these ; and he has done so. But what 
have been some of the consequences which have followed % 

According to a summary of some of these given by Marsh, — " With the 
extirpation of the forest all is changed. At one season the earth parts with 
its warmth by radiation to an open sky ; receives, at another, an immoderate 
heat from the imobstructed rays of the sun. Hence the climate becomes 
excessive, and the soil is alternately parched by the fervours of summer, 



SEOONBABT CAUSE OF DE8I00ATION. 165 

BXkA seared by the rigonrs of winter. Bleak winds sweep unresisted over its 

sa£BU^, drift away the snow that sheltered it from the frost, and dry up its 

scanty moisture. The precipitation becomes as irregular as the temperature ; 

the melting snows and varied rains, no longer absorbed by a loose and 

bibular vegetable mould, rush over the frozen surface, and pour down the 

TaUeys seawards, instead of filling a retentive bed of absorbent earth, and 

storing up a supply of moisture to feed perennial springs. The soil is 

bared of its covering of leaves, broken and loosened by the plough, deprived 

of the fibrous rootlets which held it together, dried and pulverized by sun 

and wind, and at last exhausted by new combinations. The face of the 

earth is no }pnger a sponge, but a dust heap ; and the floods which the 

waters of the sl^ poured over it hurry swiftly along its slopes, carrying in 

suspension vast quantities of earthy particles, which increase the abrading 

power and mechanical force of the current, and, augmented by the sand and 

gravel of falling banks, fill the beds of the streams, divert them into new 

channels, and obstruct their outlets. The rivulets, wanting their former 

regularity of supply, and deprived of the protecting shade of the woods, are 

heated, evaporated, and thus reduced in their former currents, — ^but 

swollen to raging torrents in autumn and in spring. 

" From these causes there is a constant degradation of uplands, and a 
consequent elevation of the beds of water-courses, and of lakes, by the 
deposition of the mineral and vegetable matter carried down by the waters. 
The channels of great rivers become unnavigal^le, their estuaries are choked 
up, and harbours which once sheltered large navies are shoaled by danger- 
ous sand-bars. 

" The earth stript of its vegetable glebe grows less and less productive, and 
consequently less able to protect itself by weaving a new net-work of roots 
to bind its particles together, a new carpeting of turf to shield it from wind 
and sun and scoiuing rain. Gradually it becomes altogether barren. The 
washing of the soil from the moimtains leave bare ridges of sterile rock, 
and the rich organic mould which covered them, now swept down into the 
dark low grounds, promotes a luxuriance of aquatic vegetation that breeds 
fever and more insidious forms of mortal disease by its decay, and thus the 
earth is rendered no longer fit for the habitation of man." 

In accordance with these views are the views of all the students of Forest 
Science whom I know to have given attention to the subject. " Almost 
everywhere," says Schleiden, Professor of Botany in the University of Jena, 
" in the great characters in which nature writes her chronicles, in fossilized 
woods, layers of peat, and the like, or even in the little notes of men, for 
instance in the records of the Old Testament, occur proof, or at least 
indications, that those countries which are now treeless and arid deserts, 
part of Egypt, Syria, Persia, and so forth, were formerly thickly wooded, 
traversed by streams now dried up or shrunk within narrow bounds ; while 
now the burning glow of the sun, and particularly the want of water, allow 
but a sparse popidation. In contrast must not a jovial toper laugh indeed, 
who looks from Johannisberg out over the Khine country, and drinks a 
health in Btldesheimer to the noblest of the German rivers, if he recall 
the statement of Tacitus, that not even a cherry, much less a grape, 
would ripen on the Rhine ! And if we ask the cause of this mighty 
change, we are directed to the disappearance of the forests. With the 
careless destruction of the growth of trees, man interferes to alter greatly 
the natural conditions of the country. We can indeed now raise one of the 



166 HTDBOLOGT OF SOUTH AVBIOA. 

finest yines upon the Bhine, where two thousand years ago no cheny 
ripened ; but on the other hand, those lands where the dense population of 
the Jews was nourished by a fruitful culture are in the present day half deserts. 
The cultivation ofclover, requiring a moist atmosphere, has passed fiom Greece 
to Italy, from thence to Southern Germany, and already is beginning to fly 
from the continually drier summers there to be confined to the moister north. 
Rivers which formerly scattered their blessings with equal fulness through- 
out the whole year, now leave the dry and thirsty bed to split and gape in 
summer, while in spring they suddenly pour out the massies of snow, 
accumulated in winter, over the dwelling-places of afirighted men. If the 
continued clearing and destruction of forests is at first followed by greater 
warmth, more southern climate, and more luxuriant thriving of the more 
delicate plants, yet it draws close behind this desirable condition another 
which restrains the liabitability of a region within as narrow, and perhaps 
even narrower, limits than before. In Egypt, no Pythagoras ne^ now 
forbid his scholars to live upon the beans; long has that land been 
incapable of producing them. The wine of Mendes and Mareotis, which 
inspired the guests of Cleopatra, — which was celebrated even by Horace, — 
it grows no more. No assassin now finds the holy pine-grove of Poseidon, 
in which to hide and lie in ambush for the singers hastening to the feast. 
The pine has long since retired from the invading desert climate to the 
heights of the Arcadian Mountains. Where are the pastures now, where 
are the fields around the holy citadel of Dardanus, which at the foot of the 
richly-watered Ida supported three thousand mares ? Who can talk now of 
the * Xanthus,' vith its hurrying waters 1 Who would understand now the 
' Argos feeder of horses V " 

And so has it been elsewhere. It is said in Barbadoes and Jamaica th& 
felling of forests has been attended by a diminution of rain. 

The effect of the destruction of forests upon the climate has heeKx 
questioned, but these facts remain. And so has it been seen again and 
again in the history of the nations. The term savage, from its etymo- 
logical derivation, speaks of a sylvan life; and from the sylvan or 
savage life to that of the civilized or city life, the progress of man may 
be traced, to some extent, by the destruction of forests. The one has, 
until attention was given to consequences which have followed the destruc- 
tion of forests, been the accompaniment or complement of the other, opera- 
ting sometimes as a cause, manifesting itself sometimes as a consequence 
— if both be not con-sequences of a common cause. But it is possible that 
the destruction of forests may be carried too far. According to the 
testimony of Dr Hooker, cited in the preface, " In the estimation of an • 
average I3riton forests arc of infinitely less importance than the game thej J 
shelter, and it is not lon^ since the wanton destruction of a fine young tree | 
was considered a venial offence compared with the snaring of a pheasant or 
rabbit. Wherever the English rule extends, with the single exception of 
India, the same apathy or inaction prevails. ... In Demerara the 
useful- timber trees have all been removed from accessible regions, and no 
care or thought of planting others ; from Trinidad we have the same stoiy; i 
in New Zealand there is not now a good Kauri pine to be found near tne j 
coast ; and I believe that the annals of almost every English colony would ! 
repeat the tale of wanton waste and improvidence." * 

In view of this waste, Schleiden, to whom I have already referred, writes, if 
not in the words, yet following the train of thought of one of the noUest 



I 



t 



I 



SBOONDARY CAUSE OP DBBIOOATION. 167 

yeterauB of our science, the venerable Elias Fries, of Liind : '^ A broad band 
of waste land follows ^udually in the steps of cultivation. If it expands, 
its centre and cradle dies, and on the outer borders only do we find green 
shoots. But it is not impossible, it is only difficult, for man, without 
renouncing the advantage of culture itself, one day to make reparation for 
the injury which he has inflicted, he is appointed lord of creation. True 
it is that thorns and thistles, ill-favoured and poisonous plants, well named 
by botanists, 'rubbish plants,' mark the track which man has proudly 
traversed through the earth. Before him lay original nature in her wild 
bat sublime beauty. Behind him he leaves the desert, a deformed and 
rained land ; for childish desire of destruction, or thoughtless squandering 
of v^etable treasures, have destroyed the character of nature ; and man 
himself flies terrified from the arena of his actions, leaving the impoverished 
earth to barbarous races or animals, so long as yet another spot in virgin 
beauty smiles before him. Here again, in selfish pursuit of profit, con- 
sciously or unconsciously, he begins anew the work of destruction. Thus 
did cuLtivation, driven out, leave the East, and the deserts perhaps 
previously robbed of their coverings; like the wild hordes of old over 
beautiful Greece, thus rolls this conquest with fearful rapidity from east to 
west through America, and the planter often now leaves the already 
exhausted Ifuid, the eastern climate become infertile through the demolition 
of the forests, to introduce a similar revolution into the far west. But we 
see, too, that the nobler races, or truly cultivated men, even now raise their 
warning voices, put their small hand to the mighty work of restoring to 
nature her strength and fulness in yet a higher stage than that of wild 
nature; one dependent on the law of purpose given by man, arranged 
according to plans which are copied from the development of manhood 
itself All this, indeed, remains at present but a powerless, and for the 
whole, an insignificantly small enterprise, but it preserves the faith in the 
vocation of man and his power to fulfil it. In future times he will and 
nmst, when he rules, leads, and protects the whole, free nature from the 
tyramious slavery to which he now abases her, and in which he can only 
liep her by restiess giant struggles against the eternally resisting. We 
see in the gray cloudy distance of the future a realm of peace and beauty 
<m the earth and in nature, but to reach it must man long study in the 
nhool of nature, and, before all, free himself from the bonds of that 
exdusive selfishness by which he is actuated." 



SionoN II. — Den/udaiion of South Africa by the destruction of Herbage 

and Trees, 

The destruction of forests in South Africa has been extensive. Ever 
once the discovery of Natal by Vasco de Gama in 1495, South Africa 
has justified the designation which he gave it of Terra de fume. The 
extensive burning of bush, herbage, and grass, the smoke of which procured 
for it that designation, has been continued by the native tribes, and by the 
European colonists ; and thus have many trees been destroyed. 

Dr Gasilis, Secretary of the Paris Missionary Society, who was long 
nsident at the Gape, in a work entitled " The Basutos, or Twenty-three 
yean in South AMca," says, '^ The grass reaches such a height that it is 
to destroy it every winter by means of fire ; and it is perhaps to 



168 HTBEOLOGT OF SOUTH AFKICA. 

these annual conflagrations that we must ascribe the remarkable scarcity of 
trees. These are hardly ever to be found except on the banks of rivers, 
and in high mountain passes." 

This conjecture of Dr Casilis is to some extent verified by an observation 
of Dr Livingstone, and his reasoning thereon. On one of his earlier expedi- 
tions he left at one place, suspended from a tree, the boat in which a part 
of the journey had been made, and which would be required again on the 
return of his party ; but long ere their return it was consumed — ^burned ! 
The natives in the vicinity of the locality were very desirous of persuading 
him that this had been the work of a hostile tribe ; " but," says he, " on 
scanning the spot, we saw that it was more likely to have caught fire in the 
grass-burning of the country. Had we intended being so long in returning 
to it, we should have hoisted it bottom upwards ; for, as it was, it is probable 
that a quantity of dry leaves lay in the inside, and a spark ignited the 
whole. All the trees within fifty yards were scorched and killed, and the 
nails, iron and copper sheathing, all lay undisturbed beneath. Had the 
Ajaiva done the deed, they would have taken away the copper and iron." 

The reasoning is satisfactory ; and we note the fact observed : " All the 
trees within fifty yards were scorched and killed." 

To this conjecture and observation of Dr Livingstone, may be added the 
testimony of his father-in-law, Dr Mofiat, who says explicitly " the natives 
have the yearly custom of burning the diy grass, which on some occasions 
destroys shrubs and trees even on the very summit of the mountains ;" and 
he speaks, as of an unquestioned and unquestionable fact, of " the accidental 
destruction of whole plains of the Olea similis (wild olive), by fire near 
Griqua town," and of a gradual decrease of rain which succeeded in that 
region. But he also adverts to the destruction of forests by native tribes, 
effected otherwise than by fire. He relates that on his settlement at 
Latakoo " the natives were wont to tell of the floods of ancient times, the 
incessant showers which clothed the very rocks with verdure, and the giant 
trees and forests which once studded the brows of the Hamhana hills and 
neighbouring plains. They boasted of the Kuruman and other rivers, with 
their impassable torrents, in which the hippopotami played, while the lowing 
herds walked to their necks in grass, filling their Tnakukas (milk sacks) with 
milk, making every heart to sing for joy." And he mentions that 
" independent of this fact being handed down by their forefathers, they had 
before their eyes the fragments of more fruitful years in the immense 
number of stumps and roots of enormous trunks of Acacia giraffaea, where 
now scarcely one is to be seen raising its stately head above the shrubs ; 
while the sloping sides of hills and the ancient beds of rivers plainly evinced 
that they were denuded of the herbage which once clothed their surface. 
Indeed, the whole country north of the Orange river lying east of the 
Kalagari desert presented to the eye of a European something like an old 
neglected garden or field." He found no difficulty in accounting for this. 
*• The Bechuanas, especially the Batlapis, and the neighbouring tribes," says 
he, " are a nation of levellers ; not reducing hills to comparative plains, for 
the sake of building their towns, but cutting down every species of timber 
without regard to scenery or economy. Houses are chiefly composed of 
small timber, afld their fences of branches and shrubs. Thus, when they 
fix on a site for a town, their first consideration is to be as near a thicket as 
possible. The whole is presently levelled, leaving only a few trees, one in 
each great man's fold, to afford shelter from the heat, and under wbioh the 
mesa w&xk and recline. 



aiS0QI7DAHT CAtJSB OF DESlOCATrOIT. 



led 



** The ground to be occupied for caltivatioii ia the next object of attention. 
The large trees being too hard for their iron axes, they bum them down by 
keeping up a fire at the root* These supply them with branches for fences, 
while the sparrows, so destructive to their graiu^ are thus deprived of an 
asylum. These fences, as well as those in towns, require constant repairs, 
and indeed the former must be renewed every year ; and by this means the 
country for many miles round becomei entirely cleared of timber } while in 
the more sequestered spots, where they have their outposts, the same work 
of deatniction goes ou. Thus, of whole forests, where the giraffe and 
elephant were wont to seek their daily food, nothing remains, 

" When the natives remove from that district, which may be after only a 
few years, the minor species of the acaeia soon grows, but the Aeaidagiraffdea 
requires an age to become a tree, and many ages must pass before they 
attaiu the dimensions of their predecessors. In the course of my joumeya 
I have met with trunks of enormous size, which, if the time were calculated 
necessary for their growth, aB well as their decay, one may be led to 
conclude that they sprung up immediately after the flood, if not before it," 

Much of the information I possess in regard to forests and trees to the 
north of the Kurumau was derived from the late Mr Chapman* By him I 
was informed that around the mountains of Shoshong — the residence of 
Sekom^ — which he passed in travelling from the Trans- Vaal State to the 
Victoria Falls, the most conspicuous product of the soil is the Kameel- 
Doom or Acacia giraffaea. 

At a distance of twenty or thirty miles from Shoshong the forests of this 
tree are dense, but within that distance so many have been cut down for 
use as fuel and for other purposes, and to remove shade from their gardens 
or cultivated ground, that there it is chiefly stumps that are seen. 

He gave as the report of the natives, that the land Eiround the village waa 
formerly very prolific^ but now rarely yields a good crop above once in five 
or six years ; and that the rain seemed to fall all around, but to leave this 
locality dry, 

I have learned much in regard to this district from the missionary 
resident at Shoshong, the Rev. John Mackenzie, of the London Missionary 
Society, who has given a story of e very-day life and work among the Sontn 
African tribes in his work entitled " Ten Years North of the Orange River." 
He alleges that the complaints of the natives in regard to the rain, and in 
regard to their cropsj may be attributable in some measure to a disposition - 
to grumble, which they share in common with others. But nothing learned i 
from him, or from Dr Gustavus Fritseh, who penetnited thus far in the 
prosecution of ethnological and zoological researches, and from whom I 
learned ranch, affected the statement of Mr Chapman, regarding the 
existing evidence of the destruction of trees. 

While the tribes of Eechuanas may have been influenced only by such 
motives as have been indicated in their destruction of trees, KafiBrs on the 
east coast, I have been informed by Mr White, who Wiis for a very long 
time resident on the St. John*3 river (the Oomzimvooboo), maintain, and do 
so probably witb reason, that the soil on which trees have grown is the best 
land for their gardens, and, therefore, every bush and tree disappears fronx J 
around their place of residence. In illustration of the progress of destruo- j 
tion, he stated that there were numerous extensive patches of bush, and ! 
some of trees, in elistence when he went to Natal in 1850, which, when I ' 
saw him in 1665, had entirely disappeared, and from the Oomtamfoona to 



L. 



170 HTDBOLOOT OT SOUTH ATBIOA. 

the Ibid, scaroely a patch of bush was to be seen feoxa, tha load to 
Maritzburg from the Oomzimyooboo. 

This work of destruction has been going on for we know not how long. 
In an article having the initials of the late Mr Smith, who was overseer of 
the Government plantations on the white sands of the Cape Flats, which 
appeared in the "Cape Monthly Magazine" for Jime 1851, the writer 
says, — " Some years ago, I heard there was a tradition among the elder 
Hottentots, that the whole of this valley (the valley of the river Zonder- 
ende) was once covered with large timber trees, and that it was laid waste 
with fire during the wars of the early colonists with the natives. On 
examining the river banks for some miles, the truth of this tale became 
apparent, as I found numbers of large stumps and roots protruding from 
the banks where the current of the river had washed away portions of the 
soil, and laid them bare. A close inspection of many of them showed them 
to have been charred with fire. Those which I examined were principally 
Yellow Wood [Podocarpus], and Assegay [Curtisid], with some others I 
could not identify. Many of them when growing must have been magnifi- 
cent specimens. One piece of a trunk measured 16 feet in length, with a 
circumference of 5 feet. The whole of one side was charred its entire 
length, but the remainder was perfectly sound, and of a beautiful red 
colour. The fires which occasioned this havoc must have happened far 
beyond the memory of any man now living — ^unless a landslip occurred in 
that neighbourhood — as a layer of clay, and several feet of alluvial soil now 
cover the stumps of the trees just mentioned ; but as they are all evergreens, 
it might have been expected that the roots would send up abimdance of 
young shoots to supply the place of the destroyed stems, and we may be 
sure that such did take place. At the same time, an abundance of rank 
grass and bushes would spring up, and the first ' grass-fire ' that occurred in 
the vicinity would imdoubtedly destroy the whole of the young plants. I 
can state this confidently, having seen a native forest of the same trees^ and 
in this state, cut up three times in ten years by these * grass-fires.* 

" How long, under such circumstances, the roots will continue to send up 
shoots I cannot say. There can be no doubt that ultimately they must 
become exhausted, and cease to make further efibrts, and, of course, to 
exist. In this latter case of the destroyed fol-est, there was evidence of the 
loss of the greater part of a spring of fine water, as a little further down the 
valley there is a large enclosed, but at present neglected, piece of groimd, 
which, from numerous marks of old water-courses, had once been irrigated ; 
and the present stream would not supply one-tenth of the enclosure." 

It has been suggested that possibly the stumps seen by Mr Smith may 
have come from the Kloofs of the Zonder-ende mountains. I have not the 
means of determining this point ; but even if it were so, evidence is thus 
obtained of the former growth of trees now destroyed. 

I have not the means of determining the period at which these trees 
must have been destroyed ; but, apparently, the further back we go, the 
more we find indications of the former existence of trees where now no trees 
are to be found. From the journal of Mrs M. E. Barber, extracts from 
which appeared in the "Cape Magazine" for 1871, we learn that the 
diggings in the diamond-fields have brought to light numerous flint arrow- 
heads and other stone implements, which indicate the former existence of a 
people in that district anterior to its being taken possession of by the 



SECONDARY CAUSE OP DESICCATION. 171 

Kaffirs and the Bechuanas from the north, which may be said to be an 
event of yesterday, the traditional narrative being still preserved by the 
tribes ; and, says Mrs Barber, who is a naturalist well known and highly 
esteemed at the Cape, and who is not likely to be rash in the assertion, "many 
circular incrastations of tufa lime which once enveloped the roots of trees, 
but are now filled with red soil, are scattered through the claims, in the 
Colesberg Kop." Such is the evidence we obtain when we go back to 
pre-historio times. Let us return to the present. 

The South African practice of burning the rank herbage has been adopted 
by the European colonists. Extensive districts, once covered with grass, 
are now covered with the useless Rhinoster bush ( Elytropappiis Rhinocerotis, 
Lesa), the down surmounted seeds of which, borne by the wind, had found 
an appropriate soil cleared for them by the fire ; and, apparently, thus have 

i>lains been cleared of trees. The well-defined outlines of forests on their 
ower range speak not of forests spreading from the summit of the Kloof 
to the plain, but of forests driven to the Kloofs for shelter, and there 
making a stand for life ; and even in these, their fastnesses, the work of 
destruction has been continued. In forest districts, I have been told of 
encroachments made on the forests thus : — the veldt has been burned, the 
flames have come up to the verge of the forest, and then been stopped, but 
not until they had scorched and killed a narrow strip or belt of brushwood 
and trees. The veldt was burned in the following season, and the brush- 
wood and trees, previously scorched and killed, fell victims to the flames, 
and in burning scorched and killed a broader belt, which in a subsequent 
year met with a similar fate, with similar effects. And I have seen moun- 
tain sides now naked and bare, which some years ago were covered with 
trees, all of which had been destroyed by fire. 

In the vicinity of Wynberg, some ten miles from Cape Town, are 
constantly to be seen extensive patches of Silver trees (Leucodendron 
argenteumj, and still more extensive plateaux studded thick with Sugar 
bush (Protea mellifera), Kreupelboom (Protea Conocarpum), and other 
arborescent shrubs, burned and blackened, killed by fire. Long before any 
one patch has recovered itself another is laid bare; and, times more 
frequent than I can now number, I have seen the mountains bright with a 
zone of fire, burning up herbage and bush, and imperilling plantations of 
considerable extent. I was told by a gentleman in the neighbourhood of 
Wynberg that on the abolition of slavery he anticipated a difficulty in 
obtaining the labour necessary to keep in cultivation extensive vineyardB 
which were in his possession. He determined, therefore, to abandon the 
cultivation of the vine over a large portion of his property, and to plant 
that portion with the seeds of the Stone pine (Pimis Pinea). The expense 
was trifling. Three muids, or nine bushels of seed, were sown by fourteen 
men in three days. Within fifteen years he had a revenue of about £300 
per annum from the sale of spars, &c. But imhappily, through a neighbour 
burning the bush, the fire extended to his plantation, and reduced it to 
ashes ; at that time the value of it was estimated at £10,000. 

On the face of Table mountain are extensive plantations of the Cluster 
pine (Pinus Pinaster) : for years might be seen from Cape Town and from 
Table Bay a far-reaching broad belt of blackened trees killed by fire ; and 
evBiywhere throughout the colony are the Crown forests subjected to a 
wasteful treatment^ under which they are here and there gradually disap- 



173 HTDBOLOOT OF SOUTH AFBIOA. 

pearing. The reyenue is diminishing year by year. When I was in the 
colony, in the Zuurbeig forest this had fallen short of the expense of conser- 
Tation by an annual deficit of upwards of £100, and there was a correspond- 
ing deficit in the revenues derived from Olifants Hook, and of the Klein 
and Van Staden's rivers; and from some forests, Such as the Cedar-tree 
forests of Clanwilham, and others in the eastern province, no revenue 
whatever appears to be received. 

In regard to the Cedarberg forests, Dr Pappe, in his " Silva Capensis," 
writes : — " Sir James Alexander in his exploring expedition into the 
interior of Africa (vol. i. p. 230 sqq.), in making mention of the Cedar tree, 
remarks that one of them was cut down in 1836 which was 36 feet in girth, 
and out of whose giant arms 1,000 feet of planking were sawn." He 
bitterly complains that this noble tree is fast disappearing in the Cedar 
mountains. Mr W. von Meyer (in ReUen en Svd-Africa wahrend der Jahrty 
1840 und 1841," Hamburg 1843, p. 131) says that "in former days the 
whole of the mountainous chain to which the Cedar mountains belong was 
studded with those trees \ that of late the axe and conflagrcUions have done 
their utmost to destroy the valuable forests." 

Under a system of forest management which, borrowing a term employed 
in works on forest science in France, I may call primitive Jardiruige, the 
forests in the colony have been long gradusdly disappearing. The system 
followed was to cut down trees such as may be required, leaving others 
standing, but doing nothing to promote their growth or to replace those 
which are removed. 

I have before me a chart of the forests of the Tzizi Kamma. From 
information supplied to me by Captain Harrison, the Conservator of forests 
in the district, I have gathered the following particulars, which I give, as 
illustrative of what I may call the first stage of the work of destruction 
imder the treatment which I have called primitive jardinage. 

On the west bank of Storm River, there is^-or was at that time — ^a piece 
of what may be described as virgin forest, in which operations were begun 
about ten years ago. On the east bank of that river is a patch of scrub 
destitute of timber. 

Below this is a large piece of ground in two divisions, which is mostly 
private property, and in which the Crown property had been denuded of 
timber previous to Captain Harrison entering on his duties as Conservator 
of forests in the district. 

Continuous with this, and at the mouth of the river, is a patch in which 
wood-cutting has been actively carried on for years, and in which timber is 
consequently becoming scarcer, but Wagon-wood is still plentiful. 

A little to the east of this is a patch which still contains some very large 
Yellow-wood trees ; and half-way between this and the mouth of the Faure 
Biver, which is still further to the east, is a large patch from which an 
immense quantity of timber has been cut out of late years, and in which 
the work is now going on daily. 

In the upper district of the Faure River, skirting its east bank, is a patch, 
the timber of which has been nearly exhausted, but in which there are an 
immense number of young trees. And half-way towards its mouth is a 
patch which has been nearly destroyed by fire. It is a patch of Kuerboom 
-— Fir^tWia capenm; and there is valuable timber in it. 

A small patch skirted by the Kruis River on the east, has a few TeUow- 
Woods close to iho river; but the other timber has been cut out. 



C$E00in>AHY OAUiB OF DESICCIATIOET, 



173 



B To the north of tbia, near the source of a tributarj of the Kruis Kiver, h 
a larger patch, from which the timber has been cut outj but in which a few 
^voiang trees are growiug up, 

K Below the coniuence of this tributiuy of the Kniia River, traversed by 
Pwiother shorter tributary stream, is a patch m whit:h Stink-wood is becoming 
scarce, but in which Yellow- wood and Wagon- wood are plentiful. 

Continuous with tliis, lying in the fork formed by the confluence of the 
Kruia and Eland's River, is a patch which was formerly private property, 
but which is uow the propeily of the Crown, and which contains valuable 
timber at its lower extremity. Near the confluence of the rivers continuoufl 
Vith thia^ but oo the eaBtem bank of the Eland^s River, and extending 
towards its source, is a patch of valuable timber of all kinds, but the trees 
are growing in deep kloofs. Below this, and continuous with it to the 
banks of the Stink wood River, and the confluence of this and the Eland's 
River, is a lai'ge portiou of the same patch, containing valuable timber of 
all sorts, of more easy access. And continuous with this, on the eastern 
bank of the Stinkwood River, is Robbe Hoek, in which is sound, valuable 
timber J but it is difiicnlt of access, in consequence of its growing in deep 
kloofs. In this patch Wagon-wood is plentiful. 

Above this are three small patches in which no valuable timber has been 
left uncut, but in which a few young trees are growing up. Still higher, 
skirted on the east by the Witte-els River, and traversed in part by the 
upper bed of the Stinkwood River, is the Witte-els Bush, near to which is 
the residence of the conservator. It abounds in W^itte-els and contains 
good Wagon-wood, but the Stink- wood and Yellow-woods have been nearly 
cut out. 
k On the south or seaward side of the Eerste River, where it follows a 

■ courae parallel with the Eland, is a large portion of an extensive patch 
W traversed by that river, in w^luch there is plenty of Wagon-wood and some 

very large YeUow-wood trees, but little Stink-wood has been left in it. 
^ On the north bank of this river and on the same side of the river, where 

■ it takes a southerly course, are three patches, from which all old timber 
W bas been cut, escepting such as is not generally used, and these patches 

are now closed to allow young timber to grow, 

Such is the first stage of the work of destruction under the treatment 
which I have designate primitive jardinage, here arrested, it is to be 
hoped, by the judicious measures adopted by Captain Harrison. But the 
progress of the work can bo traced a little fiirther in an adjoining district 
in regard to one Crown forest, in which the forest warder wrote to me some 
time since : " I would soggest that Government should, without delay, get 

this portion surveyed, as and are appropriating the forest 1 

to themselves. No licences are exhibited, and to my knowledge, aa much 1 
afi £750 worth of timber has been removed within the last ten years, while 
for the cutting of timber out of the said forest I have only issued two 
licences [each for the removal of a single load.] The same amount of value 
in timber has been destroyed, through the reckleaa behaviour of these 
individuiils, and those in their employment, igniting the grass, which haa 
caused fearfid destruction. There are a few other small patches and stripes 
of bush ; but comparatively speaking, they are nothings only adapted for 
fuel ; most of the valuable timber has been removed, and by fire greatly 
i destroyed. The great evils arc men cutting without licences, and grass fireeu 
H ** To my knowledge, there is on an average 40 loads Qf/uel^ poUs^ and ^par9 



174 BTDROLOOT OP 80ITTH AlBKUL 

remoyed weekly to Port Elizabeth from the forests between the Gamptoos 
and the Van Staden Rivers, for cutting timber in which I have never issued 
one licence for the benefit of Government. I feel convinced that it all 
comes from the Crown forest ; but as it is a case of disputed boundary and 
licences, I am not empowered to move in the matter. Kthis state of things 
continues much longer, the whole of the forest will be eradicated and 
destroyed." 

Such an issue as is thus indicated may be considered the second stage of 
the destruction of forests under primitive jardinage, the conversion of 
forests into hush. In Krakakamma, between the Zitzikamma and Port 
Elizabeth, there is a good deal of arborescent vegetation, but it can scarcely 
be reckoned forest ; the same may be said of the Kadouw Bush, between 
Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown ; and such, I am informed, is the present 
condition of what within the last thirty years was an extensive forest in the 
valley of the Kowie, in the neighbourhood of Bathurst : the old timber 
having been destroyed, but not replaced, the forest character has been lost. 

But this second stage of the progress of the work of destruction is not 
unfrequently succeeded by a third, in which even the arborescent bush may 
disappear. From more than one of my correspondents I have heard of the 
mountainous country around Somerset having abounded in forest trees of 
various kinds — ^Yellow- wood (Podocarpus), Iron-wood (Olea), Assegai-wood 
(Curtisia), but of these fast disappearing. Mr Leonard, of Somerset, in 
reply to a query issued from the Colonial Office in 1864, having remarked 
that the Yellow-wood tree forms a much less conspicuous element in the 
scenery than his memory pictured it doing some four-and-twenty years 
before, goes on to say, — " Of other forest trees there used to be an abundant 
supply in the forest that skirts our mountain here, but the large demand 
that rules in an age of bullock waggons for disselbooms and other waggon 
wood, is sure to clear out any but an inexhaustible supply of Assegai and 
Iron-wood trees, while the durability possessed by the olive post soon 
marked it out for the woodman's axe, in procuring timber for the ever 
memorable Hartebest house of the first pioneers; and subsequently the 
same durability in the nature of the wood caused the continuous destruc- 
tion of the tree for fencing stakes, when advancing civilization demanded 
and gave- way to buildings of brick and stone. 

" Yellow-wood trees of any size, as well as Assegai, Olive, and Iron-wood 
trees are now becoming so scarce here that we may easily predict the 
speedy extirpation of them from amongst our natural productions; and, 
unless human care and culture produce specimens, when those of the kloof 
and the rivulet have disappeared, the next generation will have to refer to 
some botanical collection to see what they are like." 

About the same time the late Rev. J. W. Pears, the minister of the Dutch 
Reformed Church at Somerset, previously professor in the South African 
College, Capetown, writing to myself on another subject, says : — " When I 
came to the frontier 38 years ago, there was grass everywhere in abundance, 
in the plains sweet, and in the mountains sour ; and this, sometimes five cft 
six feet high ; now none, excepting near rivers or on the tops of mountains, 
is to be found. Formerly, also, the mountains were unoccupied, as no one 
ehose to pay for them; the herbage was abundant; and the moisture was. 
long detained, so that all the little streams continued to flow through the 
whole year. Now these mountains are all occupied, and generally burned 
MUHially, ttid the conseqiieiiee » that the water has fSuled. Fo? ixurtanoe, 



BEOOHDABT OAUBS OF DE8I00ATION. 175 

the moqntam behind my house, which rises to the height of 1,756 feet, was 
oovered with high grass and thousands of beautiful bulbous flowering plants 
and shrubs, and its whole face and offshoots adorned with Yellow-wood or 
other valuable trees ; now these are all gone ; not a Yellow-wood or other 
tree worth anything left, and only a useless growth of bushes occupy their 
place, and the consequence is that a stream that supplied my garden and 
acme others, runs now only after rain. The whole face of the mountain, if 
planted wiUi oaks, firs, and other useful timbers, might not only be 
valuable, but again it might protect the water. But almost every year, by 
the idle and reckless, the mountain is fired, and all is destroyed. It is now 
burning fiercely. In the kloofs there still stands the charred stumps of 
large Yellow-wood trees." 

Such appear to be the only remains of the forests once flourishing in the 
neighbourhood of Somerset. 

This may be considered as a third stage of the destruction of forests — 
the final — ^in which they entirely disappear. And to this those spoken of 
as being destroyed in the vicinity of the Gamptoos River are likely soon to 
come. I am iiiformed that " the whole of the Crown Forest Reserve and 
vacant land in the ward of Van Staden's River, which comprises also the 
Field Cometzy and ward of Eland's River, is to be disposed of on a twenty- 
one years' lease ; other portions, not of great extent and value, are to be 
annexed to the properties adjoining them ; and the office of Forest Ranger 
is to be abolished." 

I have said that I have seen in the colony mountain-sides now naked and 
bare, which some years ago were covered with trees, which have been 
destroyed by firej and that what I have stated has been confirmed by 
many of my correspondents. 

The Honourable Mr Barrington, of Portland, New Belvidere, on the 
Knysna, besides confirming what I have stated in regard to encroachments 
having been made on the forests, wrote that what I had seen of mountain 
aides entirely stript of trees with which they were covered a few years 
before, \ might also have seen in the neighbouring district of George. 
Another of my correspondents in the same district, writing to me of the 
destructing of the forest, says, — " One way in which the forests are greatly 
encroached upon and damaged is by burning them, which in spite of the 
Forest and Herbage Act cannot be prevented. Large tracts of land are for 
a time left untilled, imtil in the course of a few years quantities of rank 
grass, herbage, and underwood, have grown up in thick masses and partially 
decayed ; then in a dry season, and generally when a northerly wind, or as 
it is here CHUed a berg wind, is blowing, it gets ignited, and it sweeps off 
thousands of acres, including large patches of forest which otherwise would 
not have burned." 

About the same time the late Mr Pullen, Ranger of the Crown Forests at Van 
Staden's River, wrote to me, — " There are many who burn the pasturage at 
an untimely season, for example, in the month of January when the bush 
leaves are dry ; at such a time the least spark sets the forest in flames, and 
the veldt is adjacent to the bush leaves. A vagrant, it may be, in quest of 
game, or of honey, to clear a passage through the thick-set grass and dense 
bush makes use of his tinder-box ; the result may be anticipated ; the fire 
spreads and cannot be subdued and extinguished ; consequently great tracts 
of forests are destroyed. The intense heat proves also pernicious to the 



176 HYDBOLOOT OF SOUTH ATBIOA. 

tender plants at a distance where the fire never arriyes ; and^ moreover, the 
bush-worker's oxen suffer materially thereby, and frequently die from the 
poisonous herbage which makes its appearance subsequent to the burning 
of the grass country. 

"I attribute the calamitous drought that has been our visitation of recent 
years in a great measure to our unfenced forests being so denuded, for it is 
a notorious fact that the forests attract rain, and I am justified in afi&rming 
that there is not so much wood felled in ten years as I have seen destroyed 
and scorched in ten minutes by one single fire. I have had ocular demon- 
stration of the facts, so I do not go by information, but by what I have 
experienced of that which is to me an eye-sore." 

Within little more than a year after Mr Pullen had written this, viz., on 
December 13, 1865, a terrific fire in the forests of that district gave sad 
illustration of the fact that such forests are thus destroyed. Of the effects 
of this fire seen at a distance of upwards of one hundred miles the Samersei 
Courant gives the following account : — " On Wednesday evening last week 
a vast column of smoke was seen approaching Bedford from the south-west, 
and it was supposed that the grass was extensively on fire in the neighbour- 
hood. The smoke was first blown towards the 'Schiet Rug,' between 
Bedford and Adelaide, and by a shift of the wind was brought up along the 
Hoggberg Range, and enveloped the mountain, over which it appeared to 
disperse. Inquiries were made next day, and each succeeding day, as to 
the origin of this extraordinary volume of smoke, which extended some 
seven or eight miles at least. As travellers came in, it was successively 
ascertained that it came in the same extraordinay manner, from a greater 
and greater distance — from Fish River — from Zuurberg, «fec. Travellers 
affirmed that they had been nearly suffocated by it on the top of the moun- 
tain, and that it must have come from the Port Elizabeth side of the range. 
From the Great Eastern received this morning in Bedford, the origin of the 
smoke is found to have been the burning of some fifteen miles of forest at 
the Van Staden's River, beyond Port Elizabeth, on the Cape Town road ; so 
that this extraordinary volume of smoke travelled in a compact mass for a 
distance of some one hundred and twenty miles, crossing the Great Zuurberg, 
range, and it is said to have passed over the Hoggberg, and to have travers^ 
* Daggaboer's Neck,' into the division of Cradock. News has come in that 
the smoke extended to the town of Adelaide, twelve miles distant from 
Bedford, and that the people of Adelaide were considerably alarmed at the 
sudden envelopment of their town in a dense cloud of smoke." 

Mr Pullen, after making an official inspection of the scene of the fire, 
wrote of it : — " It was awful. I never could have thought that a forest 
would have burned so ; it is one mass of fire. The fine view formerly to be 
obtained on coming down the Van Staden's River, is now among the things 
of the past. Not a green leaf is to be seen, and the whole of the trees are 
burned down. I counted no less than thirty bush-bucks roasted to death 
yesterday, and the quantity of game destroyed must be very considerable. 
I made an attempt to enter the forest, but the intense heat drove me back. 
The bridges are all burnt, and the waggons cannot pass with safety. I had 
to go round a long way to reach the regular road. The rocks on the other 
side of the river are quite bare, and the numbers of baboons and monkeys 
that must have perished, almost incredible. Van Halen's place had a very 
narrow escape, and the orange and fruit trees are entirely destroyed." 

The following account was sent to one of the provincid newspapers from 



SECONDARY CAUSE OF DESICCATION. 177 

a station in the district, occupied at tlie time in conuectiou wiili tlie execu- 
tion of a trigonometrical survey of the Colony. After stating that " the 
havoc and devastation to the forest, and pasturage, &c., &c., are indescrib- 
able, and that the thermometer showed in the shade at 11 a.m. 110°," the 
writer proceeds : — " It will be a long time ere this part of the country regains 
its primitive state. Since the farms were granted in 1815, such a fire has 
not been known of, or witnessed by the eldest surviving residents of this 
part. For miles the country is denuded of copse and forest, even the rushes 
about the rivulets, vleys, and rivers are seared and scorched, the timely 
bums of August and September of the present year have been reburnt, and 
parched up, umbrageous trees are prostrated athwart the main roads, inter- 
cepting the traffic, the two main culverts of the Van Staden's Pass have 
feilen through, and the road could not be traversed for three days until 
temporary repairs took place. The fire ignited Mrs Cadle's stable by a 
spark, distant, as the crow flies, exactly a league, so you can imagine the 
ravages and scourge that have been inflicted on property. Pullen's farm, 
* Augusta Park,' was in jeopardy, as the fences of Harrison, a lessee on the 
place, were fired from the flames of the adjacent farms, at a distance of 
exactly four miles. The sublime and picturesque scenery of the Van Staden's 
is absolutely destroyed, and bears an aspect changed from verdancy to 
opaqueness ; roasted venison could be discovered everywhere ; what have 
been found by the natives and Europeans exceeds 120 ; feathered game has 
been destroyed in great quantities, also vermin, and the whole landed property 
in this ward which has had the frightful visitation has deteriorated in 
value by the late fire. The ranger of this ward, Mr Pullen, puts down the 
destruction to Crown Reserve as at least £600 ; of private property on each 
&nn as half of that value. The farm * Kafir's Kraal,' advertised for sale in 
your advertisement columns, has been greatly injured, and the fences of the 
lands burnt, and the private groups of valuable bushes on the farm destroyed, 
orchard burnt, greater part of the orange grove is destroyed, and the leaves 
86ared, and a great deal of mischief has been done by the late fire. It is 
to be hoped for the future more precautionary measures well be resorted to." 
Captain Harrison, Conservator of Crown Forests in the district, estimated 
tbe value of the ward destroyed much lower, but this does not disprove 
^bat is said of the extent of the conflagration. 

I made inquiry into the origin of the fire, and was informed by Captain 

Harrison that, — " Some four natives kindled a fire on the pasture-lands of 

Galger Bosche ; the fire ignited the bush, and spread first into the private 

forests, and subsequently into the Crown Reserve. About a league of 

government forest has been destroyed, but of this great portions consisted of 

copse and underwood. There was not so much of umbrageous forest timber 

destroyed. I attribute the destruction of the forest in a great measure to 

the boundary of the government property not being properly defined, and 

no beacon being erected. There are a number of squatters on government 

lands bordering on the government reserve, being tenants of farmers w^hose 

lan^s are adjacent. These individuals, induced by the fertility of the soil, 

lay claim to the arable land on the precincts of the forest ; the roots, 

stumps, and trees dug out are piled along the outskirts of the forest ; and 

when such fires occur, on reaching this rubbish it finds fuel to strengthen 

it, and its fury is increased." 

About the same time Captain Harrison had occasion to report a fire in 

Y 



178 HYDROLOGY OP SOUTH AFRICA. 

the forest at the Zitzikamma scarcely less destructive. The following is his 
report : — " It is with regret that I have to report the occurrence of two fires 
in the forests, — one at Van Staden's River, the other in the Zitzikamma. 
I have carefully inspected the damage done at Van Staden's River, and it 
is with considerable satisfaction that I can state that the number of timber 
trees destroyed does not exceed twenty, and of these only five were sound. 
The bush destroyed was a scrub bush, mostly private property, containing 
spars and poles, with here and there an old yellow-wood tree, spared by the 
woodcutters on account of decay. The Crown forest lies at the back, 
towards the sea, and this has suffered but little. The fire in the Zitzikamma 
is a far more serious matter, and the damage done truly deplorable. What 
little work is going on I have confined as much as possible to the burnt 
forest, that the damaged timber may be worked up before it splits and 
becomes useless ; and I hope to save much of it from waste. This part of the 
forest had been closed for some years, to allow the young trees to grow up, 
and its destruction is a serious public loss. No human power could save 
the forest when once the fire caught the dense, dry, bushy veld of seven 
years' growth and ten feet in height by which the forests are surrounded. 
Science is opposed to veld fires, and justly so, if the practice could be 
suppressed ; but so long as our neighbours bum, we must, in self-defence, 
burn too, or the forests are destroyed by the very means we take to pre- 
serve them. Ten years' experience has enabled me to try both systems, 
burning and non-burning. On my first arrival here the veld was regularly 
burnt in winter, without any damage to the forests, but ensuring their 
protection against accidental fires. Science then said I was wrong, and 
burning was prohibited. The result is the late disastrous fire. Had the 
veld been kept burnt, such a fire could not have occurred, or, at all events, 
it might have been extinguished. Could any other means of protection be 
suggested, I would readily adopt it ; but the soil here is too stony and full of 
stumps to admit of ploughing round the forests. This calamity was caused 
by an old Hottentot herd, who lit a fire near the sea, on ground belonging 
to his employet^, which, from the excessively dry state of the country at the 
time, and very high winds, was driven into the forest. The fire was not 
confined to Government property ; damage, estimated at £300, was done to 
the private forest at Oude Bosch." 

A still more extensive fire, or rather a number of fires, originating in 
different centres, and spreading each in its own localitv, occurred on the 9th 
of February 1869, when " a tract of country 400 miles long, and varying 
in breadth from 15 to 150 miles, was desolated by a fire unparalleled in the 
annals of the colony. The weather had been unusually hot and dry for the 
previous six weeks. On the 9th February the temperature throughout the 
colony rose to more intense heat than any previously known. During the 
morning scorching hot winds blew from the NE., and in the afternoon a fire 
broke out at several places in the burned district, and wrapped millions of acres 
in an enormous conflagration. The cultivated land, farm buildings, native 
forest and bush, farm stock, and wild animals, shared the same fate. In a few 
hours hundreds of pounds worth of property was destroyed. The European 
colonists and natives alike suffered, and in the majority of cases the sufferers 
lost all they possessed. Several persons were burned to death. The 
casualties, in the majority of cases, occurred to the natives, and to the 
wives and children of the colonists. Those savid had to take shelter is 



SECOND ART CAUSE OP DESICCATION. 179 

the riTera, water dams, and wet ditches, where many of them were badly 
scorched. The calamity occurred just after the harvest — an unusually good 
one — and destroying its produce. This caused great distress in the district 
of Swellendam, Riversdale, Mossel Bay, George, and Oudtzboom, the 
Eingsna, Himiansdorf, and Uitenhage." 

Numerous accounts of the ravages, which appeared in the local journals, 
were sent to me. I may cite some of the more important of these, and in 
doing so I shall as much as possible avoid unnecessary repetition. A cor- 
respondent of the Cape Argus, writing from Humansdorp on the 10th ult., 
says, — " A calamity of unprecedented severity yesterday befell this district. 
A bush fire of such dimensions broke out in various places as to find no 
parallel in the recollection of the oldest residents. The result has been a 
lai^e loss of life and property, many of the sufferers being left houseless and 
penniless. The morning of the 9th was very sultry, with the wind from the 
north — an indication which here always means something little short of a 
sirocco. The thermometer in the shade showed, at 8 a.m., a temperature 
of 93° ; at 9 a.m., 101° ; and at 2 p.m., 113°. The weather for some time 
before had been, very dry, and the Veldt quite parched. Early in the 
afternoon a dense mass of smoke was seen in the western part of the Zitzi- 
kamma district, probably near Clarkson, but no danger was then apprehended. 
About 3 P.M., however, the wind chopped round to the southwest, blowing 
a perfect hurricane of dust and smoke, which completely enveloped the 
viUage. The imminence of the danger became painfully apparent as dusk 
came on. The church-bell was rung, and the villagers put on the alert. As 
seen from the village, the whole Zitzikamma, right away to Cape St 
Francis, seemed to be one intermittent blaze, whilst the hills to the north 
were also bathed in flame. It is impossible to give a strictly accurate 
account of the loss of life and property sustained, as full reports have not 
yet come in ; but there can be little doubt that about twenty homesteads 
have been burned to the ground, including that of Mr W. S. G. Meteler- 
kamp, of Zuurbron, that six Fingo children have been burned to death at 
the same place, twelve Fingoes in the Zitzikamma district, two coloured 
females on their way to Hankey, and a farmer's wife and servant somewhere 
in the same direction. One of the farm-houses destroyed is but one and a 
half mile to the south of the village, and another two miles to the north, so 
we have miraculously escaped this sad visitation. Much alarm was^felt 
this morning, as the Veldt and bush were burning extensively about a mile 
off, when, fortunately, the wind veered to the south, and then to the south- 
east, bringing, as usual, a soaking rain, which lasted all forenoon." 

A correspondent, writing from George, says, — " We have just received 
intelligence that the bush fires which have been raging here and elsewhere 
for the last month have found their way to the magnificent farms of Forest 
Hall, belonging to the Hon. Harrington, of Knysna ; Restford, belonging to 
B. H. Darnell, Esq. ; and Eastford, lately purchased by the British, all of 
which, it is reported, are completely destroyed, and the houses, etc., burned 
to the groimd. Several other large farms, Barnard's, Gerber's, etc., between 
this and Knysna, are completely destroyed, the people saving their lives hj 
rushing into the river, up to the banks of which the fire reached. One very 
rich old farmer (H. Barnard) had only time to drag his box, with some 
thousands of sovereigns, etc., in it, to the river, and throwing himself and 
box into the river, stood up to his chest in water for an hour or more, 
barely escaping being burned to death by the long rushes, etc., growing on 



180 HTDBOLOOT OT SOFTH AVBIOA. 

f 

the water's edge, and which the fire completely destroyed. Mr Darnell is 
a heavy loser (if report speaks true), thirty head of his valuable cattle being 
burned to death ; and ko we hear disastrous effects of the fire daily. The 
Georpe and Knysna forests are very extensive — hundreds of miles in extent 
— and hoaven knows where the fire will end." 

The lollowin<r letter from Mr B. H. Darnell, of the Knysna, presents a 
sad picture of tie ravages of the fire in the neighbourhood of his house : — 

" Ash-Wednfsday, 1869. — My dear , There will doubtless be a long 

catalogue of disasters by veld-fires to be chronicled in newspapers about 
this time ; but as none of them can be more complete than that which has 
befallen myself and my nearest neighbours, I must give you a hurried 
account of it. The weather has been unusually hot and dry here for the 
last six weeks, but yesterday was such a day as will never be forgotten by 
those who went through it. On rising early in the morning I found the 
herg-tcind, the sirocco of South Africa, blowing steadily from the north, the 
.thermometer reaching one hundred degrees before eight o'clock. This wind, 
hateful to man and beast, fortimately rarely blows in the summer, and still 
more rarely for more than a day at a time, and is almost invariably followed 
by rain. Little did we dream of what was about to happen, when about nine 
o'clock in the morning we perceived there was a great fire raging on the 
flats above us, but a little to the leeward of us. Some wood-cutter on the 
way to his work, crossing the river higher up, probably knocked out the 
ashes of his pipe upon the grass. The gi-ass was dry in the fields enclosed 
round about the house with ditch and mound ; but I had made everything so 
secure outside by timely burning that danger from an ordinary fire was not 
to be thoujrht of. My house was situated on an elevation near the head of 
a small valley, widening into the large valley of the Knysna River, and just 
opposite to its gorge, where, leaving the mountains and krantzes behind, it 
ceases to be a mountain stream, and pursues a more peaceful but not less 
romantic course to the ocean as a tidal river. No situation could be more 
beautiful, as those can testify who have ever looked down upon this valley 
from the neighbouring hills. As the morning advanced, denser and denser 
grew the smoke, and brighter the glare of the fire, whilst the thermometer 
rose higher every minute. The wind, too, increased rapidly in violence. 
Still I would believe nothing. I sat quietly teaching my children, and 
listening to occasional reports of the progress of the fire from my wife, to 
which I paid the usual amount of attention, until the washerman rushed 
up from the river and declared that the fire was coming down both sides of 
it upon us. Such a catastrophe was never heard of. A decent and well- 
intentioned fire makes a great splutter in the open veld, but stops respect- 
fully at the edge of the forest, without doing too much damage. But I then 
went out. At first there was nothing to be seen but thick smoke, and 
nothing to be heard but the raging and roaring of the wind and fire. But 
presently above the smoke I saw the liquid fire pouring over the great 
wooded krantzes, and below it, in the fields, a great stream of fire surging 
along in the dry grass with inconceivable rapidity. Then I knew it was all 
up with Westford, Knysna, and rushing into my house, got out my house- 
hold, who stood ready, and directed my wife, who alone retained any 
presence of mind, to fly with them through the garden and down to the dmi. 
Had it not been for her courage and endurance I should never have got 
them to a place of safety. It is not an enviable billet at any time to be the 
sole guardiaa of thirteen women and children ; but to conduct them, wholly 



•BOONDABT OAUSB OF DESIOOATION. 181 

distracted, and all pulling different ways, over a burning waste for nearly a 
mile, with the thermometer approaching boiling point, is an experience of 
Responsible Grovemment such as I trust no colony may ever be called upon 
to pass through. I tarried a minute behind, but it was almost a minute too 
long. Instantaneously the whole of the buildings on the place were in a 
blaze, and at the same moment fire appeared all round, as well as above and 
below us. It was not merely sparks or flakes of fire that were flying so 
quickly, but firebrands. The Last Day itself can hardly present accessories 
more dreadful. We were literally at the mouth of a blow-pipe, as those 
who know the position will understand, and the danger rapidly decreased 
as we got away from it. We had hardly got through the garden and into 
the road, when the fire was half-way down, rampaging amongst the pumpkins 
and the fruit-trees. The fiery wind was so violent that it was only by 
making all cling together that they could be got along at all. Half their 
clothing blown away. But it would take too long to tell how it took us 
nearly two hours to get to the only house left by a miracle on the place. • 
Inside it was a fire, which we did not want, and that we soon put out, 
but we found a bucket of water, which we did want. The inhabitants had 
taken refuge on the pontoon upon the river. Soon after we reached the 
house the wind changed suddenly to the westward, and there was an end 
to the hurricane of fire that we had gone through. 

" Since writing the above I have visited the scene of this unparalleled 
disaster. No destniction can be more complete, nor can it be imagined 
without being seen. It was not such a fire as steals, in the middle of the 
night, upon a house surrounded by trees, and after blazing and crackling 
away for a few hours, lets the morning sun find out the ruin through the 
thick green leaves glittering with dew. This was a clean sweep of every- 
thing — houses, trees, gardens, orchards, forest, all gone — the labour and the 
pleasure of sixteen years swept away in a few minutes. Not a green thing 
in sight, except some rushes in the dam. Not a thing which the fire docs 
not seem to have passed over or through except an old spade and a couple 
of white field gates in situ. All the rest black, dust and ashes — dust and 
ashes ! Not only the natural beauties of the place, and they were great, 
have disappeared, but its very features seem to be changed. One might 
as well be on the barest Karroo place as on the banks of the Knysna. 
What will become of the pic-nickers I cannot imagine. The grass will grow 
again, and the whole farm will soon be one sheet of emerald green, and for 
grazing purposes will be as good or better than ever, but all that gave it 
value in my eyes is gone. Nature neither can nor will she restore the gi-and 
old trees, the pride of the forest, not a few of them thirty feet in circum- 
ference, that stood on the great haugh on the side of the river opposite the 
house. I took a walk along the river bank. Plenty of bush-bucks roasted 
alive, and I daresay an elephant or two, but not a sign of life, etcept an 
old baboon crooning over the desolation, and not another sound except the 
crashing of the mighty trees as they fell hissing into the water ; and I 
turned away with a heavy heart, probably for the last time, from the 
blighted and blasted scene. 

" But I cannot say that I felt the full extent of my loss until I had been 
to Bee my neighbours' places. I have lost everything I prized in the shape 
of books, furniture, plate, pictures, and the many memorials of a whole life- 
time, which insurances can never replace ; but there are many people who 
baye lost their all, and there is at this moment a great fire blazing cheerfully 



182 HTDROLOOT OT SOUTH AFBI04. 

westward of the Knysna (which itself escaped by a miracle) towards Geoi^, 
and eastwards towards the Zitzikamma, which will furnish in due time 
many a tale of destruction and woe. Some other pen than mine must 
chronicle them. I can only concern myself at present with the fire which 
scathed me and burnt up my poor cows and calves, fowls, pigeons, and dogs, 
and which seems to have destroyed some half-a-dozen places. At Portland, 
Mr Barrington's place, there has been, I am sorry to say, a much greater 
destruction of accumulated property, and of the results of labour, than at 
Westford ; but the damage done to the farm is not so considerable. At 
Barnard's, Buffels Vermaak, the farm-house is burnt down, and some of the 
money melted which they wisely kept in their own chests instead of trusting 
it to the coffers of the George Bank. Their silver spoons and forks are 
also melted down ; but the loss these good people seem to feel most is that 
of their feather-beds ! They are my two nearest neighbours, and I don't 
know or care much about the others. But I should not conclude this 
letter, which I feel is too much about myself and my own troubles, without- 
expressing my gratitude for much practical kindness and sympathy from 
many persons in the Knysna from whom I had no particular reason to 
expect much consideration." 

On the same day similarly destructive fires raged in the districts of 
Uitenhage and of Humansdorp, which are thus detailed in the Eastern 
Province Herald : — " It is our painful duty to have to record a catastrophe as 
appalling in its effects as it was unexpected. For the last three or four 
days an immense tract of country has been on fire — bush and veld being 
ablaze — the flames advancing rapidly, and destroying homesteads, crops, 
live stock, and, alas ! several human beings. It is difficult to ascertain with 
correctness the particulars of such a wide-spread calamity, but, so far as we 
have been able to gather them, we publish the facts below. We have been 
careful not to exaggerate, and we have reason to fear that when the truth 
is fully known it will exceed»what we have as yet been able to ascertain. 
The first intelligence came to hand on Wednesday last — the day after 
Tuesday, when the heat was so temfic — and we then learnt that the country 
in the vicinity of Van Staden's River had been devastated by fire. It is 
said by some that this fire originated at Captain Mallors's farm by burning 
weeds, but from others we hear that several parts of the country m that 
district were on fire simultaneously. Captain Mallors's homestead was 
totally destroyed, and the flames travelled onwards to Betshanger, the farm 
of Captain Boys. Despite every effort to avert the catastrophe, the thatched 
roof caught fire, and in a few minutes the house ard all its contents were 
destroyed. Upwards of two hundred sheep were also destroyed, and the 
remainder of the flock scorched and charred in a dreadful manner. Captain 
Boys and his family have taken refuge in a small cottage on the homestead, 
which escaped the fire, but have literally lost all they possessed. It is said 
the house was insured for £1000, but this will not cover the loss, and the 
movable property was not insured. Mr Christian Heugh had a narrow 
escape. He has lost his stacks of grain, but the dwelling-house^was saved. 
Captain Boys's sons came to his assistance, and they fortunately succeeded 
in saving the premises. The verandah was burnt and charred at the end, 
and all the kraals are destroyed. The grass burnt up to the very door. 
We publish below an extract from a private letter received by a friend 
yesterday, detailing some of the particulars of this fearful time. Further 
on other homesteads were destroyed. Mr Marthinus Mienaar's house, at 



SECONDARY CAUSE OP DESICCATION. 183 

Sandfontein, is burnt down, and, sad to relate, on this place there was loss 
of life. Mrs Mienaar, with a child and native servant, took refuge in a 
ploughed field ; but the servant and child were caught by the flames and 
burnt. Close by are the remains of a Hottentot woman and two children, 
also destroyed ; so that on this homestead are five victims to the fury of the 
raging fire. A Mr Faver, in the same part of the country, had a water- 
mill, and went to look after it, and has not been heard of since. The mill 
was destroyed, and it is feared that he too has perished. Mr George Smith, 
of Nockton Park, and Mr Parkins, had a narrow escape. A waggon, with a 
load of goods sent from Port Elizabeth by Messrs A. C. Stewart & Co., a 
few days ago, has been burnt. — From the division of Humansdorp more 
disastrous tidings still have reached us. Zuurbron, the property of Mr 
Metelerkamp, has been totally destroyed, and everything lost. Ten or 
twelve homesteads besides have been destroyed, but it will be some days 
yet before we can learn the pa,rticulars. It would appear from the intelli- 
gence received that the destruction of property in the division of Humandorp 
has been much greater than along Van Staden's River, and we anxiously 
wait for further particulars. At this moment we have received a telegram 
from our correspondent at Humansdorp, who says that twenty homesteads 
have been burnt down, and twenty-six Fingo huts, and twenty-one lives have 
been lost. The damage is estimated at <£25,000 ! Further particulars are 
promised us by post. This is, without doubt, the most serious calamity 
that has ever befallen the colony. We have had nothing like it before. 
Its very novelty is startling. We have had to mourn over losses by flood, 
by locusts, by drought, and by Kafir war, but, except in a minor degree, we 
have been preserved from the devastating effects of fire. Happening at a 
timie when the crops had been gathered in, and the stacks, as was thought, 
safely secured, it was doubly felt. 

" The following is an extract from a letter to a friend in this town, who 
has kindly permitted us to publish it. The writer is a lady, who herself 
witnessed the terrific scene described, and who narrowly escaped with her 
precious charge : — 

"*The 10th day of February 1869. — After our merciful deliverance 
from a frightful death, I now sit down to write a few of the events. The 
day commenced very hot, and the heat increased towards the middle of ^ it 
to a frightful degree ; when we perceived a thick smoke approaching, with 
the wind, which commenced to rise. It grew more dense, and, as I had 
two children in my charge, I began to fear, and, hastily wrapping a blanket 
or kaross round each (four altogether, with my own), I started for my 
nearest neighbour's — Capt. Boys* ; my husband and men-servants mean- 
while starting for the stacks, which were composed of our corn and all our 
grain, as well as Capt. Boys'. That was all swept away, and my poor 
husband almost consumed beneath its fall. We reached our destination, 
and found our neighbours all alarmed, as the fire was almost all round the 
homestead. Every endeavour was made to save the house, but without 
avail, as the flames swept across the open space and ignited the thatch, 
which was instantaneously in a blaze. I took the children to the river, and 
we all sat in it, covered with blankets, as the cinders and burnt particles 
flew over our heads. I and they commended ourselves to God, but I 
expected every moment would be our last. However, the wind seemed to 
ehange, and we, with all the members of Captain Boys' family, escaped 
unhiirt^ 1^7, poor things, have lost all — ^wearing apparel, bedding, and 



184 HTDROLOOT OF SOUTH AFBICA. 

everything. Were it not for the kindness of the two young Boys, who at 
the commencement came over and beat the flames out which had encircled 
the house already, we should also this night have been liomeless. All the 
clothes my charges had on were consumed. As they were too wet I was 
afraid of them taking cold, and removed them. We carried them home m 
blankets. The Lord, truly, is merciful and of great goodness m thus sparing 
us. I had quite given up all hopes of this life for myself and the poor little 
ones. . . . We have lost our all, and even our poor pigs were burnt to 
death in their styes. Two hundred of Captain Boys' sheep were consumed, 
besides a great many injured. As I now sit writing at nine o'clock p.m., 
the whole country around is smoking and sparkling. Oh ! if it would only 
rain. The poor hares and wild bucks came to the houses for protection 
from the flames. It appears to me as if this day has been months long. 
Our only waggon is also consumed. I pray and wish that I may never 
witness such another day as this. I < certainly thought that the last day 
had arrived. The sun appeared like blood through the dense smoke, and 
the air like fire. We were all perfectly parched, and could hardly speak. 
No one who did not see it could imagine this scene, — ^the fire coming firom 
all directions, and the flames roaring like thunder, and the immense masses 
of black smoke hastening onwards. It was awful ! * " 

Not less graphic is the following account, given in the UUenhage Times : 
— " Last Tuesday, February 9, will long be remembered by those who 
happened to be in Uitenhage on that day as the hottest day within their 
experience ; and their memory will be no less charged with the terrible 
calamities which followed and were augmented, if not actually caused, by 
the intense heat of the atmosphere. 

" There was a dense mist when the morning dawned, but as this wore 
away the heat began to increase. By nine o'clock a.m. a scorching hot 
wind blew from the northeast, and from that time till the afternoon it was 
almost impossible to breathe the heated air out of doors. It was like flame. 
People shut themselves up in their houses and excluded as much heat as 
they could. Our own compositors closed the printing ofi&ce, and even then 
were unable to continue work ; they took refuge from the oppressive atmos- 
phere beneath the cases and benches, and we believe that in almost every 
house everything like work or exercise was suspended. Poultry ran gasping 
about and poked their heads into holes and crevices for relief. 

" Such was the heat in the town. At noon the thermometer stood at 
112 outside, in the shade. About halfpast five p.m., the wind veered 
round, and a regular hurricane blew from the southwest, bringing with it 
clouds of dust and smoke which completely obscured the sun. The ther- 
mometer then stood at 100 in the shade, and in a dining-room which had 
been darkened and shut up all day, at 90. 

" It was evident that the smoke proceeded from a bush fire in the Van 
Staden's neighbourhood, but it was hoped it was only the bush ; although 
for some time the thatched houses of the town were in a jeopardy, for now 
and then sparks were seen to fly overhead, and the thatch, already heated 
nearly up to combustion, would have almost exploded had a spark fallen on 
it, and been fanned by the wind which was then blowing. An * old inhabit- 
ant' did take the precaution to throw water on his thatch ; but fortunately 
no fire took place in the town. Later in the evening the wind subsided 
and a heavy dew fell ; when it got dark the sky over Van Staden's moun- 
tain was lit up with the reflection of the fire which was still raging. 



8B00NDARY CAUSE OP DESICCATION. 186 

'' Learning that the fire had been very destructive in the neighbourhood of 
the Maitland Mines, we started for the locality yesterday, in order to get 
an eye-witness's account for our readers. We had not got far on the Cape 
road before we came upon traces of the fire ; indeed, it is almost a wonder 
that with the wind blowing full -behind it, the fire did not continue its course 
along the dense bush which runs almost down to the river. On the hill behind 
Mimosadale the fire must have raged furiously, and had anyone been travel- 
ling on that road at the time, escape would have been utterly impossible. 

" During Wednesday various reports were current in town, telling of 
farms, stacks, cattle, etc., swept away. Eager as everyone was to believe 
that rumour had as usual exaggerated, when the truth came to be ascer- 
tained it was found that she had erred on the other side, and had under- 
stated the mischief done. 

** The homestead at Mimosadale had a narrow escape. The residents 
were greatly alarmed, and at one time prepared for flight. Fortunately, 
'some 16 or 20 loads of firewood was the extent of Mr Kingwell's loss. 

" We pushed on towards Captain Boys*, having heard that his homestead 
had been destroyed and that the family had fled. On our way there we 
drove over miles of ashes ; both the bush and the grass veldt had yielded 
to the fire. We came upon a few straggling sheep, yet alive, but with their 
wool burnt oflF close to their skins. 

" On reaching the homestead we found that although the family were 
still there, the house and nearly everything in it had been destroyed. 
Notwithstanding the devastation and ruin which overspread the place, we 
could see that a more beautiful site for a homestead could scarcely be found 
in the Colony. It is situated in a sort of horseshoe-shaped kloof or valley, 
nearly surrounded by hills, which were densely wooded before the fire, but 
are now black and bare. The river runs partly round the place at the foot 
of the hill, entering at an opening which faces the sea and admits at the 
same time the bracing sea air. There were two other buildings within 
about fifty yards of Captain Boys' dwelling-house ; and although covered 
with thatch, through almost superhuman efforts on the part of the captain's 
sons, they were saved, and into them the family have retreated for the 
present. The dwelling-house itself seems to have been unusually comfort- 
able and commodious, and was furnished in accordance with refined taste 
and pretty liberal means. There was a good library, paintings — among 
which the old Dutch masters were represented, articles of vertu, family 
reHcs, and other household treasures which acquired an unappreciable 
extrinsic value from associations. These went with the rest ; indeed, young 
Mr Boys' words were when we arrived, * We've lost everything but what we 
stand in.' 

" We will endeavour to give that gentleman's account of the fire. Early 
in the afternoon, while he was copying some music, he saw smoke in the 
direction of Mr C. Heugh's farm ; and believing that place to be in danger 
went to render assistance. He found Mr Heugh vainly endeavouring to 
secure his stacks, but seeing that impracticable, he and Mr Heugh applied 
themselves to beating out the fire round the house. Mrs Heugh and her 
own family, with two little girls, visitors from Port Elizabeth, wrapped 
themselves up in blankets and fled to Captain Boys', miraculously escaping 
snfifocation by the way. When they arrived at the homestead it was already 
on fire. But young Mr Boys, having rendered all assistance he could, was 
alanned about his mother and sisters, who were left at the homestead, and 

z 



188 wnwuxn of bouth apbioa. 

made all haste back; arriving there before Mrs Heugh. The fire had already 
climbed up to the top of the mountain on the opposite side, and was flying 
along the summit. In a few seconds a gust of wind swept the flame down, 
and like a flash of lightning the whole mountain side was on fire. At this 
moment a * spark * or piece of fire shot into the air, and fell upon the thatch 
of the dwelling-house. He gave the alarm, and was instantly on the roof, 
but too late ; the thatch burst into flame all at once. The young ladies, at 
the imminent peril of their lives, endeavoured to save something, and did 
manage to get the piano and one small box away to the other building. 
Several other articles were got out to the front of the house and would have 
been saved, but the grass had already taken fire, and so the devouring 
element communicated to this property, and it was all destroyed. Personal 
safety now became the only consideration ; the valley was heated like an 
oven ; wild bucks from the surrounding bush came and crouched about, 
terror-stricken, and one, half scorched to death, took refuge on the stoop of 
the building. The ladies shut themselves up to exclude the hot air, 
expecting every moment, however, that the roof above them would burst 
into flame. Both Mrs Boys and her four daughters exhibited the most 
remarkable presence of mind, and made preparations, as a last resource, to 
wrap themselves in blankets (the building in which they had taken refuge 
was used for an occasional sleeping apartment) and run into the river. But, 
thanks to Providence and the eflbrts of the young men outside, the fire was 
kept off" the house, although the grass had been burned to within ^e feet 
of it. The fire travelled and did its work so quickly that, like a wave or a 
tempest, it soon swept past and climbed the opposite mountain. At this 
time considerable alarm existed for the safety of Captain Boys, who had 
gone in the morning to meet the gentlemen of the Austrian expedition at a 
neighbouring farm. He was at length seen returning down the hill. The 
first sight that met his eyes was his house a mass of smoking ruins, but the 
joy of the family was unbounded when they saw him approach. 

" We went with young Mr Boys up the mountain to look at the sheep 
which had been burned. It was a sad sight. About forty vultures retreated 
as we approached, and arranged themselves in a line at a short distance, 
eagerly watching the opportunity to return to the feast we had disturbed. 
Here there had been only long grass. This was burned to the roots, and 
between 200 or 300 sheep, all more or less charred, were lying dead — ^the 
ewe and lamb together in some instances, showing how to the last the one 
had clung to the other for protection. In some instances the brains had 
been boiled and seethed out of the head. Had these poor animals gone ten 
yards in the right direction they would have escaped destruction. From 
this hill a view of the surrounding homesteads was obtainable. It is 
remarkable that almost the only patches of green remaining were just round 
the houses. Whether the fire had been arrested there by the occupants, or 
whether grass, so to speak, civilized, is less inflammable, we don't know. 
Whatever the cause, the effect was to save many houses. The stacks at a 
little distance were all destroyed. 

" Captain Boys' loss is not less than £2000, most of which is iminsured. 
Indeed the building only was insured. The valuable furniture, the wearing 
apparel, the crops of produce, the sheep, and the stores of provisions, 
linen, &c., which had just been laid in for the year, are all lost and are all 
uninsured. It is, indeed, a very hard case ; a family living in refinement 
and comfort were in a few minutes rendered homeless and destitute. The 



SECONDABT OAUSB OF DBSIOOATION. 187 

way in which the ladies bear the mififortune is truly wonderfiil. Gratitude 
that the family are all spared to each other seems to be the prevailing 
feeling. We were informed that the KaflBrs on the place could not be 
induced to help to extinguish the fire. 

" Sad as is the above case, we are assured it is not the worst. Every 
hour fresh reports of disasters come in. Last evening young Mr Niekerk, 
from Long Kloof, reached town, having passed through Humansdorp on his 
way. Other messengers have arrived, also a letter from a correspondent at 
Port Elizabeth, where telegrams have been received. All the reports agree 
in the following, and are corroborated by the last arrival, Mr Niekerk. 

" At Zuurbron, the extensive buildings of Mr Metelerkamp have been 
swept away. Meyer's farm, Kromme River, Klipfontein ; Zitzman's ; 
Hendrik Meyer's, Zekoe Eiver ; Rondebosch ; Johnson's farm, Witteklip ; 
Du Plessis' farm, Misgund, — all destroyed. 

"But the worst tragedies have yet to be told. At Suiker Kraal or Vlakte 
Plaats, inhabited by Messrs Gertenbach and Van Onselon, a life was 'lost. 
There Mrs Gertenbach ran out of the burning house with three children 
and was burnt to death; the children escaped. We have not fuller 
particulars. 

" At Mauritz Kraal and Strandfontein, farms occupied by three brothers, 
Minnie, there has been further loss of life. Marthinus Minnie, of Strand- 
fontein, saw the fire in the direction of Mauritz Kraal, and left his house to 
look. Before he got very far he discovered that his own house was in 
greater danger, and returned, but, in the meantime, a dreadful occurrence 
took place. He had left in the house Mrs Minnie, very near confinement, 
two of his own children, and a native servant with her two children. The 
house caught fire and the occupants escaped, — Mrs Minnie with one child, 
all that she could manage, to the mealie field, and the Kaffir woman with 
the other three children down to the river. Mrs Minnie and the one child 
with her escaped ; but the Kaffir woman and the three children perished. 
The other Minnies at Mauritz Kraal packed up their goods in the waggons 
ready for trekking, but while they were gone for the oxen the fire came and 
consumed everything. At Galgebosch they had a very narrow escape, but 
managed to keep the fire away from the homestead. 

" When we left Captain Boys' last evening the fire was ^ill raging in the 
direction of Galgebosch, and we heard that considerable alarm existed all 
over the country yet unvisited. 

" At Prentice Kraal, eight miles the other side of Uitenhage, there was 
also a large fire, so large as to alarm Mr Hartman, the hotel-keeper, and 
make him contemplate flight." 

A Humansdorp correspondent to the Eastern Province Herald furnishes 
the following saddening particulars respecting the destructive fires in that 
division : — " It is with painful feelings that I have to record the lamentable 
events which took place on Tuesday the 9th instant, — a day never to be 
forgotten in the district. The momiug of that day was ushered in with a 
hot northerly breeze, which gradually increased, until (at about eleven 
o'clock A.M.) the atmosphere felt more like a blast from a furnace than any- 
thing else. Fears were now being entertained for the safety of the village 
and surroimding farms, as fires were springing up in various directions, and 
about four p.ji. the wind — which had veered round from N.W. to S.W. — 
increased to a perfect hurricane, which words can but faintly describe, while 
the heat^ dust, and smoke were terrific in the extreme. About six p.m« 



188 HTDBOLOOT Of BOUTB AFBIOA. 

infonnation was received that Mr H. Mejer^s farm-house was burnt to the 
ground, and he himself greatly injured in trying to save his valutfbles. 
Immediately afterwards an express arrived from Zuurbron, the residence of 
W. S. G. Metelerkamp, Esq., with the doleful tidings that the homestead 
was in ashes — only a few books and papers saved — and about eight Fingo 
children burnt to death. On bis way in, the messenger passed WagonePs 
and Voslo's places, all in flames, and the whole country beyond, towards 
the Gamtoo*s River, one mass of fire. 

" Later in the evening, the flames were seen belching forth on each side 
of the village, to the great consternation of the inhabitants, as we every 
moment expected to see fire breaking out in the Dorp — ^the strong wind 
carrying the sparks and stubble hundreds of yards ahead, and hurling 
masses of burning palmiet and grass all over the country. At one point 
the fiery element had advanced to within a mile of the nearest house ; but, 
providentially, its course was changed, and it passed on, leaving us 
imscathed. 

" Next morning, 10th inst., we began to realize the havoc and desolation in 
the neighbourhood, as one messenger after another arrived with sad news, this 
farm was burned, and that, and so on — a list of which I send you herewith. 
The same day a poor young fellow of the name of Kamp was brought into the 
village, fearfully scorched. It appears he was on his way home from a 
* tocht,' with his * little all * — a waggon and foiuteen oxen and a flock of 
sheep — and, when opposite the ' Vlak Plaats * (Gertenbach's) was obliged to 
halt on account of the fearful heat, and a dense volume of smoke and dust. 
A few minutes afterwards, he says, the country on each side was enveloped 
in flames, and he just had time to shelter himself behind an old wall when 
his waggon took fire, and in less time than it takes to tell it, the waggon, oxen, 
and sheep were one smouldering mass. He then went over to Mr Gerten- 
bach's house, which was also blazing away, but could not find a soul. Mrs 
Gertenbach and a servant girl were subsequently found lying about 300 
yards from the house burned to a cinder. It appears the poor creatures fled 
from the house towards Van Onelin's, about a mile further on, but were 
overtaken and destroyed, the husband being away from home at the time. 
From Swarts's place, after destroying everything there, the fire raged on 
towards Jeffrey's Bay, where it caught T. Kemp's house, which (together 
with a buck- waggon load of goods for Mr Steinman, of this place,) were soon 
in ashes. In the Zitzikamma Ward three large homesteads were burnt, 
together with about from 30 to 40 Fingo huts,^ which were standing in 
different parts of the Government grant. At the latter place some eight or 
ten women and children also miserably perished. 

" Words cannot describe the fearful ruin and desolation on every side. 
Hundreds of people who were in comfortable circumstances have been 
reduced to the verge of starvation and nakedness, and are now wandering 
over the blackened ruins of their homes ; and what makes it still worse is, 
that some thousands of muids of grain, besides stock innumerable, have 
been totally destroyed. The country in some parts, for miles and miles 
around, presents a most melancholy and desolate appearance, not a bush 
nor a blade of grass, not a drop of water to be seen anywhere, and the loss 
of stock which will consequently ensue will be something terrible. 

" Inclosed is a pretty correct list of property destroyed : — Zuurbron, W. 
& K. Metlerkamp, nothing saved, — eight Fingo children burned to death ; 
Zeeko River, P. Smart, nothing saved, — 700 sheep and goats burnt; 



SB0Oin>ABT OAUBB OF DBSICOATION. 189 

BondeboBohy F. Wagner, notliing saved; Eondeboschy D. Yesloo aad 
sereral others; Zeekoe River, H. Meyer, nothing saved; Misgund, C. du 
Plessis, nothing saved; Valk Plaats, Gertenbach, Mrs Gertenbach and 
servant burnt to death ; Klein Vlatke, Van Onslin, nothing saved ; Klip- 
fontein, Coetzee, nothing saved ; Lange Hoogte, Ferreira's, nothing saved ; 
Krants Plaats, Terblan's, two children burnt to death, and one man fear- 
fully scorched ; Langefontein, du Plessis, everything destroyed ; Oude Werf, 
Moolman's, ditto, — one woman and five children burnt to death ; Fingo 
Locations, Zitzikamma, several lives lost; Geelhoutboom, several Fingo 
locations ; Kromme River, L. Meyer, totally destroyed, together with 400 
sheep. 

" Another correspondent, writing to us from Humansdorp, under date 11th 
inst., says, — * Twenty-three farms in this division are known to be totally 
destroyed, with crops. No advice yet from Kromme River or Long Kloof, 
except that there was a fire at Avontuur. The damage is roughly estimated 
at £30,000 ; twenty-seven lives are lost. Hankey and Kruisfontein narrowly 
escaped. No news yet from Clarkston, and Moravian Station. The dorp 
was encircled with fire. The Civil Commissioner had all the Government 
money, stamps, books, etc., ready for a start : horses and cart in readiness. 
Had not a shower of rain fallen on Wednesday the fire would have reached 
us ; it was then creeping up the kloof, and men were engaged trying to put 
it out' 

" From Humansdorp accounts have reached us that the district has also 
been visited by the devastating enemy. Mr Chiappini, telegraphing to Mr 
Metelerkamp on Wednesday last, states that on that day the whole of the 
surrounding country was in a blaze, and that the fire was working its way 
down to the Zitzikamma, in the direction of Combrink's place. The pro- 
perties of Messrs Metelerkamp, Lucas, Meyer, Swart, Johnston, and Coetzee 
had been destroyed, as also the homesteads and produce on the farms 
Rondebosch, Klipfontein, Langhoogte, and Zitzikamma. 

" The place of Mr Franz Gertenbach, situated near Humansdorp, has been 
destroyed. Mr John Gertenbach of this town received the following tele- 
gram yesterday morning : — * A fearful fire is raging through the district of 
Humansdorp. Your brother's place has been burnt down, and his wife and 
one servant have been consumed. The child is alive and well. Frans is 
away on to^^. The report was sent in by his neighbour. Mr P. Hyffer. 
Fifteen other farms have been burnt.' 

" Mrs Frans Gertenbach, whose untimely end we deplore, was interred on 
Wednesday. 

" The following telegram has been received : — 

"Telegram. — Humansdorp, Friday, Feb. 12, 1869. Destructive fire on 
Tuesday over district. Twenty homesteads burnt down ; also, twenty-six 
Fingoe huts. Twenty-one lives lost. Full report by post. Damage 
estimated at £25,000. 

" From the P. E, Telegraph : — On Tuesday evening last considerable sen- 
sation was produced in this town by what at the time was considered to be 
a very unusual natural phenomenon. Soon after five o'clock the sun, as it 
gradually drew towards the hills to the west, was observed to change its 
usual bright golden tinge for a deep dark red, surrounding which was a 
wide circle of likewise very florid appearance. A large cloud was shortly 
seen gradually approaching the town so dense that at times it almost 
entirely obscured the sim. It reached here about half-past five o'clock, and 



190 HTDBOLOOT OT SOUTH AFRICA. 

then there buist fortli such a gale of wind as bad not been experienced £:>r 
months previously. This raised clouds of dust as usual ; but mixed with 
the dust and wind was a close, almost suffocating vapour, evidently the 
steam and smoke of a very large fire. Had this occurred in more super- 
stitious times, it is impossible to say to what cause such an imusual 
phenomenon would have been ascribed ; as it was, it occasioned much 
apprehension, if not alarm, in the minds of some weak-minded people, and 
considerable speculation among the community generally. The wind con- 
tinued through the greater part of the night to blow with ^nabated vigour 
from the northeast. The deep mist soon cleared away ; but the unusual 
occurrence we have endeavoured to describe remained unexplained until 
near mid-day, when intelligence reached here that a very destructive fire 
had been raging at the Maitland Mines. News was reached the same day 
that another fire had devastated a large extent of country near Humansdorp, 
and that one had also been raging at Mimosadale, near Uitenhage. 

" We have carefully collected all the particulars we have been able to get 
in reference to these most disastrous calamities ; but the accounts vary 
considerably, and render anything like a connected narrative a very diflScult 
undertaking. It appears that the fire in the locality of the Maitland Mines 
first broke out on the farm of Mr Mailers. That gentlemen wishing to clear 
out a watersloot, had set fire to some rubbish with which it was blocked up, 
not for a moment anticipating that by so doing he would bring upon him- 
self and others the disastrous consequences which have resulted. The dry 
stubble burnt quickly, and the wind suddenly springing up blew the sparks 
on to the adjoining plots of dry grass, and in a very short space of time the 
whole was one mass of flame. Every effort made to prevent its advance 
was futile. It spread in every direction, and soon reached the homestead, 
the thatch of which becoming ignited, the whole structure in a very short 
space of time was burnt to the ground, with all it contained. The out- 
houses and a waggon were also consumed, the live-stock of the farm alone 
escaping. On spread the devouring element at a most surprising rate, the 
wind facilitating its movements by scattering the burning embers far and wide. 
In no direction did it advance so rapidly as towards the farm of Mr C. 
Heugh in a south-easterly course ; but fortunately, owing to the strenuous 
exertions of those on the place, the homestead was saved ; but a waggon 
and some other less valuable property were destroyed. The fire now sped 
in a north-easterly direction, and soon reached the hills above Capt. Boys' 
homestead. This fine old mansion, one of the best farm-houses in the 
neighbourhood, situated in a snug valley, was looked upon as quite safe. 
The grass around it was short, so that there was no fear of the fire being 
communicated in that way. Attention was therefore devoted to saving the 
live-stock grazing on the more exposed parts of the farm. Suddenly the 
wind swept from off the hills a lot of burning embers, which, falling upon the 
thatched roof, set the whole in a blaze. It was the work of a moment. All 
the hands rushed to save the house, but their efforts were fruitless, and now 
nothing remains of the fine old house but the four blackened walls. Even 
the furniture and clothing could not be saved. The only article rescued 
was a piano. 'A few oil paintings, prized as being heirlooms as weU as from 
their intrinsic value, were got out and placed in safety it was thought ; but 
the grass becoming ignited, they too perished. A flock of sheep was 
surrounded by flames, and about 300 of them were burnt to death, or so 
mutilated as to necessitate theii^ being killed. Another branch of the fire 



»IBCX)NOABT OAUBB OF DSSIOOATIOK. 191 

ran quickly up the Maitland Mines valley in a westerly course. Speedily 
reaching Hyland*s place, it consumed a stack of from 20,000 to 30,000 
bundles of oat-hay, leaving nothing in its place but a mass of ashes. The 
homestead on the farm escaped. The fire then crossing the valley 
made its way up to Mr Kice Smith's property. Here its advance 
was resisted inch by inch by a sturdy set of fellows determined to keep 
back the invader. Their eflforts were almost superhuman. One young 
fellow, Henry Smith, we are told, particularly distinguished himself. 
Another had his shoes burnt off his feet ; still he battled with the flames. 
But they succeeded : the house was saved, though it very narrowly escaped, 
the trees surrounding it being burnt, as also all running along it. As our 
informant very forcibly described it, the fire completely * licked the walls of 
the building.' The veldt is burnt for very many miles, and there is now 
no pasturage whatever for the cattle in these parts. Large patches of bush 
and even large trees in the kloofs are entirely destroyed, being now mere 
blackened ashes. The fire spread so rapidly that an eye witness describes 
it as flying along at the pace of a race-horse. As an instance of the force 
^of the wind and the volume of flame, we are informed by Captain Stanbury, 
of the Zephyr, which arrived here on Wednesday, that on Tuesday evening 
when eight or ten miles off the land, particles of blackened embers were 
blown on to his ship from the shore, and the coast to an extent of fully 
forty miles was grandly illuminated by the burning bush and grass. 

" By this sad calamity Captain Boys and his sons have lost all they 
possessed, as their property was only insured to the extent of £500 to cover 
a bond. They are now living in two small cottages near their homestead, 
which were spared by the fire. Mr Mailer's, we believe, is wholly uninsured, 
as is also Mr Hyland. 

" The most disastrous series of fires, accompanied as they are with 
melancholy loss of life, have yet to be recorded. These occurred in 
Humansdorp district the same day, and also on Wednesday, but whether it 
was a branch of the same conflagration is not known at present. It is 
believed not to be. The only particulars that have as yet reached town 
are through the electric telegraph, and are consequently very meagre. The 
whole of the buildings on the Zuurbron property, belonging to Mr Meteler- 
kamp, an old and highly esteemed resident in the division, have been burnt 
to the ground. The properties of Messrs Meyer, Swart, Johnston, Lucas 
Meyer, Von Onselin, and Coetzee have been consumed, as also the buildings 
on the farms Klipfontein, Rondebosch, Zitzikamma, and Longhoogte, besides 
very many others. The farm house of a Mr Marthinus Minnie was destroyed, 
and a child and servant burnt to death. Mrs Minnie, it is said, saved 
herself and one of her children by rushing into the river and remaining 
there until the fire which was blazing all around had burned itself out. 
The fire had reached the Zitzikamma forest, and was, it is said, playing sad 
havoc amongst the noble trees there. 

"A telegram was received yesterday by Mr John Gertenbach from 
Humansdorp, stating that his brother Franz's place has been completely 
destroyed, and that his wife, child, and servant had been burnt to death. 
A later telegram informs us that the child is not dead, having been placed 
somewhere in safety while the mother went to try and save some things in 
the house. She lost her life in the attempt ; but the child was afterwards 
discovered unhurt. 

^ A fire has also been raging in Mimosadale in the Uitenhage district, but 



192 HTDROLOOt OF SOUTH AVRIOA. 

does not appear to have done much damage. The smoke and soot from 
this were driven into Uitenhage, and falling on the washed wool laid oat to 
dry has so discoloured much of it that it will be necessary to have it 
rewashed. 

" Later Particulars. — The above was written last night, after collecting 
such particulars as were then current. This morning we have seen one or 
two farmers from the locality of Van Staden's River, who have informed us 
of further incidents connected with this fearful conflagration, which are of 
the most harrowing description. We mentioned above that a white child 
and a coloured servant had been burnt on Minnie's farm, but it appears that 
five lives have been lost on the place, viz., the two already mentioned and 
a coloured woman with her two children. The woman was found after the 
fire lying on her back on the ground, with one child strapped behind as the 
natives usually carry their children, the other lying upon and between her 
legs. She had most likely fallen with her children, and all three had 
become suffocated together. The farm Strandfontein, situated near the 
Gamtoos River, ' is occupied by the three brothers Minnie, viz., Daniel, 
Stephanus, and Marthiims. They are all married. The two first occupy 
the old and larger building, the latter a smaller one. On Tuesday, seeing 
the fire approaching the farm, every effort was made to divert it from the 
homestead, but in vain. Attention was then directed to the waggons and 
other property in the hope of saving at least something. Marthinus, whose 
house was furthest from the flames, ran to the assistance of his brothers, 
believing that his place was safe. His wife, children, and servants remained 
behind. He had scarcely got to his brothers' place, when, on looking round, 
he saw that the fire had advanced upon his residence from another direction, 
and that it was completely enveloped in flames. The veld, too, had caught 
fire between the two houses, so that it was impossible to proceed from one 
to the other. All had to look to their own dear lives. Both houses were 
burnt with all they contained, the only thing saved being one waggon. As 
soon as the fire would permit search was made for Marthinus' family. His 
wife with one child was found to be alive ; but tied to her back was another 
— burnt to death ! She had run out of the house, taking one child — the 
servant followed with the other. She rushed on to a place of safety ; but 
her feelings may be imagined — they cannot be described — when on looking 
round for the girl and child neither were to be seen. As the fire would 
permit she retraced her steps, and came across the servant and child both 
dead. The latter she tied on her back, in the faint hope that the vital 
spark had not quite fled. The poor woman is very near her confinement, 
and this must have added very much to her sufferings. 

" Mr George Smith, at Gamtoos River, only saved his property with great 
difl&culty, the grass and bush all around being completely burnt off. 

" Mr Wm. Parkin had all the crops, &c., on his property consumed ; but 
the homestead is uninjured. 

" A miller named Faver, who has a flour-mill worked by water-power 
near the Van Staden's River, is missing, and it is feared has been burnt to 
death. He was last seen proceeding in the direction of his mill, which was 
in danger of being burnt, and had not since been heard of. 

" A waggon, laden with merchandize, proceeding into the country from 
this place was, we are told, burnt with its contents. 

" Mr James Parkm, from whom we have obtained most of the additonal 
particulars, believes that the fire is still burning fiercely along the Qamtoos 



BEOONSABT OAUSB OF DEaiOOATIOV. 



198 



k 



Eiver and up Baviaan's Kloofj and that much damage must have resulted 
m thoae parts* 

'* The resident magistrate proceeded out to the locality of the disaster this 
m^oruingj to render what assistance he eould to those iu need. He took 
with him a quantity of clothmg and comforts, contributed by the charitable 
of this town, for diatribotion amongst those who have lost their all by this 
disastrous conflagration." 

This ia by far the most es:tensive coincidence of bush fires in South 
A&Loa which has come under my notice. Bat view each of them apartj and 
it Ib only in keeping with what is of frequent occurrence ou a lesser scale. 
I have had narrated to me not less e^scitiug accounts of hair-breadth escapes 
with life, but with the loss of everythingj occurring on the flank of Table 
Mountain, I have been in peril, both by night and by day, from auch iircs 
within ten miles of Capetown, I have roused a sleeping family, to whose 
house the flames were hurrying on, w^hile there was barely time for them to 
escape before it was consumed. The following I find amongst my 
memoranda :— 

" Grass Fires.— There have been eerious grass fires on the frontier. By 
telegrams received on Monday it appears that in the Bedford division Mr 
E. Aiuslie*s homestead, etc, was destroyed; and that Mrs Ainslie, sen., had 
died &om injuries received. Seven natives were burnt in their huts, 

" The following is a telegram from the Fort Beaufort division : — * Grass 
fires at the Tyimue. Several farms and locations have been entirely 
denuded of pasturage. The forests took fire and burned for several days. 
Two sawyers and two little children were burned to death. Farmers com- 
pelled to trek. Great numbers of sheep burned, and the destruction of 
game immense/ " 

" FiHB m THE District of Geobge, — A Port Elizabeth correspondent 
saySj — * A pic-nic party in the district of George had a narrow escape. On 
Tuesday last, the 9th of Fobniaryj the same day as that on which the great 
fir© in Uitenhage and Hnmansdorp occurred, there w^as a festive gathering 
in the George districtj when the grass caught fire, and a cart and harness 
had to be abandoned to the flames, aud the company had to run for their 
lives. One man, a driver, was badly burnt/ " 

The JS&merset Oourant say*!^ — '^ The weather for the last ten days hag been 
oppressively hot. We have not experienced such a continuance of warm, 
sultry days for a long time. Each day appeared to be w^m-mer than another, 
until on Tuesday evening last the town was completely enveloped in a dense 
cloud resembling smoke, which some people believed came from the 
neighbouring mountain which was on fire. No fires having been heard of, 
others supposed it to be the peculiai* state of the atmosphere. If so, it was 
a peculiar state indeed, for the smell of fire, like to burning grass, was very 
Btrong, From that evenings howeYer, the weather became cooler, and at 
present there ia every indication of rain, which we stand in need of, 

*' Smoke. ^ — -We have heard an account of the extmordinary quantity of 
Kuoke with which the atmosphere was charged on the evening of Tuesday 
last It appears that Mr Dixie, a farmer in the vicinity of Bedford, fired 
some portion of bis veld, probably to reduce the long grass, in the mean- 
time a high wind arose aud carried the flames a much greater distance than 
was originally contemplated or intended i in fact, the fire comnaunicated to 
the veld of Mr Henry Hutton and reached an out^station for sheep. The 
wind moat have been very atrong^ as a kraal was entirely consumed and 

2a 



L 



194 HTDBOLOOT OF SOUTH AFBiaA* 

dxteen sheep were destroyed by the flames. The smoke from the fire 
extended almost to the Zuurburg, which gave rise to all sorts of rumours as 
to its origin." 

These details justify my statement that the destruction of forests in 
South Africa has been extensive. They supply, in the case of those first 
given, indications that thereby the desiccation of the country by evaporation 
has been promoted ; and by deduction from what has been ascertained by 
an extensive induction of facts observed elsewhere, it may be inferred that 
a similar consequence must, or may, have followed the destruction of forests, 
of which details have now been given. This subject next demands attention. 



Section III. — EfecU of Denudation of the Country on Evaporation, 

In accordance with the prevalent opinion that trees have some influence 
in increasing or retaining moisture in the locality in which they grow, such 
destruction of trees as has been going on for such a length of time, and to 
such an extent, as these details embmce, it may be admitted, could scarcely 
fail to have tended to promote the dessication of the country by removing 
one hindrance to evaporation, and, in so far as this would effect it, allowing 
it to go on freely and unchecked. 

It may have been remarked that simultaneously with this destruction of 
trees there has been going on a destruction of bush, and herbage, and 
grass, by the burning of the veldt, both by native tribes and by European 
colonists, and that the destruction of the forests has been to a great extent 
a consequence — and that an undesigned consequence of this practice — 
undesigned, and in some cases unheeded, in others deplored. This destruc- 
tion of grass, and herbage, and bush has acted in the same way as the 
destruction of forests — in removing an important check upon evaporation, 
and so promoting the desiccation of the country. 

To test some statements I made on this subject when I was at the Cape 
of Good Hope, Mr William Blore, M.L.A., Fellow of the Meteorological 
Society of London, and Secretary of the South African Meteorological 
Society, made some experiments at Wynberg Hill, about eight miles from 
Capetown, which I shall here detail, with the results obtained, premising that 
we have the means of, comparing these results with others which have been 
obtained from similar experiments made in a forest and in open country. 

From a report of such experiments mjide by Mathieu, one of the Directors- 
of the Forest School at Nancy, prepared by orders of the General Super- 
intendent of Forests, and published by the Government in the Atlas 
Meteoroligique d V Ohservatoire Imperial, pour 1867, — which experiments 
were continued from April to October inclusive — it appears that during 
tho^e months the evaporation from a vessel placed in the ground in a 
plantation of deciduous trees sixty-two years old was less than one-fifth of 
that from a vessel of like form and dimensions pltict)d in the open country. 

The quantity of water evaporated in the forest was 3'2.3 inches; the 
quantity evaporated from land clear of forests was IG'29 inches — about five 
times as much. 

In April, before the development of leaves, if lOwO represented the 

evaporation from the open country, 623 represented the evaporation from 

woodland ; but after the trees became clothed with foliage the amount of 

r evaporation from the woodland was only 130, as against 1000 of open 



BEOONDABT CAUSE OP DESICCATION. 195 

country evaporation. In October the woodland evaporation was to the open 
country as 90 to 100. 

Mr Blore sunk two cylindrical jars of the same size in the ground to the depth 
of 4 inches, leaving them projecting an inch above the surface as a precau- 
tion against sand and other matters being blown into them, and covering 
each with wire gauze to keep out flies, &c. The one was placed where it 
was partially protected, but not covered by bush, the other was sunk in a 
newly cleared plot of ground, measuring about 60 feet in diameter, sur- 
rounded by sugar bushes, Protea mellifera Thbg, of a considerable height, 
and otherwise protected from the prevailing wind by a belt of pine trees, 
about 120 feet distant. 

Into each of these jars was put 20 oz. of water on January 31st, at 10 
A.M. On February 5th, at 5 p.m., the water remaining in each was care- 
fully measured, and the evaporation was calculated. When it was found 
that the evaporation from the jar sunk in the cleared ground had been more 
than double the evaporation from that which was partially protected, though 
not* covered by the bush; the former being 1*854 in. ; the latter, '863 in. ; 
giving an excess of -991 in. The experiment was repeated with similar 
results. 

In reporting these results, Mr Blore remarked that had the experiment 
been made in a more arid district, the evaporation would have been greater ; 
and that had it been made in the open coimtry, the difference woiild have 
marked. But taking the results obtained as the basis of calculation, he 
arrived by the following process at a conclusion for which probably few who 
have not given attention to the subject are prepared. 

The excess of evaporation from the more exposed jar above that from 
the jar partially shaded, but not covered, being one inch, more strictly 
speaking upwards of 99-100 of an inch of water, and more than double that 
of the latter, " An inch in six days," says he, " will give for 102 days, the 
ordinary duration of the hot windy and dry season in the district, 17 inches. 
This is equal to about three hundred and eighty-four thousand (384,000) 
gallons per acre, and supposing 1,000 acres to be burned, blackened, and 
dried — ^what with sunlight, fire, heat, and wind the evaporation would be an 
excess of three hundred and eighty-four millions of gallons of water above what 
wo^ild have been evaporated if the busli or grass had been left unbumed." 

In the prosecution of his researches, Mr Blore ascertained by experi- 
ment that on Wynberg hill, while the deposit of dew on a green surface 
amounted to 4*75, that on a white surface amounted only to 2, showing 
that the deposit of dew upon a green surface is more than double that upon 
a white ; and he further ascertained that, while the difference of temperature 
in the water in the two jars employed in the former experiment was only a 
few degrees, the difference of temperature, between black ground and groimd 
shaded by bush was about 25°, which would occasion a vastly greater 
difference in the amount of evaporation than that which occurred in his 
experiment. 

Besides the promotion of desiccation, by removing an important check 
upon evaporation from the soil, consequent on the burning of the veldt, 
there has been reported a secondary effect produced in some cases which is 
at least worthy of notice. 

Mr Horace Waller, F.R.G.S., who accompanied Bishop M'Kenzie and 
his party to the Zambesi, in 1861, in writing of their voyage up the Shire, 



196 HTDBOLOOT OV SOUTH AlBIOA. 

says, — ''The part of the river I am about to describe is singnlar for a spedes 
of canalization, which nature has arranged for it, as she tatoos fresh lines and 
wrinkles on Africa's feu^e. Shortly after entering the Shire, one gets to a 
tract which, not many years since, was no doubt a lake. Time has altered 
this, and in the place of the lake there is a nearly grown-up marsh, for the 
river, a broad and shallow one before it, comes thus far to writhe and turn 
about it. When it gets to this part its whole character alters ; it winds in . 
countless turns, is narrow, and has a deep channeL One sees that in the 
gradual desiccating process (visible to so many African travellers) the 
current of this river has, in some unusually severe drought, lasting perhaps 
two or three years (and droughts often last that time), been reduced to a 
form which it still maintains with little alteration. It is true, that in 
ordinary seasons it would quickly have regained its original space, and the 
first heavy rains of the ' wet season ' would have spread the waters as wide 
as ever ; but, in the lengthened period of a drought a very important alter- 
ation takes place. The growth of rush and water-plants would now be most 
luxuriant along the edge of the river. Here the roots of the rank tropical 
vegetation are better watered than frirther away, where all is one hard, 
baked, black mass of earth sweltering in the sun. Here, too, a current of 
air is ever passing up or down the river ; in short, vegetation can want 
nothing more, and is luxuriant beyond measure. It happens then, that when 
the fires, which every hot season pass over the whole country, crackle and roar 
across the space that was so lately a lake, they find more to consume along 
the banks than frirther away. Thus it is that the amount of debris left 
from the conflagration is larger on each side of the water, and also more 
solid in character; for, during the period of the fires, there is every 
afternoon a gale of wind for the most part blowing up the river's course, 
and this sweeps the flames so rapidly through the reeds that they do not 
get so thoroughly consumed as those that grow frirther away from its 
influence. The waters, in fact, cause and encourage an extra growth, and, 
when the fires come, they act as the ' navvies,' taking the excess of vegeta- 
tion there is along the edge to make the dam. As my canoe drags its 
length beneath the bank, I can trace each year's quota in the strata of red 
ashes and charred reed-stalks. In places a hippopotamus' path causes an 
outlet for the water, and the river rushes through to try and regain its lost 
territory. It only wastes itself in the vast spongy marsh and the small 
lagoon, which give off more in evaporation than can be supplied by such 
means to counterbalance the effects of the sun. Throughout some thirty 
miles of the river in the Morambala marsh, this very interesting piece of 
natural engineering is to be seen." 

In looking for the probable effect of this on the desiccation of the 
country, it may be well to bear in mind that to maintain the humidity of 
earth and air it is desirable that the rain which falls upon, or the water 
which passes through, it should be retained there and allowed to evaporate 
and to percolate through the soil, and should be kept from flowing away 
back again speedily or quickly to the sea, whence it had come. 

By the confined channel the waters are carried off with increased velocity. 
A little escapes by breaches made by hippopotami, and this in circum- 
stances favourable to evaporation, in consequence of which it is Speedily 
and entirely taken up by the atmosphere ; and so far so good ; but it is 
indicated that the quantity thus retained is but a trifle compared with what, 
bat for these embankments, would have spread out aromid, to be more 



BSOOKSAST OAUHB OF DBSICIOATIOlf. 



197 



I 



I 



slowly, but perhaps not lesa completely, absorbed by the atmosphere, to 
mimater to the promotion of yegetation, and to arrest to some extent the 
rapidity of the process of desiccation which is going on. 

It may appear paradoxical to speak of eTaporation both as a means of 
desiccation and as a means of arresting desiccation ; but it enters into the 
Teiy nature of a paradox that the apparently conflicting facts are both facta 
though apparently conflicting ; and in this case the solution of the paradox 
is not difficult* More water is carried ofT by gravitation than by evapora- 
tion, and evaporation is impeded by the humidity of the air ; by the dow of 
the river more is carried off in a given time than would have been carried 
oif in the same time by evaporation ; and if this had not been so carried off 
it would have supplied humidity to the atmosphere, and so have impeded 
the evaporation whereby the land was desiccated while supplying moiBtnre 
which, absorbed by that land, would have promoted vegetation, by which 
evaporation and desiccation would have been still further impeded. It is 
to some estent, though not invariably tmd constantly the case, that whatever 
tends to desiccate the countiy in any one way does so through so doing in 
many other ways beside ; and convQi*selyj whatever tends to increase the 
humidity of a climate in any one way, through so doing docs so in many 
other ways beside. The fact observed by Mr Waller is a secondary result 
of the burning of the veldt* And while Br Livingstone speaks as he does 
in regard to the drainage of the land by gravitation, so as to seem to teach 
that this alone may suffice to account for the desiccation and aridity of 
Sonth Africa, there are others who have so spoken in regard to the promo- 
tion of desiccation by evaporation by the destruction of vegetation — 
arborescent and herbaceous, but chiefly the former ^whereby the aridity 
under their consideration was brought about ^ that they have seemed to 
teach that this alone might suffice to aoconnt for the desiccation and aridity 
of the country. I hold with both, believing both tn be correct in w^hat 
they affirm in regard to the results which they severally report, and 
discriminating as I have done between the primaiy and the secondary cause 
of that desiccation, 

I not only know of no one who has given so much attention to the study 
of the effect on the desiccation of South Africa of the destruction of trees, 
and bush, and herbage, and grass, as has Mr James Fox Wilson, of 
St Leonards, but I know of no subject connected with the desiccation of 
South Africa which has received such attention as has been given to this by 
him. The results he has embodied in a paper on the Water Supply in the 
Basin of the Orange River, and 1 have his permission to make free use of it 
in this compilation. I have already done so in describing the desiccation 
of the land, and I proceed to give his reply to the question — ^' Is there any 
cause besides the iDterior position of the comitiy and the natural aridity of 
the soil which occasions the advance of drought 1 " 

'* We abseut that theee is* ♦ . The human inhabitants themselvea 
are a prime cause of the disaster, to account for which we find only partial 
reasons in the. central position and physical characteristics of these regions. 
The natives have for ages bebej ACOUSTCMEn to bubn the plains ANn TO 
DEaTHoT THE TtMBEE AND ANCIENT FORESTS. The Bechuana, especially the 
Batlapi and neigbouring tribes, are a nation of forest levellers, cutting down 
every species of timber without regard to scenery or economy. The larga 
traps or h&poiy into which wild animale ajra drivea for slaughter^ must con- 



198 HTDBOLOaT OP SOUTH ATBIOA. 

sumo largo quantities of trees in their construction, if we consider their 
immense size and the width of the avenues leading to them. Fuel, imple- 
ments of war, husbandry, etc., make away with a large quantity of wood. 
Dwelling-house^, too, iwe chiefly composed ot small timber instead of stone, 
and their fences of branches and shrubs. Thus, when a site for a town is 
fixed upon, the first consideration is to be as near a thicket as possible, the 
whole of which is presently levelled, leaving only a few trees, one in each 
great man's fold, to afford shelter from the heat. The ground to be occupied 
for cidtivation is the next object of attention, and the large trees being too 
hard for their native iron axes, they bum theia down by keeping up a fire 
at the root. These supply them with branches for fences, while the 
sparrows, so destructive to their gi*ain, are deprived of an asylum. Tl^e 
fences, as well as those in the towns, require constant repairs ; indeed the 
former must be renewed every year, and, rather than gather or qUarry 
stones to raise a sulistantial fence, a man will take a forked stick, a thong, 
and his axe, and occupy nearly a whole day in bringing from a distance a 
bundle of the hook-thora to fill irp a gap in his cattle or sheep fold. 

" By this means, the coimtiy for many miles around becomes entirely 
cleared of timber, while in the more sequestered spots, where they have 
their outposts, the same work of destruction goes on. Thus of the whole 
forests, where the giraffe and elephant were formerly wont to seek their 
daily food, nothing is now left but a few stumps of camel-thorn w^hich bear 
a silent testimony to the wastefulness of the Bcchuana. In some parts of 
the country, the remains of ancient forests of wild olive trees (Olea similis), 
and of the camel-thorn (Acacia giraftaea), are still to be met with ; but when 
these are levelled in the proximity of a Bechuana village, no young trees 
spring up to take their place. When the natives migrate from a district, 
which may be after only a few years, the minor sorts of acacia soon grow, 
but the Acacia giraifaea requires an age to become a tree, and many ages must 
elapse before it can attain the dimensions of its predecessors. 

" The natives of many tribes, even the Bakalakari of the desert have also 
the custom of annually getting rid of the tall dry grass by fire, which on 
some occasions destroys shrubs and trees to the very summit of the moun- 
tains, and must tend very much to produce an altered meteorological 
condition of the atmosphere, as well as to occasion that desolate and 
solitary aspect of the countiy which European travellers speak of so depre- 
catingly. In Namaqualand the field (veld) is seldom burnt, the fierce and 
powerful sun seeming to perforai that oflice for the natives, and destroying, 
in a dry summer, an immense proportion of the young shrubs and trees 
which spring up in a wet one ; the effect of drought in this instance 
becoming in its turn an auxiliary cause of drought ; but there are vast 
regions in the basin of the Orange, and in the Cape Colony itself, bare of 
timber and bush, not only from the aridity of the soil, but from the perti- 
nacity with which the natives, and even colonists of European descent, 
adhere to the practice of producing an annual conflagration in winter, in 
order that the flocks may find an abundance of pasturage as soon as the 
spring sets in. In these bare regions, trees are hardly ever to be found, 
except on the banks of rivers or in high mountain-passes, as the fire pene- 
trates into all the*kloofs or ravines where the most luxuriant vegetation is 
found, and destroys it. 

" It appears certain that the farther we proceed westward from the moim- 
tains of Natal and Kafl&rland, the less becomes the amount of rain bestowed 



8E001!n>ABT CAUSE OP DESICCATION. 199 

by the clonds. The more denuded of trees and brushwood, and the more 
arid the land becomes, the smaller the supply of water from the atmosphere. 
The greater the extent of heated surface over \f hich the partially exhausted 
clouds have to pass, the more rarefied the vapour contained in them neces- 
sarily becomes, and the higher the position which the clouds themselves 
assume in the atmosphere under the influence of the radiatiug caloric ; con- 
sequently the smaller the chance of the descent of any rain on the thirsty 
soil beneath. And the more the short-sighted colonists and ignorant natives 
bum the grass and timber, the wider the area of heated surface is made ; 
the further the droughty region extends, the smaller becomes the fountain 
supplies, and the more attenuated the streams, till they finally evaporate 
and disappear altogether. Thus the evil advances in an increasing ratio, 
and, unless checked, rrnist advance, and will finally end in the depopulation 
and entire abandonment of many spots once thickly peopled, fertile, and 
productive. 

" In the case of the fountains at Griqua Town, referred to at the com- 
mencement, as having formerly poured forth an abundant supply of water, 
the accidental destruction of whole plains of the wild olive-tree by fire near 
the town, and the removal of the shrubs on the neighbouring heights, are 
known to have preceded the diminution of rain, and subsequent diminution 
of the springs, the subterraneous caverns which acted as reservoirs in the 
bowels of the earth ceasing to be supplied from the clouds. There can be 
no question that, hitherto, vegetation, like animal life, has, in South Africa, 
been wastefully and ignorantly destroyed, in direct violation of physical 
laws, which can never be broken with impunity ; and if we compare what 
is now taking place there ^yith what has ti-auspircd in other arid countries, 
our conviction must deepen that it is not so much to the waywardness of 
nature as to the wilfulness of man that we must assign the recent extension 
of the Kalahari Desert. 

" If we cautiously and carefully examine the subject, we shall find that 
in many temperate countries, and even in some cold ones, the felling of 
forests has been attended by a greater or less diminution of moisture, and 
an alteration of the climatic conditions. This has been the case in the 
Canadian settlements and the Eastern States of the North American Union, 
which, since being won from the primeval forest, have markedly improved 
in general salubrity and meteorological condition. Moreover, the general 
climate of Europe has undoubtedly undergone a great change since the 
destruction of the great belt of forest that, in the days of the old Romans, 
occupied its central portions. Not only lias the cliirate of the old world 
become increasingly dry, but it has become warmer, the severe winters and 
heavy frosts described by ancient classical writers heing now almost un- 
known in the South of Europe. In these cases the felling of timber, because 
productive of the removal of dank vegetation and unwholesome moisture, 
has operated to the improvement of the soil, increasing its producing 
capabilities, and occasioning it to be better fitted for the residence of man. 
The general character of ancient Europe, both insular and continental, 
whilst yet unreclaimed and overspread with forests, would naturally be 
more humid, and consequently colder. When cultivation and a vast in- 
crease of population occasioned the removal of the timber, the freezing of 
the Danube and Tiber would gradually become matter of history, and heavy 
frosts in Greece and Italy a cause of wonder. 

" While the climate of ou. quarter of the globe has thus, we repeat, been 



200 HTDBOLOGT OV 0OUTH IfBKU. 

ameliorated by the remoyal of the saperabundanoe of wood, on the other 
hand, in the steppes of Southern Russia, in Northern Africa, in some parts 
of Italy, Greece, European Turkey, and Persia, many a bare tract exists 
which owes its origin to the folly or neglect of rulers, or subjects, who have 
removed, to the extent of absolute extermination, those natural protectors 
of humidity — the trees — and have thus turned fi*uitfiil gardens into a waste. 
** In Greece and Asia Minor the traveller finds the reality fall far short 
of the description of the scenery given by the celebrated writers of olden 
time. The mighty streams so magniloquently described in the poems of 
antiquity are found to be mere rivulets compared with the grandiose 
accounts of the old epics. The sparkling cascades and fountains which, in 
enchanting the eye, also prompted the verse of the classic writers, have dis- 
appeared under the powerful influences exerted by ages of war, misrule, and 
oppression. Districts once covered with rich crops of com, with olive and 
vineyards, orchards and groves, are at the present time mere expanses of 
sand or barren rocks, or arid flats. The same remarks are also true of Syria 
and Palestine, where the land ' flowing with milk and honey ' has, under 
the iron heel of the obstructive and oppressive Turk, become in many parts 
a wilderness covered with stones and ruins. 

" Proceeding still further to the East, perhaps there is no part of the 
world where evidence accumulates upon us of the evil effects resulting 
fi^m the unwise destruction of timber, than in the more arid provinces of 
Persia. Here, under the ignorant government of the Shahs, whole tracts 
of country, once thickly peopled, well-watered, fertile, and extensively 
wooded, are little better than barren wastes, over which the traveller may 
pass and find no sweet bubbling fountain at which to quench his thirst, no 
solitary tree spreading its wide branches to produce a welcome shelter for 
his wearied limbs, no village or hostelry to which he can repair for hospi- 
tality. Instead of these, he will pass the remains of canals, bridges, and 
ornamental fountains, from which the water has been evaporated for 
centuries ; he will encounter ruined houses, fallen walls of gardens, deserted 
villas, ancient churches and mosques, all baking in the fiery Persian sun, 
and testifying to the misrule which has so long prevailed here, as in other 
wretched countries of Asia, A late writer in * Chambers' Journal,' on the 
subject of the failure of springs in the East, asserts that, as far back as the 
seventeenth century, a Persian nobleman, conversing with a European 
traveller (Ta vernier), assured him thai within a comparatively few years no 
less than four hundred springs had failed in the smsdl province over which 
' he himself ruled ; a proof of the fatal consequences of permitting the 
destruction of timber for fuel without making provision for a fresh growth : 
for iu the ancient days of Persia's greatness, before a Mahometan fatalism 
had beguu to exert its baneful influence upon the Persians, a very different 
state of things existed. Then groves were planted on eminences ; the 
streams were fringed with wood ; orchards and pleasure gardens, fEunous for 
tlieir exquisitely scented roses, adorned the slopes of the hills ; and by care- 
ful irrigtvtiou through a thousand small canals, industry and energy were 
enableil to gather in an abundant harvest of the fruits of the earth. With 
the deeadenoo of the political power of Islamism, however, the prosperity 
of Persia, such as it was under the caliphs, b^an to pass away : and 
rained oities, aqueduct^ palaoes^ and temples, standing in the midst of 
naeless deMrta. now ofltor their united testimony to the ignorance and 



fiEOONDABT CAUSl Or DESICOATIOIJ. 



301 



J *' In our own British colonies of BarbadoeB, Jamaica^ Peuang, and the 

liatmtiuB, the felling of foreeta has also been attended by a diminiition of 
rain. In the i aland of Penang, the removal of jungle from the anmrnits of 
hills by Chinese settlers speedily occasioned the eprings to dry up^ aod, except 
during the monsoons, no moistnre was left iu the disforested districts. In 
the Mauritins it has been fomid necessary to retain all the lauds on the 
crests of hills and mountains in the hands of Government to be devoted to 
forest, the fertility of the lower lands having been found by experience to 
depend npou clothing the hills with wood. 

" In the steppes of Tartary we have abundant proof that physical changes 
of great magmtodOj and similar in character to those which have been 
noticed on the OrangCj have taken place within the historic period. Not- 
withstanding the present entire absence of trees, and the occurrence of a 
drought which regularly prevails for half the year, the beds of numerous 
rivers that once fertilised the country may be traced with the utmost 
facility to the sources from whence the waters originally flowed. In the 
time of Mithridates the Crimean steppe was famous for its fertility, and 
teemed with inhabitants, of which we have sufficient evidence, without 
referring to history^ in the ruins of numerous towns and cities, and in 
the abundance of tumuli which strew the plains. Prince Woronzow, 
an enlightened Eussian nobleman, assured the traveller Spencer 
that nearly the whole of western Tartary might he rendered a fertile and 
productive country by the adoption of judicious means. In his opinion, all 
that is wanted to change the entire chaise ter of the climate is to drain the 
marshes, dig artesian wells in the plains tor the purposes of irrigation, and 
encourage the growth of timber. As the soil is generally of a dark loamy 
coloiu*, and as, moreovcrj wherever the ground has boen excavated, the 
roots of gigantic trees have been discovered, testifying to the former well- 
wooded condition of these now absolutely treeless plains, there can be little 
donbt that a paternal government might soon verify the truth of this 
enlightened nobleman's suppositions hj a proper system of colonization. 

** In Northern Africa, Egjpt and Lybia have witnessed the advance of the 
desert since the decline of the Roman empire ; and Algeria, although it has . 
made rapid strides under its French conquerors, is still, in great part, the I 
* home of frogs, from the prevalence of marshes, and a nest of locusts from. ^ 
the barrenness of its plains. Algeria can only be rendered as fertile as it 
ought to be on condition that the French cover a third pEirt of its surface 
with wood, and convert its rapid unnavigabld rivers exclusively to the pur- 
poses of irrigation. The blindness of civilized states (who in this particular are 
little better than the uncivilized barbarians whoso destructive practices we 
have been decrying), in foolishly liaying the axe to the root of all trees, has 
been manifested in North as in South Africa ; and until the carob, the olive, 
the cork-tree, the mastich, the oak, and the myrtle, are cultivated by the 
aide of all waters, the rich harvests which rendered ancient Boman Africa 
the granaty of the Imperial City need not be expected. Timber-trees, with 
roots which strike deep into the earth, it is worthy of remark, alone thrive 
here in summer, as they strike down into the humid soil under the parched 
crust ; they should therefore be extensively encouraged for the shelter of 
water and of crops, since sheltered fields, according to im established fact^ 
yield most com. 

" In this French colony, it must be noted further that the Wady-Kniss, 
called by Nicholas da Nicolai (1587) the Savo, used to be a large stream, 



i, 



SB 



SOS HTDBOiioaT or soitth aibhia. 

and is now only a thread. It oontams, howerer, mairf dry springB, the 
drying up haying in all probability ^resulted from the stripping of tlie woods. 

" Nor is the new world without evidence that the burning of prairies and 
pampas, and the wanton destruction of timber by Indian tribes and maraud- 
ing Spaniards, has resulted in a deterioration of climate. Father Domenech, 
in his account of the Great American Desert, speaking of the celebrated 
Uano Estacado, or Staked Plain, says the prolonged drought, the nature of 
the soil, and the habit that the Indians have of annually tetting fire to ike 
prairies, account for its aridity. The country of New Mexico, since the 
invasion of the Spaniards, has become dry, arid, and deserted. Many of the 
Indian populations were suddenly deprived of both wood and water. Per- 
petual droughts followed the clearing of the forests. Both rivers and their 
sources dried up. A multitude of streams in Texas and New Mexico have 
ceased to flow — some for centuries, others only within a few years ; and their 
banks, formerly gay with verdure, plants, flowers, and trees, now disappear 
under heaps of sand, and present everywhere a scene of desolation. 

" On the banks of the Rio Verde, in the new territory of Arizona, abound 
ruins of stone dwellings and fortifications, situated in valleys where traces 
of former cultivation and of small canals for irrigation are yet visible. The 
traditions of the Indians, as under similar circumstances in ' Bechuanaland, 
point to a time when the elevated table-lands around were covered with 
magnificent and fruitful vegetation. But the timber was destroyed, the 
prairie-grasses were burnt off', and the Great Desert thereupon asserted its 
right to consider the newly-devastated lands as portions of its own territory, 
and evaporated the springs and rivers under the influence of its desiccating 
atmosphere. 

'' Turning to South America, Humboldt informs us that the Lake of 
Valencia in the state of Venezuela, is calculated, being destitute of an outlet, 
to gauge with the greatest nicety the increase or diminution of the rivers 
that pour their waters into it. From a careful examination, that accurate 
observer was convinced, both fi^m the form of the surrounding hills, and 
from th^ occurrence of fresh-water shells in the heart of the country, tiiat a 
great retrogression of the waters had taken place. No evidence, however, 
exists that any considerable diminution of them has taken place in very 
recent times, although within thirty years preceding Humboldt's visit the 
gradual desiccation of this great basin had excited general attention. This 
diminution is not to be accounted for, our traveller declares, by imagining 
the existence of subterraneous channels, as some suppose, but by the 
effects of evaporation, increased by the changes operated upon the 
surface of the country. Forests, he says, by sheltering the soil from the 
direct action of the sim, diminish the waste of moisture ; consequently, 
when they are imprudently destroyed, the springs become less abundant, 
or are entirely dried up. Till the middle of the last century, the 
mountains that surround the valleys of Aragua, where the laice is 
situated, were covered with woods, and the plains with thickets 
interspersed with large trees. As cultivation increased the sylvan vegeta- 
tion suffered ; and, as the evaporation in this district is excessively 
powerful, the little rivers were dried up in the lower portion of their course 
during a great part of the year. The land that surroimds the lake beings 
quite flat and even, the decrease of a few inches in the level of the water 
exposes a vast extent of ground ; and as it has retired, the planters have 
taken possession of the new land. 



SEOONDABT CAUSE OF DESXOOATION. 208 

" Five-and-twenty years after the visit of Baron Humboldt to Venezuela, 
M. Boussingault relates that, the country being desolated by the War of 
Independence, the lake was fuller than formerly, owing to the partial return 
of the land to a state of nature on the abandonment of many plantations. 
Hence, as timber was no longer felled to the same extent, rain fell in greater 
abimdance, and the lake advanced in consequence. Another lake without 
an outlet, situated in New Granada, supplied Boussingault with a second 
and similar instance of the connection between the quantity of timber and 
the amoimt of rain. Here the recession of the waters was a matter of 
general notoriety, and coincident with the diminution. had been the clearing 
of the surroimdui^ forests, to aflFord fuel for the salt-works that exist in the 
neighbourhood. Nor could this have arisen from any change of climate ; 
for in other places in the same neighbourhood, where no clearings have 
taken place, and where everything has continued to be left to nature, the 
level of the lakes has undergone no change from time immemorial. 

" It being matter of notoriety in these instances that the removal piece- 
meal of forests, and the burning oflF of jungle from the simmiits of hills, has 
occasioned the uplands to become dry, and the lowlands to lose their springs, 
it becomes of extreme importance to our South African fellow-subjects, that 
the destruction of the arboreal protectors of water should be regarded as a 
thing to bedeplered, deprecated, and prevented ; and that public opinion on 
the matter should be educated. 

" Up to the present the eflforts made to employ irrigation in raising crops 
have be^n on the smallest scale, and little or no attention has been paid to 
the planting of trees for the purpose of protecting water, save at the 
Kuruman mission-village, where a considerable number have been planted 
by the veteran MoflFat. Impelled by the best of motives, that of amelio- 
rating the social as well as moral condition of the natives, whose tongue he 
himself reduced to grammatical rules, this gentleman has by precept and 
example been endeavouring to prevent that wholesale and wasteful destruc- 
tion of timber which has prevailed from time immemorial. He declares his 
conviction that in process of time the natives will come to understand that 
trees are the true rain-makers, and to believe in the philosophy of encourag- 
ing their growth. He does not despair, he says, of eventually seeing the 
whole of the population — some of whom are now commencing the use of 
stone fences and brick houses — so fully satisfied on this point, that they will 
find it for their own interest, as well as contributing to the beauty of the 
country, to plant trees ; more particularly as very few others, besides those 
indigenous to the soil, will grow to any extent. 

" But we must not stop here. The evil is one of such magnitude, and 
likely to bear so abundant a harvest of misery in the future, that the 
authority of law, wherever practicable, should be invoked in order to insti- 
tute preventive measures. Not only should fuel be economized, but the 
real interests of the British colonies and Dutch republics, for many long 
years to come, would most certainly be consulted by the passage of stringent 
enactments which should in the first place forbid, at any season or under 
any circumstances whatever, the firing of grass on field or mountain. The 
al^lute necessity which exists for keeping as large a surface of the ground 
as possible covered with vegetation, in order to screen it from the solar rays, 
and thus to generate cold and humidity, that the radiation from the surface 
may not drive oft the moisture of the rain-bearing clouds in their season, 
ought to compel the rigid enforcement of such a legal provision. Those 



204 HTDBOLOOT OF SOUTH AFRIOA. 

colonial acts on this subject which are already in existence — ^for the Ck>lonial 
Parliament at the Cape has found it necessaiy to pass restrictive measures 
— are not sufficiently stringent to be of much service, inasmuch as they are 
not entirely prohibitory, permitting the burning of the field at certain* 
seasons of the year." 

This paper was submitted to the British Association for the advancement 
of Science. Dr Livingstone, who had given his attention more immediately 
to the desiccation resulting from the upheaval of the continent, wrote to 
him in regard to the paper : — " Beith, 20th September 1864. — 'h/Lj dear sir, 
— I did not hear your paper, but heard Sir Roderick Murchison speak very 
favourably of its merits, and I quite agree in the view you take of the 
desirableness of planting trees and preventing grass-burning, as well as 
making Artesian wells. And I am, &c., David Livingstone." 

The paper was subsequently submitted to the Royal Geographical Society. 
It was published in their Trcmsactions (Yol. x:xxv. 1865) ; and the following 
account of the discussion which took place on its being read was published 
under the authority of the Council of the Society in the journal of 
proceedings : — 

'* The President, Sir Roderick I. Murchison, said that to a great extent 
he thought Mr Wilson's conclusions were correct. He regretted the absence 
from the meeting of Mr Cyril Graham, who could have thrown much light 
upon the present subject. In his description of the r^on of Hauran, to 
the east of Damascus, this distinguished traveller and scholar had showed 
how this country, which in Scriptural times was filled with towns and 
contained an immense population, had, without any geological change 
whatever intervening, become an uninhabitable desert from the same causes 
as those pointed out by Mr Wilson. He knew, from his own observations 
in Russia, that the Volga had diminished in volume in consequence of the 
cutting down of the great forests on the Ural moimtains. Even in our own 
country the same process was in operation from the removal of timber and 
the drainage of lands. The remedies which Mr Wilson pointed out in refer- 
ence to Southern Africa seemed reasonable. He would, however, call upon 
some of the African travellers present to state what they knew onthe subject. 

" Dr Livingstone could agree with the author of the paper on several 
points, and on others he must suspend his judgment. There could be no 
doubt as to the main fact of the drying up of the country to which reference 
had been made. The small stream on which he settled at Kolobeng was 
flowing very abundantly when he first laid out its waters in order to irrigate 
a garden ; but in the course of two or three years it had entirely dried up. 
He ought to mention, however, that he had been informed since then that 
the stream had begun to flow again. In other cases, in that same district, 
fountains had dried up at such a remote period that no tradition existed of 
their ever having flowed, except in their names. No doubt these little 
streams did dry up and burst forth afresh ; but the more general desiccation 
to which he referred left no doubt on his mind that the whole country had 
once enjoyed a much more humid climate than now. He had traced 
himself, in his earlier travels, for long distances, the dry beds of very large 
rivers which had a general course from north to south instead of east and 
west, the prevailing direction of existing rivers. In one instance he came 
^ upon the dry channel of a river two or three miles broad. It was remark- 
able that the natives still called these dried up waterHK>urses by the name 



SBOONDART OAUSB OF BliaiOOATlOlf * 



205 



of riTers. In the dry bed of a large lake which he had disco veredj as well 
a£ in the bed of the river just mentioned, he found large nnmbers of freih* 
water shellB, which were of the same species as those now living in the 
waters of the interior. The change in the state of the conatiyj implied in 
the deaiccation of theae great Bt reams and lakeSj could not have been caused 
merely by the natives binning down trees and grass, though he admitted 
they did bum the gi'aSB extensively, so much so io certain months of the 
year that there was quite a haze over the whole conn try j which in Western 
Africa is called * the smokes/ One thing that struck him as very remark- 
able was thiSj that there must have been very large fresh -water lakes in the 
interior of the country, and that a very considerable difference of level had 
taken place since these lakes contained standing water. The only way in 
which he could account for their being drained off so completely is by the 
sudden opening of fissures by subterranean convulsion ; and he believed 
these fissures were of a similar nature and origm to those which now form 
the Victoria Falls. The fissure into which this great cataract plunges was 
evidently not the result of wearing away by the action of water, as in the 
case of Niagara. The edge over which the water falls shows no signs of 
wearing away, and the rock is quite perpendicular for 310 feet on all sides. 
The rock consists of hard basalt^ and a little to the east it has all the 
appearance of volcanic tufa. The author of the paper did not seem to 
know that many of his suggestions had already been adopted at the Cape, 
where immense quantities of Eucalypti were grown in the Bot-anic Garden 
for diatribntiou among those who wished to plant trees. In four years the 
tree grew to a height of twenty feet. The general desiccation of the country 
he attributed not so much to the cutting down of trees as to the elevation 
of the conn try J more especially on the west side of the continent. The 
ancient streams on the western side had ceased flowing to a greater extent 
than those on the cast, and he found the west coast had been elevated 
about 200 feet. Ho believed it was in the process of elevation that the 
fissures had let off the inland lakes. 

" Dr Kirk said the writer of the paper prc-supposed a state of popidation 
different from that which is found in any pai*t of Africa at the present day. 
In the tropical region that he visitedj on the Zambesi, there was abundance 
of wood on the hill-sides, and the average amount of population ; but he 
was sure the people alone could not complete the entire destruction of the 
forests. They used the wood for domestic purposes, but that did not in 
any way affect the average amount of vegetation in the countiy. Some 
other cause must be looked for to explain the progressing aridity of South 
Africa, but what that cause might be it was very diflicnlt to point out. He 
was inclined to believe that the original aridity both of the Sahara in the 
north and the Kalahari in the south was due to atmospheric currents- 
Enormous volumes of air rushed towards the interior of Africa from both 
sides. This air must come down somewhere, after depositing its moisture 
in its ascent ; and wherever it strikes the earth it will come down very dry. 
It was probable that in the north it came down on the Sahara desert^ and 
in the south on the Kalahari. 

** Mr Galton said the author of the paper had omitted to ejcplain why the 
destruction of timber had progressed more rapidly in recent times. It was 
probably to he accounted for by two separate causes* A few centuries ago 
the population of that part of South Africa of which he spoke consisted 



» 



206 HTDBOLOOT OV SOUTH AIBIOUL 

a considerable difference between the habits of the two races. The Hotten- 
tots are eminently natty and saving, the Cafires eminently wastefid ; and 
from that cause wo might conclude that more timber would have been cut 
down in recent times than formerly. Another cause of greater importance 
was the free introduction of iron. Axes are now to be had everywhere 
throughout South Africa, where formerly iron was a rarity ; and the conse- 
quence is, that the wood is cut down much more readily than heretofore, 
for making camp-fires and protection for the cattle. 

'' Colonel G. Balfour stated that during the course of the investigation 
into the public works of India, on which he served twelve years ago, evidence 
was brought before the commission that the effect of cutting down trees was to 
diminish the moisture of the coimtry. At the same time his brother, Dr 
Balfour (Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals, Madras Presidency), under- 
took an investigation into the effect of cutting down trees on the sources of 
springs, and the notes, which he drew up, on the influence exercised by trees 
in inducing rain and preserving moisture, satisfactorily proved that in many 
instances springs which had dried up had been found to open again on the 
trees growing up. The Report was printed by the Government of Madras, 
and considered of such value that it was extensively circulated, with a view 
to further inquiries being made ; but the results of these investigations have 
not yet been made public. He (CoL Balfour) had also observed the effect, 
on the rainfall, of the want of trees in different parts of southern India. 
He might mention a tract of country, the Ceded Districts of the Madras 
Presidency, as large as Ireland, where there is scarcely a tree to be seen, 
and that area has a smaller proportion of rain that any other part of India. 
When ho passed through Aden in 1862 he was informed by the officer in 
charge of political affairs there, that in consequence of the opening of tanks 
the trees had increased considerably, and the supply of water for the use of 
the troops and people had also much increased. He had been informed 
that morning, that in the West Indies the Government of Trinidad had 
passed a law prohibiting the cutting down of trees near the capital, in order 
to ensure a supply of rain. 

" Lord Stratford de Redcliffo, on being invited by the President to relate 
a circumstance which had come under his knowledge, said, most people who 
were acquainted with Constantinople and its neighbourhood were aware that 
the capital was supplied by water contained in reservoirs attached to streams 
that pass through a district called the Forest of Belgrade. Some years ago 
permission was given to cut down the timber in this forest : speculatcurs took 
advantage of the Sultan's permission, to cut it down largely. The conse- 
quence was soon felt : the reservoirs began to fail, and the Government was 
obliged to interfere and to restrict its permission, in order to prevent the 
drying up of the springs, which seemed so inevitable a consequence of 
depriving them of the shade of trees. — The meeting then adjourned.'' 

I accept most of the views thus expressed, and more than one of them 
are views which I have otherwise been led to embrace. I hold with Dr 
Livingstone, as preceding statements show, that the primary cause of the 
desiccation of South Africa has been the upheaval of the land. I am not 
prepared to question the statements of Dr Kirk in regard to the effect of 
atmospheric currents on the Sahara and the Kalahari ; and I receive the 
testimony of Sir Roderick Murchison, Mr Galton, Colonel Balfour, and Lo»d 
Stratford de Beddiffe, to the observations cited by them, as in aocordanoe 



iEOOHPABT CAUSE OF BESlOOATION. 



aoT 



with the liBw^ to "whicli I have heen led — first by' yague statements brought 
under my attention j and then by deduction, or a pt'iori reasoning — and in 
which I hayo been coofirmed by explicit testimony. By Mai'sh, in bis Yalu- 
able treatiBOj an abundance of facte have been given in illustration of the 
influence of forests on the flow o*prings being in accordance with these 
observations. 



I have spoken of the drying up of lakes, and a diminiabed flow of stream! eta 
and streams, as consequences which have followed the destruction of forests, 
and of herbage and bush by fire ; but I attributed the same consequenceB, 
to some extent, to the destruction latterly of bush and herbage by sheep. 
The following statement on this subject occurs in an article by Dr Rubidge, 
of Port Elizabeth, on some of the evils of over-pasturing the countiy, which 
appeared in the Eastern Prmyince MontMy Magamie :~^^ Sir Thomas Lyell 
Baja that Spain is fast being ruined by its lai-ge flocks of Merinos — he 
describes changes which the country has undergone, similar to those noted 
by the occupiers of recently settled districts in this country. Sheep, it is 
well known, crop the grass close ; and in dry and sandy soils pull it up by 
the roots — thus laying the soil bare, and exposing it to be washed away by 
the heavy rains. MoreovCFj sheep tread much in the same tracks, and thus 
form little paths which serve aa drains to convey the water away rapidly 
from the surface into the brooks, which, swollen into temporary rivers, waslx 
away the sedges that impeded their course. The consequences of this too 
rapid drainage of the bared soil are, that little water sinks iu to nourish the 
roots of the grasses and usofal plants, and less soaks through the soil to 
replenish the springs, — so that in many overworked farms some of the 
springs no longer yield so much water as they formerly did, while others 
have entirely failed. The destruction of the grass and small bushes, and 
the quick drainage prevent the retention of the water on the surface, and 
its slow but continuous evaporation, thus probably diminishing the quantity 
of rain which falls. The rivors, as weD aa the smaller streamSj undergo a 
change. In former times, the sedges and long grass which grew on the 
sides of the small tributaries of the Zeekoe and Sun day *8 Eivers afforded 
cover to the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus^ and the buffalo, — whereas now 
a spring-buck coidd scarce hide himself, A farmer is, or lately was, living, 
who had seen palmiots in the Sunday's Eiver, above Graaff-licinetj where 
numerous large holes of water occurred in ita bed. Those who have not 
visited districts either more recently occupied or lesa pastured by sheep, 
can scarce believe that Sunday's and Fish Rivers, which now flow in such 
deep channeisj formerly ran almost level with their banks, which were 
fringed by a luxuriant growth of sedge and palmiet," 

The aame thing is referred to in a letter addressed to mo while at the 
Cape by J. H. Davis, Esq., Colosbergj on grasses and herbage found in the 
Sour, the Sweet, and the Mixed veldt a^ and the Karroo, cited in a letter 
appended to Keport of the Colonial Botanist for 1864, in which, speaking of 
the gentle undulating country extending from the Sneewberg mountains to 
the Orange Eiver^ reckoned by many amongst the prime sheep-walks of the 
Colony, he says, — " The most luxuriant grasay parts of the sweet veldt arc 
generally plains nearly horijsontal, which, not having a quick watershed, 
retain much moisture \ and the light sandy soil, lying frequently but a few 
inches thick upon the hard Karroo soil below, is preserved from being 
washed away — for it may be observed almo&t everywherej that where 



HTDBOLOOT OV 0OUTH AVBIGA. 

these plains are inclined^ even at a low angle^ the li^t top soil does 
get wadied away, leaying the hard earth below exposed at the surface, and 
wherever this takes place the grass disappears, and the heaths, with other 
short scrubby plants, spring up. This change appears to me to be rapidly 
taking place in this part of the Colony ; and it is promoted, perhaps often 
induced, by the feet of the sheep ; they make little paths in every direction, 
and the water flows in these paths as so many little channels, washing away 
all the light earth, and then the grass roots get exposed and gradaaUy 
disappear. Many farms which I remember fifteen or sixteen years ago to 
have been rich in grass are now almost bare of it, even in the most favour- 
able seasons ; and this process is, I believe, gradually but surely passing 
over the whole country, wherever sheep are introduced." 

On the Continent of Europe an effect similar to what is here spoken of is 
found to be produced upon a larger scale by forest slid pads. These are 
occasionaUy converted into runnels and streams, and to the extent of their 
measure they tend to create torrents, against the production of which no 
better protection can be found, if better could be desired, than are forests 
and plantations of herbage and bush and trees. 



Section IV. — Infect of Denudation of the Country on the Bainfall. 

Thus far attention has been given to the effect of the destruction of 
forests, and herbage, and bush in promoting desiccation, by removing an 
important check upon evaporation. But this is not the only consequence 
affecting the hydrology of the country which must have followed the long- 
continued and extensive destruction of these which has been carried on. 
Amongst other consequences which must have followed may be reckoned 
the effect of this destruction on the rainfall, and the effect of it upon the soil. 

Observations have been made which seem to show that over a great 
extent of country, and over an extended period of time, little effect has been 
produced on the total rainfall by very extensive destruction of forests. 
But this is not incompatible with these forests and the destruction of them 
having exerted an important influence on the distribution of the rainfall, 
both in time and space. And thus may be harmonized the observations 
referred to with observations which have given rise to prevalent popular 
opinions on the subject. 

It is a prevalent opinion that trees attract rain, or attract clouds, and so 
increase the rainfall. I do not consider it probable that they do so ; 'but 
this is a matter which must be determined by the testimony of the rain- 
guage, and not by a priori reasoning on the subject. Such testimony we 
have not ; and I do not see when or how we are likely to obtain the testi- 
mony required. The rainfall would require to be noted for years in the 
same locality covered with forests, and afterwards denuded of fbrests, or 
one bare of trees and afterwards covered with plantations, — and even then 
it might be questioned whether this would supply testimony sufficient of 
itself to establish the point. 

The rainfall depends on the coincidence of a great many circumstances 
and combination of influences, — the absence or undue preponderance of any 
one or more of which may affect the result. And the observations which 
have been made up to the present are apparently, fix)m want of attention 
to this^ somewhat conflicting. 



BEOONBABT OAUBB OF DESIOOATION, 2Q9 

I think it not improbable tliat there will be a greater rainfall where thero 
IB abundance of forest, in consequence of the same moisture being precipi- 
tated and evaporated and precipitated again and again, as morning after 
morning the glass of a Wardian case is bedewed on the inside with moisture 
which is evaporated as the warmth of the day is increased, but only to be 
again deposited as the cold of the night comes on. This is something 
different from what can be called the attraction of clouds ; but the rain thus 
occasioned would not be less efficient in promoting vegetation than would 
rain falling from clouds attracted from afar, and I attach much more 
importance to *he abundant moisture indicated by repeated depositions of 
the same water than I do to any power which forests may have, or may be 
supposed to have, to attract clouds froih any distance — ^great or small. 

I find an opinion in exact accordance with that which I have formed on ^ 
the subject expressed in the following statement by Marsh : — " The effect 
of the forest on precipitation then is by no means free from doubt, and we 
cannot positively affinn that the total annual quantity of rain is even locally 
diminished or increased by the destruction of the woods, though both j 
theoretical considerations and the balance of testimony strongly favour the 
opinion that more rain falls in wooded than in open coimtries. One import- 
ant conclusion, at least, upon the meteorological influence of forests is 
certain and undisputed, — the proposition, namely, that within their own 
limits, and near their own borders, they maintain a more uniform degree of 
humidity in the atmosphere than is observed in cleared groimds. Scarcely 
less can it be questioned that they tend to promote the frequency of 
showers, and if they do not augment the amount of precipitation they 
probably equalize its distribution through the different seasons." 

In accordance with what is thus stated the following statements are 
subjoined in foot-notes : — " Among recent writers, Clav6, Schacht, Sir John 
F. W. Hershel, Hohenstein, Barth, Asbjoerensen, Boussingault, and others, 
maintain that forests tend to produce rain and clearings to diminish it, and 
they refer to munerous facts of observation in support of this doctrine j but 
in none of these does it appear that these observations are supported by 
actual pluviometrical measure. So far as I know, the earliest expression 
of the opinion that forests promote precipitation is that attributed to 
Christopher Columbus, in the Historie del S, B J Fernando Golomhoy Venecia, 
1571, Cap. LVIII, where it is said that the Admiral ascribed the daily 
showers which fell in the West Indies about vespers to ^ the great forests 
and trees of those countries,' and remarked that the same effect was 
formerly produced by the same cause in the Canary and Madeira Islands 
and in the Azores, but that *now that the many woods and trees that 
covered them have been felled, there are not produced so many clouds and 
rains as before.' 

" M. H. Harrisse, in his very learned and critical essay, Femand Colombo 
savie et 868 (Euvres, Paris, 1872, has made it at least extremely probable 
tiiat the Historie is a spurious work. The compiler may have found this 
observation in some of the writings of Columbus now lost, but, however 
that may be, the fact, which Humboldt mentions in Cosmos with much 
interest, still remains, that the doctrine in question was held, if not by the 
great discoverer himself, at least by one of his pretended biographers as early 
as the year 1571." 

And again, — ** The strongest direct evidence which I am able to refer to 

20 



in snpporl'Of tite proporition that the woods pfoduoeemi a local an^oMiita^ 
tion of predpitation is famished by the observations of Mathien, sab-direotor 
of the Forest School at Nanoj. His pluviometrioal measurements, continued 
tot three years, 1866-1868, showed that during that period the annual mean 
of rainfall in the centre of the wooded district of Cinq-Tranch^es, at Belle 
Fontaine on the borders of the forest, and at Amauce, in an open cultiyated 
teirritorf in the same vicinity, was respectively as the numbers 1000, 957, 
and 853. 

** The aUeged augmentation of rain&ll in Lower Egypt, in consequence 
of large plantations by Mehemet Ali, is veiy frequently appealed to as a 
proof of this influence of the forest, and this case has become a regular 
conmionplace in all discussions of the question. It is, however, open to 
the same objection as the alleged instances of the diminution of precipita- 
tion in consequence of the felling of the forest. 

** This supposed increase in the frequency and quantity of rain in Xower 
Egypt is, I think, an error, or at least not an established fact. I have 
heanl it disputed on the spot by intelligent Franks, whose residence in 
that country began before the plantations of Mehemet Ali and Ibrahim 
Pacha, and I have been assured by them that meteorological observations, 
made at Alexandria about the beginning of this century, show an anniuid 
fall of rain as great as is usual at this day. The mere fact that it did not 
rain during the French occupation is not conclusive. Having experienced 
a gentle shower of nearly twenty-four hours duration in Upper Egypt, I 
inquired of the local governor in relation to the frequency of this pheno- 
mena, and was told by him that not a drop of rain had fedlen at that point 
for more than two years previous. 

*' This belief in the increase of rain in Egypt rests almost entirely on the 
observations of Marshal Marmont, and the evidence collected by him in 
1836. His conclusions have been disputed, if not confuted, by Jomard and 
others, and are probably erroneous." And he refers to Foissao MeUaroloffte, 
Qerman Translation (pp. 634-^639) in support of what is said. 

Foissac, in his Meteorologie mit Rikhgigkt auf die Lekere vom Koemoif 
translated into German by A. H. Emsman, and published in Leipzig in 
1859-*the work cited by Mr Marsh, Kloden, in his MandbuchderFkyeiachm 
Oeograpkdey and Belgrand, in a paper Be tlnfltience des Fdrete eur Vecovl&> 
mmU dee Eantx pluviales, in Annals dee PonU et Chaus^eaj 1854, Ist 
Semiestre, — ^have all expressed opinions somewhat opposed to tiie opiniona 
more generally received. But there is nothing advanced even by them at 
variance with what I have alleged. All that can be said at present is that 
the evidence is conflicting as to the fSsu^t whether forests do or do not increase 
the rainfSal]. If it be sufficient to established as a fact that they have done 
sb, and that they do so in certain circumstances, there is a lack of evid^ice 
that they do so invariably and in all circumstances, or even generally^ 
which is the matter in question. 

: But while that question remains undecided, awaiting the testimony of 
tiie rain-gauge through a series of years in the same locality, with and with- 
out a forest around, there are matters of more importance which can mean- 
while; and that even now, be determined. 

In connection with illustrations previously given of the aridity which has 
been attained in South Africa, I have cited deluges of rain as of occasional 
tKKmaBm99. I night have q^kenoftiMOztraae aridiify aodtt^^ 



SSOOXOiSX OAUaX OF DaSIOOATION. 



Sll 



^ 






i 



rain as being both of them ctuiraoteriBilo of the meteorology of extendTd 
diatricta of South Africa. These deluj^ea of mm often are accompanied by 
thunder, the cause or occaaioa of both may be coiisidored aa the same, and 
the precipitation of the rain in torrents may be attributed to the disturbance 
of the electric equlibriunij though it owed not to this its depo&itiou in the 
clouds. 

From the occurreuce of these it appears that there ia even iu the dryest 
atmosphere iu South Afilca sufficient moisture to produce such pheuomeua, 
Dr Moffat, writing of the eflects in 2^amaqualand of winds from the north, 
say a, — " These winda, I hare learned from inquiry, come fi'om within, the 
tropica, where rain has faUen, and the cool air thereby produced rushes 
southward over the plains, filling up the space caused by the refraction of 
the air, owing to the appmach of the sun to the tropic of Capricom, The 
more boisterous those winds arc, the more reason we have to expect rain. 
They cannot extend to auy great height, as the thunder stonns which follow, 
and which often commence with a small cloud in the opposite direction, 
increasing into mountains of snow, with a tinge of yellow, pursue an opposite 
course. These are preceded by a dead stilhiess, which continues till the 
tornado bursts upon us with awful Yiolence, and the clouds have discharged 
their watery treasures, In such a case there are almost always two strata 
of clouds J frequently moTing in opposite directions. The higher mountain- 
like masses, with their edges exactly defined, going one way, while the 
feelers, or loose misty vapour beneath, convulsed, and rolling in fearful 
Telocity, are going another ; while the peala of thunder are such as to make 
the very ear);h tremble." 

At this point I might close my quotation^ but what follows has an import- 
ant hearing on the subject i^— " The lightning is of three descriptions, one kind 
passing from cloud to cloud ; thia is seldom accompanied with any rain, 
Another kind is the forked^ which may be seen passing through a cloud, 
and striking the earth * this is considered the most dangerous. The most 
common, not always accompanied by rain, is what we are in the habit of 
calling stream or chain-lightning. This appears to rise from the earth in 
figures of various shapes, crooked, zigzag, and oblique ; and sometimes like 
a waterspout at sea ; it continues several seconds, while the ohsenrcr can 
disti|ictly see it dissolve in pieces like a broken chain* The pei^ietual roar 
of awful thunder on these occasions may be conceived, when twenty or more 
of these flashes may be counted in one minute. The lightning may also bo 
seen passing upwards through the dense mass of vapour, and branching out 
like the limbs of a naked tree in the blue sky above, In such storms the 
rain frequently falls in torrents^ and nins off very rapidly, not moistening 
the earth, e^ccept in sandy plains, more than six inches deep/* 

The whole phenomena, from the formation of the cloud at so great a 
distance from the sea, isolated and unconnected with clouds extending 
from the ocean thither, to the precipitation of the deluge of rain, appear to 
have been occasioned by a temporary disturbance and intermixture of the 
two aerial currents passing overhead between the equator and the poles* 

The nai-rative recalls to raie much that I heard of the breaking up of the 
drought iu 1862, In particular am I reminded of an account which appeared 
in the colonial newspapers of the day, of the clouds and of the deluges of 
rain which in a time almost incredibly brief darkened and flooded the lands 
of the Lang Kloof, And what occurred there appears to have been but a 
lype of storms which eyetywhere flooded the colony, caixying away bridgesi 



S12 HnmoLOGT ov south jjmoiu 

destroying roads, undermining houses, and in other ways threatening to 
double the damage done to the colony by the preceding drought. 

All the moistiu^ was there, and there had been, it may be, as much 
throughout the whole continuance of the drought — ^but the aerial currents 
referred to pursued each its course undisturbed, and rain there was none. Now 
they dashed into each other, and the rain was deposited in a deluge. And the 
disturbance did not stop all at once, it was a year and more before the 
currents regained their stable force and direction. 

These rains tell of the quantity of moisture which was in the atmosphere 
covering the regions of regular rain ; and the torrents tell of the same in 
the same, or in the intermediate zone, of diminished rain. After such 
deluges of rain there comes rolling down the river-bed, or water-course, a 
wave which carries all before it, like the wave of an Alpine torrent ; the 
waters which follow seem to swell as they flow — ^but this phenomenon is less 
impressive than the wave, and hence comes the form of expression in 
general use. The state of some of the rivers crossed by me in the tour I 
have referred to — for example, that of Tarka — ^flowing on for days fix>m 20 
to 25 feet in depth, where in general the depth is only, as it was immediately 
before, 16 inches, may give some idea of what is occasionally seen in South 
Africa, and prepare the reader for what might otherwise prove more 
astounding facts. 

Captain Hall, in his Manual of South African Geography^ states that he 
''has seen the bed of the Great Fish River perfectly d^, and within twenty- 
four hours a torrent, thirty feet deep and several hundred feet wide, was 
roaring through it. In February 1848 the Rat River suddenly rose upwards 
of fifty feet in a few hours, sweeping seventeen feet above the roadway of a 
stone bridge, at Fort Beaufort, supposed to have been built high enough to 
leave a clear way to the highest flood ever before remembered." 

A gentleman engaged in civil engineering in Kaffraria, with whom I had 
an opportunity of talking over the subject of river-pumps, and who had 
given special attentiou to the flow of rivers in the Colony, informed me that 
the mean greatest rise in a number of rivers in that district was twenty- 
eight feet ; but he told me of a maximum rise of sixty feet ; and I have 
gone over the scene of devastation occasioned at Hankey, by the sudden rise 
of the Gamtoos River a short time before to a height of seventy feet above 
its usual level. 

Whence come these waters ? From clouds formed in a cloudless sky by 
• a deposition of moisture, from transparent air occasioned by a slight distur- 
bance and intermixture of the aerial ciurents passing overhead between the 
equator and the poles ! All that moisture must have been there, as other- 
wise it could not have been deposited — ^there though invisible, — and 
destruction instead of fertility has been the consequenee of its precipitation 
in a deluge, falling, it may have been, in the course of an hour and on a 
spot of limited extent,— whereas, had it been diffused over a district an 
hundred times more extensive, and fallen in genial showers at mtervals 
extendmg over months, it had brought blessing both to man and beast. 
Now It IS alleged, and that not without reason, that this is the normal state 
of the ramfall over a country covered with trees or other vegetation, and 
that that which makes the rainfall productive often of evil in South Africa is 

^^'^'^^r^l^'Z^I!^ 1^ '^^*^^ ^'^^^^^^ ^^ devoid of vegetation. If 
Bi^be *l^«/^«^^^,the extensive destruction of tree, ^d bush, and 
teta^e, and gtaas, uot only tended to promote that evaporation bTwhich 



CmOONDABT 0A17BB OF DEBXOOATION. 313 

ihia desiccation of the soil lias produced the aridity which exists, but it has 
tended to confine the rainfall, by which that desiccation might have been 
counteracted, to such limited times and limited spots, that almost the whole 
is carried oflf by gravitation to the sea, working destruction and ruin by the 
way, instead of causing it to be so diffused in time and space that the earth 
over an extensive district, " drinking in the rain coming offc upon it, should 
bring forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed." 

To know the evil in its magnitude and its extent, and to know the pro- 
ducing cause and occasion of it, may lead to recovery. The Lord " tumeth 
rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground ; a fruitful 
land into barrenness, for the wickedness [or want of attention to his laws] 
of them that dwell therein." Again — " He tumeth the wilderness into a 
standing water and dry ground into water-springs. And there He maketh 
the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation ; and sow 
fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield finiits and increase. . . , 
Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand 
the loving-kindness of the Lord." 



Section V. — Effect of Denvdation of the Courvtry on the Eydroscopidty 

of the Soil, 

The soil, exposed to the chemical rays of light, undergoes a change 
whereby its power of retaining moisture is greatly reduced; and thus also, 
as well as by its effect on the rainfall, may the destruction of forests, and 
bush, and herbage by fire, have promoted the desiccation of the country. 
Beference has been made to the absorbing power of the air being, in 
the specified circumstances, greater than the retentive power of the soil to 
prevent the desiccation of moist soil by a dry atmosphere. But it is also 
the case that several salts, such as carbonate of potash, muriate of lime, 
and even table salt, absorb moisture from what may seem to be a dry air — 
such as is the dry air in a house — and deliquesce or dissolve in the moisture 
they thus absorb. The same affinity for moisture in different degrees is 
exercised by different substances, and it can be shown that moisture 
is absorbed from the atmosphere, irrespective of rain or dew, by humus, a 
product of vegetable decomposition, and is retained by it in a state in which 
it is fitted to prompte vegetation. But humus, it is alleged, is decomposed 
and eliminated from the soil, when this is exposed to the solar ray, one 
constituent of which induces chemipal action. 

In a paper on the Philosophy of Arboriculture, by the Rev Br Macvicar, 
of Moffat, who was the original editor of the Quarterly Journal of Agriml- 
ture, issued by the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, and 
subsequently resided in Ceylon, where he had opportunities for prosecuting 
researches upon which he had previously entered, the writer remarks, in 
regard to effects following the destruction of forests, — " The soil when 
stript of the clothing which the forest aflbrded, and exposed naked to the 
heat of the sunbeam, changes very rapidly from the rich mould which the 
long-continued fall of the leaf in the forest had made it, and becomes very 
unproductive. Had occasional trees in the forest been left to give shade 
daring part of the day, the destination of the carbon in the mould would 
have b^n to have been slowly converted into carbonic acid, and so to supply 
food to the successive crops growing on the soil; as they required it. But 



814 

'wlieli tho Bdahwin is left to Inreak in ita ftiB tano. on* .the mil •■fl'thi^ Itttig, 
it bonis the oarfoon in the soil irith great rapidity into caiiwnio aeid ; Bind 
this gaa, unless there be in the soil some oxide haying an a&iity to it to 
retain it, goes off in gas, injuring the salubrity of the air perhaps, and at 
all events wholly impoverishing the soil, — ^for (carbonic acid is the principal 
food of all plants. The same course of things, it might be tihown, happens 
with regard to ammonia ; and thus, both as itself the immediate foibd of 
plants uid as that which by oxidation yields nitre, ammonia is lost. Thus 
the indiscriminate destruction of forest over any great breads of oonntry, 
if that countiy have plenty of sunshine, is a great eviL" 

If it be so, then would it appear the thinness of the superficial layer, of 
soil covering the pot clay throughout extensive districts c^ihe Colony of the 
Gape of Good Hope and of regions beyond, subjected to the solar rays felling 
tlirough a dry atmosphere, doudless and singularly trani^rent, and the 
small store of humus in that soil, cannot be held as evidence that no forests 
ever covered these districts if there be counter indications that the oontiaiy 
must have been at one time the case. 

In correspondence with Dr Macvicar on the subject, he wrote to me, — 
" As to the point to which you refer — ^the rapid generation in the soil, and 
the vaporization from it of ammonia and carbonic add, under the impact of 
the tropical sunbeams and breezes, — I do not remember to have seen it 
dwelt upon by any writer, though both in the writings of Boussingault and of 
Liebig it is implied ; and it is an inevitable consequence of the eremacausis 
or the slow combustion of organic matter. It is familiarly verified by the 
process of bleaching. Even with such simshine ^ we have in this country 
the organic matter which imparts colour to tissues is carried off much more 
rapidly in the sunbeam than out of it ; and it can only be carried off as 
carbonic acid and ammonia: that is, it is not merely changed from 
coloured to colourless, as is proved by the loss of weight which the web has 
sustained when it is bleached. In this country we have generally less sunshine 
than we require, and, except in fallows, the surface of the soil is never lefb 
bare. Hence the effect of the impact of the sunbeam has been but little 
considered. But from what I have observed in the tropics, I am persuaded 
that its power of affecting plant food in the neighbourhood, by the destruc- 
tion of the fertility of every surface that is left bare, is very great. It 
intensifies to a wonderful extent that action of the incumbent atmosphere 
by which the carbon and hydrogen in the soil unite with the oxygen and 
nitrogen of the air, and give moisture, carbonic acid, and ammonia almost 
immediately after, if they be not utilized on the spot where they are gene- 
rated, dispersing all but that quantum which the soil can retain at a 
temperature of perhaps 140 or 150 F., which is not much." 

Thus can we account for the fact that the destruction of trees not 
only deprives the land of the shade which they afford, - but, if the 
ground be not speedily covered again with vegetation, the soil is im- 
poverished. Under favourable circumstances a forest destroyed by fire 
renews itself rapidly and permanently. This was the case after an 
extensive destructive fire which occurred at Miramichi in 1826 ; but it is 
not always the case. Marsh says, " Between sixty and seventy years ago, a 
steep mountain with which I am familiar, composed of metamorphic rock, 
and at that time covered with a thick coating of soil and a dense primeval 
forest, was accidentally bmned over. The fire took place in a very dry 
^gieasoiLj tiie slope of Ux^ mountain was too rapid-to retain vmok wateiyand 



the conflagratioii was of an extraordinarily fierce character, consuming the 
wood almost entirely, burning the leaves and combustible portion of the 
mould and in many places cracking and disintegrating the rock beneath. 
The rains o! the following autumn carried off much of the remaining soil, 
and the mountain side was nearly bare of wood for two or three years after- 
wards. At length a jiew crop of trees sprung up and grew vigourously, and 
the mountain is now thickly covered again. But the depth of mould and 
earth is too small to allow the trees to reach maturity. When they attain 
to the diameter of about six inches they uniformly die, and thus they will 
no doubt continue to do until the decay of leaves and wood on the surface, 
and the decomposition of the subjacent rock, shall have formed, perhaps 
hundifeds of years hence, a stratum of soil thick enough to support a fiill 
grown forest. Under favourable conditions, however, as in the case of the 
fire of Miramiohi, a burned forest renews itself rapidly and permanently." 

In this way does the destruction of forests, and more especially the des- 
sthietion of forests by fire, tend to promote the desiccation of a countiy, so 
far by combustion and further by exposure of the humus to decomposition 
by the son's rays, destroying one of the constituents of the soil wfaioh' 
exercises great retentive power on its moisture. 

The effects of forests on evaporation, absorption^ and infiltration of water 
is a subject which has engaged much of the attention of students of forest 
economy in France engaged in the employment of rehoiseTnent and gazonne- 
merU, or the replenishing denuded districts with forest, and herbage, and 
bush, as means of preventing the occurrence of the devastating effects of 
moimtain torrents and inund&ti(ms, and their oonolusions are m aeeordance 
with those now advanced; but ^KMig^ has- been adduced for my present 
purpose. 



216 HTDBOLOOT OP BOXSm AIBIOA. 



PART III.-ARIDITY OF SOUTH AFRICA AND WATER SUPPLY. 

The primary and principal cause of the desiccation and consequent aridity 
of South Africa appears to have been, and to be, the elevation of the land^ 
and the consequent flow of the water which falls upon it as rain, by gravitei- 
tion to the sea. The secondary cause of that desiccation and consequent 
aridity appears to have been, and to be, the evaporation of remaining water, 
by which the aridity has been brought to the degree it has attained,?— the 
desiccation thus completed having been promoted by the long-continued 
destruction of forests, and bush, and herbage, and grass, chiefly but not 
exclusively by fire. And I would now renew an attempt to communicate 
information in regard to the degree of aridity which has been the result. 



CHAPTER I. 



ABmiTY AND WATER SUPPLY BEYOND THE COLONIZED PORTION OP 
• SOUTH AFRIOA. 



Section I. — Aridity beyond the Colonized p(yiiii<m of Sovih Africa^ 

We have a description given by Dr Livingstone of the terrible drought 
that interrupted his initiatory labours as a Christian missionary when he 
established himself on the Kolobeng River, in the Bakwain territory, before 
he set out on his extensive journeys in the land to the north. This descrip- 
tion may give some idea of the aridity which has followed the desiccation 
of the country, and of the consequences of long-continued drought. After 
describing his dam-making and other operations during the first year of his 
residence there, he proceeds, — " But in our second year again no rain came. 
In the third the same extraordinary drought followed. Indeed, not ten 
inches of rain fell during these two years, and the Kolobeng ran dry ; so 
many fish were killed that the hysenas from the whole country round 
collected to the feast, and were unable to finish the putrid masses. A large 
old alligator, which had never been known to commit any depredations, waa 
found left high and dry in the mud among the victims. The fourth year 
was equally unpropitious, the fall of rain being insufficient to bring the 
grain to maturity. Nothing could be more trying. We dug down in the 
bed of the river deeper and deeper as the water receded, striving to get a 
little to keep the fruit-trees alive for better times, but in vain. Needles 
lying out of doors for months did not rust ; and a mixture of sulphuric acid 
and water^ used in a galvanic battery, parted with all its water to the air, 
iatftead of imbibiDg more ficom iti oa i^ \70uld have done in England. The 



ABIDITT AND WATKB SUPPLY* 217 

leaves of indigenons trees were all drooping, soft, and shiiyened, though not 
dead ; and those of the MunossD were closed at mid-day the same as they 
are at night. In the midst of this dreary drought, it was wonderful to see 
those tiny creatures, the ants, running about with their accustomed vivacity. 
I put the bulb of a thermometer three inches under the soil in the sun at 
mid-day, and found the mercury to stand at 132° to 134°; and if certain 
kinds of beetles were placed on the surface, they ran about a few seconds 
and expired ; but this broiling heat only augmented the activity of the long- 
legged black ants." 

Mr Helmore, who afterwards was stationed at Likatlong, made a journey 

with his wife and family into a region much further to the north — a 

journey imdertaken in the prosecution of their Christian enterprise, but 

a journey from which they never returned. Some idea of the aridity of 

the land may be formed from the following accounts of their sufferings 

from thirst, given in letters from his noble-hearted wife — ^the first a letter 

addressed to the sister of her husband, the second one addressed to her 

daughter in England, in school — the last she wrote. To her sister-in-law 

she wrote from Latlakane : — " I write this in a pretty little hut, 14 feet by 

12, built by your brother. The walls are of palmyra wood, and it is 

thatched with palmyra leaves, so it answers literally to the name we have 

given it — Palmyra Lodge, and though rough-looking on the outside it forms 

a delightful shelter from the scorching rays of the sun. I should tell you 

that it is * hartebeest ' shape, and has a window at each end, with thin 

calico instead of glass. I only wish I were in a hut of similar description, 

but of larger dimensions, north of the Zambesi, instead of being still 200 

miles south of it, with the prospect of another six weeks' journey ; but I must 

be patient, and leave fearing for the future to record the mercies of the past. 

" The last stage of our journey has been without exception the most 

trying time of travelling I have experienced in Africa. We are now within 

the tropics, and on a journey we are more exposed than in a house ; the 

leat during the day is intense, 102° in the shade, and it often affects me with 

faintness and giddiness ; but the early mornings are still pleasantly cool. 

We may expect rain this month, and are longing for it, as those only can 

long who have travelled through a dry and parched wilderness where no 

water is. Our poor oxen were at one time four, at another five, days 

without drink. It was quite painful to see how tame they were rendered 

by thirst ; they crowded round the waggons, licking the water-casks, and 

putting their noses down to the dishes and basins, and then looked up to 

our faces, as if asking for water. We suffered very much ourselves froin 

thirst, being obliged to economize the little we had in our vessels, not 

knowing when we should get more. We had guides, but they either could 

not or would not give us any information. 

" Tuesday the 6th inst. was one of the most trying days I ever passed. 
About sunrise, the poor oxen, which had been painfully dragging the heavy 
waggons through the deep sand during the night, stopping now and then to 
draw breath, gave signs of giving up altogether. We had not gone as many 
miles as we had travelled hours. My husband now resolved to remain 
behind with one waggon and a single man, while I and the children and the 
rest of the people went forward with all the oxen, thinking that we should 
certainly reach water by night. We had had a very scant supply the day 
before; the men had not tasted drink since breakfast until late in the 
evening. We divided a bottleful among four of them. There now remained 

£d 



318 HIPBOIiOOT OV 8017TH 4miGA. 

fixe bot^ea of water.; I g^ve .my.^xiB^aiid tbree, .«)xl,.r6Cf«FVBdMt^rfoi'.o(be 
children, expecting that we should get water first. It was a sorra^«ful 
parting, for we were all faint &om thirst, and of course eating was out of 
the question; we were afraid even to do anything lest exercise should 
aggravate our thirst. After dragging slowly on for four hours the heat 
obUged us to stop. 

" The poor chfldren continually asked for water ; I put them oflF -aa long 
as I could, and when they could be denied no longer; doled th^, ^eoious 
fluid out a spoonful at a time to each of them. Poor Selina and Henry isried 
bitterly. Willie bore up manfully, but his simken eyes showed how much 
he suflfered. Occasionally I observed a convulsive twitching of his features, 
showing what an effort he was making to restrain his feelings. As for dear 
Lizzie, she did not utter a word of complaint, nor even asked for watet, but 
lay all the day on the ground perfecUy quiet, her lips quite parohed and 
blackened. About sunset we made another attempt, and got on about five 
miles. The people then proposed going on with the oxen in search of water, 
promising to return with a supply to the waggon, but I urged their resting 
a little and then making another attempt, that we might possibly get near 
enough to walk on to it. They yielded, tied up the poor oxen to prevent 
their wandering, and lay down to sleep, having tasted neither food nor 
drink all day. None of us could eat. I gave the children a little dried 
fruit, slightly acid, in the middle of the day, but thirst took away all desire 
to eat. Once in the course of the afternoon dear Willie, after a desperate 
effort not to cry, suddenly asked me if he might go and drain the bottles. 
Of course I consented, and presently he called out to me with much eagerness 
that he had 'found some.' Poor little fellow! it must have been little 
indeed, for his sister Selina had drained them already. Soon after he called 
out that he had found another bottle of water. You can imagine the 
disappointment when I told him it was cocoa-nut oil melted by the heat. — 
But this is a digression : I must go back to our outspanning about nine p.m. 
The water was long since gone, and, as a last resource, just before dark, I 
divided among the children half a teacupful of wine and water, which I had 
been reserving in case I should feel faint. They were revived by it, and 
said, ' how nice it was,' though it scarcely allayed their thirst. Henry at 
length cried himself to sleep, and the rest were dozing feverishly. It was 
a beautiful moonlight night, but the air hot and sultry. I sat in front of 
the waggon unable to sleep, hoping that water might arrive before the 
children awoke on another day. About half-past ten I saw some persons 
approaching : they proved to be two Bakalahari bringing a tin canteen half- 
full of water, and a note from Mrs Price, saying, that having heard of the 
trouble we were in from the man whom we had sent forward, and being 
themselves not very far from the water, they had sent us all they had. 
The sound of water soon roused the children, who had tried in vain to sleep, 
and I shall not soon forget the rush they made to get a drink. There was 
not much, but enough for the present. I gave each of the children 
and men a cupful, and then drank myself. It was the first liquid that had 
entered my lips for twenty-four hours, and I had eaten nothing. The 
Bakalahari passed on, after depositing the precious treasure, saying that 
though they had brought me water they had none for themselves. They 
were merely passing travellers. I almost thought they were angels sent 
from Heaven. All now slept comfortably except myself; my mind hajd 
been too much excited for sleep. And now a fresh distiirbance arose : the 



ARIDITT AND WATER SUPPLY. 219 

pooroxen had smelt the water, and became very troublesome ; the loose 
cattle crowding about the waggon, licking and snuffing, and pushing their 
noses towards me, as if begging for water. 

" At two o'clock I roused the men, telling them that if we w^re to make 
another attempt to reach water no time was to be lost. They were tired 
and faint, and very unwilling to move, but at last they got up, and began 
to unloose the oxen and drive them off without the waggon. 

" I remonstrated, but in vain ; they had lost all spirit, ^ lipelu li shule/ 
as the Bechuainas say. I was obliged to let them go, but they assured me 
I ^ould have water sent as quickly as possible, and the cattle- should be 
brought back again after they had drunk. They knew no more than I did 
the distance to the water. 

" When they left us, I felt anxious at the thought of perhaps spending 

another day like the past ; but they had not been gone more than half-an- 

hour,' when I saw in the bright moonlight a figure at a distance coming 

along the road. At first I could not make it out, it looked so tall ; but on 

coming nearer, who should it prove to be but my servant-girl Kionecoe, 

eighteen years of age, carrying on her head an immense calabash of water I 

On hearing of our distress she volunteered to assist us. She had walked 

four hours. Another servant had set out with her, but as he had driven 

the sheep the day before a great distance, without either food or water, he 

became so exhausted that he lay down under a bush to rest, and on the 

girl came alone, in the dead of night, in a strange country infested with 

hons, bearing^her precious burden. Oh, how grateful I felt to her ! Surely 

tpoman is the same aU the world over ! She had only lived with me since 

June, was but an indifferent servant, and had never shown any particular 

attachment to the children ; but this kind act revealed her heart, and seemed 

to draw us more closely together, for her conduct since thenhas been excellent. 

I made a bed for her beside me in the forepart of the waggon ; and the 

children having slacked their thirst with the deliciously cool waiter, we all 

slept till six o'clock. I made coffee, and offered some to Kionecoe and her 

companion, who had now come up. At first they declined it, saying the 

water was for me and the children. I had now the happiness of seeing the 

children enjoy a meal of tea and biscuits ; and then once more filling up my 

two bottles, I sent the calabash with the remainder of its contents to my. 

husband, who by this time stood greatly in need of it. The distance was 

about twelve miles. Another hot day had now commenced, and I had only 

the two bottles of water. About noon a horseman rode up, leading a second 

horse with two water-casks, and a tin canteen on his back. This was a supply 

for your brother, sent by our kind fellow-travellers Captain and Mrs 

Thompson, who had heard of our distresses from the Prices. . . . 

While we were preparing the coffee, up came a pack-ox sent by Mr Price, 

with two water-casks for me, and soon after some Bakalahari arrived with a 

calabash ; so we had now an abundant supply, and my heart overflowed 

with gratitude to our Father in heaven, who had watched over me and 

mine, as over Hagar of old, and sent us relief. I related that and other 

instances of God's care to the children the day before, and exhorted them 

to pray to their heavenly Father, and rest assured that He would send us 

help; they now referred to the subject, saying, *it was just as I had said.' 

. . . Captain and Mrs Thompson rode up to the waggon in the after- 

nooB, to see if they could be of any further assistance, and brought- a little.. 

miliirfor the children'. • . . . A span of oxen passed ihe iii the middle 6^ ' 



220 HTDBOLOOT OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

the day, going to fetch my husband, and about half-past nine on Wednesday 
night a span arrived for us. Next morning we reached the water, where 
Mrs Price had kindly prepared a substantial breakfast. My hiisband did 
not come up till the evening." 

To her child, she wrote : — " North of Kamakama, Nov. 24th 1859. — ^My 
Dablinq, — ^It is now your turn to get a letter from me ; but I fear that it 
will be a long, long time before you receive it, for their are few opportunities 
of sending or receiving letters. We have had none from you since the May ones 
which overtook us at the Matl waring, just beyond Kuruman. . . How- 
ever, we must be patient, and the letters will perhaps be doubly sweet when 
they do come. Although I long to hear of you, I do not feel anxious about 
you, my dear girls. We daily commit you to the care of your Heavenly 
Father, and He never disappointed those who trust in Him. I hope that 

you, dear , are setting the Lord always before you. As the eldest of 

the family, you will have a strong influence over the rest. O seek especially 
to guide your sisters, dear and , in the way of life. I look for- 
ward with delight to the time when we shall be all united again ; but still I 
think it is your duty to remain in England as long as you can. You may 
never go there again. 

" You see we have not yet got to our journey's end. It is a long journey 
indeed ; but we have had so many hindrances from waggons breaking, cattle 
wandering, fatigue, drought, and other causes. We have been already 
twenty weeks on the road, and shall be three or four weeks yet. Six weeks 
ago, on the river Zouga, dear little Willie was taken ill with fever, and for 
several days we scarcely thought he would recover ; fever was very high, 
with delirium. He is now getting well again, and to-day is playing on the 
bed with Selina and Henry for the first time. He is, however, still so weak 
in his legs that he has to be carried about like an infant. A fortnight after 
Willie had been taken ill, dear Lizzie was seized with fever and erysipelas 

in the back, but she too is getting well now ; so you see, dearest , you 

have much to be thankful for, as well as to pray for. Selina and Henry 
are well, and all send their love to you all. I need not tell you much about 
our journey as you have papa's journal. . . We meet with some beautiful 
flowers. I often wish it were possible to transport them to you. Few of them 
have much scent alone ; but about sunset their united fragrance is delicious. 

" Monday, Nov. 28. — Yesterday dear little was baptized by 

your papa. We had a pleasant English service. It was quite a treat in 
the wilderness. The Bechuanas were present as spectators, and seemed 
interested. Papa has service in Sechuana regularly every Sunday. . . 
Our cattle, at least some of them, have been lost ever since last Monday. 
Four men were seeking them three days and nights, and returned with 
some of them — ^without having tasted food all that time. They lost their 
way, which it is very easy to do, as the country is covered with forests and 
thick bush. Now another party is out after the rest of them. This is 
their third day. We have had no road for many weeks. Some of the 
party have to go before, sawing down trees, and chopping bushes to make 
room for the waggons to pass, and after all we frequently become entangled ; 
so it is very slow work. There are no wild beasts here except elephants, and 
occasionally troops of zebras. The latter we sometimes manage to shoot. 
They are excellent eating ; so is the gnu. 

" Deo. 26. — ^A happy Christmas to you, my children ! It is now nearly 
B month since I laid down my letter to you, dear ; yet, strange to say, 



ARIDITY AND WATER SUPPLY. 221 

we are only ^t;^ miles nearer our journey's end than we were then. I told 
you that a party of our men had gone out in search of some of our oxen, which 
had been stolen by the Masarwa, or Bushmen. They returned on the fourth 
day with aU but three ; one had been left sick on the road ; the other fine 
large hind oxen the Masarwa had killed and eaten. It was a great loss, 
but there was no redress for it, and as our pool of water was almost dried 
up, we were glad to go forward. As we proceeded we found the country 
more and more dry, and at last we were brought to a complete stand-stiU 
for want of water. Our waggon was unpacked and sent back with all the 
casks, Mackintosh bags, and vessels we could find, to bring water. All the 
oxeB. and sheep, and all the men, excepting two, were sent back likewise, 
and what little water still remained was divided amongst us who stayed. 
This was only enough for drinking, there was none to cook with, and before 
the waggon arrived, which was two days and nights, we were so weak from 
want of food that the children and I could scarcely walk. The weather was 
at the same time extremely hot, the thermometer at eight o'clock in the 
morning stood at 96"*, and in the middle of the day at more than 105°. 
Papa and the two men who remained went out in the evenings in search of 
water, and walked about all night, but they could find none. I forgot to 
say that Tabe stayed with one of his men, and they too searched for 
water ; for we were unwiUing to go back if there was a possibility of getting 
on. However, all the pools were empty, so we were most reluctantly obliged 
to retrace our steps. But by this time the ponds we had left were dried 
up too ; so, after travelling a day and a night, and until nine the next morn- 
ing, the poor cattle were so exhausted with thirst that they could go no 
farther, and we were compelled to unyoke them and send them on with the 
sheep, and most of the men, to the nearest water. We hoped that they would 
return that night and take us on ; but day after day and night after night 
passed and neither men nor oxen came, and our sufferings were again very 
great. I was most anxious about Lizzie, who was still weak from her 
recent illness. I thought she would have fainted when I had not a drop of 
water to give her. 

" One afternoon about four o'clock papa set out with two men, taking 
our Mackintosh bags, and returned about half-past nine next morning with a 
supply of water. When they arrived they were so exhausted that they 
dropped on the ground imable to speak. Papa looked so ill that I was 
quite alarmed. They had walked thirty-eight miles, and carried the water 
fifteen miles. Having found water, parties were sent in succession each night 
to return the following one. Fancy every drop of water we had for drinking, 
cooking, or washing ourselves brought a distance of thirty miles going and 
coming ! At length, on Simday, December the 11th, we were roused very 
early by a heavy rain. We spread out a sail and caught enough to 
replenish our water-vessels. This was indeed a shower from Heaven ; it 
revived our languid spirits, and filled us with thankfulness to Him who had 
remembered His promise to His servants (Isaiah xli. 17). We now hoped 
to go on, but the clouds passed away, and the pools remained empty. 

" When the* oxen returned we rode back fifteen miles to the pool from 
which we had been obtaining water. It appeared that on leaving us with the 
oxen and sheep the men had set off for Kamakama, but losing their way 
did not get their till the following night ; and our two little calves, unable 
to walk so far in such hot weather, were left behind to perish ; and also our 
eaijxe flock of twenty-four sheep ajid lambs were lost i^ough the cai^less- 



neas and md^do&ea of the man who was driving them, and haTtt not beini' 
he^ of ainoe. This ia a very heavy loss indeed. 

" I must now say a few words about your ooming out, fo» there are so 
few opportunities of sending letters to you now that I do not like to -delay 
writing on that subject. . . Lizzie says I am to tell you to bring some comfits^ 
little baskets, etc., that we may have a Christmas-tree the &rst Christmas 
you are all at home. Your sisters aud brothers send warmest love ; so does 
papa. The God of Love be your Friend and Portion, my dear child ! — Your *' 
affectionate mamma, Anns B^slmobs." 

I could not find in my heart to do otherwise than give this letter entoe* It ' 
was the last she wrote. Shortly after it was written ^ tf^a/e/am^jrj^emAeci/ 

Of drought and aridity such as this betokens I have litUe expectations 
of conveying an adequate conception. It has been remarked that no one 
knows what hunger is who knows where food is to be found. I avaQ myself 
of the formula to say. No one knows what thirst is who knows where -wat^ 
is to be had. And drought such as this must be experienced to be known. 
Of cold, of heat, of damp, some experience may be had in Europe, hut of ' 
drought like this rume : of such drought — ^long continued, widely extended- 
drought — and the consequent aridity of earth and "atmosphere, and^ as a 
consequence of this, the suffering of man and beast^ nonb. 

Another of my friends, Mr M^Kenzie, a missionary to the heathen^ 
subsequently travelled in the same track. Of the earlier part of it he 
writes, — " The country through which we were now travelling was 
exoeedmgly monotonous and uninteresting. The hollows which contain • •- 
pools of water in summer were now dried up, and edong the ' mokoko ' or 
ancient river-bed on our left, we were told there was not a drop of water. • 
Without a single hill in sight, we found ourselves traversing an undulating 
prairie, whose gentle sloping ridges of sand followed one after another like 
the waves of the sea. The long ripe grass, of a lightish yellow colour, gave - 
to the landscape something of the appearance of one immense harvest field. 
A solitary camel thorn, with fantastically turned branches, was here and 
there seen in the distance, while a variety of small shrubs and bushes was 
distinguishable <;>nly in our neighbourhood from the tall white grass, gently 
bending to the afternoon breeze, or standing droopingly in the breathless 
stillness and dazzling glare of noonday. 

* A region of emptinefls, howli&g and drear, 

Which man hath abandoned firan famine and l«ar 91. 

Which the snake and the lizard inhabit alone. 

With the twilight bat from the pawning stone. 

A region of drought where no rirer glides, 

No rippling brook with osier'd sides, 

Where sedgy pool, nor hubbling fount, 

Nor tree, nor cloud, nor misty mount, . 

Appears to refresh the aching eye ; 

But the barren earth and the burning sky. 

And the blank horizon round and round, 

Spread— yoid of living sight or 80und.'-*-2%om(i« Pringlt: 

Not a Uvipg creature was to be seen for miles; but, once> outspanned, we 
found that ..even hiere life was laot entirely extinct. More frequently than 
snake, pj; li?a^^ we jfoimd pear to our waggon a little cricket industriously •' 
m%)^ipg.]^h4.jb„poi«9,i$.CQuld^^ V^ th^ dreariest places we observed *« little <-' 



"MUBFTT JJTD WATIB' SUPPLY, 



>«63 



^^efisartli Its eong* But its sdanug and its song were of short dtrfAtTon, 
It rose only some fifteen or twenty feet from the ground, uttering mean- 
while ita one plaintive note, which again snbsided as it descended to the 
ground. After a brief interval this ionesonie bird would repeat its desert 
dirge. In tho diatauce we somotimea descried the shy khama (hartebeest), 
or the kukama (gcmsbuck or oiyx), fleetest of the antelopes ; an occasional 
herd of apringbucka cropping the short thick grass of the bard river-bed ; 
and once or twice we aaw in the distance troops of elanda and giraffes, 
roamitiig at will and without thought of water* After leaving a fountain, 
oiir oattle when unyoked usually grazed well for the first twenty-four houra ; 
but thirst afterwarda took away inclination to eat, so that^ although 
surrounded by the rich sweet grass of the prairie, as aoon as they were out 
of the yoke they sought the shade of a neighbouring tree, and thetts 
remained till brought again to their place before the waggon, 

" I was told by the Bakalahari at Nkowaue that they kept one of lihe 
wsUs shut because it waa easy of access, and if it had water the lions would J 
come and drink therej and infest their dwelhngs and their sheep and goat^ 
pens at uight. The second well was in the hollow of a limestone rock — ita 
Bides abrupt J and the water accessible only by means of a sort of ladder. 
There waa a convicntly shaped rock near the month of the well, into which 
the water for the osen was poured. For a small piece of tobacco each, the 
Bakalahari assisted ns to clear away the mud from the second well ; but 
after aU our trouble I found that the supply of water from both was not 
sufficient to aUow ali my oxen to drink at once. So I separated the party 
on Monday, sending on in advance the two waggons which were driven by 
the Hottentots. The rest of the party left Nkowane on Tuesday. On 
Wednesday night, while toiUng diligently through the deep sand, we came 
unestpeotedly upon one of the waggons which had started a day before us, 
its solitary guardian in the desert was its Hottentot driver* He explained 
that he had sent on his oien with the other waggon, as they would pnU no 
longer/' 

And again : — " It was here also I heard of the eactreme sufferings which 
my Mends, upon whose track I was proceeding, had endured in the country 
north of Maila and Kamakama. When I asked for guides to go with me 
in that direction, not a single Bushmen would consent to accompany me. 
To go without guides I felt to be quite out of the question. Pointing 
northwards, they shook their heads, and exclaimed, * Yonder there is no 
water ; nothing but sun ] nothing but sun I That land causes the cattle to 
stray from the waggons ; the men, too, who venture thither wander about 
in vain search for what is not, and hasten southward to the fountaina which 
they had left^ AU these things,* they said, * did we see last year in the 
€0^6 of the white men who went to the Makololo, Both they and their oxen, 
and we who accompanied them part of the way, had well-nigh perished with 
thirst. If you axe determined to travel on that path you go alone/ " 



SfleTiON Ih"-- Water JS^pplp he^ond the Colonised portion of Smtth Africa, 

While the desiccation and aridity in the districts specified are such as 
has been represented, further into the interior it is a land abounding with 
watefp The journey ings of Stanley in search of Livingstone tell more of 
difficulty in traTeHing over diBtriota covered with water, than of suiferinga 



S24 HTDBOLOOT OP SOUTH AfBIOA. 

from drought. One of the first confirmiatioiui reoeiyed by liiriiigBtoDe iod 
Oswell and Murray, of statements they had received from Bakwains who 
had been into the interior with Sebituane, in regard to what they had vm^ 
was an answer which they received to a inquiry relative to whence came 
the Tamunak'le, a large stream flowing into the beautifully wooded Zongft. 
On their inquiring whence it came, the answer was, '^ Oh, from a country 
full of rivers, so many no one can tell their number, and frQl of great trees." 
And of that country they themselves give the following account:— "A 
hundred miles from the point where the waggons stood to the river Sesebek^ 
we saw no hill higher than an ant-hill. The coimtry is intersected by 
numerous deep rivers, and adjacent to each of these, inmiense reedy bogs 
or swamps stretch away in almost every direction. Oxen cannot \ 
through these swamps, — they sink in up to the belly, and on lookii^ down 
the holes made by the legs, the parts immediately under the surface are seen 
to be saturated with water. The rivers are not like many in South Africa, 
mere " nullahs," containing nothing but sand and stones. All of those we 
saw contained largo volumes of water. The period of our visit happened ] 
to be the end of an extraordinary dry season, yet on sounding the Chobe we ' 
found it to have a regular depth of fifteen feet on the side to which the 
water swimg, and of twelve feet on the calm side. The banks below the 
lowest water mark were more inclined to the perpendicular than those of a 
canal. It was generally as deep at a foot from the bank as in the middle 
of the stream. The roots of the reeds and grass seem to prevent it wearing 
away the land ; and in many parts the bank is undermined and hangs over 
the deep water, Were its course not so very winding a steam vessel could 
sail on it. The higher lands in this region are raised only by a few feet 
above the surrounding level. On these the people pasture their cattle, make 
their gardens, and build their towns. The rivers overflow their banks 
annually. The great drought prevented the usual rise of the water while 
wo were in the country in July, and the people ascribed the non-appearance 
of the water to the death of their chief. But when the rivers do fill, the 
whole country is inundated, and must present the appearance of a vast 
lake, with numerous islands scattered over its surface. The numerous 
branches given ofi* by each of the rivers, and the annual overflow of the 
country, explain the reports we had previously heard of * Linokanoka* (rivers 
upon rivers), and * large waters' with nimierous islands in them. The Chobe 
must rise at least ten feet in perpendicular height before it can reach the 
dykes, built for catching fish, situated about a mile from its banks, and the 
Seshek^ must rise fifteen or twenty feet before it overflows its banks ; yet 
Mr 0. and I saw unmistakable evidence of that overflow reaching about 
fifteen miles out." s 

Of the quantity of moisture deposited in central Africa some vague cdn- 
ception may be formed from the magnitude of rivers flowing thence. Tli^ 
Zambesi, the Nile, and the Congo, in regard to which it was stated, in a ^ 
lecture on the discoveries of Dr Livingstone, delivered by Sir Henry \ 
Rawlinson, President of the Royal Geographical Society, that ** no soundings \ 
were obtainable in it at 200 fathoms ; its current could be seen 300 miles i 
out at sea, into which it discharged 1,800,000 cubic feet of water per second." 

In accordance with these intimations of abundance of water, we find in 

. Arrowsmith's detailed map of Dr Livingstone's route across Africa an 

entry of, — " The plains of Lobale are impassable during the rainy season." 

And writing of a district still nearer to the equator, he writes : — " We 



A»0)lTT AND WATJ» aXJPPPW4 [f&p 

Jttteiadrcmtaii eart^iaivd plain beyond' the Leeba^a^^ least, twen^jy:, pdles 
4roftd| and covered with water, ankle deep in the shallowest parts. Vf^ 
itemted somewhat from our N.V{. course by the direction of IflitemeSie, an^ 
kept the hills Piri nearly on our right during a great part of the first day, 
Ul.order to avoid the still more deeply flooded plains of Lobale (JLuyal,?) op 
the west. These, according to Intemese, are at present impassable oa 
Recount of being thigh-deep. The plains are so perfectly level that raij^ 
Water, which this was, stands upon them for months togetiiier. T^ey weare 
Hot flooded by the Leeba, for that was still far within its banks. Here aijd 
there, dotted over the surface, are little islands, on which grow stunted date- 
bushes and scraggy trees. The plains themselves are covered with a thifc^ 
sward of grass, which conceals the waters, and makes the flats appear W^ 
gneat pale yellow-coloured prairie lands, with a clear horizon, except wheii^e 
inteorrupted here and there with trees. The clear rain-water, must haw 
stood some time among the grass, for great numbers of lotus-flowers wer^e 
seen in ftdl blow ; and the runs of water tortoises and crabs were observed.j 
other animals also, which prey on the fish and find their way to the plain^. 

" The continual splashing of the oxen keeps the feet of the ridear oon- 
atantly wet, and my men complain of the perpetual moisture of the patfes 
by wluch we have travelled in Londa, as softening their homy soles, • . 
We made our beds on one of the islands, and were wretchedly, supplied 
with. firewood. The booths constructed by the men were but sorry, shelter, 
for the rain poured down without intermission till mid-day. There is np 
drainage for the prodigious masses of water on these plains,, except, d.ow 
percolation into the different feeders of the Leeba, and into that river itself. 
The quantity of vegetation has prevented the country fi:om beoi^ming 
furrowed by many rivulets or * nullahs.' Were it not so rem^ffkaUy flftt, 
the dminage must have been effected by torrents, even in spite of the 
matted vegetation. 

" That these extensive plains are covered with grasses only, and the little 
islands with but scraggy trees, may be accounted for by the fact, observable 
everywhere in this country, that, where water stands for any length of 
time, trees cannot live. The want of speedy drainage destroys them> and 
itijures the growth of those that are planted on the islands, for they have 
no depth of earth not subjected to the souring influence of the stagnant 
water. The plains of Lobale, to the west of these, are said to be jnuoh more 
extensive than any we sa^, and their vegetation possesses similar 
peculiarities. When the stagnant rain-water has all ipaked in, as must 
happen during the months in which there is no rain, travellers g^re even put 
. to straits for want of water. This is stated on native testimony ; but I o^n 
very well believe that level plains, in which neither wells nor gullies aye 
met with, may, after the dry season, present the opposite extreme tp wh^it 
we witnessed. Water, however, could always be got by digging, a i proof of 
which we had on our return when brought to a stand on this very plain by 
severe fever : about twelve miles from the Kasai my men dug down a. fftw 
feet, and found an abundant supply ; and we saw on one of the islands, t^e 
garden of a man who, in the dry season, had dnmk water fi:om a well in 
like manner. . . . The plains of Lobale, to the West of. this, givse risoj^o 
a great many streams, which unite, and form the deep, never-failing Chobe. 
Similar extensive flats give birth to the Loeti and Kasai, and,, a^ we i^all 
see further on, all the rivers of an extensive region owe j^eifcc ^rjgi^ i^^ ^y j ^ g 
bogs, and not to fountains." "' "^ 

2h 



8S6 HTDBOLOOT OF BOUTH AFBIOk. 

Farther on he writes, — " In the afternoon of this day we came to a 
Tillej about a mile wide, filled with dear fast-flowing water. The men on 
foot were chin deep in crossing, and we three on oxback got wet to the 
middle, the weight on the animals preventing them from swimming. A 
thondernshower descending completed the partial drenching of the plain, and 
gave a cold uncomfortable * packing in a wet blanket' that night. Next day 
we found another flooded valley about half a mile wide, with a small and 
now deep rivulet in its middle, flowing rapidly to the S.S.E. or towards the 
EaaaL The middle part of this flood, being the bed of what at other times 
is the rividet, was so rapid that we crossed by holding on to the oxen, 
and the current soon dashed them to the opposite bank ; we then jumped 
off, and, the oxen being relieved of their burdens, we could pull them on to 
the shallower part. The rest of the valley was thigh deep and boggy, but 
holding on by the belt which fastened the blanket to the ox, we each floun- 
dered through the nasty slough as well as we could. These boggy parts, 
lying parallel to the stream, were the most extensive we had come to — ^those 
mentioned already were mere circumscribed patches, these stretched for 
miles along each bank ; but even here, though the rapidity of the current 
was very considerable, the thick sward of grass was ' laid' flat along the sides 
of the stream, and the soil was not abraded so much as to discolour the 
flood. When we came to the opposite side of this valley, some pieces of the 
ferruginous conglomerate, which forms the capping to sJl other rocks in a 
large district around and north of this, cropped out, and the oxen bit at 
them as if surprised by the appearance of stone as much as we were ; or it 
may have contained some mineral of which they stood in need. We had 
not met with a stone since leaving Shinte's. The country is covered with 
deep alluvial soil of a dark colour and very fertile. 

** In the afternoon we came to another stream, Nuana Loke (or child of 
Loke) with a bridge over it. The men had to swim off to each end of the 
bridge, and when on it were breast deep ; some f)referred holding on by the 
tails of the oxen the whole way across. I intended to do this too, but, 
riding to the deep part, before I could dismoimt and seize the helm the ox 
dashed off with his companions, and his body sank so deep, that I failed 
in my attempt even to catch the blanket belt, and if I pulled the bridle, the 
ox seemed as if he would come backwards upon me, so I struck out for the 
opposite bank alone. My poor fellows were dreadfolly alarmed when they 
saw me parted from the cattle, and about twenty of them made a simulta- 
neous rush into the water for my rescue, and just as I reached the opposite 
bank one seized my arm, and another threw his around my body. When I 
stood up, it was most gratifying to see them all struggling towards me. 
Some had leaped off the bridge, and allowed their cloaks to float down the 
stream. Part of my goods, abandoned in the hurry, were brought up from 
the bottom after I was safe. Great was the pleasure expressed when they 
found that I could swim like themselves, without the aid of a tail, and I 
did, and do feel grateftil to these poor heathens for the promptitude with 
which they dashed in to save, as they thought, my life, I found my clothes 
cumbersome in the water ; they could swim quicker from being naked. They 
swim like dogs, not frog-fashion, as we do." 

Such is South Africa, in regard to water supply, in the trans-colonial 
rtjgioDS referred to. 



ABmiTT AKD WATBB SUFPliT. 227 



CHAPTER 11. 

ARIDITY AND WATEB SUPPLY WITHIN THE COLONY OP THE OAPB OP GOOD HOPE. 

It may be alleged that the statements made have been made in regard to 
different parts of the country, and both of them parts of the country far 
distant from the colonized portion, which is what is generally known as 
South Africa, in contradistinction to Southern Africa, which is more com- 
prehensive, and may be legitimately applied to all the continent lying to 
the south of the equator. But if so, this may be said in reply, The 
physical geography and arborescent productions of the intermediate land 
south of the scenes described, and north of the European colonies extending 
from the Cape, make it to some degree probable that such as these watery 
plains are those arid plains must have been not long before those aged trees 
began to grow. And what is more to the point in hand, in the Introduction 
I have stated facts illustrative of the colony, at the Cape of Good Hope, 
being throughout much of its extent subject from time to time to have the 
same locality suffer for a lengthened time by drought similar in character, 
though not equal in degree, with that from which Mr Helmore and his 
family suffered so much, and then be deluged in a similar way, though not 
to the same extent, as the district traversed by Dr Livingstone, described in 
the extracts from his journal which I have cited. And I have correspond- 
ing testimony to adduce in regard to the abundance of the water supply at 
command to coimteract the evils induced by the drought within the colony. 

I have never experienced, nor have I ever heard of anything experienced 
by others equal to that within the colony of the Cape of Good Hope. But 
some of the details I have given of what was experienced in 1862 are in 
keeping therewith, and the colonists are not unacquainted with long- 
continued as weU as excessive droughts. Neither have I ever experienced, 
or heard of others having experienced, a long-continued drought so excessive 
as is indicated by some of the observations m^ide by Dr Livingstone at 
Kolobeng ; but I have read of an observation made within the colony which 
may be placed side by side with these. 

Amongst other paradoxes connected with evaporation and heat, it is 
stated in scientific treatises, that the finger slightly moistened may with 
impimity be plimged into molten lead, the evaporation keeping the finger 
cool, and the produced atmosphere of vapour preventing contact ; and that 
a little water projected into a plantinum crucible at a white heat has by the 
evaporation of one portion converted the other portion into a lump of ice. 
It is more generally known that by the rapid evaporation of a portion of 
water under the exhausted receiver of an air-pump another portion may be 
frozen, and that, by appropriate arrangements, ice is produced in India by 
the rapid evaporation produced by the heat. The same thing has occurred 
in South Africa through rapid evaporation, induced by the aridity of tho 
atmosphere. 



Hm HtDBO£OGT Of WTTta JMOOA. 

Mr Andw. Wylie, in his notes of a jonmey in two directions across the colony, 
made, as geological surveyor to the colony, in the years 1857-58, with a 
view to determine the character and order of the various geological forma- 
tions — writing of the Narrows on the Orange River about twenty miles from 
Colesberg — says, — " The night spent here on the banks of the Orange 
River was one of the coldest I have ever experienced in the colony. Inside 
of a tent, in which three persons slept, bowls of hot coflfee and a compoimd 
liquid of still more potent character were converted into a solid mass of ice. 
• " While in the neighbourhood of Hopetown, a gallon of wat«r in a tin 
bucket was sometimes frozen quite solid during the night, and yet the ice 
<on the dams was never more than a quarter of an inch thick. 'This dis- 
*«erepanoy evidently arises from the water of the latter [and the earth] 
'receiving so much heat during the day as to prevent its freezing at» night 
except to a very limited extent ; whereas the water in a small vessel, 
exposed on all sides to the cold wind, is soon reduced to atmospheiic 
'temperature, or even below it The freezing power of the air is greatly 
assisted by its dryness, which causes rapid evaporation to take place, even 
In solid ice itself." 

Notwithstanding the aridity of the atmosphere -which is thus indioated, 
•the quantity of moisture in the atmosphere, though it be relatively small, must 
be very great. Frequently have I witnessed the phenomena described in 
the Scripture narrative of a cloud the size of a man's hand aj^aring in the 
Bky, and ere long the whole heavens being black with clouds, and the earth 
darkened : the clouds not being blown thither, but formed there of 
'moisture then existant, and the deposit being occasioned by a current of 
cold air lowering the temperature of an upper stratum to a temperature 
^below the dew-point; and sometimes, while expecting such a rainfall as Elijah 
-foretold, the whole has dissolved away, like the vapour of a locomotive steam 
•engine, leaving the heavens as transparent and clear as before. But 
•sometimes it is otherwise, and from that dry arid air the rainfall has been 
tremendous. 

I have in the Introduction given some accounts of the drought and the 

' rainfall ; the former of which preceded and the latter followed my return to 

^the Cape in 1863. Notwithstanding the abundance of the rain which fell 

-in that year, the drought was again severe in 1864 ; the same was the case 

'in the year following, 1865, and yet again in 1866. Towards the close of 

1867 there were torrents of rain ; and so has it been ever since, alternate 

torrents and drought ; and at one and the same time drought in one part of 

« the country, torrents in another, the waters of which not only rushed away 

to be lost in the sea, but wrought mischief and devastation by the way. 

At Port Elizabeth, in November 1867, I find there fell in the course 

of six hours, between Wednesday 20th at 9 p.m., and Thursday 21st at 

3 A.M., 6*5 inches of rain. In the month of July preceding there was a fedl 

of rain in London, in a report of which, presented by Mr Bazalgette, chief 

engineer to the Metropolitan Board of Works, he says, — "A fall of ram 

• such as has not been recorded in London for the last twenty years, and 

i stated in the Registrar-Generars return of July 27 to have been unprece- 

^dented at the Greenwich Observatory, fell between midnight of the 25th 

'July and nine on the following morning. During these nine hours 3*25 

'in, of rain fell." From this it appears that the fall of rain at Port Elizabeth 

i>d4itdng. these six hours was double what fell in these nine hours in London 

— that 18, three times as much in the same space of time as ihe-heaviest 



tcodvdediBaiiifBll nt'Landon or Greemf idb. But:tfaisxaniofHiTejEix)tniQhtidea 
of tibe*to[rrmt9r of xain a&do the details giTen > 6f its disastrous dfects, 

^ Of these the follorvTing details were giyen in tiie jaumals of theitim& i***- 

" ForttElizabeth, NoT«mber51, 1867.— This part of the €oloiiy» has lately 
iaeen: rejoicing in an amount of rain exceeding even the most extravagant 
4e»res -of 'the r most ^tliiTsty souls/ and last night from nine o'clock <£(>r 
«eTeral -hours a deluge< of rain fell, creating such a flood, and bringing such 
disasters in its train, as will not be soon forgotten by any of the inhabitants 
of Port Elizabeth. 

"[For the* benefit of such of your readers as may not know this town I 
»will' briefly describe the locality, the better to enable them to understand 
.the eflfects produced by the floods. 

" The town of Port Elizabeth consists of a long line of streets running 
parallel with the beach, from north to south, at a distance varying from 
two to tiaree hundred yards, the intervening space bdng occupied: by inter- 
secting streets, chiefly composed of poor dwellings and shops. Imme- 
diately behind the *Main Street* on the west side, rises * The Hill/ 
.Tory steep for some himdred yards or so, and then more gradual in 
its ascent for a similar distance, and stretching out eastward — ^a 
nearly level plain, and now occupied by quite a second town, where ai large 
portion of those engaged in commercial pursuits, from the merdbiants down- 
wards, reside. On each side of this hill were formerly two kloofs, whicii 
t-were filled in, and two splendid roads constructed, on the south side White's 
aEload,\and on the north side Eussell Koad, each having stone drains which 
.have hitherto been sufficient to carry off the water of all ordinary rains. 
.On the south side of White's Road is another hill, very precipitous, and 
beyond that, the Baaken's River runs into the sea, flowing g^aerally 
jflluggishly enough through * the valley.' 

" On /the south side of the Baaken's River is another town, composed 
almost entirely of dwellings of the poorer class, a large number being the 
.very poor. These are built to a great extent upon sand, by which small 
! kioo&i had been filled up. 

^^ On the north side of the Russell Road is the ^Hospital Hill,' so called 
.fi?om the hospital which is built on the summit. 

" The kloofs which formerly took the place of the two roads referred to were 
the natural outlets for the water collected on the hills on either side. 
-These roads were therefore now the receptacles for much more than could 
be carried off. 

"Down the Russell Road the water came with irresistible force, quickly 
destroying the drains and excavating the road in some places to the depth 
of ten or twelve feet, and in its course imdermining the foundations of a 
few good houses so seriously that the inhabitants have been compelled 
hastilhp^ to remove from them, lest they should be buried in their fall, which 
: seems imminent. 

" * White's Road ' presents a very similar spectacle. The gas pipes — 
twisted into strange shapes — lying only, supported here and there, across 
i huge chasms, laying bare the rocks of the old kloof. This road leads direct 
into the market-square. At the bottom, the deepest chasm of all is made. 

" Between the two roads just described, and parellel with them, is Donkin 
'fitreet, the bottom part of which is similarly destroyed; an immeiwe 
iiqiaaKQtitysiolthe.tlialodged earth .being.oaxried into, the Jbu^. .Street^ Somif^ 



230 HTDBOLOOT OF 60T7TH AFBIOA. 

a hieap of six or Boven feet in heiglit, througli which a way had to be dug to 
the doors of one or two of the shops. All the houses, shops, and stores on 
the west side of the Main Street were more or less flooded from behind, in 
some instances the astonished proprietors finding the mud level with their 
counter tops. On the opposite side, some houses most exposed to the fiiiy 
of the descending waters are totally demolished, while all the stores are 
more or less damaged by the water and mud carried into their cellars, — 
sugar, rice, flour, &c., &c., lying in a state giving bright prospects for the 
auctioneers. 

" Great as is the destruction of property, public and private, so far des- 
cribed, the worst remains to be told. On the south side of the Baaken's 
River the scene of devastation beggars all description, and must be seen to 
be believed. About twenty-four houses are completely demolished. In 
some instances the fronts of the houses are carried away, leaving the other 
half tottering on the brink of a deep hollow, which reminds one of a railway 
cutting, and is almost as regular, in many parts eighteen or twenty feet 
deep. It seems incredible that a good * metalled ' street in a few hours 
could be transformed into this ravine ; but it is explained to some extent 
by the fact that all beneath the crust is sand, to the depth I have stated, 
and which appears to have been sometime or another drifted into various 
small kloofs, which probably formerly existed. As might be expected, the 
course of the torrent did not always lie in the middle of the streets, and con- 
sequently many houses have entirely disappeared, not even so much as a 
bit of timber marking the spot ; all being hurried down to the sea. One 
poor Irishman describes his being awaked by a noise and finding the front 
of the house demolished, the rooms being open to the street, and it was 
with difficulty he and his family escaped before the rest of the house 
followed. 

" It will easily be imagined that a fearful amount of distress is the result 
here. A large number of families have lost everything except the clothes 
they had on. 

The Baaken's River, which has of late joined the sea in a little stream 
that a lady could easily step over, soon cut itself a channel of fifty feet wide 
through the sand, which it carried before it, seriously filling up (it is feared) 
the space inside the breakwater. Twelve or thirteen boats, of various sizes, 
were swamped, the masts of some of which are just visible above the water. 
It is marvellous that all these catastrophes have resulted in the loss of only 
two lives. One child was carried down to the sea and was foimd with oidy 
its legs visible above the sand on the shore. The second was a man, a 
servant of the Harbour Board, who was foolishly endeavouring this morning 
to save a piece of timber, and was drawn in by the current of the Baaken's 
River and disappeared in a moment. Although numbers of people hurried 
along the side in the hope that he might be rescued, he was never seen 
again, nor has the body yet been recovered. 

" Some few instances there are of very narrow escapes. Our Colonial 
Chaplain, Mr Pickering, was dining on the Hill, and about twelve o'clock 
the rain having somewhat abated, set out for his residence, near the bottom 
of White's Road. Having, of course, no idea of the liberties the water had 
taken with the road, and the darkness being extreme, he was precipitated 
unsuspectingly into six feet of water, not by any means stagnant. He 
escaped drowning ; and fortunately was, I believe, not much hurt. One 
genkemoD. was saved by hia com]^«caoii odX^^cos^ \sasi. b^ the tail of his 



. ABIDITT AND WATER SUFPLY. 231 

^o8kt just as he was making a plunge into a Moof by the side of the 
Military Road. 

** The amount of rain which fell during the night (by the rain-gauge) was 
6*36 inches. The damage done is estimated at ]^2 5,000/' 

From recorded observations it appears that on the Tuesday at 9 a.m. 
and at 5 o'clock the wind was S.E. ; on Wednesday at 9 a.m. and at 1 o'clock 
it was the same, at 5 o'clock it was S.S.E. ; on Thursday at 9, and at 
1, and at 6 o'clock it was S.W. At all these times, and it may inferred 
throughout all that time, generally blowing from the sea, and it may be 
surmised charged with moisture, though transparent and clear. And we 
have the data necessary to enable us to determine the maximum quantity 
of moisture with which it could be so charged, as Mr Hammond, the 
Meteorological Observer at the light-house, whose observations I have quoted 
above, has recorded also his observations on the state of the barometer and 
the thermometer throughout the period of the storm. His full record is as 



follows : — 


Bar. 


Ther. 


Wmd. 


Nov. 19—9 a.m. 


30-086 


68-0 


S.E. 


1 p.m. 


30-055 


62-2 


S.E. 


6 p.m. 


30-076 


64-9 


S.E. 


20—9 a.m 


30-064 


62-1 


S.E. 


1 p.m. 


29-980 


62-6 


S.E. 


6 p.m. 


29-981 


63-1 


S.S.E. 


21—9 a.m. ... 


30-119 


61-7 


S.W. 


1 p.m. 


30-109 


63-5 


S.W. 


5 p.m. 


30-157 


63-7 


S.W. 



With these data it is possible to calculate what was the greatest quantity 
of moisture which the air could possibly have held in solution. That the 
air was so saturated does not appear, but assuming that it was, the rainfall 
supplies an indication of how great the quantity of moisture thus suspended 
in solution must have been, more impressive than any array of figures 
would do ; and, if the atmosphere was, as it is reaisonabJe to suppose was 
the case, not fully, but only partially saturated with moisture throughout 
its forty-five miles of depth, it may be admitted that the deposit from a full 
saturation would have been proportionally more. 

What fell was only the surplus moisture in excess of what could be sus- 
tained, suspended in solution, or otherwise, in a portion of the atmosphere 
limited in extent and in depth. 

Moisture in the air is invisible, as cloud, or fog, or rain, until the lowering 
of the temperature of that air renders it incapable of sustaining it in solu- 
tion. It is then deposited from the solution in the form of cloud, or fog, 
and precipitated to the earth by electricity, or gravitation, or the combined 
action of both. And the meteorological observations of Mr Hammond 
enable us to tell of how the clouds and the rain were formed of this surplus 
moisture in the atmosphere. 

According to the statement of Mr Hammond, the meteorological observer, 
the wind ranged from S.E. to S.S.E. and S.W. during the storm. " But," 
says the JS. P, Herald^ " it will be observed in the above statement that the 
direction of the wind during the night is not given, but we are assured by 
those who were up and watched the storm, that about nine o'clock the wind 
leered tp S«W«| thon to W.^ and for an hour or two blew strong from N.W. 



9n rainoGMnroFCRyuTHAiBiDA. 

It afterwluds irent round to N., Babaeqaently to B., and in* a few h6tii»*- 
that is before daylight — ^to S.W. again, from which quarter it wa« steafy 
yesterday. It will thus be seen that the storm went round the oocapass. 
The points from which it bl^w most violently were S.W. and N,W." 

In this may be found information needed to enable us satisfactorily to 
acooimt for the remarkable rainfall that occurred at that time at Port 
Elizabeth, a whirlwind either originating there or passing over the town in 
its progress from another, and that it may be a distant point — a whiiiwind 
similar in character to those of tiny dimensions seen sometimes twenty at 
a time, raising the sand or dust in tiny pillars, in the interior of the colony; 
and similar at the same time to those vast cyclones, the study of which has 
enabled meteorologists to determine the law of storms, but intermediate 
between these in magnitude. By this, air near the surface of the ground, 
charged with what quantity of moisture it might be, was raised to an eleva- 
tion at which the reduced temperature there induced unfitted it for holding 
so much or nearly so much in solution. This surplus was thrown off and 
deposited in form of clouds.. These were unceasingly increased by the con- 
tinuous fresh supply, and what was set free fell in torrents of rain, being 
the surplus only of what the air could contain in solution at its lowered 
temperature. 

Vivid flashes of lightning and the roar of thunder are spoken of as accom- 
paniments of the storm. These I attribute to the same cause, and reckon 
them consequents of the disturbance of electric equilibrium, occasioned by 
changes of temperature; and this electric disturbance, though it added 
nothing to the quantity of moisture set free, may have occasioned the more 
rapid precipitation of what had been set free, in accordance with what is 
reported, — " The rain, which came gently at first, increased by degrees until 
it fell down in sheets." 

At the time it was intimated that it would be interesting if meteoro- 
logists would track the storm in its course through the coimtry. I do not 
know whether this has been done by any in the colony. From statements 
in the journals of the day it appears the storm had not by any means been 
confined to one locality. From Humansdorp it was reported that the bridge 
over the Van Sladens River had been swept away, and that the mails had 
to be got across by means of ropes. Some portions of the road in the 
neighbourhood had been so much cut up that the mail bags had fo be 
carried on men's backs. The lighthouse of St Blaize had been so considerably 
damaged that an officer of the Public Works Department had to proceed to 
tibe spot for the purpose of reporting upon the extent and nature of the 
repairs required. 

Mr Molteno, the present premier of the colony, happened to be journey- 
ing at the time from Beaufort to Capetown, and the following narrative of 
what he witnessed between George and Swellendam was transcribed from, a 
hastily given verbal accoimt of his adventure : — " He first encoimtered 
stormy weather with heavy rains in Montagu Pass, and on arriving at 
George found the river very much swollen, and remarked that the bridge 
looked very queer. It seemed as if it had been twisted by the stream. 
Half an hour after he had passed over it was broken to pieces and swept 
ew»y like a toy ! 

'' We:may mention, before going frirther, that Mr Molteno was tm^roiling 
• WiiM Mu^tUuntak aoii^a'iiiamBarfaxxtrincaniOixlinaiy/o^ 



t^^^^ mQidexLt to cQlonial traYellenu After pa98u;ig. Qecxiige. it: ppntu^ed 
ITf^ning aUfiost continuously, indeed, from the Tuesday moi^nup^g: to,, W^^!^^ 
day and Thursday it scarcely stopped. One hour from George was. a em^ 
biridge, which had been partially carried away. T^ ny^r wfw quite 
iE^pa^salt)}^* The deck planks were torn up in maoay pl^^es pjid .t^e 
pa,^.8eway removed. The water had previously risen some teu feet a})pye 
tjie bridge. The party, after resting awhile, went to work with a will, taking 
^p eiopie of t^e planks and contriving to make a rough road over the stream 
iijist wide enough to receive the cart, which was unspanned aiid, wheeled! ty 
h^d carefully over the tumble-down structure. The horses were tb$n Jed 
over, and with great diiO&culty got across, one narrowly escaping ' a 
broken leg. 

" The Witte Elsjes Kiver Bridge was next reached, and it was in a still 
^0^ plight than the last. Gaps were cut right through it in all directiops, 
l^ijid it was covered with drift wood and splintered fragments. No oue, it 
ligiivst be known, had, before Mr MoltiBno, essayed to cross the rivers all 
ajong the route since the flood was at its height. The river, too, "w^as 
literally choked with palmiet, torn up and borne down with the rush of the 
river. Finding the task a serious one, Mr Molteno assembled a considerable 
force of farmers and labourers, who began clearing the bridge and making 
a temporary thoroughfare with spars in the same manner as before. After 
great labour the cart was wheeled across in safety. But the horses could 
not be moved in the same way, the bridge was too rickety and the decking 
too open. What was to be done ] A drift was tried higher up, where . it 
Tifas thought the horses might be swum across. But after one or two 
hazardous trials the attempt was abandoned for the night, and the horses 
sent to a neighbouring farm-house. During the night the flood sensibly 
abated, and it was looking brighter over head. The next morning the 
vi^hole party got over safely, but not without great difficulty. 

" On again the party went, wondering what was coming next, until the 
Brak Kiver heights were reached. Here they came upon a number of 
weather-bound travellers. Waggons were stuck in the mud, and oxen and 
mules straying whither they listed. The pass was in a most dangerous 
state, the land having slipped both above and below the road, rendering 
it almost impassable. As the party descended into the valley the Brak 
River bridge looked a scene of desolation. The river was fairly blocked up 
with the debris of the bridge and drift wood, and the water was rushing 
through a narrow channel on the further side. Here waggons and their 
living frieght had cast anchor to await the subsiding of the flood. On Mr 
Molteno's arrival, all united as before in making a temporary way across the 
ruins of the bridge, and succeeded in getting over. The toll-house by the 
river-side narrowly escaped destruction, the water rising to the ceiling of 
the first floor. If it had not been built of stone it would probably have 
been carried away. The tollman and his family only escaped drowning by 
getting into the loft. When Mr Molteno arrived, he was drying his furni- 
ture, beans, and other provisions. The out-houses to the building were 
completely swept away. Those who know the road will form some idea of 
the height of the water when they are told that the house known as 
Ferreira's Hotel was completely submerged. 

" From Brak Eiver to Mossel Bay the country was flooded in all directipns. 
. -The post had to diverge from the main road to get along at alL Here and 

2p 



' SS4 HTDBOLOOT Of SOUTH AfBXCA. 

there were waggons stuck in the mnd, with the water np to the axles, and 
the attendants in the most bewildered condition. The oxen had strayed, 
enjoying the fun rather than otherwise, and had left no spoor to goide &eir 
masters in the pursuit. 

" The Hartebeest River was passed with nothingworse than a wetting forthe 
cart and its contents ; and at the Gouritz River there was fortunately a boat big 
enough to take the cart over bodily, while the horses were able to swim across, 

" Passing the Vette River and KafirkuOs River which were just fordable, 
the party hastened to cross the Heidelberg River, that they might reach 
without delay the Duivenhok's River, which they had heard was just 
passable. But it proved quite otherwise. The post cart was on the bank, 
and every effort was being made to get it across. The mail bags were put 
into a boat and conveyed safely over, and the cart was floated across, with 
the aid of casks and a tow line hauled by a number of people on the other 
side. The stream was still very strong, and Mr Molteno not being on Her 
Majesty's service deemed it prudent to wait until the next day. He then 
got over in precisely the same way as the post-cart had done, compelling 
5ie horses to swim through the flood. From that point the journey was 
without great adventure. The roads were everywhere cut up, as far as 
Swellendam, beyond which the severe effects of the flood were not felt/* 

This may or it may not have been in the course of the cyclon. I think it 
not impossible that it was. Be this as it may the whole of what has been 
stated is suggestive of much that might be stated in regard to the loss of 
property ; the risk of life occasioned by such torrents of rains ; the com- 
pensation which is found in the fertility which is thus produced on farms 
which are at other times sterile ; and the importance of measures for 
retaining such waters when they fall. Such a rainfall had not occurred for 
twenty years before, and all was allowed to run off to the sea, carrying 
destruction and desolation with it in its course, while it might have been 
to a great extent retained to clothe the fields with verdure and flowers and 
fruit. But the point to which I direct attention at present is, that all that 
water was in the atmosphere while that atmosphere was cloudless, trans- 
parent, and clear ; and thus it supplies an indication of the vastness of the 
water treasures which are stored up there. 

It may be surmised that the proximity of Port Elizabeth to the sea may 
have tended to increase the rairiieill ; but so far as Georgetown at least the 
rainfall was of a corresponding character, produced, it is maintained, not by 
clouds carried thither by the wind, but formed there by the whirlwind. The 
rain may have come previously from the sea, the great reservoir whither all 
surplus water returns, but which is never the fuller because of the evaporst- 
• tion from its surface. But though it may have come previously from the 
sea, it was not spray but rain — it was not salt water but fresh, and it fell 
from the sky, — that sky, a few days before, was, I doubt not, clear and 
cloudless as is generally the sky in that sunny clime ; yet from that sky 
it came. And there it was, notwithstanding the clear transparent blue of 
its hue, — if that blue were no itself the consequence of its presence and its 
abundance there. 

Within a year a similarly destructive rainfall occurred at Natal. Of this 
the following detail? are given in the newspapers of the day : — " Durban, 9th 
Sept J 868,-— Since 'The Flood' of 1856, no disaster has befallen the 



A&IDITT Am> WATEB BUPPtT. 



S3B 



P 

I 



Colony to com pare with that which has has just befallen us from the saioB 
cause. On Friday afternoon j the 28th ultimo, the rain began to fall, with 
squalls froaa southwest, and continued throughout, almost without inter- 
missiou, until the forenoon of Monday, a space of about sixty-five hours. 
During a great portion of this time, in fact from two p.m. ou the Saturday, 
the wind camo from the south and southeast, from which quarter our, 
heayieat, although by no means moat frequent, rains come. On the Monday , 
the clearing up was heralded by the wind going gradually round to the 
northward of east, and by the breaking up of the clouds, showing blue sky. 
On the morning of the first day the barometer stood at 29 907 ; on the 
folio wiug day at 30'20, at which it continued on the third day ; the two 
days following, when the storm was passing and past, indicating 30 10 '5. 
The rain which fell during the continuance at Merebank, Mr Lamport's 
Bugar plantation, amounted, as stated by that gentleman in an interesting 
letter to the Mercury, to 17*11 inches. On Sunday the rising of the riTera, 
and especially of the Umgeni, indicated that heavy rains had fallen in the 
upper counti'y as well as ou the coast, and fears began to be entertained for 
the safety of the bridges. At the Queen's Bridge on the Umgeni, about a 
mile and a half from the sea, reeds, sugar-cane s^ treesj and at length two 
little timber bridges from feeders of the main stream, were constantly being 
carried down, and as the level of the water approached the girders of tbo 
bridge, this debrU began to be atrested and to accumulate. About mid- 
night a large portion of the Queen's Bridge itself gavo way,^how much 
could not, of course, be known in the darkness and the storm ; and about 
four A.M. the remainder was swept ofif. [Daylight showed the approach on 
the Durban aide crumbling into the torrent, and a thousand feet distant, on 
the further side of the roajiug gu]fj the extremities of the white handrails 
urere all that could be seen of the Queen's Bridge. Injuries to the railway 
prevented trains running ; but as soon as the weather moderated many 
persona from town went to witness the scene, I reached the spot about 
midday. The water was then said to have fallen five feet, a statement I 
saw some reason to doubt ; but the tops of three of the circular piers, and 
a fragment of the roadway hanging down into the stream were all that was 
then to be seen of tbo bridge. Far down the stream, towards the sea, in 
more than one place j curled huge foaming waves, as if caused by portions 
of the structure obstructing the channel it had so lately spanned. Alto- 
gether, it was a grand and terrible sight. Through a gorge some thousand 
or twelve hundred feet wide, with high precipitous banks clothed with wierd- 
lookiug euphorbias and other trees, hurried on the angry waters, discoloured 
with the soil of many a bill and field over which they had been spreading 
devastation. But a mouth before I had ridden along the low sandbank 
which barred up the mouth of the river and made it discharge itself three 
quarters of a mile to the northward. Now this had disappeared, fiowed 
over, it seemed, and thrust out by the headlong force of the torrent which 
rapidly wore it down* But for an embankment placed across a narrow part 
of a low-lying marsh on the land side of the sandhills known as the Bark- 
beach Bush, the river would undoubtedly have poured down into the bay, 
oanying, as in 1856, devastation Into the very town of Durban* As itwas, 
the rainfiill had been far too great to be carried ofiF by such drains as exist^ 
and much injury was done in some of the lower-lying parts of the town. A 
large body of water, which could not be taken by one of the principal drains^ 
waa dammed back by the embankment of the Pine Tejrrace exteuBioa of 



iS^T^^kfyMi had the ndn coilthitied bdt a f^ i^fir^ l^Hgeir, thttPto b 
much reason to belieye the embankment mxM have yield^ earrykSg 
dervastation through the rery heart of the town. 

^ Ab it was, the damage done in the town, although serious, is fkr leal 
than was anticipated. But it is on the roads and brieves, and in the sugiif 
aiid cbffbe plantations, and the smaller estates and farms, that the greats 
axnoimt of damage has been done. For dajei the mails were stopped alto- 
gether, or delay^ ; and even now, a weiek after, intelligence has not y%t 
beien received ^m some of the more remote parts of the Colotiy. The 
^at Miilas Flat, extending from the head of the bay to the Isipin^, 
fifteen miles distant, and to a considerable extent cultivated for sugar, was 
uhder water, and much damage has been done, although the extent is not 
yet known. The two Mulas bridges, the public one, and that to the Reunion 
Estate, were carried off, and the river flows 2000 yards on the hither side of 
its former channel. Lower down the coast, as well as up northward, similar 
damage has been sustained both by individuals andby the community. Sudden 
tbnrents and landslips have hurried acres of cane and coffee plants, with the 
soil that bore them, down to the sea. Bridges have gone with them; 
yawning gullies have opened across the main roads, or rocks and masses of 
earth from above have blocked them up. It is impossible, as yet at least, 
to estimate at all accurately the extent of damage that has been done, 
llhat to public wcH'ks has been set down at about £50,000 ; while private 
persons are variously estimated to have sustained an aggregate loss of 
£50,000 to £100,000. Altogether, the calamity, widespread and vast as it 
its, is probably less than was at first supposed, and the lower estimate may 
ttim out to be the more correct. The rainfall at Maritzburg, or the neigh- 
bourhood, according to Dr Sutherland, was 12*75 inches, considerably less 
than in the vicinity of Durban ; and in the direction of the counties of KKp 
I^iver and Newcastle, it is not even said to have been excessive or moie 
than acceptable. No statement has yet appeared of the losses among the 
litook and sheep-farmers in the upper country, but it will probably turn btit 
io be considerable wherever the rain has reached. 

" The railway embankment near the Queen's Bridge was in two or thrte 
places undermined and swept off; a bridge on the Point line destroyed, and thb 
line otherwise so injured as to put a stop to all traffic for a week. It is 
now, however, resumed, although the repairs have net been quite completed. 

" On the very day on the morning of which the Queen's Bridge was 
d^royed, the Colonial Engineer, who happened to be in Durban, took 
measures to have boats placed on the Umgeni near the site of the late 
bjridge. Thus the passenger traffic has not been interrupted even for a day. 
On -die day following Mr Paterson proceeded to Maritzburg to lay before the 
Lieut.-Govemor a plan for a temporary bridge, which could be got ready in 
six weeks, so that the whole sugar-crop of Victoria county, now just begin- 
ning to be got in, should suffer no unnecessary delay in being brought to 
market. The Chamber of Agriculture promptly met, and passed resolu- 
tions expressing their conviction that the planters would cheerfully pay ' a 
toll to avoid the delay which must otherwise be sustained. 
, '* I again visited the Umgeni on the seventh day alter the destruction of 
|;he bridge. The river although greatly fallen — fallen, indeed, at that spot 
to about its ordinary level — ^was still pouring an immense volume of waiter 
^ A.]»;^id rate inta the eea^ The channel, which ten days ago was peihAps 
hun^ tfNo^t^ motSiB in-depth, by flemain^'away ti the ahadi Ims 



utfiig tVeuty f eBt deep. M any hundreda, i adeed thousands, of toni t>f nibbish 
fwm the Go^erbment quarry, where atone for the harbour workfi was being 
WTonghtj had been swept away down stream. On the same apet where I 
had Btood about a month before in the quanyj a couple of hundred yards 
ttom the edge of a softly -flowing Btreanij with waving reeds and sedge, I 
now found myself on a cliff of rock, lookiiig right down a swirUng torrent 
thirty feet below. A spot across which I had then ridden was now on the 
o|^posite side of the river, whitjh had there added many acres of bare sand, 
while on the other side where I was it had swept as many off into the ocean, 
and now hurried along close under the steep wooded extremity at the Berea, in 
one spot confined in a channel in a gorge barely sixty yards across, in another 
widening out to nearly four hundred. Two sections or ledges of the bridge, 
each of a hundred feet, lay In the stream ; a third, the northernmost, still 
hung from its abutment ; the other four sections were nowhere to be seen. 
On proceeding to the north of the river, I found it discharging itself right 
out to sea, having scoured away the broad sandbank, while the opening to 
the lagoon J through which it had lately flowed to the northward, was now 
closed up. 

** There has been much cootroversy as to the height to which the Umgem 
has risen as compared with the occasion of 1856, bat no clear and 
thoroughly reliable record appears to have been kept of the rise in either 
ease. In the papers of the day the flood of 1856 is stated to have risen 22 
feet above the previous level* But prior to that event the river had been 
flowing in a chajinel only 208 feet in width, while since then it has been 
much wider J filling the whole space of 700 feet spanned by the late 
bridge. A rise of the same number of feet in so much wider a channel 
would therefore indicate a vastly greater rainfall. The amount of rain 
which fell on the first two days of the flood in April 1856 is stated at 19 
inches, and the total rainfall in four days at 27 inches ; but I feel very dia- 
tmstfuil of the accuracy of those figures. 

'* Eight years before, namely in April 1848, heavy floods had been 
experienced, although not equal to those of 1856, imd native tradition spoke 
of other floods at the same season. People had therefore come to regard 
April as the mouth when danger was to be apprehended from this cause. 
Yet we have not been without warning in the month of August. Only three 
years ago almost to a day, namely on the 24th of the month, heavy rain 
fell, continuing with fittle intermission for three days, on which occasion the 
Umgeni rose to within eighteen inches of the roadway of the Queen*a 
Bridge, It had not then been erected twelve months, for the day of its 
destruction %vas only four yeaj-s and eight days from that which witnessed 
its formal opening. 

" Amid all the disasters of these eventful last days there is one thing for 
which we have to be greatly thankful,^ — the comparatively small number of 
lives which have been lost. The only white man known to have perished is 
a youth of the name of Barr, an only son, who, with two companionB, 
attempted to swim the river Umhloti, to his father's sugar mill. The other 
two succeeded in getting across, but young Barr, although a good swimmer, 
was carried ofi^, and his body has not, I believe, jet been found. Of Coolies 
and Kaffirs some six or eight are kuowu to have perished. The Swedish 
brig Vaerifhgm\ the only vessel in the outer anchorage at the time, had a 
narrow escape* She lost one anchor and dragged the other for upwards of 
a mile until she got among the breakers not very far from, the mouth of the 



SS8 HTDBOLOOT OF flOUTH AIBICUL 

UmgenL Whether the strong flow from the riyer enabled her to hold fhie 
position, or whatever may have been the canae, she socoeeded in weathering 
out the atorm, and after recoyering the proper anchorage ground, has now 
come happily inside. From the greatly increased cnltivation within the 
last twelve years the amount of damage done to crops, mills, and 
country buildings generally is much greater than that sustained by the 
Colony in 1856. On the other hand, the town buildings are now generally, 
at least at Durban, of a much more substantial chazact^ than they were 
in 1856." 

Of a rainfall mentioned as occurring in April 1857, possibly the same as 
is spoken of here as occurring in 1856, Dr Mann in a paper read before the 
Royal Geographical Society, and printed in the society's journal of pro- 
ceedings in 1867, gives the following particulars : — ^* It is said that 27 indies 
of rain fell at Durban, and between 10 and 1 1 inches at Maritzbuig; between 
the fourteenth and sixteenth days of the month. I was not in the Colony 
at the time, and cannot vouch for the accuracy of this estimate ; but at any 
rate there is no doubt that the Umgeni River rose about 28 feet above its 
usual level near its mouth, and burst quite across the sand flats on which 
Durban stands to the inner bay. The water was at one time within 12 feet 
of the level of the principle street of the town. The Tongaati River rose 
30 feet above its usual leveL The Umvoti River rose 16 feet, and spread a. 
bed of sand 4 feet deep over the neighbouring pastures. Even the Marite- 
burg River, the Umsundusi, where the fall was so much less, carried away 
its bridge, and cut off the communication between the city and the port for 
several days. The sea beach was covered by trunks of trees and beds of 
reeds brought down by the rivers. 200 dead oxen were counted on one 
place on the beach, within a distance of 10 miles.'' 

In the following year 1869, the Western Province was the scene of similar 
torrents. The following is a notice taken from one of the local papers : — 
''After a month of almost uninterrupted fine weather, on the 19th of June 
ndn began to descend in Capetown and neighbourhood, and continued to 
pour down, in tropical fashion, almost without intermission till the night 
of Wednesday the 30th, doing great injury to buildings in Capetown and 
neighbourhood, and causing a serious accident on the Wellington railway. 
To give our English readers some idea of the quantity of water falling from 
the clouds upon us during the fortnight, Mr Blore, a meteorologist residing 
a short distance from Capetown, but in a situation where, from various 
causes, the temperature is more moist than in the town itself, reports that 
from the 19th June, at one p.m., till the 29th June, at 4 p.m., the fedl was 
18*252 inches, giving an average of '075 inch per hour, and that during 
eight hours of the 20th June 2'185 inches fell, being at the rate of '273 inch 
per hour. The same gentleman also reports that the rainj&Jl during the 
past six months amounted to 33*890 inches, 31 '951 of which fell during 
May and June. Mr George Maclear, of the Royal Observatory, reports that 
in the past half-year 20*179 inches have fallen, 17'51 inches being registered 
for May and June. In another direction from Capetown, Mr J. J. Steytler, 
of Sea Point, reports the quantity to have been 15*219 inches, 13*28 (^ 
which fell in May and June. All the reports given agree that if May and 
June be taken together, more rain has fallen this year than is recorded for 
the same months in any previous year. If we take the first six months^ 
&td imm&U btLB been greater than in any year since 1838." 



ABIDITT AND WATEB SUFPLT. 



239 



Tb« minfall TiLiies gre^ttly witli locality in Capetoim and its vicinity, 
Mr Martin, resident in Capetown, gives the following as hts obaervationa : — 
** Sirs, — I beg to forward the following account of rainfall at Eouwkoop 
Place, npper end of Caledon Street, from the 1st January to the 30th June, 
130 feet above the sea :— 

January, ,., .., ,.. 0*S30 inch* 

February ,.. „. .,. 0^010 „ 

March, 0*590 „ 

April, 1795 „ 

May, 7-465 „ 

June, 7^495 ,j 



17-685 „ 

" The above measurements are fipom a gauge standing on a wall 18 feet 
6 inches higher than another on the gi'ound about 70 feet distant j from 
which I obtain at every rainfall an increase of 20 per cent, ; the total for 
the past six monthe has been 21-222 inches. 

" Taking the mean of our temperature for the last six months to be 66** 
Fahrenheit, the daily evaporation, according to experiments by Mr Crichton, 
of Gltisgow, and Mr Dalton, from a space equal to the mean surface of the 
large reservoir, Capetown, will be 27,947 gallons, or 5 -8th inch in depth. 

** With a vessel of 12 inches diameter, from constant observation, I record 
90 inches evaporated, oxcluaive of raio-days, which, if addedj will give as 
near an approximation to Dalton's table as need be, I have, <&c., 

" Rouwkoop Place, 1st July 1869/* " W. Mabtin. 

The destruction of property was considerable ; not tbe least remarkable 
was the destruction of a railway bridge, in regard to which Mr Watson, the 
general superintendent, wrote to a local paper, — " The accident seems to 
have been caused by the embankment having become completely saturated 
with water during the previous night. An immense quantity of rain had 
fallen in that locality, and all the water courses were filled and overflowing. 
The water on the mountain or upper side of the line runs for some distance 
along the embankment before making its exit by the girder bridge at the 
Wellington end of the hollow, and as the water appears to have reached a 
great height against the railway, there is reason to believe that the portion 
which gave way became gradually so thoroughly soaked and perforated by 
the flood as to render it quite incapable of resisting the heavy pressure of a 
passing train/' 

Two public trials arose out of this accident, one a criminal trial before the 
Resident Magistrate at the Paarl, for culpable homicide, an accident to the 
raOway train under which the bridge gave way haTing been followed by 
fatal consequences ; another j a trial before the Supreme Court for damages, 
laid at £5000, sustained by one of the passengers ; and there were elicited 
facts which were thus summarized by the Chief Justice in the delivery of 
his judgoraent : — ** The chasm in the railway was undoubtedly produced by 
water which had accumulated on the upper side of the mihvay. The water 
had come from the higher grounds on that side, and also from the Berg 
Eiver which flows on the lower side of the railway. The river had over- 
flowed its banks and sent a volume of water to the upper side of the 
railway, underneath a bridge of 24 feet span, called the Sandhills Bridge, 
which was rather less than a mile nearer Capetown than the scene gf the 

I 

5_ 



. toBUtant This Mdge, tWatee, innUmd of vsUemf -t1pt^*i9pfn|f]^hmi 
water, helped on this occasion to increase the water which was coiiMiig fisgrn 
the higher lands. The only exit for the water thus accumulating was 
through a culvert of six feet span, situated between the Sandhills Bridge 
and the scene of the accident, and by a bridge of twenty feet space on the 
further or Wellington side of the site of the accident. The accident 
occurred within six chains, or about three hundred feet of this last 
mentioned bridge, between that bridge and the culvert. When the train 
passed the twenty feet bridge on the morning of the 30th the water 
was above the girders of the bridge, these being of open, not close, construc- 
tion. The girders, therefore, operated so £eu: as to dam back the water, and 
to allow only that to pass which would escape imder the girders. As the 
higher groimd on the upper side of the railway converged towards the 
railway, and met it at a point a little beyond the twenty feet bridge on 
the Wellington side of it, the accumulated water had got into a aogrt of 
comer, from which what the bridge would not allow to pass could only 
escape by the six-feet culvert I have mentioned. While waiting for this 
escape the water seems to have worked its way through the railway at a 
point, as I have before mentioned, between the culvert and the bridge, and 
to have opened the chasm of at least thirty feet wide into which the trsia 
ieH Several theories were suggested by the scientific witnesses to account 
for the making of this chasm. One was that the embankment was made 
of sandy material ; that the water while it was rising had saturated the 
sand; that the water rose till it flowed over the embankment through 
the cross channels in the ballasting upon the top of the embankment; 
that it then gradually cut its way through till it had opened a course 
sufficiently laige to give a force of current equal to canying away the 
extent of embankment which I have before mentioned. Another theory 
treated the embankment as having sufficient clay mixed with the 
sand to make it tenacious, and therefore of good material, provided 
its sides, if exposed to the action of water, had been faced with clay or 
stone. In other respects this theory coincided with the first I have men- 
tioned. A third theory coincided with the second in regard to the goodness 
of the material of which the embankment was composed, but suggested that 
the accident was attributable to mole-holes in the embankment, which bad 
weakened it, and had allowed water to get entrance. In the view I take of 
the case, I do not feel it necessary to consider which of these theories is the 
more correct, neither do I consider it necessary to deal with another matter, 
which occupied much attention during the evidence and much discussion at 
the bar, — to wit, whether there had been sufficient provision made at the 
time the railway was constructed for carrying away the water which might 
be expected to accumulate on its upper side. It seems that when the plans 
for the railway were submitted to the Colonial Engineer, he thou^t the 
water-way insufficient, and suggested that it should be increased, so as to 
affi)rd at that part of the line a drainage of thirty-eight square feet ; that 
this suggestion was carried out by making a water-way equjd to fifty square 
feet, and by changing the line of the railway so as to make it pass along a 
higher level than was originally contemplated. Notwithstanding 3iis 
apparent careful provision against the accumulation of water, the result has 
shown that, although the water-way has been sufficient since the year 1862, 
I ^spfaenihe Ikie was ocmslaruoted, it has proved insufficient in the yiear 1869, 
mmaedikM l»JMl»itl:fNi| the Jail of ram^ wit^ s^^g^y^ti^i^ d||f^ 



ARIDITY AND WATER SUPPLY. 241 

the night of the 30th June, from one to three o'clock, was greater than had 
been known for many years." 

The fact to which attention is called is, that in connection with severe 
and long-continued droughts there occur withib the Colony occasionally 
deluges of rain, working disaster and destruction even after every precaution 
deemed necessary has been taken. 

In the same year, at Beaufort West, a deluge of rain washed ^down a large 
dim which had been erected by the mimicipality for the storage of water 
for the supply of the inhabitants ; and in the year following the town was 
flooded by the waters of the Gomka ; of this a correspondent writes : — 
" This town was visited on Monday, 7th instant, with a heavy rain, which 
commenced in the afternoon, and continued without intermission during the 
whole night. The river Gomka, on the one side, overflowed its banks, 
carrying away the parapet walls constructed for preventing its running into 
the town. At the same time the Springfontein, on the other side of the 
town, was full, and not having vent sufficient through the gap in the dam 
made by the breakage some time since, both rivers flowed uncontrolled into 
the town, flooded many houses, causing losses of a very considerable 
extent, blocked up the water furrows, and left the streets in a deplorable 
plight. The principal losers are Messrs P. J. Alport & Co., who had their 
stores washed through by a body of water of about two feet, filling a large 
underground cellar, containing quantities of bags, sugar, &c., and wetting a 
large amount of goods of all descriptions. Many families had to fly from 
their houses and take refuge with their neighbom-s." 

In the next year, 1871, Victoria West was the spene of disaster. The 
following is a summary of the details collected by the Capetown Argus : 
The beginning of the storm is thus described in a private letter : — " Above 
the village, on the farm Patrysfontein, occupied by Mr Frans Hugo, 
at 5 o'clock on the afternoon of the 27th February, heavy low thunder-clouds 
were seen approaching, while the lower masses flashed vivid lightning, 
accompanied by but httle thunder. Clouds, as it were, of steam rolled in 
volumes along the ground. An hour before sunset it got so dark that one 
could scarcely see an object just in front of him, and rain in torrents began 
to fall, accompanied by immense hailstones. About 8 o'clock Mr Hugo's 
family heard a loud crash as if of falling iron in the sky. Mr Hugo on 
opening the door exclaimed, * Woman, let us fly ! ' And scarcely was she 
outside with her children when on came a mountain of water which swept 
away the whole of the buildings, so that scarcely a trace of them could 
afterwards be found. But that was not the worst. Before they could get 
away the flood came down, and poor Hugo had to see his wife and four 
children swept away and drowning, himself barely escaping with the infant 
in his arms. All his stock, big and little, was carried away and drowned. 
The flood then took its course towards the village, and about 9 o'clock began 
the work of destruction." 

Of what took place in the village itself the following is a brief description 
by one who was there : — ^^ Ou Monday night, about 9 o'clock, rain com- 
menced to fall, and at ten o'clock our whole village was flooded. I was 
reading a newspaper in my bedroom. The next moment my wife heard a 
scream and went out, but came running back, and cried out ' We will be 
drowned.' A heavy knock then came at the window. I asked * Who is 

2a 



24S HTimoLOftT oy Moxnrn abbioa. 

there f The reply was, ' Mrs Laws, let me in^ we sre dsoiWBingfi-^ We 

threw open our fVench window which leads to our parlour, and ^ poor 
woman rushed inside. It was awful to hear my children screaming, some- 
times * Father,' and sometimes * Mother, we will be drowned — ^we will be 
drowned.' Our shop stands very high — our stoep stands about five feet 
higher than the opposite, which is the lower side of the street — ^which Bayed 
us from the ruin. Now, what could we do ) The screams firom the opposite 
side pf the street were something terrible, and it was as dark as pitch. I 
flew to the shop, put all the lamps I could lay my hands on in the window, 
opened my shutters, and threw out all the light into the street. All that 
could find their way to my stoep did so. The sight was most lamentable. 
Bales of wool by the hundred floating down the middle of the street in the 
flood. Door-frames, window-frames, roofs of houses, sheep, goats, mules, 
and horses were like feathers in the water. You may imagine what it was 
hi the river which runs behind the houses and shops opposite me. They 
screamed from the opposite side to throw a rope across. When Mrs Laws 
opened her door the water rushed in. She screamed out to Mr Laws and 
three other gentlemen that were sitting having a chat. She rushed across 
to our place, which took her up to her knees, and before they got to the 
door it was impossible for them to cross. Luckily, I had a coU of rope in 
my back store; I got it out, and succeeded, with the assistance of Mr 
Palgrave, who was drenched to the skin, in getting it across. He had been 
through the water, up to his chest ; he worked like a nigger. By his contri- 
vance we got the rope across. They made it fast to the rdl above the door. 
We held on tight, and all four succeeded in getting across safe. By this 
time the back of the building had fallen, which leaves Mr Laws a heavy 
loser, — a place that was all but finished. The opposite comer to Mr Laws 
was still more distressing. Here lives a Mrs Dodds. I think the number 
this evening was seven in the house, and with the rope we succeeded in 
getting them all across ; but before getting them all across the whole of the 
house fell in, barring a little piece of the front, which held on ; but a fine 
young lady, eighteen years old, who was to be married the 15th of next 
month, got struck on the forehead with a brick, which caused her death 
about an hour after they got her across. Behind Mrs Dodds' place stood 
that of John M'Ponald, baker and butcher, close to the river. We con- 
cluded they were both gone, — I mean his wife also, — as the building was 
gone. But for a willow tree he planted in front of his house they would 
have been washed away. When the bricks began to fall in they flew to the 
tree, and when the water went down a little they got on the top of the 
ruins. They had screamed till they were tired ; but nobody heard them 
for the roar of the water. When the water fell enough to enable us to get 
over to their place, we heard a voice from among the ruins, and found John 
McDonald and his wife almost in a state of nudity. They had only been in 
bed a quarter of an hour when part of the place fell in. We got them across 
to our place, and had them dressed at once. The next up the street was 
Mr Smith, who hkd a very narrow escape of his life. I think he will save 
the most of his stock, as hi^ place fell in after the water fell. It has hurt 
him very much ; not quite recovered yet. Mr Adams, his brother-in-law, 
will be the heaviest loser in the village, as a great many houses belonging 
to him are gone. Opposite this stands the Commercial Hotel, which had 
three feet of water inside ; they are afraid to sleep in the place. I thmk it 
jvri)! fall. The next place was Mr Jacobsohn's. The screams from. l)oth of 



AEiBnrr and watzr surrw,^ 



S4S 



them ware temble* They etood on a Ubk till tbe place began tg fall In. 
He is a heavy loser. He had about 400 bales waiting for transport* He 
may get it all, but fancy some of it two or three milefi oE SkinSj yon need 
not look for them. Opposite is the magistrate's offico ; all their books aJid 
papers are in an awful state. Mr Oarcia, our ivorthy magistrate, also Mr 
Rawstome and Mr Munnik, worked until they were actually worn out* 
Bawetome and Mimnik's landlady is gone, and everything they had. You 
can hardly see the foundation of the house* Marcus and Mrs Armstrong 
went down the river with her, holding fast to one another. Tell 
Eisner and Lewis that Schoombom*s place ia completely gone,— in fact, 
part of the foundation is away, Hanna and Hofli^ will lose, I think, seven 
or eight hundred pounds in wool and buildings* A farmer, called Frana 
Hugo, living about six miles from the village, lost his wife and four chil- 
dren, and his farmstead is left the same as the veldt — bare. Mr A, L. 
Devenish, three miles from the village, has lost four hundred of his beat 
sheep, and a splendid dam he was making, which was supposed to cost 
*£2000 when finished. As near as possible twenty-five houses have 
completely gone. Up till six o'clock this evening (1st March), fifty-three 
dead bodies have been discovered and buried ; but we are afraid we shall 
hear of a great many more, as this riyer runs a long way," 

On the same day similar destructive effects were produced by the rain- 
fall near Oudtshoom* Of this a correspondent of the Cape Argus writes : — 
*' Not having as yet seen an account in any of the papers of a severe hail- 
storm accompanied with torrents of rain, which was e^jperienced on the 
farm known by the name of * Schoemanshoek/ at the entrance of ih^ Cango 
Poort, distant about ten miles from this village, on Monday, the 27th ult, 
— the same day on which the calamity occured at Victoria West, — I send 
you particulars of tho storm. The weather looked gloomy on the date 
mentioned; there were several heavy showers in this village, and dark 
clouds appeared in the duection of the Cango. The Grobbelaars River, on 
the banks of which Oudtshoam is situated, was almost stagnant, but 
swelled into a torrent towards evening, and almost became impassable. 
Nothings however, was known by the villagers of the hailstorm, or the 
damage occasioned by it to the proprietors of the farm * Schoemanehoek,' 
mitil the following day. It appears that at about 2 o'clock p.m. it com- 
menced to rain in torrents at ' Schoemanshoek,' accompanied with hail, which 
laated about an hour, and in that short space of time the whole of the 
tabaoGo plantations, for which the above farm is celebrated, were completely 
destroyed ; the greater portion of the crop, which was unusualiy fine, was 
ready for gathering. The leaves were battered to pieces ; iu fact, nothing 
remained after the storm was over but the bare stalks. The storm waa 
confined to * Schoemanshoek* only, and did not extend to the adjouiing farms. 
All the kloofs and gullies rtmning down to the Grobbelaars River in a 
remarkably short time became foaming ton'ents, and quite impassable while 
the stomi lasted. The watercom^es on the fai^n were found, after the storm 
had pasBod over, to be silted up with sand and stones ; there was a great rush 
iof water on the homestead between the houses of the several proprietors. 
All the manure from the kraals was swept intci the river, and the roads in 
the locality were washed into deep chaems, so tliat traffic was stopped to 
and from the Cango, until the farmers in a body turned out to repair damages, 
which was no easy task as regards the roadsr With rospoot to the tob^o 



244' HYDBOLOOY OF SOUTH AFBIOA. 

their losses are very heavy. The following is a statement of the losses sus- 
tained ; the estimate, I was assured by my infoimant, one of the Messrs 
Schoeman, whose statomeiit may be relied on, is considerably below the 
mark: — H. P. Schoonmn, 3()(M) lb. tobacco; L. M. Schoeman, 7000 lb. do.; 
Estate late P. J. Sclioeniau. 3000 lb. do. ; H. S. N. Schoeman, 4000 lb. do. ; 
H. S. Schoeman, 7000 lb. do. ; P. Schoeman, 2000 lb. do. ; Jan Schoeman, 
2000 lb. do. ; Jacs Schoeman, '20i)0 lb. do. ; Jan Schoeman and Jacob van 
Antwerp, 2000 lb. do. ; Christoftel Spies, 3000 lb. do.— total, 35,000 lb. do. 
Reckoning the price of the tobacco at 5d per lb., the losses sustained by 
the proprietors of the farm Schoemanshoek will reach about X725." 

In the Cape Argus of 4th June 1872 it is mentioned : — "Heavy rains 
have fallen in all pai-ts of the Colony. In Capetown they caused a flood 
which for a time turned seveml of the streets into rivers. Many houses 
and stores had water in them to the depth of four feet." 

Such details seem to tell that it is not want of rain which is the cause or 
occasion of the drought. They seem to tell that " it never rains but it 
pours." They remind one of what has been written in regard to St. 
Swithin, of popular fame ; and of what has been told of St. Dunstan's 
brother Peter of the Inglesby legends, — rain, rain, raining as if it would 
never cease. And they remind one of the feeling of the ancient manner, — 
sea, sea, sea, everywhere sea, and not a drop to allay his thirst. Water, 
water, water, everywhere water, and not a hundredth part to be retained to 
fertilize the ground ; all rushing in torrents to the main, where there 
is no lack. 

Whatever may be the aridity of South Africa there is moisture in the 
atmosphere, for all this superabundance of water has fallen thence, and ' 
fallen from what was, shortly before the collision and intermingling of aerial 
currents preceding the down-pour, a cloudless sky. 

I had almost said scarcely docs a newspaper come to me from the Cape 
in which mention is not made of drought. While some of the preceding 
pages were passing through the press I have received several. In one of 
these I read : — " A gentleman who has very recently travelled from Murrays- 
burg to Graaff-Rcinet, writes to a contemporay : — * You can form no idea of 
the dreadful state of the country between this (GraaflP-Reinet) and Murrays- 
burg ; water is failing ; pasturage is completely dried up, and covered with 
locusts. At Murraysburg I paid two shillings a bundle for forage. If we 
don't get rain soon 1 don't know what will become of us.' 

" A Fraserburg correspondent, writing on the 19th inst., [Nov. 1874] says : 
— * While I write, the rain is coming down in torrents — a blessing which 
we have not enjoyed here for the last eight months. TKat scourge to the 
country, the spring-bucks, are said to be in the neighbourhood in coimtless 
numbers.' " These animals are generally driven into the Colony by the 
lack of water and of pasturage in districts beyond. 

The same post which brought the newspaper from which these quotations 
have been made, brought me a letter from the District Surgeon of Fraser- 
burg, the place mentioned, in which he writes, amongst other things, of a 
journey of about a hundred miles which he made to visit a patient : — " We 
left, about mid-day, pushed slowly on with weak, poor horses, for the whole 
land 0uffera from drpught, and all the cattle are poor and dji^g, the 



ARIDITY AND WATER SUPPLY. 246 

waters giving up, and general distress impending. We pushed on all night 
[with changes of horses] as that is much cooler for the horses, and the next 
day before sunset we reached our destination." Thirty-two hours of con- 
tinuous travelling for a journey of one hundred miles ! He goes on to say : 
— " I have been writing this morning since before sunrise and a fine 

thunderstorm has been coming in from the north. Little 's morning 

greeting was, * Kind God, making the tunder and send the nice rain.' Thus 
you see how early God's blessings are appropriated here ! This is indeed a 
dry and thirsty land, and everyone in the village and neighbourhood is 
anxiously, hopingly watching the clouds." 

In another part of the newspaper I have cited is a communication from a 
correspondent at Burghersdorp, in which is said: — " We had a heavy thunder- 
storm on Saturday (7th November), accompanied with great hailstones, as 
large as hens' eggs, which caused considerable damage amongst the glass, 
especially the windows of the Masonic Lodge. Most of the blue gums here 
have a very peculiar appearance. The heavy frosts during the winter killed 
all the foliage, and many are now without leaves. They are, however, 
shooting out round about the stem and branches, which at a distance has 
the appearance of immense clusters of bees. Strange to say, one or two in 
the town escaped, and have not sufibred any injury. The Port Jackson 
willows are aU dead ; the blackwood trees also. Fruit will be scarce this 
season. Our market is badly supplied — some mornings not a single thing, 
not even an Qgg ! Butter, when there is any, 4s 6d per lb. The country 
round about is as dry as a chip, the hills bare and brown." 

Any otheY newspaper taken at random at any other time would probably 
have been found to contain similar accoimts of drought. But in these 
notices of drought there are, as probably would also be foimd to be the 
case in notices of the state of the weather elsewhere, at some other time, 
references to rain ; and to form a correct conception of the state of things 
to be remedied to this also attention must be given. 

The beginning of November is, at the Cape, the beginning of summer. 
Hail in summer is not unknown elsewhere in connection with thunderstorms, 
but to some who reside elsewhere it may be supposed that a description of 
" great hailstones, as large a hens' eggs," must be an exaggeration. I can- 
not say it is not, but I have no reason to suppose it is ; and from what I 
have seen and learned in the district of Burghersdorp I am led to accept the 
statement as correct. 

When at the Cape, in travelling from King Williamstown to Burghers- 
dorp, I visited Queenstown, the principal town of an adjoining district, about 
the same season of the year, a little later, with simuner more advanced, and 
I was. told that the week before there had been there a heavy fall of mxyw\ 
stores, banks, and public ofl&ces were closed that the men of business, clerks 
and principals alike, might have the sport' of snowballing. I there heard of 
a storm of hail which, falling in a slanting direction, had cut off the cobbs 
of Indian com almost as regularly, over extensive plots, as if it had been 
done with a hedgebill. And on the same journey, near Riversdale, I saw a 
house the wall of which was defaced with numerous marks like such as 
might be made with a pick-axe, and was told it was the effect of a hail- 
storm, or storm of ice, which had occurred some six weeks before. And 
large as the hailstones falling at Burghersdorp were said to be, in this there 
is nothing incredible. 



iii r, : '. HTDBOLOOT Of SOmTH 

Of men of Bcienoe no one stands higher in general repntation at the Cape 
than does Sir John Herschel. On the subject of hail he wrote : — ^' In a 
balloon ascent, performed by Messrs Green, Rust, and Spencer, on Septem- 
ber 4th, 1838, after mounting to an altitude of 19,185 feet, during whidi 
ascent the thermometer, at 12,000 feet, marked ^S"" Fahrenheit, they found 
on descending again to the last mentioned level a temperature of 22^ 
Fahrenheit o^y, or 24'' colder than in their ascent At the same time 
they found there a heavy faU of snow in progress. It is evident that this 
arose from the condensation of vapour at that level, and that, from the 
intrusion of some current, a mass of intensely cold air had been introdaced, 
which, finding vapour near saturation, converted it into snow. It is equally 
evident that had the latter condition prevailed not at the level in questiony 
but -at a somewhat higher, where the condensation might have been into 
rain very near freezing point, the drops in descending would have been 
frozen solid and fallen as hail. It might have been so equally, had the 
precipitation been so copious as to allow the coalescence of a great number 
of minute particles in a nascent state into drops frozen together instanter, 
since there is good reason to believe that the solid forms is never assumed 
without transition through the liquid, however momentary. 

** The generation of hail seems always tu depend on some very sudden 
introduction of an extremely cold current of air into the bosom of a 
quiescent, nearly saturated mass. Hail-storms are always purely local 
phenomena, and never last long. They often mark their course by linear 
tracks of devastation of great length and very small breadth. In the hail- 
storm of July 13th, 1788, which passed across France from south to north, 
two such tracks were marked, of 175 and 200 leagues in length respectively, 
parallel to each other, the one four leagues broad, the other two, and 
separated by a track five leagues in breadth, in which only rain fell. A 
similar chanuster is veiy common, though not to such an extent. Such 
linear hail-storms are always attended with violent wind, sudden depression 
of the barometer, indicating a great commotion in the air, and probably 
mingling of saturated masses of veiy different temperature. To attribute 
to hail, as is often done, an electrical origin, because hail is often accompanied 
with thunder and lightning (' hailstones and coals of fire'), seems to ua to 
be putting the eifect for the cause. 

"Hail may be very properly distinguished into single bailBtones and 
aggregated masses. Single stones have generally a oystalline struoture, 
radiating from a centre, if large forming spherical, oval, or rounded masseSi 
often marked out (on making a secti<m) into ocmcentric layers, like the 
rings in the secti<m of a branch. They £bJ1 from the siae of small peas to 
that of an egg, an orange, or a man's head, and weighing from a few grains 
up to fourteen pounds and upwards. Dr Thomson, in his Introdueium to 
Meteorology y a work in which the reader will find assembled a most extra- 
ordinary collection of the recorded marvels of meteorology, gives many 
instances of the fall of large hailstones One described by Capt Delcroose^ 
as having fallen at Ba^ouiere, July 4, 1819, fifteen inches in drcumfereiiee^ 
had a beautiful radiated structure marking it as a single stone^ fanned in 
passing through two distinct regions of condensation. Dr Buist stated to 
the Bombay Geographical Society that in India the hailstones are from 
five to twenty times laiger than those in Eo^and^ often wei^ixQg from aiz 
ounoeatoai>ound,8e)doiialesathaiiwaLnatB»oftenthatof oraogesl Theas : 
atonna ai« slukoat idwajfi MOompanM by viotent wind aai laay f himlT i «: 



- Mxront AWD KTAnm bupplt. ^^ ^247 

>:^^ ^sndlightning, and are frequent in Hie delta '<^ the Oanges^ edpebidlly hi the 
low conntry within fifty miles of the Bay of Bengal. 

" Great hail-storms are often preceded by a loud clattering and clawing 
sound/ indicating the hurling together of masses of ice in the air. The 
recent experiments of Professor Tyndall, in the re-uniting of broken ice by 
'regelation/ or a sort of welding, fully explains the formation, under such 
oircumstances, of large masses of ice of irregular forms in this aerial 
oonflict. Such are recorded to have fallen of almost fabulous magnitude. 
In Candeisch, in 1826, in a hail-storm which perforated the roofs of houses 
^ like small cannon-shot, a mass fell which took some days to melt, and must 
have weighed more than a hundred-weight. — (Malet). On May 8, 1832, a 
mass feU in Hungary a yard in length, and nearly two feet in thickness. — 
(Thomson). And if it be true, as stated in the Rosshire Advertiser in 1849, 
that a block of irregular shape, nearly twenty^feet in circumference, fell in 
August of that year on the estate of Mr Moffat, of Ord, immediately after 
an extraordinarily loud peal of thimder, Heyne's relation of a hailstone as 
large as an elephant, at Seringapatam, in the reign of Tippoo Sultan, may 
perhaps find believers. The Eosshire mass is stated to have been composed 
of lozenge-shaped pieces, one to three inches in size, firmly congealed 
together," 

I have before me the IrUroducticm to Meteorology by Dr D. P. Thomson, 
a work published in Edinburgh in 1849. I have read the extraordinary 
collection of details to which Sir John Herschel refers, with the statement 
of the authorities upon which the details of extraordinary hail-storms are 
given, and I consider no one after doing so would see anything incredilde in 
the statesfient sent from Burghersdorp. 

According to views advanced by Espy, a distinguished American meteor- 
ologist, the two parallel lines along which the hail-storm advanced in the 
case mentioned by Sir John Herschel can be satisfactorily accounted for. 
According to one of the laws regulating storms, many of these advance, as 
does a wheel, rotating and progressing horizontally — as a wheel does verti- 
cally in advancing along a road — as is made visible in a small advancing 

• whirlwind of dust, or leaves, or straw, or chaff. The cyclon, a whirlwind of 
such extent as to create a storm, is fed with air as it advances; this, 
raised to a great height, expands, cools, precipitates the moisture it contained, 
and throws this off in a fixjzen state — as does a twirled wet mop throw off 
drops of water, — and by gravitation it falls. As the rotating whirlwind 
advances the motion of the air forming the forefront will cross the breadth 
of the circle from left to right, or from right to left, as the case may be ; 
the air forming the rear will cross the breadth of the circle in the opposite 
direction, and scatter the hailstone or rain over the whole breadth traversed 

• in two showers, minutes, hours, or days apart ; but at the sides the wind 
blows in but one direction on the right of the circle, and in one direction, 
the opposite of this, on the other, and along the lines followed by these the 
hail or rain falls continuously in greater abundance. 

Of Natal Dr Mann writes in a paper reAd before the Royal Geographical 
Society, and published in their journal for 1867, — "Very heavy hail- 
storms occasionally happen in connection with thun3er-storms. The hail 
for the most part sweeps on in the midst of a torrent, a distinct drone or 
humming is heard to herald its approach for one minute, or even two minutes, 
before it arrives. Hailstones as large as pigeons' eggs are sometimes seen ; 
^aBa8aoax>fioe weighing three-quarters of a pound have, in. rare instances, 



S48 HTDBOLOOT 07 SOUTH AFBIOA. 

been noticed. The fall of the hail is always limited to a yeiy naitow s9one. 
The path of the hail-storm is accurately marked out over the country by a 
long narrow line of devastation." 

And in a letter from Natal by Mr Dunn, a geologist there, on a special 
exploratory expedition to the Transvall, for which he was now about to 
leave, are given the following details of a hail-storm there witnessed by 
him : — " Pietermaritzburg, 18th April 1874. — The climate here is some- 
thing out of the ordinary run, if yesterday is a sample of it ; for we then 
witnessed one of the most extraordinary hail-storms I have ever even read 
of, and I am sure even you would think I am romancing unless I assure you 
to t^ie contrary. 

" Yesterday afternoon, about 4.25 p.m., I was walking with a Mend up 

Street when suddenly the wind — such an usual precursor of stonlis — 

began to blow the dust about ; at the same time I observed that the S.W. 
portion of the sky was filled with an exceedingly black cloud, contracting 
upwards to a point. Presently a few drops fell, then heavier ones, and 
then solitary great lumps of ice. On the sight of these we dashed under 
an iron verandah, and none too soon. A loud rushing sound came from the 
S.W., which rapidly became more distinct, and then suddenly the most 
terrific display took place of Heaven's artillery. Hailstones poured down 
with great violence and rapidity ; liberally mingled with the stones were 
great masses of ice of very irregular forms. The hailstones were seldom 
less than one inch in diameter ; the average was from one and a half to two 
inches in diameter. These were of very regular spherical form, and con- 
sisted of a nucleus of white snow, with an envelope of hard transparent ice. 
Sometimes they presented when broken through a concentric arrangement 
of zones, alternately white and opaque and transparent. 

" The irregular masses were formed of a nucleus generally longer in one 
direction than the others, from two to four inches in diameter ; projecting 
all over were stalactites, each one about the thickness of a little finger, and 
presenting when broken across an agate-like structure, as though segrega- 
tion had built them up. Of these masses I weighed a few with the 
following results : Three weighed over 8 oz., two over 6 oz., and one over 
4 oz. The last, which was the largest, I found myself, and it was weighed 
sometime after the storm was over. Those below were weighed by others, 
but I saw some, and know the others are right from the parties who took 
the weights. One weighed 7 J oz., one 8 oz., and one 6 oz. This last was 
weighed fully fifteen minutes after the storm had ceased, and it had suffered 
much from melting. It was an irregular mass, with projections all over it. 
The storm raged with fury for seven or eight minutes, the great lumps 
could be distinguished as they descended, and then as they fell on the road 
they broke into fragments, scattering all around. In about two minutes 
from the commencement the whole road was completely covered, and 
appeared as though covered with sno\f. « 

" The hail as it came down smashed the tiles in a terrible manner ; pieces 
as they were broken off ran down the roof into the road, while the thuds of 
the stones against the galvanized iron threatened to destroy even it. 
Ground beneath trees was strewn with severed twigs. 

" On looking round afterwards the damage was enormous. On many 
roofs fully half the tiles were broken, not merely cracked, but very 
frequently the masses went right through into the houses. None have 
escaped. Fortunately for windows there was no wind, or the damage 



AEIBITT AND WATER BtJPPLT* 



S4i« 



I 



I 

I 



wo\]ld have been muoh heavier. Meuay of the corrugated iron roofa are 
dent«d all over, and liave a pock-marked aspectj while some corrugated iron 
roofe are completely riddled^ the et^nes went 7%A# thrmtgh^ as though they 
had but paper to encounter, I have made a point of examining the iron 
roofsj and therefore can vouch for the above. The mischief done will not 
be covered by £2000, or anything like that suna. 

** Soon after the downpour ceased the drains were running awiffcly with 
water; most had disappeared by dark." 

This narrative is in keeping with the communication from Burghersdorp J 
which I have cited ; and all of the details given by Dr Mann are in accord^ ^ 
ance with what has been ptated above, the parallel line of haO or rain, 
oorreapouding to the long narrow line of devastation mentioned by him, 
may have been ten or a hundred niiles, or leas or more, to the right or to 
the left of it With fuller details, this and much more in regard to any 
such case could be determined. But all goes to show that there is moisture 
in the atmosphere, that it is not only not absolutely devoid of molstnre, but 
the quantity of moisture suspended in it is absolutely great — a fact of which 
the occasional flooding of the country by rainfall and overflowing rivers 
thus fed supplies additional, and it may be more satisfactory, evidence* 

The communications from the midland districts, from Fraserbui'g, and from 
Bnrgheradorp, I have quoted from a Cape paper published towards the end/Jj 
of November of last year [1874], all tell of drought, of severe and long-™ 
continued drought, but of a promise of rain. A newspaper received by the 
next mail contained the following announcement, which showed that the 
Lopes awakened had not been disappointed :— " Bkeakinq up of thb 
DBOtrGHT,-^The Colesherg paper of the 20th nit. says,— On Friday 
evening of last week, a heavy thunder-storm burst over this neighbourhood, 
and extended for a considerable distance towards and along the Orange 
River, On the following day heavy rain again fell. On Sunday the 
weather was fine, but heavy rain feU on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and 
Thursday* The heaviest and longest down-pour occuiTed on Wednesday 
afternoon J when rain continued to fall during some seven hours. We are 
glad to leani the rain has extended far and wide, and that there is now 
every reaaon to believe that a favourable season has set in both for stock 
fanners and agricnUurists^ to which the greatest drawback will be the 
locusts, countless swai^ms of voeiyajtgers being reported in all directions. 
Here the grass is growing rapidly, and, unless destroyed by locusts, will 
soon be in fine condition." 

But it was the old story over again — after a drought a deluge I The 
same paper contained the following: — "The following extract from a 
private letter, dated Jansenville, 26th ult-, has been kindly handed to us 
for publication: — On Monday a severe thunder-storm, accompanied by 
smart showers of rain, passed over the village, and the whole sky in the 
direction of Graaff'-Reinet presented an appearance as doik as night, giving 
evidence that no ordinarj^ storm was being experienced in that quarter. 
During the w^hole of Tuesday it continued to pour almost incessantly, and 
on Wednesday morning, at three a.m., the Sunday's River came down with 
a rush never before experienced within the recollection of the oldest 
inhabitant* The noise was like distant thnnder, but quite near enough to 
make things uncomfortable. By six a.m. the river, which for many monthA 
past could have been crossed without wetting one's feet, was now running 



L 



Sh 



25Q HYDBOLOOT OF SOUTH AFBIOA« 

mountains high, and was still rapidly rising. By ten o'clock it began to 
overflow, and the width of the water at the place where the Jansenyille 
bridge is being constructed was 250 yards or more. Lai^e trees floated 
down like so many pieces of cork, and bales of wool, pigs, sheep, oat 
sheaves, and pieces of fencing, all came down in quick succession. The 
lower parts of the gardens at the north top of the village were all covered 
with water, amongst others, that of our worthy resident magistrate. At 
one time it was foared that the barracks occupied by the immigrants con- 
structing the bridge would have been flooded, the water having come to 
within a few feet of their houses, and orders had been given to be ready for 
any emergency. Fortunately the flood subsided towards the evening, arid 
the inhabitants of Janscnville returaed to their beds satisfied that for the 
present there is no necessity for removing on to the numerous hills which 
Buri'ound the village. As 1 write this it is still raining, but all fear of a 
flood is over. The box in which the mails are conveyed across the ri^r has 
been washed away, and I have no idea when this may reach you. Notwith- 
standing the flood, the bridge works stood the test well, and no damage has 
been done to any part of the works." 

The Cradorl' Br^r/isfrr, of Nov. 27th, says, — " Yesterday intelligence was 
received in town of a sad case of drowning in a small sloot between Blauw- 
hoogte and Plankfontein Poort, about eight miles from Cradock, on the 
Tarkastad road. The particulars are as follows : — On the previous day 
(Monday) four Dutch farmers, named Jan Coetzer, Barend de Lange, 
Andries de Laiigc, and P. Jordaan, left Cradock for their homes. On 
arriving at the sloot in question, which is deep and narrow, they found it 
very full. Jan Coetzer started first and got through safely. He then 
called to the otliers to wait and he would drive back his horse, which is a 
strong animal and accustomed to water, and they could use it in turn. 
They took no heed of the oftcr, however, but all plimged into the stream, 
and were all in a moment swept down by the force of the current. Two of 
them — Barend de Lango and his companion, Piet Jordaan, scrambled out 
by means of some bushes. Tlie three men then ran down the banks in hopes 
of saving Andries, who could be seen for a while struggling in the water. 
Unfortunately, after they had followed the poor man for about 450 yards, 
they saw him disappear over a steep descent in the stream, and there can be 
no doubt but that the unfortunate man was drowned. They followed the 
course of the stream to where it joins the Tarka River, but were unable to 
find any traces of him. The brother of the drowned man suffered a heavy 
pecuniary loss by the accident, for on reaching firm ground he found that 
by some mqans or other a cornier bag, which he had slung around him, 
containing <£200 in gold and silver and £100 in notes, had been torn from 
the straps and wps nowhere to be seen. The deceased was about thirty 
years of age, and leaves a wife and three children to mourn their loss. 

"We hear also that Mr Gert Venter (son of Mr Field-Cornet Venter) had 
a very narrow escape on the same day. He was crossing a drift that was 
swollen with the rains, when he was swept from his horse. By great good, 
luck he and the horse managed to scramble out." 

These notices were only, like those which have been already cited, the 
precursors of others of greater moment which were to follow. In another 
paper received by the same mail it was stated, — :" In the Eastern province 



ARIDITY AND WATER SUPPLY. 251 

the rains have been very heavy, and the damage to the public works is 
estimated at £350,000. Telegraphic communication east of Algia Bay was 
stopped, the poles having been washed away." . . ■' . 

From another paper I cite the following : — ** There is something hot 
merely exceptionally, but extremely sensational, in the telegram which we 
publish to-day. The bridges reported as washed down by the recent floods, 
and the damages resulting therefrom, cannot be estimated at much less 
than j£300,000 ! ' There are the Klaas Smit Elver, near Queen's Town, 
gone ; the Koonap River Bridge, ditto ; the Carlisle Bridge over- the Fish 
River, ditto ; the Fort Brown, also over the Fish River, ditto, though the 
piers may still be available; the Kookhuis Bridge, the Tarka Bridge, the 
Cradook Bridge, with the new Buffalo Bridge damaged at King William's 
Town, and the Port Beaufort Bridge, injured, though now being repaired, 
across the Kat River. In addition to this, Fort Beaufort itself has been to 
a considerable extent destroyed by floods. Alice has been more than half 
under water, from the small neighbouring stream of the Chumie ; and lives 
were saved only by the pluck of the inhabitants. The Committee's Drift 
Bridge, in course of buiding, was forty-five feet under water, and quite 
swept away. On the principle that it is an ill wind that blows nobody good, 
or an ill flood that sweeps nobody fortune, we find that at East London the 
bar has been swept quite clear, and the Florence was able to discharge her 
cargo inside. But, per contra, there were some eight wrecks, more or 
less, outside." 

The Friend of the Free State, of 26th November, gives the following 
details of what occurred there : — "From 4.30 a.m. till noon, on the 24th 
instant, the rain descended unceasingly and literally in cascades. The 
accompanying thunder and lightning roared and gleamed at intervals 
during the lengthened period of seven and a half hours. The first intima- 
tion we had of the unparalleled nature of the down-pour was the tidings . 
that our big dam, which had been completely empty for several months, 
was filled to overflowing, and that, moreover, 2000 square yards of the flats 
beyond it were submerged. What made this the more surprising was that 
thousands of loads of mud had recently been removed from the bed of the 
dam, which was thereby very level, capable of holding at the deepest part 
upwards of thirteen feet of water. From 8.30 a.m. the rain put on a spurt, 
during which period the water was precipitated to the ground in one solid, 
unbroken sheet. The efiect of this was to cause Bluim Spruit, which had 
already been running like mad, and roaring like a thousand bulls of Bashan, 
to go altogether beside itself; it broke bounds and continued to rise, and 
to rise, till it rose to an imprecedented height, at least so our authority 
the oldest inhabitant affirms, and it is not for us to impeach his word." 

Next, it was reported that the Spruit had burst barriers intended to pre- 
vent its destroying the fountain ; and shortly thereafter that the hridge in 
Green Street was swept away in sight of scores of spectators who had lined 
the banks of the raging torrent. " Then a horseman came tearing up and 
announced that the bridge in Fraser Street had taken to the water as 

naturally as a duck, and was sailling away beautifully to no one knows 

where. All eyes were now intently fixed on the only remaining bridge, 

that in Church Street. Presently the shout arose, ' She's gone,' and 

. shortly afterwards she parted in the middle and sailed down the stream as 

saucily as ever did the Arethusa, which called forth tears from some oif the 



. 253 HTDBOLOOT 07 SOUTH AVBIOA. 

spectators. Meanwhile the incorrigible Spruit continued to swell in a 
most alarming manner. Several houses were one after another soirotinded 
by water, and suffered considerable damage, (hie of these, the dispenmy 
of Dr Keiller, which, says the report, " was alike a credit to himmlf and 
an ornament to the town, is internally a heap of ruins. The water gained 
access to the cellar by forcing a hole through the back-wiQ fieunng the 
Spruit) and the disastrous effects of this fissure was to cause the flooring 
above the cellar to give way, and then down came partition walls and 
shelving with a tremendous crash, smashing the boUles containing the 
doctor^s drugs and chemicals to shivereens. It was a piteous sight to 
behold. The place where order and regularity, cleanliness and good taste, 
reigned supreme but a moment previously was, in the twinkling of an eye, 
converted into a scene of inextricable and utter wreck. While the events 
we have been depicting were transpiring, Foimtain Street became the bed 
of a roaring boiling torrent, and great fears were entertained for the inmates 
of houses " — which are specified. In one of these " the women and children 
were removed from their perilous position, but not before the water had 
attained a depth of two or three feet " in the houses spoken of ; and many 
such minor details are given. The large dam, which had been repaired 
some time before, stood its ground, but the park dam succumbed. Happily 
no lives were lost. 

Such, in regard to water supply, is South Africa within and beyond the 
regions colonized by Europeans ! Much that I have seen of it has reminded 
me of a description I got in America, from a Kansas man, of the state of 
Kansas as one frequently given of that state. It is said to be the richest 
and the poorest, the hottest and the coldest, the wettest and the driest 
state in the Union, in America, or in the world ! 

Similar contrasts may be seen in South Africa : diamonds and rubies, and 
copper and gold in some districts, but some of these so devoid of vegetation 
as to recall, by the appearance they present, a remark of John Campbell, 
cited by Moffat, and well remembered by his few surviving friends, * Hech, 
sirs, it would take a good pair of spectacles to see a blade of grass here ;' 
vineyards and orchards in one district, others, heard by, covered with the 
rhinsster bush, or other plants as profitless ; districts covered with waving 
com, others with arid sand ; spots in these, to which water is convqred, 
yielding crops a himdred fold in quantity to the seed sown, and all around 
a barren waste. Ldvingstone tells of the heat experienced at Kolobeng : I 
have suffered more from cold in South Africa than I ever did during a 
residence of seven years in Russia. There are districts flooded with watm, 
as was found to be the case by Livingstone and Stanley, and districts 
dry as Ldvingstone found Kolobeng to be, and as that in wUch Mr Hebnore 
and his family perished. 

Within the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope there are rains and torrents 
such as have been described and referred to, and, as often it happens within 
an hour or two after torrents of rain the sky is cloudless and serene^ so» 
frequently within a month or two after, all is as arid as before ; and the 
traveller listening to details of what had happened hears them with a 
feeling of incredidity and a disposition to ascribe much of what he hears to 
a fervid fancy^ and to liken much of what he hears to what Moffat tells of 
his experience in his first journey to Griqua Town of visions of water — but 
fUonB ot water which had no corresponding existence. The passage I shall 



^F AEmiTT ^ND WATER SUPFLT, tM 

give eufcirej as & picture of the aridity which prevails, notwithafcanding the 
abundauca of mobtura in the atmoBphere^ and the occasional deluge and 
torrent by which it ia carried off to the sea ; — 

"On the seventh day (says he) we reached that part of the river called Quis or 
Kwees, from which we intended to go in a direct course to Griqna Town, 
leaving the Orange River far to the right We had previously made 
inquiries about the country which lay between ] some said there was water; 
others, that we ebonld find none. We had eaten a small portion of meat 
that morning, reserving only enough for Q?ie aingle meal, ieet we should get 
no more, and drank freely of water, to keep the stomach distended, and felt 
tolerably comfortable. At night we came to some old hnta, where were 
remains of tobacco gardens, which had been watered with wooden vesseli 
from the adjoining river. We spent the evening in one of these htits ; 
thonghj from certain holes for ingress and egress, it was evidently a 
domicile for hyenas and other beasts of prey. We had scarcely ended our 
evening song of praise to Him whose watchful care had guided and pre- 
served us through the day, when the distant and dolorous howls of the hyena, 
and the no less inharmonious jabbering of the jackal, annoimced the kind of 
company with which we were to spend the night j while, from the river, the 
hippopotami kept up a blowing and snorting chorus » Our sleep was 
anything but sweet* On the addition of the dismal notes of the hooting 
owl, one of oui- men remarked, * We want only the lion's roar to complete 
the music of the desert/ ' Were they as sleepy and tired as I am,* said 
another, *they would find something else to do.* In the morning we 
found that some of these night scavengers had approached very near the 
door of our hut. 

*' Having refreshed ourselves with a bathe and a draught of water, we 
prepared for the thirsty road we had to traverse ; but before starting, a 
council was held, whether we should hniBh the last small portion of meat 
(which any one might have devoured in a minute), or reserve it The 
aeciaion was to keep it till evening. We sought in vain for ixia bulbs. Our 
only resource, according to the cuafcom cf the country, was to fill ourselves 
with as much water as our bodies could contain. We had no vessels in 
which to carry it ; and if we had, our horses wero not equal to more than 
the carriage of our persons. We were obliged to halt during the day, 
fearing our horses would give up from the excessive heat* When the 
evening drew on we had to ascend and descend several sand-hills, which, 
weary and faint from two days' fasting, was to us exceedingly fatiguing. 
Vanderbyle and myself were somewhat m advance of the rest, when we 
observed our three companions remaining behind ; but supposing they 
ataid to strike light and kindle their pipes, we thoughtlessly rode forward. 
Having proceeded some distance we halted and hallooed, but received 
no reply. We fired a shot, but no one answered. Wo pursued 
our journey in the direction of the high ground near the Long 
Mountains, through which our path lay. On reaching a bushless plain, 
we alighted and mnde a fire : another shot was fired, and we listened with 
intense earnestness ; but gloomy desert silence reigned around. We con- 
versed, as well as our parched lips would allow, on what must be done, To 
wait till morning would only increase the length of our suffering, — ^to retrace 
our steps was impoasible : probably they had wandered from the path, and 
might never overtake us : at the same time we felt most reluctant to pro- 
ceed. We bad just determined to remaiH; when we thought we would 6x% 



tM HTDBOLMT Of 0OUTH AfUGA. 

" My diffloultieB and anxieties were now beooming painfal in the eityemg^j 
not knowii^ any thing of the xoad, whioh was in some places haxdfy' 
discernible^ and in my fiuthful guide hope had died away. The horses 
moTcd at the slowest pace, and that only when driyen, which effort was. 
laborious in the extreme. Speech was gone, and everything expressed by 
signs, except when we had recourse to a pipe, and for which we now began 
to lose our relish. After sitting a long while under a bush, oh ! what a 
relief I felt when my guide pointed to a distant hill, near to which water 
lay. Courage revived ; but it was with pain and labour that we reached it 
late in the afternoon. Having still sufficient judgment not to go at once 
to drink, it was with great difficulty I prevented my companion doing that, 
which would almost instantly have proved fatal to him. Our horses went 
to the pool, and consmned nearly all the water, for it appeared that some 
wild horses had shortly before slaked their thirst at this spot, leaving f(Hr 
us but little, and that polluted. 

'' Beooming cooler after a little rest, we drank, and though moving with 
animalcules, muddy, and nauseous with filth, it was to us a reyiviDg draught. 
We rested and dnmk, till the sun, sinking in the west, compelled us to go 
forward, in order to reach Griqua Town that night. Though we had filled 
our. stomachs with water, (if such it might be called, for it was grossly . 
impure,) thirst soon returned with increased agony; and painful was the 
ride and walk, for they were alternate, until we reached at a late hour the 
abode of Mr Anderson. 

" Entering the door speechless, haggard, emaciated, and covered with 
perspiration and dust, I soon procured by signs, that universal language, 
for myself and my companion, a draught of water. Mr A., expecting such 
a visitor from the moon as soon as from Namaqua-land, was not a little 
surprised to find who it was. Kind-hearted Mrs A. instantly prepared a 
cup of coffee and some food, which I had not tasted for three days ; and I 
felt all the powers of soul revive, as if I had talked with angels — it was to 
me a ' feast of reason and a flow of soul.' 

" Retiring to rest, the couch, though hard, appeared to me a downy bed. 
I begged of Mr A. just to place within my reach half a bucket of water : 
this he kindly and prudently refused, but left me with a full tumbler of 
unusual size : such, however, was my fevered condition, that no sooner was 
he gone than T drank the whole. After reviewing the past, and looking 
upward with adoring gratitude, I fell asleep, and arose in the morning as 
fresh as if I had never seen a dessert, nor felt its thirst. We remained here 
a few days, in the course of which our lost companions arrived, having, as 
we rightly supposed, wandered towards the river, and escaped the thirst 
which had nearly terminated our career in the desert." 

In a foot-note he adds : — " The following remarks on the general appear- 
ance of the mjrage, taken from Belzoni's Narrative of his Operations and 
Researches in Egypt, wiU not be uniteresting : — ' It generally appears like a 
still lake, so unmoved by the wind, that every thing above is to be seen 
most distinctly reflected by it. If the wind agitate any of the plants that 
rise above the horizon of the mirage, the motion is seen perfectly at a great 
distance. If the traveller stand elevated much above the mirage, the 
apparent water seems less united and less deep ; for as the eyes look down 
npm it^ there ia not thickness enough in the vapour on the surface of the 
ground to conceal the earth from the sigjht \ but if the traveller be on a 



ARIDITY AJJD WATER SUPPLY. 257 

level with the horizon of the mirage, he cannot see through it, so that it 
appears to him clear water. By putting my head first to the ground, and 
then mounting a camel, the height of which might have been about ten feet 
at the most, 1 found a great difference in the appearance of the mirage. On 
approaching it, it becomes thinner, and appears as if agitated by the wind, 
like a field of ripe com. It gradually vanishes as the traveller approaches, 
and at last entirely disappears when he is on the spot.' 

" This phenomena is called by the Bechuanas, ' Mo^n6ne ;' and, therefore, 
parched ground, in Isaiah xxxv. 7, translated * glowing sand,' by Dr Lowth 
and. others, I have rendered by this term, in that language. It is produced, 
as Dr Hartwell Home correctly remarks, in his Introduction to the Critical 
Study of the Scriptures, * by a diminution of the density of the lower stratum 
of the atmosphere, which is caused by the increase of heat, arising from that 
communicated by the rays of the sun to the sand, with which this stratum 
is in immediate contact.' " 



2l 



258 HYDROLOGY OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



CONCLUSION. 

Much that has been stated in the preceding pages is applicable, with a 
slight change in the phraseology, to what has occurred or been seen in other 
lands. While the compilation has been made chiefly with a view to the 
help and encouragement of the colonists of South Africa in prosecuting the 
execution of measures which they have it in contemplation to carry out, 
with a view to counteracting the aridity which prevents the full accomplish- 
ment of their desires and purposes in developing the agricultural capabilities 
of the country, the publication of it may subserve the accomplishment of 
similiir puri)0scs in other Colonics and newly settled territories ; and in view 
of both objects I desire to indicate the remedial measures which a state of 
things such as has been depicted seems to render desirable. 

In view of what has been stated, the desiccation and consequent aridity 
of Soutli Africa may be considered to be the combined results of the eleva- 
tion of the land above the level of the sea, and the consequent flow, or 
draining oil" by jrravitation of much of the water which falls upon it in the 
form of rain, and of the evaporation which may be traced to the law of 
gaseous diffusion, but is increased by the solar heat, and has been promoted 
by the destruction of vej^etation removing an important screen which throws 
off or absorbs the direct rays of the sun, and one which in other ways 
conserves the humidity of soil and of the atmospliere. 

if the escape of water by gravitation and evaporation combined be gi'eatly 
in excess of the supply from the atmosphere, the desiccation will go on with 
rapiditv ; if the (lisi)ro]>ortion between the escape and the supply be 
lessened tlie desiccation may still go on continuously, but with diminished 
rapidity ; if they be equalized the desiccation will be arrested : if the escape 
of water be reduced below an equality witli the supply the process of 
desiccation will be reversed, and a degree of humidity such as previously 
prevailed may be i-estored. 

From all this it seems to follow that any measure, and every measure, 
which has the effect of preventing the escape of water by gravitation or 
evaporation will, in its measure, tend to arrest the evil and i)romote the 
good ; and it so happens that some, if not all, of the more important 
measures which suggest themselves as calculated to have the effect of 
arresting the desiccation are such that they may remunerate the outlay 
required for their execution by immediate profit. 

The counsel given by a Hebrew prophet in other circumstances, " Cease 
to do evil ; learn to do well," is not inapplicable here, as counsel whereby 
the greatest amount of benefit may be secured. Abandon, if possible, the 
practice of burning the veldt ; carry out an enlightened conservation and 
extension of forests ; and introduce, wherever it can be done, irrigation and 
the construction of dams, together with such other measures as may be 
likely to retain and utilize the water supply. 

I care not to discuss here the relative importance of these several 
meaauroB. The adoption of all of them is necessary if we would have a full 



CONCLUSION. 259 

reward ; but any one of them, carried out to any extent, however limited 
may be the measure of that extent, would tend to secure the end desired. 

The measures spoken of are all of them measures which have commanded 
more or less effectively the attention of the colonists. I may differ from 
some in regard to the relative importance of some of these measures, but I 
do not consider the absolute importance of any of them to be over-estimated 
by its most sanguine panygerist or partizan.* 

Apart, however, from the desiccation and consequent aridity of the 
country, thoug;h intimately connected therewith in the relation of cause 
and effect, is the torrential character of the rivers. 

Much attention has been given on the Continent of Europe to the study 
of torrents, with a view to tlie prevention of them and of the disastrous 
consequences which often follow them. In some respects South Africa is 
in the very condition which it is sought to prevent in the Alps. And the 
South African torrents are in some respects homologous with the torrents 
which threaten devastation there. In the Alpine torrents the different 
characteristic portions — the basin drained, the channel, and the deposit of 
earthy materials — are compressed longitudinally, supplying thus facilities for 
the study of them. In the South African torrents the channel is elongated, 
and the deposit of eartliy matter is in the sea ; but the homology is complete. 

In France it has been found that the best and most efficient means, and this 
an effectual one, of preventing the forming of torrents, and of bridling and 
extinguishing them when formed, is planting the basin drained by them with 
grass, and herb, and shrub, and tree ; and that by such an appliance the 
torrential rivers of South Africa migj^be controlled, and much of their 
waters retained to fertilize the soil, I nave no doubt. But to accomplish 
this might require operations so extensive as to startle and to forbid the 
attempt being made. 

The precipitation of rain in torrents instead of drizzling showers, and the 
drainage of the land by short-lived torrents instead of equably flowing rivers 
and streams, are characteristics of land divested or devoid of vegetation. 

In the High Alps the designation torrent is given to the channel of what 
we call mountain torrents. These are there to be seen in various stages, and 
it has been remarked that in the forests there are none ; that the deepest 
and most dangerous are in mountains devoid of wood ; that old torrents, now 
always dry, are found where the woods have extended themselves over what 
is called the hassln de reception ; and that lately formed torrents are found 

* Along with the abstract of the Mpinoir, of which this is an expansion, there were appended 
to Report of Colonial Botanist for 1866 the following: — 

1. Abstract of a Memoir prepared on Irrigation and its application to Agricultural 
Operations in South Africa ; with Notices of the Water >uppl7 of South Africa: Its sources, 
its quantity, the modes of irrigation required in different circumstancs, the faci ities for the 
adoption of these in different districts, and the difficulties, physical and other, in the way of 
works of extensive irrigation being carried out at the Cape, and the means of accompli&hing 
these which are at command. 

2. Abstiact of Memoir prepared on Arboriculture in Sou^h Africa, with details of what has 
been done, and of what might be done in planting trees in the Cape Colony, with notices of 
the natural history of Australian and European trees which have been recommended by arbori- 
culturists for plantation there. 

3. Abstract of Memoir prepared on the Forest and Forest-lands of Southern Africa : With 
details of the extent and «ontents of the different forests of the ('olony of the Cape, of Kaffir- 
land, of Natal, and of the regions beyond to the mouth of the Zambesi, and to a corresponding 
latitude on the we^t coast, with the intermediate districts. 

4. List of South African Trees and Arborescent Shrubs, upon the natural history, botanic 
characteristics, and economic uses of which a report had been prepared. 

5. Abstract of MeinV>ir prepared on the Forest Economy oi the Colony. , 



360 % HYDBOLOOY OF SOUTH AFRICA. 

whore the forests have been of late yeui-s destroyed. And in consequence of 
this the French Government have been carrying on for years extensive 
operations of reboisementf replanting with woods the ^Ups, the Prycuees, and 
the mountains of Central France, with a view thereby to prevent the 
occurrence, or the destructive cifects and consequences, of torrents. 

It would be both more diflScult and more cxi)en8ive to carry out such 
measures in South Africa than in Franco. But the secondary advantages — 
climatal and economic — might compensate for this ; and an outlay far short 
of the value of property, to say nothing of lives, destroyed by such torrents 
as have been described might accomplish much. 1 have given Colonial 
estimates of the loss occasioned by fire and flood dui-ing the last eight years, 
which would show that loss to have been about £100,000 per annum. 



THE EKD. 



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IN 

nnrriD bY jorh (nuwratn, xxaH mtattt, kebkoildt. y^ 



MAR 30 1937 



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