Africa . r to the centralZambesi, and are separated by the great waterless Kalaharidesert from the Hottentots and Damaras, who dwell chieflyin the west of South Africa. Scattered all along the desertbelt which extends between the Hottentot country on theeast and that of the Bechuanas on the west, and fromsouth of the Orange river, northward past Lake Xgami to 374 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the latitude of the Zambesi, are the wandering familiesof the stunted Bushmen, who in former times werehunted and shot down like wild animals by the boers,and who are still held in servitude by thei
Africa . r to the centralZambesi, and are separated by the great waterless Kalaharidesert from the Hottentots and Damaras, who dwell chieflyin the west of South Africa. Scattered all along the desertbelt which extends between the Hottentot country on theeast and that of the Bechuanas on the west, and fromsouth of the Orange river, northward past Lake Xgami to 374 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. the latitude of the Zambesi, are the wandering familiesof the stunted Bushmen, who in former times werehunted and shot down like wild animals by the boers,and who are still held in servitude by their neigh-bours the Bechuanas. It is also very remarkable thata genuine Kafir tribe, the Damara, are entirely cutoff from their kinsmen, occupying an extensive hillyregion named after them, north of the NamaquaHottentots, and, so to say, on the west coast of thecontinent. In the same way a narrow strip of landoccupied by Hottentots cuts the Kafirs off from theseaboard east of the Transvaal. THE CAPE # i< 00 :\ h ^ THE CAPE COLONY. CHAPTER XXIII. THE SOUTH AFRICAN COLONIES AND STATES. 1. Cape Colony—Physical Aspect. From Cape Agulhas (the Needles), the extreme southernpoint of the continent, Cape Colony (a territory with itsdependencies extending over an area nearly twice as largeas that of the British Isles) rises in a series of terraceslandwards. From the uplands on the coast, averagingnot more than 200 to 230 feet above the sea, we gradii-ally ascend the terrace of the Lange Berge, and thence toa lofty ridge from 4000 to 5500 feet high, whosesouthern slopes are called the Zwarte or black mountains,and from that to a second terrace or table-land, the Karroo,from 2500 to 3500 feet in elevation, and 70 to 90 mileswide. The Great Karroo plateau, the name of which means dry or barren in Hottentot language, extendingover 20,000 square miles, is covered with an ochre-coloured soil, consisting of sand and clay tinged withiron, and in summer hardening to the consistency of
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Keywords: ., bookauthorkeaneaha, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1878
