Southern Africa, the land and its peoples . heeast coast. In Mount Anderson, near Lydenburg, it reaches aheight of nearly 8,000 feet, and from its crest the plateau slopesgradually down to the High Veld on the west. The eastern faceis here precipitous, though between Carolina and the NatalDrakensberge the descent to the low country on the east is moregradual. In Northern Natal and Basutoland the escarpment attains itsloftiest heights, and for a considerable distance it forms a provincialboundary. In the early days this massive wall was a formidable STRUCTURE AND RELIEI 57 barrier, though it is
Southern Africa, the land and its peoples . heeast coast. In Mount Anderson, near Lydenburg, it reaches aheight of nearly 8,000 feet, and from its crest the plateau slopesgradually down to the High Veld on the west. The eastern faceis here precipitous, though between Carolina and the NatalDrakensberge the descent to the low country on the east is moregradual. In Northern Natal and Basutoland the escarpment attains itsloftiest heights, and for a considerable distance it forms a provincialboundary. In the early days this massive wall was a formidable STRUCTURE AND RELIEI 57 barrier, though it is now crossed by lines of railway which linkthe interior to the coast. To the south-west of the Natal Drakenslnrge the cscai pment diminishes somewhal in height, and for about 100 miles it takes a westerly course, being known in different part s as the Storm be r Sneeuwbeige, Nieuwveld, Komsberge, and Kamiesberge. Fromthe Sneeuwberge to the Nieuwveld Range it forms the northernbuttress of the Great Karroo, to which it presents a front whose. //«./(>.) |. Publicity Department. Im (.1:1 \ i B8CABPMBNT, EASTERN TSANSTAAL. inaxiinuni height is about 3,500 feet. From the Komsberge it turns north-west and is known as the Roggcvcld. In South-Wesl Africa it forms the steep western edge of the great plateau Escarpment at a Watershed. It is important to notice that from Carolina in the Transvaal to Calvinia in the Cape Provincethe plateau edge forms the main watershed of t he count rv. dividingthe rivers Mowing to the Indian Ocean from those flowing to theOrange River and thence to the Atlantic. The shorter streamsflowing to the Indian Ocean t rax erst \cry broken country andhave steeply-graded beds. Moreover, especially in the east, the\flow through B region with a moderately heavy rainfall. The\are thus eating back into the escarpment at a fairly rapid rateand gradually reducing the area of the Orange River basin. 58 SOUTHERN AFRICA Physical Divisions of the Platea
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