Africa . ve 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 ofbricks. A few feet below the surfa
Africa . ve 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 ofbricks. A few feet below the surface, however, we comeeverywhere on hard blue slate rock. The river-bedscrossing the Karroo are dry for nine months in the year;hence, beyond a few mimosas along the edge of theseriver-beds, there is here almost a total lack of a few days after a rainfall, and especially in the rainyseason, the innumerable bulbous plants rooted in the hardsoil begin to spring up, and the plain is changed to a. THE CAPE COLONY. 375 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 gradu-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 ofbricks. A few f
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