Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/118

84 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. In the Great Karroo, as well as in the secondary formations of similar character stretching northwards to the Orange River, are scattered numerous depressions where are lodged the rain waters, which after evaporation leave the ground covered with saline efflorescences. The Drakenberg. Beyond the Storm- Bergen the main range trends round in the direction of the north-east, describing a great bend concentric with that of the oceanic coast- line. Here the Kwathlamba, or Drakenbergen ("Dragon Mountains"), run at a mean distance of about 120 miles from the sea, rising in some of its peaks and summits to an altitude of over 10,000 feet. Although still forming a true water- parting between- the Atlantic and Indian Ocean, these highlands present the aspect of a mountain range only on their east side, where they fall through a series of steps precipitously seawards. On the west side facing inland the chain is merely the scarp of a plateau, which is intersected by other parallel ridges. The intermediate space between the Drakenberg and the Indian Ocean is occupied by three steps or terraces, which, however, present great inequalities in their general relief, and which in several places are obstructed by transverse ridges following the course of the fluvial valleys. The most elevated of these terraces, which stretches along the base of the Drakenberg, has a mean altitude of considerably over 3,000 feet ; the central terrace, forming the middle zone of Kafirland and Natal, varies from 2,000 to 2,400 feet, while the outer or coast step, cut by the beds of innumerable torrents into a multitude of fragments, scarcely rises more than 1,000 feet above the winding seaboard. North of a summit crowned by vertical sandstone formations presenting the aspect of a ruined fortress, whence its name of the Giant's Castle (9,800 feet), the triple system of the Drakenberg gradually falls to a lower level. Here the greatest elevation is maintained by a parallel chain of heights which traverses the Basuto territory under the name of the Blaw Bergen ("Blue Mountains"), or Muluti, that is, "Peaks," in the language of the natives. Farther north the system resumes the name of the Drakenbergen, and here these highlands, although composed of sandstones like the " tables " of most other ranges in South Africa, nevertheless terminate in jagged crests. The Drakenberg is con- nected with the Maluti Mountains by a lateral ridge, whose chief summit, the Champagne Castle, or Cathkin, attains a height of 10,500 feet. On this con- necting link rises a vast plateau- shaped eminence which is covered with pasturage, and which by the Basutos is called the Buta-Buta or Potong, that is, " Antelope Mountain." But it is more commonly known by the name of the " Mountain of Sources," given to it by the Protestant missionaries Arboussct and Daumas, because here have their Gource the main headstreams of the Orange, besides several other rivers flowing in the opposite direction down to the Indian Ocean. It rises about 1,300 feet above the surrounding uplands, and according to Stow has an absolute altitude of 10,100 feet. Nevertheless it is overtopped by the