Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/119

 chief summits of the lateral chain of the Maluti highlands, on which the snow remains for the four Austral winter months from May to August. This is the true Alpine region of South Africa. One of its peaks, to which the missionary Jacottet has given the name of Mount Hamilton, has an extreme altitude of 11,600 feet, while the gorge through which the Basutos descend from the upper Orange Valley to that of its great affluent, the Senkunyané, is scarcely 200 feet lower.

Farther on in the direction of the north-east, the range known as the Randberg, that is, the "Border Range," but to which is also extended the name of the Drakenberg, as if still forming part of the southern system, assumes the character of an enormous rocky cliff. On the inner side it faces the undulating upland

plain forming part of the continental plateau; on the outer it develops a long line of abrupt escarpments skirting the lower plains, which have been greatly denuded and the débris borne seawards by the torrential coast-streams, Although mainly parallel with the shores of the Indian Ocean, this Border Range has been carved by the running waters into a very irregular rocky barrier. Excavated in the shape of a cirque in one place, it projects elsewhere in the form of headlands, one of which is the Kaap (Cape), famous for its rich auriferous deposits. The work of erosion carried on for ages by the rivers has caused the barrier itself gradually to recede westwards, being continually eaten away by the affluents of the Indian Ocean.

Farther north the slope of the plateau falls imperceptibly in the direction of