The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-28
SUCH is SOUTH AFRICA.
Vivid Picture of the Lower Part Of
the DIRK Continent.

Ainslee's Magazine.
You land in South Africa at the foot OF
a mountain 1900 feet high. They call 10
Table mountain and the veil Of mist that.
excepting very clear days, overhangu
1t, South Africans are pleased to term the
"Tablecloth. Presenting a front OF solid
rock, 1000 feet in height, perpendicular as
a wall, and for half a mile on top level.
this mountain offers the best natural sign
board earth. Time and again have
British firms attempted with fabulous sums
to SECURE ii for advertising purposes, but,
as yet, there has been no such deface-
ment.
Table mountain makes the tip end Of the
Dark Continent. Below IL nestles the city
of Cape Town, a beautiful bay stretching
out in the foreground. On the west the
mountain breaks of abruptly, and the
railroad skirts about IT to the interior. On
the east il slopes off into a billy, pictur-
esque formation known as the Lions
Back" and then gradually rises into the
Drakensburg mountains. This is the only
great mountain range south OF the Fam
best, and by noting its location one may
understand i'm a trice just what South
Africa is geographically. Steaming along
the east coast from Cape Colony north
ward. you have the Drakensburg I'm view
nearly all the way to Beira, distance OF
1900 miles. In Cape Colony and Natal
the mountains in many places dip the
waters edge and with field glass one
may see on their crags and peaks smoke
curling up from the native villages. In
Portuguese territory the mountains recede
slightly from the coast, and at Delagoa
bay there is an intervening stretch Of low
land twenty miles wide. At Beira this
has increased TO sixty miles. AT the Zam-
best the Drakensburg ends
To get into the interior OF south Africa
from any OF the five east coast landing
places-Port Elizabeth, East London. Dur
ban, Delagoa bay and Beira-one must
cross a short extent of lowland and then
ascend steep mountains. Having arrived
there, the traveller is conscious OF little or
no descent, five-sixths OF the whole interior
being a vast plateau that extends TO the
Zambesi on the north, the Atlantic ocean
on the west, and varies in altitude from
1900 to 5000 feet above the sea.
A fringe OF tropical country. where bloom
the magnolia and the rose, where flourish
the orange, pineapple. lemon, guava, grape,
banana, the cotton and the tea plant. Q
long stretch OF mountains running paral.
peaks OF which are capped with snow.
and in whose valleys wave tracts OF wheat
and corn; a vast prairie. dotted here and
there with patches OF scrub woodland.
mission stations, and immense farms with
millions of sheep and cattle grazing there
GASES over great landscape. made black
by the native Africans who live I'm thatched
huts, and wear but breech clout: q
dozen large towns where Is heard the clang
of the American trolley car and the clat-
ter of the police patrol. and about which
men cluster as flies gather 10 a Jar OF
sweets; the remnants of a once mighty
geological garden, including many leo
pards, beautiful and 1.-THE. balloons. ante
lope jackals and crocodiles. a less number
Of hippopotami and a few herds OF buffalo.
elephants and giraffes; some iron ore. some
coal. some copper, and a little silver: forty
miles of gold and 100 acres OF diamonds.
That is South Africa.