Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-02-03
SUCH Is SOUTH AFRICA.
Vivid Picture of the Lower Part OF
tL,. Dark Continent

! Vivid Picture Cf (he Lower Part OF
t.r Dark Continent.
You lau ~ South Africa at the foot
Of n mountain $4,000 feet high. They
call it Table mountain. and the veil OF
mist that. excepting on very clear days
Overhangs ii South Africans are pleas
ed to term the "tablecloth." Present
ing front Of solid rock 1000 in height,
! perpendicular as wall and for half a
mile on top level. this mountain offers
the best natural signboard on earth.
! Time and again have British firms at.
tempted with fabulous sums to secure
1t for advertising purposes, but as yet
there has been no such DETACHMENT.
Table mountain marks the tip end Of
the dark continent. Below it nestles
the city of Cape Town. a beautiful bay
stretching out in the foreground. On
the west the mountain breaks of alb
ruptly. and the railroad skirts about 1t
to the interior. On the east it slopes
off into a hilly. picturesque formation
known as the Lions Back" and then
gradually rises into the Drakenberg
mountains. This is the only great
mountain range south Of the Zambezi,
and by noting its location one may un.
derstand in trice just what South AT.
rica is geographically. Steaming along
the east coast from Cape Colony north.
ward, you have the Drakenberg in
Ayiew nearly all the way to Beira. a dis.
vance Of 1000 miles In Cape Colony
and Natal the mountains in many
places dip the waters edge. and with
fieldglass one may see on their crags
and peaks smoke curling up from the
native villages In Portuguese terri.
tory the mountains recede slightly
from the coast. and at Delagoa Bay
there is an intervening stretch of low
land 90 miles wide. At Beira this has
increased to 60 miles. At the Zambezi
the Drakenberg ends.
To get into the interior Of South Afri-
ca from any Of the five east coast
landing places-Port Elizabeth. East
London. Durham. Delagoa Bay and
Beira-one must cross a short extent
Of low land and then ascend steep
mountains. Having arrived there. the
traveller is conscious of little or no de-
scent five-sixths of the whole interior |
being n vast plateau that extends to |
the Zambezi on the north, the Atlantic |
ocean on the west and varies in alti- |
tude from 1900 TO 6,000 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 cot
-, tea plant; long stretch
| - ais running parallel with the
ndian oct22l the highest peaks of
,hich are capped with snow, and in
those valleys wave trac cts. Of wheat
nd corn; a vast prairie, dotttG1 here
nd there with patches Of scrub woN1d-
md, mission stations and immense1t !
arms with millions Of sheep and cat
e grazing thereon; a few thousand
amlets scattered like oases over a
reat landscape. made black by the
ative Africans who live in thatched {
uts and wear but a breech clout; a I
oxen large towns where are heard the I
ang Of the American trolley Car and Z
le clatter of the police patrol and
bout which men cluster as flies gather '
, a jar of sweets; the remnants of {
ace mighty geological garden, includ- 1
g many leOpards. beautiful and 1.-THE, |
lbOons, antelOpes, jackals and crOcO- q
les, less number of hippopotamuses G
nd few herds Of buffalo, elephants f
I'd giratfes: some iron ore, some COAL Q
me copper ard a little silver; 40 t
lies of gold and 100 acres of dia- a
ends. That is South Africa.-Ains- d
e's Magazine. Y