Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1900-02-27
SUCH IS SOUTH AFRICA.
Vivid Picture in Miniature OF the Low
or Part Of the Dark Continent.


or Part Of the Dark Continent.
You land in South Africa at the foot
OF a mountain, 5000 feet high. They call
1t label Mountain. and the veil of mist
that. excepting on very clear days.
overhangs it. South Africans are
pleased to term the "Tablecloth." Pre-
senting a front Of solid rock. 1000 feet
in height. perpendicular as a wall. and
for half a mile on top level. this noun
tain offers the best natural signboard
on 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 marks the tip end
of the Dark Continent. Below II nestlcs
the city OF Cape Town, q beautiful bay
stretching out in the foreground. On
the West the mountain breaks of alb
ruptly, and the railroad skirts about
II to the interior. On the east 1t slopes
off into a hilly. picturesque formation
known as the Lions Back" and then
gradually rises into the Drakensburg
Mountains. This Is the only great
mountain range south of the Zambesi.
and by noting its location one may
understand in a trice just what South
Africa Is geographically. Steaming
along the east coast from Cape Colony
northward, you have the Drakenburg
in view nearly all the way to Beira.
distance of 1000 miles. In Cape Colony
and Natal the mountains In many
places dip the waters edge. and with
q 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
roast. and at Delagoa Bay there is an
intervening stretch of lowland twenty
miles wide. At Beira this has increased
TO sixty miles. At the Zambesi the
Drakensburg ends.
To get into the interior OF South Afri-
ca from any of the five east coast land
Ing places-Port Elizabeth. East Lon
don. 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 descent. five
sixths of the whoie interior being
vast plateau that extends to the Zam-
best on the north, the Atlantic ocean on
the west. and varies In altitude from
5000 to 5000 above the sea.
A fringe OF tropical country. where
bloom the magnolia and the rose. where
flourish the orange. pineapple, lemon,
guavo, grape, banana. the cotton and
the tea plant: long stretch of noun
tains running parallel with the Indian
Ocean, the highest peaks Of which are
capped with snow, and In whose valleys
wave tracts OF wheat and corn: vast
prairies, dotted here and there with
patches of scrub woodland. mission
stations, and immense farms with mill
lions of sheep and cattle grazing there
on; a few thousand hamlets scattered
like GASES over a great landscape. made
black by the native Africans who live
in matched huts, and wear but a
breech clout; dozen large towns
where is heard the clang of the Amer
lean trolley car and the clatter Of the
police patrol. and about which men
cluster as flies gather to jar OF
sweets: the remnants OF a once mighty
geological garden. including many Loop
ards, beautiful and 1.-THE, balloons. an
telope. 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.-Ainsiie's Magazine.