The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1901-03-21
SUCH is SJUTH AFRICA
vivid Picture la Miniat ire Of the Lower
Fart az the Dark Continent.

ytvid Picture la Minint ire OF the Lower
Fart az the Dark Continent.
Yoa lani in South Africa at the foot
# q. mountain $500 feet high. They
all it Tab.e Mountain, and the ven OF
mist that, excepting on very clear days,
ove-hangs It, South Africans are
pleased to term the "Tablecloth." Pre-
,entng a front Of solid rock, 1000 feet
In height, perpendicular as q wall. and
for half mile On top level, this noun
tain offers the best natural signooara
on earth. Time and again have Brit
sh firms attempted with fabulous sums
to secure it for advertsring pur poses,
but. as yet, there has been no such
DETACHMENT.
Table Mountain marks the tip end
Of the Dark Continent. Below 1t mes
ties the city Of Cape Town, beaut!tui
bay stretching out in the foregr
On the west the mountain breaks on
abruptly. and the railroad skirts about
It to the interior. On the east it slopes
of into a billy picturesque formation
known as the Lions Back" and then
gradually rises into the Drakensburg
Mountains. This is tne only great
mountain range south of the Zambesi.
derstand in a trice just what South
Africa Is geographically. Steam'nS
along the east coas- from Cape Colony
northward, you have the Drakens5urg
In view nearly all the way to Beira, O
distance of 1000 mile In Cage Col
ony and Natal the no ta.ns in many
places dip the waters .;ge and with a
field glass one may see on their crags
n nNn II nj nsr nm
native villages. III Po. tugueSe terri
tory the mountains recede slightly
from che coast. and at Delagoa Bay
there is an intervening stretch OF low
land twenty miles wide. At Beira this
has increased 10 sixty miles. At the
Zambesi the Drahensbu;y ends.
To get into the interior Of South
Africa from sny CT the five east coast
landing places-Port Elizabeth, East
London, Durham, Delagoa Bay and
Beira-one mpst cross a shor: extent
OF low land and then ascend steer
mountains. Having arrived there, the
traveller is conscious Of little or no
descent, five sixths OF the whole inter.
lor being a vast plateau that extends
to the Zambesi on the north. the At
lantic Ocean on the west, and varies
In altitude from 5000 to 5000 feet
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 cot
| ton and the tea plant; long stretch
| of mountains running parallel vita
| the Indian Ocean. the highest peaks %
| which are capped with snow, and In
whose valleys wave tracks OF wheat
and corn. A vast prairie, dotted here
| and there with patches CT scrub wood
| land, mission stations. and immense
| farms wit! millions Of sheep and cat
| tie grazing thereon; a few thousand
| hamlets scattered like GASES over
great landscape, made black by the
| native Africans who live in thatched
tuts. and wear but a breech clout:
iozea large towns where Is heard tho
clang Of the American trolley car and
tie clatter OF the police patrol, and
about WIKI h men cluster as flies gather
| TO A jar of sweets; the remnants OF
| once mighty geological garden. includ-
| Ing man: leopards. beautiful and 1.-THE,
| babcons, antelope. jackals and c-oco-
| dies, less number Of hippopotami
and few nerds Of buffalo, elephants
| an giraffes: some iron ore, soma coal.
some copper, and a little silver; forty
| miles CT gold and 100 acres Of d;a.
mcnds. That is South Africa.-Ains"
lees Magazine.