and hardened and thrown into
parallel irregular folds, and that these rocks were afterwards worn
down by the action of water, at a time when the land was still
beneath the ocean, with the result that many basin-shaped
depressions are preserved and exposed, each of which holds a
certain amount of water. Just as we never dream of putting down a
well in this country without knowing the positions of the
water-bearing strata, so it is hopeless to bore profitably for
water in the Colony till the districts are defined over which the
water-bearing basins are spread. Nothing arrests the escape of
water in its course through the rocks more efficiently than
intrusive sheets of igneous rock which rise to the surface, but
until the distribution of these dykes is systematically recorded it
will not be possible to open out all the water which is preserved
underground. There is no doubt that by utilising geological facts
of this nature, a better water supply may be obtained, which will
enable more land to be brought under cultivation, and larger crops
to be raised. I may say that the Colonial Government is fully aware
of the importance of following out such lines of work, and steps
are being taken to give effect to such exploration. Vegetation,
however, by its radiating power, must always be one of the chief
aids to improved water supply. In the matter of mineral wealth,
Cape Colony is not so rich as some adjacent lands. It contains
coal, but the individual beds of coal are thin, and owing to this
thinness the coal necessarily alternates with shale, which is more
conspicuous than in the coal fields of Britain. I remember that
Professor Sedgwick, my old master in geology, told me that in his
youth seams of coal only some four to six inches thick were worked
on the sides of hills in Yorkshire, and that the coal was carried
on horseback over the country to supply the wants of the mountain
population. Cape Colony is in a far better state than that. In the
Eastern Province the beds of coal are frequently a foot or two or
more in thickness. They crop out on the surface with a slight dip
near to the railway, and although only worked at present in a few
pits (as at Cyphergat, Fairview, Molteno--I did not visit the
Indwe)--the coal-bearing rocks certainly extend over a much