6o t r a v e l s i n
manufactured into a chain to which the keys of the Caftle gates
fhould be fufpended. The chain was made, and ftill remains
in the fame fervice for which it was originally intended, as a
memorial of the credulity of the governor and the council.
The Paarlberg, on the left of the pafs into the valley, is a hill
o f moderate height, and has taken its name from a chain of
large round ftones that pafs over the fummit, like the pearls of
a necklace. O f thefe the two that are placed near the central
and higheft point o f the range are called, par excellence, the
pearl and the diamond : and a particular defcription o f them
has been thought worthy o f a place in the Philofophical Tranf-
aftions. From that paper, and Mr, Maflon’s defcription, it
would appear that thefe two mafles of ftone refted upon their
own bafes, and were detached from the mountain; whereas
they grow out, and form a part, of it. It has alfo been faid
that their compofition was totally different from the rocks that
are found in the neighbouring mountains, which led a naturalift
in Europe to obferve, that thefe immenfe blocks o f granite had
probably been thrown up by volcanic explofions, or by fome
caufe o f a fimilar nature. It has been obferved in the preceding
Chapter, that the fand-ftone ftrata o f the Table Mountain
refted upon a bed of primaeval granite, and that an infinite
number of large ftones were fcattered at the feet of the Mountains
along the fea-coaft, from the Lion’s Head to the true Cape
of Good Hope. All thefe are precifely of the fame nature, and
the fame materials, as the pearl and the diamond; that is to
fay, they are aggregates of quartz and mica; the firft in large
irregular maffes, and the latter in black lumps refembling fhorl:
they
they contain alfo cubic pieces of feltfpar, and feem to be bound
together by plates of a clayey iron ftone. All the ftones of this
defcription appear to have been formed round a nucleus, as by
the a£tion of the air and weather they fall to pieces in large
concentric laminas. The Pearl is accefiible on tjie northern
fide, but is nearly perpendicular on all the reft. This doping
fide is more than a thoufand feet, and the perpendicular altitude
about four hundred feet above the fummit of the mountain,
and the circumference of its bafe is a full mile. Near the
top it is quadrifedted by two clifts, crofting at right angles, in
which were growing a number of beautiful aloes, feveral cryp-
togamous and other plants. A great part of the flanting fide
was covered with a fpecies of green lichen. Down the perpendicular
fides were immenfe rifts, as i f the mafs had been torn
afunder by its own weight. The Diamond is the higher block,
but lefs bulky, and, being cone-lhaped, is difficult and dangerous
to afcend.
The mountain of the Paarl furniihes a fine field for the bota-
nift. The plants are very varied and wonderfully luxuriant.
The wild olive of the Cape feems to have here attained its
greateft fize, and the dark-green foliage is finely contrafted with
the elegant tribe of heaths, fome of which fhoot up to the fize
and form of trees. The fruit of the wild olive is fmall and
acrid ; but the wood is clofe-grained, ihaded, and takes a poliih
not unlike that of walnut. A great variety of that genus of
plants to which botanifts have given the name o f Protea, decorate
the fides of the Paarl Mountain. O f thefe, one of the moft
numerous and moft confpicuous was the mellifera, called here
the