Report of the geological survey of the Orange Free State: from the 18th April to the 17th December,...

Report of the geological survey of the Orange Free State: from the 18th April to the 17thDecember, 1878Author(s): Stow, George WilliamSource: Foreign and Commonwealth Office Collection, (1879)Published by: The University of Manchester, The John Rylands University LibraryStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/60231692 .

Accessed: 16/06/2014 04:14

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Digitization of this work funded by the JISC Digitisation Programme.

The University of Manchester, The John Rylands University Library and are collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to Foreign and Commonwealth Office Collection.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 188.72.126.182 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 04:14:43 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=manchester

http://www.jstor.org/stable/60231692?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


(«'*> "»»'

\ \.

-K^sm^nif^j r.

,#&HEPORT

''V' / ?>'~^ *V'/

GEOLOGICAL SURYEY

ORAJSTGKE FREE STATE.

FKOM THE 18th APEIL TO THE 17th DECEMBER 1878.

BY Q-. W. STOW, F.GhS., ETC., of the Geological Suivey of the Orange Free State.

BLOEMFONTEIN :

PRINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE OF S NEWSPAPER COMPANY. (LIMITED

1879

3*TT» ^f-M" C^Wh,'

-«"-»«fr

^mi This content downloaded from 188.72.126.182 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 04:14:43 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions


1



REPORT

GEOLOGICAL SURYEY

ORANGE FREE STATE.

FEOM THE 18th APEIL TO THE 17th DECEMBER, 1878.

GK W. STOW, E.G-.S., ETC.,

of the Geological Survey of the Orange Free State.

BJLOEMFONTEIN:

PBINTED AT THE OFFICE OF THE 0 F. S NEWSPAPER COMPANY. (LIMITED.)

1879-

tiviv^J



help feeling impressed with the idea " that the nearer we approached the coal deposits of the Transvaal the thicker the seams of Free State coal will he found." I therefore proposed that as soon as I had finished

my inspection at the Sand River to move in that direction,—"towards the Vaal, keeping as much

along the present line as possible" ; and I expressed the opinion that under such circumstances,

" I should be much disappointed if the result does not turn out as

Iimagine."

I also stated that I believed that a greater chance existed of discovering outcrops of the older rocks in the direction of the Vaal, as well as possibly in the

Upper Caledon; and that amongst such rocks more abundant indications of metalliferous deposits might be expected. I sincerely trust that the contents of the present Report will fully uphold the correctness of the ideas I had thus formed from my previous investigations.

After leaving Sand River I took a line of country in the direction of Kroonstad. Beds of calcareous Tufa were found on both sides of Coal-Spruit, and other places, at a considerable height above the pre¬ sent stream, and which indicate, that in bygone times

large sheets of water must have at one time occupied those great valleys. In Coal-Spruit numerous frag¬ ments of Fossil Wood are found, on the slopes towards the spruit, and on the flats near Venter's farm. In the latter place they are found associated with irre¬

gularly-bedded, coarse-grained, gritty sandstones. These sandstones cover an enormous extent of country, and are evidently the equivalents of those found

forming the scarped shoulders at Van "Wijk's farm on

Coal-Spruit, above the Coal seam found there;—and therefore clearly demonstrate that wherever they are met with, in conjunction with the silicated fossil- wood, that we are then upon

" the horizon of the old Vv



Forest-zone,"—and therefore on rocks superior to " the Black-band," in which alone coal-seams, in workable

quantities have been found in the Free State Lacus¬ trine rocks,—thus clearly proving the importance of the evidence afforded by the presence of fossilized

fragments of these ancient forest trees, when found " m situ" (that is, when still embedded in the rock

itself)—as a Coal-indicator, as we may then feel cer¬ tain that we are above the coal-b°earing rocks ; and therefore that there is a chance of successful boring in such localities in search of it.

Along the line indicated large sheets of eruptive Igneous Rock are found, spreading over considerable extents of country, but varying much in thickness.

They generally occur near centres, where a number of dykes are found intersecting or radiating from one another. Near such localities if coal existed much of it would necessarily have been destroyed by the intru¬ sion of such vast quantities of Igneous Rock in its

originally molten state, as is indicated by the numerous

dykes that have been thrust up towards the surface, through the underlying strata.

One advantage, however, is derived from rocks of this description,—as the surface soil derived from their

disintegration, which is easily recognisable by its darker colour and more clayey properties,—the latter characteristic arising from the larger quantity of alumina contained in it, and therefore more capable of retaining moisture than the less favourable soil derived from the similar disintegration of the coarse sandstones and grits,—and which is therefore princi¬ pally made up of comminuted silica, or sand, through which the water sinks rapidly,—and is lost.

The pasturage, therefore, growing upon soils pos¬ sessing the former character, is always found to be thicker, and of better quality, and withstands the



drought longer than that growing upon soil of a less favourable description. ,u^_

Passing Kroonstad towards Pretorius' wool-washing establishment, the same irregularly-bedded, coarse¬

grained sandstones and grits continue, as those pre¬ viously travelled over. Near the edges of the high- level plateau belts of large-sized calcareous nodules are found—-many shewing a crystalline glance when fractured. Tbey are allied to the " cement-stones "

before spoken of, and many of them would doubtless be found to be of serviceable quality.

Again, in some parts of this portion of the country small pieces of fossil wood are frequently found, and about six or seven miles from Kroonstad a great number of large fossil, silicated, fragmentary trunks of trees, unmistakeably mark the horizon of rocks over which we travel. The superficial soil covering these rocks is a light drab sandy one, derived solely from the disintegrated sandstones;—the sub-soil is a drabbish-coloured marly one, some approaching a

light yellow ochre. In some parts of the country this lower deposit is found to be highly noduliferous, —that is, abounding in concretions of calcareous tufa of various size;—so much so that it might be profit¬ ably sorted, for the production of lime; although it would be of an inferior quality, as a durable cement, to that obtained from the semi-crystalline nodules, from the older Lacustrine rocks.

On approaching the Wool-wash above spoken of, we find a great extent of country again overspread with a sheet of Igneous Rock. From a section of them exposed along the scarped banks of the Valsch River, this particular sheet appears to have been an intrusive one,—viz., one that has been thrust laterally between the massive strata, along a line of weakness, the uppermost rocks having been carried away by sub-



sequent denudation until the Igneous Rock itself has become exposed as a surface rock.

The lowermost rocks exposed in this river section are the Grey Shales that are generally found asso¬ ciated with "the Black-band," which at this spot would, in all probability, be found to exist at no great depth. Of course the problem, as to whether payable seams of coal would be found interlaminated with it, at this particular spot, similar to some of the other

outcrops, can only be solved by boring. At some distance below the wool-wash similar shales

again crop out, near a small drift where the road

passes. It therefore cannot be reasonably doubted but that these argillaceous rocks are continuous, not

only between the two points indicated, but also

underlying $, large extent of surrounding country.

Continuing onwards, we find on all the high ridges and high-level plateaux that the same coarse sand¬ stones and grits continue. Silicated wood again makes its appearance, indicating the still further extension of the old Forest-zone in that direction. This fossil-wood, as a rule, is never found in or

amongst the highest-level rocks, but rather crops out on their upper central slopes, and wherever it is found

upon the surface, it is quite certain that the upper¬ most rocks which once covered it have been eroded and carried away.

Again, large extents of country are covered with

Igneous Rock, similar to the areas before described; while the characteristic black clayey soil overspreads the greater part of these extensive erupted outcrops. This black soil becomes a very tenacious clay when wet. These Igneous Rocks again alternate with the same coarse sandstones and grits as before to the Rhenoster River Drift. Thence passing to Philip Botha's homestead the Igneous Rock predominates in

superficial extent over the others.



8".

There seems but little doubt but that these wide¬

spread outcrops mark the proximity of ancient centres of volcanic activity. Here the same outcrop continues to Mr. H. Edwards' station, where on the rise beyond the kraals the line of contact between it and the coarse grits, &c, is found. Some of the latter have been so highly metamorphosed, or changed, by the intense heat given out by the former, when in a molten state, that they have been rendered vesicular, or full of small hollow cavities, while some of the enclosed quartz pebbles have been slightly fused. Some of the sandstones have* also been further

changed by ferruginous infiltration,—probably by the

permeation of a thermal solution.

Thence to Mentz' farm, where a ferruginous and ochreous grit is found associated with the other coarse sandstones and grits, some portions of which contain small cavities filled with segregations of bright yellow ochre and Ferric-oxide.

Beyond this the country is in deep rolling hollows and ridges, of remarkably smooth outline, but com¬

posed entirely of the same sandstones and grits as those before mentioned. These ridges are of greater elevation than those previously passed. At one spot a pinkish-tinted grit occurs in a small sandstone

kopje, near a Kafir kraal. Below this the belt of

ferruginous and ochreous grit is again seen on a lower

slope. Beyond this Igneous Rock again makes its

appearance, and continues until Dupreez's homestead, whence it extends a considerable distance in the oppo¬ site direction.

A belt of semi-crystalline calcareous nodules

(cement-stones) derived apparently in this case from shales, is found striking across the country from the N.N.W. to S.S.E. The ground from here continues in a succession of small hollows and flatfish ridges.



T

All down the next great slope the superficial Igneous Rock continues. The extent of the black soil derived from this is well-marked by the grass growing upon it being much thicker, and in ordinary seasons of a

brighter green. This soil, when used for agricultural purposes, has proved the most productive in the

country. It is stated that the finest kinds of wheat flourish on it, with this advantage, that it requires little or no irrigation in ordinary years, while during dry ones the crops, equally with the surrounding pasturage, are able to withstand the drought better than those standing on lighter soils.

In the neighbourhood of Heilbron another great outcrop of the same Igneous Rock takes place. Pass¬

ing the spruit near the town, a curving dyke from the N.N.W. bursts up through the more superficial rock of the same kind. A little distance beyond this there is another outcrop of the calcareous nodules (cement stones) making its appearance in a long line above the surface. Between Heilbron and Eland's Kop Igneous Rocks in several places predominate over the sandstones. Passing the second small spruit that runs from this outlying hill coarse gritty sandstones make their appearance, when a corresponding change in the superficial soils at once takes place. Passing a slight rise, an enormous but almost level flat, with a slight slope towards its centre, is entered upon. The soil is of a light dun colour, derived probably from the decomposition of sandstone, with a few grey, argillaceous rocks.

Ascending a long low rise, another great and almost level flat follows, terminating towards the N.N.W. in the scarped shoulder of Vaal-Bank. This Vaal-Bank affords a well-marked section of the rocks immedia¬

tely above "the Black-band," in which, as we have stated, the great coal seams of the Free State are found. It is composed of a drabbish-white sandstone.

ai This content downloaded from 188.72.126.182 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 04:14:43 AM



10

rather soft and friable,—in some parts irregularly bedded, in other portions in long, shallow pockets. Three or four feet of the uppermost strata have been so metamorphosed by intense heat as to have become almost a quartzite, darker lines of colour still shewing the original lines of bedding. This change must have taken place when the Igneous Rock now capping it flowed over it in the shape of molten lava. The orifice through which this eruption took place is now represented by the dyke-like outcrop of a similar rock near the drift where the road passes. Proceeding down the spruit (Taaibosch Spruit) at every succeed¬

ing outcrop of rock the surface indications of coal become more marked. The spruit itself, as it runs towards its jtinction with the Vaal, meandering through an almost level flat, with long vlei-like hol¬ lows here and there towards its central and lower portions. The superficial deposit, which in some parts is twenty feet thick, is composed of a dark drab clayey soil, which resists the effects of drought better than many others derived from the disintegration of the sedimentary rock.

Along this portion of the spruit there are, for a dis¬ tance of several miles, a number of outcrops of " the Black-band." One, especially, of considerable extent, at one part of which coal has been already dug from a narrow exposed seam.

Outcrops were also found on the farm Boschbank, on Leeuwspruit, not far from the junction of the latter with the Vaal. Also along the course of this river, at various intervals, as far as Scheeper's farm

beyond Makow's vlei. At every one of these outcrops coal was found associated with it. To ascertain, therefore the thickness of these beds I commenced a series of excavations.

The first made was at Taaibosch Spruit, where we carried on operations for nearly three weeks. The

*mm This content downloaded from 188.72.126.182 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 04:14:43 AM



n

>

principal shaft sunk there gave the following results : —From the highest level of the flat the ground, at the

point where we commenced, broke off in a couple of

steps. The upper one was composed as follows, viz.:

1.—Surface soil, dark drabbish colour, rather

clayey, from 4 to 12 inches. Below this

2.—Ochre-tinted, marly, noduliferous clay, con¬

taining also a few waterworn quartz and chalcedonic pebbles—about five feet.

3.—Below this again, whitish, noduliferous,

sandy marl, 20 to 11 feet in thickness.

This forms the first scarped bank rising from the lower step. It was from the edge of this latter that the shaft was commenced.

1.—Pale drab clayey silt.

2.—Yellow o< hreous sandy clay. 3.—Ditto. Gravel full of pebbles, all smoothed

and waterworn, embedded in a tough, ochreous, clayey matrix. This last varies from 9 to 18 inches in thickness.

The total thickness of these three beds is about 4 feet, 3 inches. They were resting on

4.—Decomposed carbonaceous shale—1 foot, 2 inches.

5.—Black carbonaceous shale, with very obscure leaf impressions,—some of them Palceozam- ias—3 feet thick.

6.—Dull coal, with a plumbaginous lustre, but burns well, although slowly, giving out a

very good heat—18 inches.

7.—Bright coal—12 inches.

8.—Dull coal, like No. 6—9 inches.

9.—Bright coal—10 inches.



12!

10.—Lines of bright coal, interlaminated with bands of dull coal—nearly 10 feet. Some of the layers still retain obscure vegetable im¬

pressions.

11.—Bright coal,—16 inches dug through, when the influx of water prevented sinking the shaft deeper.

This shaft, however, was sufficient to prove that, at last, we had struck a bed of coal, that must be, as soon as utilized, of immense value not only to the par¬ ticular landowners, whose property tins vast amount of mineral wealth has now been discovered to under¬ lie, but also in ensuring the general prosperity and progress of the State itself, for in the 24 feet from the top of the bank to the bottom of the shaft, we had gone through fifteen feet and a half oi interlaminated dull and bright coal.

The next important shaft was sunk at Boschbank. Between the two localities there is an extensive out¬ crop of Igneous Rock forming the stony ridge, in the rear of A. Smidt's homestead. Beyond this the upper soil becomes light and sandy, while the subsoil is com¬ posed of bright ochreous sand. In sinking at Bosch¬ bank the following rocks were exposed, viz. :—

1.—Irregular-bedded, cream-coloured sandstone, mottled with yellow-ochreous blotches—5 feet thick.

2.—Coarse, pebbly flint, from 1 to 2 feet.

3.—Irregular belt of ochreous clay, from 1 to 2^- inches.

4.—Pale slate-coloured shales—with lines of fer¬ ruginous infiltration—5-J feet.

5.—Line of blackish shale.

6.—Pale slate-coloured shale, as1 alWe, about 11 inches. - ''



13

7.—Black carbonaceous shale—11 inches.

8.—Seam of coal—3 to 4 inches. •'"•'• 9.—Black carbonaceous shale—15 inches—full '"rr of obscure carbonized leaf-stems, &c.

10.—Seam of coal—2 to 3 inches.

11.—Black carbonaceous shale, as above, 15 inches.

12.—Dull coal, with narrow lines of bright—14 inches.

13.—Black carbonaceous shale, as above—11 inches.

14.—Dull coal, as above—9 inches.

15.—Dull black shale—less carbonaceous and

more earthy than Nos. 9, 11, and 13, but

containing obscure leaf impressions.

16.—Bright coal—1-| to 2 inches.

17.—Dun-coloured, rather arenacious shale, with obscure leaf-marks—1 foot, 5 inches.

18.—Seam of mixed coal—2 inches.

19.—Similar to No. 17—4 to 6 inches.

20.—Earthy coal—2^ to 3 inches.

21.—Black shale—highly carbonaceous, almost

approaching on earthy coal—11 inches.

22.—Dull coal—5 inches.

23—Bright coal—3 inches.

24.—Dark dun, fine arenacious shale—the true thickness of this is unknown, as after

digging into this rock more than two feet, the shaft was abandoned.

The total thickness of the combined coal seams found here is from 3 feet 6 inches to 3 feet 9 inches ; and black carbonaceous shale 5J feet, considerable

portions of which would be found to be rich as "oil shale.

mam This content downloaded from 188.72.126.182 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 04:14:43 AM



14

Between Taaibosch Spruit and Makow's Vlei, although a number of dykes intersect the intervening country, there does not appear to be another of such considerable proportions as that between A. Smit's and Boschbank. The river itself, at this part of its course, runs through a great undulating flat, which, upon examination, is found to be broken into two levels or terraces. The upper has a considerable stratum of sand spread over it, and evidently formed great sand- flats when the lower level was covered with a spread¬ ing sheet of water; and during the period this former hoUow basin was silting up. This lower plain or basin is well marked near Lobeche's. The upper terrace is formed exclusively of sandstones, which accounts for the great accumulation of sand found upon it. It is in the lower basin that " the Black Band " fre¬ quently crops out along the river. Near Makow's vlei the river channel has, for several miles, cut through the coal-beds. About a mile higher up the stream, on the other, or Trans-Vaal side, the river washes the foot of a scarped bank, from 17 to 18 feet in height, and nearly a couple of miles in length, composed entirely of " the Black Band," but unfor¬

tunately we had no opportunity of ascertaining the thickness of coal in it,—which, however, must be considerable, judging from the thickness of the coal found in the Free State,—in the same neighbourhood.

The river here makes a most peculiar bend first to the E.S.E. and then to the S.S.W.

The outcrop of coal on Makow's Vlei is very exten¬ sive. Here we commenced sinking a shaft to ascer¬ tain its thickness.

The drab silty clay forming the river-flat is from 25 to 30 feet in thickness. This clay becomes ex¬ tremely unctuous and tenacious when wet, and is of the same character as that met with in Taaibosch Spruit. Below this is a line of ochreous clay, which



15

rests upon a bed of yellowish drab clay from 3 to 5 feet in thickness. At Makow's Vlei, near the river, all the rocks have been denuded down to " the Black Band," so that these recent deposits rest, at the spot selected for sinking, immediately above the coal. A shaft was sunk to the depth of twelve feet, through

J0 interlaminable beds of dull and bright coal the entire

depth. At twelve feet we unfortunately tapped a

very strong spring, and although we tried to plug it, by every available means in our power, it proved too

strong for the appliances we had at hand, and thus

by swamping the shaft the working party were com¬

pelled to desist. Judging, however, from the

escarpment on the right, or opposite bank of the river, it is not improbable but that the coal may be found to be several feet thicker. We succeeded, nevertheless, before abandoning the shaft, in securing a specimen block of coal of 32 inches in length, 16 in

depth, and 15 in breadth. The piece, as originally marked out, was 5 feet in length, but the rapid and constant rise of the water would not alio w us to lift the entire length. This specimen can now be seen ir, the Museum at Bloemfontein.

I had intended to have continued making excava¬ tions up the river to have ascertained the thickness of coal in that direction, but this I was not able to

carry out, as at this point I received orders to pro¬ ceed at once across the State to the division of Beth¬ lehem. Loath as I felt to leave this most promising coal field after I had once discovered it, without satisfying myself more definitely about its limits, but I could not well delay longer, as my instructions left me no option, and I had to turn my back upon the Vaal basin.

Before doing so, however, I made a short trip on

^ horseback across the Vaal, into Trans-Vaal territory, if and ascertained the fact that the coal-bed extended a



16

long distance tn that direction along the Klip River valley. I was, of course, unable to ascertain its thickness, but the specimens obtained were of good quality. A little above the junction of the Klip River with the Vaal I discovered an extensive out¬ crop of a siliceo-calcarous rock, very similar in appearance to the old crystalline limestones of Gri- qualand West, where they are found forming the

floor of some of the old lakes. They belong to a

very much older series of rocks than that of the Lacustrine or coal-bearing rocks of the Free State. Their discovery, which was unexpected in this part of the country, is important, as it marks the boundary of the old Lake deposits in this direction, and there¬ fore that the greatest coal deposits took place in the more northerly portions of the Lake region.

In returning I continued down the Vaal valley for some distance before finally turning away from it, and thus again passed Taaibosch Spruit, Boschbank, &c. Crossing Leeuwspruit, ferruginous conglomer¬ ate and grit are found cropping out and overlying the sandstone. It is more than four feet thick. On the second ridge an immense dyke, running towards the N.N.W., comes to the surface. This appears to have so influenced the river that it was forced to take the

great northern bend it does at this place, to enable it to double its projecting shoulders, which are

higher on the Free State side of the river than on the

opposite. Passing this ridge, the Igneous Rock then

appears to spread out into a great overflow extending both to the N.W. and in the opposite direction, it can be seen stretching away to the ridges there. It is from 40 to 50 feet thick at least, and the greater portion of its surface is thickly strewn with massive boulders of a coarsely crystalline felspathi'c rock. At Luka van Vuren's Igneous Rock again crops out. A large level sandy flat is then passed, when boulders of a purplish pebbly grit appear on the surface.



17

About a quarter of a mile further a white and pale bluish-grey mottled and striated siliceo-calcareous rock crops out, with a strike to the N.N.W. It is tilted up at a very high angle,—viz., about 60 degrees. Where first met with this rock forms a slight kopje or knoll—there appears to be a corresponding one, but much higher, on the opposite bank of the Vaal. At the Klip River we found old rocks, on the Trans¬ vaal side, coming down towards the river—here at the

point we are treating of we discover that they have crossed the river, and thrust themselves into the Free State. It is well, however, to Jinow that although, so long as we are passing over them we are below the

coal-bearing rocks of the Free State, still both in

Griqualand West and the Transvaal Territory, the richest metalliferous accumulations are associated

'with rocks of this class. h i

Passing these, the next rock m,et with is a purplish ferruginous pebbly grit, reaching as far as the home¬ stead of P. van Vuren. Just beyond this, forming projecting shoulders abutting on the river, ferrugin¬ ous and ochreous rocks are very largely developed. They are from 50 to 70 feet in thickness. Some of the belts are rich in ore—others contain a large

''quantity of free ochre (yellow) in films between the

hlayers or embedded in concretionary lumps. These ferruginous rocks are very irregularly

bedded, and are in some places interlaminated with

fthin films of ferruginous and ochreous matter that have permeated through it. The ridges for several miles from the river are found to be composed of the

J same siliceo-calcareous rock as that before mentioned, all dipping at high angles. Above this, and stretch¬

ing over the river for a considerable distance, is a remarkable breccai. A similar one was found associated with the calcareous rocks of the Klip River.

\ On a ridge near a small pan these highly-tilted rocks

mm mm This content downloaded from 188.72.126.182 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 04:14:43 AM



18

come''up through the" superincumbent breccia-

Crystals of "specular Iron ore" are found sprinkled through some of them in patches, which has led to the belief that silver is to be obtained there.

Turning again towards the river in a trough of these tilted rocks, the bluish-gray crystalline lime¬ stone—identical to that found at Klip River, and

shewing its peculiar weathering—is found resting upon them, thus proving that the undermost rocks

belong to a still more ancient series" than the upper bluish-gray limestones.

I much regretted that my time would not allow me to follow up the investigation of this part of the

country as in Griqualand West I found, associated with these same calcareous rocks beds of a very beautiful gray marble and excellent slate that could be quarried into slabs of any required dimensions.

At Modderfontein I discovered highly-tilted sand¬ stones belonging to the same series as the siliceo- calcareous rocks described. Some of them have been so metamorphosed as to be almost crystalline; others are pebbly grits; some are almost white in colour; others pink ; or shaded with ferruginous tints. These rocks must be of vast thickness, for they extend thence to the river, where they have been moulded into great round projecting shoulders. The sand¬ stones at this point nave a westerly dip of 45 degrees. They are rather coarse-grained and quartzose, with reddish ferruginous streaks. These rocks, doubtless, stretch far away into the Transvaal, cropping out wherever they cross in the bed of the river. Their denudation is remarkable, for though composed of the hardest and most compact strata, they have been

ground by the denuding agent into great long bosses and rounded ridges, many of which run in great lines, like dykes, through the country. Pockets of a bright



'19

3*ed almost ochreous clay have been found entangled among the strata. This properly ground and pre¬ pared would make a serviceable pigment, and has been -ased for that purpose by some of the farmers.

0( The tilting of the rocks is most marked as the main

ridge is approached. At one of its shoulders near the river a dyke which has been apparently thrust through between the strata, along the line of strike, forms the

projection of the shoulder itself. It is composed of a felspathic rock more nearly allied to the Igneous -Rocks of the Lower Vaal, in Griqualand West, than

any other I have seen. The eruption of this rock must certainly have taken place before the hills were moulded into their present shape. At Palmietfon- tein the evidence is strongly in favour of an ancient volcanic centre having once existed near the spot. The action of intense heat has, in no questionable degree, left its mark upon the surrounding rocks. This is seen in the rocks around the poort, through

%hich the river passes in this locality. Below the poort the sandstone ridges cross the Vaal, stretching away into the Transvaal, while on the Free State side the country becomes smoothly undulating. When within varying distances of a mile to a mile and a half of the new town of Paris, a pinkish-tinged 'fethspathic, frequently porphyritic rock makes its appearance. It is found to rest upon a blackish

poarsely-crystalline Dioritic one. "*' These are doubtless the remains of grgat volcanic outflows, and represent ancient lava-sheets. Vast

quantities of these rocks must have been carried

away before they were moulded into the flowing duti lines we now see they pdssess. This pdrphyritic rocfc stretches Over an immense extent df country, being found as far as the ridge of hills called Witte" Kopjes, Which are, as far as I was able to ixdmine' them, cdnV-

posed entirely of it. In several places it becdines



20

almost granitic. It is a stone of a most durable

character, and would be as handsome when worked as the granite from Aberdeen. It would be invaluable in the erection of permanent works, and as a material for mill-stones could scarcely be excelled, while, as

just stated, its beauty, if polished, would not often be exceeded by any stones of a similar class. The wonderful durability of some of them is proved by the fact that the great temples of ancient Egypt were built of very similar materials. Some of these, although in ruins, and have been standing m that condition for some 2,500 years, look, even at the

present day, as fresh and substantial as when first

completed by the workman.

As this rock becomes more granitic in character, near some of the Witte Kopjes—although I found none that could be styled a true granite—the crystals in

every case being all more or less porphyritically embedded,—it seems probable that one of the centres from which these rocks were derived is now hidden

by this group of hills, That their thickness was at one time very great in this part of the country is

proved by the fact that where they break off in great shoulders there is a difference of level of about 200 feet to that of the vast lower flat which forms part of the Rhenoster River basin,—stretching to a ridge which bounds the opposite horizon. ff,, i _ _ %

Taking the road to Riet Vlei before reaching the homestead of Fieldcornet Boeman, the old and par¬ tially metamorphosed sandstones are again met with, cropping out above the surface. Here they are of a

pinkish-white colour, fine-grained, and dipping to the W.S.W. at an angle of 54 to 58 degrees. The most important feature connected with their appearance at this spot is, the great beds of Iron ore that are found associated with them. These become distinctly visible immediately in the rear of Mr. Boeman's house. I



21

was first struck with finding fragments of these ferru¬

ginous rocks employed in building portions of the fences round the land and kraals. Once upon their trail they were easily discovered and traced for several miles. At one spot about a couple of miles from the homestead the three beds are most clearly exposed. They were found to be as follows, viz.:—

1st.—On the top of a high bank the first bed is found exposed on the surface for the breadth of about sixty feet, with a westerly dip of about 60°- About 450 feet from this,

- 2nd.—A second bed makes its appearance, with a surface exposure of 45 feet, continuing

] towards another and lower bank on the

right. About 750 feet distance, .3rd.—A third but smaller bed is found cropping

S-fiij.-ju^ ou^ with a surface exposure of about 25 'Jri T " '

feet. The dip of these last is similar to the first.

These beds, therefore, run parallel to one another, and are regularly interstratified with the sandstones asso¬ ciated with them. The true thickness of the respective beds would be as follows, viz. :—

j 1st bed.—50 feet in thickness. 2nd bed.—40 3rd bed.—20

Making a total thickness of 110 feet. A considerable

quantity of Magnetite, or Magnetic Iron Ore, is found in them, which quickly makes itself known by its influence over the needle of the compass. The im¬

portance of beds of ore of this thickness will be seen

by reference to the following figures. In making the

calculation we will only take the two largest beds

into a consideration—leaving the third for a margin. Thus, in a mile's length the two largest must contain

ik a breadth (measured along the plane of the stratum, from the superficial outcrop)



Of 300 feet a mass of ore equal to 5,280,000 tons;^w •Of 600 feet a mass of ore equal to 10,560,000 tons j '-> Of 1,000 feet a mass of ore equal to 17,555,000 tons; Or 52,800,000 tons; at 600 feet in a length of five, miles. ,1a •; But, more than this, outcrops of these beds have^

been found shewing themselves, at intervals, to the farm Klipdrift, on the banks of the Lower Rhenoster River, a distance of more than fifteen miles. There is therefore, every reason to believe that they are continuous that distance; and in that case the quan¬ tity of ore to be found in the two beds weuld be :—

In a breadth of 300 feet 79,200,000 tons ; In a breadth of 600 feet 158,400,000 tons ; In a breadth of 1000 feet 263,330,000 tons.

The value of the iron ore delivered at the smelting furnace is about one pound per ton. But, however large the quantity of iron ore may be, it is valueless without fuel can, be obtained within a convenient distance. Thus, the excellent iron ore in Griqualand West is unavailable at present, from this reason, but' that here shewn to exist in the Free State is certainly found under more favourable circumstances. The outcrop of these metalliferous rocks on the high ground near Klipdrift is within a few miles of a sixteen inch seam of coal cropping out along the river valley at two several places both above and below where the iron ore is found, while the great outcrop at Riet Vlei is within 20 or 30 miles of the great coal bed, and is so situated that any tram or railway that may hereafter be constructed for the conveyance of the coal itself to such great centres of consumption as the Diamond Fields must of a necessity pass within a very few miles of where the largest quantity of iron* ore is exposed, and will thus bring the fuel and the ore almost into juxtaposition—an advantage which cannot be over-estimated. But I must leave others



23

to decide the important bearing a discovery of this kind must have upon the prosperity of the State when these at present buried treasures are properly util¬

ised, and the inhabitants avail themselves of such resources.

Leaving Rietvlei, we trekked over the intervening flat, forming a portion of the Rhenoster River basin. It appears that one part of this flat must be formed by an indentation in the old rocks we have been des¬

cribing, filled with the more recent Lacustrine depo¬ sits. It is, therefore, not unlikely that traces of coal

may be found in them when they are properly examined.

From this we returned towards the hills skirting, the Rhenoster River, near Jansen's homestead, pass¬ ing the poort near the house.

This second range of hills is composed of Igneous Rocks belonging to a similar series of phenomena to that of the Witte Kopjes, but the rocks, instead of

being porphyritic, like those of the latter locality, are of a whitish-grey colour, fine crystalline, some por¬ tions being amygdaloidal,—that is, containing small round white kernels, about the size of peas.

The outer hills of this range are composed of the old

sandstones, hjghly metamorphosed. They run from

N.N,E. diagonally across the hills, at a high angle, some of them almost vertical. Passing the nek at Stoffel Jansen's (Rietfontein) on the low projecting shoulder, the old sandstones are again found, with an

amygdaloidal rock, similar to those of the Lower Vaal, with small pink chalcedonic and other kernels. Pass¬

ing the next farmhouse these low shoulders end

abruptly near the river. A little beyond, along the course of the river, there is evidently a narrow inlet of Lacustrine rocks again jutting into the old rocks, for here coal was washed to the surface in three places.



24

One block of bright coal was eight inches thick. The seam whence it was derived was below the level of the river, and, therefore, in the hurried passing examina¬ tion I had to make, I could not obtain definite data

upon the subject. It is, however, important to know that coal exists in that locality. A little lower down, however, a point of the older rocks again juts across the river channel. The same rocks are fouud for some distance down the river valley, and evidently jut for a considerable distance beyond it. They are all highly felspathic rocks, with amygdaloidal bands, allied to those of the Lower Vaal. On the higher ground, below Klipdrift, the highly-titled and par¬ tially-metamorphosed sandstones are once more found, with the beds of iron ore before alluded to cropping out between them. Here is found a pinkish sand¬ stone, rather fine-grained, changing into quartzite and white quartz, also a pale purplish-white, of a similar character. Near the homestead of Witte- randt these rocks are very conspicuous. Here the sandstones dip from 68 to 70°- E.S.E. Some of them shew cross-bedding, also ripple marks. At some of the ridges lower down the river these rocks are found with a reverse dip 60 to 65°' W.N.W. Igneous rock makes its appearance, coming several places.

•

Still lower down the river the Lacustrine rocks are again found resting in an indentation of the older ones. Coal has been dug here ; the thickest part of the seam yet found is said to be about 16 inches. All that which I saw was of the bright variety.

" The Black-band" appears to rest on a black dun-coloured sandstone.

Lower down the stream two dykes of considerable size, three hundred yards apart, cross the river in a

north-easterly direction. Crossing the intervening river-flat about two miles further down, a well-

through them in



i 25

marked section of the underlying rocks is found, i Here they dip at an angle of 48 degrees E.S.E., and'"' are composed of indurated shales and Igneous Rock," conformable to the shales themselves, and some dis¬ tance below this shales almost jasperized are found

resting on a very finely crystalline dark bluish-grey Igneous Rock. This latter lower down the stream becomes coarsely crystalline and whitish-grey in

colour, and stretches thence to the junction of the Rhenoster- with the Vaal River. Near a Kafir kraal a great outcrop of Igneous Rock is found, stretching far away past a long outlying kop, and running nearly E. and W. The following high ridge is found to be composed of irregularly-bedded, rather coarse¬

grained sandstone, with an apparent dip towards the

E,S.E. of 25 to 28 degrees. This sandstone ridge crosses the Vaal, and seems to stretch away towards the Mooi River hills.

Turning once more along the course of the Rhen¬

oster, but on the left slopes of its basin, the following rocks were passed over,—viz., the old sandstones, dipping 42 to 45 degrees E.S.E., are found forming the low projecting shoulders of the long outlier before mentioned. The some rocks are found extending a considerable distance farther, and seem to run diagon¬ ally from this part of the country to the hills near Rietf ontein, on the other side of the Rhenoster River. Several wide-spreading areas of Igneous Rock are met with, but from the position in which they occur they impress one more with the idea of erupted lava-sheets

overflowing an original surface rather than intrusive ones that have been forced laterally between superin¬ cumbent strata.

These rocks alternate with one another for a con¬ siderable number of miles. An enormous flat then

occurs, nearly level, with here and there small reed-



26

pools of water. All the slopes are covered with sandy soil, and around the depressions belts of calcareous noduliferous soil, suggesting the probability that much larger pools, or rather lakelets, at one time time existed in the hollows now occupied by the small ones of the present day.

On a high ridge running from the N.N.E. and N.E. to S.S.W. the soil suddenly changes from a dark drab to a drab red clay. The rock upon which tins rests is a coarsely crystalline felspathic rock, sprinkled with white crystals, in a bluish-grey base. It appears to be of considerable extent both in breadth and length, and is probably a jutting point of the Igneous Rocks before examined.

There is a rise springing from the great flats, near Engelbrecht's homestead, where the old tilted siliceo- calcareous rock again make their appearance They dip from 35 to 47 degrees W.N.W., and form a high¬ land running from the westerly line of kopjes to the N.N.E. and N.E. They are certainly a wonderful projection, like a great promontory of these old rocks

jutting into the Free State, and that in a position where they were not known previously to exist.

Proceeding towards Rhenostcr Kop, and passing over the high level flat, a dark blue slate-coloured, and

finely-crystalline Igneous Rock is again met with. It extends in width from two to four miles. This plateau slopes on the right towards a great hollow. In the hollow light drab clay occurs, the upper portion being noduliferous, and is found with patches of gravel. On one of the slopes waterworn fragments of silicated wood have been picked up, and several small dia¬ monds have been obtained from gravelly knolls, along the line of the trough or hollow itself. The whole of this portion of the country is' at present unexplored;,., as my visit through it was only aflymg one en route, for Bethlehem.



27

Approaching Rhenoster Kop the highest levels of the surrounding flat are covered with waterworn andf

subangular pebbles. Approaching the foot of the1 hill the same dark-bluish slate-coloured Igneous Rock again makes its appearance. This rock forms the greater part of the hill itself. Near the central

part of the latter, however, is a most unexpected out-o

crop of coarse, pinkish white and fine olive-tinted rocks belonging to the siliceo-calcareous group. One

portion of them dip 50 degrees S.E., another towards the S.W. They evidently form a protruding top of these rocks. From the main hill a long low shoulder stretches out to the S.S.W. and S.W. for some dis¬ tance, together with one or two rocky bosses, but they are all composed of the same Igneous Rock as the

body of the hill itself. Between Rhenoster Kop and Kroonstad flats with

high sandy ridges; approaching the town the coun¬

try becomes more undulating and broken. When in

sight of Kroonstad, on the high ridge to the right, a

piece of fossil wood was found, also a bed of fine drab-coloured sandstone, with irregular belts of nodu~ lar limestone—some nodules three and four feet long. These rocks evidently rest upon others similar to those in the opposite low shoulders—viz., a coarse, rather friable sandstone and grit, the former a dull, dark yellowish drab, some of the latter of a dull

purplish tint. The limestone found in this neighbour¬ hood is well worthy of a trial, as "cement-stone." A

correspondent in the Friend, in October, 1878, gave some excellent hints with regard to the preparation of this cement, which it might be as well to quote again for the benefit of those wha desire to make the

experiment. He writes :—" The English method of

preparing this article is by burning the nodules or

lumps in conical kilns, with pit-coal, in a similar way- \o other limestones, great care being taken to avoid1 the use of too much heat; for if the pieces undergoj



28

the sligtest degree of fusion, or become vitrified, on the surface, they will be unfit to form the cement. After being properly roasted the cake is reduced to a

fine powder by grinding, and immediately packed in barrels or boxes to keep it from the air and moistureA In using it, it must be tempered with water to the proper1' consistency, and applied at once, as it very soon hardens and will not admit of being softened again with water ; therefore only a small guantity should be mixed at once at a time. For foundations and cor¬ nices exposed to weather it is usually mixed with an equal quantity of clear, sharp sand." "For use as a common mortar, with twice as much sand, for coat¬ ing walls, the usual proportion is three of sand to two of cement; for walls exposed to extreme dryness or heat about 2^ or 3 of sand to one of cement; for facing cisterns, tank-work, water-frontages, &c, nothing but cement and water should be used."

Where coal is not available other kinds of fuel may be used. It was pointed out in a previous report that cement of this kind is indispensable in the con¬ struction of permanent darns and other waterworks. This widerspread occurrence of nodular limestone is therefore a very important fact that will considerably facilitate the carrying out of any well-digested scheme that may be devised for the better conservation of the surplus rainfall of the country in lieu of the more primitive one at present in vogue.

Coarse sandstones and grits predominate in the

neighbourhood of Kroonstad, but some of the finer varieties would doubtless make good building stones.

Many of them have irregular bedding, and when only a small portion of these is exposed, it often gives the idea of rocks with a considerable dip—whereas the real dip of the great bed is about 3 degrees E.S.E. The strata, however, undulate, and then a reverse dip is met with. v>"5 \o s>ws ̂ iVs



29

^/[Proceeding on the road to Mr. McCullum's home¬

stead, on the top of a thorn-kop the finer varieties of sandstone become flaggy; the irregularly-bedded coarse sandstones and grit's are found under these, and at lower levels. Near the homestead on the rise behind the stone kraal, nodular limestone is again found.

.'The sandstones and grits themselves form a portion of one of the great zones met with in other parts of the

country. Here, in the deep spruit beyond the house, they are found resting on the beds of olive-tinted and

grey shales. There is also a lower belt of nodulifer- •ous limestone, in which the nodules are large, like

.those seen in the neighbourhood of Kroonstad.

' Beyond these a long line of long elongated kopjes 'stretch from N.E. to S.W. They are formed by a

great outcrop of Igneous Rock. Passing these, a

gently-sloping flat, always ascending until the higher level flats or plateau is reached, when the upper Kroonstad rocks again make their appearance. A number of small fragments of fossil wood are also found, and in the following spruit a belt of nodular limestone is again exposed.

Passing Prinsloo's, another gieat Igneous Ridge is crossed; the rocks shewing vertical cleavage, and

splitting, when quarried, into long triangular pieces, several feet in length, some of which have been used

by Prinsloo as a fence to his threshing-floor. Beyond this irregularly-bedded sandstones and grits again appear. This portion of the country is more broken into great dome-shaped ridges and hollows than many others previously travelled over. Near one of the rises a fine specimen of a fossil stump of one of the old coniferous trees was found. This is now in the Museum at Bloemfontein. 1 The high ground round the kopjes near Coetzee's

appears to be one of the highest parts of the country, the farthest-receding flats appearing like blue lines in



30

the distance. This ridge and the domed kopjes crowning it, are composed of the same Igneous Rock as that found in the ridge near Prinsloo's. It spreads over a wide extent of country. From this elevated *spot we are able to discover that some of the distant ridges break off to the south. On approaching Oden- daal's this great overflow of igneous rock seems to end abruptly in projecting points. Near the end of one of these fragments of fossil wood are found lying upon the surface of the rocks which underlie the old lava-sheets. Beyond Odendaal's sandstones, &c, are found on the top of the next ridge, which is capped with decomposed Igneus Rock, with hardened nuclei. Passing this, we descend into an immense, irregular, but, at the same time, well-defined basin, belonging evidently to the second or more recent lake series. It stretches far away to the N.E. for miles, with shoulders of the higher grounds projecting into it It has an outlet to the S.W., and another stretching away into the far distance to the S.E.

Crossing the S.W. portion of the present hollow, it is found contracting to a narrow neck, and again expanding into a supplementary basin. Low rocky shoulders, composed of coarse sandstones and grits, are found along the N.E. side of the nek. These rocks continue to the crest of the following high ridge. From this the country is broken into sloping ridges. On the slopes of some of these fossil wood is again found, thus once more indicating to us the horizon of the old "forest zone."

The extensive outcrop of Igneous Rock at Rudd's homestead would seem to indicate an ancient volcanic centre near this spot. Good springs of water are frequently found in such localities, as the dykes inters secting the country act like great natural dams, cut¬ ting off and diverting its underground drainage, and bringing some portion of the hidden water supply to the surface. > *,-...>.>,! ^. ..l tji-i';



31

Between this and Bethlehem the same alternating character in the rocks and contour of the country continues, while fossil wood is found cropping out at detached intervals, and extensive outcrops of igneous rocks, similar to that met with on Rudd's farm, make

y their appearance.

Bethlehem itself lies in one angle of a great irre¬

gular basin, with partially-scarped shoulders on the S.W. Here the red chocolate shale is found under¬

lying a sandstone zone, which slightly dips to the S.W. These upper chocolate shales mark the deeper portions of the sites of the most recent of the lakes of the ancient Lacustrine series of the Free State,

belonging to the Karoo formation.

On the opposite side of the spruit bordering the

town, and in the deep rocky ravine at the head of it, is an excellent illustration of one of the extensive out¬

crops of igneous rocks we have spoken of. There is a

very good building stone in the neighbourhood. Many houses are built of it.

^ From Bethlehem the examination of the country was followed to Naauwpoort. Taking the road past Mr. E. Bravere's homestead, after passing the higher plateau the road descends into a spreading ravine, which gradually widens into a broad valley. The

scarped shoulders fringing this give excellent sections of the rocks composing the higher level plateau. From this to the crest of the Wittebergen all the rocks com¬

posing this part of the country are well-exposed, r marking the history of their deposition, accumulation,

and subsequent denudation with great distinctness.

These subjects, however, must be reserved for a

future memoir, when I have time to work out a proper ' scientific report of the work done in the Fi?ee State.

y "'Suffice it to say, on the present occasion, that these

rocks represent the great closing scenes of the ancient

i This content downloaded from 188.72.126.182 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 04:14:43 AM



32

Lacustrine period, when great volcanoes marked the

present site of the Wittebergen and the still greater Malutis—volcanoes whose floods of molten rock

(lava) spread over immense areas of the sandy plains which formed the ancient plateau, filling up the last vestige of the earlier lakes, and overwhelming the old coniferous forests—-forests that once spread over so large an extent of the present Free State—for hundreds of square miles. The fossil bones found in these rocks prove that fish which are no longer to be found on the face of the earth, lived in the waters of the old lakes, and that great monstrous reptiles, with bodies of even vaster dimensions than our elephant,— once roamed through the woods. They also afford

convincing evidence of the vast climatal changes that have taken place in South Africa, and point to a time

twhen the last remnant of the old-forest-trees that had

-escaped the ravages of the desolating floods of lava, finally disappeared beneath the gathering snow and ,ice of winters possessing an Antartic severity.

It was said that copper ore had been found on one

of the shoulders of the Wittebergen, on the farm

Naauwpoort. I proceeded there to examine the Jmpuntains in that neigbourhood, but without being able to discover the slightest indication of any such metalliferous deposit, either there or in any other

part of the range that I was able to mvestigate.r'Tl afterwards heard that the report originated from "a

burgher some twenty years ago when on patrol during the Basuto war, picking up a piece of ore - in the neighbourhood of a Basuto kraal, which was then inhabited, on this ridge. From this it would seem most probable that one of the old inhabitants may have travelled to those portions of the Drakensberg

-where copper ore is stated positively to exist, and have carried this piece back to his kraal, where in the

hurry of flight it may have been dropped and lost near the place where it was subsequently picked up.



33

From Naauwpoort I made an excursion through the mountain range on horseback, into the vallev of the Kleine Caledon. I afterwards turned, from Naauwpoort, towards the farm of Fieldcornet Blig- naut, passing a remarkable series of outliers, among which are some extensive remains of old kraals. All along these are well-marked sections of the uppermost rocks of the old plateau. Pass¬

ing through the flats, at the foot of these outliers., the country is eroded into irregular vlei or pan- hollows. Both at Mr. Blignaut's and other parts of the range, the loonderful smoothness, doming, and regular grooving of such irregularly-bedded sand¬ stones, as the great projecting shoulders of the

Wittebergen arc composed of, are very striking.

From this point we turned towards Langeuerg (Ma-tlan-eng), the farm of Mr. J. Bravere. The inter¬

vening country is considerably broke n, and the hills about Kasteel form a remarkable outlying group. The rocks of which they are formed are the equi¬ valents of some of the highest sedimentary rocks in the Wittebergen range, their crowns i epresenting the ancient plateau which existed before the rocks that once filled up the intervening space were eroded' out, and their debris carried away.

At one part of the Langeberg a broad dyke is found

intruding itself among the sandstones, &c.; a fe-v\ minute crystals, and small detached patches of Iron

Pyrites are found in some portions of it. In some

places the Iron Pyrites has been decomposed, the iron carried away, and the free sulphur left behind. At the time of ray visit I obtained about half an ounce of the latter. The presence of the former gave rise to an idea among some of those living in the

neighbourhood that Gold would certainly be found there.



34

Some beautiful fossil trunks of the old forest-trees are found embedded in the uppermost sandstones of this range of hills. They are evidently in the posi¬ tion in which they fell; the branching roots are still seen in the rock close by. One trunk is still from 18 to 19 feet in length, the lower portion firmly em¬ bedded in the sandstone. Some of the fossil wood shews a central pith : in one instance it is nearly three inches in diameter. These probably belonged to the Araucarian type of conifers, of which the beautiful Norfolk Island Pine is an example in recent times.

The others are all compact in the centre. In the transverse sections of many of these fossil trunks the

rings of annual groioth are very distinctly seen, shew¬

ing, at the same time, that they were not only of slow

growth but that they attained a very considerable

age. Some of the larger ones I have met with have had at least from a hundred to a hundred and fifty such rings. I have heard of others which have had

nearly two hundred—thus clearly demonstrating the

great age to which many of them must have attained.

In the same old rocks as these old trees, large fossil bones of extinct reptiles, perfect, and (said to be) as

large as those of the eland and buffalo, have been found. From the description given of them they were evidently femurs (thigh-bones.) We were not ourselves fortunate enough to obtain any perfect specimens, but were able to secure a portion of an enormous femur, or thigh-bone of a gigantic land-

reptile. The head of this bone measured 10-| inches across, thus rivalling that of the elephant in bulk.

Returning again towards Wittebergen we found the outlier, Loskop, composed of a continuation of the same rocks as Langeberg. Among the rocks cut

through by the ravines in the the surrounding flats,



35

grits greatly predominate. They are all irregularly bedded, and contain a few narrow, pockets of light and olive-tinted shales. •[

At a spot visited with Mr. J. Bravere, carbonized leaf-impressions were found in one of the accumula¬ tions of shale, and a few narrow but very irregular lines of coal, They were evidently laid down under similar conditions to those at Hermitage, Kalkf ontein, &c, in the Orange River basin, and therefore payable seams of coal could not be found under the circumstances among such rocks.

After passing Kasteel we trekked across the spurs of the mountains to Tiger Kloof (Lange's homestead.) All the rocks of this elevated portion of the country are composed of those forming the uppermost zone of Lacustrine deposits—viz., coarse, rather friable sand¬ stones, all irregularly bedded. Here at Tiger Kloof one or two films of coal a few inches long were found.

Klerkspruit forms a much larger and lower basin, although running in the same direction as Tiger Kloof, viz., from N.N.E. and N.E.toS.S.W. and S.W. From

V) this point we crossed the open country to the great hoek where Solomon Raatz's homestead is situated. From this point I examined the upper portion of the Ta-ba-kwa-kwa (the mountain of the Battle-axe) in

company with Mr. Raatz, and afterwards skirted the mountain to the Government office in Witsieshoek. Thence to Mopeli's great kraal. It is certain that at no very distant date the greater portion of the present Witsieshoek was once occupied by a mountain-lake, that has gradually silted up, and become choked with reeds. Another of a similar character is to be found at Fraserfield. From this point I made several excur¬ sions into the mountains to examine their uppermost rocks. At one time we were absent for a couple of

days, and took shelter at night in an old Bushman

.1 This content downloaded from 188.72.126.182 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 04:14:43 AM



36

cave, in the highest portion of one of the great ravines. The rocks were all identical to those before described, as belonging to the latest of the Lacustrine series,

From this point I visited also the great hoek towards the Natal boundary line. Commandant Jacobs very kindly accompanied me. In this part of the country all the bluffs are turned towards the eastward, while all those mentioned in the earlier

part of this report face the opposite direction.

Thence to Fraserfield and Glen Urquart (Bingham's homestead.)

Here there is a great accumulation of the chocolate shales. In the ridge opposite the house a large num¬ ber of Reptilian remains were found by Mr. Orpen, and have since been described by Professor Owen. These reptiles were, therefore, among the last of their race which inhabited the great lake and forest regions of this portion of the Karoo period, as represented by the rocks of the Free State, and the contemporaries of the great reptilian monster whose thigh-bone was found in the rocks of the Langeberg. At the time of our visit we found a number of other reptilian re¬ mains, but none of the importance of those previously discovered.

From Glen TTrquart I rode along some of the Natal slopes in company with Mr. Wepener, and from what I then saw I was fully impressed with the conviction that thoroughly to understand the rocks underlying this partion of the Free State would be to make a careful examination of these slopes from the Free state ridge to the foot of the range below, where, it is said, several seams of coal crop up, but, of course, in Natal ground.

Considerable accumulations of peat are to be found in some of the hollows and valleys along the foot of



37

the mountains we examined, such as Witsieshoek, Mr. De Kock's (Frazerfield) &c, and which doubt¬ less might be utilized as fuel. A similar accumula¬ tion is said to occur at one point of the Platberg, near Harrismith. From the last point we proceeded to¬ wards Nelson's Kop, passing the Ma-kwa-ne hills and

Tandjesberg. Thence we proceeded to the ridge of the Drakensberg. In all the hollows we found numerous fragments of the fossil trunks of the old

pine forests. One still partially embedded in the sandstone measured, although now broken, thirty feet in length and three feet in diameter in its thin¬ nest part. This must have been a grand old tree, and

probably towered high above his companions. I have

only met one before which exceeded it in length, and that was a prostrate one in the Dordrecht mountains that measured rather more than thirty two feet.

From this point we turned back towards Bloemfon- tein, as the time allotted by the Volksraad would not

permit us to proceed further.

The rocks of which all the high hills, forming the crowns of this portion of the great Drakensberg range, are composed are those belonging to the latest of the Lacustrine deposits. In this part, however, we find the lines of bedding more regular and much narrower than the majority of those previously met with. They have also a bed of a pale bluish argillaceous aind rather slatfy rdek underlying them.

All this part of the country, as well as the Natal

slopes of the mountain, require a thorough examina¬ tion.

Taking a different line on our return, slate-co¬ loured shale, with indications of black carbonaceous,^ or oil shale were found at Mr. Uijs' outstation on th#

Wilge River. On the high ground at Allison's wish'

(Odendaal's) fossil wood was found. Old volcanic1



38

centres probably existed near the eastern point of'

Rensburg's Kop and the south-eastern extremity of the' Harrismith mountain. -

;';

In the spruit on the farm Windy Hoek (Mr. Oates')" slate-coloured shale is again found, and also outcrops of black shale. Coal, it is said, has been found on this farm, but the whole country requires, as I have before stated, proper examination.

"Near where the Wilge River debouches from a

rocky ravine into the more open country above Mr. Rosa's woolwashing establishment, a bed of bluish- white shale is found. One belt of it abounds in fossil remains, a large number of them belonging to species; hitherto unknown, intermixed with a JDicynodon and Galaiosaurus.

From Harrismith we trekked towards Baker's Kop {Taba-ma-bate) passing over the sandstones of the same character as before. Chocolate shales are found, forming the lower flanks of this great outlying kopje. Rounding this and passing over the dyke-ridge, near the opposite side, both a belt of nodular limestone and

grey shales are found. Below Harrismith the Wilge River valley spreads out into small river flats. These have every appearance of having been originally, also, tarns or lakelets, that were subsequently silted up, while the present river has cut its channel through the deposits which had accumulated in them. In different positions a high-level gravel is found on the

high slopes around some of these basins, from 50 to 60 feet above the present water-level. '/-j:

Between this and Hans De Jager's there are great undulating flats. The fall between these flats and the Wilge River drift, where the main road passes, is

very considerable. At one spot in Kometjes Spruit lead ore is said to have been found. I examined one small excavation, whence one piece is said to have been



39

extracted. I certainly could not discover the slightest trace, nor could one easily imagine how lead ore could be obtained from such a position.

The rocky shoulders below the main drift are merely continuations of the same sandstones, &c, as those

forming the bed of the river higher up the stream. Near the junction of the Kroonstad and Bethlehem roads high-level gravels are again met with. The

gravel is here embedded in red clay. From this

point the flats increase in size, although still undul¬

ating, while the rocks are the same as those last mentioned.

After passing the Vaalbank Hotel, on the farm

Uitvlug, a widespread outcrop of igneous rock occurs.

Between this and Bethlehem the country is princi¬ pally occupied with the high-level flats and interven¬

ing rocks and spruits, while the only rocks to be found cropping out are the sandstones before men¬

tioned, intersected here and there with a number of

dykes. At one portion a broad belt of the yellowish drab sandstone used both at Harrismith and Bethle¬ hem for building purposes crops out. The high plateau, before reaching Tiger Spruit, is the most ele¬ vated piece of country travelled over between the two abovenamed towns.

From Bethlehem we continued on to Slabbert's, or De Jager's Nek, hugging the spurs and outliers of the mountain range. The upper rocks forming the pre¬ cipitous crests of these outliers are composed of the

uppermost members of the great sandstone zone, with a belt of red sandstone below. At this point they have a slight westerly dip, and form remarkable monuments of the former level of the ancient plateau. At De Jager's a few small irregular pockets of coal are occasionally seen among some of the irregularly- bedded sandstone of the upper zone. But the very



40

conditions under which they are found preclude the

hope that they can ever prove of comuiercial value.

From this to the Sand River Drift the same rocks are passed over in the descending order. The fall between these two points is between 7 and 800 feet.

The red chocolate shale is everywhere associated with, or underlying the great tipper sandstone zone, and ahoays above those belonging to the grey shales and Black Band.

From the "drift we doubled round the end of the Witte Kopjes and Sikonyella's country, again passing over high level flats, crossing Millspruit and Morning Sun. A great deal of this part of the country has been eroded into deep trou£>hs and rounded ridges. From the exposed rocks sandstones are found to pre¬ dominate. In many of these sloping hollows there is an immense extent of country fit for agricultural purposes, and judging from the large number of old Basuto threshing-floors, &c scattered about, large tracts of land, now running to waste, must have been at one time under cultivation. It must always be a matter of regret to meet large areas, which were once flourishing corn lands, turned into pasturage, for the few extra head of cattle or sheep that are sustained upon them cannot make up for the loss in the quan¬ tity of life-sustaining food produced from cultivated ground.

From Morning Sun we crossed the wide-spreading valley at Philip Olivier's ; thence toHarmonia; from Harmonia to Wilgeboom. The same rocks crop out on every side. From this point we made a detour in the direction of Lot's Pillar and the outlying ranges at Klassen's, &c.

All the precipices, here, are formed of the upper¬ most band of the old Lacustrine rocks, and mark, in^



?•-*?

41

this part of the country—as in the others visited—the elevated level of the ancient plateau. They, at the at the same time, demonstrate that should " the Black

band," with which the Free State coal is associated extend as far as this it will in all probability be found only at a considerable depth below the surface.

Some extensive undulating flats extend between these groups of hills, and others which surround the farm Weltevreden. The three places where I noticed the largest amount of cultivation were, at this farm

Weltevreden, at Klassen's, and in the neighbourhood of Wilgeboom, The crops in these localities prove what might be done in the way of bread-winning. Thousands of at present uncultivated acres, equally

fertile as those mentioned, might be brought under cultivation in this part of the State, which is equally with Ladybrand capable of becoming one of the great granaries of the country, and it is really sad, in these

periods of almost famine prices, to think of the tens of thousands of pounds which are every year sent away from South Africa to other countries for the mere

purchase of breadstuffs, and which might, with better means of transport, and the display of the necessary energy, be diverted into the pockets of the farming population, thus positively enriching the country, instead of draining it of its cash for the necessaries of

life.

One of the few thriving vineyards to be met with in the Free State is to be seen at Weltevreden. The vine-stocks looked healthy, and promised at the time of our visit an abundant vintage. The question might be asked, why is not this branch of industry more cultivated

In a former report I took occasion to point out the-

capabilities of several parts of the country where ex¬

tensive tree-planting might be undertaken with a



42

certain prospect of success, if only carried out with a moderate degree of care. I have since visited other

portions of the State equally well adapted for the same purpose.

The oak seems specially to thrive in Harrismith; at Harmonia I saw young plants of the horse-chestnut, the elm, and the once familiar hawthorn. The wal¬ nut flourishes, in a number of localities. Where the oak flourishes doubtless the fir would also. Bloem- fontein promises to become "The City of Acacias." In many spots, especially along the eastern and shel¬ tered flanks of the mountains, the blue gum and the blackwood grow rapidly. Both kinds of poplar (the aspen poplar especially in marshy places) shoots up with vigour. One or two fine plantations of this pop¬ lar may be seen at Makow's Vlei, near the banks of the Vaal. It has almost become an axiom that there is no surer way to wealth than that of tree-planting. I have already pointed out the rapid annual increase in value, even in a small plantation. The man who plants trees not only benefits his family but renders a service to the country in which he lives. Some have urged the difficulty of obtaining reliable tree-seeds, or saplings fit for transplanting. The most feasible manner of overcoming this obstacle would be the establishment of public nurseries at the principal towns, where seedling plants and young trees might be obtained. It would not be necessary for these to be commenced on a large scale—an erf of ground would be ample for a commencement. Such institu¬ tions would be able to prove, by actual experiment, the trees and plants best adapted to the various parts of the State. Under proper management they would, after the first year, be self-supporting, and would foster a taste not only for arboriculture but horticul- turc also, m the several neighbourhoods., > pcHfrj.i !».)

To avoid disappointment in transplanting, an Aus-



43

tralian method'' of 'tree-planting might be advanta¬

geously adopted. It is very simple, and consists, first, in selecting a number of large reeds, then cut¬

ting these at the joints so as to form a number of tubes. These are placed upright, side by side, in a box until the box is packed with them, and are then filled with whatever soil may be necessary, when two or three seeds are dropped into each tube. The seed is then watered and tended in the usual manner, and, when it conies up, the weaker seedlings are pulled up, leaving the strongest remaining in the tube. These are allowed to grow until the young shoots have shot well into the soil. When the young plants are suffi¬

ciently strong for moving, whatever number of tubes

may be required are then taken out, and carried in this condition to the spot where they are to be planted. A hole is then made in the ground with a sharp stick, sufficiently large to insert the tube, the earth is pres¬ sed round it, and the seedling continues to grow with¬ out check, while the rotting away of the reed itself

supplies additional nourishment. The advantage of this method is obvious, as it can be carried on at any season of the year, especially during or after the rains.

'It is said that thousands of trees are every year planted this way in some parts of Australia, where

tree-planting is carried on with extraordinary success. The owner of a farm, in his ordinary rides, might carry any reasonable number in a shoulder-bag, and, with the aid of a sharp stick, .plant them in any part of his estate he may desire, do'uhr s--

The common mimosa, or thorn-tree, when not grow¬ ing too thick, would often afford sheltered spots for such

young plantations. It may be stated that the seed of the thorn tree has been collected by farmers in some, parts of the old Colony, and sown broadcast in patches' in different parts of their farms, wherever they have desired to form a shelter. The seed, in any ordinary'



44

rainy season, germinates without difficulty, and there are many farms now that were once bare, with large patches of warm veldt for their stock in cold weather, as well as an abundant supply of firewood, both for their own use and for the market. A Mr. Goosen, of the Queenstown district, assured me that by judiciously thinning out the thorns he had thus planted, he was able to obtain a handsome yearly income.

The two great enemies to tree planting in this State would be damage from cattle,—both large and small, and the pernicious habit at present in vogue of firing grass over almost the entire country, whereby millions of tons of winter-fodder are ruthlessly des¬ troyed. The evil of this practice has been most ap¬ parent during the two winter seasons that I have travelled through the State. One can imagine burn¬ ing off a small patch to secure a certain amount of young grass for the breeding sheep when lambing,— but to reduce an entire district, for more than forty or fifty miles, as I have seen it, to the blackness of death seems an outrage upon common sense. The skeletons of the famished cattle that are frequently met with at such a time, which have died from sheer starvation and exhaustion, ought to be a protest against it. If grass were cut when in blossom, and dried and stacked for winter use,—as practised by Mr. A. Pistorius and one or two others,—the annual loss of stock would be reduced to a minimum.

Is has been stated that, if the grass is not burnt off every season, the ticks which so frequently infest cattle and horses would increase to such an extent that cattle-farming or horse-breeding would become very precarious occupations. This is only a supposi-,. tion at present, and some remedy might certainly be* applied, while the thinning out year after year, and the gradual but certain destruction of the more sweetea; and tender kinds of grass is a positive fact. And if



45

this grass-burning is obstinately adhered tq, the har¬ dier and coarser,—-and therefore, as a matter of course, less nutritius grasses will in the end alone survive the

fiery ordeal which they are put to, by the annual

grass fires, and which in course of time must necess¬

arily so deteriorate the pasturage of the country that it will be a question whether any stock will be able to subsist on it at all.

Some of the old stock farms of the Colony have already been reduced to this stage, and will never be renovated until they are artificially resown with proper grass seeds.

These grass-fires, whatever may be said in their favour, are a gigantic evil, laying the entire surface of the earth bare for hundreds of square miles just at a time when' the driest and most thirsty winds are

sweeping over it, thus accelerating the evaporation of the moisture which ought to be sustained in the ground for the benefit of the early spring grass, thus also in¬

tensifying the severity of the seasons of drought, which

periodically visit the country, frequently reducing the

sheep and cattle to that state of misery that the losses of stock entailed by the first cold searching rains are to be counted by hundreds, sometimes thousands, while the increase of years is sometimes swept off in a single season.

In some parts of South Africa I have seen patches of thorns, several miles in length, completely destroyed by these fires, while the great fire of 1869 between

Humansdorp and the Knysna is sufficient to shew their destructive character, in a more thickly- populated country than the Free State.

This, then, would be one of the greatest obstacles to successful tree-planting. The young saplings might easily be defended against the depredations of

sheep or cattle, but without great precaution any plantation would be in danger, during the dry seasons,



46

of destruction from the wilful firing of the grass, the origin of which might be many miles away.

' Before ending this lengthy digression I may observe

that there are other industries, besides corn-growing and tree-planting, which, from its favourable situa¬ tion, might become sources of wealth to the Free State.

One of these is the cultivation of the Zoet Biet— Imphee or Sorghum Saccharatum. I have frequently noticed its vigorous growth in different parts of the Free State, especially in portions of the Conquered Territory, and it seems very strange that in a part of the world where it has been cultivated by the natives for an unknown time, should be the only part where the civilized inhabitants of the country have not availed themselves of the real benefits "to be derived from its cultivation.

From time immemorial it has been grown in China, from China it Avas introduced into the East Indies, and rather more than a quarter of a century ago into France, whence it spread into America, where it now forms one of the staple crops of the United States, hundreds of thousands of acres being annually culti¬ vated.

In Australia large quantities are grown every year. Wherever Indian Corn will grow there the Sorghum not only flourishes, but withstands hot winds, drought, and excess of rain better than the former. It has survived through dry seasons, where such plants as lucerne, &c„ have perished. Not only has its hardi¬ hood, in these respects, been proved in ex ery country into which it has been introduced, but also its great value as a sugar producing plant has been fully estab¬ lished. It has even this advantage over the real sugar-cane, which is, that while the latter takes eleven months to come to maturity, the Sorghum is fit



47

to cut in three. The following figures will, perhaps, more clearly demonstrate the advantage to be derived from its cultivation.

It has been proved from actual experiment that an acre of land will produce a crop of 26 tons of stalks fit for making sugar, and also that 13 tons of stalks

yield one ton and a half of boiled sugar, which, when

granulated, and passed through the centrifugal machine, has produced a sugar valued in the Austra¬ lian markets from £34 to £37 per ton, or producing at the rate of from £102 to £111 per acre. That the Free State would be a great gainer should it make a successful attempt to cultivate its own sugar, is

clearly seen if we consider the probable quantity con¬ sumed within its boundaries in the course of twelve months. Should the computed number of inhabit¬ ants each consume but one ounce every day, the entire quantity consumed in the course of a year would be 612 tons, or if, which is more probable, there is an average consumption of two ounces each

per diem, the quantity required to meet this demand would be 1224 tons, which at £30 per ton would re¬

present the respective sums of £18,360 and £36,720 going out of the country every year for this one article alone.

The Sorghum flourishes within the Free State. If, therefore, only energy and enterprise be applied to its cultivation, as in other countries—such as China, France, America, and Australia, those sums of money now lost to the community might be retained Avithin its boundaries.

It is not, however, only for sugar that the Sorghum is cultivated. In the East Indies it is used largely for green fodder. One acre has been calculated to yield an average of 20,000 lbs. in eighty days from the time of sowing.



•48

With r.egard to dry seasons, it has been proved, even in the Free State, that ground twice ploughed with¬ stands drought infinitely better than land just turned over once, and then soynn. I saw instances of this kind during the drought of last year. In one case— a piece of land—the half had been ploughed up and allowed to lie fallow for a couple of months. The whole was then ploughed over, and the two halves sown at the same time. The difference of the ciop was most strik¬

ing. Upon the half just ploughed once and sown, the seed was scarcely recovered—a few miserable stalks were scattered here and there—while that which had

undergone the process of double ploughing well

repaid the entire labour, in giving a crop that was

even, notwithstanding the drought, above the ordinary

We will now return from this long digression to our

description of the rocks at Weltevreden. Here in the lower portion of the cresting precipice a belt of ribbon sandstone is found, some parts of which, when worked down, shew a beautiful ribbon pattern of

varying colours—red, white, yellow, and light buff. It was here near the foot of the precipice, that a num¬ ber of remarkably beautiful specimens of fossil fish were found in the loose pieces of rock lying about. We were fortunate enough to get upon their trail, and find them in situ in the fixed rocks of the precipice itself, a

layer forming the floor of an old Bushman rock shelter. The fish are evidently new to science, but of an old world type, the scales being arranged in

regular diagonal lines. Fossil fish have been remark¬

ably rare in the great Lacustrine rocks of South Africa. These are certainly the most perfect yet dis¬ covered.

It does not appear probable that these fossil fish will be found to extend any great distance. It seems more as if a school of fish had been washed upon a sand-



'49

-\

bank and there embedded, just as we see in the pre¬ sent day, after floods, numbers of dead fish, after the subsidence of the water, left high and dry upon banks a considerable height above the retiring stream.

After leaving Weltevreden the high level flats break off near Mr. Stephanus Jacobs. The lower series of flats then entered upon stretch away beyond Leeuwkop in one direction, and Rensburg's store in the other. At Van der Watt's we again ascended the upper level. All the rocks forming these higher ridges are composed of the same kind of coarse sand¬ stones and grits as before. The plateau is broken by several transverse hollows.

Passing Uys's homestead, and a long outlier to the left, the high ground breaks off in a series of steps to the Kleine Vet River Valley. Here the rocks form¬

ing the upper plateau are well exposed from step to

step; coarse, irregularly-bedded, gritty sandstones

shewing themselves at the foot. Thence to Marman's Hoek in the Korannaberg. The red shales forming the flanks of the mountain are more divided by nar¬ row belts of sandstone than in many other places visited.

These rocks I examined to the end of the great rocky glen forming the Hoek, and said to be called Marman's Hoek, from the last Bushman captain who had his stronghold in the cave under the precipice, in the piece of forest which fills the head of the glen. Towards the west of the mountain an extensive out¬

crop of igneous rock spreads over the surface. A broad shallow, elongated, pan-like trough follows, while on the next slope igneous rock again makes its

appearance.

Thence crossing the intermediate rises and flat, to the Vet River Drift, from the Vet River we passed over the nek of the Be-la-be-la ridge to the Mon-ga-ni Spruit, and then continued our route to the foot of



60

Ta-ba Mu-ruti or Menschvretersberg. Along this line we found, in the hills passed, shales and sandstones in rather narrow bands, while sandstones and chocolate shales were exposed in the Mon-ga-ne drift, proving that the same rocks are continuous over immense areas. Doubling Menschvretersberg towards Thaba 'Nchu, an extensive flat is passed over. Very extensive ploughed lands fill all the valleys around Thaba 'Nchu. Here grey shales are again met with, both in the hill-sides and river-beds. Near the town itself a large quantity of igneous rock is exposed. Passing the drifts, spreading beds of rather fine, pale sandstone make their appearance. Between this and the Modder River Drift there are several outcrops of igneous rock, forming ridges and detached lines of kopjes ; the intervening country being occupied with the same rocks as before. At the drift itself, sandstones and grey shales are found, with an easterly dip. These rocks can be traced as far as Cornspruit, the farm of Mr. Pretorius. Beyond this the flats become more level, with longer undula¬ tions. Rather fine-grained pale drab and light grey sandstones follow; some of the latter are argillaceous. Wide outcrops of igneous rock again occur, forming a

rocky ridge, and extending towards an outlier—

—Boschkop—in the N.W. Beyond the kop a high- level flat follows, whence the road descends a long slope to flats of a lower level, the ridges and kojDJes of which mark the level of the higher one, shewing that the higher ground was at one time continuous until the lower flats were eroded down to their present form. In the water-courses, traversing these, grey shales are again found, and can be traced at intervals to Rhsnoster Spruit.

From Rhenoster Spruit we travelled into Bloem-

fontein, where we arrived on the 17th December, 1878.

In every instance where coal has been discovered connected AArith " the Black Band," the Black Band itself has been associated with grey shales. The appear-



+-

51

ance, therefore, of these rocks so far to the westward shews that there is a possibility that in some locality the more valuable mineral which so frequently accom¬

panies them may yet be discovered, while their pre¬ sence may be looked upon as an important although not a certain indication of its existence.

From the foregoing it will be seen that an immense amount of country has been traversed in the time re¬

presented in the present Report, and it cannot be doubted but that the result of this investigation must have an important bearing upon the future prosperity of the Free State, when advantage is taken of the valuable products thus made known. Thus we find,

1.—Nodular Limestone, such as is used in other countries as " Cement Stone," scattered over various parts of the State.

2.—Great beds of old Crystalline Limestones (siliceo-calcareous rocks.)

3.—An immense area of country filled with Por-

phyritic Rocks, which would vie with granite for durability and beauty.

4.—An abundant supply of Magnetic and other rich Iron Ores, within a convenient distance of the necessary fuel for smelting.

5.—The discovery of a great coed bed—the most

important of all natural products to ensure the prosperity of any country in a time when

Railways, or other rapid means of communi¬ cation, are essential to national progress.

I have already pointed out the immense value of the beds of Iron Ore which have been discovered in connection with the coal beds. I will now recapit¬ ulate a few of the facts connected with the latter.

In a former report I stated that, judging from the excavations made in the Sand River district, the



52

coal underlying that portion of the country would, at a low estimate, amount to some 145,800,000 tons ;

We can now safely state that in the new coal field since dis¬ covered in the Vaal River valley „„;t' •'*

/, B'JlDlil sua the minimum quantity, tnere, would

«, ir-besome 350,000,000 tons;

Making a total, in the two coal '^ Jit

beds, of 495,800,000 tons;

which, at Jive shillings a ton, would represent a money value of more than £123,900,000.

If, however, instead of taking a minimum quan¬ tity, we take an average, we should find, even leaving the Sand River coal out of the calculation, that in the Vaal River coal oed alone there must be some

1,225,120,000 tons awaiting the future miner—a

quantity of coal which, at the same low rate men¬ tioned—viz., five shillings per ton—would represent a value of more than £300,000,000.

oia 1866 some 3,938,768 tons of coal were exported from Belgium. It is calculated there is still in that

country, within an easy workable depth a sufficient

quantity to last, at the present rate of consumption, 150 years. The German coal-field on the river Saar is supposed to be capable of supplying 2,500,000 metrical tons per annum for a period of 3,000 years. Those of the river Ruhr, on the Lower Rhine, would last more than 5,000 years, at the rate of 1,000,000 metrical tons per annum, while the value of coal raised every year in Prussia is £4,954,986, and gives employment to 89,192 people.

In Britain and America these industries are carried on, on a much larger scale than those above quoted. Sufficient, however, is here pointed out to carry con-' viction with regard to their vast importance.

It is also satisfactory when we find from the figures



53

above quoted that the Free State coal supply would be sufficient to allow of a yearly consumption of more than 6,000,000 tons for a period of 200 years, or of 1,000,000 tons for a period of 1200 years ,x^^o o*,^^^ u«^:»

r. r r f <~- It is, however, not improbable that as the great

outcrops of coal in this portion of South Africa show themselves along the Vaal Valley, and also in the

Transvaal, west of the Drakensberg, associated with rocks possessing an easterly dip, and that they appear again in the Utrecht division of the same Province, as well as at Biggarsberg (Newcastle) in Natal to the eastward of the same range, that these are all outcrops of the same great Coal Field, of which the present Dra¬

kensberg mountains occupy the synclical trough. If such should, after proper investigation, prove to be the case, the supply of South African coal will prove to be enormous, casting the figures quoted—vast as they may appear—completely in the shade.

With coal in possession, other articles of commercial value are attainable, as for instance,—

1 ton of coal will at least produce

10,000 cubic feet of gas, besides 1 chaldron of coke; 10 gallons of tar; and 20 gallons of Ammoniacal liquor.

Coal also commands the most wonderful and obe¬ dient servant in the world,—Steam—with its unnum¬ bered appliances.

The Free State coal has not yet been analysed, but as a rule the amount of ash in South African coal is much greater than that imported from Europe. Some of the duller kinds leave "clinkers" when burnt, but all those I have tried give out an intense heat, and Mr. North, the Colonial Engineer, in his excellent and interesting Report upon the subject, considers that with specially-constructed furnaces and movable



54

fire-bars the objections raised against Cape Coal may be overcome—while Mr. A. N. Ella, avIio consumes

large quantities of fuel for steam purposes, considers that Indwe coal, at forty-five shillings per ton of 2,000 lbs. would be cheaper than two loads of firewood at the same price, besides the labour saved in chopping up the latter.

In the present Report I have not touched upon the additional scientific knowledge gained during the course of the Survey upon which I have had the honour of

being engaged. Should my life be spared, and I am able to work

out the notes I have collected, I feel convinced that considerable new light will be thrown upon South African Geology, while the facts collected fully bear out the deductions to which I was led from a study of similar rocks in Griqualancl West. Iilinfj9 ,,-

For practical purposes I cannot but look upon the results of the present Survey, as far as at piesent carried out, in any other light than as A success of no small importance. I must leave others who will reap the benefit of the discoveries made, to judge them at their true value. Even at the present moment the increased value in the price of farms in the favoured localities (as proved by the offers made for them) would many times over recoup the entire outlay of the sur¬

vey, while it would be difficult to calculate the prospec- tvie good likely to be derived from it.

The time allotted me ended on the 30th November, although it was the 17th December before I returned to Bloemfontein, up to which time, it will be seen, I con¬ tinued the examination of the country. From the be¬

ginning of last year, learning that the funds were limited, although I retained a small working party up to my arrival in town, it will be found that, with the

exception of about a couple of months, I made no

charge for them, but defrayed the expense from my own allowance. -



y

A

55

Although much work has been done, still a refer¬ ence to the map will shew that much of the Free State has yet to be examined, and it would be much to be regretted, as well as a very unsatisfactory ter¬ mination, to leave such an important work as a Geo¬ logical Survey in an incomplete state.

It would be something similar to a man who had decided to build a house, and having obtained all the materials, after arriving at the height of the wall plates, relinquishes the undertaking, instead of com¬ pleting it in a proper manner that it might be a benefit to him and his family.

At the beginning of the Survey many were evi¬ dently of the impression that it only required their farms to be examined, when any required mineral or metal must, of a necessity, be found upon them. The case is not so : it is more like a lottery, in which there are, natu,rally, more blanks than prizes. The great thing is to discover the whereabouts of the prizes, that

they may be utilised for the benefit of both the lucky I owners and the public also, and one cannot but believe

that the prizes made known on the present occasion are surely sufficient encouragement to have the work

completed in such a manner that it may, in the end, not only reflect credit upon the one who laboured at it, but also the Government under whose auspices so

important an undertaking was carried out.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your obedient servant,

GEO. W. STOW,

+ F.G.S., F.R.G.S.,

Of the Geological Survey of the Orange Free State.

mmmm This content downloaded from 188.72.126.182 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 04:14:43 AM



-'islot s\ li > nooo ezu 'A.on i 'Ll

,7'UJd

TO f-^'i'

T7oUr'i

.9-ta)8 <3r)'f OOi'i fif



Report of the geological survey of the Orange Free State: from the 18th April to the 17th December,...

Documents

Transcript of Report of the geological survey of the Orange Free State: from the 18th April to the 17th December,...