VI — On the Geology of Southern Africa.

Abstract

Plates XX.–XXVIII. Introduction. [Abridged.] [Before entering upon the special subject of his Memoir, Mr. Bain gives a sketch of the progress of his geological researches in South Africa, and refers to his former communication, laid before the Society in 1844*, descriptive of the Geology of the Eastern Provinces of the Cape Colony, which was accompanied by Professor Owen’s description of the fossil remains of that peculiar reptile the Dicynodon. Desirous of working out the history of this extraordinary creature and its habitat,—and further stimulated and encouraged by the grant of the Wollaston Donation Fund on the part of the Geological Society, and by a grant from the Royal Bounty Fund, through the hands of the late lamented Sir Robert Peel,—the author extended his researches, and sedulously applied himself to work out the geological phenomena of the Colonial territories through which he has now for some time been engaged in carrying out an extensive system of Military Roads. As the basis for his operations, Mr. Bain has used the excellent Ordnance Map, compiled by Mr. Henry Hall of the Royal Engineer Department, and for a copy of which he was indebted to the kindness of the (late) Honourable Mr. Montagu, Secre­tary to Government, and of Charles Bell, Esq., Surveyor-General of Cape Colony. Before explaining the details of the Geological Map now laid before the Society, Mr. Bain ventures to claim the indulgence of geologists for such imperfections as may be found to exist in the work he now