In the present condition of geological knowledge it is impossible to determine whether South Africa has been the home of human beings for as long a time as Europe, but it is certain that men have roamed over its surface from an exceedingly remote period. The ancient shell mounds along the coast are usually regarded as furnishing one proof of this fact. The first of these that was examined carefully was a heap formerly to be seen in a cave at Mossel Bay, but one much larger has of late years been discovered on the left bank of a tributary of the Buffalo river at East London. Its discovery was due to the opening of a way to a quarry, for it had the semblance of a natural mound, being covered with a deep layer of vegetable soil, in which trees were growing; and this appearance it had presented as far back as could be traced. Upon examination — which was very thorough, as over thirty-two thousand cubic metres of it were removed to fill a lagoon—it was found to consist of a mass 45·72 metres or one hundred and fifty feet long and 12·19 metres or forty feet deep, composed of oyster, mussel, and other shells, mixed with bones of animals of various kinds, ashes, and pieces of coarse pottery. No stone implements were obtained in it, but stones showing the action of fire were common.