DRAKENSBERG (Quathlamba or Kahlamba, i.e. " heaped up and jagged," of the natives)  , a mountain chain of S.E . Africa, running parallel to the coast from Basutoland to the Limpopo river—a distance of some 600 m . The Drakensberg are the eastern part of the rampart which forms the edge of the inner tableland of South Africa . The sides of the mountains facing the sea are in general precipitous; on their inner face they slope more or less gently to the plateau . The culminating points of the range, and the highest lands in South Africa, are found in a sharp bend from S.E. to N.W. in about 29° S . 290 E., where " the Berg " (as the range is called locally) forms the frontier between Natal and Basutoland . Within 6o m. of one another are three mountains, Giant's Castle, Champagne Castle or Cathkin Peak, and Mont aux Sources, 1o,000 to 11,000 or more ft. above the sea . From Mont aux Sources the normal N.E. direction of the range is resumed . Conspicuous among the heights along the Orange Free State, Transvaal and Natal frontiers are Tintwa, Malani, Inkwelo and Amajuba or Majuba (q.v.), all between 7000 and 8000 ft . The Draken's Berg—the particular hill from which the range is named—is 5682 ft. high and lies between Malani and Inkwelo heights . It was so named by the voortrekkers about 184o . North of Majuba the range enters the Transvaal .

Here the

elevation is generally lower than •in the south, but the Mauch Berg is about 85oo ft. high . At its northernmost point the range joins the Zoutpansberg . In their southern part the Drakensberg form the parting between the rivers draining west to the Atlantic and those flowing south and east to the Indian Ocean . At Mont aux Sources rise the chief headwaters of the Orange, Tugela and other rivers . In the north, however, several streams rising in the interior plateau, e.g. the Komati, the Crocodile and the Olifants, pierce the Drakensberg and reach the Indian Ocean . The range has numerous passes, many available for wheeled traffic . Van Reenen's Pass, between Tintwa and Malani, is crossed by a railway which connects the Orange Free State and Natal: Laing's Nek, the main pass leading from Natal to the Transvaal, which lies under the shadow of Majuba, is pierced by a railway tunnel . The railway from Delagoa Bay to Pretoria crosses the Drakensberg by a very steep gradient . Several subsidiary ranges branch off from the main chain of the Berg . This is especially the case in Natal, where one range is known as the Little Drakensberg .