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The article focuses on the world's first attempt to legislate for cave conservation:Cango cave in 1820. Before 1820, the legal status of Cango Cave in the Swartberg foothills north of Oudtshoorn was not defined. In those days the system of land tenure was quite simple--the farmer owned only the farmhouse and other buildings; while the land and mineral rights remained the property of the Dutch East India Company. No provision was made for caves. At the first British occupation in 1795 the land passed to the Crown, but was transferred to the administration of the Batavian Republic in 1803. On the restoration of British rule in 1806 the land again reverted to the crown. These changes would have made little or no difference to the tenant farmers. They would have continued to pay their rent to the same field comet, who would have forwarded it via the magistrate to the same office in Cape Town, South Africa. One of the reforms introduced during the second British occupation was that of the system of land tenure, whereby sitting tenants could apply for the conversion of their lease to perpetual quitrent. In other words, in consideration of a single payment, they could convert the uncertainty of a lease into permanent title to the land, provided that a small annual land tax was paid to the government.

The article focuses on the nomenclature of Cango Cave in Oudtshoorn, South Africa as described by the people who pioneered the exploration of the cave. Petronella Sophia Faure who came into the cave on September 16, 1808 was the first one who made a description of the cave's features. This was followed by George Thom of the London Ministry Society on October 14, 1816 who left a useful record of chambers like Van Zyl's Hall, the Registry and Botha's Hall, and other chambers. While the cave's third visitor, George Thompson, gave clues to the modern names of other chambers named by Thom. Several visits to the Cango Cave had followed that led to the discovery of more new chambers and their names which were only recorded into writing until the 1956 re-survey.