Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/105

 ANOBA PEQUENA. 77 Bomcthing; more than a mere indentation on the count, for it mmifics to the right und left fur ubout miles south of the entrance. It is accessible to the largest vessels, having a depth of from 40 to 00 feet, with excellent anchorage well- sheltered from the surf and from all winds except those of the north. Its great defect, like that of Walvisch Bay, is the absence of good water, although un intermittent watercourse, dignified with the name of the *' Little Orange River." occasionally reaches the bay. Hence the place will have to be supplied from the CajK?, until its increasing importance justifies the sinking of wells and formation of reservoirs on the coast in order to capture all the water ot)zing from the surrounding dunes. Hitherto Angra Pequcna has not answered the anticipations of its owners as a trading station. In fact its only articles of export are some cattle, fish, and mineral ores, so that it is not, perhaps, surprising that the solitary German factory was completely abandoned in the year 1887. In the neigh Iwurhood are the two valuable guano islands of Jchahoe, lying north-west of the buy within u mile of the coast, and Halifax near the peninsula skirt- ing the west side of the harbour. These, with a few other islets, have long been regarded us dependencies of Cupe Colony, and the working of the guano deposits is secured to liriti.-h traders. Here ure captured, in the months of October und November, myriuds of penguins, connorants, and other waterfowl ; but the original stores of guano, lying several yards thick on the rocks, had been completely exhausted by the speculators towurds the middle of the present century. Since then the trade has been regulated; during the breeding season all trespassers are warned off, and the islands left in the peaceful possession of the birds, after which the gangs of workmen are admitted to collect the manure, which in the year 1884 was shipped, to the total value of £".20,000. In these waters numerous hands are also engaged in the capture of seuls, multitudes of which animals frequent all the surrounding islets and reefs. On the shores of Possession Island, which lies in Elizabeth Bay, to the south of Angra I'equena, the navigator Morell found the carcases of cetaceans in such prodigious quantities that he estimated them at upwards of one million. His theorj* was that the vast school had been suddenly overtaken and swallowed up by some tremendous whirlwind of sand. In the interior of Namaqualand the largest centres of popidation consi>t merely of a few do/en huts, and most of these villages are only temporary settle- ments. The chief stations are those of the missionaries, such us Xixhcft's Bath ( Warmlml) on a wudy flowing to the Orange, and Bdhnni/, in the hilly district stretching eastwards from Angra Pequena. Bethany is regarded as the capital of the whole of the Naraaquu territory. In 1884 it boaste<l of four brick buildings, the mission house, the church, the paluce of the tribul chief, und the locul dealer's warehouse. An attempt has recently been made to found an ugrieultural settlement at a plact' called Uolzcnfek, on the north bank of the Orange, close to the British frontier. Hopes are entertained that by means of irrigation canals derived from the river these arid wastes may be gradually transformed to smiling oases and productive urubie lands.