Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/91

 THE 8WAK0P AND KHOSIB RIVERS. 65 reservoirs forms a veritable subterranean lake well stocked with fish and main- tuining itself always at the same level. Of all the wadys in this region, the most copious is the Omaruru, where the strc>am lasts longer and the vegetation is less scattered than along the other watercourses. The Omburo thermal spring rises in the sands of its upper course at the foot of some basalt rocks, and the rivulet flows for several miles as a surface stream. liut of all the local fluvial systems, the most wide-branching and by far the longest is the Swakop, or Tsoakhub, whose course has a total length of over 240 miles, exclusive of the lateral branches. Taking its rise to the east of the central Damara highlands, it traverses the plateau through deep r<jcky gorges, and reaches the coast just north of Walvisch Bay. Ikying about midway between the Cunene and the Orange River, this transverse trough divides the whole terri- tory into two nearly equal parts, Damaraland in the north and Great Namaqualand in the south. The Khosib or Kuisip, which intersects the Namieb plain to a depth of over 600 feet, also discharges, or rather formerly discharged, into Walvisch IJay, through an abrupt bend, which is bordered eastwards by the long sandy penin- sula of Pelican l*oint. During the twelve years preceding 1878 this wady is said to have never once reached the coast. South of these two intermittent streams, the other watercourses are arrested east of the dunes without even forming chan- nels as far as the sea liut the umarambas, or streams of the eastern slope, which flow either to the Ku-Bango or the Orange, or else lose themselves in the distant saline marshes of the desert, form real river systems, if not in the abun- dance of their waters or the regularity of their discharge, at least in the length of their fluvial beds. Consisting to a great extent of rocky uplands, haid clays, and moving sands, the southern section of the new German colony can have no agricultural value for its owners. Yet this was the first part to be annexed, and here were founded all their early stations. South of the Swakop, the whole ground cleared and brought under cultivation by the missionaries probably falls short of ten acres. But in the northern districts, and especially in the Cunene vuUey, there stretch va.st plains resembling the Portuguese territories of Iluilla and Ilumpata. Lying in the same river basin and endowed with a similar fertile soil, they also enjoy pretty much the same climate, except that the atmosphere is somewhat drier and the rainfall less abundant. Nevertheless there is still sufticient moisture to stimu- late the growth of large trees and even develop considerable forest tracts. Here is still to be seen the gigantic baobab, while a few palms are met even south of the twentieth degrees of south latitude. The territory of the Ova-Mbos (Ovam- boland), with its woodlands, glades, and clearings presents in many places the aspect of a boundless park, and here the natives support themselves mainly by tilling the land and cultivating fruit trees. Here also Kuropean peasantry might undoubtedly succeed, although their requirements greatly exceed the modest wants of the natives, and some of the Transvmil Boers have already formed settlements in the district. Some hundreds of these imniigrants, the same who 102— AF