THE DESICCATION OF AFRICA. I79 



the Senate, where the matter was debated, and in the course of 

 which debate it was pointed out that the scientific aspects oi 

 Professor Schwarz's proposals were to be discussed by members 

 of this Society, made it most desirable, therefore, that a full 

 discussion on the subject should be allowed. In view of the very 

 short time at his disposal, however. Air. Kanthack said that he 

 must confine his remarks to only a few aspects of the case, and 

 as these remarks dealt to a large extent with meteorological, 

 geological and botanical aspects, sciences which were represented 

 at the meeting by recognised authorities, he would endeavour to 

 raise points Which would stimulate definite criticism on the part 

 of these authorities. 



Professor Schwarz's paper he considered could be roughly 

 divided into four sections : 



Firstly, there was what could be described as the Paleo- 

 graphical Section, in which Professor Schwarz attempted to 

 reconstruct the ancient drainage system of the African Con- 

 tinent as deduced from general geological and present-day 

 topographical conditions. 



Regarding the views put forward by Professor Schwarz 

 under this heading, he did not feel competent to express any 

 opinion, but presumed that his geological friends would do so. 



The second section of the paper dealt with more modern 

 drainage conditions, both hydrographic and topographical, and 

 dealt mainly with the vast area included within the drainage 

 area of what Professor Schwarz describes as the Proto-Orange 

 River system. In this section Mr. Kanthack ix>inted out that, 

 from personal knowledge, he could not agree with some of the 

 statements made in the paper, amongst them the statement that 

 the Omatako River, in the South-West Protectorate, was an un- 

 defined drainage line, as described in the paper. He had, during 

 191 5, explored this river for about 150 miles, from its head 

 waters downwards, and was of opinion that the Omatako was a 

 most pronounced drainage line arising on the high watershed of 

 the Northern Protectorate, and embracing such very prominent 

 features as the Omatako Mountain and the Waterberg Range, 

 from which there was a most decided gradient draining in an 

 easterly direction. The assertion made that this channel, or 

 Omuramba, as it is called locally, was capable of conveying 

 water alternately westward or eastward was, in his opinion, 

 impossible ; it would imply in the case of the westward flow, a 

 most pronounced flow up-hill. Then, again, in the case of the 

 Ovambo River, which was also well known to him, and which 

 was a pronounced drainage channel running from east to west, 

 Mr. Kanthack took exception to the statement that the flow of 

 water in this river could be reversed so as to convey water from 

 the Etosha Pan into the Okovango River system. 



With regard to general statements made in the paper relating 

 to the relative levels of the Kunene, Okovango, Chobe and 

 Zambesi Rivers, in relation to the N'Gami and Makarikari Lakes, 

 he had to point out that these were based entirely upon aneroid 



