ROYAL BOTANIO GARDENS, KEW. 



BULLETIN 



OF 



MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION. 



No. 9.] 



[1907. 



LIV.-SOME NOTES ON A JOURNEY FROM 



WALFISH BAY TO WINDHUK. 



(With Map and Plates.) 



H. H. W. Pearson. 



Introduction. 



Railway and other communication— Three lines of railway at 

 present provide means of communication between the coast of 

 German South- West Africa and the interior. The oldest of these, 

 completed in 1902, is the Government line between Swakopmund 

 and Windhuk, the seat of the Administration. Windhuk lies 

 about 260 km., as the crow flies, almost due east of Swakopmund ; 

 the railway route, however, is 380 km. long owing to a consider- 

 able detour to the north between Jakalswater and Karibib and a 

 compensating southerly deviation from Okahandya to Windhuk. 

 The rails are very light, and are set at a gauge of about 21 inches. 

 The steepest gradient is 1 in 25 in the 5 km. of the ascent from 

 the Khan river-bed to Welwitsch. Elsewhere the rise is nowhere 

 greater than 1 in 80, while over most of the journey the ascent is 

 much more gentle. The highest point reached is 1,1^ m. w 

 Windhuk itself. The average speed of the trains over the whole 

 journey from the coast is little more than ±0 miles an hour and 

 this does not include a halt of about 30 minutes ■*«»£>**"• 

 Travel on this line therefore affords good opportunities tor obser- 

 vation. The engines are small, and their ^' e ^t tJTTl 

 very limited ; consequently the economy of the -rail a 

 seriously impaired by the necessity of depositing reserve supplies 

 of Hamburg coal at every station and of carrying water-tank B to 

 all the halting places in the desert belt. 



^ A second line completed last year by the ^ ^i^w 

 Railway Company connects the Otavi copper •mines nuth Swakop 

 ?und. Its length between the port and rsmneb near the 

 Ovamboland border, its present terminus, is o7« ^ Xt * 

 importance is not confined to the mines, for it passes througn 



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