34(> 



sufficient 



oi loose sand to obliterate the clean fracture made in the thin 

 surface-crust, 



A. conspicuous feature of the Western side of the Namib is the 

 great abundance of rounded pebbles, which begin to diminish in 

 quantity about five miles from the Eastern edge of the "Naras" 

 belt. The majority of these must certainly be water-worn ; some 

 have been ground down to their present form by wind-blown 

 sand. Marine shells were not found, though they are not absent 

 from the Namib. It is easy to imagine that one is mounting an 

 ancient sea-beach now lying from 200-400 feet above the sea. 

 hvulenee which may probably be interpreted in favour of the 

 view that the maritime belt has risen during recent times is not 

 wanting. Riding along the coast from Swakopmund to the Bay, 

 one passes a large number of disintegrated whale skeletons. Many 

 oi these are several feet above high-water mark, and some are 

 already covered by drifted sand. Baines does not say whether the 

 part ot the skeleton of a whale covered Avith barnacles," which 



lati 01 ^. f 0Utl l 0f the Walfish Ea y settlement, was above the 

 level of high water. 



♦iJ he Jl ami ^ ! ? a plain with a ^dual and fairly uniform rise to 

 wT^if gU , ° f ab0Ut 2 '°° feet Awa y ff0m the numerous, 

 «w. ? i° W ., Sandy river - bea s the surface is hard and often 

 of ™nn fre ? ne ? tly ° f , a y ell °wish-red colour. Rounded knobs 

 ^?^* to ^5Kf 1 SLl! e 3 f 2?* b ?^ *J&7* are a characteristic 



(Welwitsch) 



SKS££ r We ^^K^K^I^ Ton 

 occur T>Zll ?$¥** ° re < Haika rach ab), tourmaline, and garnets 

 seen at wZ * , h * 0X * gypsum are comm ™ and ^tpetre was 

 covered rlflwiw* *™ dykes of black dolerite, like cinder- 



TelUeenlZU ?h "f-u 5° f ° llowed for 1IiiIes ' the I ar * especially 



inWrafLTtL ^ bntary Vaile >' 8 of the Swakop. The dis- 



t u^am Dr l^ g n ranite apP f arS t0 P roceed witb great rapidity ; 



indSo2L P 6 ° r leSS P ° rous 8urface > which crumbles 



A^tt'fi? riVer1 ? d8 Cr ° SSed by the Wag0n " 

 they occur^lmnTl ? f a consi derable part of the journey 



5 tevkly mil f- According to native report they 



Mos? of *them TeCrinTtL^ P T° dS ° f ten ^ ° V ""V* 

 strike an indenpnS the Swako P or the Khuiseb ; a few 



reach, but lose the^T™ °T ls the 8ea > which they never 

 occasional ^77 !? tRe Sand belt - E ^ for the 



species whfch oc Cur also Z^? ^ their flora is Umited t0 

 plateau itself TXLl • \ k ° Ugh more spawely, on the desert 



surface of the Namib 1^° « M deration the comparatively hard 

 of mountains or h£h i ?i g ? * S \° pe to the we8t a » d the absence 

 sible to bellve thf t t t S *?* the greater part <> f **> ifc is impos ' 

 depth of fS t0 20 fit C ? ann . el8 can W been eroded to a 

 There seems no alternatt^ 1^ prevaili »g climatic conditions. 



«me, in which rafn f fi w t regard them as relics of a past 

 than it does now mUch more frequently and abundantly 



