355 



Windhuk.— Windhuk, the seat of Government, formerly (see 

 Chapman, Vol. I.) the headquarters of the famous Hottentot 

 Chief, Jan Jonker, is a scattered town built mainly of warm 

 red brick, charmingly situated in the broad valley. Through it, 

 in a northerly direction, runs one of the main feeders of the 

 Swakop river, which rises in the Auas mountains to the south. 

 Near the centre of the town is a small public garden remarkable 

 for a fine tree of Acacia horrida, under whose shade the religious 

 services for the white population are conducted. A pool, supplied 

 from one of the numerous springs in the neighbourhood, supports 

 a strong growth of reeds, from the stems and leaves of which hang 

 several hundreds of the woven grass nests of a yellow finch. A 

 small meteorological observatory, soon to be replaced by a more 

 extensive establishment on the outskirts of the town, a forest 

 nursery and an assaying laboratory are other centres of scientific 

 work. A square, red-brick fort, squat but extensive— a replica of 

 one already seen at Okahandya — commands the valley, and has 

 played an important part in the history of the earlier wars with 

 the Hottentots. 



Eastern Plateau— Owing to the kindness of Mr. Erdmann I was 

 able to see something of the surrounding country. At Gammans, 

 5 milfts t.n thv nnr-th _waat /vf Wirxihnlr la A wfill-eauinped veterinary 



o mues to the north-west of Windhuk:, is a weii-equippeu nww* j 

 bacteriological laboratory under the direction of Dr. Rikmann, 

 where various animal diseases— in particular the horse sickness, 

 which is so great a scourge in this region— are under investigation. 

 The most easterly point reached was " Farm HofTnung, ID miles 

 to the east of Windhuk, situated on an extensive plain about 

 1,850 m. above the sea, To the south is the massive range ot me 

 Auas trending from S.W. to N.E., while to the KE. the summits 

 of the Bismarck mountains are just visible. On this platea n i is 

 the watershed which determines the drainage to the west into tut 

 the Swakop, and to the east and south, round the eastern e< Ige or 

 the Auas, into the Orange river. At this elevation the trees 

 are fewer and the undergrowth less abundant Han m . m* 

 Windhuk valley 220 m. below. The Acacias now have mostly 

 the form of low bushes; trees of A. horrula ,/-J l 'f^ n ^ 

 probably of other species also occur abundantly in the v an ^ 

 Cataphractes Alexandri remains a common shrub ana w 

 a small glaucous-leaved tree not in flower (J^^&Lfifi, 

 leaved Lycium, a bushy Solatium and a «»gtXw51K* 

 with slender, terete stems. Grasses and small ^^°^ ^ he 

 were represented to a smaller extent than an j* hero *™8 

 route since leaving Usakos. This was cer ainly ^^ 

 measure to the depredations of locusts, whicn v, throll£ rh 



severe this year. For more than 20 miles J^*« f( f t 

 swarms of small « Voetgangers," from jJ^Sdtoe&cn with 



of surface was free, hopping m a north ', e ^; er '4 re proved upon 

 the wind behind them. In many places * e J ^^a them- 

 *>v ants, which were sometimes as numerous as ^ necessary 

 selves. The exertions of at least three ante ^\^J ge r. C on- 

 to effect the capture and removal ot a sing* ° the att ention 



spicuous among the smaller plants ™° n ^fTi^ with brilliant 

 of the locusts were a gregarious, W™f*?™* 

 crimson flowers, an ericoid Sutera with biown, vei j 



29709 



