THE GREAT THIRST LAND. QI 



to be found elsewhere in South Africa, and some 

 day, when the requisite means for tapping the 

 subterranean supplies of water have been seriously 

 and scientifically applied, this desert will probably 

 supply more exportable produce in the form of 

 wool, hides, and tallow than the whole of the 

 Cape Colony, as the endemic diseases so fatal to 

 the interests of the South African stockbreeder are 

 here unknown, and the severest drought but 

 slightly deteriorates the nutritious qualities of the 

 herbage. 



The soil of the large plains varies very little in 

 any of the explored parts of the vast territory, and 

 in such situations the herbage is very suitable for 

 sheep, which here attain a size and weight far in 

 excess of the Colonial average. The plains are, 

 however, intersected by vast tracts of sand dunes 

 resting on a white limestone formation, which 

 probably covers a supply of water that, if tapped, 

 would at once render the country habitable. These 

 dunes are composed of heavy red sand, immovable 

 by the winds, covered luxuriantly with nutritious 

 grasses and shrubs, and here and there decked 

 with a few large trees. They resemble huge 

 Atlantic waves in form ; the hollows between them, 



