12 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 59 



and this, together with considerable cirrus cloudiness that we encoun- 

 tered, caused grave doubt in our minds as to its suitability for a solar 

 station. The peak was in a very dry region as regards rainfall, but 

 nevertheless, a good spring was found within easy access of the sum- 

 mit, and the climb was comparatively easy from the canyon where 

 our car was left. 



The kind hospitality that had been shown us at other places in 

 Southwest Africa was repeated during our stay in the Grosskopf 

 region. Especially were we indebted to John Campbell, who enter- 

 tained us at his farm, and to John Buchler, the superintendent of a 

 copper mine near Grosskopf, who greatly aided us in obtaining native 

 boys to carry our equipment up and down the mountain. 



Following our visit to Grosskopf we proceeded to Keetmanshoop, 

 and then to Lord Hill for our second series of observations on that 

 peak. These completed, we started north again, stopping at Mount 

 Brukkaros for a few days to calibrate our instruments. We then began 

 the long trip north to investigate further the possibilities of the Brand- 

 berg Mountains. We stopped at Windhoek to get the necessary gov- 

 ernment permits and then proceeded to Omaruru, where our supplies 

 were to be purchased. The whole coastal region of Southwest Africa 

 is a restricted area on account of the diamonds found there, and the 

 Brandberg Mountains lie just within this area; hence the necessity of 

 obtaining permits at Windhoek and of reporting to the commandant 

 of the police at Omaruru. 



The nearest habitation to Brandberg is the tin mine at Uis, 20 miles 

 distant, and owned and operated by the Solar Development Company, 

 a subsidiary of a large Canadian mining concern. The Uis mine is 

 under the direction of Mr. McDonald, whose headquarters are in 

 Omaruru. He had given us valuable information concerning Brand- 

 berg and the roads leading thereto, and when we arrived he directed 

 his men to aid us in every way possible and even put a vacant mine 

 building 5 miles toward Brandberg from Uis at our disposal during 

 our stay there. Uis lies 80 miles nearly due west of Omaruru, and 

 owing to the energy of the Canadian concern we found the interven- 

 ing road to be one of the best over which we had driven in Southwest 

 Africa, even though it traversed a very desolate section of the country. 



After reaching Uis we got in touch with Mr. Donnett, a German 

 employed by the mine, who had made several trips to the Brandberg 

 Mountains. He stated that there were two possibilities for attacking 

 the ascent, viz : via the Zizab Canyon on the northeast side of the 

 range, or via the Hungarob water-hole on the south. He advised the 

 former route, for the reasons that there was more water and a more 



