14 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 89 



that night, but by a promise of double rations of tea and sugar, the 

 impossible became possible and the car was reached just after dark. 



The general cirrus cloudiness and the observations that we had 

 made from the Erongo Mountain three months before did not offer 

 much encouragement for continuing the attempt. However, after 

 discharging most of the boys we took two boys and drove around to 

 the Hungarob entrance to Brandberg. But we found the climbing 

 conditions there similar to the Zizab Canyon, so abandoned Brandberg 

 altogether. By the bad record of cloudiness in July in the Erongo 

 Mountains and in October in the Brandberg region it became apparent 

 that most likely the northern part of Southwest Africa did not war- 

 rant further consideration. 



Hence, on our return to Omaruru, realizing that we probably would 

 not be so far north again, we decided to make a trip of a few days to 

 the Etosha Pan, the wild game reserve of the country. We proceeded • 

 via Grootfontein, visiting the 50-ton meteorite on the Hoba West farm 

 near that town; then to Tsumeb, a copper mining town; then to 

 Namutoni, a police post located in an old German fort on the edge of 

 the Etosha Pan. We remained overnight in the fort, as it was not safe 

 to sleep out-of-doors on account of the lions. We saw considerable 

 game including zebra, wildebeeste (gnu), kudii, springbok, etc., but 

 not as many varieties as we had hoped. 



The journey northward from Omaruru convinced us as to the 

 unsuitability of the northern part of the country for solar work, for 

 the cloudiness and poor skies increased as we approached the tropics. 

 And the long journey from the Etosha Pan to Ganzberg showed the 

 reverse, viz: that better skies were to be found toward the south. 

 However, summer conditions were approaching, and our second stay 

 at Ganzberg did not prove as favorable as the visit in August. After 

 Ganzberg we proceeded south to Maltahohe, intending to go, if pos- 

 sible, to Grosskopf for a second visit. The uncertainty was caused 

 by heavy rains having fallen in scattered places, and the huge salt- 

 pan between Maltahohe and Grosskopf would have been impassable 

 when wet. 



However, at Maltahohe we received instructions from Washington 

 to go to Mount Brukkaros, help dismantle the apparatus there, and 

 proceed to Mount St. Katherine on the Sinai Peninsula, unless, in 

 our judgment, Ganzberg or Brandberg had proven enough better than 

 Mount Brukkaros to warrant further observations. With Brandberg 

 definitely out of consideration and with Ganzberg, the best of the peaks 

 that we had visited in Southwest Africa, not much better than Mount 

 Brukkaros, it seemed best to move our operations to the Sinai Penin- 



