28 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 
tribe, in spite of all the trouble given to the Germans when fighting 
for supremacy in their country, has been, since his surrender, looked 
upon as the most loyal of all the Hottentot tribes. . 
Near Gibeon there is an occurrence of blue-ground, but no 
diamonds have as yet been found there. 
From Gibeon, after crossing the sandstone hills, a sandy flat is 
traversed until the river is reached again. After crossing the river 
we passed over sandstone and clay-slate, with occasional dolerite, as 
far as the Klein Broekkaross or Little Geitsigubib Hill, about 28 
miles south of Gibeon. The hill is about 420 feet high, is com- 
posed of clay-slate and dolerite, and has a capping of sandstone. 
Wherever the bed-rock was exposed at the riverside it was found to 
be composed of large slabs of ferruginous clay-slate, externally 
oxidised to the state of red ferric oxide, whilst internally the colour 
was blue, the iron being in the lower stage of oxidation, as ferrous 
oxide. 
From here to Ganikobis, 30 miles, the soil is mostly a brackish 
clay soil, with here and there patches of sand or marl, dotted with 
pebbles of quartz, sandstone, and ironstone. Ganikobis is a 
Hottentot location on the banks of the Fish River; it was at one 
time in the occupation of Hendrik Witbooi. Here, in limestone 
conglomerate in the river embankment, there is a hot spring, with a 
temperature of 43°5° C. Between this spring and the running water 
of the river there is a cold spring. From Ganikobis to Berseba the 
formation is everywhere the same karoo veld, with much bush and 
little grass. Near Berseba we made a halt for the purpose of 
ascending the Great Broekkaross Mountain, the Geitsigubib proper. 
The top of the mountain is about 5,000 feet above sea-level, 
but as the plateau below rises to 3,000 feet, the ascent pre- 
sented no great difficulty. We ascended by way of a ravine, 
which is apparently the only outlet for the drainage of a large 
plateau, which we found to be at a height of about 600 feet. This 
plateau is surrounded by a circular mountain chain of approximately 
uniform height, which gives it the appearance as of the crater of a 
huge extinct volcano. The rocks of this plateau are to a great 
extent basaltic. On this mountain we found several fine specimens 
of the koker-tree (Aloe dichotoma). From here we proceeded to 
Berseba, a small mission station. Here also the water occurs in a 
limestone bed. Quite recently a discovery of blue-ground has been 
made in this vicinity. 
The first stage of the journey from Berseba to Keetmanshoop lies 
over a bare stony karoo, as far as the point at which the Fish River 
is crossed, 12 miles from Berseba. Here the configuration of 
