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Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 
this place on Christmas Day, outspanning at Bavianspoort (or Paviansforte) 
on 26th December and Sandmund on the eastern side of the mountains 
the following day, and on 28th December we reached the small 
military station at Narudas Slid (4500'). The last named place we made 
our headquarters for a fortnight or so, collecting being carried out as 
much in the mountains as in the broken plains which stretch towards the 
south-east and the Kalahari. Narudas Slid proved to be the most 
productive place we visited (at least in connection with the fauna).- On 
14th January we struck our camp and, the wagon retracing its way 
to Kraikluft, we ourselves took a short cut through Narudas Nord (5300') 
reaching Kraikluft two days later. The day following we ascended the 
highest peak of the range, namely Lord Hill’s Peak or the “Scharfenstein” 
which rises to 7523 feet. On 20th January we quitted Kraikluft and 
encamped the next day at Alt Wasserfall (near Wasserfall) where we 
stayed until the 24th : then moving on we skirted the mountains as far as 
Dassiefontein (24th), and soon after re-entered upon the higher plateau 
(5000'), arriving at the farm of Noachabeb on the 25th : and passing 
back through Groendoorn we reached the railway at Holoog on 30th 
January. By 5th February we were back again in Capetown. 
Physical Features and Geography of the Karas District. That part 
of the district through which we passed can perhaps be most appropriately 
styled a country of sandy plains traversed by rocky — in fact exceedingly 
rough — mountains. It is not within my province to dwell at all on the 
nature of the flora, suffice to say that it is of a semi-desert character : the 
bushes are dwarfed and only in river beds does one see trees of any size ; 
at Dassiefontein indeed the large specimens of Acacia giraffae and other 
species of Acacia give the landscape an aspect approaching the luxuriant, 
at any rate for Namaqualand. Water, as can well be imagined, is not 
particularly plentiful, though in the mountains there are several places 
where permanent water pools exist. We were fortunate enough to 
experience fairly good rains during January. 
The Karas District is no other than that which was formerly occupied 
by the Bondelzwart Hottentots. As the crow flies, the Groot Karasbergen lie 
about 230 miles from Luderitzbucht and at their nearest point roughly 
100 miles north of the Orange River (due north of Warmbad), in Long. 
18° 40' E.G. and Lat. 27° to 27° 30' S. 
Faunistic Features. The nature of the fauna of the Groot Karas- 
bergen may be said to be typical for that of Namaqualand. It is true that 
several new forms were found, but we may reasonably expect that 
further data will be added concerning the distribution of such later on. 
It is interesting to note that several forms described from Little 
Namaqualand were taken in the Karas Mountains, such as Pachydactylus 
purcelli , P. ( Elasmodactylus ) namaquensis , species of scorpions, etc. It 
would be hardly correct to say that Namaqualand as a whole possesses a 
fauna peculiar to itself since its fauna shows marked affinities to those of 
the Cape U pper Region and of the Kalahari ; on the other hand it is 
characterized by several types which are not apparently found elsewhere : 
such types are Palmcitogecko rangei, the genus here described, Narudcisia, 
and others : these are certainly in some cases highly specialized forms. 
Though it is in the coastal stretch that one would expect to find the 
majority of peculiar Namaqualand animals — this is a distinct zone 
characterized by marked desert conditions— yet it is not surprising that 
the comparatively lofty range of the Karas Mountains should have yielded 
new forms. Among the Zonuridae this was certainly expected beforehand, 
