Hereroland has a coast-line of 460 miles, but the only point where it offers shelter and access to ships is Walfish Bay, a safe but comparatively shallow harbour formed by Pelican Pvint immediately to the south of the mouth of the Kuisip. The country consists of three distinct physical regions—first, a long and narrow coast district backed by a very regular line of hills, of which the highest point appears to be Mount Messum or Dourissa ; secondly, a broad moun- tuinois tract, containing in the south such peaks as Omatako, 8800 feet, Ombotozu (Diambotodzu), 7300, Etyo, 4000, and far in the north Etendeka, 4000 ; and thirdly, a steppe region which stretches away into the Kalahari desert. The rivers of Hereroland, of which the most important, passing from south to north, are the Tsoachaub, the Eisib or Omaruru, the Ugab, and the Huab, are mere wadies, which only at intervals succeed in bringing water as far as the sea. Except in the half-dry river-beds, the coast dis- trict is almost destitute of vegetation, the only edible fruit being the nara, which grows on the sand-downs, and is, according to Anderson, eaten by oxen, mice, men, ostriches, and lions. In the mountainous tract there are places of considerable fertility ; large trees, as sycamores, &c., grow along the river-beds, and euphorbias, tamarisks, and a variety of strong-spined bushes prevail. In a few favoured spots wheat can be cultivated, and from a single grain as many as 150 stalks may be produced. The coast range and many of the mountains, such as Okonyonyo and Amatako, are composed of granite and gneiss, broken by intrusive quartz and porphyry; further east limestone formations, both Carboniferous and Oolitic, are predominant; and these again give place to sandstone strata, which are weathered into table-shaped eminences. The granite and gneiss are being disintegrated with great rapidity. Both iron and copper are said to occur in considerable abundance, though the mineral exploitation of the country has had no satisfactory result. About 25 mineral springs, both hot and cold, are kuown to exist among the mountains.
An interesting sketch of the climate was contributed by Dr A. ron Danckelmann to the Zeitschr. der dsterr. Gescllsch. ftir Metcor., 1878. Owing, it would appear, to the cold current in the neigh- bouring sea, the coast region is almost rainless ; though occasion- ally, in the rainy season of the interior, storm-clouds with thunder and lightning come from the east, and from September to March south-west winds laden with heavy mist blow almost without inter- ruption. In the interior the year is divided into a regular dry and wet season, the former lasting from May to November. From September onwards the air is so clear that the planet Venus can be distinguished at midday, and every object looks so distinct that it is almost impossible to calculate distances correctly. Even during the rainy season the nights are usually cloudless. Not unfre- quently before the beginning of the rains “ sand-spouts,” or, as they are called by the natives, Kumb’anhara or ‘‘rain-beggars,” drive across the country. No support is afforded by the observations in Hereroland to the theory of the periodicity of African rain in accordance with the changes of the sun spots; but there would seem to be a gradual decrease of atmospheric precipitation. From September to December the east wind usually blows in the morning, but it passes round to the north-west in the forenoon. From. December to April the east is decidedly predominant. Snow is extremely rare, but night frosts occur several times a year, and ice has been found inch thick. In the dry season the daily range of the thermometer is from 32° or 36° Fahr. to 75° or 79°; in the rainy season from 86° or 95° to 68° or 82°,
The Herero are the dominant race. They are well-formed, of good stature, and of regular features. Their complexion is usually dark but not black ; but there is sufficient variety to lead them to classify themselves into the Ovathorondu or ‘‘red folks” and the Ovatherandu or ‘dark folks.” Their scanty clothingconsists mainly of skins and leather thongs, and both their garments and their bodies are thickly smeared with ochre and grease. The women’s head-dress is a curi- ous three-eared helmet. Assegais, bows and arrows, and knobsticks or kieries are the native weapons, but guns and even breechloaders are growing not uncommon. The whele race is in the pastoral stage, and some of the chiefs possess very extensive property in cattle. The various clans or “‘uandas” have each its own totem ; and thus to one man it is a sin to partake of the flesh of a red cow and to another a one-horned sheep is equally sacred. By their language (Otyiherero) the Herero belong to the great Bantu family. For our acquaintance with it we are mainly indebted to the Rhenish missionaries, and more particularly to Dr Hahn, who published Grundziige einer Grammatik der Herero, Berlin, 1857. A spelling book (Cape Town, 1848) appears to be the earliest work printed in the tongue.
The Herero would seem to have come from the north, and tuey probably first appeared to the south of the Cunene about 150 years ago, to the dismay of the Hill Damara (Houquoin, Ihaukoin, Ova- zoratu, or Ghoudamoup), a peculiar race who now occupy the fast- nesses of the country, and speak the Nama or Hottentot language with a foreign accent, though there is no tradition of their having used any other. The Herero were subjugated by Jonker Afrikaner, and for a time were scattered among the Namaqua tribes, but about 1865 they recovered their independence. They are still unfriendly to the Hill Damara, who steal their cattle, and they are beginning to hunt down the Bushmen. A single tribe of the Namaqua, which sided with them in their war of liberty, is still settled near Mount Erongo.
Besides the works already mentioned, and the travels of Baines, Galton, and Anderson, sce Hahn, “ Die Ova-Herero,”" in Zeitsch. fiir Erdkunde, Berlin, 1868 and 1869, and ‘“ Reise im Lande der Herero,” in Petermann’s Mittheilungen, 1873.
