Damaraland is in reality one of the finest cattle countries in Africa, while nearly the whole country is suitable for sheep and goats. With energetic development there is a big future for it as a producer of hides, wool, and mohair. Horses do well in many parts of South West Africa; in fact in Namaqualand, along the Orange River, a breed of hardy ponies exists in a semi-wild state. In the drier parts camels are extensively used both by British and German patrols. The most waterless area near the coast produces a shrub known by the Boers as _melk bosch_ (milk-bush), which carries a plentiful supply of a milky sap which has been manufactured into a fair quality of rubber; but the difficulty of its collection militates against the prospects of its development into a prosperous industry. The number of head of cattle, the property of the natives but transferred to the Germans by conquest, was, in 1913, estimated at 240,000, wool-bearing sheep 660,000, and other sheep, including Persians, at over 500,000. There were approximately the same number of goats, 20,000 horses, and 3000 ostriches. In the northerly portion, suitable for agriculture, this was carried on by natives; but their land was confiscated by the Germans, and, as Dr Bönn stated in a reading upon the Colony, "the framework of society is European; very little land is in the hands of natives." The land was parcelled out into farms and allocated to companies and Boer settlers, the average size of a farm being about 28,000 acres. Ostriches are found in many parts in a wild state, and a great number have been domesticated; but the German traders preferred as a rule to rely for their supply of feathers upon the plumes of wild birds killed by the bushmen of the Kalahari. Of other industries mention might be made of the collection, besides guano, of penguin eggs and seal skins on the islands off the coast, while a few degrees north whalers, operating from Port Alexander, last year accounted for some 3000 whales. As at the Cape of Good Hope, the whales met with are of the less valuable "hump-backed" variety, but an occasional "right" or sperm whale is captured. Of ordinary trade there was practically none, as the natives had little or nothing to give in exchange for imported goods; and as for the Boer settler, beyond a little coffee and sugar, he has learned to rely only upon the resources of his farm for his requirement. The natives' only asset of value to the German, his labour, he was not disposed to trade in. Investigation has revealed the existence of mountains of marble, varied in colour and of a quality equal to Carara; while enormous deposits of gypsum exist. The whole country is highly mineralised. Silver first attracted the attention of prospectors but has never been found in payable quantities, although large veins of galena have been traced.