The dryness and purity of the air away from the coast account for the absence of most forms of chest disease. More than one sufferer from consumption in its earliest stages, who has come from Europe, has found a new lease of life on the salubrious uplands. There can be no doubt that in spite of the abnormal heat sometimes experienced, South-West Africa is well fitted to afford a pleasant home and to maintain in vigour people drawn from the cooler regions of Europe. That healthy children can be reared here has been already demonstrated. FOOTNOTES: [4] “Impressions of South Africa,” p. 13. CHAPTER III THE FLORA OF THE COUNTRY “South-West Africa,” a writer on the flora of the country has recently stated, “is distinguished neither by a great variety of its flora nor by the presence of plants or trees of any singular kind.” How far this is from the truth will be made clear in this chapter. For a dry country South-West Africa is fairly rich in vegetation, and it may be useful to give some slight impression of the part which the vegetation plays in the landscape and in the economic conditions of the country, cursory though our examination must be. THE COAST REGIONS To begin with the Namib. The general aspect of the vegetation here is monotonous, since there are but few plants that rise to any appreciable height from the sandy surface to break the dull level. No tree grows within a dozen miles of the coast, except in an occasional watercourse where there is underground moisture. The Kokerboom, _Aloe dichotoma_, however, often occurs as a solitary tree, and occasionally forms little groves on the limestone hills of the eastern portion of the Namib. In the winter, when they bear large clusters of bright yellow flowers, they give quite a touch of colour to the drab landscape. The northern Namib has two plants of singular interest in the Welwitschia and the Naras. The Welwitschia, _Welwitschia Bainesii_, is in reality a tree with a fairly thick trunk that terminates abruptly just above the ground. Two thick, leathery leaves are permanent and grow continuously at their base until they sometimes reach a length of 10 feet, by which time they are frayed into numerous snake-like thongs. The plant flowers in January and the cones ripen in May. The roots of the largest plants may be traced to a very great depth in the sand. “This plant,” says Dr. Marloth,[5] “is of great scientific interest, being the most highly developed gymnospermous plant known to us either in the living or the fossil state. It is not a connecting link between the gymnosperms and the angiosperms, but the final stage of a separate line of development of the vegetable kingdom, that, as far as is known to us, led no further.” The Welwitschia was first discovered by Dr. Welwitsch in Southern Angola in 1865. It has not been found south of the Kuisip district.