Seen from the coast the Namib has the general appearance of a vast plain with a boundless horizon, but the country ascends continually though almost imperceptibly towards the interior; at a distance of only 60 miles from Walvis Bay, for instance, the traveller finds himself some 2,000 feet above sea-level. The prevailing formations along the coast are: gneiss, granite, quartzites, mica schists, recent chalks, crystalline limestones. “The whole coast, several miles wide,” says Dr. Versfeld, “is a portion of a vast Titanic pudding, whose ingredients have been well stirred.”[1] There is a concensus of opinion among geologists that at some remote period a tremendous upheaval of the marine bed took place, resulting in the present coast formation. The disintegration of the gneiss rocks and the action of the furious trade winds, have since led to the formation of the sand dunes. The natural harbours are surprisingly few for such a lengthy coast-line. Walvis Bay, which lies almost exactly midway between the Orange and Kunene estuaries, is the principal inlet. A deep channel gives access to large steamers, which are able to lie at anchor in a fine, oval basin some 20 square miles in extent, completely sheltered from the strong prevailing winds. This Bay, with 450 square miles of adjoining territory, has been in the possession of Great Britain since 1878, but very little use has been made of it. Luderitz Bay, some 250 miles south of Walvis Bay, is the next considerable inlet. It ramifies to the right and left for about five miles south of the entrance, and here, too, large steamers find safe anchorage. Swakop Bay, 25 miles north of Walvis Bay, is merely an open roadstead with a landing jetty. THE CENTRAL PLATEAU We will begin in the north with Ovamboland and follow southward the line of the main ridge that forms the inner plateau. Separated from the highlands of Angola by the gorges traversed by the Kunene, the rocky heights of Ovamboland rise but slowly at first above the general level, but south of the Otavi Hills in Damaraland they gradually ascend until a veritable highland system is developed with towering masses of table rocks and huge dome-shaped summits. Mount Omatako, which has an altitude of 8,500 feet, is the highest peak. Around it, but some distance from it, grouped like satellites, are numerous other imposing mountains from 5,000 to 6,000 feet in height. In the clear air of the uplands the granite pinnacles of these peaks are visible from a great distance. Huge valleys or gorges are a characteristic of this part of Damaraland. The mountain plateaux are widely extended. In the region of Windhoek several rivers have their rise. Further south the ridge falls again to a level of about 3,000 feet, and in many places is broken into by isolated ranges of manifold forms, while the lower levels are studded with stony kopjes.