The country along the eastern border consists of undulating plains and large areas of sandy land which closely resemble the Kalahari. In all these uplands the prevailing formations are granite, or mica schist. Surface limestone occurs everywhere. GREAT NAMAQUALAND Great Namaqualand, the country that stretches from the south of Damaraland to the Orange River, is a land of rugged hills, stony kopjes, and boundless plains. In the Karas Mountains, the main ridge rises again to a height of 6,600 feet above the sea, and the plateaux have a north to south direction. The boundless plains, really extended tablelands, are a principal feature of the country, and they are invariably sandy. “Sir,” said a person who knew the country to Dr. Moffat in 1818, “you will find plenty of sand and stones, a thinly scattered population always suffering from want of water, on plains and hills roasted like a burnt loaf under the scorching rays of a cloudless sun.” “Of the truth of this description,” says Moffat in his laconic fashion, “I soon had abundant evidence.”[2] Although this portion of South-West Africa is regarded as semi-desert, at rare intervals after rain the plains are covered with long coarse grass and then they have to English eyes the appearance of a vast field of waving oats. THE ORANGE RIVER BASIN Trekking south through Great Namaqualand, toiling over the blistering wastes, the traveller experiences a peculiar sensation of unexpectedness when on rounding a kopje he sees below him in the near distance a long, twisted line of vivid green. This is the line of the Orange River. As very little is known about the course of this, the largest river in South Africa, a brief description may not be without interest.