AGRICULTURE. These elevated valleys are the only parts of its colonial possessions to which Germany is inviting its peasantry to emigrate. Many European field crops and vegetables may be grown along the streams and near the wells where the farmers procure water for their tilled lands. While the white population is still small, it is larger than in all the other German colonies together, and includes over 1000 Boers, who went to these highlands to raise cattle, because they would not live in the Transvaal under the Brit ish flag. Cattle-raising is the chief industry of the white immigrants and the natives. The com paratively low and fairly well watered lands of the extreme north (Amboland) are tilled by the Bantu natives, but the health conditions there are not favorable for the white race.
Gold and copper are believed to exist in paying quantities, but mining is not yet developed, ex cept to a small extent along the completed por tion of the railroad now building.
The commerce of the colony is so far of small importance, and shows a far larger increase in imports than in exports. The exports, chiefly guano from the coast, cattle, skins, hides, ivory, and ostrich feathers, increased from $297,720 in 1897 to $333,000 in 1901. The imports, princi pally foodstuffs, iron and iron products, textiles, beer, cigars, etc., increased from $1,163,186 in 1897 to $2,128,000 in 1901. Germany occupies the first rank with regard to the import trade of the colony, and Cape Colony the second. The trade passes chiefly through the port of Swakop mund. The transportation facilities are limited. In the interior the bull-cart is the chief means of transportation. A main road runs from north to south, and is connected with the coast. The
Government railroad line from Swakopmund to Windhoek, over 250 miles,•was opened in 1900 as far as Karibile, about one-half of the distance. A telegraph line connects Swakopmund and Windhoek, and the former is also connected with the cable line from England to Cape Colony. A regular steamship line connects Swakopmund and Hamburg, calling on the way to and from Cape Colony. Windhoek, the seat of government, among the mountains, has the brightest prospects among all the settlements, because it is nearest to the chief port. Otavi also promises well, on account of the copper deposits near it.
The administration is in the hands of a Gov ernor, who is assisted by district officers. The colony is divided for administrative purposes into six districts. There is a colonial army of nearly 800 men, exclusively Germans. The budg et for 1901 balanced at $2,546,600, including an Imperial contribution of $2,213,400. The popula tion is estimated at 200,000. The whites num bered 3639 in 1901, including 2222 Germans. The natives are sharply divided from one another by the topographic aspects of the interior. Bantu tribes (Ovambos, Herero, and others, among whom the Herero are greatest in number and political power) inhabit the mountain regions of the north, and Hottentots, or Nama, the abo riginal people of South Africa, the southern pla teaus (Naina Land). The chief native tribes are the Ovam'bos, in the north of the colony, and the Damaras, in the central part. A sparse popu lation of Bechuanas and Bushmen dwell on the uninviting plains of the Kalahari Desert.