a proof that the country is almost without water; on the contrary, as the heat of the ground, and the evaporation especially in the sandy parts of Great Nama-land and near the Atlantic, is very great, all the water on the surface of the land would soon be dried up, whilst an underground water-supply evaporates much less rapidly. But we have several proofs that in former times water was much more plentiful in South-West Africa than it is now. Numerous perfectly dry river-beds might be cited in the first place; and Unio shells have been found in the ground of the Hygap river-bed, which proves that this must have been a perennial river at one time. Traces of animals and plants show that many places had in not very remote times much more water than now; and all travellers who have visited Lake Ngami agree that it is diminishing in size year by year, and it would probably have been dry long ago had it not regularly received large quantities of water from the northern countries from which the Okavango comes, and where rain is plentiful. Whether the destruction of the vegetation by the inhabitants, or a general decrease in the rainfall in South Africa is the chief reason for this diminution of water it is at present impossible to say, as we have only recently obtained systematic meteorological observations. I have, however, pointed out before that the upheaval of the country may have some influence in this respect.

If rain falls, the water trickles at once into the sandy soil, and in many cases reaches the underlying gneiss, where it forms a regular underground river-system, and in regions like the Herero country, where the rivers flow in deeply-cut beds, and descend quickly to the sea, the pressure from above is always such that even in the lower part of the river-bed water may be obtained almost immediately below the surface all the year round, as has frequently been proved in the Omaruru, Tsoachaub, Kuisip and others. But where natural barriers occur in the river-beds, or where impermeable strata of clay or limestone prevent the sinking of the water, there it comes to the surface, as is the case in many parts of Herero-land, e.g., Otjimbingue, Tsaobis, Okahandja, Omaruru, etc. In places where such limestones, clays, etc., form larger or smaller cavities on the surface of the ground, the so-called water-chambers, pans, vleys are found, which, if conveniently situated, retain the water for a considerable time. Some of these vleys seem almost inexhaustible, and even in dry years are very reliable watering-places. The largest of these reservoirs is the well-known Otjikoto fountain (south-east of the Etosha pan), a perfect lake in the solid limestone with a diameter of 400 feet and a depth of more than 200 feet; and south-east of this some similar water-chambers, but of smaller size, are found. Such copious water-supply cannot be expected in Great Nama-land or in the Kalahari; not in the former, because the sandy table-mountains prevail, and not in the latter because it is, with a very few exceptions, too smooth and level to allow the water to collect largely either on the surface or underground. But at many places, even in the Kalahari, water may be found, if one takes the trouble to dig deep enough. All underground water to the west of the watershed of the Tsoachaub, Kuisip, etc., is brackish, particularly so near the sea.

Several of the table-mountains have copious springs at considerable heights, those of the Omuveroume Mountain being well known.

Rain falls only during thunderstorms and is always heavy and sudden, so that the steep river-beds are quickly filled, and a torrent of muddy water sometimes rushes down those river-beds which have been dry for months, or even years, and will again become so after the lapse of a few hours or days. In some cases these torrents reach the sea, e.g., the Tsoachaub and Omaruru, at least once in a year, whilst in others the water has sunk into the soil and disappeared long before the ocean is reached.

The meteorology of South-West Africa is only imperfectly known, as only quite recently meteorological observations have been commenced at some of the missionary stations.

There are two distinct seasons, viz., the hot or rainy, and the dry. The former, in which most of the rain falls, lasts from November to May, and the latter during the rest of the year. The rains seldom last long, but fall very heavily, and with the thunder which accompanies them proceed regularly from east to west-towards the Atlantic. In the dry season the sky is often cloudless for months together; but, as a rare occurrence, it has happened that, even in this part of the year, rain has fallen not only in Herero-land, but also in the interior, on the highlands of the north-western Kalahari and the Omaheke. The meteorological phenomena near the Atlantic coast are in many respects analogous to those on the west coast of South America. The cold Benguela current, coming from the south, is the cause of the very low temperatures observed there e; Walvish Bay, for example, having an average annual temperature of 63° Fahr., and often bitterly cold nights. Cold mists rising from the sea at night-time, and saturating everything with moisture, are of regular occurrence along the coast, to which, however, they are limited, very seldom being met with at Otjimbingue and other places more in the interior. To a certain degree these mists are the only substitute for the rain, which is almost entirely absent in the desert coast-region. This absence is due chiefly to the west and south-west winds, which blow regularly for a longer or shorter period every day, and carry inland the little moisture which rises from the cold Benguela current, so that no rainfall near the coast is possible. But also the more eastern districts receive only irregular supplies of rain from this moisture, as the winds blow during the day, when the heat of the ground is usually very great, and, therefore, produces an upward current of air, so that thunderstorms and heavy rains are the chief characteristics of the wet season, as we have seen. It appears from this that no definite distinction should be made between the meteorology of the central parts of Herero- and Nama-lands and that of the Kalahari Desert, as the winds are not desiccated by passing over high mountain ranges, but are without sufficient moisture from the above-mentioned circumstances. The scarcity of rains in the Kalahari is owing chiefly to its greater distance from the Atlantic; but that thunderstorms and heavy rainfalls do occasionally occur in the eastern parts of the country, even in the neighbourhood of Lake Ngami, is recorded by various travellers. With

regard to the distribution of the rainfall, it may be remarked that more falls in the northern than in the southern parts of South-West Africa; and near the Orange River there are certain districts which are said to be entirely rainless. (To be continued.)

CENSUS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM, 1891.

THE Tenth Census of the United Kingdom was taken on Sunday, 5th April 1891. Its leading features are illustrated by the following extracts, which have been taken from the Preliminary Reports, presented to Parliament, including the Summaries of the Census Enumerators and Registrars.

The total population of the United Kingdom consisted, on April 6th last, of 37,740,283 persons. This was an increase of 2,855,435 upon the enumerated population in 1881, and was equivalent to an average daily addition of 781 persons to the community throughout the decennium, the daily addition having been 931 in 1871-81 and 701 in 1861-71. ENUMERATED POPULATION of the UNITED KINGDOM at SUCCESSIVE CENSUSES, 1821-1891.

England, 11,281,883 13,090,523 15,002,443 16,921,888 18,954,444 21,495,131 24,613,926 27,482,104

Wales,

Scotland,

718,353 806,274 911,705 1,005,721 1,111,780 1,217,135 1,360,513 1,518,914 2,091,521 2,364,386 2,620,184 2,888,742 3,062,294 3,360,018 3,735,573 4,033,103 Ireland, . 6,801,827 7,767,401 8,196,597 6,574,278 5,798,967 5,412,377 5,174,836 4,706,162

.

The decennial rate of increase was 8.2 per cent., and lower than in either of the two next preceding decennia, in which it had been successively 8.8 and 10.8 per cent. The falling-off in the rate of growth was shared by all the divisions of the kingdom, but unequally; the smallest. decline of growth being in Wales, where the increase was only very slightly lower than it had been in the previous decennium, falling merely from 11.8 to 11.6 per cent.; while the greatest change was in Ireland, where the population declined no less than 9.1 per cent., the decline in the two previous decennia having been respectively 6-7 and 44 per cent. INCREASE OF DECREASE PER CENT. of the POPULATION in SUCCESSIVE INTERCENSAL PERIODS.

1821-31. 1831-41. 1841-51. 1851-61. 1861-71. 1871-81. 1881-91.

NOTE.-Where no minus sign is prefixed the figures denote an increase.

The population of England and Wales now forms 72.8 per cent., or nearly three-quarters of the total population of the United Kingdom, the proportion borne by it having increased uninterruptedly in each successive decennium. The population of Scotland constitutes 10-7 per cent. of the whole, which was also the proportion borne by it at each of the two preceding enumerations. On the other hand the inhabitants of Ireland, who in 1821 and 1831 were nearly one-third of the aggregate population, now form only 12.5 per cent., or one-eighth of it.

PROPORTION PER CENT. of the POPULATION residing in DIFFERENT PARTS of the KINGDOM.

The population of the Isle of Man, which in 1881 was found to have declined 0.9 per cent. in the preceding decennium, is now returned as 55,598, showing an increase of 2,040, or 3.8 per cent. A similar change has occurred in the case of Jersey. For here also there was a decline of 7.4 per cent. between 1871 and 1881, whereas the present population, numbering 54,518, shows an increase in the decennium of 40 per cent. In Guernsey the population which in 1881 had increased by 6:4 per cent. now shows a further increase of 8.3 per cent., and numbers 35,339 persons. It is only in the small islet of Alderney that there has been any decline in the last decennium, but the inhabitants of this islet are so few, only 1843, that this change scarcely affects the aggregate for the islands in the British seas, which has increased 4.7 per cent., and consists of 147,870 persons :

POPULATION of the ISLANDS in the BRITISH SEAS enumerated at each of the Censuses, 1821 to 1891.

ENGLAND AND WALES.

Speaking generally, the counties in which the rates of increase were highest are counties which are largely affected by the presence of London, namely, Essex, Surrey, and in a lesser degree, Middlesex and Kent; or counties in which coal-mining is the predominant industry, such as Glamorganshire, Monmouthshire, Durham, and Northumberland. Then follow the manufacturing counties; while last of all come the rural counties, with rates of increase far below the general average, or with actual decrease. Of the fourteen counties that show a decrease, ten, namely, Brecknockshire, Pembrokeshire, Radnorshire, Montgomeryshire, Cardiganshire, Cornwall, Huntingdonshire, Rutlandshire, Herefordshire, and Shropshire, also showed declines in 1881.

There was a decline in no less than nine of the twelve Welsh counties; but, notwithstanding this, so great was the growth in Glamorganshire, that the rate of increase for Wales as a whole was almost precisely the same as for England.

The population of London, meaning thereby the London of the Registrar-General, which, with an insignificant exception,1 coincides with the administrative County of London, was 4,211,056, showing an increase of 395,512, or 104 per cent. upon the population of 1881. Thus the population of London increased in a somewhat lower ratio than the population of England and Wales as a whole; and the fact is notable, inasmuch as it is the first time that such a phenomenon has presented itself, London having been found in every preceding intercensal period to have gained more or less in its proportions as compared with the country at large.

The total number of persons returned as living in England and Wales at 12 p.m. on April 5th, 1891, was 29,001,018. This shows an increase of 3,026,579, or of 1165 per cent., upon the number returned at the previous enumeration of April 1881.

1 The civil parish of Penge is included in the administrative County of London, but not in Registration London.