DR. F. WELWITSCn ON WEST AFRICAN BOTANY. 183 



extend over a few months, merely for the investigation of the 

 littoral region, as at that time I was still suffering from the effects 

 of fever : only in case of the entire re-establishment of my health 

 did I contemplate penetrating the interior to Huilla. I set out 

 at the end of June 1859, from Loando for Mossamedes, calling at 

 Benguela. The magnificent climate of Mossamedes was so de- 

 lightful, and so speedily restored my shattered health, that after a 

 stay of five weeks I had quite recovered, and felt myself a new man. 

 I therefore gradually extended my excursions further and further — 

 first northward, and southward along the coast to beyond Cape 

 Negro and Port Alexander, then more and more inland ; and as 

 the month of October approached, with which, in this region, the 

 spring sets in, I felt induced and encouraged, by the entirely new 

 vegetation which the shores of Benguela and Mossamedes pre- 

 sented, in contrast to that of Loando, to visit the elevated plateau 

 of Benguela, known under the name of Huilla, which rises at about 

 a distance of eighty miles from the coast, and slopes to the east 

 towards Quipungo, to the north and north-east towards Quilengues 

 and Caconda. And I am indeed delighted and abundantly satisfied 

 that I undertook this excursion ; for I am now convinced that I 

 have seen the most beautiful and the most magnificent scenery 

 that the tropics of South Africa can offer. 



Before, however, I speak of the vegetation of the plateau of 

 Huilla, which rises from about 5800 to 6000 feet above the sea- 

 level, allow me to tell you a little about the interesting flora of 

 the coast between Mossamedes (i. e. Little Fish Bay) and Cape 

 Negro. 



In the latitude of Benguela the character of the coast flora of 

 Loando is nearly quite lost ; other species, with other genera— 

 indeed new families (as Sauvagesiacece, Sesamece, &c.) occur, and 

 the vegetation becomes much more varied and manifold than we 

 find it over the long littoral tract between the mouths of the Zaire 

 and the Cuanza. The large number of species of Lorantlus, which, 

 glorying in the brightest colours, grew upon nearly all Frutices— 

 indeed on Fruticuli— and which were then in full flower, were 

 particularly striking to me in the neighbourhood of Benguela. 

 Herminiera elaphroxylm, as a tree, is extremely common, to- 

 gether with many other natives of Senegambia. Species of Zygo- 

 phyllaceoe begin here with Zygophyllum simplex and with a second 

 species, and become, with numerous species of spinose Mimosecs 

 (including Acacia), more and more frequent towards the tropic. 

 The latter are all more or less clothed with Roecella fuciformis, 



