176 JORNAL DE SCIENCIAS MATIIEMATíCAS 



On the African continent he travelled along the coast from the 5° 12' to 

 the 18" Southern lat., and 350 geog. miles to the interior^ includingia 

 this range the regions of Loango, Angola, Benguella and Mossamedes, 

 cr the ancient Manicongo, now Portuguese Guinea, down to Golungo 

 Alto where he sejourned. He visited Ambaca, Pedras de Guinga, Lu- 

 cala, the «Presidio» of the Duke of Bragança, the banks of the Quanza 

 down to the falis of this river, the Islands of Calembe, which he calls 

 the fair Islands, the Luxillo and the Cambambe, exploring thus the An- 

 gola wilds during three years. He went then to Benguella and Mossa- 

 medes, to the mountains of Chella which he ascended to the height of 

 6:000 feet; and whence, travelling along the coast to Cabo Negro he 

 visited the harbour of Pinda and the Tiger bay. The impressious he re- 

 ceived during this long journey are to be met in his African correspond- 

 ence with friends and naturalists, as may be seen, for instance, in the 

 letters that were pubhshed in vol. 2 and 5 of the journal of the pro- 

 ceedings of the Linn. Soe, pag. 182. In one of these, addressed to sir 

 W. Hooker, he says respecting Pungo-Andongo. «It is a garden, if not 

 an extensive park, where we meet the most interesting treasures of the 

 vegetation of lhe different African tropical and subtropical districts, 

 grouped in a most graceful manner and including aiso a considerable 

 number of vegetable forms peculiar to it.» In a letter he wrote us from 

 Loanda dated July 1860 he thus expresses himself as to the high pla- 

 teau of Huilla: «I never was more agreeably surprised in allmyEuro- 

 pean and African excursions than in these ramblings through the ever- 

 green woods and valleys of the Huilla; certainly there is not to be fouod 

 in ali tropical Africa a prettier, healthier and more convenient place for 

 European colonisation than this delightful table land, and I consider that 

 nature itself has pointed it out as the most natural entry to the vast ter- 

 ritories of austro-tropical Africa, especially aided as it is by the neigh- 

 bouring coast of Mossamedes, whose healthy climate and fertile soil ren- 

 der it the very best maritime settlement between Loanda and the Cape 

 of Good Hope.» 



Dr. Welwitsch remained eight years in Africa relurning in 1861 lo 

 Europe. His collections, he tells us, contain 3.227 Angola species of 

 plants, 2.152 of which are from Mossamedes, and they are illustrated 

 with the notes and observations from his own hand, which he thought 

 proper to add to them. The principal and most complete set of these 

 specimens enriched with the notes, the so called study set, is conside- 

 red as a model of its kind, and ali who have consulted its conlents agree 

 in ackowledging liíeir richness, the good qualily and slate of lhe spe- 



