FIVE TRAVERSES OF A WATERSHED 99 



out in five traverses of the Loando-Coanza water- 

 shed, had now been completed. The first traverse 

 from north to south, starting from the River 

 Loando, had ended at the Coanza where it is 

 joined by the Longoe. The second, from this 

 point south-eastwards, was broken off at Cummunga 

 and before the Loando was reached. The third 

 was from Cummunga south-westwards to the 

 Coanza ; the fourth, south-eastwards from the 

 Coanza to near the Loando at Chimbango post ; 

 while the fifth and longest traverse had been from 

 this post to the Coanza at Chuso. These five 

 traverses had been made through a watershed 

 some 200 miles long, tongue-like in shape and 

 varying in breadth from 40 miles at the base 

 of the tongue to 20 or so at the broad tip, where 

 the Loando joins the Coanza at an obtuse angle. 

 The slope of the country is from south-east to 

 north-west, and from some 5000 feet at the Loando 

 source to just over 3000 where the rivers meet. 

 Owing to the slope of the land and the narrowness 

 of the Loando-Coanza watershed, nearly all the 

 tributaries within it are small, and most of them 

 flow in a sort of herring-bone pattern north-west 

 to the Coanza and north-east to the Loando. 



In my first traverse, from the Loando south- 

 westwards to the Coanza, the three streams crossed 

 were the Quitobo, Rumelia, and Bungo, all 

 flowing north-east to the Loando. The second 

 and fourth traverses were made along the course 

 of two tributaries of the Coanza, each called the 

 Longoe, and in the third traverse between them 

 I had crossed over small streams flowing north- 



