CHAPTER VIII 



CROSSING THE CENTRAL PLATEAU OF ANGOLA 



WE left the sable country, and commenced 

 our march across the Central Angolan 

 plateau on the 23rd of September, when 

 we crossed the Coanza, first its line of marshes, and 

 then the main stream near the village of Chuso. 

 It took my caravan about an hour and a half to 

 cross the river, which even here, 1000 miles from 

 the sea, is deep and 100 yards across at the driest 

 season of the year. 



In the rainy season, when the Coanza overflows 

 its banks, the flooded lower lands and marshes 

 must form a lake in front of Chuso village. 



From the Coanza, here some 4000 feet above the 

 sea, our march lay south-westwards through rising 

 hill and valley, past Belmonte, in the 13ihe country, 

 with an altitude of 5400 feet, to Chinguar, where the 

 Central Angolan (Benguella-Katanga) Railway ends, 

 and the plateau reaches nearly 6000 r eet in height. 



Leaving the Coanza, our road rose slowly by 

 winding path, through glade and open forest, and 

 crossed the watershed between the Missimoi River, 

 flowing to the Coanza near Chuso, now r behind us 

 in the north, and the little stream of the Viniboi, 

 which joins the Coanza farther south. 



