106 THROUGH ANGOLA 



track of the on-coming Katanga Railway, it does 

 not show at present the promise of its future. The 

 two hotels are bad, the dozen stores are lifeless, 

 and there is a listless look about the population. 

 There were but three motor-cars to make use of the 

 splendid motor roads the Government has built, 

 and the charges of a car journey were prohibitive. 



The traders of Belmonte appear to make little 

 commercial effort. The decreasing value of Por- 

 tuguese money has much to do with this, as it 

 must be difficult to carry on business in a coinage 

 which depreciates every day. The curse of the 

 speculative spirit, which waits for benefits to come 

 from the efforts of others, and a rise in value of field 

 or forest bought cheaply, with a view to sell at 

 profit without work, is the more serious factor in 

 the situation. 



From Belmonte to Chinguar we did some 

 strenuous marching, when 80 miles were covered 

 in three days. The land was open hill and dale, 

 like that we had left behind us, and we marched 

 past several streams. These were the head waters 

 of large rivers like the Coquoma, flowing south- 

 east to join the Coan/a, and the Cuchi and Cutato, 

 on their way to the Cubango. 



It was late at night when we arrived at 

 Chinguar. We had then marched for six days, 

 and covered 120 miles of the great Angolan divide. 



While the highlands of Angola in general form 

 the main watershed between those two mighty 

 rivers, the Congo and Zambezi, their central 

 portion, bounded by the Coanza on the east and 

 north, sloping gently to the Cubango and the 



