A WHITE MAN'S COUNTRY 107 



Cunene in the south, and abruptly to the westward 

 and the sea, divides more particularly the Coanza 

 from the Cunene and tributaries of the Zambezi. 



Rare it must be to find in any country the 

 source of so many great rivers, confined within so 

 small a field, yet flowing to seas so distant from 

 each other ! The Cunhinga and Cutato, rising 

 close to each other, join the Coanza some hundreds 

 of miles apart ; and the Coanza itself, which flows 

 to the Atlantic, rises near the Cubango and Cutato, 

 branches of the Zambezi, which river once poured 

 its great flood into the Indian Ocean. 



The Cuvo and Cunene, two other rivers rising \ 

 near the township of Huambo, flow into the 

 Atlantic Ocean very far apart. The rivers flowing- 

 northward from the plateau cut their valleys 

 deeper than those flowing to the south, and give 

 better power for irrigation than these sluggish 

 southern rivers, with their swampy, shallow 

 valleys. 



In these well-watered highlands, 5000 feet and 

 more above the sea, with a temperature of 60 

 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and a rainfall of over 

 10 inches, there must be a future for the white man. 

 There is little malaria in the country, and on the 

 plateau I saw neither malarial mosquito nor 

 tsetse fly. Rinderpest has been absent for years 

 together, and lung sickness is the only serious 

 animal disease. 



Though cereals r?nd slock do well, few but 

 natives arc farming ; yet, by crossing pedigree 

 stock with the hardy local race of cattle, there 

 should come a breed lit for the meat markets of 



