CROSSING THE WOODED PLATEAU 125 



Bird life, which has been absent in the scrub, 

 begins again ; and the kudu, roan, duiker, oribi, 

 and other antelope are able to support life on the 

 scanty grass which grows by the Catengue River ; 

 in this country too, I heard both lion and leopard 

 roar at night, and came across their spoor. 



Catengue is a restaurant station on the line, 

 and the crossing-place of the old road from 

 Benguella to Quillenges and Lubango in the 

 south. 



From the Catengue valley the ascent to the 

 higher plateaux begins again, past the valleys and 

 divides of this river and its neighbours, the Caim- 

 bango and Cubal. The landscape has been steadily 

 changing, the area of scanty vegetation is giving 

 place to a grass and open forest-covered country, 

 where there is always some water even in the dry 

 season, and in the rains many rushing streams. 



At Cubal, 200 kilometres from the sea, is an 

 experimental cotton plantation. Of the varieties 

 grown, Caravomica, Egyptian, Upland, and 

 Peruvian, the first-named has done the best 

 yielding 400 Ib. per acre in the first year, the plants 

 averaging 200 balls, and standing over 6 feet high. 



Though cotton has been grown 011 the lowlands 

 of Angola for many years, this was the first attempt 

 made to cultivate it in the plateaux at 3000 feet. 

 Rubber and wheat have also done well on this 

 plantation. The soil of the region is, according 

 to an agricultural expert, " composed of de- 

 composed granite with its large potash content ; 

 the surface contains a fair amount of humus, the 

 subsoil is of a porous. .uTavelly nature, and there- 



