THE COPOROLLO RIVER 143 



a bed on the banks of the Coporollo would have 

 been a poor substitute for my good dinner and 

 camp-bed that night. 



The Coporollo, like most Angolan rivers of the 

 arid coastal belt, runs a subterranean course 

 before it enters the sea. In this, the dry season, 

 it was just a trickling stream a few feet wide, 

 and only inches deep, while a few miles seaward 

 it disappeared into the sand, as most of its tribu- 

 taries had already done. In the rains, a yellow 

 flood pours down these rivers and over their banks ; 

 it comes like a wall of water, but in a brief period 

 the smaller river-beds are dry again. 



Camp was pitched near a mighty tree, which 

 had thrown down so many aerial roots from its 

 branches as to cover a great space, giving deep 

 shade and a wonderful coolness, even in the 

 hottest time of the day. The aerial roots rose 

 up from the ground like the pillars of a great 

 cathedral, supporting, as it were, the lofty dome of 

 branch and leaf overhead. There are not many 

 such trees left on the Coporollo now, and will be 

 fewer in the coming years ; for, with timber 

 fetching 120 escudos a cubic metre at the ports, 

 the speculator is merciless to the forest trees, and 

 the giants of the river are falling fast. The con- 

 tinual destruction of the forests threatens that of 

 the many beautiful animals they harbour, and 

 even the rainfall and prosperity of the province ; 

 for there is no Forest Department here to stay the 

 speculator's hand, or plant new trees. 



There are still a few elephant, buffalo, eland, 

 roan, water buck, pflllah, kudu, reed buck, bush 



