300 THROUGH ANGOLA 



undoubtedly great. The protection of Loanda 

 harbour and Lobito Bay is derived from the silt 

 of the Coanza and Catumbella Rivers, which 

 has been swept many miles northwards by an 

 Antarctic current to form the sea walls of these 

 harbours. The very force of the current of the 

 smaller river, which prevents navigability, provides 

 excellent opportunity for generating electric power. 



When thinking and writing in terms of its 

 physical features and climate, it is necessary to 

 remember that Angola covers 480,000 square miles 

 of country, is more than five times larger than 

 Great Britain, and ranges between thirteen de- 

 grees of latitude, from the fifth to the eighteenth 

 south. 



Geologically, Angola has a narrow belt of 

 limestone hills parallel to the coast, succeeded by 

 a hilly zone of the Primary rocks lying in a west 

 to east direction, i.e. at right angles to the coast, 

 rising to sandstone plateaux in the east and a 

 sandy plain in the south-east which merges into 

 the Kalahari desert. 



Though wholly within the tropics, there are 

 two great factors that keep portions of it sub- 

 tropical : these are a cold current from the 

 Antarctic Ocean, and the altitude of its great 

 central plateau, 4000 to 6000 feet high. On the 

 coast the cold sea current causes a sea mist and 

 chilliness at Mossamedes which make the older 

 inhabitant wear a thick coat on an October 

 morning, what time his Portuguese cousin on the 

 same latitude at Mozambique, on the opposite 

 coast, may go about in his shirt. Even at Lobito 



