302 THROUGH ANGOLA 



averages 40 inches (60 inches in the north to 20 

 inches in the south). 



The third zone is that of the high plateau of 

 2500 to over 5000 feet, largely consisting of grassy 

 hills and uplands with outcropping rocks and soils 

 varying greatly in quality. The mean tem- 

 perature is from 60 to 80 F. (the higher tem- 

 peratures, curiously enough, occur in the southern 

 portion of the highlands, due to hot winds from 

 the Kalahari desert), and the average rainfall 

 about 40 inches (50 in the north to 30 inches in 

 the south). 



To these three zones may also be added a 

 fourth, which Welwitsch had not seen, the zone 

 of the plateau of the far interior, with a tem- 

 perature and rainfall somewhat similar to those 

 of the second zone. 



The climate, rainfall, geology, and vegetation 

 of Angola naturally vary not only in these four 

 zones, but also in different latitudes of each one 

 of them. Speaking generally, it may be said 

 that the climate is temperate to subtropical in 

 parts of the southern coast of Angola and in the 

 higher central and south plateaux, and that it is 

 subtropical to tropical in the central and northern 

 coast-lands, and in the plateaux of lower altitude, 

 both near the coast and in the far interior. 



The rainfall of the colony is lowest in the southern 

 coastal lands in fact, is practically absent south 

 of Mossamedcs ; it is of moderate amount in the 

 northern coast-lands and in the open higher plateau, 

 while it is heaviest in those western plateaux of 

 moderate altitude which lie in north and middle 



