304 THROUGH ANGOLA 



may be changed at night to low temperatures or 

 even frost, which require protection for both 

 plant and person. 



The four altitude zones of Angola, which are 

 longitudinally placed, have been dealt with gener- 

 ally ; the nine provinces into which the colony 

 is divided will now be described individually from 

 coast to interior. 



North of the Congo River is the coastal dis- 

 trict of Cabinda, which, though politically a part 

 of Angola, is from its climate and geographical 

 position really a portion of the lower Belgian 

 Congo, which separates it from the rest of Angola. 

 The geological formation on the coast, according 

 to Marquardscn, is laterite overlying hard and 

 chalky clays and clay-marls. Beyond this are 

 low hills of limestone, sandstone, and Tertiary 

 conglomerates. The zone of crystalline rocks 

 found in other parts of Angola, if it exists, has 

 not yet been described. 



The temperature (mean of maxima and minima) 

 ranges from 70 F. to 85 F., the yearly rainfall 

 from 30 to 50 inches, factors which produce a 

 moist, hot, and unhealthy climate. Even in June 

 (winter), when I was in Cabinda, the temperature 

 was unhealthily high ; from October to April it 

 is very trying to a European, and in the interior, 

 deprived of the coastal sea breezes, conditions are 

 still worse. 



To the south of the Congo River is the district 

 of that name, which extends from the coast to 

 the Coanza River, and includes coastal, lower, 

 and higher plateau zones. As the land rises by 



