LAND AND SOIL 319 



Of these regions (1) and (3) are accessible by 

 railways, (2) by car and wagon in certain places, 

 by carriers in others ; but railways are being- 

 extended and roads rapidly constructed, so that 

 this inaccessibility should get steadily less. 



The roads are usually not good, and transport 

 by motor is best made with light box- cars and 

 lorries with a good clearance. The wagon in 

 Angola is of the South African type : a heavy 

 four-wheeled vehicle drawn by eight or ten span 

 of oxen, which carries a weight of 1J to 2 tons 

 even on bad roads. When carriers are used, this 

 amount would be transported by sixty to eighty 

 men, who move faster than the wagons and are a 

 somewhat cheaper form of transport. 



Of the vast tracks of arable land, perhaps two- 

 fifths is capable of irrigation, but the country is 

 less suitable for large irrigation schemes than 

 those of medium and smaller extent. 



In the Benguella highlands especially, of 

 which more is known than elsewhere owing to 

 the reports of Gregory and Tarufli, there are a 

 great number of clear springs, due to the per- 

 meability of the soil, which acts like a sponge 

 during the rains, and yields its stored water in 

 the dry season. 



The land surface of the Benguella plateau 

 varies from deep soils to thin patchy ones with 

 outcropping rock, while here and there the 

 Brachystcgia tamarindoides (N'goti), a small herb 

 with thick, interlacing roots, stops all ploughing, 

 and on the Bulu Vulu grasslands the soil is black, 

 poor, and easily exhausted. 



