"| Feb. 22, 1883] 
NATURE 
393 
Speaking again of the same remarkable region, the 
writers say :— 
“In a lofty position—the mean altitude being 1531 feet 
—the intense heat of the tropics is far from predominant, 
and the breeze which is stirring during a part of the year 
renders the climate soft and salubrious to the European. 
Standing upon a granitic plateau, the region may pro- 
perly be described as the Mother of the African Waters, 
Sven 
Fic. 4.—Fiscus Capelli (Cassange). 
a veritable hydrographic centre whence issue, through 
deep gullies, the streams that flow to the two great oceans 
by the channels of the Congo-Zaire, the Cuanza, and the 
Zambese. Its mineral wealth is considerable, abounding 
chiefly in oligist iron ; native copper exists more to the 
are important. There are Afocinaceas, or india-rubber 
trees ; Burseraceas, which yield aromatic resins such as 
the Elenz ; Herminieras, used in the building of canoes ; 
Rubiacias, or teak, mixed with Lrythrinas, producing 
Fic. 5.—Euprepes Ivensi (new species), River Cuanza. 
eastward, where, if we may rely upon the reports of the | cork ; several Ewfhorbias, acacias used for dyeing pur- 
natives, the lodes are easily worked. The vegetable pro- | poses ; 
Typhas, and a species of Borassus; grasses of 
ducts, more especially upon the banks of the great rivers, | various kinds, such as the pavicum and andropogon, the 
Fic. 6.—The Cuango in Yacca. 
penisetum, both smooth and barbed (massango), hemp, 
and a large number of Convolvulaceas, all these we 
ourselves saw. Among the variety of wild fruits of 
T’chiboco are distinguishable the /wzgo, not unlike a 
plum, but less pulpy and more sour, which grows upon a 
medium-sized tree ; the wzaco//a, of the granular species, 
