10 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
there is often less than two months’ rain in the year, 
This harsh country continues aiong the coast for some 
distance until about the 13th parallel, where it in its turn 
trends off towards the interior, and absolute desert takes 
its place and continues uninterruptedly as far as the 
Orange River. In a journey from Mossdmedes to the 
river ‘Cunéné, in 15°-16° §.:latitude, you may successively 
pass through these three last phases of scenery, and after 
crossing a zone of absolute desert, enter a region of sparse 
vegetation, and finally arrive at the beautiful undulating 
country of scattered forest and grassy plains which only 
reaches the sea as far north as the Congo mouth. The 
four districts I have just described may be said to wary 
from almost absolute sterility to transcendent richness of 
vegetation: perhaps the word sterility is hardly a true one, 
as the desert soil is quite capable of producing ample 
crops; it is merely the rainfall that is lacking. ‘The 
sandy wastes between Mossamedes and the Orange River 
srow little but the strange Welwitschia mirabilis and a 
few stunted Bauhinias; in the succeeding region the 
euphorbias and aloes are the principal occupants of the 
soil, with an occasional baobab, mimosa, or fig. In the 
park-like country the forest trees are too numerous and 
varied to catalogue; but amongst them may be noticed 
the beautiful Hyphcene palm, the oil-palm as far as 10° S., 
the cotton wood, the baobab, gigantic mimosas, figs, and a 
variety of splendid trees belonging to the papilionaceous 
order. This is the most typical region of Africa, and it is 
the country of the large game animals. The rhinoceroses, 
zebras, giraffes and many antelopes never enter the forest 
belt that clothes so much of Western Africa, and which is 
the grand climax of vegetable development where, with 
ample space, continual rain, and an equatorial sun, plant- 
life flourishes and rules supreme above the animal world. 
There is a curious resemblance as regards sterility and 
paucity of rainfall between the coasts of South-West 
Africa, West Australia and Western South America. 
They are all more or less of a desert character, whereas 
Queensland, South-East Africa and Brazil are richly 
PTA Oot Ree ake 
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