* 
80 General Notes. [January, 
latter. The route is roughly shown in a “ Provisorische Karte,” 
published in Petermann's Mittheilungen for September, 1880. 
The total length of the land journey thus accomplished was 
4214 kilometers. 
As to general configuration, the whole region of West Africa 
covered by the expedition south of the equator may be described 
as consisting of three well-marked areas: 1. A central table-land 
_where the richness of the soil and the regularity of the rain-fall 
cause a luxurious and varied vegetation; u. A hilly region sur- 
rounding the table-land and forming a water-shed dividing the 
waters of the Quanza, Cunene, Cubango and other large rivers, 
and possessing a less luxuriant but abundant flora, and a variety 
of fruits and vegetables; 111. A zone of lowland near the coast 
barren and unhealthy from the many swamps. ~- 
Between Benguela and Bihé innumerable streams were crossed, 
almost all of them having their sources in the elevated central 
regions, and reaching the coast by successive rapid descents be- 
tween the oth and 17th parallels of latitude. Among the most 
remarkable is the Copororo (the left bank of which was followed 
by the expedition), the Cunene, and the Cubango (the course of 
which, by exception, is towards the south-east). All these rivers 
are extremely tortuous and full of rocks, and their currents being 
rapid, they seem in general to be little adapted for any kind of 
navigation. 
_ Another peculiarity of the river systems is the tendency of the. 
innumerable affluents on each side to flood their banks, thus ren- — 
dering their survey extremely difficult. All take their rise on the 
_morthern or southern slopes of*the great central ridge which 
traverses the interior in the latitude of Quioco, south of Bihé, and 
is prolonged south of Lake Bangweolo under the name of Mu- 
chinga, to the plateau of Lobisa. This is the most important 
elevation of Central Africa south of the equator, as it forms the 
dividing point between the basins of the Congo and the Zambesi, 
in conjunction with another elevated ridge called Mossambé, run- 
ning north and south, and intersecting it in 12° S. lat.,and 18° E. 
long., on which are the sources of innumerable affluents of the 
Zambesi and the Congo. | 
On account of this intersection taking place near it, the region 
of Quioco must be considered as of high interest to the scientific 
geographer, and well deserving of the epithet of “Mother of 
Waters” in south-west Central Africa. In the space of 1000 
square miles around the residence of a chief named Mune 
Quibau the expedition discovered, at distances not more than 
twenty miles apart, the source of five or six of the most import- 
ant rivers of the continent, viz: the Quango, the Kassai, the 
Luando, the Chicopa, the Lume, and the Jombo, besides about a 
hundred smaller streams, tributaries of the preceding. 
The Quango at first flows between the two great mountain 
