498 PROFESSOR J. W. GREGORY. 



the coast from Hanha to Benguella. Owing to the kindness of Mr Robins, I 

 accompanied him by motor trolley from Lobito along the railway to Lepi, which was 

 then the railway terminus ; and while he was inspecting work along the line I was 

 able to examine many interesting sections and exposures beside it. After organising 

 a caravan at Lepi, Professor Martin and I marched to Huambo, and thence to 

 Bailundo, of which the fertility was so glowingly described by Cameron. Thence 

 we marched north-eastward into the Cutato valley, to the mission station at Ochilesa, 

 which was reported to be a volcanic district. We then went south to the Bihe 

 plateau and the Bulu-Vulu plains, and returned westward to Huambo along, for part 

 of the march, the northern watershed of the Zambesi. I spent a few days in the 

 neighbourhood of Quingenge, while Professor Martin marched to Cubal, whence we 

 returned to Lobito Bay. 



II. Geological Observations. 

 A. The Coast Zone and the Cretaceous. 



The coast of Benguella consists chiefly of Cretaceous rocks and of an alluvial 

 coastal plain. North of Lobito Bay the Cretaceous rocks form a line of cliffs which 

 are washed by the sea ; but from that bay to the south of Benguella the Cretaceous 

 plateau is separated from the shore by a low plain composed of alluvium, with some 

 sheets of sand and lines of sand dunes. The coastal plain is separated in places from 

 the Cretaceous beds by a very irregular boundary ; but elsewhere, as north of 

 Catumbella, it ends inland at the foot of a straight steep hill face, which has the 

 characteristics of a fault scarp. This scarp is the front of a limestone plateau, which 

 begins west of Lobito at a height of about 300 feet and rises gradually inland to 

 about 500 feet. It ends against another scarp, by which the Cretaceous rocks rise 

 to the height of from 800 to 1000 feet ; and behind that scarp is a third plateau, 

 1500 feet above sea-level. 



The Cretaceous rocks form a comparatively narrow band along the coast. Their 

 range inland is limited by the great plateau of ancient rocks that form the main 

 foundation of the province of Benguella. The Cretaceous rocks are best known by 

 the work of Choffat (1888, 1896, 1905), whose studies were based mainly on collections 

 from Dombe Grande, to the south-east of Benguella, by Malheiro, and from the 

 " Schloenbachia" inflata* beds of Lobito Bay. Little, however, was known of the 

 general succession and distribution of the Cretaceous rocks near Lobito ; their 

 sequence is shown in the great sections on the gorge of the Catumbella River. Mr 

 Robins gave us the privilege of accompanying him on a railway trolley up the valley 

 to the Catumbella dam ; but this hasty visit only gave opportunity to observe the 

 most obvious facts and collect a few specimens from the hillside above the new 

 reservoir. 



My visits to the Cretaceous rocks were so hurried and the rocks themselves are 



* Mr Crick tells me that this ammonite is now included in the genus Mortoniceras. 



