1884.] From the Zambesi to Benguella. 127 
of the country. The remarkable configuration of the African 
continent as a whole is now pretty well understood, the comparison 
of its shape to that of an inverted dish conveying a very good 
idea of it. The flat coast, corresponding to the lip of the dish, 
varies in width in different parts of the coast. Near Benguella 
this low-lying part is comparatively narrow, and the coast there is 
consequently not so unhealthy as where there is a great extent 
of lowland. The African plateau is well represented in the 
frontispiece, an illustration reproduced from a photograph. The 
foreground is the "littoral" or shore land, through which flows 
the river Catumbella. Catumbella is a town on the west coast, 
very near Benguella, and forms the first stage of the inland 
journey. There is another and higher tableland, which is the real 
plateau, some miles further from the coast, as shown in the large 
map. 
It is owing to the elevation of the land in the interior of Africa 
that the climate is usually cooler than we should expect if we 
merely judged by degrees of latitude. But when away from the 
coast one is apt to forget that the elevation is so great. Though 
the interior is called a plateau, there are, of course, considerable 
diversities in the surface — high mountains, deep lakes, and 
gradually-descending rivers. But it is always helpful to bear in 
mind the general formation of the continent. Mr. Fay, one of 
the American missionaries in the Benguella district, has graphically 
described the ascent from Benguella to the high land and on to 
Bihe, and I am glad to avail myself of his account, taken from an 
American missionary periodical. 
THE ASCENT FROM BENGUELLA. 
"In making the journey from Benguella to the interior the 
traveller beholds many striking and beautiful varieties of scenery. 
From the level, sandy road between Benguella and Catumbella 
he passes to rough and rocky mountain paths. Near to the coast 
there is the barren desert ; further on much beautiful tropical 
scenery ; then, on the mountain ranges, he comes into the familiar 
temperate zone. 
"As you leave Catumbella the road leads at once up the 
hillside, and your camp for the night may be on the Ekongo, 
the rocky desert that separates the coast from the fertile lands 
