h the limits of
the "kingdom of Congo" (see _History_ below); Loanda, which includes
Angola in the most restricted sense mentioned above; Benguella
and Mossamedes to the south. Mossamedes is again divided into two
portions--the coast region and the hinterland, known as Huilla.

_Physical Features_.--The coast is for the most part flat, with
occasional low cliffs and bluffs of red sandstone. There is but one
deep inlet of the sea--Great Fish Bay (or Bahia dos Tigres), a little
north of the Portuguese-German frontier. Farther north are Port
Alexander, Little Fish Bay and Lobito Bay, while shallower bays are
numerous. Lobito Bay has water sufficient to allow large ships to
unload close inshore. The coast plain extends inland for a distance
varying from 30 to 100 m. This region is in general sparsely watered
and somewhat sterile. The approach to the great central plateau of
Africa is marked by a series of irregular terraces. This intermediate
mountain belt is covered with luxuriant vegetation. Water is fairly
abundant, though in the dry season obtainable only by digging in the
sandy beds of the rivers. The plateau has an altitude ranging from
4000 to 6000 ft. It consists of well-watered, wide, rolling plains,
and low hills with scanty vegetation. In the east the tableland falls
away to the basins of the Congo and Zambezi, to the south it merges
into a barren sandy desert. A large number of rivers make their way
westward to the sea; they rise, mostly, in the mountain belt, and are
unimportant, the only two of any size being the Kwanza and the Kunene,
separately noticed. The mountain chains which form the edge of the
plateau, or diversify its surface, run generally parallel to the
coast, as Tala Mugongo (4400 ft.), Chella and Vissecua (5250 ft. to
6500 ft.). In the district of Benguella are the highest points of the
province, viz. Loviti (7780 ft.), in 12 deg. 5' S., and Mt. Elonga (7550
ft.). South of the Kwanza is the volcanic mountain Caculo-Cabaza (3300
ft.). From the tableland the Kwango and many other streams flow north
to join the Kasai (one of the largest affluents of the Congo), which
in its upper course forms for fully 300 m. the boundary between Angola
and the Congo State. In the south-east part of the province the rivers
belong either to the Zambezi system, or, like the Okavango, drain to
Lake Ngami.

_Geology_.--The rock formations of Angola are met with in three
distinct regions: (1) the littoral zone, (2)