Evening star., 1925-02-23
HAVE
RICH AFRICAN LAND
Reported Earthquake at Pert
Alexander Calls Attention
to Vast Territory.

A recent dispatch from Africa stat
ing that the island of Port Alex
ander" had been swallowed by the
sea in an earthquake, serves to bring
into news prominence Angola, Por-
tugars huge dominion in western
Africa, says bulletin from the
Washington headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic Society.
There is no island of Port Alex
ander off Angola" says the bulletin.
Port Alexander, or more properly
Porto Alexandra. is an excellent
haven on the southern and most re-
mote coast of Angola. protected by
a long sandy peninsula. This is,
true peninsula, well above the water
| even at highest tide, and could not
properly be referred to as an island.
! The name has also been given to
fishing town that has sprung up in
recent years on the mainland shore
inside the protecting spit.
Has 1.0OO-MiIe Coast.
IF An earthquake occurred in the
| immediate vicinity of Port Alexander
| it may either have destroyed the
| mainland town or a small supple
mental settlement on the peninsula.
A third possibility is that an island
at some distance was destroyed and
that the news OF the disaster. coming
through Port Alexander. caused the
scene of the tragedy to be confused
with the latter town.
Angola covers a large part of
southwestern Africa. 1t stretches
along the Atlantic Ocean for 1000
miles and extends 500 miles or more
inland comparable slice of terri
tory in southeastern United States
would have a coast line extending
from southern Georgia to New York
include an area greater than all the
States south of New York and the
Great Lakes. and east OF the Mis-
sissippi River.
Has Developed Little.
This vast region. although it was
discovered by Portuguese sailors In
l442, and although it has had Por-
tuguese settlements since 1915. has
not been developed to any great ex-
tent. 1t was really a victim of the
discovery of Brazil, and the route
TO India. for into those more promis-
| ing regions was poured all the colon
izing energy of Portugal at a time
when that country was the worlds
| leader in colonization. The stream
of energy and men passed Angola by,
and IL has been A sort of Portuguese
backwater ever since.
But there are also potent geo
graphic and economic reasons for
| Angolas lack of development. With
the exception of former German
| Southwest Africa. which adjoins II
| to the south, Angola has the dreariest
| and most forbidden coast of any sec
| tion of Africa. Specifically it may
| be compared with the desert coast
of northern Chile and Peru; and the
comparison is heightened by the ex
| istence of a cool current that sweeps
| the Humboldt current flows north
ward along the west coast of South
! America.
Worst Foot Forward.
Sand dunes cover much of the land
! Immediately along the coast. with
| here and there bare rocky promon
| tories jutting out of the shifting
| grains. Where the sands are not in
dunes a scrub grows, but it is so
sparse that from the sea the coast
| appears utterly barren. Where
| water courses enter the sea there is
often a luxuriant vegetation in their
! valleys 1t is In such long, narrow
oases that are grown the vegetables
and fruits for the few coastal settle
| ments.
| Behind this worst foot which
Angola thrusts forward is a region
| of surprisingly good potentialities.
/ The coastal desert strip extends in
| land from IL to 40 miles and then
| the country rists by a series of huge
! terraces to a broad plateau which
! extends eastward into the heart of
Africa. On each higher terrace con-
ditions are better than on that below.
! The transition is from aridity and
lack of vegetation through semi
! aridity to a reasonably well watered
park land of grass and scattered
| trees. Much of this plateau is an
excellent region for Europeans,
| healthy, cool, reasonably productive,
and much of it free from the tsetse
fly which makes cattle-raising i'm
| possible where that insect f1ourishes.
West Coast TransvaaI.
I'm the southern portion of An
[ gola'S plateau is sort of little
| Transvaal Displeased with alien
! control from which ordinary treks
| did not seem to free them, a group
! of Beers took the wearisome journey
across the great Kalahari Desert and
settled in this remote region. Many
| perished on the road. but those who
won through have established solid
| communities in which the Portuguese
| officials have granted them the lib
| erty and self government in their
| communities which they so much de-
sire. In their settlements, surround
ed by houses of typical Transvaal
\ architecture. and with the great
heavy wagons in use. one might
| imagine himself a thousand miles
away in the vicinity of johannesburg
or Pretoria.
| AT several points railways extend
from the coast of Angola to the al
most temperate zone plateau. The
most important railway starts from
| the middle of the long coast and ex-
tends some 800 miles into the interior.
1t will eventually extend eastward
across Angola and into the Belgian
Congo to connect with existing Bel
gian and South African systems and
| with lines to the east coast of Africa.
! The Angolan port terminus of this
| railroad is Lobito. with one of the
best harbors in Africa. Lobito is an
upstart among the ancinent coastal
| cities, Benguela and Loanda ard the
middle-aged town of Mossam edes,
| having been born on a bare sand
spit only a few years ago.
Cold Current Brings Blessings.
"Loanda. capital of Angola. also
| has lines of steel extending into the
| interior. and from Mossamedes a toy
| railway with narrow gauge track
! and tiny cars, runs across the desert
strip and into the hills.
"All of the Angola coast is in
debted to the cold current that
bathes 1t for cool sea breezes, and
in general a much more pleasant
climate than it's latitude entities II
to. But the current is especially
beneficent to the Mossamedes and
Porto Alexandra districts of the
| south These are the healthiest por-
tions of the coast, with relatively
low mean temperatures, dry, cool air
and freedom from malarial mos
quitoes. The cool current also brings
| to the southern coast vast schools