Climate.—­With the exception of the district of Mossamedes, the coast plains are unsuited to Europeans.  In the interior, above 3300 ft., the temperature and rainfall, together with malaria, decrease.  The plateau climate is healthy and invigorating.  The mean annual temperature at Sao Salvador do Congo is 72.5 deg.  F.; at Loanda, 74.3 deg.; and at Caconda, 67.2 deg..  The climate is greatly influenced by the prevailing winds, which arc W., S.W. and S.S.W.  Two seasons are distinguished—­the cool, from June to September; and the rainy, from October to May.  The heaviest rainfall occurs in April, and is accompanied by violent storms.

Flora and Fauna.—­Both flora and fauna are those characteristic of the greater part of tropical Africa.  As far south as Benguella the coast region is rich in oil-palms and mangroves.  In the northern part of the province are dense forests.  In the south towards the Kunene are regions of dense thorn scrub.  Rubber vines and trees are abundant, but in some districts their number has been considerably reduced by the ruthless methods adopted by native collectors of rubber.  The species most common are various root rubbers, notably the Carpodinus chylorrhiza. This species and other varieties of carpodinus are very widely distributed.  Landolphias are also found.  The coffee, cotton and Guinea pepper plants are indigenous, and the tobacco plant flourishes in several districts.  Among the trees are several which yield excellent timber, such as the tacula (Pterocarpus tinctorius), which grows to an immense size, its wood being blood-red in colour, and the Angola mahogany.  The bark of the musuemba (Albizzia coriaria) is largely used in the tanning of leather.  The mulundo bears a fruit about the size of a cricket ball covered with a hard green shell and containing scarlet pips like a pomegranate.  The fauna includes the lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, giraffe, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, buffalo, zebra, kudu and many other kinds of antelope, wild pig, ostrich and crocodile.  Among fish are the barbel, bream and African yellow fish.

Inhabitants.—­The great majority of the inhabitants are of Bantu-Negro stock with some admixture in the Congo district with the pure negro type.  In the south-east are various tribes of Bushmen.  The best-known of the Bantu-Negro tribes are the Ba-Kongo (Ba-Fiot), who dwell chiefly in the north, and the Abunda (Mbunda, Ba-Bundo), who occupy the central part of the province, which takes its name from the Ngola tribe of Abunda.  Another of these tribes, the Bangala, living on the west bank of the upper Kwango, must not be confounded with the Bangala of the middle Congo.  In the Abunda is a considerable strain of Portuguese blood.  The Ba-Lunda inhabit the Lunda district.  Along the upper Kunene and in other districts of the plateau are settlements of Boers, the Boer population being about 2000.  In the coast towns the majority of the white inhabitants