European settlement of West Africa. In 1758 the Portuguese extended their rule northwards from São Paulo de Loanda into the Ambriz country, where however their authority continued very uncertain till about 1885. About the same time Benguela was definitely occupied; and Portuguese influence continued extending slowly southward until, in 1840, it reached its present limits by the establishment of a settlement (now very prosperous) called Mossamedes, almost exactly on the fifteenth parallel of south latitude[65]. Between 1807 and 1810 attempts were made to open up intercourse with the Lunda kingdom of the Mwata Yanvo, and thence across to the colony of Moçambique, but they proved only partially successful. In 1813 and in the succeeding years a renewed vigour of colonization began to make itself felt in the creation of public works in Angola. Amongst other 19th century improvements was the bringing of the waters of the Kwanza by canal to São Paulo de Loanda, which until then had no supply of good drinking water. The Dutch had attempted to carry out this, but were interrupted. The Portuguese efforts in the early part of the last century proved unsuccessful, but in 1887 the canal was at last completed, and it made a great difference to the health of the town. Portuguese rule inland from Angola waxed and waned during the 19th century, but on the whole was greatly extended. Livingstone found Portuguese in 1855 established to some extent on the upper Kwango, an affluent of the Congo, and for long the eastern boundary of Angola. From this, however, they had to retire owing to native insurrections; though now their power and their influence have been pushed far to the east, to the river Kasai. In 1875 a party of recalcitrant Boers quitted the Transvaal owing to some quarrel with the local government, trekked over the desert in a north-westerly direction, and eventually blundered across the Kunene river (the southern limit of Portuguese West Africa) on to the healthy plateau behind the Shela Mountains. It was feared at one time that they would set the Portuguese at defiance and carve out a little Boer state in south-west Africa. About this time, also, Hottentots much under Boer influence and speaking Dutch invaded the district of Mossamedes from the coast region; but by liberal concessions and astute diplomacy, joined with the carrying out of several important works, like the waggon road (now the railway) across the Shela Mountains, the Portuguese won over the Boers to a recognition of their sovereignty, though they have since left the country and returned to German or British South Africa.