Guides prepaid -- Bark
Canoes -- Deserted by Guides -- Mistakes respecting the Coanza -- Feelings
of freed Slaves -- Gardens and Villages -- Native Traders -- A Grave --
Valley of the Quango -- Bamboo -- White Larvae used as Food -- Bashinje
Insolence -- A posing Question -- The Chief Sansawe -- His Hostility --
Pass him safely -- The River Quango -- Chief's mode of dressing his Hair
-- Opposition -- Opportune Aid by Cypriano -- His generous Hospitality --
Ability of Half-castes to read and write -- Books and Images -- Marauding
Party burned in the Grass -- Arrive at Cassange -- A good Supper --
Kindness of Captain Neves -- Portuguese Curiosity and Questions --
Anniversary of the Resurrection -- No Prejudice against Color -- Country
around Cassange -- Sell Sekeletu's Ivory -- Makololo's Surprise at the
high Price obtained -- Proposal to return Home, and Reasons --
Soldier-guide -- Hill Kasala -- Tala Mungongo, Village of -- Civility of
Basongo -- True Negroes -- A Field of Wheat -- Carriers -- Sleeping-places
-- Fever -- Enter District of Ambaca -- Good Fruits of Jesuit Teaching --
The `Tampan'; its Bite -- Universal Hospitality of the Portuguese -- A
Tale of the Mambari -- Exhilarating Effects of Highland Scenery --
District of Golungo Alto -- Want of good Roads -- Fertility -- Forests of
gigantic Timber -- Native Carpenters -- Coffee Estate -- Sterility of
Country near the Coast -- Mosquitoes -- Fears of the Makololo -- Welcome
by Mr. Gabriel to Loanda.
24TH. Ionga Panza's sons
agreed to act as guides into the territory of the Portuguese if I would
give them the shell given by Shinte. I was strongly averse to this, and
especially to give it beforehand, but yielded to the entreaty of my people
to appear as if showing confidence in these hopeful youths. They urged
that they wished to leave the shell with their wives, as a sort of payment
to them for enduring their husbands' absence so long. Having delivered the
precious shell, we went west-by-north to the River Chikapa, which here
(lat. 10d 22' S.) is forty or fifty yards wide, and at present was deep;
it was seen flowing over a rocky, broken cataract with great noise about
half a mile above our ford. We were ferried over in a canoe, made out of a
single piece of bark sewed together at the ends, and having sticks placed
in it at different parts to act as ribs.
The word Chikapa means bark
or skin; and as this is the only river in which we saw this kind of canoe
used, and we heard that this stream is so low during most of the year as
to be easily fordable, it probably derives its name from the use made of
the bark canoes when it is in flood. We now felt the loss of our pontoon,
for the people to whom the canoe belonged made us pay once when we began
to cross, then a second time when half of us were over, and a third time
when all were over but my principal man Pitsane and myself. Loyanke
took off his cloth and paid my passage with it. The Makololo always
ferried their visitors over rivers without pay, and now began to remark
that they must in future fleece the Mambari as these Chiboque had done to
us; they had all been loud in condemnation of the meanness, and when I
asked if they could descend to be equally mean, I was answered that they
would only do it in revenge. They like to have a plausible excuse for
meanness.
Next morning our guides
went only about a mile, and then told us they would return home. I
expected this when paying them beforehand, in accordance with the
entreaties of the Makololo, who are rather ignorant of the world. Very
energetic remonstrances were addressed to the guides, but they slipped off
one by one in the thick forest through which we were passing, and I was
glad to hear my companions coming to the conclusion that, as we were now
in parts visited by traders, we did not require the guides, whose chief
use had been to prevent misapprehension of our objects in the minds of the
villagers.
The country was somewhat
more undulating now than it had been, and several fine small streams
flowed in deep woody dells. The trees are very tall and straight, and the
forests gloomy and damp; the ground in these solitudes is quite covered
with yellow and brown mosses, and light-colored lichens clothe all the
trees. The soil is extremely fertile, being generally a black loam covered
with a thick crop of tall grasses. We passed several villages too. The
head man of a large one scolded us well for passing, when he intended to
give us food. Where slave-traders have been in the habit of coming, they
present food, then demand three or four times its value as a custom. We
were now rather glad to get past villages without intercourse with the
inhabitants.
We were traveling W.N.W.,
and all the rivulets we here crossed had a northerly course, and were
reported to fall into the Kasai or Loke; most of them had the peculiar
boggy banks of the country. As we were now in the alleged latitude of the
Coanza, I was much astonished at the entire absence of any knowledge of
that river among the natives of this quarter. But I was then ignorant of
the fact that the Coanza rises considerably to the west of this, and has a
comparatively short course from its source to the sea.
The famous Dr. Lacerda
seems to have labored under the same mistake as myself, for he recommended
the government of Angola to establish a chain of forts along the banks of
that river, with a view to communication with the opposite coast. As a
chain of forts along its course would lead southward instead of eastward,
we may infer that the geographical data within reach of that eminent man
were no better than those according to which I had directed my course to
the Coanza where it does not exist.
26TH. We spent Sunday on
the banks of the Quilo or Kweelo, here a stream of about ten yards wide.
It runs in a deep glen, the sides of which are almost five hundred yards
of slope, and rocky, the rocks being hardened calcareous tufa lying on
clay shale and sandstone below, with a capping of ferruginous
conglomerate. The scenery would have been very pleasing, but fever took
away much of the joy of life, and severe daily intermittents rendered me
very weak and always glad to recline.
As we were now in the
slave-market, it struck me that the sense of insecurity felt by the
natives might account for the circumstance that those who have been sold
as slaves and freed again, when questioned, profess to like the new state
better than their primitive one. They lived on rich, fertile plains, which
seldom inspire that love of country which the mountains do. If they had
been mountaineers, they would have pined for home. To one who has observed
the hard toil of the poor in old civilized countries, the state in which
the inhabitants here live is one of glorious ease. The country is full of
little villages. Food abounds, and very little labor is required for its
cultivation; the soil is so rich that no manure is required; when a garden
becomes too poor for good crops of maize, millet, etc., the owner removes
a little farther into the forest, applies fire round the roots of the
larger trees to kill them, cuts down the smaller, and a new, rich garden
is ready for the seed. The gardens usually present the appearance of a
large number of tall, dead trees standing without bark, and maize growing
between them. The old gardens continue to yield manioc for years after the
owners have removed to other spots for the sake of millet and maize. But,
while vegetable aliment is abundant, there is a want of salt and animal
food, so that numberless traps are seen, set for mice, in all the forests
of Londa. The vegetable diet leaves great craving for flesh, and I have no
doubt but that, when an ordinary quantity of mixed food is supplied to
freed slaves, they actually do feel more comfortable than they did at
home. Their assertions, however, mean but little, for they always try to
give an answer to please, and if one showed them a nugget of gold, they
would generally say that these abounded in their country. One could
detect, in passing, the variety of character found among the owners of
gardens and villages. Some villages were the pictures of neatness.
We entered others enveloped
in a wilderness of weeds, so high that, when sitting on ox-back in the
middle of the village, we could only see the tops of the huts. If we
entered at midday, the owners would come lazily forth, pipe in hand, and
leisurely puff away in dreamy indifference. In some villages weeds are not
allowed to grow; cotton, tobacco, and different plants used as relishes
are planted round the huts; fowls are kept in cages, and the gardens
present the pleasant spectacle of different kinds of grain and pulse at
various periods of their growth. I sometimes admired the one class, and at
times wished I could have taken the world easy for a time like the other.
Every village swarms with
children, who turn out to see the white man pass, and run along with
strange cries and antics; some run up trees to get a good view: all are
agile climbers throughout Londa. At friendly villages they have scampered
alongside our party for miles at a time. We usually made a little hedge
around our sheds; crowds of women came to the entrance of it, with
children on their backs, and long pipes in their mouths, gazing at us for
hours. The men, rather than disturb them, crawled through a hole in the
hedge, and it was common to hear a man in running off say to them, "I am
going to tell my mamma to come and see the white man's oxen."
In continuing our W.N.W.
course, we met many parties of native traders, each carrying some pieces
of cloth and salt, with a few beads to barter for bees'-wax. They are all
armed with Portuguese guns, and have cartridges with iron balls. When we
meet we usually stand a few minutes. They present a little salt, and we
give a bit of ox-hide, or some other trifle, and then part with mutual
good wishes. The hide of the oxen we slaughtered had been a valuable
addition to our resources, for we found it in so great repute for girdles
all through Loanda that we cut up every skin into strips about two inches
broad, and sold them for meal and manioc as we went along. As we came
nearer Angola we found them of less value, as the people there possess
cattle themselves.
The village on the Kweelo,
at which we spent Sunday, was that of a civil, lively old man, called
Sakandala, who offered no objections to our progress. We found we should
soon enter on the territory of the Bashinje (Chinge of the Portuguese),
who are mixed with another tribe, named Bangala, which have been at war
with the Babindele or Portuguese. Rains and fever, as usual, helped to
impede our progress until we were put on the path which leads from
Cassange and Bihe to Matiamvo, by a head man named Kamboela. This was a
well-beaten footpath, and soon after entering upon it we met a party of
half-caste traders from Bihe, who confirmed the information we had already
got of this path leading straight to Cassange, through which they had come
on their way from Bihe to Cabango. They kindly presented my men with
some tobacco, and marveled greatly when they found that I had never been
able to teach myself to smoke. On parting with them we came to a trader's
grave. This was marked by a huge cone of sticks placed in the form of the
roof of a hut, with a palisade around it. At an opening on the western
side an ugly idol was placed: several strings of beads and bits of cloth
were hung around. We learned that he had been a half-caste, who had died
on his way back from Matiamvo. As we were now alone, and sure of being on
the way to the abodes of civilization, we went on briskly.
On the 30th we came to a
sudden descent from the high land, indented by deep, narrow valleys, over
which we had lately been traveling. It is generally so steep that it can
only be descended at particular points, and even there I was obliged to
dismount, though so weak that I had to be led by my companions to prevent
my toppling over in walking down. It was annoying to feel myself so
helpless, for I never liked to see a man, either sick or well, giving in
effeminately.
Below us lay the valley of
the Quango. If you sit on the spot where Mary Queen of Scots viewed the
battle of Langside, and look down on the vale of Clyde, you may see in
miniature the glorious sight which a much greater and richer valley
presented to our view. It is about a hundred miles broad, clothed with
dark forest, except where the light green grass covers meadow-lands on the
Quango, which here and there glances out in the sun as it wends its way to
the north. The opposite side of this great valley appears like a range of
lofty mountains, and the descent into it about a mile, which, measured
perpendicularly, may be from a thousand to twelve hundred feet. Emerging
from the gloomy forests of Londa, this magnificent prospect made us all
feel as if a weight had been lifted off our eyelids. A cloud was passing
across the middle of the valley, from which rolling thunder pealed, while
above all was glorious sunlight; and when we went down to the part where
we saw it passing, we found that a very heavy thunder-shower had fallen
under the path of the cloud; and the bottom of the valley, which from
above seemed quite smooth, we discovered to be intersected and furrowed by
great numbers of deep-cut streams. Looking back from below, the descent
appears as the edge of a table-land, with numerous indented dells and
spurs jutting out all along, giving it a serrated appearance. Both the top
and sides of the sierra are covered with trees, but large patches of the
more perpendicular parts are bare, and exhibit the red soil, which is
general over the region we have now entered.
The hollow affords a
section of this part of the country; and we find that the uppermost
stratum is the ferruginous conglomerate already mentioned. The matrix is
rust of iron (or hydrous peroxide of iron and hematite), and in it are
imbedded water-worn pebbles of sandstone and quartz. As this is the rock
underlying the soil of a large part of Londa, its formation must have
preceded the work of denudation by an arm of the sea, which washed away
the enormous mass of matter required before the valley of Cassange could
assume its present form. The strata under the conglomerate are all of red
clay shale of different degrees of hardness, the most indurated being at
the bottom. This red clay shale is named "keele" in Scotland, and has
always been considered as an indication of gold; but the only thing we
discovered was that it had given rise to a very slippery clay soil, so
different from that which we had just left that Mashauana, who always
prided himself on being an adept at balancing himself in the canoe on
water, and so sure of foot on land that he could afford to express
contempt for any one less gifted, came down in a very sudden and
undignified manner, to the delight of all whom he had previously scolded
for falling. Here we met with the bamboo as thick as a man's arm, and many
new trees. Others, which we had lost sight of since leaving Shinte, now
reappeared; but nothing struck us more than the comparative scragginess of
the trees in this hollow. Those on the high lands we had left were tall
and straight; here they were stunted, and not by any means so closely
planted together. The only way I could account for this was by supposing,
as the trees were of different species, that the greater altitude suited
the nature of those above better than the lower altitude did the other
species below.
SUNDAY, APRIL 2D. We rested
beside a small stream, and our hunger being now very severe, from having
lived on manioc alone since leaving Ionza Panza's, we slaughtered one of
our four remaining oxen. The people of this district seem to feel the
craving for animal food as much as we did, for they spend much energy in
digging large white larvae out of the damp soil adjacent to their streams,
and use them as a relish to their vegetable diet. The Bashinje refused to
sell any food for the poor old ornaments my men had now to offer. We could
get neither meal nor manioc, but should have been comfortable had not the
Bashinje chief Sansawe pestered us for the customary present. The native
traders informed us that a display of force was often necessary before
they could pass this man.
Sansawe, the chief of a
portion of the Bashinje, having sent the usual formal demand for a man, an
ox, or a tusk, spoke very contemptuously of the poor things we offered him
instead. We told his messengers that the tusks were Sekeletu's:
every thing was gone except my instruments, which could be of no use to
them whatever. One of them begged some meat, and, when it was refused,
said to my men, "You may as well give it, for we shall take all after we
have killed you to-morrow." The more humbly we spoke, the more insolent
the Bashinje became, till at last we were all feeling savage and sulky,
but continued to speak as civilly as we could. They are fond of argument,
and when I denied their right to demand tribute from a white man, who did
not trade in slaves, an old white-headed negro put rather a posing
question: "You know that God has placed chiefs among us whom we ought to
support. How is it that you, who have a book that tells you about him, do
not come forward at once to pay this chief tribute like every one else?" I
replied by asking, "How could I know that this was a chief, who had
allowed me to remain a day and a half near him without giving me any thing
to eat?" This, which to the uninitiated may seem sophistry, was to the
Central Africans quite a rational question, for he at once admitted that
food ought to have been sent, and added that probably his chief was only
making it ready for me, and that it would come soon.
After being wearied by
talking all day to different parties sent by Sansawe, we were honored by a
visit from himself: he is quite a young man, and of rather a pleasing
countenance. There can not have been much intercourse between real
Portuguese and these people even here, so close to the Quango, for Sansawe
asked me to show him my hair, on the ground that, though he had heard of
it, and some white men had even passed through his country, he had never
seen straight hair before. This is quite possible, as most of the
slave-traders are not Portuguese, but half-castes. The difference between
their wool and our hair caused him to burst into a laugh, and the contrast
between the exposed and unexposed parts of my skin, when exhibited in
evidence of our all being made of one stock originally, and the children
of one Maker, seemed to strike him with wonder.
I then showed him my watch,
and wished to win my way into his confidence by conversation; but, when
about to exhibit my pocket compass, he desired me to desist, as he was
afraid of my wonderful things. I told him, if he knew my aims as the
tribes in the interior did, and as I hoped he would yet know them and me,
he would be glad to stay, and see also the pictures of the magic lantern;
but, as it was now getting dark, he had evidently got enough of my
witchery, and began to use some charms to dispel any kindly feelings he
might have found stealing round his heart. He asked leave to go, and when
his party moved off a little way, he sent for my spokesman, and told him
that, "if we did not add a red jacket and a man to our gift of a few
copper rings and a few pounds of meat, we must return by the way we
had come." I said in reply "that we should certainly go forward next day,
and if he commenced hostilities, the blame before God would be that of
Sansawe;" and my man added of his own accord, "How many white men have you
killed in this path?" which might be interpreted into, "You have never
killed any white man, and you will find ours more difficult to manage than
you imagine." It expressed a determination, which we had often repeated to
each other, to die rather than yield one of our party to be a slave.
Hunger has a powerful
effect on the temper. When we had got a good meal of meat, we could all
bear the petty annoyances of these borderers on the more civilized region
in front with equanimity; but having suffered considerably of late, we
were all rather soured in our feelings, and not unfrequently I overheard
my companions remark in their own tongue, in answer to threats of attack,
"That's what we want: only begin then;" or with clenched teeth they would
exclaim to each other, "These things have never traveled, and do not know
what men are." The worrying, of which I give only a slight sketch, had
considerable influence on my own mind, and more especially as it was
impossible to make any allowance for the Bashinje, such as I was willing
to award to the Chiboque. They saw that we had nothing to give, nor would
they be benefited in the least by enforcing the impudent order to return
whence we had come. They were adding insult to injury, and this put us all
into a fighting spirit, and, as nearly as we could judge, we expected to
be obliged to cut our way through the Bashinje next morning.
3D APRIL. As soon as day
dawned we were astir, and, setting off in a drizzling rain, passed close
to the village. This rain probably damped the ardor of the robbers. We,
however, expected to be fired upon from every clump of trees, or from some
of the rocky hillocks among which we were passing; and it was only after
two hours' march that we began to breathe freely, and my men remarked, in
thankfulness, "We are children of Jesus." We continued our course,
notwithstanding the rain, across the bottom of the Quango Valley, which we
found broken by clay shale rocks jutting out, though lying nearly
horizontally. The grass in all the hollows, at this time quite green, was
about two feet higher than my head while sitting on ox-back. This grass,
wetted by the rain, acted as a shower-bath on one side of our bodies; and
some deep gullies, full of DISCOLORED water, completed the cooling
process.
We passed many villages
during this drenching, one of which possessed a flock of sheep; and after
six hours we came to a stand near the River Quango (lat. 9d 53' S., long.
18d 37' E.), which may be called the boundary of the Portuguese claims to
territory on the west. As I had now no change of clothing, I was glad to
cower under the shelter of my blanket, thankful to God for his goodness in
bringing us so far without losing one of the party.
4TH APRIL. We were now on
the banks of the Quango, a river one hundred and fifty yards wide, and
very deep. The water was discolored -- a circumstance which we had
observed in no river in Londa or in the Makololo country. This fine river
flows among extensive meadows clothed with gigantic grass and reeds, and
in a direction nearly north.
The Quango is said by the
natives to contain many venomous water-snakes, which congregate near the
carcass of any hippopotamus that may be killed in it. If this is true, it
may account for all the villages we saw being situated far from its banks.
We were advised not to sleep near it; but, as we were anxious to cross to
the western side, we tried to induce some of the Bashinje to lend us
canoes for the purpose. This brought out the chief of these parts, who
informed us that all the canoe-men were his children, and nothing could be
done without his authority. He then made the usual demand for a man, an
ox, or a gun, adding that otherwise we must return to the country from
which we had come. As I did not believe that this man had any power over
the canoes of the other side, and suspected that if I gave him my blanket
-- the only thing I now had in reserve -- he might leave us in the lurch
after all, I tried to persuade my men to go at once to the bank, about two
miles off, and obtain possession of the canoes before we gave up the
blanket; but they thought that this chief might attack us in the act of
crossing, should we do so. The chief came himself to our encampment and
made his demand again.
My men stripped off the
last of their copper rings and gave them; but he was still intent on a
man. He thought, as others did, that my men were slaves. He was a young
man, with his woolly hair elaborately dressed: that behind was made up
into a cone, about eight inches in diameter at the base, carefully swathed
round with red and black thread. As I resisted the proposal to deliver up
my blanket until they had placed us on the western bank, this chief
continued to worry us with his demands till I was tired. My little tent
was now in tatters, and having a wider hole behind than the door in front,
I tried in vain to lie down out of sight of our persecutors. We were on a
reedy flat, and could not follow our usual plan of a small stockade, in
which we had time to think over and concoct our plans. As I was trying to
persuade my men to move on to the bank in spite of these people, a young
half-caste Portuguese sergeant of militia, Cypriano di Abreu, made his
appearance, and gave the same advice. He had come across the Quango in
search of bees'-wax. When we moved off from the chief who had been
plaguing us, his people opened a fire from our sheds, and continued to
blaze away some time in the direction we were going, but none of the
bullets reached us. It is probable that they expected a demonstration of
the abundance of ammunition they possessed would make us run; but when we
continued to move quietly to the ford, they proceeded no farther than our
sleeping-place. Cypriano assisted us in making a more satisfactory
arrangement with the ferrymen than parting with my blanket; and as soon as
we reached the opposite bank we were in the territory of the Bangala, who
are subjects of the Portuguese, and often spoken of as the Cassanges or
Cassantse; and happily all our difficulties with the border tribes were at
an end.
Passing with light hearts
through the high grass by a narrow footpath for about three miles to the
west of the river, we came to several neat square houses, with many
cleanly-looking half-caste Portuguese standing in front of them to salute
us. They are all enrolled in the militia, and our friend Cypriano is the
commander of a division established here. The Bangala were very
troublesome to the Portuguese traders, and at last proceeded so far as to
kill one of them; the government of Angola then sent an expedition against
them, which being successful, the Bangala were dispersed, and are now
returning to their former abodes as vassals. The militia are quartered
among them, and engage in trade and agriculture for their support, as no
pay is given to this branch of the service by the government.
We came to the dwelling of
Cypriano after dark, and I pitched my little tent in front of it for the
night. We had the company of mosquitoes here. We never found them
troublesome on the banks of the pure streams of Londa.
On the morning of the 5th
Cypriano generously supplied my men with pumpkins and maize, and then
invited me to breakfast, which consisted of ground-nuts and roasted maize,
then boiled manioc roots and ground-nuts, with guavas and honey as a
dessert. I felt sincerely grateful for this magnificent breakfast.
At dinner Cypriano was
equally bountiful, and several of his friends joined us in doing justice
to his hospitality. Before eating, all had water poured on the hands by a
female slave to wash them. One of the guests cut up a fowl with a knife
and fork. Neither forks nor spoons were used in eating. The repast was
partaken of with decency and good manners, and concluded by washing the
hands as at first. All of them could read and write with ease. I examined
the books they possessed, and found a small work on medicine, a small
cyclopaedia, and a Portuguese dictionary, in which the definition of a
"priest" seemed strange to a Protestant, namely, "one who takes care of
the conscience." They had also a few tracts containing the Lives of the
Saints, and Cypriano had three small wax images of saints in his room. One
of these was St. Anthony, who, had he endured the privations he did in his
cell in looking after these lost sheep, would have lived to better
purpose. Neither Cypriano nor his companions knew what the Bible was, but
they had relics in German-silver cases hung round their necks, to act as
charms and save them from danger by land or by water, in the same way as
the heathen have medicines. It is a pity that the Church to which they
belong, when unable to attend to the wants of her children, does not give
them the sacred writings in their own tongue; it would surely be better to
see them good Protestants, if these would lead them to be so, than
entirely ignorant of God's message to man. For my part, I would much
prefer to see the Africans good Roman Catholics than idolatrous heathen.
Much of the civility shown
to us here was, no doubt, owing to the flattering letters of
recommendation I carried from the Chevalier Du Prat, of Cape Town; but I
am inclined to believe that my friend Cypriano was influenced, too, by
feelings of genuine kindness, for he quite bared his garden in feeding us
during the few days which I remained, anxiously expecting the clouds to
disperse, so far as to allow of my taking observations for the
determination of the position of the Quango. He slaughtered an ox for us,
and furnished his mother and her maids with manioc roots, to prepare
farina for the four or five days of our journey to Cassange, and never
even hinted at payment. My wretched appearance must have excited his
compassion. The farina is prepared by washing the roots well, then rasping
them down to a pulp. Next, this is roasted slightly on a metal plate over
a fire, and is then used with meat as a vegetable. It closely resembles
wood-sawings, and on that account is named "wood-meal". It is insipid, and
employed to lick up any gravy remaining on one's plate. Those who have
become accustomed to it relish it even after they have returned to Europe.
The manioc cultivated here
is of the sweet variety; the bitter, to which we were accustomed in Londa,
is not to be found very extensively in this fertile valley. May is the
beginning of winter, yet many of the inhabitants were busy planting maize;
that which we were now eating was planted in the beginning of February.
The soil is exceedingly fertile, of a dark red color, and covered with
such a dense, heavy crop of coarse grass, that when a marauding party of
Ambonda once came for plunder while it was in a dried state, the Bangala
encircled the common enemy with a fire which completely destroyed them.
This, which is related on the authority of Portuguese who were then in the
country, I can easily believe to be true, for the stalks of the grass are
generally as thick as goose-quills, and no flight could be made
through the mass of grass in any direction where a footpath does not
exist. Probably, in the case mentioned, the direction of the wind was such
as to drive the flames across the paths, and prevent escape along them. On
one occasion I nearly lost my wagon by fire, in a valley where the grass
was only about three feet high. We were roused by the roar, as of a
torrent, made by the fire coming from the windward. I immediately set fire
to that on our leeward, and had just time to drag the wagon on to the bare
space there before the windward flames reached the place where it had
stood.
We were detained by rains
and a desire to ascertain our geographical position till Monday, the 10th,
and only got the latitude 9d 50' S.; and, after three days' pretty hard
traveling through the long grass, reached Cassange, the farthest inland
station of the Portuguese in Western Africa. We crossed several fine
little streams running into the Quango; and as the grass continued to
tower about two feet over our heads, it generally obstructed our view of
the adjacent country, and sometimes hung over the path, making one side of
the body wet with the dew every morning, or, when it rained, kept me wet
during the whole day. I made my entrance in a somewhat forlorn state as to
clothing among our Portuguese allies. The first gentleman I met in the
village asked if I had a passport, and said it was necessary to take me
before the authorities. As I was in the same state of mind in which
individuals are who commit a petty depredation in order to obtain the
shelter and food of a prison, I gladly accompanied him to the house of the
commandant or Chefe, Senhor de Silva Rego. Having shown my passport to
this gentleman, he politely asked me to supper, and, as we had eaten
nothing except the farina of Cypriano from the Quango to this, I suspect I
appeared particularly ravenous to the other gentlemen around the table.
They seemed, however, to understand my position pretty well, from having
all traveled extensively themselves; had they not been present, I might
have put some in my pocket to eat by night; for, after fever, the appetite
is excessively keen, and manioc is one of the most unsatisfying kinds of
food. Captain Antonio Rodrigues Neves then kindly invited me to take up my
abode in his house. Next morning this generous man arrayed me in decent
clothing, and continued during the whole period of my stay to treat me as
if I had been his brother. I feel deeply grateful to him for his
disinterested kindness. He not only attended to my wants, but also
furnished food for my famishing party free of charge.
The village of Cassange
(pronounced Kassanje) is composed of thirty or forty traders' houses,
scattered about without any regularity, on an elevated flat spot in the
great Quango or Cassange valley. They are built of wattle and daub, and
surrounded by plantations of manioc, maize, etc. Behind them there are
usually kitchen gardens, in which the common European vegetables, as
potatoes, peas, cabbages, onions, tomatoes, etc., etc., grow. Guavas and
bananas appear, from the size and abundance of the trees, to have been
introduced many years ago, while the land was still in the possession of
the natives; but pine-apples, orange, fig, and cashew trees have but
lately been tried.
There are about forty
Portuguese traders in this district, all of whom are officers in the
militia, and many of them have become rich from adopting the plan of
sending out Pombeiros, or native traders, with large quantities of goods,
to trade in the more remote parts of the country. Some of the governors of
Loanda, the capital of this, the kingdom of Angola, have insisted on the
observance of a law which, from motives of humanity, forbids the
Portuguese themselves from passing beyond the boundary. They seem to have
taken it for granted that, in cases where the white trader was killed, the
aggression had been made by him, and they wished to avoid the necessity of
punishing those who had been provoked to shed Portuguese blood. This
indicates a much greater impartiality than has obtained in our own
dealings with the Caffres, for we have engaged in most expensive wars with
them without once inquiring whether any of the fault lay with our frontier
colonists.
The Cassange traders seem
inclined to spread along the Quango, in spite of the desire of their
government to keep them on one spot, for mutual protection in case of war.
If I might judge from the week of feasting I passed among them, they are
generally prosperous. As I always preferred to appear in my own proper
character, I was an object of curiosity to these hospitable Portuguese.
They evidently looked upon me as an agent of the English government,
engaged in some new movement for the suppression of slavery. They could
not divine what a "missionario" had to do with the latitudes and
longitudes, which I was intent on observing. When we became a little
familiar, the questions put were rather amusing: "Is it common for
missionaries to be doctors?" "Are you a doctor of medicine and a `doutor
mathematico' too? You must be more than a missionary to know how to
calculate the longitude! Come, tell us at once what rank you hold in the
English army." They may have given credit to my reason for wearing the
mustache, as that explains why men have beards and women have none; but
that which puzzled many besides my Cassange friends was the anomaly of my
being a "sacerdote", with a wife and four children! I usually got rid of
the last question by putting another: "Is it not better to have children
with a wife, than to have children without a wife?" But all were most kind
and hospitable; and as one of their festivals was near, they invit ed me
to partake of the feast.
The anniversary of the
Resurrection of our Savior was observed on the 16th of April as a day of
rejoicing, though the Portuguese have no priests at Cassange. The colored
population dressed up a figure intended to represent Judas Iscariot, and
paraded him on a riding-ox about the village; sneers and maledictions were
freely bestowed on the poor wretch thus represented. The slaves and free
colored population, dressed in their gayest clothing, made visits to all
the principal merchants, and wishing them "a good feast", expected a
present in return. This, though frequently granted in the shape of pieces
of calico to make new dresses, was occasionally refused, but the rebuff
did not much affect the petitioner.
At ten A.M. we went to the
residence of the commandant, and on a signal being given, two of the four
brass guns belonging to the government commenced firing, and continued
some time, to the great admiration of my men, whose ideas of the power of
a cannon are very exalted. The Portuguese flag was hoisted and trumpets
sounded, as an expression of joy at the resurrection of our Lord. Captain
Neves invited all the principal inhabitants of the place, and did what he
could to feast them in a princely style. All manner of foreign preserved
fruits and wine from Portugal, biscuits from America, butter from Cork,
and beer from England, were displayed, and no expense spared in rendering
the entertainment joyous. After the feast was over they sat down to the
common amusement of card-playing, which continued till eleven o'clock at
night. As far as a mere traveler could judge, they seemed to be polite and
willing to aid each other. They live in a febrile district, and many of
them had enlarged spleens. They have neither doctor, apothecary, school,
nor priest, and, when taken ill, trust to each other and to Providence. As
men left in such circumstances must think for themselves, they have all a
good idea of what ought to be done in the common diseases of the country,
and what they have of either medicine or skill they freely impart to each
other.
None of these gentlemen had
Portuguese wives. They usually come to Africa in order to make a little
money, and return to Lisbon. Hence they seldom bring their wives with
them, and never can be successful colonists in consequence. It is common
for them to have families by native women. It was particularly gratifying
to me, who had been familiar with the stupid prejudice against color,
entertained only by those who are themselves becoming tawny, to view the
liberality with which people of color were treated by the Portuguese.
Instances, so common in the South, in which half-caste children are
abandoned, are here extremely rare. They are acknowledged at table, and
provided for by their fathers as if European. The colored clerks of the
merchants sit at the same table with their employers without any
embarrassment. The civil manners of superiors to inferiors is probably the
result of the position they occupy -- a few whites among thousands of
blacks; but nowhere else in Africa is there so much good-will between
Europeans and natives as here. If some border colonists had the absolute
certainty of our government declining to bear them out in their arrogance,
we should probably hear less of Caffre insolence. It is insolence which
begets insolence.
From the village of
Cassange we have a good view of the surrounding country: it is a gently
undulating plain, covered with grass and patches of forest. The western
edge of the Quango valley appears, about twenty miles off, as if it were a
range of lofty mountains, and passes by the name of Tala Mungongo, "Behold
the Range". In the old Portuguese map, to which I had been trusting in
planning my route, it is indicated as Talla Mugongo, or "Castle of Rocks!"
and the Coanza is put down as rising therefrom; but here I was assured
that the Coanza had its source near Bihe, far to the southwest of this,
and we should not see that river till we came near Pungo Andonga. It is
somewhat remarkable that more accurate information about this country has
not been published. Captain Neves and others had a correct idea of the
courses of the rivers, and communicated their knowledge freely; yet about
this time maps were sent to Europe from Angola representing the Quango and
Coanza as the same river, and Cassange placed about one hundred miles from
its true position. The frequent recurrence of the same name has probably
helped to increase the confusion. I have crossed several Quangos, but all
insignificant, except that which drains this valley.
The repetition of the
favorite names of chiefs, as Catende, is also perplexing, as one Catende
may be mistaken for another. To avoid this confusion as much as possible,
I have refrained from introducing many names. Numerous villages are
studded all over the valley; but these possess no permanence, and many
more existed previous to the Portuguese expedition of 1850 to punish the
Bangala.
This valley, as I have
before remarked, is all fertile in the extreme. My men could never cease
admiring its capability for raising their corn (`Holcus sorghum'), and
despising the comparatively limited cultivation of the inhabitants. The
Portuguese informed me that no manure is ever needed, but that, the more
the ground is tilled, the better it yields. Virgin soil does not give such
a heavy crop as an old garden, and, judging from the size of the maize and
manioc in the latter, I can readily believe the statement. Cattle do well,
too. Viewing the valley as a whole, it may be said that its agricultural
and pastoral riches are lying waste. Both the Portuguese and their
descendants turn their attention almost exclusively to trade in wax and
ivory, and though the country would yield any amount of corn and dairy
produce, the native Portuguese live chiefly on manioc, and the Europeans
purchase their flour, bread, butter, and cheese from the Americans.
As the traders of Cassange
were the first white men we had come to, we sold the tusks belonging to
Sekeletu, which had been brought to test the difference of prices in the
Makololo and white men's country. The result was highly satisfactory to my
companions, as the Portuguese give much larger prices for ivory than
traders from the Cape can possibly give, who labor under the disadvantage
of considerable overland expenses and ruinous restrictions. Two muskets,
three small barrels of gunpowder, and English calico and baize sufficient
to clothe my whole party, with large bunches of beads, all for one tusk,
were quite delightful for those who had been accustomed to give two tusks
for one gun. With another tusk we procured calico, which here is the chief
currency, to pay our way down to the coast. The remaining two were sold
for money to purchase a horse for Sekeletu at Loanda.
The superiority of this new
market was quite astounding to the Makololo, and they began to abuse the
traders by whom they had, while in their own country, been visited, and,
as they now declared, "cheated". They had no idea of the value of time and
carriage, and it was somewhat difficult for me to convince them that the
reason of the difference of prices lay entirely in what they themselves
had done in coming here, and that, if the Portuguese should carry goods to
their country, they would by no means be so liberal in their prices. They
imagined that, if the Cassange traders came to Linyanti, they would
continue to vend their goods at Cassange prices. I believe I gave them at
last a clear idea of the manner in which prices were regulated by the
expenses incurred; and when we went to Loanda, and saw goods delivered at
a still cheaper rate, they concluded that it would be better for them to
come to that city, than to turn homeward at Cassange.
It was interesting for me
to observe the effects of the restrictive policy pursued by the Cape
government toward the Bechuanas. Like all other restrictions on trade, the
law of preventing friendly tribes from purchasing arms and ammunition only
injures the men who enforce it. The Cape government, as already observed,
in order to gratify a company of independent Boers, whose well-known
predilection for the practice of slavery caused them to stipulate that a
number of peaceable, honest tribes should be kept defenseless, agreed to
allow free trade in arms and ammunition to the Boers, and prevent the same
trade to the Bechuanas. The Cape government thereby unintentionally aided,
and continues to aid, the Boers to enslave the natives. But arms and
ammunition flow in on all sides by new channels, and where formerly the
price of a large tusk procured but one musket, one tusk of the same size
now brings ten.
The profits are reaped by
other nations, and the only persons really the losers, in the long run,
are our own Cape merchants, and a few defenseless tribes of Bechuanas on
our immediate frontier. Mr. Rego, the commandant, very handsomely offered
me a soldier as a guard to Ambaca. My men told me that they had been
thinking it would be better to turn back here, as they had been informed
by the people of color at Cassange that I was leading them down to the
sea-coast only to sell them, and they would be taken on board ship,
fattened, and eaten, as the white men were cannibals. I asked if they had
ever heard of an Englishman buying or selling people; if I had not refused
to take a slave when she was offered to me by Shinte; but, as I had always
behaved as an English teacher, if they now doubted my intentions, they had
better not go to the coast; I, however, who expected to meet some of my
countrymen there, was determined to go on. They replied that they only
thought it right to tell me what had been told to them, but they did not
intend to leave me, and would follow wherever I should lead the way. This
affair being disposed of for the time, the commandant gave them an ox, and
me a friendly dinner before parting.
All the merchants of
Cassange accompanied us, in their hammocks carried by slaves, to the edge
of the plateau on which their village stands, and we parted with the
feeling in my mind that I should never forget their disinterested
kindness. They not only did every thing they could to make my men and me
comfortable during our stay; but, there being no hotels in Loanda, they
furnished me with letters of recommendation to their friends in that city,
requesting them to receive me into their houses, for without these a
stranger might find himself a lodger in the streets. May God remember them
in their day of need!
The latitude and longitude
of Cassange, the most easterly station of the Portuguese in Western
Africa, is lat. 9d 37' 30" S., and long. 17d 49' E.; consequently we had
still about 300 miles to traverse before we could reach the coast. We had
a black militia corporal as a guide. He was a native of Ambaca, and, like
nearly all the inhabitants of that district, known by the name of
Ambakistas, could both read and write. He had three slaves with him, and
was carried by them in a "tipoia", or hammock slung to a pole. His slaves
were young, and unable to convey him far at a time, but he was considerate
enough to walk except when we came near to a village. He then mounted his
tipoia and entered the village in state; his departure was made in the
same manner, and he continued in the hammock till the village was out of
sight. It was interesting to observe the manners of our soldier-guide. Two
slaves were always employed in carrying his tipoia, and the third carried
a wooden box, about three feet long, containing his writing materials,
dishes, and clothing. He was cleanly in all his ways, and, though quite
black himself, when he scolded any one of his own color, abused him as a
"negro". When he wanted to purchase any article from a village, he would
sit down, mix a little gunpowder as ink, and write a note in a neat hand
to ask the price, addressing it to the shopkeeper with the rather pompous
title, "Illustrissimo Senhor" (Most Illustrious Sir). This is the
invariable mode of address throughout Angola. The answer returned would be
in the same style, and, if satisfactory, another note followed to conclude
the bargain. There is so much of this note correspondence carried on in
Angola, that a very large quantity of paper is annually consumed. Some
other peculiarities of our guide were not so pleasing. A land of slaves is
a bad school for even the free; and I was sorry to find less truthfulness
and honesty in him than in my own people. We were often cheated through
his connivance with the sellers of food, and could perceive that he got a
share of the plunder from them. The food is very cheap, but it was
generally made dear enough, until I refused to allow him to come near the
place where we were bargaining. But he took us safely down to Ambaca, and
I was glad to see, on my return to Cassange, that he was promoted to be
sergeant-major of a company of militia.
Having left Cassange on the
21st, we passed across the remaining portion of this excessively fertile
valley to the foot of Tala Mungongo. We crossed a fine little stream
called the Lui on the 22d, and another named the Luare on the 24th, then
slept at the bottom of the height, which is from a thousand to fifteen
hundred feet. The clouds came floating along the valley, and broke against
the sides of the ascent, and the dripping rain on the tall grass made the
slaps in the face it gave, when the hand or a stick was not held up before
it, any thing but agreeable.
This edge of the valley is
exactly like the other; jutting spurs and defiles give the red ascent the
same serrated appearance as that which we descended from the highlands of
Londa. The whole of this vast valley has been removed by denudation, for
pieces of the plateau which once filled the now vacant space stand in it,
and present the same structure of red horizontal strata of equal altitudes
with those of the acclivity which we are now about to ascend.
One of these insulated
masses, named Kasala, bore E.S.E. from the place where we made our exit
from the valley, and about ten miles W.S.W. from the village of Cassange.
It is remarkable for its perpendicular sides; even the natives find it
extremely difficult, almost impossible, to reach its summit, though there
is the temptation of marabou-nests and feathers, which are highly prized.
There is a small lake reported to exist on its southern end, and, during
the rainy season, a sort of natural moat is formed around the bottom. What
an acquisition this would have been in feudal times in England! There is
land sufficient for considerable cultivation on the top, with almost
perpendicular sides more than a thousand feet in height.
We had not yet got a clear
idea of the nature of Tala Mungongo. A gentleman of Cassange described it
as a range of very high mountains, which it would take four hours to
climb; so, though the rain and grass had wetted us miserably, and I was
suffering from an attack of fever got while observing by night for the
position of Cassange, I eagerly commenced the ascent. The path was steep
and slippery; deep gorges appear on each side of it, leaving but a narrow
path along certain spurs of the sierra for the traveler; but we
accomplished the ascent in an hour, and when there, found we had just got
on to a table-land similar to that we had left before we entered the great
Quango valley.
We had come among lofty
trees again. One of these, bearing a fruit about the size of a thirty-two
pounder, is named Mononga-zambi. We took a glance back to this valley,
which equals that of the Mississippi in fertility, and thought of the vast
mass of material which had been scooped out and carried away in its
formation. This naturally led to reflection on the countless ages required
for the previous formation and deposition of that same material (clay
shale), then of the rocks, whose abrasion formed THAT, until the mind grew
giddy in attempting to ascend the steps which lead up through a portion of
the eternity before man. The different epochs of geology are like
landmarks in that otherwise shoreless sea. Our own epoch, or creation, is
but another added to the number of that wonderful series which presents a
grand display of the mighty power of God: every stage of progress in the
earth and its habitants is such a display. So far from this science having
any tendency to make men undervalue the power or love of God, it leads to
the probability that the exhibition of mercy we have in the gift of his
Son may possibly not be the only manifestation of grace which has taken
place in the countless ages during which works of creation have been going
on. Situated a few miles from the edge of the descent, we found the
village of Tala Mungongo, and were kindly accommodated with a house to
sleep in, which was very welcome, as we were all both wet and cold.
We found that the greater
altitude and the approach of winter lowered the temperature so much that
many of my men suffered severely from colds. At this, as at several other
Portuguese stations, they have been provident enough to erect
travelers' houses on the same principle as khans or caravanserais of the
East. They are built of the usual wattle and daub, and have benches of
rods for the wayfarer to make his bed on; also chairs, and a table, and a
large jar of water. These benches, though far from luxurious couches, were
better than the ground under the rotten fragments of my gipsy-tent, for we
had still showers occasionally, and the dews were very heavy. I continued
to use them for the sake of the shelter they afforded, until I found that
they were lodgings also for certain inconvenient bedfellows.
27TH. Five hours' ride
through a pleasant country of forest and meadow, like those of Londa,
brought us to a village of Basongo, a tribe living in subjection to the
Portuguese. We crossed several little streams, which were flowing in the
westerly direction in which we were marching, and unite to form the Quize,
a feeder of the Coanza. The Basongo were very civil, as indeed all the
tribes were who had been conquered by the Portuguese. The Basongo and
Bangala are yet only partially subdued. The farther west we go from this,
the less independent we find the black population, until we reach the
vicinity of Loanda, where the free natives are nearly identical in their
feelings toward the government with the slaves. But the governors of
Angola wisely accept the limited allegiance and tribute rendered by the
more distant tribes as better than none.
All the inhabitants of this
region, as well as those of Londa, may be called true negroes, if the
limitations formerly made be borne in mind. The dark color, thick lips,
heads elongated backward and upward and covered with wool, flat noses,
with other negro peculiarities, are general; but, while these
characteristics place them in the true negro family, the reader would
imbibe a wrong idea if he supposed that all these features combined are
often met with in one individual. All have a certain thickness and
prominence of lip, but many are met with in every village in whom
thickness and projection are not more marked than in Europeans. All are
dark, but the color is shaded off in different individuals from deep black
to light yellow. As we go westward, we observe the light color
predominating over the dark, and then again, when we come within the
influence of damp from the sea air, we find the shade deepen into the
general blackness of the coast population. The shape of the head, with its
woolly crop, though general, is not universal. The tribes on the eastern
side of the continent, as the Caffres, have heads finely developed and
strongly European. Instances of this kind are frequently seen, and after I
became so familiar with the dark color as to forget it in viewing the
countenance, I was struck by the strong resemblance some natives bore to
certain of our own notabilities.
The Bushmen and Hottentots
are exceptions to these remarks, for both the shape of their heads and
growth of wool are peculiar; the latter, for instance, springs from the
scalp in tufts with bare spaces between, and when the crop is short,
resembles a number of black pepper-corns stuck on the skin, and very
unlike the thick frizzly masses which cover the heads of the Balonda and
Maravi. With every disposition to pay due deference to the opinions of
those who have made ethnology their special study, I have felt myself
unable to believe that the exaggerated features usually put forth as those
of the typical negro characterize the majority of any nation of south
Central Africa. The monuments of the ancient Egyptians seem to me to
embody the ideal of the inhabitants of Londa better than the figures of
any work of ethnology I have met with.
Passing through a fine,
fertile, and well-peopled country to Sanza, we found the Quize River again
touching our path, and here we had the pleasure of seeing a field of wheat
growing luxuriantly without irrigation. The ears were upward of four
inches long, an object of great curiosity to my companions, because they
had tasted my bread at Linyanti, but had never before seen wheat growing.
This small field was cultivated by Mr. Miland, an agreeable Portuguese
merchant. His garden was interesting, as showing what the land at this
elevation is capable of yielding; for, besides wheat, we saw European
vegetables in a flourishing condition, and we afterward discovered that
the coffee-plant has propagated itself on certain spots of this same
district. It may be seen on the heights of Tala Mungongo, or nearly 300
miles from the west coast, where it was first introduced by the Jesuit
missionaries.
We spent Sunday, the 30th
of April, at Ngio, close to the ford of the Quize as it crosses our path
to fall into the Coanza. The country becomes more open, but is still
abundantly fertile, with a thick crop of grass between two and three feet
high. It is also well wooded and watered. Villages of Basongo are dotted
over the landscape, and frequently a square house of wattle and daub,
belonging to native Portuguese, is placed beside them for the purposes of
trade. The people here possess both cattle and pigs. The different
sleeping-places on our path, from eight to ten miles apart, are marked by
a cluster of sheds made of sticks and grass. There is a constant stream of
people going and returning to and from the coast. The goods are carried on
the head, or on one shoulder, in a sort of basket attached to the
extremities of two poles between five and six feet long, and called
Motete. When the basket is placed on the head, the poles project forward
horizontally, and when the carrier wishes to rest himself, he plants them
on the ground and the burden against a tree, so he is not obliged to lift
it up from the ground to the level of the head. It stands against the tree
propped up by the poles at that level. The carrier frequently plants the
poles on the ground, and stands holding the burden until he has taken
breath, thus avoiding the trouble of placing the burden on the ground and
lifting it up again. When a company of these carriers, or our own party,
arrives at one of these sleeping-places, immediate possession is taken of
the sheds. Those who come late, and find all occupied, must then erect
others for themselves; but this is not difficult, for there is no lack of
long grass.
No sooner do any strangers
appear at the spot, than the women may be seen emerging from their
villages bearing baskets of manioc-meal, roots, ground-nuts, yams,
bird's-eye pepper, and garlic for sale. Calico, of which we had brought
some from Cassange, is the chief medium of exchange. We found them all
civil, and it was evident, from the amount of talking and laughing in
bargaining, that the ladies enjoyed their occupation. They must cultivate
largely, in order to be able to supply the constant succession of
strangers. Those, however, near to the great line of road, purchase also
much of the food from the more distant villages for the sake of gain.
Pitsane and another of the
men had violent attacks of fever, and it was no wonder, for the dampness
and evaporation from the ground was excessive. When at any time I
attempted to get an observation of a star, if the trough of mercury were
placed on the ground, so much moisture was condensed on the inside of the
glass roof over it that it was with difficulty the reflection of the star
could be seen. When the trough was placed on a box to prevent the moisture
entering from below, so much dew was deposited on the outside of the roof
that it was soon necessary, for the sake of distinct vision, to wipe the
glass. This would not have been of great consequence, but a short exposure
to this dew was so sure to bring on a fresh fever, that I was obliged to
give up observations by night altogether. The inside of the only covering
I now had was not much better, but under the blanket one is not so liable
to the chill which the dew produces.
It would have afforded me
pleasure to have cultivated a more intimate acquaintance with the
inhabitants of this part of the country, but the vertigo produced by
frequent fevers made it as much as I could do to stick on the ox and crawl
along in misery. In crossing the Lombe, my ox Sinbad, in the indulgence of
his propensity to strike out a new path for himself, plunged overhead into
a deep hole, and so soused me that I was obliged to move on to dry my
clothing, without calling on the Europeans who live on the bank. This I
regretted, for all the Portuguese were very kind, and, like the Boers
placed in similar circumstances, feel it a slight to be passed without a
word of salutation. But we went on to a spot where orange-trees had been
planted by the natives themselves, and where abundance of that refreshing
fruit was exposed for sale.
On entering the district of
Ambaca, we found the landscape enlivened by the appearance of lofty
mountains in the distance, the grass comparatively short, and the whole
country at this time looking gay and verdant. On our left we saw certain
rocks of the same nature with those of Pungo Andongo, and which closely
resemble the Stonehenge group on Salisbury Plain, only the stone pillars
here are of gigantic size. This region is all wonderfully fertile, famed
for raising cattle, and all kinds of agricultural produce, at a cheap
rate. The soil contains sufficient ferruginous matter, to impart a red
tinge to nearly the whole of it. It is supplied with a great number of
little flowing streams which unite in the Lucalla. This river drains
Ambaca, then falls into the Coanza to the southwest at Massangano.
We crossed the Lucalla by
means of a large canoe kept there by a man who farms the ferry from the
government, and charges about a penny per head. A few miles beyond the
Lucalla we came to the village of Ambaca, an important place in former
times, but now a mere paltry village, beautifully situated on a little
elevation in a plain surrounded on all hands by lofty mountains. It has a
jail, and a good house for the commandant, but neither fort nor church,
though the ruins of a place of worship are still standing.
We were most kindly
received by the commandant of Ambaca, Arsenio de Carpo, who spoke a little
English. He recommended wine for my debility, and here I took the first
glass of that beverage I had taken in Africa. I felt much refreshed, and
could then realize and meditate on the weakening effects of the fever.
They were curious even to myself; for, though I had tried several times
since we left Ngio to take lunar observations, I could not avoid confusion
of time and distance, neither could I hold the instrument steady, nor
perform a simple calculation; hence many of the positions of this part of
the route were left till my return from Loanda. Often, on getting up in
the mornings, I found my clothing as wet from perspiration as if it had
been dipped in water.
In vain had I tried to
learn or collect words of the Bunda, or dialect spoken in Angola. I forgot
the days of the week and the names of my companions, and, had I been
asked, I probably could not have told my own. The complaint itself
occupied many of my thoughts. One day I supposed that I had got the true
theory of it, and would certainly cure the next attack, whether in myself
or companions; but some new symptoms would appear, and scatter all the
fine speculations which had sprung up, with extraordinary fertility, in
one department of my brain. This district is said to contain upward of
40,000 souls.
Some ten or twelve miles to
the north of the village of Ambaca there once stood the missionary station
of Cahenda, and it is now quite astonishing to observe the great numbers
who can read and write in this district. This is the fruit of the labors
of the Jesuit and Capuchin missionaries, for they taught the people of
Ambaca; and ever since the expulsion of the teachers by the Marquis of
Pombal, the natives have continued to teach each other. These devoted men
are still held in high estimation throughout the country to this day. All
speak well of them (os padres Jesuitas); and, now that they are gone from
this lower sphere, I could not help wishing that these our Roman Catholic
fellow-Christians had felt it to be their duty to give the people the
Bible, to be a light to their feet when the good men themselves were gone.
When sleeping in the house
of the commandant, an insect, well known in the southern country by the
name Tampan, bit my foot. It is a kind of tick, and chooses by preference
the parts between the fingers or toes for inflicting its bite. It is seen
from the size of a pin's head to that of a pea, and is common in all the
native huts in this country. It sucks the blood until quite full, and is
then of a dark blue color, and its skin so tough and yielding that it is
impossible to burst it by any amount of squeezing with the fingers. I had
felt the effects of its bite in former years, and eschewed all native huts
ever after; but as I was here again assailed in a European house, I shall
detail the effects of the bite. These are a tingling sensation of mingled
pain and itching, which commences ascending the limb until the poison
imbibed reaches the abdomen, where it soon causes violent vomiting and
purging. Where these effects do not follow, as we found afterward at Tete,
fever sets in; and I was assured by intelligent Portuguese there that
death has sometimes been the result of this fever. The anxiety my friends
at Tete manifested to keep my men out of the reach of the tampans of the
village made it evident that they had seen cause to dread this
insignificant insect. The only inconvenience I afterward suffered from
this bite was the continuance of the tingling sensation in the point
bitten for about a week.
MAY 12TH. As we were about
to start this morning, the commandant, Senhor Arsenio, provided bread and
meat most bountifully for my use on the way to the next station, and sent
two militia soldiers as guides, instead of our Cassange corporal, who left
us here. About midday we asked for shelter from the sun in the house of
Senhor Mellot, at Zangu, and, though I was unable to sit and engage in
conversation, I found, on rising from his couch, that he had at once
proceeded to cook a fowl for my use; and at parting he gave me a glass of
wine, which prevented the violent fit of shivering I expected that
afternoon. The universal hospitality of the Portuguese was most
gratifying, as it was quite unexpected; and even now, as I copy my
journal, I remember it all with a glow of gratitude.
We spent Sunday, the 14th
of May, at Cabinda, which is one of the stations of the sub-commandants,
who are placed at different points in each district of Angola as
assistants of the head-commandant, or chefe. It is situated in a beautiful
glen, and surrounded by plantations of bananas and manioc. The country was
gradually becoming more picturesque the farther we proceeded west. The
ranges of lofty blue mountains of Libollo, which, in coming toward Ambaca,
we had seen thirty or forty miles to our south, were now shut from our
view by others nearer at hand, and the gray ranges of Cahenda and Kiwe,
which, while we were in Ambaca, stood clearly defined eight or ten miles
off to the north, were now close upon our right. As we looked back toward
the open pastoral country of Ambaca, the broad green gently undulating
plains seemed in a hollow surrounded on all sides by rugged mountains, and
as we went westward we were entering upon quite a wild-looking mountainous
district, called Golungo Alto.
We met numbers of Mambari
on their way back to Bihe. Some of them had belonged to the parties which
had penetrated as far as Linyanti, and foolishly showed their displeasure
at the prospect of the Makololo preferring to go to the coast markets
themselves to intrusting them with their ivory. The Mambari repeated the
tale of the mode in which the white men are said to trade. "The ivory is
left on the shore in the evening, and next morning the seller finds a
quantity of goods placed there in its stead by the white men who live in
the sea." "Now," added they to my men, "how can you Makololo trade with
these `Mermen'? Can you enter into the sea, and tell them to come ashore?"
It was remarkable to hear this idea repeated so near the sea as we now
were. My men replied that they only wanted to see for themselves; and, as
they were now getting some light on the nature of the trade carried on by
the Mambari, they were highly amused on perceiving the reasons why the
Mambari would rather have met them on the Zambesi than so near the
sea-coast.
There is something so
exhilarating to one of Highland blood in being near or on high mountains,
that I forgot my fever as we wended our way among the lofty tree-covered
masses of mica schist which form the highlands around the romantic
residence of the chefe of Golungo Alto. (Lat. 9d 8' 30" S., long. 15d 2'
E.) The whole district is extremely beautiful. The hills are all bedecked
with trees of various hues of foliage, and among them towers the graceful
palm, which yields the oil of commerce for making our soaps, and the
intoxicating toddy. Some clusters of hills look like the waves of the sea
driven into a narrow open bay, and have assumed the same form as if, when
all were chopping up perpendicularly, they had suddenly been congealed.
The cottages of the natives, perched on the tops of many of the hillocks,
looked as if the owners possessed an eye for the romantic, but they were
probably influenced more by the desire to overlook their gardens, and keep
their families out of the reach of the malaria, which is supposed to
prevail most on the banks of the numerous little streams which run among
the hills.
We were most kindly
received by the commandant, Lieutenant Antonio Canto e Castro, a young
gentleman whose whole subsequent conduct will ever make me regard him with
great affection. Like every other person of intelligence whom I had met,
he lamented deeply the neglect with which this fine country has been
treated. This district contained by the last census 26,000 hearths or
fires; and if to each hearth we reckon four souls, we have a population of
104,000.
The number of carregadores
(carriers) who may be ordered out at the pleasure of government to convey
merchandise to the coast is in this district alone about 6000, yet there
is no good road in existence. This system of compulsory carriage of
merchandise was adopted in consequence of the increase in numbers and
activity of our cruisers, which took place in 1845. Each trader who went,
previous to that year, into the interior, in the pursuit of his calling,
proceeded on the plan of purchasing ivory and beeswax, and a sufficient
number of slaves to carry these commodities. The whole were intended for
exportation as soon as the trader reached the coast. But when the more
stringent measures of 1845 came into operation, and rendered the
exportation of slaves almost impossible, there being no roads proper for
the employment of wheel conveyances, this new system of compulsory
carriage of ivory and beeswax to the coast was resorted to by the
government of Loanda. A trader who requires two or three hundred carriers
to convey his merchandise to the coast now applies to the general
government for aid. An order is sent to the commandant of a district to
furnish the number required. Each head man of the villages to whom the
order is transmitted must furnish from five to twenty or thirty men,
according to the proportion that his people bear to the entire population
of the district. For this accommodation the trader must pay a tax to the
government of 1000 reis, or about three shillings per load carried. The
trader is obliged to pay the carrier also the sum of 50 reis, or about
twopence a day, for his sustenance. And as a day's journey is never more
than from eight to ten miles, the expense which must be incurred for this
compulsory labor is felt to be heavy by those who were accustomed to
employ slave labor alone. Yet no effort has been made to form a great line
of road for wheel carriages. The first great want of a country has not
been attended to, and no development of its vast resources has taken
place. The fact, however, of a change from one system of carriage to
another, taken in connection with the great depreciation in the price of
slaves near this coast, proves the effectiveness of our efforts at
repressing the slave-trade on the ocean.
The latitude of Golungo
Alto, as observed at the residence of the commandant, was 9d 8' 30" S.,
longitude 15d 2' E. A few days' rest with this excellent young man enabled
me to regain much of my strength, and I could look with pleasure on the
luxuriant scenery before his door. We were quite shut in among green
hills, many of which were cultivated up to their tops with manioc, coffee,
cotton, ground-nuts, bananas, pine-apples, guavas, papaws, custard-apples,
pitangas, and jambos, fruits brought from South America by the former
missionaries. The high hills all around, with towering palms on many
points, made this spot appear more like the Bay of Rio de Janeiro in
miniature than any scene I ever saw; and all who have seen that confess it
to be unequaled in the world beside. The fertility evident in every spot
of this district was quite marvelous to behold, but I shall reserve
further notices of this region till our return from Loanda.
We left Golungo Alto on the
24th of May, the winter in these parts. Every evening clouds come rolling
in great masses over the mountains in the west, and pealing thunder
accompanies the fall of rain during the night or early in the morning. The
clouds generally remain on the hills till the morning is well spent, so
that we become familiar with morning mists, a thing we never once saw at
Kolobeng. The thermometer stands at 80 Degrees by day, but sinks as low as
76 Degrees by night.
In going westward we
crossed several fine little gushing streams which never dry. They unite in
the Luinha (pronounced Lueenya) and Lucalla. As they flow over many little
cascades, they might easily be turned to good account, but they are all
allowed to run on idly to the ocean. We passed through forests of gigantic
timber, and at an open space named Cambondo, about eight miles from
Golungo Alto, found numbers of carpenters converting these lofty trees
into planks, in exactly the same manner as was followed by the illustrious
Robinson Crusoe. A tree of three or four feet in diameter, and forty or
fifty feet up to the nearest branches, was felled. It was then cut into
lengths of a few feet, and split into thick junks, which again were
reduced to planks an inch thick by persevering labor with the axe. The
object of the carpenters was to make little chests, and they drive a
constant trade in them at Cambondo. When finished with hinges, lock, and
key, all of their own manufacture, one costs only a shilling and
eightpence. My men were so delighted with them that they carried several
of them on their heads all the way to Linyanti.
At Trombeta we were pleased
to observe a great deal of taste displayed by the sub-commandant in the
laying out of his ground and adornment of his house with flowers. This
trifling incident was the more pleasing, as it was the first attempt at
neatness I had seen since leaving the establishment of Mozinkwa in Londa.
Rows of trees had been planted along each side of the road, with
pine-apples and flowers between. This arrangement I had an opportunity of
seeing in several other districts of this country, for there is no
difficulty in raising any plant or tree if it is only kept from being
choked by weeds.
This gentleman had now a
fine estate, which but a few years ago was a forest, and cost him only 16
Pounds. He had planted about 900 coffee-trees upon it, and as these begin
to yield in three years from being planted, and in six attain their
maximum, I have no doubt but that ere now his 16 Pounds yields him sixty
fold. All sorts of fruit-trees and grape-vines yield their fruit twice in
each year, without any labor or irrigation being bestowed on them. All
grains and vegetables, if only sown, do the same; and if advantage is
taken of the mists of winter, even three crops of pulse may be raised.
Cotton was now standing in the pods in his fields, and he did not seem to
care about it. I understood him to say that this last plant flourishes,
but the wet of one of the two rainy seasons with which this country is
favored sometimes proves troublesome to the grower. I am not aware whether
wheat has ever been tried, but I saw both figs and grapes bearing well.
The great complaint of all cultivators is the want of a good road to carry
their produce to market. Here all kinds of food are remarkably cheap.
Farther on we left the
mountainous country, and, as we descended toward the west coast, saw the
lands assuming a more sterile, uninviting aspect. On our right ran the
River Senza, which nearer the sea takes the name of Bengo. It is about
fifty yards broad, and navigable for canoes. The low plains adjacent to
its banks are protected from inundation by embankments, and the population
is entirely occupied in raising food and fruits for exportation to Loanda
by means of canoes. The banks are infested by myriads of the most
ferocious mosquitoes I ever met. Not one of our party could get a snatch
of sleep. I was taken into the house of a Portuguese, but was soon glad to
make my escape and lie across the path on the lee side of the fire, where
the smoke blew over my body. My host wondered at my want of taste, and I
at his want of feeling; for, to our astonishment, he and the other
inhabitants had actually become used to what was at least equal to a nail
through the heel of one's boot, or the tooth-ache.
As we were now drawing near
to the sea, my companions were looking at every thing in a serious light.
One of them asked me if we should all have an opportunity of watching each
other at Loanda. "Suppose one went for water, would the others see if he
were kidnapped?" I replied, "I see what you are driving at; and if you
suspect me, you may return, for I am as ignorant of Loanda as you are; but
nothing will happen to you but what happens to myself. We have stood by
each other hitherto, and will do so to the last."
The plains adjacent to
Loanda are somewhat elevated and comparatively sterile. On coming across
these we first beheld the sea: my companions looked upon the boundless
ocean with awe. On describing their feelings afterward, they remarked that
"we marched along with our father, believing that what the ancients had
always told us was true, that the world has no end; but all at once the
world said to us, `I am finished; there is no more of me!'" They had
always imagined that the world was one extended plain without limit.
They were now somewhat
apprehensive of suffering want, and I was unable to allay their fears with
any promise of supply, for my own mind was depressed by disease and care.
The fever had induced a state of chronic dysentery, so troublesome that I
could not remain on the ox more than ten minutes at a time; and as we came
down the declivity above the city of Loanda on the 31st of May, I was
laboring under great depression of spirits, as I understood that, in a
population of twelve thousand souls, there was but one genuine English
gentleman. I naturally felt anxious to know whether he were possessed of
good-nature, or was one of those crusty mortals one would rather not meet
at all.
This gentleman, Mr.
Gabriel, our commissioner for the suppression of the slave-trade, had
kindly forwarded an invitation to meet me on the way from Cassange, but,
unfortunately, it crossed me on the road. When we entered his porch, I was
delighted to see a number of flowers cultivated carefully, and inferred
from this circumstance that he was, what I soon discovered him to be, a
real whole-hearted Englishman. Seeing me ill, he benevolently offered me
his bed. Never shall I forget the luxurious pleasure I enjoyed in feeling
myself again on a good English couch, after six months' sleeping on the
ground. I was soon asleep; and Mr. Gabriel, coming in almost immediately,
rejoiced at the soundness of my repose. |