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Henry  H.  Bucher,  Jr. 
Cat  Garlit  Bucher 


HENRY  &  EMILY  BUCHER 

.  220  LATHROP  ST. 
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ANGOLA 


THE    KIYEE    CONGO 


BY 

JOACHIM    JOHN    MONTEIEO, 

ASSOCIATE   OF   THE   ROYAL   SCHOOL  OF   MINES,   AND   CORRESPONDING 
MEMBER  OF   THE   ZOOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 

Vol.  I. 
WITH  MAP  AND  ILLUSTBATI0N8. 


MACMILLAN    AND    CO. 

1875. 

All  Bights  Reserved. 


LONDON : 

PRINTED  BY   WILLIAM  CLOWES   AND  SONS, 

STAMFOKD  8TRBET  AND  CHAIUNG  CK08S. 


TO 

ROSE    MY   WIFE 

i  'gzbic^it  thi0  Moxk 

IN   LOVING   REMEMBRANCE   OP  THE  HAPPY   DATS   WE  PASSED   TOGETHER 

IN  THE  PEACEFUL  STILLNESS  AND  TROPICAL  LUXURIANCE 

OF  THE  VAST  SOLITUDES  OF  ANGOLA. 


PREFACE. 


The  following  description  of  the  country  between 
the  Kiver  Zaire  or  Congo,  and  Mossamedes  or  Little 
Fish  Bay,  comprising  ten  degrees  of  latitude,  is  the 
result  of  many  years  of  travel  in  and  exploration 
of  that  part  of  the  coast. 

My  aim  has  been  to  present  an  accurate  and 
truthful  account  of  its  more  striking  features  and 
productions,  and  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
various  tribes  which  inhabit  it. 

I  have  avoided  mentioning  more  names  of  places 
and  persons  than  are  necessary,  as  they  would  be 
of  little  or  no  interest  to  the  general  reader.  I 
have  also  omitted  detailed  lists  and  descriptions  of 
plants  and  animals  that  I  have  collected,  as  such 
would  only  interest  naturalists,  who  are  referred  to 
the  different  scientific  publications  in  which  they 
have  been  described. 

This  being  the  first  detailed  account  of  a  most 
interesting  and  rich  part  of  Tropical  Africa,  I  leave 
it  with  confidence  to  the  indulgence  of  my  readers, 
assuring  them  that  at  all  events  a  want  of  truth  is 
not  included  in  its  shortcominos. 


(     vii     ) 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

History  ..         ..         ..         ..         ..         ,.         ..       1 


CHAPTER  II. 

Physical  Geography  —  Character  of  Vegetation  — 
Rivers       ..         ..         ..         ..  ..         ..         ..     23 

CHAPTER  HI. 

The  River  Congo  a  Boundary  —  Slave  Trade  — 
Slavery  —  Ordeal  by  Poison  —  Insensibility  of 
the  Negro  —  Ingratitude       ..  ..  ..  ..53 

CHAPTER  IV. 
The    River    Congo  —  Banana  —  Porto    da    Lenha  — 

BOMA —  MUSSURONGO  TrIBE  —  PiRATES  —  MUSHICONGO 

Tribe  —  Fish  —  Palm  Chop  —  Palm  Wine   ..  .,     81 

CHAPTER  V. 

Country  from  the  River  Congo  to  Ambriz  —  Vege- 
tation —  Trading  —  Civilization  —  Commerce  — 
Products  —  Ivory  —  Musserra  —  Sleep  Disease  — 
Salt  —  Mineral  Pitch  ..  ..  ..  ..   100 


viii  CONTENTS, 


CHAPTEK  YI. 

PAGE 

Ambkiz  —  Trade  —  Malachite  —  Eoad  to  Bembs  — 
Travelling  —  Mosquitoes  —  Quiballa  to  Quilumbo 
—  Natives  —  Qutlumbo  to  Bembe      ..  ..  ..    152 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Bembe  —  Malachite  Deposit  —  Eoot  Parasite  —  En- 
GONGui  —  Mortality  of  Cattle  —  Fairs  —  King  of 
Congo  —  Receptions  —  Customs  —  San  Salvador  — 
Fevers  —  Return  to  Ambriz   ,.  ..  ..  ..   189 


CHAPTER  Till. 

Character  op  the  Negro  —  Fetish  —  Customs  —  Arms 
AND  War  —  Dress  —  Zombo  Tribe  —  Burial  —  In- 
sanity     ..  ..  ..  ,  ..   238 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Customs  of  the  Mussurongo,  Ambriz,  and  Mushi- 
coNGO  Negroes  —  Mandioca  Plant;  its  Prepara- 
tions —  Chili  Pepper  —  Bananas  —  Rats  —  Whits 
Ant  —  Native  Beer  —  Strange  Sounds      ..  ..   280 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Drawn  on  Wood  by  Mr.  Edward  Fielding  ;  the  Views  from 

Sketches  hy  Mrs.  Monteiro,  and  from  Photographs ;  the 
Implements,  &c.,  from  the  Originals. 

Map      ..          ..           ..           ..          ..          ..  Frontispiece. 

Travelling  in  Angola  —  View  near  Ambriz  ..  To  face  page     23 

Porto  da  Lenha           . .          . .          . .          . .  „              81 

View  on  the  Congo,  above  Boma       . .          . .  „              99 

Ankle-ring  —  King   to  ascend  Palm-trees  — 
Cage   for   carrying   Ivory  tusks  —  En- 

gongui  —  Fetish  figure  —  Mask  —  Pillow  , ,             140 

Granite  Pillar  of  Musserra  —  Wooden  trum- 
pet —  Hoe  —  Pipe  — Knives  —  Clapping 

hands  and  Answer          ..           ..          ..  „             145 

View   in   the   hilly   country  of   Quiballa  — 

Camoensia  maxima         ..          ..          ..  „            177 

Quilumbo         ..          ..          ..          ..          ..  „            185 

Bembe  Valley „             189 

Bembe  Peak   ' „             231 


VOL.  I. 


ANGOLA  AND  THE  EIVER  CONGO. 


CHAPTEK  I. 

HISTOKY. 

The  following  sketch  of  the  discovery  and  earlier 
history  of  Angola  is  translated  and  condensed  from 
an  interesting  work  in  Portuguese  by  Feo  Cardozo, 
on  the  *  History  of  the  Governors  of  Angola '  (Paris, 
8vo,  1825)  :— 

*'The  Portuguese,  engrossed  by  the  great  hopes 
raised  by  the  conquest  of  Brazil  and  the  Indies,  did 
not  determine  to  establish  themselves  in  Angola  till 
eighty-four  years  after  they  had  discovered  it.  The 
King  of  Angola,  jealous  of  the  advantages  that  he 
supposed  his  neighbour  the  King  of  Congo  derived 
from  his  trade  and  intercourse  with  the  Portuguese, 
determined  to  send  several  of  his  subjects  to  Por- 
tugal to  beg  the  like  friendship  for  himself.     Queen 

VOL.  I.  B 


2  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVEB  CONGO.      [ch.  i. 

Catherine,  acceding  to  his  request,  sent  to  him  Paulo 
Diaz  de  Novaes,  grandson  of  the  famous  Bartolomeo 
Diaz,  who  had  discovered  the  greater  part  of  the 
West  Coast  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Paulo 
Diaz  left  Lisbon  in  September,  1559,  with  three 
shijDs,  a  few  soldiers,  and  a  present  for  the  King, 
bearing  instructions  to  open  commercial  relations 
with  the  latter,  and  to  convert  him  to  Christianity. 
After  many  dangers  he  arrived  in  May,  1560,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Eiver  Quanza;  the  King  of  Angola 
was  dead,  but  his  son,  who  then  reigned,  renewed 
on  his  arrival  his  father's  request  for  friendly  rela- 
tions with  the  Portuguese.  Paulo  Diaz,  relying  on 
his  statements,  landed  with  only  twenty  men,  and 
leaving  the  rest  on  board  the  ships  ordered  them  to 
return  to  Portugal  if  within  a  certain  time  he  should 
not  come  back  to  them.  He  immediately  marched 
to  the  Court  of  Angola,  where  he  and  his  present 
were  received  by  the  King  with  acclamation. 

*'  After  the  lapse  of  a  few  days,  Paulo  Diaz,  wish- 
ing to  retire  to  his  ships,  was  prevented  by  the  King 
under  the  pretence  of  his  aid  being  required  in  some 
wars  he  was  then  engaged  in.  He  was  thus  detained 
a  prisoner  until  the  King,  hard  pressed  by  the  revolt 


CH.  I.]  HISTORY. 


of  one  of  his  powerful  vassals,  determined  to  allow 
him  to  return  to  Portugal,  so  that  he  might  bring 
him  assistance.  From  the  missals,  altar-stones,  and 
old-fashioned  church  furniture  that  he  saw  in  the 
hands  of  the  negroes  during  his  expedition  into 
the  interior,  Paulo  Diaz  concluded  that  missionaries 
had  already  been  in  the  country  many  years  before. 
Keturning  to  Portugal  he  gave  an  account  of  what 
he  had  seen  to  the  King,  Dom  Sebastian,  who  sent 
him  back  with  the  title  of  Conqueror,  Coloniser, 
and  Governor  of  Angola,  and  conceded  to  him  ample 
powers  for  the  establishment  of  the  new  colony. 

"Paulo  Diaz  left  Lisbon  in  October,  1574,  with 
a  fleet  of  seven  ships,  and  seven  hundred  men,  and 
sighted  land  after  a  passage  of  three  months  and  a 
half.  Landing  on  the  island  facing  the  present  city 
of  Loanda,  he  took  formal  possession  of  it  in  the 
name  of  the  King  of  Portugal.  An  immense  number 
of  negroes  witnessed  the  ceremony,  as  well  as  forty 
Portuguese  who  had  retired  from  the  kingdom  of 
Congo,  owing  to  the  wars  amongst  the  negroes  of 
that  country. 

"The  King  of  Angola  received  the  Portuguese 
with  great  joy,  and  in  return  for  the  presents  that 

B  2 


4  ANGOLA  AND  THE  EWER  CONGO,      [ch.  i. 

Dom  Sebastian  had  sent  him,  gave  Paulo  Diaz 
several  armlets  of  silver  and  of  copper,  and  sticks 
of  Quicongo  wood;  the  silver  of  the  armlets  was 
afterwards  made  into  a  chalice  and  presented  to  the 
church  of  Belem  at  Lisbon. 

"  Finding  that  the  island  was  not  suitable  for  esta- 
blishing the  new  colony,  the  Portuguese  removed  to 
the  mainland,  and  choosing  the  spot  now  occupied 
by  the  fortress  of  San  Miguel,  built  a  church  and 
founded  their  first  colony  in  Angola.  They  then 
aided  the  King,  and  enabled  him  speedily  to  re- 
duce his  rebel  vassal  to  obedience.  After  several 
months  passed  in  the  greatest  friendship,  the  King 
of  Congo  attempted  to  intrigue  against  the  Por- 
tuguese, but  without  success.  Perfect  peace  existed 
between  the  Portuguese  and  the  blacks  of  Angola 
for  six  years,  when  it  was  destroyed  by  the  base 
perfidy  of  a  Portuguese,  who  begged  the  King  to 
make  him  his  slave,  as  he  wished  to  disclose  a 
most  important  secret.  Astonished  at  this  propo- 
sition, the  King  called  together  his  *Macotas'  or 
council,  and  in  their  presence  ordered  the  infamous 
traitor  to  divulge  it ;  on  which  he  said  that  Paulo 
Diaz  planned  despoiling  him    of   his  kingdom  and 


CH.  I.]  HISTORY. 


mines,  for  which  purpose  he  had  collected  great 
stores  of  powder  and  ball.  Next  day  the  King- 
caused  all  the  Portuguese  to  appear  before  him, 
and  in  their  presence  the  traitor  repeated  his  story. 
The  Portuguese,  in  astonishment,  attempted  to  refute 
the  calumny,  but  without  attending  to  their  explana- 
tions the  King  ordered  them  from  his  presence,  and 
taking  counsel  of  his  'Macotas'  was  persuaded  by 
them  to  destroy  at  once  all  the  Portuguese,  and  thus 
avert  the  threatened  danger.  Approving  their  ad- 
vice, he  feigned  forgetfulness  of  the  occurrence^ 
then  under  pretence  of  a  war  in  the  interior,  sent 
forward  the  Portuguese,  who,  ignorant  of  the  strata- 
gem, were  all  suddenly  set  upon  and  murdered, 
together  with  the  Christian  slaves,  numbering  over 
a  thousand.  A  similar  fate  befell  all  the  Portuguese 
engaged  in  trading  in  different  parts  of  the  country, 
and  their  goods  and  property  were  taken  possession 
of.  The  traitor  received  the  just  punishment  of  his 
infamy,  for  the  King  ordered  him  to  be  executed, 
saying,  it  was  not  right  that  one  should  live  who 
had  caused  the  death  of  his  countrymen.  This 
cruel  butchery  concluded,  the  King  sent  Paulo  Diaz, 
who  was  on  his  journey  from  Loanda,  an  order  not 


6  ANGOLA  AND  THE  EIVER  CONGO.      [ch.  i. 

to  proceed  beyond  the  spot  at  wliicli  lie  should 
receive  it. 

"The  Governor,  though  totally  ignorant  of  the 
horrible  catastrophe,  distrusted  the  message,  and, 
retiring  to  Anzelle,  erected  a  wooden  intrenchment, 
and  fortifying  it  with  two  small  cannon,  awaited 
the  solution  of  the  affair.  But  few  days  had  elapsed 
before  he  received  tidings  of  the  dreadful  tragedy, 
and  of  the  advance  of  a  great  army  of  blacks  to 
annihilate  him  and  the  remaining  Portuguese.  This 
news,  far  from  terrifying  him,  inspired  him  with  the 
hope  of  speedily  avenging  the  murder  of  his  coun- 
trymen. Animating  his  garrison,  of  only  150  men, 
with  the  same  sentiment,  he,  with  the  aid  of  their 
two  guns,  repelled  the  attack  of  the  blacks,  causing 
such  havoc  among  them  that  they  were  completely 
routed  and  dispersed;  he  also  sent  his  lieutenant 
into  the  interior  to  ravage  it  with  fire  and  sword. 
This  was  accomplished  so  successfully,  that  the 
King,  repentiQg  of  his  barbarity,  turned  against 
the  Macotas  who  had  counselled  him,  and  ordered 
them  all  to  be  put  to  death. 

"  Paulo  Diaz  being  reinforced  from  Portugal,  de- 
feated  several   of  the   *  Sobas,'   or   chiefs   of  Quis- 


CH.  I.]  HISTORY. 


sama,  who  attempted  to  impede  his  nayigation  of 
the  Eiver  Qiianza,  defeated  a  second  time  the  King 
of  Angola,  and  conquered  the  greater  part  of  the 
Provinces  of  Quissama  and  Illamba,  the  whole  of 
which  he  could  not  occupy  from  want  of  men.  He 
then,  resolving  to  acquire  the  silver  mines  said  to 
exist  in  the  mountains  of  Cambambe,  fortified 
himself  with  his  Lieutenant,  Luis  Serrao,  and  120 
men,  at  Tacandongo,  which  is  a  short  distance  from 
the  supposed  mines. 

"Here  they  were  approached  by  the  third  army 
of  the  King  of  Angola,  so  numerous  that  it  ex- 
tended for  two  leagues.  The  Governor  attacked  it 
on  the  2nd  February,  1583,  before  it  had  had  time 
to  form  on  the  plain  below,  and  with  the  assistance 
of  several  native  chiefs  fell  on  the  black  multitude 
with  such  success  as  to  disperse  it  completely  in  a 
few  hours,  leaving  the  field  covered  with  dead.  Paulo 
Diaz  ordered  the  noses  of  all  the  slain  to  be  cut  off, 
and  sent  several  loads  of  them  to  Loanda  as  evidence 
of  his  victory,  and  to  inspire  the  blacks  with  the 
fear  of  his  arms.  The  King  of  Angola,  rendered 
desperate  by  these  repeated  defeats,  attempted  with 
a  fourth  army  to  obtain  a  victory  over  the  Portu- 


8  ANGOLA  AND  THE  EIVER  CONGO.        [ch.  i. 

guese,  but  was  again  routed  with  great  slaughter.  In 
celebration  of  the  above  victory  Paulo  Diaz  founded 
the  first  settlement  in  the  interior  at  Massangano, 
under  the  title  of  Nossa  Senhora  da  Victoria. 

"In  1597,  200  Flemish  colonists  arrived  at 
Loanda,  but  nearly  the  whole  of  them  quickly  died 
from  the  ejBfects  of  the  climate. 

"About  the  same  time  the  colony  of  Benguella 
was  founded  by  a  party  of  seventy  soldiers,  but 
fifty  of  these  having  walked  out  unarmed  on  the 
beach,  to  amuse  themselves  by  fishing,  were  sur- 
prised by  a  large  number  of  blacks,  who  cut  their 
heads  off,  and  then  attacked  the  twenty  men  in  the 
fort.  They  defended  themselves  bravely  until  all  but 
two,  who  managed  to  escape,  were  killed. 

"Constantly  engaged  in  wars  with  the  powerful 
'  Sobas '  and  savage  populous  nations  of  the  interior, 
the  Portuguese  gradually  extended  and  established 
their  power  in  Angola. 

"In  1595,  Jeronymo  dAlmeida,  with  400  men 
and  twenty-one  horses,  again  started  from  Loanda 
to  take  possession  of  the  silver  mines  of  Cambambe, 
and  on  his  way  established  the  fort  at  Muxima  on 
the  Kiver  Quanza.     Continuing  his  march,  he   fell 


CH.  I.]  HISTORY. 


ill,  and  was  obliged  to  return  to  Loanda,  leaving 
his  officers  in  command.  These  were  unfortunately 
drawn  into  an  ambuscade  in  a  rocky  ravine  at 
Cambambe,  where,  an  immense  number  of  blacks 
falling  on  them,  206  of  the  Portuguese  were  slain, 
notwithstanding  their  bravest  resistance,  and  only 
seven  men  escaped  the  wholesale  slaughter. 

"In  the  same  year  Joao  Furtado  de  Mendonpa 
arrived  at  Loanda,  bringing  with  him  twelve  white 
women,  the  first  that  had  ever  arrived  in  Angola, 
and  who  are  said  to  have  all  married  immediately. 

"The  new  Governor's  first  acts  were  to  retrieve 
the  losses  suffered  by  his  predecessor,  but  starting 
in  the  worst  season  of  the  year,  he  remained  some 
time  on  the  banks  ^f  the  Kiver  Bengo,  where  200 
men  died  of  fever,  the  rest  suffering  greatly  from 
hunger.  At  last,  continuing  his  march  with  the 
remains  of  his  force,  he  very  successfully  reduced 
the  rebellious  *Sobas'  to  obedience,  and  relieving  the 
little  garrison  at  Massangano,  inflicted  great  loss  on 
the  blacks  in  a  battle  at  that  place.  Keturning 
down  the  Kiver  Quanza,  he  re-established  at  Muxima 
the  fort  that  had  been  abandoned. 

"In  1602,  Joao  Eodrigues   Coutinho   arrived    as 


10  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO.       [ch.  i. 

Governor  with  reinforcements  of  men  and  ammu- 
nition, and  full  powers  to  promote  tlie  conquest  of 
the  silver  mines  of  Cambambe.  A  powerful  and 
well-appointed  expedition  again  started  for  this  pur- 
pose, but  on  arriving  at  a  place  called  CacuUo 
Quiaquimone  he  fell  ill  and  died.  Manoel  Cerveira 
Pereira,  his  successor,  resolving  to  carry  out  his  pre- 
decessor's intentions,  marched  into  Cambambe,  and 
on  the  10th  August,  1603,  offered  battle  to  the  Soba 
Cafuxe,  whom  he  defeated  in  a  great  engagement; 
continuing  his  march  he  built  a  fort  in  Cambambe 
and  forced  the  Soba  Cambambe  to  submit. 

"  About  1606,  the  first  attempt  was  made  to  com- 
municate across  the  continent  of  Africa  with  the 
River  Senna,  on  the  eastern  coast,  and  for  this  ex- 
pedition Balthazar  Rebelio  de  Aragao  was  chosen, 
but  after  proceeding  for  a  considerable  distance  he 
was  obliged  to  return  to  relieve  the  garrison  at 
Cambambe,  closely  besieged  by  the  blacks. 

"  Though  constant  wars  were  necessary  to  reduce 
the  warlike  Sobas  of  the  interior  to  obedience,  the 
successes  of  the  Portuguese  continued,  and  their 
efforts  were  also  directed  to  the  conquest  of  Ben- 
guella  and  settlement  there. 


CH.  I.]  HISTORY.  11 

"  In  the  year  1621,  the  famous  Queen  Ginga  Bandi 
came  to  Loanda  as  head  of  an  embassy  from  her 
brother,  the  Gola  Bandi;  she  arranged  a  treaty  of 
peace  with  the  Portuguese,  was  converted  to  Christi- 
anity and  baptized  under  the  name  of  Ginga  Donna 
Anna  de  Souza.  She  was  proclaimed  Queen  of  Angola 
on  the  death  of  her  brother,  whom  she  ordered  to  be 
poisoned,  never  forgiving  him  for  having  killed  her 
son.  She  then  not  only  forsook  Christianity,  but  for- 
getting the  manner  in  which  she  had  been  treated 
by  the  Portuguese,  bore  them  a  deadly  hatred  for 
upwards  of  thirty  years,  during  which  time  she  was 
unsuccessful  in  all  her  w^ars  against  them. 

"The  Dutch,  who  for  several  years  had  greatly 
annoyed  the  Portuguese  on  the  West  Coast,  at- 
tempted to  possess  themselves  of  some  of  their 
ports  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  supply  of 
slaves  for  their  colonies  in  America.  During  the 
governorship  of  Fernan  de  Souza  the  Dutch  de- 
spatched a  fleet  of  eight  ships  commanded  by  Petri 
Petrid,  who  attempted  to  force  the  bar  of  Loanda, 
but  meeting  with  a  determined  resistance  retired 
from  the  coast  after  a  stay  of  three  months,  having 
only  captured  four  small  vessels. 


12  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO.      [ch.  i. 

'*  The  Count  of  Nassau,  considering  that  without 
an  abundant  supply  of  slaves  from  the  west  coast 
the  Dutch  possessions  in  America  would  be  of  little 
value,  determined  to  take  stronger  measures  for 
obtaining  them,  and  sent  a  powerful  fleet  of  twenty 
vessels,  under  the  command  of  General  Tolo.  On 
the  24th  August,  1641,  this  formidable  fleet  appeared 
at  Loanda,  and  such  was  the  consternation  it  caused 
that  the  Governor  and  inhabitants  abandoned  the 
city  and  retired  to  Bembem.  The  Dutch  landing 
next  day  became,  without  opposition,  masters  of  the 
place  and  of  a  large  booty. 

"Pedro  Cezar  retired  to  the  River  Bengo,  but, 
pursued  by  the  Dutch,  retired  to  Massangano,  where 
the  Portuguese  suffered  terribly  from  the  effects  of 
the  climate.  Many  of  the  native  chiefs,  taking 
advantage  of  the  occasion,  rose  in  arms  against  them. 
Queen  Ginga  and  several  other  powerful  chiefs 
immediately  formed  an  alliance  with  the  Dutch. 
The  Portuguese  attempted,  but  unsuccessfully,  to 
punish  several  of  them.  The  Dutch  subsequently 
formed  a  truce  with  the  Portuguese,  in  consequence 
of  news  arriving  from  Europe  of  a  treaty  of  peace 
having  been   concluded   between   the   two   powers; 


CH.  I.]  EISTOBY.  13 

but  shortly  after,  treacherously  attacking  the  Por- 
tuguese, they  killed  the  principal  officers  and  forty 
men,  and  took  the  Governor  and  120  men  prisoners. 

"Those  that  escaped  fled  to  Massangano  until 
another  truce  was  concluded,  and  means  were  found 
to  enable  Pedro  Cezar  to  escape  from  the  fortress 
of  San  Miguel,  where  he  was  imprisoned. 

"  Francisco  de  Soutomayor  now  arrived  from  Por- 
tugal as  Governor  of  Angola,  and  with  the  remnant 
of  the  troops  at  Benguella,  where  he  had  landed, 
proceeded  to  Massangano,  without  knowledge  of 
the  enemy.  Queen  Ginga,  influenced  secretly  by 
the  Dutch,  was  collecting  her  forces  for  the  pur- 
pose of  attacking  the  Portuguese,  but  was  com- 
pletely defeated,  leaving  2000  blacks  dead  on  the 
field  of  battle.  A  few  days  after,  the  Dutch  again 
broke  their  truce,  and  the  Portuguese,  incensed  at 
their  repeated  treachery,  declared  war  against  them. 
Thus  they  remained  till  the  arrival  of  Salvador 
Correa  de  Sa  e  Benavides,  Governor  of  Eio  Janeiro, 
from  which  place  he  started  in  May,  1648,  with  a 
fleet  of  fifteen  vessels  and  900  men.  Towards 
the  expenses  of  this  expedition  the  inhabitants  of 
Eio  Janeiro  largely  contributed,  as  they  saw   how 


14  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO.       [ch.  i. 

hurtful  to  their  interests  the  loss  of  Angola  would 
be  from  the  failure  in  the  supply  of  slave  labour. 

"Arrived  at  Loanda,  he  sent  a  message  to  the 
Dutch  Governor  that  although  his  orders  were  to 
preserve  peace  with  him,  still,  as  he  had  so  trea- 
cherously and  repeatedly  broken  it  with  the  Por- 
tuo;uese,  he  considered  himself  free  to  declare  war 
against  him ;  but,  to  prevent  bloodshed,  he  gave  the 
Dutch  the  option  of  surrendering,  assuring  them 
of  an  honourable  capitulation.  The  Dutch  asked 
for  eight  days  to  consider;  Salvador  Correa  ac- 
corded them  two,  at  the  end  of  which  he  sent  his 
secretary  on  shore,  with  orders  to  signal  whether 
the  Dutch  accepted  his  terms  or  meant  to  defend 
themselves;  they  chose  the  latter,  and  the  Portu- 
guese immediately  landed,  and  invested  the  fortress 
of  San  Miguel.  The  Dutch  had  abandoned  six 
guns,  these  with  four  others  from  the  ships  were  the 
same  night  planted  on  two  batteries,  and  the  fortress 
bombarded.  This  not  having  the  desired  effect, 
Salvador  Correa  ordered  a  general  attack.  The 
Portuguese  were,  however,  repulsed  with  a  loss  of 
163  men  killed  and  wounded.  The  Dutch,  unaware 
of  this  great  loss,  and  expecting  a  second  attack, 


CH.  I.]  HISTORY.  15 

hoisted  a  white  flag,  and  sent  to  arrange  the  terms 
of  capitulation,  which  being  done,  the  gates,  on  the 
15th  of  August,  1648,  were  thrown  open,  and  there 
issued  forth  1100  Dutch,  German,  and  French  in- 
fantry, and  as  many  blacks,  who  were  all  surprised, 
on  passing  the  Portuguese  troops,  at  the  smallness 
of  their  numbers,  and  repented  their  hasty  sub- 
mission. Salvador  Correa  sent  them  all  on  board 
three  vessels  to  await  their  countrymen  away  in  the 
interior.  On  their  arrival  these  were  also  placed  on 
board,  and  they  set  sail  the  same  day.  Shortly  after 
he  caused  the  Dutch  establishments  at  Pinda  and 
Loango  to  be  demolished,  and  their  expulsion  being 
completed,  he  next  fell  on  and  defeated  the  native 
chiefs. 

"It  was  in  the  time  of  this  Governor  that  the 
Italian  Capuchin  Friars  passed  from  the  kingdom 
of  Congo  to  Loanda,  to  establish  in  the  interior 
their  excellent  missions.  For  several  years  the 
Portuguese  waged  a  constant  war  with  the  Libollos, 
the  Quissamas,  the  Soba  N'golla  Caboco,  the  Chiefs 
of  Benguella,  and  the  Dembos  Ambuillas  at  Encoge. 

*^In  the  year  1694  the  first  copper  coinage  was 
introduced  from  Portugal  into  Angola,  the  currency 


16  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVEB  CONGO.        [ch.  i. 

up  to  that  time  being  in  the  shape  of  little  straw 
mats  called  'Libongos/  of  the  value  of  fifty  reis 
each  (about  2d.).  (These  little  mats  are  at  present 
only  employed  as  money  in  Cabinda.) 

"  In  1758,  the  Portuguese  established  themselves 
at  Encoge.  In  1783,  an  expedition  was  despatched 
to  the  Port  of  Cabinda,  to  establish  a  fort ;  300  men, 
however,  quickly  died  there  from  the  effects  of  the 
climate,  and  the  rest  surrendered  to  a  French 
squadron,  sent  to  demolish  any  fortifications  that 
might  impede  the  free  commerce  of  all  nations  on 
the  coast  of  Loango. 

"Shortly  after  1784,  the  Portuguese  had  a  great 
war  with  the  natives  of  Mossulo,  which  lasted  some 
five  years  before  they  were  finally  defeated. 

*'  It  was  during  the  government,  and  by  the  efforts 
of  Antonio  de  Saldanha  da  Gama  (1807-1810),  that 
direct  intercourse  was  established  with  the  nation  of 
the  Moluas,  and  through  their  intervention  overland 
communication  with  the  eastern  coast  was  obtained. 

"  The  first  attempt  to  communicate  directly  across 
the  continent,  from  Angola  to  Mogambique,  was 
made  as  already  noticed  in  the  year  1606.  Two 
expeditions  were   proposed  to  start  simultaneously 


CH.  I.]  EISTOEY.  17 

from  Mopambique  and  Angola,  and  meet  in  tlie 
interior.  The  former,  under  the  command  of  the 
naturalist,  Dr.  Lacerda,  started  from  the  Eiver 
Senna,  and  reached  Cazembe,  where  Lacerda  fell  a 
victim  to  the  insalubrity  of  the  climate. 

**  Antonio  de  Saldanha,  anxious  to  realize  a  pro- 
ject so  interesting  to  geographical  knowledge,  and 
which  he  judged  might  besides  be  of  great  import- 
ance to  Portugal,  had  renewed  the  inquiries  and  in- 
vestigations that  might  suggest  the  means  of  attain- 
ing its  accomplishment.  At  Pungo  Andongo,  there 
lived  one  Francisco  Honorato  da  Costa,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  of  Militia,  a  clever  man,  and  Chief  of 
Cassange,  the  farthest  inland  of  the  Portuguese 
vassal  provinces.  Through  him  Antonio  de  Sal- 
danha learnt  that  the  territory  of  the  Jaga,  or 
Soba  of  Cassange,  was  bounded  to  the  east  by  an- 
other and  more  powerful  kingdom,  that  of  the 
Moluas,  wdth  whom  the  Jaga  was  in  constant  inter- 
course, but  whom  he  prevented  from  treating  directly 
with  the  Portuguese,  so  as  to  derive  the  great  ad- 
vantage of  monopolizing  all  the  trade  with  the  latter. 
For  this  end  the  Jaga  employed  several  absurd 
statements    to    intimidate    the    Muata   Yamba,    or 

VOL.  I.  c 


18  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  i. 

King  of  the  Moluas,  whose  power  he  feared,  telling 
him  that  the  Portuguese  (or  white  men)  issued  out 
of  the  sea,  that  they  devoured  negroes,  that  the 
goods  he  traded  in  were  manufactured  in  his  domi- 
nions, and  that  if  the  Moluas  invaded  these,  the 
Portuguese  would  avenge  him. 

"  As  soon  as  the  Governor  was  informed  of  these 
particulars,  he  ordered  Honorato  to  make  himself 
acquainted  with  the  position  of  the  nation  of  the 
Moluas.  Honorato  succeeded  in  sending  his  *  Pom- 
beiros  '  (black  traders)  to  their  principal  town,  where 
the  Muata  Yamba  resided,  and  where  they  were 
hospitably  received.  Convinced  by  them  of  the 
falsehoods  of  the  Jaga  Cassange,  the  Muata,  though 
still  in  fear,  decided  to  send  his  wife,  who  lived  at 
some  distance  off,  on  an  embassy  to  the  same  effect 
to  Loanda.  Accompanied  by  Honorato's  *Pom- 
beiros,'  the  embassy,  unable  to  pass  the  territory  of 
the  Soba  Cassange,  through  his  opposition,  pro- 
ceeded to  the  country  of  the  Soba  Bomba,  who  not 
only  allowed  them  free  passage,  but  likewise  sent 
an  ambassador  to  the  Portuguese.  They  arrived  in 
January,  1808,  at  Loanda,  where  they  were  received 
in  state  by  the  Governor. 


CH.  I.]  HISTORY,  19 

"On  arriving  at  the  door  of  the  audience-room, 
they  advanced  towards  the  General  with  great 
antics,  and  delivered  to  him  the  presents  they  had 
brought,  which  consisted  of  slaves,  a  zebra  skin, 
several  skins  of  *  ferocious  monkeys,'  a  mat,  some 
straw  baskets,  two  bars  of  copper,  and  a  sample  of 
salt  from  Cazembe.  After  receiving  the  greatest 
hospitality,  they  were  sent  back  with  presents  for 
their  respective  sovereigns.  The  ambassadors  wore 
long  beards,  their  heads  adorned  with  a  great  bunch 
of  parrots'  feathers,  grey  and  red,  their  arms  and 
legs  covered  with  brass  and  iron  rings ;  from  a 
large  monkey  skin  twisted  and  hanging  from  one 
shoulder  depended  a  large  knife, — in  their  left  hand 
a  spear,  in  the  right  a  horse's  tail,  as  an  emblem  of 
authority,  and  round  the  waist  a  striped  cloth,  over 
which  hung  a  monkey  skin,  giving  them  altogether 
a  very  wild  and  showy  appearance.  The  ^Pom- 
beiros '  described  the  Moluas  as  a  somewhat  civil- 
ized nation;  that  the  *Banza,'  or  town  of  the 
Muata,  was  laid  out  in  streets  and  shaded  in  sum- 
mer, to  mitigate  the  heat  of  the  sun  and  prevent 
dust ;  that  they  had  -a  fiour  and  grain  market 
for  the   housing   and    regular   distribution   of  pro- 

c  2 


20  ANGOLA  AND  THE  EIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  i. 

visions,  and  many  squares  or  open  spaces  of  large 
extent. 

"  The  wife  of  the  Muata  lived  at  a  distance  from 
him  of  thirty  or  forty  leagues,  in  a  country  where 
she  reigned  as  Queen  absolute,  and  only  saw  her 
husband  on  certain  days  in  the  year.  The  execu- 
tions in  the  *  Banza '  of  the  Queen  amounted  to 
eight,  ten,  and  fifteen  blacks  per  day,  and  it  is  pro- 
bable that  in  that  of  the  Muata  the  number  was 
not  less.  The  barbarity  of  their  laws,  and  the  want 
of  communications  by  means  of  which  to  get  rid  of 
their  criminals,  was  the  cause  of  this  horrible 
number  of  executions." 

Feo  Cardozo,  who  expresses  himself  most  strongly 
against  slavery,  here  observes :  "  Despite  the  theories 
and  declamation  of  sensitive  minds  led  away  by  false 
notions  of  the  state  of  the  question,  as  long  as  the 
barbarity  and  ignorance  of  the  African  nations  shall 
exist,  the  barter  of  slaves  will  always  be  considered 
by  enlightened  philanthropists  as  the  only  palliative 
to  the  ferocity  of  the  laws  that  govern  those  nations. 

"  It  was  further  ascertained  from  the  ^  Pombeiros,* 
that  the  nation  of  Cazembe,  where  Dr.  Lacerda  had 
died,  was  feudatory  to  the  Muata  Yamba^  and  in 


CH.  1.]  HISTORY.  21 

token  of  its  vassalage  paid  him  a  yearly  tribute 
of  sea  salt,  obtained  from  the  eastern  coast.  The 
possibility  of  communication  with  the  east  coast 
through  the  interior  being  now  evident,  the  Governor 
Saldanha  instructed  the  'Pombeiros'  to  retrace 
their  steps  towards  the  east,  and  continue  in  that 
direction. 

*'It  was  during  the  succeeding  Governorship  of 
Jose  d'Oliveira  Barboza,  however,  that  the  feasi- 
bility of  such  communication  was  finally  proved, 
for  he  sought  out  a  black  trader  to  go  to  Mofam- 
bique  across  the  interior,  and  return  by  the  same 
route,  bringiug  back  answers  from  the  Governor  of 
that  Colony  to  letters  sent  him  from  Loanda.  This 
fact  added  nothiog  to  geographical  knowledge,  from 
the  ignorance  of  the  man  who  accomplished  it. 

"  In  1813,  this  Governor  formed  the  plan  of  con- 
veying the  waters  of  the  Kiver  Quanza  into  the  city 
of  Loanda,  from  a  distance  of  about  fourteen  leagues, 
by  means  of  a  canal,  which  was  commenced  in 
that  year,  and  the  workings  continued  during  1814 
and  1815,  but  abandoned  after  being  cut  for  a  length 
of  3000  fathoms,  on  account  of  the  difficulties  en- 
countered for  want  of  a  previous  survey." 


22  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO.      [ch.  i. 

No  attempt  lias  since  been  made  to  supply  the 
city  with  water  from  the  Quanza,  or  from  the  still 
nearer  River  Bengo;  besides  the  great  boon  such 
a  work  would  confer  on  the  hot  and  dry  town,  it 
could  not  fail  to  be  a  great  success  from  a  monetary 
point  of  view. 


.  fi ipwi"'''!'' ''i«'''iii;'''t  'liBn?^ 


(    23    ) 


CHAPTER  II. 

PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY  —  CHARACTER  OF  VEGETATION 
—  RIVERS, 

The  Portuguese  possessions  of  Angola  on  the  south- 
west coast  of  Africa  extend  from  Ambriz  in  7°  49' 
S.  Lat.  to  Cape  Frio  in  18°  20'  S.  Lat.  Their  far- 
thest establishment  south  is,  however,  at  Mossamedes, 
or  Little  Fish  Bay,  in  15°  20'  S.  Lat. 

Throughout  this  book  in  speaking  of  Angola  I 
include  not  only  the  country  from  Mossamedes  to 
Ambriz,  at  present  occupied  by  the  Portuguese,  but 
farther  north,  as  far  as  the  Eiver  Congo,  that  being 
its  strong  natural  limit  of  climate,  fauna,  and  ethno- 
logy, as  I  shall  further  explain. 

This  long  extent  of  coast  comprises,  as  may  be 
readily  imagined,  considerable  variety  in  geological 
formation,  physical  configuration,  climate,  vegeta- 
tion, and  natural  productions,  tribes  of  natives,  and 
different  languages,  habits,  and  customs. 


24  ANGOLA  AND  THE  EIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ii. 

The  coast-line  is  nowhere  very  bold ;  level  sandy- 
bays,  fringed  with  a  belt  of  the  dark  evergreen 
mangrove,  alternate  with  long  stretches  of  cliffs, 
seldom  attaining  any  great  height  or  grandeur,  and 
covered  with  a  coarse  branching  grass  {Eragrostis 
S23.)>  small  patches  of  shrubby  scrub,  a  tall  cactus- 
like tree  Euphorbia,  and  the  gigantic  towering 
Baobab  with  its  fantastic  long  gourd-like  fruit. 
(Plate  I.) 

The  "Calema,"  or  surf-wave,  with  its  ceaseless 
roar,  breaks  heavily  in  long  white  lines  on  the 
smooth  beach,  and  pulverizes  the  hardest  rock,  and 
every  particle  of  shell  and  animal  structure.  It 
dashes  against  the  base  of  the  cliffs,  resounding 
loudly  in  its  mad  fury  as  it  has  done,  wave  after  wave 
and  hour  after  hour,  for  unknown  ages ;  and  the 
singular  absence  of  gulls  or  any  moving  living  ob- 
jects, or  noises,  to  divert  the  eye  or  ear  from  the 
dreadful  monotony  of  constantly  recurring  sound, 
and  line  after  line  of  dazzling  white  foam,  gives  a 
distinctive  and  excessively  depressing  character  to 
the  coast,  in  ,  harmony,  as  it  were,  with  the 
enervating  influence  of  its  climate. 

The  character  of  the  Angolan  landscape  is  entirely 


CH.  II.]  PHYSICAL  GEOGBAPHY.  25 

different  from  that  of  the  West  Coast  proper;  say 
from  Cape  Yercle  to  the  Gaboon  and  the  Elver 
Congo.  Along  that  great  length  of  coast  are 
hundreds  of  square  miles  of  brackish,  and  salt-water 
lagoons  and  swamps,  level  with  the  sea,  and  often 
only  separated  from  it  by  a  narrow  mangrove-fringed 
beach.  The  bottom  of  these  lagoons  is  generally  a 
soft  deep  black  fetid  mud,  and  a  stick  plunged  into 
it  comes  up  thickly  covered  with  a  mass  nearly 
approaching  in  appearance  to  paste  blacking.  In 
the  dry  season  great  expanses  of  the  bottom  of 
these  swamps  become  partially  dry,  and  fermenting 
in  the  hot  tropical  sun  cause  a  horrible  stench,  from 
the  decayed  millions  of  small  fish,  crabs,  &c.,  left 
exposed  on  the  surface.  The  number  of  fish  and 
some  of  the  lower  forms  of  life  inhabiting  the  mud 
and  water  of  the  lagoons  is  almost  incredible.  If 
one  keeps  quite  still  for  a  few  minutes,  the  slimy 
ground  becomes  perfectly  alive  and  hissing  from 
the  legions  of  small  brightly  coloured  land  crabs 
that  issue  simultaneously  from  thousands  of  round 
holes,  from  the  size  of  a  quill  to  about  an  mch 
and  a-half  in  diameter. 

It  is  in  these  gigantic  hotbeds  of  decomposition 


26  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ii. 

that  the  deadly  types  of  African  fever  are,  I  believe, 
mostly  generated ;  and  these  pest  waters  and  mud, 
v^hen  swept  into  the  rivers  by  the  floods  in  the 
rainy  season,  are  carried  far  and  wide,  with  what 
effect  to  human  life  on  that  coast  it  is  needless  to 
mention. 

On  those  parts  of  the  West  Coast  where  level 
swampy  ground  is  not  the  rule,  a  most  agreeable 
change  is  seen  in  the  character  of  the  landscape, 
although,  perhaps,  the  climate  is  just  as  unhealthy. 
Drenched  constantly  by  pelting  thunderstorms,  and 
drizzling  mists  that  roll  down  from  the  high  lands 
and  mountain-tops,  the  country  is  covered  by  the 
most  luxuriant  forest  vegetation,  in  one  expanse  of 
the  deepest  unvarying  green,  the  combined  result 
of  excessive  moisture  and  the  tropical  sun  of  an 
almost  uninterrupted  summer. 

This  alternation  of  swamp  and  dense  forest  ends 
completely  on  arriving  at  the  River  Congo,  and  a 
total  change  to  the  comparatively  arid  country  of 
Angola  takes  place ;  in  fact,  at  about  13°  S.  Lat.  it 
becomes  almost  a  perfectly  arid,  rocky,  and  sandy 
desert. 

I   may   say   that,    without    exception,   from   the 


CH.  II.]  PHYSICAL  GEOGRAPHY.  27 

Eiver  Congo  to  Mossamedes  no  dense  forest  is  seen 
from  the  sea,  and  from  thence  not  a  single  tree, 
it  is  said,  for  hundreds  of  miles  to  the  Orange  Eiver. 
A  little  mangrove,  lining  the  insignificant  rivers  and 
low  places  in  their  vicinity,  is  all  that  varies  the 
open  scrub,  of  which  the  giant  Adansonias  and  Eu- 
phorbias have  taken,  as  it  were,  exclusive  posses- 
sion. Nowhere  on  the  coast  is  seen  more  than  an 
indication  of  the  wonderful  vegetation,  or  varied 
beauty  and  fertility,  which  generally  begins  at  a 
distance  of  from  thirty  to  sixty  miles  inland. 

At  this  distance,  a  ridge  or  hilly  range  runs  along 
the  whole  length  of  Angola,  forming  the  first  ele- 
vation; a  second  elevation  succeeds  it  at  about  an 
equal  distance;  and  a  third,  at  perhaps  twice  the 
distance  again,  lands  us  on  the  central  high  plateau 
of  Africa. 

From  the  few  and  insignificant  streams  traversing 
Angola  to  the  coast,  which  at  most  only  reach  suffi- 
ciently far  inland  to  have  their  source  at  this  third 
elevation  or  central  plateau,  it  would  seem  that  a 
great  central  depression  or  fall  drains  the  waters  of 
that  part  of  Africa  in  either  an  easterly  or  southerly 
direction. 


28  ANGOLA  AND  THE  FJVER  CONGO,    [ch.  ii. 

I  think  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  Congo, 
with  its  vast  body  of  water  and  rapid  current,  drains 
any  large  extent  of  country  in  an  easterly  direc- 
tion to  the  interior,  beyond  the  first  rapids.  The 
gradual  elevation  from  the  coast  to  the  ridge  be- 
yond which  the  central  plateau  begins,  and  from 
which  the  streams  that  drain  Angola  seem  to  have 
their  source,  may  have  been  formed  by  the  upheaval 
of  the  country  by  volcanic  action.  Of  this  there 
is  evidence  in  the  trachytes  and  basalts  of  Cam- 
bambe  and  the  country  to  the  south  of  Benguella, 
which  form  an  anticlinal  axis  running  the  whole 
length  of  Angola,  and  thus  prevent  the  drainage 
of  the  interior  to  the  sea  on  this  part  of  the  coast. 

These  successive  elevations  inland  are  accom- 
panied by  very  remarkable  changes  in  the  character 
of  the  vegetation  covering  the  surface  of  the  country, 
and  in  my  several  excursions  and  explorations  to 
the  interior  from  Ambriz  to  Bembe,  from  Loanda 
to  the  Pungo  Andongo  range,  from  Novo  Kedondo 
to  Mucelis,  and  to  the  interior  of  Benguella  and 
Mossamedes,  I  have  had  frequent  opportunities  of 
remarking  these  very  singular  and  sudden  changes. 
These    are   due,  I  believe,   as  Dr.  Welwitsch  has 


CH.  II.]  VEGETATION.  29 

pointed   out,   to  the   difference  of  elevation   alone, 
irrespective  of  its  geological  formation. 

A  sketch  of  the  vegetation  of  the  country  traversed 
by  the  road  from  Ambriz  to  Bembe,  where  is  situ- 
ated the  wonderful  deposit  of  malachite, — a  distance 
of  about  120  miles  E.N.E. — will  give  an  idea  of 
the  general  character  of  the  change  observed  in 
travelling  towards  the  interior  of  Angola.  For 
about  twenty-five  miles  from  Ambriz  the  vegetation 
is,  as  already  described,  principally  composed  of 
enormous  Baobabs,  Euphorbias,  a  tall  Agave  (or 
aloe),  a  tree  called  "  Muxixe  "  by  the  natives,  bear- 
ing curious  seed-pods  {StercuUa  tomentosa),  a  few 
small  slender  creepers,  great  abundance  of  the 
Sanseviera  Angolensis  in  the  thickets  of  prickly 
bushes,  and  coarse  short  tufty  grasses, — the  branch- 
ing grass  being  only  found  near  the  coast  for  a  few 
miles.  The  country  is  pretty  level,  dry,  and  stony, 
of  w^eathered  large -grained  gneiss.  At  Matuta  the 
scene  suddenly  and  magically  changes,  and  in  so 
striking  a  manner  as  to  impress  even  the  most  un- 
observant traveller.  The  Baobabs  become  much 
fewer  in  number,  the  Agaves,  the  Sanseviera,  the 
Euphorbias,  suddenly   and    almost   completely  dis- 


30  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  ii. 

appear,  as  also  do  most  of  the  prickly  shrubs,  the 
fine  trailing  and  creeping  plants,  the  Muxixe,  and 
several  other  trees,  and  a  number  of  smaller  plants. 
A  new  set  of  larger,  shadier  trees  and  shrubs  take 
their  place,  the  grass  becomes  tall  and  broad-leaved, 
and  one  seems  to  be  travelling  in  an  entirely  new 
country. 

This  character  is  preserved  for  another  stretch  of 
road  till  Quiballa  is  reached,  about  sixty  miles  from 
the  coast,  where  the  rise  in  level  is  more  marked ; 
and  again  the  vegetation  changes,  almost  as  remark- 
ably as  at  Matuta,  where,  however,  the  difference  in 
altitude  is  not  so  sudden,  but  a  gradual  rise  is 
noticed  all  the  way  from  Ambriz.  Creepers  of  all 
kinds,  attaining  a  gigantic  size,  here  almost  mono- 
polize the  vegetation,  clasping  round  the  biggest 
trees,  and  covering  them  with  a  mass  of  foliage  and 
flower,  and  forming  most  exquisite  festoons  and 
curtains  as  they  web,  as  it  were,  one  tree  to  another 
in  their  embrace.  No  words  can  describe  the  luxu- 
riance of  these  tree  creepers,  particularly  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  shallow  rivers  and  rivulets  of  the 
interior.  Several  trees  together,  covered  from  top 
to  bottom  with  a  rich  mantle  of  the  India-rubber 


CH.  II.]  VEGETATION.  '  31 


creeper   {Landolphia  florida  ?),   with   bright,  large 
dark-green  leaves  somewhat  resembling  those  of  the 
magnoha,  thickly   studded   with    large   bunches   of 
purest  white  jasmine-like  flowers,  loading  the  air  for 
a    considerable   distance   with    its   powerful    bitter- 
almond  perfume,  and  attracting  a  cloud  of  buzzing 
insects,  form  altogether  a  sight  not  easily  forgotten. 
Once  at  Bembe  I  saw  a  perfect  wall  or   curtain 
formed  by  a  most  delicate  creeper,  hung  from  top 
to  bottom  with  bottle-brush-like  flowers  about  three 
inches  long ;— but  the  grandest  view^  presented  to 
my  eyes  was  in  the  Pungo  Andongo  range,  where 
the  bottom  of  a  narrow  valley,  for  quite  half  a  mile 
in  length,  was  filled,  as  they  all  are  in  the  interior, 
by  a  dense  forest   of  high  trees;  the   creepers,  in 
search  of  light,  had  pierced  through  and  spread  on 
the  top,  where  their  stems  and  leaves  had  become 
woven   and   matted  into  a  thick   carpet  on   which 
their  flowers  were  produced  in  such  profusion  that 
hardly  a  leaf  was  visible,  but  only  one  long  sea  of 
beautiful  purple,  like  a  glacier  of  colour— filling  the 
valley  and  set  in  the  frame  of  green  of  the  luxuriant 
grass-covered    hill    sides.      The   very    blacks    that 
accompanied   me,   so  little  impressed  as  they  are 


32  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  it. 

usually  by  the  beauties  of  nature,  beat  tlieir  open 
mouths  with  the  palm  of  the  hand  as  they  uttered 
short  "Ah!  ah!  ahs!"  their  universal  mode  of 
expressing  astonishment  or  delight,  so  wonderful, 
even  to  them,  appeared  the  magnificent  mass 
of  colour  below  us  as  it  suddenly  came  in  view 
when  we  arrived  at  the  head  of  the  valley, 
down  one  side  of  which  we  descended  to  the  plain 
below. 

I  have  seen  the  surface  of  a  large  pool  of  water 
thickly  covered  with  a  layer  of  purple  pea-shaped 
flowers,  fallen  from  the  large  Wistaria-like  bunches 
of  blossom  of  a  creeper  overgrowing  a  mass  of  trees 
standing  at  the  edge :  it  seemed  as  if  Nature,  loth 
that  so  much  beauty  should  fade  quickly,  had  kept 
for  some  time  longer  the  fallen  flowers  fresh  and 
lovely  on  the  cool  still  water  of  the  shady  lake. 
This  abundance  of  creeping  plants  is  more  or  less 
preserved  till  at  about  sixty  miles  farther  inland  we 
arrive  at  Bembe  and  the  comparatively  level  country 
stretching  away  to  the  interior ;  the  oil-palm  {Eldeis 
Guineensis)  then  becomes  again  abundant,  these 
trees  being  only  found  on  the  coast  in  any  number 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  rivers ;  the  beautiful  feathery 


CH.  II.]  VEGETATION.  33 

papyrus  also  again  covers  tlie  lagoons  and  wet 
places. 

The  comparatively  short  and  spare  thin-leaved 
and  delicate  tufted  grasses  of  the  first  or  littoral 
region  are  succeeded  in  the  second,  as  I  have  already 
said,  by  much  stronger  kinds,  attaining  an  extra- 
ordinary development  in  the  highest  or  third  region. 
Gigantic  grasses  from  five  to  as  much  as  sixteen  feet 
high,  growing  luxuriantly,  cover  densely  the  vast 
plains  and  tracts  of  country  in  these  two  regions 
where  tree  vegetation  is  scarce.  The  edges  of  the 
blades  of  most  of  these  tall  grasses  are  so  stiff  and 
finely  and  strongly  serrated  as  to  be  quite  sharp, 
and  if  passed  quickly  over  the  skin  will  cause  a 
deep  cut,  as  clean  as  if  done  with  a  knife ;  one 
species  is  called  by  the  natives  "Capim  de  faca" 
in  Portuguese,  or  "  knife  grass,"  from  the  manner  in 
which  it  cuts  if  handled,  or  in  going  through  it. 

I  have  often  had  my  hands  bleeding  from  cuts 
inflicted  by  this  grass  when  in  going  down  steep, 
dry,  slippery  places  I  have  clutched  at  the  high 
grass  on  each  side  of  me  to  prevent  falling.  To 
any  one  accustomed  to  grass  only  a  few  inches  high, 
the  dimensions  that  these  species  attain  are  simply 

VOL.  I.  D 


34  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ii. 

incredible.  Like  snow  and  ice  in  northern  latitudes, 
grasses  in  interior  tropical  Africa  for  some  six  months 
in  the  year  take  undisputed  possession  of  the  country 
and  actually  interrupt  all  communication  in  many 
places. 

It  is  a  very  strange  feeling  when  travelling  in  a 
hammock,  to  be  forced  through  grass  so  dense  and 
so  high  that  nothing  but  the  sky  above  can  be  seen^ 
— a  wall  of  dry  rustling  leaves  on  each  side  shutting 
out  all  view  sometimes  for  mile  after  mile,  and  so 
intensely  hot  and  breathless  as  to  be  almost  un- 
bearable, causing  the  perspiration  to  run  in  drops 
off  the  wet,  shining,  varnished  skins  of  the  almost 
naked  blacks.  In  going  through  places  where  the 
grass  has  nearly  choked  up  all  signs  of  a  path,  it  is 
necessary  to  send  in  advance  all  the  blacks  of  the 
party,  so  as  to  open  aside  and  widen  it  sufficiently 
to  allow  the  traveller  in  his  hammock  to  be  carried 
and  pushed  through  the  dense  high  mass :  even  if 
there  be  a  moderate  breeze  blowing  it  is,  of  course, 
completely  shut  out ;  the  perspiration  from  the 
negroes  is  wiped  on  the  grass  as  they  push  through 
it,  now  shoving  it  aside  with  their  hands  and  arms, 
now  forcing  their  way  through  it  backwards,   and 


CH.  II.]  VEGETATION.  35 

it  is  most  disagreeable  to  have  the  wetted  leaves 
constantly  slapping  one's  face  and  hands,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  horrible  stink  from  their  steaming 
bodies.  It  is  a  powerful  odour,  and  the  quiet  hot 
air  becomes  so  impregnated  with  it  as  to  be  nearly 
over230wering.  It  is  difhcult  to  compare  it  with 
any  other  disagreeable  animal  smell ;  it  is  different 
from  that  of  the  white  race,  and  the  nearest  com- 
parison I  can  give  is  a  mixture  of  putrid  onions  and 
rancid  butter  well  rubbed  on  an  old  billy-goat.  In 
some  it  is  a  great  deal  worse  than  in  others,  but 
none,  men  or  women,  are  free  from  it,  even  when 
their  bodies  are  at  rest  or  not  sensibly  perspiring ; 
and  it  being  a  natural  secretion  of  the  skin,  of 
course  no  amount  of  washino:  or  cleanliness  will 
remove  it.  The  mulattoes,  again,  have  it,  but  dif- 
ferent, and  not  generally  so  strong  as  the  pure  black, 
and  with  a  more  acid  odour,  reminding  one  strongly 
of  the  caprylic  and  similar  acids  known  to  chemists. 
The  natives  themselves  naturally  do  not  notice  it, 
and  after  some  time  of  residence  in  the  country, 
except  in  very  powerful  cases,  strangers  become 
comparatively  accustomed  to  it,  and,  as  showing  how 
a  person  may  in  time  become  used  to  nastiness,  I 


36  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  ii. 

have  even  partaken  of  a  dish  in  which  were  some 
forcemeat  balls  that  I  had  previously  watched  the 
negro  cook  roll  with  the  palm  of  his  hand  on  his 
naked  stomach,  to  make  them  of  a  proper  round 
shape,  without  spoiling  my  appetite  or  preventing 
me  from  joining  in  the  deserved  praise  of  the  stew 
that  contained  them. 

The  Portuo'uese  and  Brazilians  call  the  smell  that 
exhales  from  the  bodies  of  the  blacks  "Catinga," 
and  I  witnessed  an  amusing  instance  of  its  effect  on 
a  dog,  when  it  smelt  it  for  the  first  time.  On  my 
second  voyage  to  Angola,  I  took  with  me  a  beautiful 
"  perdigueiro,"  or  Portuguese  pointer,  from  Lisbon  ; 
this  animal  had  evidently  never  smelt  a  negro 
before  our  arrival  at  11  ha  do  Principe  (Prince's 
Island)  ;  for,  on  two  of  the  blacks  from  the  custom- 
house boat  coming  on  the  poop,  it  began  sniffing 
the  air  at  some  distance  from  where  they  were 
standing,  and  carefully  and  slowly  approached  them 
with  its  neck  and  nose  at  full  stretch,  with  a  look 
on  its  intelligent  face  of  the  greatest  curiosity  and 
surprise.  On  approaching  within  three  or  four 
yards,  the  smell  of  the  blacks,  who  kept  quite  still, 
being  afraid  it  might  bite  them,  seemed  too  much 


CH.  II.]  VEGETA  TION. 


for  its  sensitive  nose,  and  it  sneezed  and  looked  per- 
fectly disgusted.  It  continued  to  approach  them 
and  sneeze  and  retreat  repeatedly  for  some  little 
time,  evidently  unable  to  get  used  to  the  powerful 
perfume.  The  poor  dog's  unmistakeable  expression 
of  thorough  dislike  to  the  odour  of  the  black  race 
was  most  comical. 

An  old  Brazilian  mule  that  I  had  at  Benguella 
could  not  bear  the  blacks  to  saddle  her  or  put  her 
bridle  and  head-gear  on ;  she  would  throw  back  her 
ears,  and  suddenly  make  a  snap  with  her  teeth  at 
the  black  who  attempted  it.  She  was  a  very  tame 
animal,  and  would  be  perfectly  quiet  to  a  white  man. 
She  had  been  seventeen  years  in  Benguella  before 
she  came  into  my  possession,  but  never  became  used 
to  negroes;  whether  she  disliked  them  from  their 
disagreeable  odour,  or  from  some  other  reason,  I 
could  not  discover ;  but,  judging  from  the  dog's 
decided  antipathy,  I  presume  their  smell  was  her 
principal  objection,  and  yet  it  is  very  singular  that 
wild  animals  in  Africa  will  scent  a  white  sooner  than 
a  black  hunter.  I  have  heard  this  from  many  23er- 
sons  in  Angola,  both  blacks  and  whites.  It  would 
be  interesting  to  know  if  our  hunters  at  the  Cape 


38  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ii. 

have  noticed  the  same  thing.  The  fact  that,  not- 
withstanding the  *'Catinga,"  black  hunters  can  lie 
in  ambush,  and  antelope  and  other  game  come  so 
close  to  them  that  they  can  fire  the  whole  charge  of 
their  flint  muskets,  wadding  and  all,  into  them,  is 
well  known  in  Angola. 

\Yhilst  exploring  for  minerals  in  Cambambe,  I 
was  prevented  for  a  long  time  from  visiting  several 
localities,  from  the  paths  to  them  being  choked  up 
with  grass.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  exhausting 
it  is  to  push  through  thick,  high  grass;  in  a  very 
short  time  one  becomes  completely  out  of  breath, 
and  the  arms  hang  powerless  with  the  exertion  :  the 
heat  and  suffocating  stillness  of  the  air  may  have  as 
much  to  do  with  this  as  the  amount  of  force  exerted 
to  push  aside  the  yielding,  rustling  mass. 

Shortly  after  tlie  rains  cease  in  May,  the  grass, 
having  flowered  and  attained  its  full  growth,  rapidly 
dries  up  under  the  hot  sun,  and  is  then  set  on  fire 
by  the  blacks,  forming  the  wonderful  "  Queimadas," 
literally  *'  burnings,"  of  the  Portuguese,  and  "smokes" 
of  the  English  in  the  Bights.  If  only  the  leaves  are 
sufficiently  dry  to  catch  fire,  the  stems  are  left  green, 
with  a  black  ring  at  every  joint  or  base  of  the  leaf, 


cff.  n.]  VEGETATION.  39 

and  the  mass  of  whip-like  stems  then  looks  like  a 
forest  of  long  porcupine  quills.  This  is  very  dis- 
agreeable to  travel  through,  as  the  half-burnt  stems 
spring  back  and  cross  in  every  direction  behind  the 
front  bearer  of  the  hammock,  and  poke  into  the 
traveller's  face,  and  thrash  the  hands  when  held  up 
to  save  the  eyes  from  injury,  and  after  a  day's 
journey  one  gets  quite  black,  with  eyes  and  throat 
sore  and  parched  from  the  charcoal  dust  and  fine 
alkaline  ash. 

When  the  grass  has  become  thoroughly  dry,  the 
effect  of  the  "  Queimada  "  is  indescribably  grand  and 
striking.  In  the  daytime  the  line  of  fire  is  marked 
by  a  long  cloud  of  beautiful  white  steam-like  smoke 
curling  slowly  up,  dense  and  high  in  the  breathless 
air,  in  the  most  fantastic  forms  against  the  clear 
blue  sky.  This  cloud  of  smoke  is  closely  accom- 
panied by  a  perfect  flock  of  rapacious  birds  of  every 
size  and  description,  from  the  magnificent  eagle  to 
the  smallest  hawk,  circling  and  sailing  high  and 
grandly  in  the  air,  and  now  and  then  swooping  down 
upon  tlie  unfortunate  rats,  mice,  and  small  animals, 
snakes,  and  other  reptiles,  burnt  and  left  exposed  by 
the  conflagration.     Near  the  blazing  grass  the  scene 


40  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ii. 

is  very  fine,  a  deafening  noise  is  heard  as  of  thou- 
sands of  j^istol  shots,  caused  by  the  imprisoned  air 
bursting  every  joint  of  the  long  stems,  and  the  loud 
rush  and  crackling  of  the  high  sheet  of  flame,  as  it 
catches  and  consumes  the  dry  upright  straw.  One 
is  inspired  with  awe  and  a  feeling  of  puny  insigni- 
ficance before  the  irresistible  march  of  the  flames 
that  are  rapidly  destroying  the  enormous  extent  of 
the  dense,  nearly  impenetrable  mass  of  vegetation 
covering  the  surface  of  the  country,  leaving  it  per- 
fectly bare  with  the  exception  of  a  few  charred  root 
stumps  of  grass,  and  a  few  stunted,  scorched  shrubs 
and  trees.  At  night  the  effect  is  wonderfully  fine : 
the  vast  wall  of  fire  is  seen  over  hill  and  valley,  as 
far  as  the  eye  can  reach ;  above  the  brilliant  leaping 
flames,  so  bright  in  the  clear  atmosphere  of  the 
tropical  night,  vast  bodies  of  red  sparks  are  shot  up 
hio-h  into  the  cloud  of  smoke,  which  is  of  the  most 
magnificent  lurid  hue  from  the  reflection  of  the 
grand  blaze  below. 

No  trees  or  shrubs  are  consumed  by  the  burning 
of  the  grasses,  everything  of  a  larger  growth  being 
too  green  to  take  fire ;  a  whitening  or  drying  of  the 
leaves  is  generallv  the  only  effect  even  where  the 


CH.  II.]  VEGETATION.  41 

light  annual  creepers  growing  on  tliem  liave  been 
consumed.  Forest  or  jungle  in  Angola,  unlike  other 
countries,  never  burns,  and  is  consequently  the  re- 
fuge of  all  the  larger  animals  and  birds  from  the 
"  Queimadas,"  which  are  undoubtedly  the  cause  in 
many  parts  of  Angola  of  the  great  scarcity  of  animal 
and  insect  life  which  strikes  a  traveller  expecting 
to  meet  everywhere  the  great  abundance  known  to 
exist  in  the  interior. 

Great  is  the  alarm  of  the  natives  on  the  near 
approach  of  these  fires  to  their  towns,  the  whole 
population  turning  out,  and  with  branches  of  trees 
beating  out  the  fire.  It  is  seldom,  however,  that 
their  huts  are  consumed,  as  the  villages  are  gene- 
rally situated  in  places  where  trees  and  shrubs 
abound,  and  the  different  huts  are  mostly  separated 
by  hedges  of  different  species  of  Euphorbiaceae. 
Many  villages  are  entirely  surrounded  by  a  thick 
belt  of  these  milky-juiced  plants,  effectually  guard- 
ing them  from  any  chance  of  fire  from  the  grass 
outside.  Where  the  huts  are  not  thus  protected, 
the  danger,  of  course,  is  very  great,  but  the  natives 
sometimes  take  the  precaution  of  setting  fire  to 
patches  of  the  grass  to  clear  a  space   around  the 


42  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [en.  ii. 

huts  or  village.  There  is  no  danger  in  travelling 
from  these  grass  fires,  for,  when  they  are  seen 
approaching,  their  rate  of  progress  being  slow,  it  is 
sufficient  to  set  fire  to  the  dry  grass  to  leeward  to 
clear  a  space  in  which  to  encamp  in  safety. 

The  change  in  vegetation  is  also  accompanied  by 
difference  of  climate,  but  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether 
they  react  on  each  other,  and  if  so,  in  what  pro- 
portion. The  rains  are  very  much  more  abundant 
and  constant  towards  the  interior  of  the  country, 
where  the  vegetation  is  densest:  on  the  coast  the 
rains  are  generally  very  deficient,  and  some  seasons 
entirely  fail ;  this  is  more  especially  the  case  south 
of  about  12°  Lat.,  several  successive  rainy  seasons 
passing  without  a  single  drop  of  rain  falling.  A 
three  years'  drought  in  the  interior  of  Loanda  is 
still  vividly  remembered,  the  inhabitants,  from  their 
improvident  habits,  perishing  miserably  by  thou- 
sands from  starvation.  In  my  mining  explorations 
at  Benguella,  I  was  at  Cuio  under  a  cloudless  sky 
for  twenty-six  months,  in  the  years  1863  and  1864, 
with  hardly  a  drop  of  water  falling. 

I  had  under  my  charge  at  that  time  twenty-four 
white   men,  and  between  400   and  600   blacks   at 


CH.  II.]  VEGETATION.  43 

work  on  a  copper  deposit,  mining  and  carrying  ore 
to  the  coast,  distant  about  four  miles ;  and  no  one 
accustomed    to    a    constant   supply   of   water,    can 
imagine  the  anxiety  and  work  I  had  to  go  through 
to  obtain  the  necessary  amount  for  that  large  num- 
ber of  thirsty  people,  very  often  barely  sufficient  for 
drinking   purposes ;    no   water   fit   for   drinkiog   or 
cooking  was  to  be  had  nearer  than  six  miles,  and  as 
no  buUock  carts  could  be  employed,  it  had  all  to  be 
carried  in  kegs  on  men's  shoulders,  and  by  a  troop 
of  the   most   miserable,  small,   idiotically  stubborn 
donkeys   that  can   be  imagined  from  the  Cape  de 
Verde   Islands.     It   was   impossible    always    to    be 
looking  after    the   blacks   told   off  daily  on  water 
duty,  and  words  cannot  express  the  annoyance  and 
vexation  that  the  rascals  constantly  caused  us,  by 
getting  drunk  on  the  road,  wilfully  damaging  the 
kegs,  selling  the   water   to   natives   on   their   way 
back,  bringing  the  filthiest  water  out  of  muddy  pools 
instead  of  clear  from  the  proper  place,  sleeping  on 
the  road,  and  keeping  all  waiting,  sometimes  with- 
out a  drop   of  water,  very  often   till  far   into  the 
night.    This  was   no  joke  when   we   were   thirsty, 
hungry,  dusty,   and   tired,  after   a   hot  day's  work 


44:  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ii. 

blasting  rock,  breaking  up  copper  ore  in  the  sim  at 
the  mine  in  the  bottom  of  a  circular  valley,  where 
the  little  air  above  seldom  reached,  and  where  the 
dazzling  white  sand  and  gneiss  rock,  bare  of  nearly 
all  vegetation,  reflected  and  intensified  the  glare 
and  heat  almost  unbearably  in  the  hot  season. 

In  going  from  north  to  south  the  character  of  the 
vegetation  changes  very  insensibly  from  the  Kiver 
Congo  to  Mossamedes.  As  far  as  Ambrizzette  the 
Mateba  palm  {JSyjplicene  Guineensis)  is  very  abundant. 
This  palm-tree,  unlike  the  oil-palm,  which  is  only 
found  near  water,  or  in  rich  soil,  grows  on  the  dry 
cliffs  and  country  of  the  littoral  region  very  abun- 
dantly as  far  as  about  Ambriz.  The  leaves  of  this 
palm-tree  are  employed  to  make  small  bags,  in  which 
most  of  the  ground-nuts  are  exported  from  the  coast. 
The  Cashew-tree  (Anacardium  occidentale)  grows  on 
this  part  of  the  coast  from  Congo  to  Ambrizzette 
still  more  abundantly,  in  many  places  there  being 
hardly  any  other  tree  or  shrub  ;  it  is  also  very 
plentiful  again  around  Loanda,  but  to  the  south  it 
nearly  disappears.  A  thin  stemmy  Euphorbia,  nearly 
leafless,  is  a  principal  feature  of  the  landscape  about 
Loanda,   and   gives   it   a   very   dull   and    arid   ap- 


CH.  IT.]  VEGETATION.  45 


pearance.  The  cactus-like,  upright  Euphorbia  is  a 
notable  characteristic  of  the  whole  coast  of  Angola. 

South  of  Benguella  the  country  is  extremely  arid, 
the  gneiss,  gypsum,  and  basalt,  of  which  it  is  prin- 
cipally composed,  appearing  only  to  afford  nourish- 
ment to  a  very  limited  vegetation,  both  in  number 
or  species,  principally  spiny  trees  and  shrubs  with 
numbers  of  dreadful  recurved  prickles,  nearly  bare 
of  leaves  a  great  part  of  the  year, — and  over  im- 
mense tracts  of  very  uneven  ground  even  these 
are  scarce:  only  the  gigantic  Euphorbias,  and  the 
stunted  roots  of  grass  sparingly  distributed,  break 
the  monotony  of  a  silent,  dry,  rocky  desert. 

A  very  curious  creeper,  a  species  of  Cassytha, 
is  extremely  abundant  in  Benguella,  covering  the 
shrubs  and  small  trees  closely  with  its  network  of 
leafless  string-like  stems.  The  Sanseviera  Ango- 
lensis  is  very  plentiful  all  over  the  littoral  region  of 
Angola  ;  the  flat-leaved  species  {8.  longiflora)  is  only 
noticed  north  from  Ambriz  to  Congo,  and  only  grow- 
ing very  near  the  sea:  the  S.  Angolensis  is  but 
rarely  seeu  with  it,  and  it  is  very  curious  how  dis- 
tinctly these  two  species  are  separated.  In  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  all  the  rivers  and  streams  of 


46  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ii. 

Angola  the  vegetation  is,  as  miglit  be  expected,  gene- 
rally very  luxuriant,  particularly  nortli  of  Benguella. 
The  total  absence  of  horned  cattle  among  the 
natives  on  the  coast,  from  the  River  Congo  to  south 
of  the  River  Quanza,  is  very  remarkable;  due,  I 
believe,  as  much  to  some  influence  of  climate,  or 
poisonous  or  irritant  nature  of  the  vegetation,  as  to 
the  neglect  of  the  natives  to  breed  them,  though  a 
few  small  herds  of  cattle  to  be  seen  at  Ambrizzette 
and  Quissembo  belonging  to  the  white  traders,  and 
brought  by  the  natives  far  from  the  interior,  appear 
to  thrive  very  well,  and  several  Portuguese  have 
bred  fine  herds  at  the  River  Loge,  about  three  miles 
from  Ambriz ;  they  would  not  thrive,  however,  at 
Bembe,  where  those  that  were  purchased  from  the 
ivory  caravans  from  the  interior  gradually  became 
thin  and  died.  The  natives  south  of  the  Quanza 
beyond  the  Quissama  country,  as  far  as  Mossamedes, 
breed  large  numbers  of  cattle — their  principal  wealth, 
in  fact,  consisting  of  their  herds.  The  district  of 
Loanda  cannot  supply  itself  with  cattle  sufficient  for 
its  moderate  consumption,  a  large  proportion  having 
to  be  brought  from  Cambambe  and  Pungo  Andongo 
and  even  much  farther  from  the  interior. 


CH.  II.]  BIVERS.  47 

South  of  the  Congo  there  is  only  one  navigable 
river,  the  Quanza,  in  9°  20'  S.,  and  even  the  bar  and 
mouth  of  this  are  sliifty,  and  so  shallow  as  only  to 
admit  vessels  drawing  not  more  than  five  or  six  feet 
of  water,  and  this  only  at  high  tides.  The  Elvers 
Dande  and  Bengo  are  only  navigable  by  barges  for 
a  few  miles ;  others,  such  as  the  Ambrizzette,  Loge, 
Novo  Kedondo,  Quicombo,  Egito,  Anha,  Catumbella, 
and  Luache,  barely  admit  the  entrance  of  a  canoe, 
and  their  bars  are  often  closed  for  a  considerable 
time  in  the  dry  season ;  the  beds  of  others  are  com- 
pletely dried  up  for  miles  inland  at  that  time  of  the 
year,  and  it  is  very  curious  to  see  the  level  sandy 
bed  without  water  between  the  luxuriant  and  creeper- 
covered  banks,  and  the  borders  of  sedge  and  grass. 

Although  dry  on  the  surface,  cool  delicious  water 
is  met  with  at  a  few  inches  below.  I  shall  never 
forget,  on  my  first  journey  into  Cambambe,  the 
haste  with  which  we  pushed  forward^  on  an  intensely 
hot  morning,  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  Eiver  Mucozo, 
a  small  stream  running  into  the  Quanza.  We  had 
encamped  the  night  before  at  a  place  where  only 
a  small  supply  of  water  was  to  be  had  from  a  filthy 
and  muddy   hole,  and  so  thick  and   ochrey  was  it 


48  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVEB  CONGO,    [ch.  ii. 

that,  even  after  boiling  and  straining,  it  was  nearly 
undrinkable ;  on  reaching  the  high  banks  of  the 
Mucozo,  great  was  my  disappointment  to  see  the 
bed  of  the  river  one  long  expanse  of  dry  sand  shining 
in  the  hot  sun,  and  my  hope  of  water,  as  I  thought, 
gone !  Not  so  the  blacks,  who  raised  a  loud  shout 
as  they  caught  sight  of  it,  dashed  in  a  race  down 
the  banks,  and  throwing  themselves  on  the  sand 
quickly  scooped  out  a  hole  about  six  inches  deep 
with  their  hands,  and  lying  flat  on  their  bellies  stuck 
their  faces  in  it,  and  seemed  never  to  finish  drinking 
to  their  hearts'  content  the  inexpressibly  refreshing, 
cool,  filtered  water.  After  having  only  dirty  and 
thick  water  to  drink,  not  improved  by  coffee  or  bad 
rum,  after  a  long,  hot  day's  journey,  tired  and  ex- 
hausted, the  ground  for  a  bed,  mosquitoes,  and  a 
smoky  fire  on  each  side  to  keep  them  off,  fleas  and 
other  biting  things  from  the  sand,  that  nip  and  sting 
but  are  not  seen  or  caught,  snatches  of  sleep,  feverish 
awakening  in  the  morning,  with  parched  mouth,  the 
perspiration  dried  on  the  face  and  skin,  gritty  and 
crystallized  and  salt  to  the  feel  and  taste,  no  water 
to  drink  or  wash  with,  the  sun  out  and  shining 
strong  again  almost  as  soon  as  it  is  daylight,  and 


CH.  II.]  RIVERS.  49 

hurry,  hurry,  through  dry  grass  and  sand  without  a 
breath  of  air,  and  with  the  thermometer  at  90°  in 
the  shade,  for  four  or  five  hours  before  we  reached 
the  Mucozo — it  was  no  wonder  I  was  disinclined  to 
move  from  the  place  till  the  afternoon  came,  and 
the  great  heat  of  the  day  was  passed;  or  that  I 
thought  the  water,  fresh  and  cold  from  its  clean 
sandy  bed,  the  most  delicious  drink  that  could  be 
imagined  ! 

The  dehght  of  a  drink  of  pure  cold  water  in  hot 
climates  has  over  and  over  again  been  described  by 
all  travellers,  but  it  is  impossible  to  realize  it  fully 
without  experiencing  the  sensations  that  precede 
and  cause  the  thirst  that  only  cold  water  seems  to 
satisfy. 

The  Kiver  Luache,  at  Dombe  Grande,  near  the 
sea,  in  the  province  of  Benguella,  is  dry  for  some 
miles  iuland  every  year,  and  its  bed  of  pure,  clean, 
deep  sand  is  as  much  as  half  a  mile  broad  at  that 
place.  The  first  great  rains  in  the  interior  generally 
come  down  the  dry  beds  of  these  rivers  suddenly, 
like  a  great  torrent  or  wave,  and  I  was  fortunate 
enough  to  be  at  Dombe  Grande  once  when  the  water 
came  down  the  Luache  from  the  interior.     It  was 

VOL.  I.  E 


50  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  ii. 

a  grand  sight  to  see  a  wave  the  whole  breadth  of  the 
river,  and  I  should  judge  about  eight  feet  high, 
driving  before  and  carrying  with  it  an  immense  ma^s 
of  trees  and  branches,  roots,  sedges,  and  grasses  all 
confused  and  rolling  irresistibly  to  the  sea,  with  a 
dull  rushing  roar,  quite  unlike  the  noise  one  would 
imagine  a  body  of  water  to  make,  but  more  like  a 
rush  of  rocks  down  a  mountain  in  the  distance ;  and 
very  strange  and  agreeable  w^as  the  change  in  the 
landscape — a  broad  desert  of  white  sand  suddenly 
transformed  into  a  vast  running  river  of  fresh  water, 
bringing  gladness  to  all  living  things. 

The  sandy  bars  of  some  of  the  other  small  rivers 
of  Ano:ola  become  closed  sometimes  for  several 
months,  but  the  stream  remains  of  about  the  same 
volume,  or  opens  out  into  a  pool  or  lake,  or  partly 
dries  up  into  lovely  sedgy  pools  inhabited  by  wild- 
fowl of  various  kinds,  and  fields  of  beautiful  aquatic 
grasses  and  papyrus  plants,  in  which  I  have  often 
seen  caught  by  hand  the  singular  fresh-water  fish 
"  Bagre "  (Clarias  Cajpensis,  Bagriis,  &:c.)  vigor- 
ously alive,  left  behind  by  the.  diminishing  waters, 
in  grassy  swampy  places  where  the  foot  hardly  sank 
ankle  deep  in  water,  and  where  it  was  certainly  not 


CH.  II.]  RIVERS.  51 

deep  enough  to  cover  them.  The  dry  sandy  beds  of 
rivers  in  the  rainless  season  are  often  completely 
covered  with  a  magnificent  growth  of  the  Palma 
Christi,  or  Castor  Oil  plant,  with  its  beautiful  large 
leaves.  This  I  have  noticed  more  particularly  in 
the  district  of  Novo  Kedondo  and  Benguella. 

Sharks,  so  frightfully  dangerous  in  the  surf  of  the 
West  Coast,  are  unknown  sonth  of  the  River  Congo. 
I  have  never  heard  of  a  person  being  attacked  by 
one,  although  at  Loanda  the  white  population  bathe 
off  the  island  in  front  of  the  town,  and  blacks  dabble 
about  in  the  sea  everywhere,  and  swim  to  and  from 
the  boats  and  barges. 

No  strikingly  high  mountain,  I  believe,  exists  in 
Angola;  no  hills  of  any  great  importance  till  we 
arrive  at  the  first  rise,  which,  as  we  have  seen, 
extends  the  whole  length  of  Angola  at  a  distance  of 
from  thirty  to  sixty  miles  from  the  sea.  The  second 
and  third  elevations  contain  some  fine  mountain  or 
hill  ranges,  as  at  Bembe,  Pungo  Andongo,  Cazengo, 
Mucellis,  and  Capangombe.  To  the  south  of  Ben- 
guella  as  far  as  Mossamedes  flat-topped  or  table 
hills,  perfectly  bare  of  vegetation,  are  a  very  pro- 
minent feature,  seen   from   the  sea ;   they   are   of 

E  2 


52  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  ii. 

basalt,  and  are  about  200  or  800  feet  in  height, 
and  are  in  many  places  the  only  remains  left  of  a 
higher  level.  In  others,  this  higher  level  still  exists 
for  a  considerable  extent,  deeply  cut  by  narrow 
gorges  and  ravines  leading  towards  the  sea,  with 
nearly  perpendicular  sides. 


(     53     ) 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  EIVER  CONGO  A  BOUNDARY — SLAVE  TEADE — 
SLAVERY — ORDEAL  BY  POISON — INSENSIBILITY  OF 
THE   NEGRO — INGRATITUDE. 

The  Eiver  Congo,  or  Zaire,  is  a  very  striking  and 
well-marked  line  of  division  or  boundary,  in  respect 
of  climate,  fauna,  natives  and  customs,  between 
Angola  and  the  rest  of  the  West  Coast. 

The  difference  in  the  scenery  and  vegetation  from 
those  of  the  north  is  very  great  indeed,  and  not  less 
so  is  that  of  the  birds  and  animals.  I  have  noticed 
enough  to  convince  me  that  it  would  well  repay  a 
naturalist  to  investigate  the  number  of  species  this 
river  cuts  off,  as  it  were,  from  Angola ;  the  gorilla 
and  chimpanzee,  for  instance,  are  only  known  north 
of  the  Congo ;  they  are  found  at  Loango  and  Lan- 
dana,  and  from  reports  of  the  natives,  even  near 
to  the  river  itself;  many  species  of  monkeys,  very 
abundant  at  Cabinda  and  on  the  north  bank,  are 


54  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  iii. 

quite  unknown  in  Angola;  and  tlie  ordinary  grey 
parrot,  which  is  to  be  seen  in  flocks  on  the  Congo, 
is  also  unknown  to  the  south — the  only  exception 
to  this  rule,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  ascertain, 
being  at  Cassange,  about  300  miles  to  the  interior  of 
Loanda,  where  the  rare  "King  parrot,"  with  red 
feathers  irregularly  distributed  among  the  grey 
ones,  is  not  uncommon.  Of  small  birds  I  have 
noticed  many  at  Cabinda  that  I  never  observed 
in  Angola ;  the  same  with  butterflies,  and  other 
insects. 

The  Congo  is  very  deep,  and  the  current  is  always 
very  strong;  even  above  Boma  (or  M'Boma),  about 
ninety  miles  distant  from  the  sea,  the  river  is  a  vast 
body  of  water  and  the  current  still  very  swift. 
From  the  mouth  to  beyond  this  place  the  banks  are 
deeply  cut  into  innumerable  creeks  and  rivers,  and 
form  many  large  islands.  The  enormous  quantity 
of  fresh  water  poured  by  this  river  into  the  sea 
gives  rise  to  many  curious  speculations  as  to  its 
extent  and  probable  sources.  I  am  inclined  to 
believe  that  the  Kiver  Congo,  or  its  principal 
branch,  after  going  in  a  north-east  direction  for  a 
comparatively  short  distance,  bends  to  the   south- 


CH.  III.]     THE  RIVER  CONGO  A  BOUNDARY.  55 

ward,  and  will  be  found  to  run  for  many  degrees  in 
that  direction. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  seen  that  south 
of  the  Congo  no  river  deserving  of  that  name,  or 
draining  more  than  the  country  up  to  the  third 
elevation,  exists  in  Angola.  The  vast  country  from 
the  Kiver  Congo  to  perhaps  the  Orange  Eiver,  or 
about  1200  miles,  has  therefore  no  outfall  for  its 
waters  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean. 

The  existence  of  volcanic  rocks  in  Cambambe  and 
Mossamedes  appears  to  explain  the  elevation  of  this 
part  of  the  coast;  how  much  farther  to  the  south 
this  elevation  has  taken  place  is  as  yet  unknown, 
and  I  can  only  reconcile  the  vast  body  of  water  of 
the  Eiver  Congo  with  the  absence  of  any  large  river 
farther  south,  by  supposing  it  to  bend  down  and 
drain  the  long  line  of  country  upheaved  on  the  sea- 
board :  it  is  not  likely  to  drain  much  country  to  the 
north  from  the  existence  of  several  rivers  such  as 
the  Chiloango,  Quillo,  Massabi,  and  Mayumba,  in  a 
distance  of  about  360  miles  from  its  mouth  to  that 
of  the  Eiver  Gaboon  under  the  Equator. 

For  many  years,  and  up  to  about  the  year  1868, 
the   Congo   was   the  principal    shipping  place   for 


56  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  hi. 

slaves  on  the  Soutli-West  Coast,  the  large  number 
of  creeks  in  it  affording  safe  hiding-places  for  loading 
the  ships  engaged  in  the  traffic,  and  the  swift  cur- 
rent enabling  them  to  go  out  quickly  a  long  way  to 
sea,  and  clear  the  line  of  cruisers.  Boma  was  the 
centre  or  point  for  the  caravans  of  slaves  coming 
from  different  parts  of  the  interior,  and  there  was 
little  or  no  trade  in  produce. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  say  a  few 
words  on  the  slave-trade  of  the  South  Coast,  because 
a  great  deal  of  ignorance  and  misconception  exists 
on  the  subject  from  judging  of  it  as  having  been 
similar  to  the  slave-trade  in  North  and  East  Africa. 
Repugnant  and  wicked  as  is  the  idea  of  slavery  and 
dealing  in  human  flesh,  philanthropy  must  be  debited 
with  an  amount  of  unknowing  cruelty  and  wholesale 
sacrifice  of  life  perfectly  awful  to  contemplate,  as  a 
set-off  against  its  well-intentioned  and  successful 
efforts  to  put  a  stop  to  slavery  and  the  known  horrors 
of  the  middle  passage,  and  subsequent  ill-treatment 
at  the  hands  of  the  planters. 

In  no  part  of  Angola  or  among  tribes  to  the 
interior  have  slave-hunts  ever  existed  as  in  the 
north  ;   there   are   no    powerful   or    more   civilized 


CH.  III.]  THE  SLAVE  TBADE.  57 

nations  making  war  on  weaker  tribes  for  the  pur- 
pose of  obtaining  slaves,  and  devastating  the  country 
by  fire  and  sword.  There  is  very  little  cruelty 
attending  the  state  of  slavery  among  the  natives 
of  Angola,  I  believe  I  may  say  even  in  the  greater 
part  of  the  rest  of  tropical  Africa,  but  I  will  restrict 
myself  to  the  part  of  which  I  have  an  intimate 
knowledge.  It  is  a  domestic  institution,  and  has 
existed,  as  at  present,  since  time  immemorial ;  and 
there  is  no  more  disgrace  or  discredit  in  having  been 
born  of  slave  parents,  and  consequently  in  being  a 
slave,  than  there  is  in  Europe  in  being  born  of 
dependents  or  servants  of  an  ancestral  house,  and 
continuing  in  its  service  in  the  same  manner. 

There  is  something  patriarchal  in  the  state  of 
bondage  among  the  negroes,  if  we  look  at  it  from  an 
African  point  of  view  (I  must  again  impress  on  my 
readers  that  all  my  remarks  apply  to  Angola).  The 
free  man,  or  owner,  and  his  wife,  have  to  supply 
their  slaves  with  proper  food  and  clothing,  to  tend 
them  in  sickness  as  their  own  children,  to  get  them 
husbands  or  wives,  as  the  case  may  be,  to  supply 
them  with  the  means  of  celebrating  their  festivals, 
such  as  their  marriages,  births,  or  burials,  in  nearly 


58  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  hi. 

the  same  way  as  amongst  themselves ;  the  slaves, 
in  fact,  are  considered  as  their  family,  and  are 
always  spoken  of  as  "  my  son,"  or  "  my  daughter." 
If  the  daughters  of  slaves  are  chosen  as  wives  or 
concubines  by  their  owners  or  other  free  men,  it  is 
considered  an  honour,  and  their  children,  though 
looked  upon  as  slaves,  are  entitled  to  special  con- 
sideration. 

There  is  consequently  no  cruelty  or  hardship 
attendiug  the  state  of  slavery  ;  a  male  slave  can- 
not be  made  by  his  master  to  cultivate  the  ground, 
which  is  women's  work,  and  the  mistress  and  her 
slaves  till  the  ground  together. 

A  stranger  set  down  in  Angola,  and  not  aware 
of  the  existence  of  slavery,  would  hardly  discover 
that  such  an  institution  prevailed  so  universally 
amongst  them,  so  little  apparent  difference  is  there 
between  the  master  and  slave.  A  not  very  dissimilar 
condition  of  things  existed  in  the  feudal  times  in 
England  and  other  countries.  Yet  many  hundred 
thousand  slaves  were  brought  down  to  the  coast  to 
be  sold  to  the  white  men  and  shipped  off,  and 
I  will  now  explain  how  this  was  the  case,  paradoxical 
though  it  may  appear  after  what  I  have  just  said. 


CH.  III.]  THE  SLAVE  TRADE. 


59 


The  number  was  jjartly  made  up  of  surplus  slave 
population  sold  o£f  by  the  owners,  probably  from 
inability  to  feed  or  clothe  them;  cases  of  famine 
from  failure  of  the  crops,  from  drought,  &c.,  a 
common  local  occurrence,  also  supplied  large  num- 
bers of  slaves;  but  by  far  the  greatest  part  were 
furnished  by  the  effect  of  their  own  laws,  almost 
every  offence  being  punishable  by  slavery,  to  which 
not  only  the  guilty  party,  but  even  in  many  cases 
every  member  of  his  family  was  liable. 

Offences  against  property  are  especially  visited 
by  the  severe  penalties  of  slavery,  fine,  or  death. 
Any  one  caught  in  the  act  of  stealing,  be  the 
amount  ever  so  small,  becomes  at  once  the  property 
or  slave  of  the  person  robbed.  It  is  a  common 
thing  to  see  blacks  working  in  chains  at  factories 
and  houses  where  they  have  been  caught  stealing, 
the  custom  among  the  Europeans  generally  being 
to  detain  them  until  their  relatives  shall  have  paid 
a  ransom  for  them.  I  must  do  the  natives  the 
justice  to  say  that  they  are  very  observant  of  their 
own  laws,  even  to  a  white  man  alone  in  their  terri- 
tory, who  claims  their  protection  against  offenders. 
Certain    offences  that  we    should  consider  triflino^, 


60  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVEE  CONGO,    [ch.  m. 

are  by  some  tribes  visited  with  heavy  punishment, 
such  as  stealing  Indian  corn  whilst  growing,  or  an 
egg  from  under  a  sitting  hen.  In  other  tribes 
breaking  a  plate  or  other  article  of  crockery  is  a 
great  offence :  this  is  especially  the  case  to  the 
interior  of  Novo  Bedondo,  where  the  punishment 
is  death  or  slavery. 

I  was  told  there  of  the  amusing  manner  in 
which  a  Portuguese  trader  turned  the  tables  on  a 
Soba,  or  chief  of  a  town,  where  he  had  established 
himself,  and  w^ho  annoyed  him  greatly  by  his  con- 
stant demands  for  presents,  by  placing  a  cracked 
plate  under  a  sheet  on  his  bed,  on  which  the  Soba 
was  in  the  habit  of  sitting  during  his  too  frequent 
visits.  On  the  Soba  sitting  down  as  usual,  on  the 
trap  prepared  for  him,  he,  of  course,  smashed  the 
plate  to  atoms,  to  his  great  surprise;  frightened  at 
the  possible  result  of  the  accident,  he  humbly 
begged  the  trader  not  to  let  a  soul  in  the  place 
know  of  it,  promising  restitution;  the  wished-for 
result  of  the  scheme  was  attained,  as  he  ceased  all 
his  importunities  during  the  remainder  of  the 
trader's  stay  in  the  country. 

But  all  these  sources  of  slaves  for  shipment  were 


CH.  in.]  ORDEAL  BT  POISON.  61 

but  a  fraction  of  the  number  supplied  by  their 
belief  in  witchcraft.  Witchcraft  is  their  principal, 
or  only  belief;  every  thing  that  happens  has  been 
brought  about  by  it;  all  cases  of  drought,  sick- 
ness, death,  blight,  accident,  and  even  the  most 
trivial  circumstances  are  ascribed  to  the  evil  influ- 
ence of  witchery  or  "  fetish." 

A  "fetish"  man  is  consulted,  and  some  poor 
unfortunate  accused  and  either  killed  at  once  or  sold 
into  slavery,  and,  in  most  cases,  all  his  family  as 
well,  and  every  scrap  of  their  property  confiscated 
and  divided  amongst  the  whole  town;  in  other 
cases,  however,  a  heavy  fine  is  imposed,  and  in- 
ability to  pay  it  also  entails  slavery ;  the  option  of 
trial  by  ordeal  is  sometimes  afforded  the  accused, 
who  often  eagerly  demand  it,  such  is  their  firm 
belief  in  it. 

This  extremely  curious  and  interesting  ordeal 
is  by  poison,  v.hich  is  prepared  from  the  thick,  hard 
bark  of  a  large  tree,  the  Erythrophlwum  Guineense 
(Oliver,  *  Flora  of  Tropical  Africa/  ii.  320).  Dr. 
Brunton  has  examined  the  properties  of  this  bark, 
and  finds  that  it  possesses  a  very  remarkable  action. 
The  powder,  when  inhaled,  causes  violent  sneezing ; 


62  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  iii. 

the  aqueous  extract,  when  injected  under  the  skin 
of  animals,  causes  yomiting,  and  has  a  remarkable 
effect  upon  the  vagus  nerve,  which  it  first  irritates 
and  then  paralyses.  The  irritation  of  this  nerve 
makes  the  heart  beat  slowly.  (Fuller  details  may 
be  found  in  the  '  Proceedings  of  the  Koyal  Society ' 
for  this  year.)  It  is  called  "  casca  "  by  the  natives, 
and  I  obtained  a  specimen  at  Bembe,  which  was 
brought  to  me  concealed  in  rags,  by  a  half-witted 
water-carrier  in  my  service,  and  he  procured  it  for 
me  only  after  my  promising  him  that  I  would  not 
tell  anyone.  He  said  it  was  from  a  tree  growing 
about  half  a  day's  journey  off,  but  I  could  not  get 
him  to  take  me  to  it.  The  other  blacks  denied  all 
knowledge  of  it,  and  said  it  was  "  fetish  "  for  anyone 
to  have  it  in  his  possession.  On  two  occasions  after- 
wards, I  obtained  some  more  specimens  from  natives 
of  Cabinda,  where  the  tree  is  said  to  be  abundant, 
and  the  natives  very  fond  of  referring  all  their 
disputes  and  accusations  to  its  decision. 

'' Casca"  is  prepared  by  the  bark  being  ground 
on  a  stone  to  a  fine  powder,  and  mixed  with  about 
half  a  pint  of  cold  water,  a  piece  about  two  inches 
square  being  said  to  be  a  dose.     It  either  acts  as 


CH.  III.]  ORDEAL  BY  POISON.  63 

an  emetic  or  as  a  purgative;  sliould  the  former 
effect  take  place,  the  accused  is  declared  innocent, 
if  the  latter,  he  is  at  once  considered  guilty,  and 
either  allowed  to  die  of  the  poison,  which  is  said 
to  be  quick  in  its  action,  or  immediately  attacked 
with  sticks  and  clubs,  his  head  cut  off  and  his  body 
burnt. 

All  the  natives  I  inquired  of  agreed  in  their  de- 
scription of  the  effect  produced  on  a  person  poisoned 
by  this  bark;  his  limbs  are  first  affected  and  he 
loses  all  power  over  them,  falls  to  the  ground,  and 
dies  quickly ;  without  much  apparent  suffering. 

It  is  said  to  be  in  the  power  of  the  "  fetish " 
man  to  prepare  the  '^  casca "  mixture  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  determine  which  of  the  effects  men- 
tioned shall  be  produced :  in  case  of  a  dispute,  both 
parties  drink  it,  and  according  as  he  allows  the 
mixture  to  settle,  and  gives  one  the  clear  liquid 
and  the  other  the  dregs,  so  does  it  produce  vomit- 
ing in  the  former,  and  acts  as  a  purgative  in  the 
latter  case.  I  have  very  little  doubt  that  as  the 
"  fetish "  man  is  bribed  or  not,  so  he  can  and  does 
prepare  it. 

The  Portuguese   in   Angola  strictly  prohibit  the 


64  ANGOLA  AND  THE  EIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  iii. 

use  of  "  casca,"  and  severely  punish  any  natives  con- 
cerned in  a  trial  by  this  bark,  but  it  is  nevertheless 
practised  in  secret  everywhere. 

Tlie  occasion  of  the  test  is  one  of  great  excite- 
ment, and  is  accompanied  by  much  cruelty.  In 
some  tribes  the  accused,  after  drinking  the  potion, 
has  to  stoop  and  pass  under  half-a-dozen  low  arches 
made  by  bending  switches  and  sticking  both  ends 
into  the  ground ;  should  he  fall  down  in  passing 
under  any  of  the  arches,  that  circumstance  alone 
is  sufficient  to  prove  him  guilty,  without  waiting 
for  the  purgative  effect  to  be  produced. 

Before  the  trial  the  accused  is  confined  in  a  hut, 
closely  guarded,  and  the  night  before  it  is  sur- 
rounded by  all  the  women  and  children  of  the 
neighbouring  towns,  dancing  and  singing  to  the 
horrid  din  of  their  drums  and  rattles.  On  the  occa- 
sion of  the  ordeal  the  men  are  all  armed  with  knives, 
matchets,  and  sticks,  and  the  moment  the  poor 
devil  stumbles  in  going  under  one  of  the  switches, 
he  is  instantly  set  upon  by  the  howling  multitude 
and  beaten  to  death,  and  cut  and  hacked  to  pieces 
in  a  few  minutes.  I  was  at  Mangue  Grande  on  one 
occasion  when  a  big  dance  was  going  on  the  night 


CH.  III.]  ORDEAL  BY  POISON.  65 

before  a  poor  wretch  was  to  take  "  casca."  I  went 
to  the  town  with  some  of  the  traders  at  that  place, 
and  we  offered  to  ransom  him,  but  to  no  purpose ; 
nothing,  they  said,  could  save  him  from  the  trial. 
I  learnt,  however,  that  he  passed  it  successfully, 
but  I  think  I  never  heard  such  a  hideous  yelling 
as  the  400  or  500  women  and  children  were  making 
round  the  hut,  almost  all  with  their  faces  and 
bodies  painted  red  and  white,  dancing  in  a  perfect 
cloud  of  dust,  and  the  whole  scene  illuminated  by 
blazing  fires  of  dry  grass  under  a  starlit  summer 
sky. 

The  most  insignificant  and  extraordinary  circum- 
stances are  made  the  subject  of  accusations  of  witch- 
craft, and  entail  the  usual  penalties. 

I  was  at  Ambrizzette  when  three  Cabinda  women 
had  been  to  the  river  with  their  pots  for  water ;  all 
three  were  filling  them  from  the  stream  together, 
when  the  middle  one  was  snapped .  up  by  an  alli- 
gator, and  instantly  carried  away  under  the  surface 
of  the  water,  and  of  course  devoured.  The  relatives 
of  the  poor  woman  at  once  accused  the  other  two 
of  bewitching  her,  and  causing  the  alligator  to  take 
her  out  of  their  midst !    When  I  remonstrated  witli 

VOL.  I.  F 


66  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  COJ^GO.    [ch.  iii. 

them,  and  attempted  to  show  them  the  utter  ab- 
surdity of  the  charge,  their  answer  was,  "Why  did 
not  the  alligator  take  one  of  the  end  ones  then,  and 
not  the  one  in  the  middle  ?  "  and  out  of  this  idea  it 
was  impossible  to  move  them,  and  the  poor  women 
were  both  to  take  "  casca."  I  never  heard  the 
result,  but  most  likely  one  or  both  were  either  killed 
or  passed  into  slavery. 

At  a  place  near  the  mountain  range  of  Pungo 
Andongo,  about  150  miles  inland  of  Loanda,  I  was 
once  the  amused  spectator  at  a  curious  trial  of  a 
man  for  bewitching  the  spirit  of  his  dead  wife.  Her 
sister,  it  appeared,  suffered  from  violent  headaches, 
and  sleepless  nights,  which  were  said  to  be  caused 
by  the  wife's  spirit  being  unable  to  rest,  on  account 
of  the  widower  being  a  wizard.  A  large  circle  of 
spectators  was  formed  round  the  sick  sister,  who 
was  squatting  on  the  ground;  a  fetish  man  was 
beating  a  drum,  and  singing,  or  rather  droning, 
some  incantation;  after  a  little  while,  the  woman 
began  to  give  short  yelps,  and  to  close  her  eyes,  and 
on  being  interrogated  by  the  fetish  man,  said  the 
spirit  of  her  sister  had  spoken  to  her,  and  that  she 
could  not  rest  until  her  husband  had  made  resti- 


CH.  III.]  ORDEAL  BY  POISON.  67 

tution  of  her  two  goats  and  lier  baskets,  &c.,  which 
he  had  appropriated,  and  which  she  had  desired 
should  be  given  to  her  sister.  The  man  instantly 
rose,  and  brought  the  goats,  baskets,  clothes,  &c., 
and  laid  them  before  his  sister-in-law,  and  the  trial 
was  over.  If  he  had  denied  the  accusation,  he 
would  inevitably  have  had  to  take  "  casca." 

When  we  consider  the  great  population  of  the 
vast  country  that  supplied  the  slave  trade  of  the 
coast,  and  that,  as  I  have  explained,  the  state  of 
their  laws  and  customs  renders  all  transgressions 
liable  to  slavery,  the  absence  of  necessity  for  the 
slave  wars  and  hunts  of  the  north  of  Africa  and 
other  extensive  and  thinly  populated  districts  is 
sufiieiently  proved.  I  have  been  unable  to  collect 
positive  information  as  to  the  statistics  of  the  slaves 
shipped  in  Angola  (from  Congo  to  Benguella  inclu- 
sively), but  the  number  could  not  have  been  far 
short  of  100,000  per  annum.  I  was  told  by  some 
of  the  old  inhabitants,  that  to  see  as  many  as  ten 
to  twelve  vessels  loading  at  a  time  at  Loanda  and 
Benguella  was  a  common  occurrence.  At  the  time 
of  the  last  shipments  from  Benguella,  about  ten 
years    ago,  I  have   seen   as   many  as   1000   slaves 

F  2 


68  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  PdVER  CONGO,   [ch.  iii. 

arrive  in  one  caravan  from  the  interior,  principally 
from  Bibe. 

Up  to  ^within  a  very  few  years  there  existed  a 
marble  arm-chair  on  the  wharf  at  the  custom-house 
at  Loanda,  where  the  bishop,  in  the  slave-trading 
times,  was  wont  to  sit,  to  baptize  and  bless  the 
batches  of  poor  wTctches  as  they  were  sent  off  in 
barge-loads  to  the  vessels  in  the  harbour.  The 
great  slaughter  now  going  on  in  a  great  part  of 
Africa,  which  I  have  mentioned  as  the  result  of  the 
suppression  of  the  slave  shipments  from  the  coast, 
can  now  be  understood ;  whereas  formerly  they  were 
sent  to  the  coast  to  be  sold  to  the  white  men  and 
exported,  they  are  now  simply  murdered.  On  the 
road  down  from  Bembe  in  April  last,  we  passed 
the  ashes  and  bones  of  a  black  who  had  stolen  a 
trade-knife,  a  bit  of  iron  in  a  small  wooden  handle, 
and  made  in  Germany  at  the  rate  of  a  few  shillings 
per  gross,  and  passed  on  the  coast  in  trade ;  on  the 
top  of  his  staff  was  stuck  his  skull  and  the  knife  he 
had  stolen,  a  ghastly  and  lasting  warning  to  passers- 
by  of  the  strict  laws  of  the  country  respecting 
property. 

If  a  famine  overtakes  any  part  of  the  country, 


CH.  III.]       INSENSIBILITY  OF  THE  NEGBO.  69 

a  common  occurrence,  the  slaves  are  simply  taken 
out  and  knocked  on  the  head  to  save  them  from 
starvation.  I  was  told  by  the  natives  that  the  slaves 
offered  no  resistance  to  that  fate,  but  accepted  it 
as  inevitable,  and  preferable  to  the  pangs  of  hunger, 
knowing  that  it  was  no  use  going  to  the  coast  to 
save  their  lives  at  the  hands  of  the  white  men  by 
being  shipped  as  slaves.  At  Musserra,  three 
Cabinda  blacks  from  the  boats'  crews  joined  three 
natives  in  robbing  one  of  the  factories :  on  com- 
plaint being  made  to  the  king  and  principal  men 
of  the  town,  they  marched  off  the  tliree  Cabindas, 
promising  to  punish  them,  which  they  did  by  cutting 
off  their  heads,  unknown  to  the  white  men;  they 
then  brought  the  three  natives  to  deliver  up  to 
the  traders  as  their  slaves,  but  on  these  refusing 
to  accept  them,  and  demanding  that  a  severe 
punishment  should  also  be  passed  on  them,  they 
quietly  tied  a  large  stone  to  their  necks,  took  them 
out  in  a  canoe  to  the  bay,  and  dropped  them  into 
the  sea. 

It  is  impossible  to  reclaim  the  hordes  of  savages 
inhabiting  the  interior  even  of  Angola  from  their 
horrid   customs   and   their   disregard    for  life;   the 


70  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  iii. 

insalubrity  of  the  country,  thougli  it  is  infinitely 
superior  in  this  respect  to  the  rest  of  the  West  Coast, 
would  be  an  almost  insuperable  bar  to  their  im- 
provement ;  their  own  progress  is  still  more  hope- 
less. In  my  opinion,  it  would  be  necessary  that 
tropical  Africa  should  undergo  a  total  physical 
revolution,  that  the  long  line  of  unhealthy  coast 
should  be  uj)heaved,  and  the  deadly  leagues  of 
pestiferous  swamps  be  thus  drained,  before  the 
country  would  be  fitted  for  the  existence  of  a 
higher  type  of  mankind  than  the  present  negro  race. 
It  can  oply  have  been  by  countless  ages  of 
battling  with  malaria,  that  they  have  been  reduced 
physically  and  morally  to  their  present  wonderful 
state  or  condition  of  withstanding  successfully  the 
climatic  influences,  so  fatal  to  the  white  and  more 
highly  organized  race — the  sun  and  fevers  of  their 
malignant  and  dismal  mangrove  swamps,  or  the 
mists  and  agues  of  their  magnificent  tropical  forests, 
no  more  affecting  them  than  they  do  the  alligator 
and  countless  mosquitoes  that  swarm  in  the  former, 
or  the  monkeys  and  snakes  that  inhabit  the  latter. 
It  is  really  astonishing  to  see  the  naked  negro, 
without  a  particle   of   covering  on   his  head  (often 


CH.  III.]      INSENSIBILITY  OF  THE  NEGRO.  71 

shaved),  in  the  full  blaze  of  the  fierce  sun,  his  daily 
food  a  few  handfuls  of  ground-nuts,  beans,  or  man- 
dioca-root,  and  very  often  most  unwholesome  water 
for  drink.  At  night  he  throws  himself  on  the 
ground,  anywhere,  covers  himself  with  a  thin  grass 
or  cotton  cloth,  nearly  transparent  in  texture, 
without  a  pillow,  like  a  dog,  and  awakes  in  the 
morning  generally  wet  through  with  the  heavy  dew, 
and  does  not  suffer  the  least  pain  or  inconvenience 
from  the  climate  from  infancy  to  old  age  unless  his 
lungs  become  affected. 

The  way  babies  are  treated  would  be  enough  to 
kill  a  white  child.  The  women  when  at  work  on  the 
plantations  generally  place  them  on  a  heap  of  grass 
or  on  the  ground,  and  are  not  at  all  particular  to 
put  them  in  the  shade,  and  I  have  often  seen  them, 
naked  and  filthy,  and  covered  with  a  thick  mass 
of  large  buzzing  flies  over  their  faces  and  bodies, 
fast  asleep,  with  the  sun  shining  full  on  them.  The 
women,  in  carrying  them  tied  behind  their  backs, 
seldom  include  their  little  heads  in  the  cloth  that 
secures  them,  but  leave  them  to  swing  and  loll 
about  helplessly  in  every  direction  with  the  move- 
ment of  walkinof. 


72  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  hi. 

Children,  of  any  age,  seldom  cry,  and  when  they 
do  it  is  a  kind  of  howl;  when  hurt  or  punished, 
they  very  rarely  shed  tears,  or  sob,  but  keep  up 
a  monotonous  noise,  which  would  never  be  imagined 
to  be  the  crying  of  a  child,  but  rather  a  song. 

I  once  saw,  in  one  of  the  market-places  in  Loanda, 
a  boy  of  about  sixteen  lying  on  the  ground,  nearly 
naked,  with  his  face  and  body  covered  with  flies, 
but  none  of  the  busy  thronging  crowd  had  thought 
that  he  was  dead  and  stiff,  as  I  discovered  when 
I  touched  him  with  my  foot,  but  thought  he  was 
simply  asleep  and  basking  in  the  sun:  his  being 
covered  with  flies  was  too  trivial  a  circumstance  to 
attract  any  attention. 

The  manner  in  which  negroes  receive  most  severe 
wounds,  with  apparently  little  pain  and  absence  of 
nervous  shock,  is  most  extraordinary.  I  have  often 
been  told  of  this  by  the  Portuguese  surgeons,  who 
remark  the  absence  of  shock  to  the  system  with 
which  negroes  undergo  amputations  and  other 
severe  operations  (without  chloroform),  which  are 
attended  by  so  much  danger  to  the  white  race. 
I  was  staying  at  Ambrizzette  when  a  man  came 
there  with  his  right  hand  blown  to  a  mass  of  shreds. 


CH.  III.]      INSENSIBILITY  OF  THE  NEGRO.  73 

from  tlie  explosion  of  a  gun-barrel ;  he  was  accom- 
panied by  his  relatives,  who  took  him  to  the  differ- 
ent factories  to  beg  the  white  men  to  cut  off  the 
hanging  shreds  of  flesh  and  dress  the  injured  part. 
All  refused  to  attend  to  the  man,  till  a  Frenchman 
gave  them  a  sharp  razor,  arnica,  and  balsam,  and 
some  bandages,  and  made  them  go  out  of  the  house 
and  enclosure  to  operate  on  the  sufferer  themselves, 
away  from  the  factories;  which  they  did.  About 
an  hour  after  I  was  passing  a  group  of  natives 
sitting  round  a  fire,  and  amongst  them  was  the 
wounded  man  laughing  and  joking  quite  at  his 
ease,  and  with  his  left  hand  roasting  ground-nuts 
with  the  rest,  as  if  nothing  had  happened  to  him. 

The  reason  the  white  men  refused  to  help  the 
wounded  black  was  not  from  want  of  charity  or  pity, 
as  all  would  have  done  everything  in  their  power 
to  alleviate  his  sufferings,  but  it  was  the  singular 
custom  of  the  natives  that  prevented  their  doing  so. 
Had  he  died,  the  white  man  who  ministered  to  him 
would  have  been  made  responsible  for  his  death,  and 
would  have  been  almost  as  heavily  fined  as  if  he  had 
murdered  him !  If  he  got  well,  as  he  did,  his  bene- 
factor would  have   been  inconvenienced  by  heavy 


74  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVEB  CONGO,    [ch.  hi. 

demands  for  his  maintenance  and  clothing,  and 
expected  to  make  presents  to  the  king,  &c.,  for  he 
would  be  looked  upon  as  having  saved  his  life,  and 
consequently  bound  to  support  him,  to  a  certain 
extent,  as  he  was,  though  alive,  unable  from  the 
accident  to  get  his  own  living  as  readily  as  if  he 
were  uninjured.  The  Frenchman  got  over  this  risk 
by  giving  the  remedies,  not  to  the  wounded  black 
himself,  but  to  his  friends,  and  also  making  them 
clear  out  of  the  precincts  of  the  house;  so  that 
in  no  case,  whether  the  man  died  or  lived,  could 
any  claim  be  made  against  him. 

The  only  way  to  put  a  stop  to  the  awful  bloodshed 
now  going  on  in  the  interior  w  ould  be  to  organize 
an  emigration  scheme,  under  the  direct  supervision 
of  the  several  governments  who  have  entered  into 
treaties  for  the  abolition  of  slavery,  and  transport 
the  poor  wretches,  now  being  murdered  in  cold 
blood  by  thousands,  to  tropical  climates  where  they 
might  earn  their  living  by  the  cultivation  of  those 
articles  necessary  for  consumption  in  civilized 
countries;  their  constitution  would  enable  them 
to  resist  the  climate,  and  they  would  gradually 
become  civilized. 


CH.  III.]    INSENSIBILITY  OF  THE  NEQRO.  75 

One  great  bar  to  their  civilization  in  Angola,  is 
that  no  tribe  on  the  coast  can  be  induced  to  work 
for  wages,  except  as  servants  in  houses  and  stores, 
and  even  these  are  mostly  slaves  of  other  natives, 
or  work  to  pay  off  some  fine  or  penalty  incurred 
in  their  towns.  For  some  years  that  I  have  been 
collecting  the  inner  bark  of  the  Adansonia  digitata, 
or  Baobab  tree  (the  application  of  which  to  paper- 
making  I  discovered  in  1858,  and  commenced 
working  as  a  commercial  speculation  in  1865), 
I  have  been  unable  to  induce  one  single  native 
to  hire  himself  to  work  by  day  or  piecework ;  they 
will  cut,  prepare,  and  dry  it,  and  bring  it  for  sale, 
but  nothing  will  induce  them  to  hire  themselves, 
or  their  slaves,  to  a  white  man. 

There  are  at  present  in  Angola  several  sugar  and 
cotton  plantations  worked  by  slaves,  called  at  pre- 
sent "libertos,"  who  are  meant  by  the  Portuguese 
Government  to  work  ten  years,  as  a  compensation 
to  their  owners  for  the  capital  expended  in  their 
purchase  and  for  their  clothing,  education  and 
medical  treatment.  At  a  near  date,  the  total  abo- 
lition of  slavery  in  Angola  has  been  decreed,  and 
will   come    into   force ;    with  the   inevitable   result 


76  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  EIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  iii. 

of  tlie  ruin  of  the  plantations,  or  of  its  becoming 
a  dead  letter  in  the  province. 

By  the  native  laws,  a  black  once  sold  as  a  slave, 
and  escaping  back  to  his  tribe,  is  considered  a  free 
man,  so  that  a  planter  at  present  has  no  hold  on 
his  slaves;  if  they  escape  into  the  neighbouring 
towns,  the  natives  will  only  deliver  them  up  on 
the  payment  of  a  certain  amount,  very  often  more 
than  he  had  cost  in  the  first  instance. 

No  amount  of  kindness  or  good  done  to  a  negro 
will  have  the  slightest  influence  in  preventing  him 
from  leaving  his  benefactor  without  as  much  as  a 
"good-bye,"  or  a  shadow  of  an  excuse,  and  very 
often  going  from  a  pampered  existence  to  the 
certainty  of  the  hard  fare  and  life  of  their  free 
condition,  and  this,  not  from  the  slightest  idea  of 
love  of  freedom,  or  anything  of  the  kind,  but  simply 
from  an  animal  instinct  to  live  a  lazy  and  vegeta- 
tive existence. 

When  I  was  at  Cuio,  working  a  copper  deposit, 
a  black  called  Firmino,  the  slave  of  a  Portuguese 
there,  attached  himself  very  much  to  me,  and  was, 
seemingly,  never  so  happy  as  when  accompanying 
me   in   my  trips  and   rambles,   and   not  from   any 


CH.  III.]  INGBATITUDE.  77 

payment  I  gave  him,  beyond  a  small  and  occasional 
present.  When  his  master  Avas  leaving  the  place, 
Firmino  came  crying  to  me,  begging  me  to  buy 
him,  that  he  might  remain  in  my  service  as  my 
slave,  promising  that  he  would  never  leave  me. 

His  master  generally  treating  him  with  harsh- 
ness, if  not  cruelty,  I  took  pity  on  him,  and  gave 
13Z.  10s.  for  him,  a  high  and  fancy  price  there,  but 
he  was  considered  worth  it  from  his  great  size  and 
strength,  his  speaking  Portuguese  perfectly,  and 
good  qualities  generally. 

I  explained  to  him  that  although  I  had  bought 
him,  he  was  a  free  man,  and  could  go  at  once  if 
he  liked ;  but  that  as  long  as  he  remained  in  my 
service  as  my  personal  attendant,  he  should  have 
clotlies  and  pay.  He  went  on  his  knees  to  thank 
me  and  to  swear  in  negro  fashion,  by  making  a 
cross  in  the  dust  with  his  forefinger,  that  he  would 
never  leave  me.  A  fortnight  after,  having  to  send 
him  with  a  bundle  of  clothes  from  Benguella  to 
Cuio,  he  delivered  them  to  the  person  they  were 
addressed  to,  but  joined  three  slaves  in  stealing  a 
boat  and  sailing  to  Loanda. 

A  month  after  1  received  a  letter  from  the  police 


78  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  hi. 

there  advising  me  that  a  nigger  called  Firmino 
had  been  caught  with  others  in  an  extensive  robbery, 
and  claimed  to  be  my  slave.  I  answered  that  he 
was  no  slave  of  mine,  detailing  the  circumstances  of 
my  freeing  him,  and  asking  that  he  should  be  dealt 
with  as  he  deserved.  He  was  punished  and  drafted 
as  a  soldier  at  Loanda,  and  on  my  meeting  him 
there  one  day  and  asking  him  his  reason  for  leaving 
me,  and  treating  me  so  ungratefully,  he  said  that 
'*he  did  not  know  why  he  had  done  so;"  and  I  do 
not  believe  he  did,  or  ever  tried  to  find  out,  or 
bothered  his  head  any  more  about  it. 

It  is  no  use  disguising  the  fact  that  the  negro 
race  is,  mentally,  differently  constituted  from  the 
white,  however  disagreeable  and  opposed  this  may 
be  to  the  usual  and  prevailing  ideas  in  this  country. 
I  do  not  believe,  and  I  fearlessly  assert,  that  there  is 
hardly  such  a  thing  possible  as  the  sincere  conver- 
sion of  a  single  negro  to  Christianity  whilst  in  Africa, 
and  under  the  powerful  influence  of  their  fellows. 
No  progress  will  be  made  in  the  condition  of  the 
negro  as  long  as  the  idea  prevails  that  he  can  be 
reasoned  out  of  his  ignorance  and  prejudices,  and 
his  belief  in  fetish,  or  that  he  is  the  equal  of  the 


CH.  III.]  RESULTS  OF  CIVILIZATION.  79 

white  man;  in  fact,  he  must  remain  the  same  as 
he  is  now,  until  we  learn  to  know  him  properly, 
and  what  he  really  is. 

Loanda  was  discovered  in  the  year  1492,  and  since 
1576  the  white  race  has  never  abandoned  it.  The 
Jesuits  and  other  missionaries  did  wonders  in  their 
time,  and  the  results  of  their  great  work  can  be 
still  noticed  to  this  day:  thousands  of  the  natives, 
for  200  miles  to  the  interior,  can  read  and  write 
very  fairly,  though  there  has  hardly  been  a  mission 
or  school,  except  in  a  very  small  way,  at  Loanda 
itself,  for  many  many  years ;  but  those  accomplish- 
ments are  all  that  civilization  or  example  has  done 
amongst  them.  They  all  believe  firmly  in  their 
fetishes  and  charms,  and  though  generally  treated 
with  the  utmost  kindness  and  equality  by  the  Por- 
tuguese, the  negro  race,  and  even  the  mulattoes,  have 
never  advanced  further  than  to  hold  secondary 
appointments,  as  writers  or  clerks,  in  the  public 
offices  and  shops,  and  to  appear  (in  public)  in  the 
most  starched  and  dandyfied  condition.  I  can  only 
recollect  one  black  man  who  had  at  all  distinguished 
himself  in  trade ;  keeping  low  and  filthy  grog-shops 
being  about  the  extent  of  their  business  capacity. 


80  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,     [gh.  iii. 


Another  honourable  exception  is  a  Captain  Dias, 
who  is  the  captain  or  governor  of  the  district 
of  the  "  Barra  do  Bengo,"  near  Loanda,  a  very 
intelligent  man,  and  from  whom  I  several  times 
experienced  great  kindness  and  hospitality. 


(     81     ) 


CHAPTEK  lY. 

THE  RIVER  CONGO — BANANA — PORTO  DA  LENHA — 
BOMA  —  MUSSURONGO  TRIBE  —  PIRATES  —  MUSHI- 
CONGO    TRIBE — FISH — PALM   CHOP — PALM   WINE. 

At  the  mouth  of  the  River  Congo  and  on  its  north 
bank  a  long  spit  of  sand  separates  the  sea  from  a 
small  creek  or  branch  of  the  river.  On  this  narrow 
strip,  called  Banana,  are  established  several  factories, 
belonging  to  Dutch,  French,  and  English  houses, 
and  serving  principally  as  depots  for  their  other 
factories  higher  up  the  river  and  on  the  coast.  The 
Dutch  house  especially  is  a  large  establishment, 
and  it  was  in  one  of  their  small  steamers  that  my 
wife  and  myself  ascended  the  river  in  February 
1873. 

The  first  place  we  touched  at  was  Porto  da 
Lenha,  about  forty  or  forty-five  miles  from  Banana. 
The  river  banks  up  to  this  point  are  sheer  walls  of 
large  mangrove  trees   rising  out  of  the  water;   at 

VOL.  I.  G 


82  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  iv. 

high  water,  particularly,  hardly  a  dry  place  can  be 
seea  where  one  could  land  from  a  boat  or  canoe. 
The  natives  have,  of  course,  openings  known  to 
themselves,  under  and  through  the  mangrove,  where 
their  little  canoes  dart  in  and  out. 

Porto  da  Lenha  (Plate  II.)  consists  of  half-a- 
dozen  trading  factories,  built  on  ground  enclosed 
from  the  river  by  piles,  forming  quays  in  front, 
where  large  vessels  can  discharge  and  load  close 
alongside.  The  wharves  are  continually  siDking, 
and  have  to  be  replaced  by  constant  addition  of 
new  piles  and  layers  of  thick  fresh-water  bivalve 
shells,  very  abundant  in  the  river.  We  here  found 
growing  in  the  mud,  and  with  the  roots  covered 
by  the  river  at  high  water,  the  lovely  orchid 
"  Lissocliilus  giganteus  "  in  full  bloom ;  we  collected 
some  of  its  roots,  which  reached  England  safely, 
and  are  now  growing  in  Kew  Gardens.  Several 
fine  creepers  were  also  in  flower,  and  we  observed 
numerous  butterflies,  which  were  not  easy  to  capture 
from  the  difficulty  of  getting  at  them,  as  at  the 
back  of  the  houses  the  dense  bush  grows  out  of 
swamp,  and  only  those  specimens  crossing  the  small 
dry  space  on  which  the  houses  are  built  could  be 


CH.  IV.]  PORTO  DA  LENHA.  83 


collected.  Little  creeks  divide  one  house  from 
another ;  in  some  cases  a  plank  bridge  affords  com- 
munication, but  it  is  mostly  effected  by  boats.  A 
few  days  before  our  arrival  a  flood  had  covered  the 
whole  of  the  ground  with  several  inches  of  water. 
Considering  the  conditions  of  the  place,  it  does  not 
seem  to  be  so  unhealthy  to  Europeans  as  might  be 
expected.  Next  day  we  proceeded  to  Boma,  also 
situated  on  the  north  bank  of  the  river,  about 
ninety-five  miles  from  Banana. 

The  scenery  completely  changes  after  leaving 
Porto  da  Lenha,  the  mangrove  totally  disappears, 
and  several  kinds  of  bright  green  bushes,  inter- 
spersed with  different  palms  and  trees,  cover  the 
banks  for  many  miles.  Near  Boma,  however,  the 
banks  are  higher,  and  become  bare  of  trees  and 
shrubs,  the  whole  country  being  comparatively 
free  of  any  other  vegetation  but  high  grass;  we 
have  arrived,  in  fact,  at  the  grass-covered  high 
country  before  mentioned  as  beginning  at  the 
third  elevation  from  the  coast  over  the  whole  of 
Angola. 

We  were  most  hospitably  received  by  a  young 
Portuguese,  Senhor  Chaves,  in  charge  of  an  English 

G  2 


84  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,    [oh.  iv. 

factory  there,  picturesquely  situated,  overlooking 
tlie  banks  of  the  river.  A  high  hill  opposite  Boma 
and  across  the  rirer  is  covered  from  the  top  right 
down  to  the  water's  edge  with  an  impenetrable 
forest,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  explain  this  vegetation, 
as  it  stands  in  such  singular  relief  to  the  com- 
parative barrenness  of  the  surrounding  country, 
gigantic  Baobabs  being  the  great  tree-feature  of 
the  place.  We  crossed  the  river  several  times  to 
this  thickly-wooded  hill,  and  were  only  able  to  find 
just  sufficient  shore  to  land  under  the  branches  of 
the  trees,  one  of  which  (Lonchocarpus  sericeus)  was 
in  beautiful  bloom.  The  current  of  the  river  is  so 
strong,  and  the  stream  so  broad,  that  it  took  us 
half-an-hour  to  get  across  in  a  good  boat  with  ten 
strong  Kroomen  paddling. 

The  view  from  a  high  hill  on  the  north  bank  is 
magnificent :  a  succession  of  bends  of  the  river,  and 
as  far  as  the  sight  could  reach,  the  flat  country  to 
the  south  and  west  cut  into  innumerable  islands 
and  creeks,  of  the  brightest  green  of  the  water-grass 
and  papyrus  reed,  divided  by  the  sunlit  and  quick- 
silver-like streams  of  the  vast  rapidly-flowing  river. 

Boma,    as    before    observed,    was    formerly    the 


CH.  IV.]  BOM  A. 


great  slave-trade  mart,  thousands  arriving  from 
all  quarters  of  the  interior ;  they  generally  carried 
a  load  of  provisions,  chiefly  small  beans,  a  species 
of  the  haricot,  for  sale  to  the  traders,  and  on 
which  the  slaves  were  chiefly  fed,  in  the  barracoons 
and  on  board  the  vessels  in  which  they  were  shipped, 
and  the  Congo  used  in  this  way  to  supply  the 
coast,  even  to  Loanda,  with  abundance  of  beans, 
mandioca-meal,  &c. ;  but  since  the  cessation  of  the 
slave-trade  there  has  been  such  great  scarcity  of 
native  grown  food  produce,  not  only  in  the  river  but 
everywhere  on  the  coast — the  cultivation  of  other 
products,  such  as  ground-nuts,  being  of  greater 
advantage  to  the  natives — that  Europeans  are 
sometimes  reduced  to  great  straits  for  food  for 
the  natives  in  their  service,  and  even  for  the 
fowls.  This  is  one  of  the  curious  changes  pro- 
duced in  the  country  by  the  abolition  of  the  slave- 
trade.  A  very  large  trade  quickly  sprang  up  at 
Boma  in  ground-nuts,  palm-oil,  palm-kernels,  &c. ; 
but  a  foolish  competition  amongst  the  white  traders 
has  induced  them  to  go  higher  up  the  river  to 
trade;  the  consequence  has  been  that  Boma,  so 
capitally    situated    in    every    way    for    a    trading 


86  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  iv: 

station,  is  now  nearly  reduced  to  a  depot  for 
produce  brought  from  farther  up  the  river. 

We  were  a  fortnight  at  Boma,  but  Avere  greatly 
disappointed  at  the  small  number  of  species  of 
insects  we  collected,  and  the  poverty  in  plants  as 
well.  All  the  lovely  coloured  finches  and  other 
birds  of  the  grassy  regions  were  here  most  con- 
spicuous in  number  and  brilliancy,  and  it  was 
really  beautiful  to  see  the  tall  grass  alive  with  the 
brightest  scarlet,  yellow,  orange,  and  velvet  black  of 
the  many  different  species,  at  that  season  in  their 
full  plumage. 

We  were  very  much  amusecl  at  a  pretty  habit 
of  the  males  of  the  tiny  little  sky-blue  birds 
(Estrelda  cyanogastra)  that,  with  other  small  birds 
such  as  the  Spermestes,  Estreldas,  Pytelias,  &c., 
used  to  come  down  in  flocks  to  feed  in  the  open 
space  round  the  house.  The  little  mites  would 
take  a  grass  flower  in  their  beaks,  and  perform 
quite  a  hoppy  dance  on  any  little  stick  or  bush, 
bobbing  their  feathery  heads  up  and  down,  whilst 
their  tiny  throats  swelled  with  the  sweetest  little 
song-notes  and  trills  imaginable.  This  was  their 
song  to  the   females,  who  were    feeding  about  on 


CH.  IV.]  BOM  A. 


the  ground  below  them.  The  long-tailed  little 
'whydah  birds  {Vidua  iorinci]palis)  have  a  somewhat 
similar  habit  of  showing  off  whilst  the  hens  are 
feeding  on  the  ground ;  they  keep  hovering  in  the 
air  about  three  or  four  feet  above  them,  twit- twitting 
all  the  time,  their  long  tails  rising  and  falling 
most  gracefully  to  the  up-and-down  motion  of  their 
little  bodies. 

One  Sunday  during  our  stay  Senhor  Chaves 
organized  a  pic-nic  of  the  principal  white  traders  to 
a  native  village  in  the  interior,  where  he  had 
arranged  that  tlie  nine  kings  who  govern  Boma  and 
receive  "customs"  from  the  traders,  should  meet  us, 
in  order  that  he  might  make  them  each  a  "  dash," 
which  he  wished  my  wife  to  present,  in  com- 
memoration of  a  white  woman's  visit.  We  started 
in  hammocks,  and  after  about  two  hours'  journey, 
arrived  at  the  place  of  meeting,  where  a  good 
breakfast  awaited  us.  Our  road  was  over  hilly 
ground,  rough  and  rocky  (mica  schist),  and  was 
remarkably  bare  of  vegetation;  we  passed  one  or 
two  large  and  well-cultivated  ravines. 

After  breakfast  the  nine  kings  appeared  on  the 
scene,   and   a   miserable   lot  they   were,   with   one 


88  ANGOLA  AND  THE  EIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  iv. 

exception,  a  fine  tall  old  grizzly  negro ;  their 
retinues  were  of  the  same  description,  and  wretchedly 
clad.  There  was  a  big  palaver,  the  customary 
amount  of  rum  was  consumed  by  them,  and  they 
each  received,  from  my  wife,  their  "dress"  of 
several  yards  of  cloth,  piece  of  cotton  handker- 
chiefs, red  baize  sash,  and  red  cotton  nightcap. 
One  old  fellow  had  a  very  curious  old  crucifix, 
which  he  did  not  know  the  age  of;  he  could  only 
tell  that  he  was  the  fifth  Soba  or  king  that  had 
inherited  it.  It  had  evidently  belonged  to  the  old 
Catholic  Portuguese  missionaries  of  former  times. 

Crucifixes  are  often  seen  as  ''fetishes"  of  the  kings 
in  Angola.  Nothing  will  induce  them  to  part  with 
them,  as  they  belong  to  part  of  the  ''  fetishes  "  that 
have  been  handed  down  from  king  to  king  from 
time  immemorial,  and  must  not  be  lost  or  dis- 
posed of. 

An  amusing  incident  occurred  on  our  way  at  a 
large  village,'  where  a  great  crowd,  chiefly  of 
women  and  children,  had  collected  to  cheer  the 
white  woman,  seen  for  the  first  time  in  their 
lives.  My  hammock  was  a  little  way  behind,  and 
on  arriving  at  the   village   I  was   met   with   great 


CH.  IV.]  BOM  A.  89 

shouts  and  much  shaking  of  hands ;  as  the  other 
white  men  had  not  been  similarly  received,  I 
inquired  the  reason  why,  and  was  then  informed 
that  it  was  to  denote  their  satisfaction  at  seeing  the 
"  proprietor  or  owner  of  the  white  woman,"  as  they 
expressed  it. 

The  natives  here,  in  fact  above  Porto  da  Lenha, 
are  Mushicongos,  and  are  not  a  bad  set  of  blacks; 
but,  like  all  this  large  tribe,  are  weak  and  puny  in 
appearance,  dirty  in  their  habits,  and  scanty  of 
clothing.  They  have  not  as  yet  allowed  white 
men  to  pass  from  Boma,  or  any  other  point  of 
the  river,  to  St.  Salvador,  and  several  Portuguese 
who  have  wished  to  go  from  St.  Salvador  to  Boma 
have  been  dissuaded  from  attempting  the  journey 
by  the  king  and  natives,  not  from  any  objection  on 
their  part,  but  from  the  certainty  that  the  blacks 
near  the  river  would  make  them  turn  back. 

There  is  a  very  great  objection  on  the  part  of 
all  the  tribes  of  the  interior  of  Angola,  and  par- 
ticularly of  those  not  in  the  actual  territory  held 
by  the  Portuguese,  to  the  passage  of  a  white  man 
through  the  country.  This  is  due  in  the  first  place 
to   the  natural  distrust  and  suspicion  of  the  negro 


90  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVEB  CONGO,    [ch.  iv. 

character,  and  secondly  to  their  fear  of  the  example 
of  the  occupation  of  Ambriz  and  the  Bembe 
mines  by  the  Portuguese.  It  is  impossible  for 
blacks  to  understand  that  a  white  man  will  travel 
for  curiosity's  sake ;  it  is  perfectly  incomprehensible 
to  them  that  he  should  spend  money  in  carriers, 
making  presents,  &c.,  only  for  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
the  country ;  they  are  never  satisfied  without  what 
they  consider  a  good  reason;  consequently  they 
always  imagine  it  must  be  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  a  factory  for  trade,  or  else  to  observe 
the  country  for  its  occupation  thereafter.  This  is 
the  reason  why  natives  will  never  give  reliable 
information  regarding  even  the  simplest  question 
of  direction  of  roads,  rivers,  distances,  &c.  It  is 
very  difficult  to  obtain  exact  information,  and  it  is 
only  after  being  very  well  acquainted  with  them 
that  their  natural  suspicions  are  lulled,  and  they 
will  freely  afford  the   knowledge  desired. 

Their  explanations  of  our  object  in  collecting 
insects,  birds,  and  other  objects  of  natural  history 
were  very  curious.  Our  statements  that  we  did 
so  to  show  in  the  white  man's  country  what  plants, 
insects,   birds,  &c.,  were  to  be  found   in  Africa,  as 


CH.  lY.]      MUSSUBONGO  TBIBE— PIRATES.  91 

ours  were  so  different,  never  satisfied  them;  they 
always  thought  that  the  specimens  must  be  worth 
a  great  deal  of  money  amongst  the  white  men,  or, 
as  others  did  not  devote  themselves  to  collectins:,  it 
w^as  to  make  ^'  fetishes  "  of  them  w^hen  we  got  home  : 
some,  who  considered  themselves  wiser  than  the 
others,  said  it  was  to  copy  designs  for  the  Man- 
chester prints,  and  that  they  would  see  the  flowers, 
butterflies,  and  birds,  copied  on  the  trade  cloth  as 
soon  as  I  got  back  to  my  country. 

Their  idea  of  my  manufacturing  the  specimens 
into  "fetishes"  was  a  perfectly  natural  one  in  my 
case,  as  my  nickname  at  Ambriz  and  on  the  coast 
is  "  Endoqui,"  or  fetish  man,  from  my  having  intro- 
duced the  new  trade  of  collecting  and  pressing  the 
bark  of  the  Adansonia  tree,  and  from  my  wonderful 
performances  in  working  a  small  steam  engine,  and 
putting  up  the  hydraulic  presses  and  a  corrugated 
iron  store,  the  first  they  had  seen,  and  which 
caused  great  surprise. 

The  natives  of  the  Congo  Kiver,  from  its  mouth 
to  a  little  above  Porto  da  Lenha,  belong  to  the 
Mussurongo  tribe,  and  are  an  ill-favoured  set — 
they  are  all  piratical  robbers,  never  losing  an  oppor- 


92  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  iv. 

tunity  of  attacking  a  loaded  barge  or  even  ship, 
unless  well  armed  or  keeping  in  the  centre  of  the 
river,  where  the  great  current  prevents  them  from 
collecting  around  it  in  their  canoes.  These  pirates 
have  been  continually  attacked  by  the  Portuguese 
and  English  men-of-war,  generally  after  some  more 
than  usually  daring  robbery,  and  have  had  several 
severe  thrashings,  but  without  their  taking  the 
slightest  example  by  them,  the  next  ship  or  boat 
that  runs  aground  on  the  numerous  sandbanks  being 
again  immediately  attacked.  They  have  taken 
several  white  men  prisoners  on  such  occasions,  and 
have  exacted  a  ransom  for  their  liberation.  They 
have,  however,  always  treated  them  well  whilst 
detained  in  their  towns.  The  principal  houses  now 
do  their  trade  by  steamers,  which  the  Mussurongos 
dare  not,  of  course,  attack. 

A  few  years  ago,  a  notorious  pirate  chief  called 
Manoel  Vacca,  who  had  caused  great  loss  to  the 
traders  by  his  piracy,  was  captured  by  them  at 
Porto  da  Lenha  and  delivered  to  the  British 
Commodore,  who,  instead  of  hanging  him  at  the 
yard-arm  as  he  deserved,  and  as  an  example  to 
the  nest  of  thieves  of  which  he  was  the  chief,  took 


CH.  IV.]  MUSSUBONGO  TRIBE.  93 

him  to  St.  Helena,  and  after  some  time  brought 
this  savage  back  carefully  to  Porto  da  Lenha  to 
his  disconsolate  followers,  who  had  been  unable  to 
find  a  fit  leader  for  their  piratical  robberies. 
Manoel  Yacca,  of  course,  quickly  forgot  his  promises 
of  amendment  made  whilst  on  board  the  British 
man-of-war,  and  again  became  the  pest  he  had 
formerly  been,  and  when  we  were  up  the  river  had 
exacted,  without  the  slightest  pretence  but  that  of 
revenge,  a  large  payment  from  the  traders  at  Porto 
da  Lenha,  threatening  to  stop  all  trade,  rob  all 
boats,  and  kill  the  "cabindas"  or  crews,  on  the 
river,  if  not  immediately  paid,  and  —  on  our 
way  from  Boma  —  we  narrowly  escaped  being 
involved  in  a  fight  there,  in  consequence  of  this 
scandalous  demand,  which  I  afterwards  heard  had 
been  complied  with.  The  traders  vowed  that  if 
ever  they  caught  him  again,  they  would  not  deliver 
him  to  have  his  education  continued  at  St.  Helena, 
but  would  finish  it  on  the  spot. 

The  Mussurongos  are  very  fond  of  wearing  ankle- 
rings,  which,  when  of  brass,  are  Birmingham  made, 
and  obtained  from  the  traders,  but*  in  many  cases 
are  made  by   the  natives  of  iron  forged  by   their 


94  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  iv. 

smiths,  and  cast-tin  or  pewter,  which  they  obtain  in 
trade  in  the  form  of  little  bars.  Those  made  by 
the  natives  are  invariably  ornamented  with  one 
peculiar  design  (Plate  IV.).  These  rings  are  seldom 
above  a  few  ounces  in  weight,  and  are  worn  by  men 
and  women  alike,  very  different  from  the  natives  of 
Cabinda,  on  the  north  of  the  Kiver  Congo,  whose 
women  wear  them  as  large  and  heavy  as  they  can 
be  made.  I  have  in  my  possession  two  copper 
ankle-rings  which  I  purchased  for  six  shawl-hand- 
kerchiefs of  a  little  old  Cabinda  woman  at  Ambriz, 
weighing  seven  pounds  each.  It  cost  a  smith  some 
considerable  time  and  trouble  to  take  them  off,  as 
from  their  thickness  it  was  very  difficult  to  wedge 
them  open  without  injury  to  the  w^oman's  legs.  It 
seems  almost  incredible  that  Fashion  should,  even 
among  these  uncivilized  tribes,  compel  the  dark  sex 
to  foUovv  her  arbitrary  exactions,  to  the  extent  of 
carrying  the  enormous  weight  of  fourteen  pounds 
of  solid  metal  on  their  naked  feet.  Till  the  ankles 
become  hardened  and  used  to  the  rings,  the  wearers 
are  obliged  to  tie  rags  round  them,  to  protect  the 
skin  from  injury  by  the  heavy  weight. 

The  Kiver  Congo  teems  with  animal  life :    above 


CH.  IV.]  FISH—''  PALM  chop:'  95 


Porto  da  Lenha  hippopotami    are   very  abundant; 
alligators,  of  course,  swarm,  and  are  very  dangerous. 

Of  the  few  small  fisli  that  I  caught  with  a  line 
at  Boma,  no  less  than  four  were  new  species,  and 
have  been  named  by  Dr.  A.  Giinther,  of  the 
British  Museum,  as  the  Bryconoethiops  microstoma, 
Alestes  holargyreus,  Distichodus  affinis,  and  Mor- 
myrus  Monteiri  (see  'Annals  and  Magazine  of 
Natural  History '  for  August,  1873). 

At  Boma  the  Koodoo  {Tragela^thus  S^pehei, 
Sclater)  antelope  must  be  very  abundant,  judging 
from  the  number  of  times  that  we  there  ate  of  its 
delicious  flesh,  brought  in  for. sale  by  the  natives. 
In  my  former  visits  to  Banana  I  made  several  shoot- 
ing excursions  to  neighbouring  villages  of  friendly 
natives,  in  company  with  a  Portuguese  called  Chico, 
employed  at  the  Dutch  factory,  who  was  a  keen 
sportsman:  we  generally  started  in  the  evening, 
and  slept  at  a  village  a  few  miles  off,  rising  at  day- 
break to  shoot  wild  fowl  in  the  lovely  creeks  and 
marshes,  before  the  sun  forced  us  to  return  to 
breakfast  and  the  welcome  shade  of  the  palm-trees, 
under  which  were  the  pretty  huts  of  the  village. 

Our    breakfast    invariably    consisted    of    "palm 


96  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  iv. 

chop,"  a  delicious  dish  when  properly  prepared,  and 
from  the  fresh  nut.  This  dish  has  been  so  abused 
by  travellers,  who  have  perhaps  hardly  tasted  it 
more  than  once,  and  who  might  have  been  pre- 
judiced by  the  colour  of  the  oil,  or  the  idea  that 
they  were  eating  waggon-grease  or  palm-soap,  that  I 
must  give  an  accurate  description  of  its  preparation 
and  defend  its  excellence  against  its  detractors. 
The  nuts  of  the  oil-palm  {Elms  Guineensis)  are 
about  the  size  of  large  chestnuts,  the  inner  part 
being  excessively  hard  and  stony,  and  containing  an 
almond  (technically  *' palm-kernel").  It  is  enclosed 
or  surrounded  by  a  thin  outer  mass  of  fibre  and  pulp 
containing  the  oil,  and  covered  with  a  rich  red-brown 
skin  or  husk  somewhat  thinner  than  that  on  a 
chestnut.  The  pulpy  oil  and  fibrous  portion  being 
separated  from  the  nuts,  is  melted  in  a  pot  over  the 
fire  to  further  separate  all  the  fibres,  and  the  rich, 
thick  oily  mass  is  then  ready  to  be  added  to  a 
dismembered  duck  or  fowl,  or  any  other  kind  of 
meat,  and  the  whole  stewed  gently  together  with 
the  proper  amount  of  water,  with  the  addition  of 
ground  green  Chili  peppers  and  salt  to  taste,  until 
it  is  quite  done,  and  in  appearance  like  a  rich  curry, 


CH.  IV.]  PALM  WINE.  97 

with  which  it  can  best  be  compared ;  a  squeeze  of 
lime  or  lemon  is  a  great  improvement.  The  flavour 
of  this  dish  is  not  at  all  like  what  might  be 
expected  from  the  strong  smell  of  the  often  rancid 
palm  oil  received  in  this  country.  It  is  always 
eaten  with  some  boiled  preparation  of  maize  flour, 
or  better  still  of  meal  from  the  mandioca  root.  A 
good  cook  will  make  a  very  good  *'  palm  chop  "  with 
fresh  oil,  in  the  absence  of  the  new  nuts. 

Another  excellent  dish  is  the  ordinary  haricot 
bean  stewed  with  palm  oil  and  Chili  peppers  till 
quite  tender  and  thick. 

It  is  from  the  oil-palm  that  the  finest  palm 
wine  is  obtained,  and  it  is  curious  how  few  travellers 
have  accurately  described  this  or  its  properties. 
The  blacks  ascend  the  trees  by  the  aid  of  a  ring 
formed  of  a  stout  piece  of  the  stem  of  a  creeper 
which  is  excessively  strong  and  su23ple :  one  end 
is  tied  into  a  loop,  and  the  other  thrown  round 
the  tree  is  passed  through  the  loop  and  bent  back 
(Plate  IV.) :  the  end  being  secured  forms  a  ready 
and  perfectly  safe  ring,  which  the  operator  passes 
over  his  waist.  The  stumps  of  the  fallen  leaves 
form    projections  which   very  much   assist   him   in 

VOL.  I.  H 


98  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  iv. 

getting  up  the  tree.  This  is  done  by  taking  hold 
of  the  ring  with  each  hand,  and  by  a  succession 
of  jerks,  the  climber  is  soon  up  at  the  top,  with 
his  empty  gourds  hung  round  his  neck.  With  a 
pointed  instrument  he  taps  the  tree  at  the  crown, 
and  attaches  the  mouth  of  a  gourd  to  the  aperture, 
or  he  takes  advantage  of  the  grooved  stem  of 
a  leaf  cut  off  short  to  use  as  a  channel  for  the 
sap  to  flow  into  the  gourd  suspended  below.  This 
operation  is  performed  in  the  evening,  and  in  the 
early  morning  the  gourds  are  brought  down  with 
the  sap  or  juice  that  has  collected  in  them  during 
the  night.  The  palm  wine  is  now  a  slightly  milky 
fluid,  in  appearance  as  nearly  as  possible  like  the 
milk  in  the  ordinary  cocoa-nut,  having  very  much 
the  same  flavour,  only  sweeter  and  more  luscious. 

When  cool  in  the  morning,  as  brought  down  fresh 
from  the  tree,  it  is  perfectly  delicious,  without  the 
slightest  trace  of  fermentation,  and  of  course  not  in 
the  least  intoxicating ;  in  a  few  hours,  or  very  shortly 
if  collected  or  kept  in  old  gourds  in  which  wine  has 
previously  fermented,  it  begins  to  ferment  rapidly, 
becoming  acid  and  intoxicating ;  not  so  much  from 
the  quantity  of  alcohol  produced,  I  believe,  as  from  its 


lililillillllllllllllll 


CH.  IV.]  PALM  WINK  99 

being  contained  iu  a  strongly  effervescent  medium, 
and  being  drunk  by  the  natives  in  the  hot  time 
of  the  day,  and  when  they  are  heated  by  travelling, 
&c.  Even  in  the  morning  the  wine  has  sometimes 
a  slightly  acid  flavour,  if  it  has  been  collected 
in  an  old  calabash.  We  used  to  have  new  gourds 
employed  for  ourselves.  The  natives,  again,  can 
never  be  trusted  to  bring  it  for  sale  perfectly  fresh  or 
pure,  always  mixing  it  with  water  or  old  wine,  and  of 
course  spoiling  it,  and  I  have  known  the  rascals  take 
water  in  the  calabashes  up  the  tree  to  mix  with  the 
pure  juice,  when  they  thought  they  should  not  have 
an  opportunity  of  adulterating  it  before  selling  it. 

The  smell  of  the  palm  wine,  as  it  dries  on  the 
tree  tops  where  they  have  been  punctured,  is  very 
attractive  to  butterflies,  bees,  wasps,  and  other 
insects,  and  these  in  their  turn  attract  the  many 
species  of  insectivorous  birds.  This  is  more  parti- 
cularly the  case  with  the  beautiful  little  sun-birds 
(Neetarinise),  always  seen  in  numbers  busily 
employed  in  capturing  their  insect  prey,  actively 
flitting,  from  top  to  top,  and  darting  in  and  out  of 
the  leaf-stems  with  a  little  song  very  much  like 
that  of  the  cock-robin. 

H  2 


(     100    ) 


CHAPTEE  Y. 

COUNTEY  FEOM  THE  EIVER  CONGO  TO  AMBRIZ — 
VEGETATION  —  TRADING  —  CIVILIZATION  —  COM- 
MERCE —  PRODUCTS  — IVORY  —  MUSSERRA  —  SLEEP 
DISEASE — SALT — MINERAL  PITCH. 

The  southern  point,  at  the  entrance  of  the  Eiver 
Congo,  is  called  Point  Padrao,  from  a  marble 
"Padrao,"  or  monument  raised  by  the  Portuguese 
to  commemorate  the  discovery  of  the  Kiver  Congo 
by  Diogo  Cam,  in  1485.  At  a  short  distance  from 
it  there  formerly  existed  a  monastery  and  missionary 
establishment  dedicated  to  Santo  Antonio.  That 
part  of  the  southern  bank  of  the  river  opposite 
Banana  is  called  Santo  Antonio  to  this  day,  and  a 
few  years  ago  a  Portuguese  trader  opened  a  house 
there  for  the  purpose  of  trade;  in  this  he  was 
followed  by  the  agent  of  a  Liverpool  firm,  but  the 
result,  naturally  to  be  foreseen,  took  place,  and 
both  factories  were  robbed  and  burnt  down  by  the 


CH.  v.]  RIVER  CONGO  TO  AMBRIZ.  101 

rascally  Mussurongos.  Some  time  before  this  took 
place,  I  was  waiting  at  Banana  for  some  means  of 
conveyance  by  sea  to  Ambriz,  but  none  appearing, 
I  determined,  in  company  with  a  Brazilian  who  was 
also  desirous  of  proceeding  to  the  same  place,  to 
cross  over  to  Santo  Antonio,  and  try  if  we  could 
induce  the  natives  to  allow  us  to  pass  thence  over 
land  to  Cabefa  da  Cobra.  This  we  did,  and  re- 
mained at  the  trader's  house  till  we  got  carriers 
and  permission,  on  making  a  small  present  to  the 
king  of  Santo  Antonio  town,  to  pass  through.  No 
white  man  had  been  allowed  to  do  so  for  many  years. 
We  started  one  night  as  soon  as  the  moon  rose, 
about  one  o'clock,  and  after  travelling  a  couple  of 
hours,  almost  the  whole  time  over  marshy  ground 
and  through  a  dry  wood,  which  we  had  to  pass  on 
foot, — as  it  was  a  fetish  wood  and  it  would  have 
been  highly  unlucky  to  cross  it  in  our  hammocks, — 
we  arrived  at  the  town  of  Santo  Antonio,  which 
appeared  large  and  well  populated.  Here  we  rested 
for  a  little  while,  whilst  we  got  some  fresh  carriers, 
and  the  king  and  several  of  the  natives  came  to  see 
us  and  received  two  pieces  of  cotton  handkerchiefs, 
and    a    couple  of  gallons    of  rum,    which   we  had 


102  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v. 

brought  for  them.  The  old  bells  of  the  monastery 
are  still  preserved  in  the  town,  hung  from  trees, 
and  we  were  treated  with  a  din  on  them  in  return 
for  our  present.  We  then  continued  our  journey 
over  good  dry  ground  till  we  arrived  at  Cabe^a  da 
Cobra,  or  "Snake's  Head,"  in  time  for  a  late 
breakfast  at  the  house  of  a  Portuguese  trader. 
Here  Senhor  Fernando  Jose  da  Silva- presented  me 
with  a  letter  of  introduction  he  had  brought  with 
him  from  Lisbon  some  years  previously,  and  which 
he  had  not  before  had  an  opportunity  of  delivering. 

I  at  once  engaged  him  to  help  me  in  developing 
mv  discovery  of  the  application  of  the  fibre  of  the 
Baobab  {Adansonia  digitata)  to  paper-making,  and 
in  introducing  among  the  natives  the  new  industry 
of  collecting  and  preparing  it,  and  I  must  here 
render  him  a  tribute  of  gratitude  for  his  friendship 
and  the  unceasing  activity  and  energy  with  which  he 
has  laboured  to  assist  me  in  permanently  establishing 
this  new  trade,  in  the  face  of  tlie  greatest  difficulties, 
privations,  and  hard  work  for  long  years  on  the  coast. 

The  coast  line  from  Cabepa  da  Cobra  to  Ambriz  is 
principally  composed  of  red  bluffs  and  cliffs,  and 
the  road  or  path  is  generally  near  the  edge  of  the 


CH.  v.]  VEGETATION.  103 

cliffs,  affording  fine  views  of  the  sea  and  surf-beaten 
beach  below.  The  country  is  arid  and  thinly 
wooded,  and  is  covered  with  hard,  wiry,  branched 
grass;  and  the  curious  Mateba  palm  grows  in 
great  abundance  in  the  country  from  the  Eiver 
Congo  to  MocuUa,  where  it  is  replaced  by  the 
Cashew  tree  as  far  as  Ambrizzette.  The  flat-leaved 
Sanseviera  (>S^.  longiflora)  is  extremely  abundant, 
and  disappears  south  almost  entirely  about  Musserra, 
where  it  is  in  its  turn  replaced  by  Sanseviera 
Angolensis.  These  changes  are  very  curious  and 
striking,  being  so  well  marked  on  a  comparatively 
small  extent  of  coast.  The  Baobab  tree  is  every- 
where seen,  its  vast  trunk  throwing,  by  comparison, 
all  other  trees  into  insignificance :  it  is  less  abundant 
perhaps  from  the  Eiver  Congo  to  about  Ambriz- 
zette ;  from  that  place,  southwards,  the  country  is 
one  open  forest  of  it. 

The  natives  as  far  as  Mangue  Grande  are  Mus- 
surongos.  From  this  to  Ambriz  they  are  a  branch 
of  the  Mushicongo  tribe.  The  Mussurongos  are  at 
present  an  indolent  set,  but  there  are  signs  that 
they  are  becoming  more  industrious,  now  that  they 
have  given  up  all  hope  of  seeing  the  slave-trade 


104  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v. 

again  establislied,  which  enabled  them,  as  one  said 
to  me,  to  be  rich  without  working.  Since  the  last 
slave  was  shipped  from  this  part  of  the  coast,  about 
the  year  1868,  the  development  of  produce  in  the 
country  itself  and  from  the  interior  has  been  very 
great  indeed,  and  promises  in  a  few  years  to  be 
still  more,  and  very  important  in  amount.  This 
will  be  more  particularly  the  case  when  the  present 
system  ceases,  by  which  the  natives  of  the  coast 
towns  act  as  middle-men  to  the  natives  from  the 
interior.  At  present  nearly  the  entire  bulk  of  the 
produce  comes  from  the  interior,  no  extensive  good 
plantation  grounds  being  found  before  arriving  at 
the  first  elevation,  which  we  have  seen  to  commence 
at  from  thirty  to  sixty  miles  from  the  coast,  the 
ivory  coming  from  not  less  than  200  to  300  miles. 

The  blacks,  on  arriving  from  the  interior,  put 
up  at  the  towns  on  the  coast,  where  the  natives, 
having  been  in  constant  intercourse  with  the  whites 
for  years,  all  speak  Portuguese,  and  many  of  them 
English.  It  is  a  fact  that  the  natives  speak  Por- 
tuguese more  correctly  than  they  do  English,  which 
I  attribute  to  the  good  custom  of  the  Portuguese 
very   seldom    stooping    to    murder  their   language 


CH.  V.J  TRADING.  105 

wlien  speaking  to  tlie  blacks,  which  the  English 
universally  do,  under  the  mistaken  idea  of  render- 
ing themselves  more  intelligible. 

These  blacks  act  as  interpreters  and  brokers,  and 
are  thereby  enabled  to  satisfy  fully  and  success- 
fully their  innate  propensity  for  roguery  by  cheating 
the  natives  from  the  interior  to  their  hearts'  content. 
They  bargain  the  produce  with  the  white  men  at 
one  price,  telling  the  natives  always  that  it  is  for  a 
much  lower  sum,  of  course  pocketing  the  difference, 
sometimes  amounting  to  one-half  and  more.  It  is 
a  common  thing  to  be  asked  to  have  only  so  much, 
— naming  the  amount  for  which  they  have  pre- 
tended to  have  sold  the  produce, — paid  whilst  the 
owners  are  present,  and  getting  a  "  book  "  or  ticket 
for  the  rest,  which  they  receive  from  the  white 
trader  at  another  time. 

It  has  been  found  impossible  to  do  away  with 
this  custom,  as  the  white  men  are  almost  dependent 
for  their  trade  upon  these  rogues,  called  "lin- 
guisteres"  (derived  evidently  from  the  Portuguese 
term  "lingoa,"  "tongue,"  or  interpreter).  These 
have  their  defence  for  the  custom,  first,  that  it  has 
always    existed,   a   great   argument   with  the   con- 


106  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v. 

servative  negro  race;  secondly,  that  it  is  their 
commission  for  looking  after  the  interests  of  the 
natives  from  the  interior,  who  would  otherwise  be 
cheated  by  the  white  men,  who  would  take  advan- 
tage of  their  want  of  knowledge  of  the  selling  prices 
on  the  coast;  and  thirdly  that  they  have  to  make 
presents  to  the  natives  out  of  these  gains,  and  give 
them  drink  at  the  towns  to  keep  them  as  their 
customers  and  prevent  their  going  to  other  towns 
or  linguisteres.  The  natives  from  the  interior, 
again,  are  very  sus[!icious  and  afraid  of  the  white 
man,  and  they  would  hardly  dare  approach  him 
without  being  under  the  protection  of  the  coast 
negroes.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  development 
of  the  trade  from  the  interior  would  increase  greatly 
if  the  natives  and  owners  of  the  produce  obtained 
the  full  price  paid  by  the  white  men.  There  is 
almost  a  certainty,  however,  that  the  system  will 
not  last  much  longer,  as  the  natives  are  beginning 
to  find  out  how  they  are  cheated  by  their  coast 
brethren,  and  are  already,  in  many  cases,  trading 
direct  with  the  white  men. 

The  system  adopted  in  trading  or  bartering  with 
the   natives   on   the   coast,  comprehended   between 


CH.  v.]  TRADING.  107 

the  Kiver  Congo  and  Ambriz,  is  somewhat  com- 
plicated and  cmnous.  All  produce  (except  ivory) 
on  being  brought  to  the  trader,  is  put  on  the  scales 
and  the  price  is  agreed,  in  "  longs "  in  English,  or 
"pefas"  in  Portuguese.  This  ^^pepa"  or  "long" 
is  the  unit  of  exchange  to  which  all  the  multifa- 
rious articles  of  barter  are  referred :  for  instance,  six 
yards  of  the  ordinary  kinds  of  cotton  cloth,  such 
as  stripes,  unbleached  calico,  blue  prints,  cotton 
checks,  are  equal  to  a  "long;"  a  yard  and  a  half 
of  red  or  blue  baize,  five  bottles  of  rum,  five 
brass  rods,  one  cotton  umbrella,  3000  blue  glass 
beads,  three,  six,  eight,  or  twelve  cotton  handker- 
chiefs, according  to  size  and  quality,  are  also 
severally  equal  to  a  *'long;"  articles  of  greater 
value,  such  as  kegs  of  powder,  guns,  swords,  knives, 
&c.,  are  two  or  more  "  longs  "  each. 

As  each  bag  of  coffee  (or  other  produce)  is 
weighed  and  settled  for,  the  buyer  writes  the 
number  of  "  longs  "  that  has  been  agreed  upon  on  a 
small  piece  of  paper  called  by  the  natives  "Ma- 
canda,"  or,  by  those  who  speak  English,  a  "  book ;" 
the  buyer  continues  his  weighing  and  purchasing,' 
and  the  "books"  are  taken  by  the  natives  to  the 


108  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v. 

store,  which  is  fitted  up  like  a  shop,  with  shelves 
on  which  are  arranged  at  hand  the  many  different 
kinds  of  cloth,  &c.,  employed  in  barter.  The 
natives  cannot  be  trusted  in  the  shop,  which  con- 
tains only  the  white  man  and  his  "Mafuca"  or 
head  man,  so  the  noisy,  wrangling  mob  is  paid 
from  it  through  a  small  window.  We  will  suppose, 
for  instance,  that  a  "book"  is  presented  at  the 
window,  on  which  is  marked  twenty  "longs'"  as 
the  payment  of  a  bag  of  coffee ;  the  trader  takes — 


A  gun — value 

4  longs 

One  keg  powder   . 

2     „ 

One  piece  of  18  yards  stripes  . 

,   3     „ 

One  of  18  yards  grey  calico    . 

3      „ 

One  of  18  yards  checks 

3     „ 

Eight  handkerchiefs 

-*-           J> 

Five  bottles  of  rum 

-•-            55 

One  table-knife     . 

-'-             J> 

Three  thousand  beads    . 

'       -L            J' 

Five  brass  rods     . 

'        J-              J5 

Total : 

20  longs, 

CH.  v.]  TRADING.  109 


This  is  now  passed  out,  the  trader  making  such 
alterations  in  the  payment  as  the  natives  desire 
within  certain  limits,  exchanging,  for  instance,  the 
handkerchiefs  for  red  baize,  or  the  piece  of  calico 
for  a  sword,  but  there  is  an  understanding  that 
the  payment  is  to  be  a  certain  selection,  from 
which  only  small  deviations  can  be  made.  If  such 
were  not  the  case  the  payment  of  100  or  more 
*' books"  in  a  short  time  would  be  impossible.  It 
is  by  no  means  an  easy  task  to  trade  quickly  and 
successfully  with  the  natives;  long  practice,  and 
great  patience  and  good  temper  are  necessary.  A 
good  trader,  who  is  used  to  the  business,  can  pay 
the  same  "book"  for  a  great  deal  less  value  than 
one  unaccustomed  to  the  work,  and  the  natives 
will  often  refuse  to  trade  with  a  new  man  or 
one  not  used  to  their  ways  and  long  known  to 
them. 

It  is  rather  startling  to  a  stranger  to  see  and 
hear  a  couple  of  hundred  blacks  all  shouting  at  the 
top  of  their  voices  to  be  paid  first,  and  quarrelling 
and  fighting  over  their  payment,  or  pretending  to 
be  dissatisfied  with  it,  or  that  they  have  been 
wrongly  paid. 


110  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  v. 

Ivory  is  purchased  in  a  different  manner;  the 
tusk  is  weighed,  and  an  offer  made  by  the  trader 
in  guns,  barrels  of  powder  and  "longs,"  generally 
in  about  the  proportion  of  one  gun,  one  keg  of 
powder,  and  two  longs ;  thus  a  tusk,  we  will  say,  is 
purchased  for  twelve  guns,  twelve  kegs  of  powder, 
and  twenty -four  "longs."  The  natives  do  not  re- 
ceive this,  but  a  more  complicated  payment  takes 
place;  of  the  twelve  guns  they  only  receive  four, 
the  rest  being  principally  in  cloth,  on  a  scale  well 
understood,  the  guns  being  calculated  generally  at 
four  "  longs "  each ;  the  same  process  is  carried  out 
with  the  kegs  of  powder,  only  a  certain  number 
being  actually  given  in  that  commodity:  the 
twenty-four  "longs"  are  given  in  cloth  and  a 
variety  of  small  objects,  including  razors,  cheap 
looking-glasses,  padlocks,  ankle  rings,  playing- 
cards,  empty  bottles,  hoop-iron  off  the  bales,  brass 
tacks,  glass  tumblers  and  decanters,  different  kinds 
of  beads,  &c.  The  amount  first  agreed  upon  is 
called  the  "rough  bundle,"  and  the  trader,  by 
adding  the  value  of  the  guns,  powder,  and  "longs," 
and  dividing  the  sum  by  the  weight  of  the  tusk,  can 
tell  very  nearly  what  the  pound  of  ivory  will  cost 


CH.  v.] 


TRADING. 


Ill 


when  reduced  by  the  substitution  of  the  various 
numerous  articles  given  in  lieu  of  the  guns  and 
powder  agreed  upon  on  the  purchase  of  the  tusk. 

The  small  extent  of  coast  comprised  between 
Ambriz  and  the  Kiver  Congo  is  a  striking  example 
of  the  wonderful  increase  of  trade,  and  consequently 
industry,  among  the  negroes,  since  the  extinction  of 
the  slave  trade,  and  evidences  also  the  great  fer- 
tility of  a  country  that  with  the  rudest  appliances 
can  produce  such  quantities  of  valuable  produce; 
about  a  dozen  years  ago,  a  very  few  tons,  with  the 
exception  of  ivory,  of  ground-nuts,  coffee,  and  gum 
copal  only,  were  exported.  Last  year  the  exports 
from  Ambriz  to,  and  not  including,  the  River 
Congo,  were  as  follows: — 


Adansonia  fibre 

.   1500  tons 

Ground-nuts  . 

.   7500     „ 

Coffee    . 

.   1000    „ 

Sesamum  seed 

.     650     „ 

Red  gum  copal 

.       50     „ 

White  Angola  gum 

.     100    „ 

India-rubber  . 

.     400     „ 

Palm-kernel  . 

.     100     „ 

Ivory     . 

.     185    „ 

112  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v 

Besides  this  amount  of  produce,  the  vahie  of 
which  may  be  estimated  at  over  300,000Z.,  a  con- 
siderable quantity  of  ground-nuts  find  their  way  to 
the  Kiver  Congo  from  the  interior  of  the  country 
I  am  now  describing.  This  is  already  a  most 
gratifying  and  interesting  result,  and  one  from 
which  valuable  lessons  are  to  be  deduced,  when  we 
come  to  compare  it  with  what  has  taken  place  in 
other  parts  of  the  coast,  most  notably  in  the 
immediate  neighbouring  country  to  the  south  in 
the  possession  of  the  Portuguese,  and  is  a  splendid 
example  of  the  true  principles  by  which  the 
African  race  in  Africa  can  be  successfully  civilized, 
and  the  only  manner  in  which  the  riches  of  the 
West  Coast  can  be  developed  and  made  available 
to  the  wants  of  the  rest  of  the  world. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  our  attempts  to 
civilize  the  negro  by  purely  missionary  efforts  have 
been  a  signal  failure.  I  will  say  more :  so  long  as 
missionary  work  consists  of  simply  denominational 
instruction  and  controversy,  as  at  present,  it  is 
mischievous  and  retarding  to  the  material  and 
mental  development  and  prosperity  of  Africa. 
Looking  at  it  from  a  purely  religious  point  of  view, 


CH.  v.]  CIVILIZATION.  113 

I  emphatically  deny  that  a  single  native  has  been 
converted,  otherwise  than  in  name  or  outward 
appearance,  to  Christianity  or  Christian  morality. 
Civilization  on  the  coast  has  certainly  succeeded  in 
putting  a  considerable  number  of  blacks  into  un- 
comfortable boots  and  tight  and  starched  clothes, 
and  their  women  outwardly  into  grotesque  carica- 
tures of  Paris  fashions,  as  any  one  may  witness  by 
spending  even  only  a  few  hours  at  Sierra  Leone, 
for  instance,  where  he  will  see  the  inofi'ensive 
native  transformed  into  a  miserable  strutting  bully, 
insolent  to  the  highest  degree,  taught  to  consider 
himself  the  equal  of  the  white  man,  as  full  as  his 
black  skin  can  hold  of  overweening  conceit,  cant, 
and  hypocrisy,  without  a  vice  or  superstition 
removed,  or  a  virtue  engrafted  in  his  nature,  and 
calling  the  native  whose  industry  supplies  him 
with  food,  "  You  nigga !  Sah ! " 

This  is  the  broad  and  characteristic  effect  of  pre- 
sent missions  on  the  coast,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  and 
they  will  continue  to  be  fruitless  as  long  as  they  are 
not  combined  with  industrial  training.  That  was 
the  secret  of  the  success  of  the  old  Catholic  mis- 
sionaries in  Angola ;  they  were  traders  as  well,  and 

VOL.  I.  I 


114  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v. 

taught  the  natives  the  industrial  arts,  gardening,  and 
agriculture.  What  if  they  derived  riches  and  power, 
the  envy  of  which  led  to  their  expulsion,  from  their 
efforts,  so  long  as  they  made  good  carpenters, 
smiths,  masons,  and  other  artificers  of  the  natives, 
and  created  in  them  a  new  life,  and  the  desire  for 
better  clothing,  houses,  and  food,  which  they  could 
only  satisfy  by  work  and  industry  ? 

On  landing  at  Bonny  from  the  steamer,  to  collect 
plants  and  insects  on  the  small  piece  of  dry  land 
opposite  the  hulks  in  the  river,  we  saw  the  pretty 
little  church  and  schoolroom  belonging  to  the 
mission  there,  in  which  were  a  number  of  children 
repeating  together,  over  and  over  again,  like  a 
number  of  parrots,  "I  know  dat  I  hab  a  soul, 
because  I  feel  someting  widin  me."  Only  a  few 
yards  off  was  the  village  in  which  they  lived,  and 
a  large  fetish  house  exactly  the  same  as  any  other ; 
not  a  sign  of  work  of  any  kind,  not  a  square  yard 
of  ground  cleared  or  planted,  not  a  fowl  or  domestic 
animal,  save  a  lean  cur  or  two,  to  be  seen;  the 
children,  and  even  big  girls,  or  young  women,  in 
a  complete  state  of  nudity, — nothing  in  fact  to  show 
any  ditference  whatever  from  any  other  town  in  the 


CH.  v.]  CIVILIZATION.  115 


country.  Can  any  one  believe  for  a  moment  that 
the  instruction  afforded  by  that  mission  was  of  any 
avail,  that  the  few  irksome  hours  of  repetition  of 
texts,  writing  and  reading,  explanations  of  the  Bible, 
&c.,  could  in  the  least  counteract  the  influence 
of  the  fetish  house  in  the  village,  or  the  super- 
stition and  ignorance  of  the  children's  parents  and 
elders,  or  remove  the  fears  and  prejudices  imbibed 
with  their  mothers'  milk  ?  Is  it  not  more  natural  to 
suppose,  as  is  well  known  to  be  the  case,  that  this 
imperfect  training  is  just  sufficient  to  enable  them 
when  older  to  be  sharper,  more  dishonest  and 
greater  rogues  than  their  fellows,  and  to  ape  the 
vices  of  the  white  man,  without  copying  his  virtues 
or  his  industry  ? 

I  remember  at  Ambrizzette  a  black  who  could 
read  and  write,  forging  a  number  of  "  books "  for 
gunpowder,  and  thus  robbing  some  of  the  houses  to 
a  considerable  extent.  The  natives  wanted  to  kill 
him,  but  on  the  wdiite  men  interceding  for  his  life, 
they  chopped  off  the  fingers  of  his  right  hand  with 
a  matchet,  to  prevent  his  forging  any  more.  Edu- 
cated blacks,  or  even  mulattoes,  cannot  be  trusted 
as   clerks,  with  the  charge  of  factories,  or  in  other 

I  2 


116  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [en.  v. 

responsible  situations.  I  do  not  remember  a  case 
in  which  loss  did  not  sooner  or  later  result  from 
their  employment. 

Trade  or  commerce  is  the  great  civilizer  of  Africa, 
and  the  small  part  of  the  coast  we  are  treating  of 
at  present  is  a  proof  of  this.  Commerce  has  had 
undisturbed  sway  for  a  few  years,  with  the  extraor- 
dinary result  already  stated.  The  natives  have  not 
been  spoilt  as  yet  by  contact  with  the  evils  of  an 
ignorant  and  oppressive  occupation,  as  in  Portuguese 
Angola,  or,  as  on  the  British  West  Coast  on  the 
other  hand,  by  having  been  preached  by  a  dozen 
opposed  and  rival  sects  into  a  muddled  state  of 
assumed  and  insolent  equality  with  the  white  race, 
whom  they  hate  in  their  inmost  hearts,  from  the 
consciousness  of  their  infinite  inferiority. 

Commerce  has  spread  before  them  a  tempting 
array  of  Manchester  goods,  guns,  gunpowder, 
blankets,  rugs,  coats,  knives,  looking-glasses,  play- 
ing cards,  rum  and  gin,  matchets,  tumblers  and 
decanters,  beads,  silver  and  brass  ankle-rings,  and 
many  other  useful  or  ornamental  articles,  without 
any  duties  to  pay,  or  any  compulsory  regulations 
of   passports,    papers,   tolls,   or    hindrances   of  any 


CH.  v.]  COMMERCE. 


117 


kind ;  the  only  key  necessary  is  a  bag  of  produce 
on  the  scales ;  a  fair,  and  in  many  cases,  even  high 
price  is  given  in  return,  and  every  seller  picks  and 
chooses  what  he  or  she  desires ; — and  let  not  rum  or 
gin  be  abused  for  its  great  share  in  the  development 
of  produce,  for  it  is  a  powerful  incentive  to  work. 
A  black  dearly  loves  his  drop  of  drink;  he  will 
very  often  do  for  a  bottle  of  rum,  what  he  would  not 
even  think  of  stirring  for,  for  three  times  the  value 
in  any  other  article,  and  yet  they  are  not  great 
drunkards,  as  we  shall  see,  when  describing  their 
customs ;  they  so  divide  any  portion  of  spirits  they 
can  obtain,  that  it  does  them  no  harm  whatever. 
The  rum  and  gin,  though  of  the  very  cheapest 
description,  is  pure  and  unsophisticated,  the  only 
adulteration  being  an  innocent  one  practised  by  the 
traders,  who  generally  mix  a  liberal  proportion  of 
water  with  it. 

When  a  black  does  give  way  to  intemperate 
habits,  his  friends  make  him  undergo  "  fetish  "  that 
he  shall  drink  no  more,  and  such  is  their  dread  of 
consequences  if  they  do  not  keep  their  "  fetish " 
promise,  that  I  have  known  very  few  cases  of  their 
breaking   the   "pledge."      Sometimes    a    black   is 


118  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  EIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v. 

"  fetished  "  for  rum  or  other  spirit-drinking,  but  not 
against  wine,  which  they  are  beginning  to  consume 
in  increasing  quantity ;  the  kind  they  are  supplied 
with  being  the  ordinary  red  Lisbon. 

In  describing  the  different  kinds  of  produce  of 
this  country,  the  first  on  the  list,  the  inner  bark 
of  the  "  Baobab,"  or  Adansonia  digitata,  claims 
precedence,  it  being  the  latest  discovery  of  an 
African  production  as  an  article  of  commerce,  and 
of  great  importance  from  its  application  to  paper- 
making,  and  also  from  its  opening  a  new  and  large 
field  to  native  industry. 

It  was  on  my  first  arrival  in  Ambriz  in  February 
1858,  that  this  substance  struck  me  as  being  fit 
for  making  good  paper:  a  few  simple  experiments 
enabled  me  to  make  specimens  of  bleached  fibre 
and  pulp  from  it,  proving  to  me  conclusively  its 
suitableness  for  that  purpose. 

Having  been  engaged  in  mining  in  Angola,  it  was 
not  till  the  year  1865  that  I  finally  determined  to 
proceed  to  Ambriz,  with  the  view  of  developing  my 
discovery,  and  I  have  ever  since  been  actively 
engaged  in  establishing  houses  on  the  part  of  the 
coast    I    am    now    describing,    for    bartering    the 


CH.  v.]  PRODUCTS.  119 


Adansonia  fibre, — pressing  and  shipping  the  same 
to  England.  In  my  long  and  arduous  task  I  have 
met  with  more  than  the  ordinary  amount  of  losses 
and  disappointments,  from  commercial  failures  and 
other  causes  that  seem  to  fall  to  the  lot  of  dis- 
coverers or  inventors  in  general ;  but  I  have 
triumphed  over  all  obstacles  and  prejudices,  and 
have  established  its  success  as  a  paper-making 
material  beyond  any  doubt. 

The  Baobab,  or  *' monkey  fruit  tree,"  is  well 
known  from  descriptions  as  one  of  the  giants  of 
the  vegetable  kingdom.  It  rears  its  vast  trunk 
thirty  or  forty  feet  high,  with  a  diameter  of  three  or 
four  feet  in  the  baby  plants,  to  usually  twenty  to 
thirty  feet  in  the  older  trees.  Adansonias  of  more 
than  thirty  feet  in  diameter  are  rare,  but  they 
have  been  measured  of  as  great  a  size  as  over  100 
feet  in  circumference;  the  thickest  trunk  I  have 
ever  seen  was  sixty-four  feet  in  circumference,  and 
was  clean  and  unbroken,  without  a  crack  on  its 
smooth  bark. 

The  leaves  and  flowers  are  produced  during  the 
rainy  season,  and  are  succeeded  by  the  long  pendant 
gourd-like  fruit,  like  hanging  notes  of  admiration, 


120  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO.      [ch.  v. 

giving  tlie  gigantic,  nearly  leafless  tree  a  most 
singular  appearance.  Millions  of  these  trees  cover 
the  whole  of  Angola,  as  they  do  in  fact  the  whole 
of  tropical  Africa,  sufficient  to  supply  an  incalculable 
amount  of  paper  material  for  years,  but  for  the 
indolence  of  the  negro  race.  I  have  no  doubt, 
however,  that  they  will  in  time  follow  the  example 
of  the  Ambriz  blacks,  and  a  very  large  trade  be 
developed  as  in  the  case  of  the  palm-oil  and  the 
india-rubber  trade. 

The  leaves  of  the  Baobab  when  young  are  good 
to  eat,  boiled  as  a  vegetable,  and  in  appearance  are 
somewhat  like  a  new  horse-chestnut  leaf  about  half 
grown,  and  of  a  bright  green ;  the  flowers  are  very 
handsome,  being  a  large  ball  of  pure  white,  about 
four  or  five  inches  across,  exactly  like  a  powder 
puff,  with  a  crown  of  large  thick  white  petals 
turned  back  on  top  of  it.  After  a  few  days  the 
flowers  become  tipped  with  yellow,  before  dropping 
from  the  tree.  The  trunks,  even  of  the  largest 
trees,  have  properly  speaking  no  wood,  that  is  to 
say,  a  plank  could  not  be  sawn  out  of  it,  or  any 
work  made  from  it ; — a  section  of  a  trunk  shows  first 
a  thin   outer  skin   or  covering   of  a  very  pecidiar 


CH.  v.]  PRODUCTS.  121 

pinkish  ashen  white,  somewhat  like  that  of  a  silver 
birch,  some  appearing  quite  silvery  against  the 
colour  of  other  trees  and  foliage ;  then  there  follows 
about  an  inch  of  substance  like  hard  mangold  wurzel 
with  fibres,  then  the  thick  coat  of  fibrous  inner  bark, 
which  readily  separates ;  next,  the  young  wood,  very 
much  like  the  inner  bark,  and  lastly,  layers  of  more 
woody  texture,  divided  or  separated  by  irregular 
layers  of  pith,  the  most  woody  parts  having  no 
more  firmness  than  perfectly  rotten  mildewed  pine 
wood,  and  breaking  quite  readily  with  a  ragged  and 
very  fibrous  fracture. 

The  centre  of  these  vast  trunks  easily  rots, 
and  becomes  hollow  from  the  top,  where  the  stem 
generally  branches  off  laterally  into  two  or  three 
huge  arms.  This  is  taken  advantage  of  by  the 
Quissama  blacks,  who  inhabit  the  south  bank  of 
the  Eiver  Quanza,  to  use  them  as  tanks  to  store 
rain  water  in  against  the  dry  season,  as  it  is  a 
country  very  destitute  of  water. 

The  hollow  Baobabs  are  very  seldom  open  from 
the  sides;  I  only  remember  one  large  tree  of  this 
kind  in  which  an  aperture  like  a  door  gave  admit- 
tance into  the  empty  centre ;  this  was  in  Cambambe, 


122  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v. 

aud  the  hollow  was  large  enough  for  two  of  us  to 
sit  inside,  with  a  small  box  between  us  for  a  table, 
and  have  our  breakfast,  and  room  to  spare  for  our 
cook  to  attend  on  us.  Whilst  we  were  comfortably- 
enjoying  our  meal  in  its  grateful  shade,  our  cook 
suddenly  gave  a  shout  and  rushed  out,  crying 
"  Nhoca,  Nhoca,"  "  Snake,  Snake,"  and  sure  enough 
there  was  a  fine  fellow  about  four  feet  long  over- 
head, quietly  surveying  our  operations ;  a  charge 
of  shot  settled  this  very  quickly,  and  down  he  fell, 
a  victim  to  his  curiosity. 

The  inner  bark  of  the  Adansonia  is  obtained  by 
first  chopping  off  the  softer  outer  bark  of  the  tree 
with  a  matchet,  and  then  stripping  the  inner  bark 
in  large  sheets.  The  smaller  trees  produce  the 
finest  and  softest  fibre,  and  it  is  taken  off  all  round 
the  tree,  which  does  not  appear  to  suffer  much 
injury.  A  fresh  layer  of  bark  grows,  and  is  thick 
enough  to  take  off  in  about  six  to  eight  years. 
The  bark  is  only  taken  off  the  large  trunks  in  places 
where  the  outer  bark  is  smooth  and  free  from  knobs, 
&c.  In  the  course  of  time,  the  trunk  growing, 
shows  the  scar,  high  above  the  ground,  of  the  place 
where   the   bark   has  been  taken  off  years  before. 


CH.  v.]  PRODUCTS.  123 

The  layers  of  inner  bark  when  cut  are  saturated 
with  sap;  the  pieces  are  beaten  with  a  stick  to 
soften  them,  and  shaken  to  get  rid  of  some  of  the 
pithy  matter  attached  to  them.  The  bark  is  then 
dried  in  the  sun,  when  it  is  ready  for  pressing 
into  bales,  and  shipping. 

This  inner  bark  is  put  to  a  variety  of  uses  by 
the  natives.  It  is  twisted  into  string  and  rope  for 
all  sorts  of  purposes,  or  used  in  strips  to  secure 
loads,  and  to  tie  the  sticks,  &c.,  in  making  their 
huts.  Finer  pieces  are  pulled  out  so  as  to  resemble 
a  coarse  network,  and  the  edges  being  sewn  together, 
make  handy  bags  for  cotton,  or  gum,  grain,  &c. ; 
and  very  strong  bags  are  woven  from  thin  strips, 
in  which  coffee  and  ground-nuts  are  brought  down 
from  Cazengo  to  the  coast. 

Several  amusing  incidents  occurred  on  my  intro- 
ducing the  trade  in  Baobab  fibre  among  the  natives. 
I  had  great  difficulty  at  first  in  inducing  them  to 
take  to  it,  but  they  soon  saw  the  advantage  of 
doing  on  a  large  scale  what  they  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  do  for  their  own  small  necessities;  their 
principal  reason  for  suspicion  about  it  was  that  it 
had  never  before  been  an  article  purchased  by  the 


124  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v. 

white  men;  they  would  not  believe  it  was  for 
making  paper,  but  thought  it  must  be  for  making 
cloth,  and  one  old  fellow  very  sagely  affirmed  that 
it  was  to  be  used  for  making  mosquito  curtains, 
from  the  open  texture  of  the  finer  samples.  It  was 
debated  at  the  towns  whether  it  should  be  allowed 
to  be  cut  and  sold,  and  finally  agreed  to,  and  the 
trade  was  fully  established  at  Ambriz  for  several 
months,  when  a  report  spread  amongst  the  natives 
that  the  object  of  my  buying  it  was  to  make  it  into 
ropes  to  tie  them  up  some  fine  day  when  they  least 
expected  it,  and  ship  them  on  board  the  steamers 
as  slaves.  Such  was  the  belief  in  this  absurd  idea 
that  all  the  natives  employed  at  the  factories  dis- 
appeared, and  not  a  man,  woman,  or  child  appeared 
in  Ambriz  for  several  days,  and  the  place  was  nearly 
starved  out. 

I  had  an  old  black  as  my  head  man  of  the 
name  of  "  Pae  Tomas "  (Father  Thomas)  who  was 
very  much  respected  in  the  country ;  he  had  been 
with  me  for  some  years,  and  it  took  all  his  influence 
to  get  the  natives  to  return  to  Ambriz  and  to  bring 
in  fibre  again  for  sale. 

Another  instance  of  how  any  little  variation  from 


CK.  v.]  PBODUCTS.  125 

the  usual  state  of  things  will  excite  tlie  suspicions 
of  these  natives,  even  accustomed  as  they  have  been 
to  contact  with  white  men  for  many  years,  was  the 
appearance  at  Ambriz  of  a  four-masted  steamer, — 
one  of  the  Lisbon  monthly  line :  such  a  thing  as  a 
"  ship  with  four  sticks ' '  had  never  been  seen  before, 
and  without  waiting  to  inquire,  every  black  ran 
away  from  Ambriz,  and  the  same  thing  happened 
on  her  retiu-n  from  Loanda;  it  was  only  after 
repeated  voyages  that  the  natives  lost  their  fear  of 
her ;  they  could  give  no  other  reason  than  that  it 
had  never  been  seen  ^before,  and  that  therefore  it 
must  be  a  signal  for  the  white  men  to  do  something 
or  other  they  could  not  understand. 

It  was  not  till  some  time  after  putting  up  and 
working  the  hydraulic  press  at  Ambriz  that  I  was 
able  to  go  north  and  establish,  them  at  other  places. 
I  had  to  invite  the  King  and  Council  of  Musserra  to 
come  to  Ambriz  and  see  it  at  work,  and  convince 
them  that  it  was  quite  an  inoffensive  machine,  and 
could  only  squeeze  the  fibre  into  bales;  only  by 
this  means  could  I  get  their  leave  to  land  one  there 
and  erect  it  and  begin  the  trade,  and  I  believe  that 
had  I  not  been'  alreadv  long  known  to  them  I  should 


126  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  v. 

have  been  unable  to  do  it  so  soon.  They  somehow 
had  the  idea  that  the  cylinder  was  a  great  cannon, 
and  might  be  fired  off  with  gunpowder,  and  I  might 
take  the  country  from  them  with  it,  but  they  were 
reassured  when  they  saw  it  had  no  touch-hole  at 
the  breech,  and  that  it  was  set  upright  in  the 
ground  and  worked  by  water. 

At  Kimpoaga,  a  neighbouring  town  was  averse  to 
one  being  landed  there,  but  as  I  had  obtained  the 
leave  of  the  king  and  the  townspeople  they  felt 
bound  to  allow  me  to  set  it  up,  and  for  about  a 
fortnight  that  the  surf  prevented  its  being  landed 
the  whole  of  the  inhabitants  were  on  the  beach 
every  day  with  loaded  guns,  to  fight  the  other 
town,  if  necessary,  as  they  had  threatened  forcible 
opposition  to  its  being  put  up — it  all  went  off 
quietly,  however,  but  a  couple  of  years  after,  the 
rains  having  failed  to  come  down  at  the  proper 
time,  the  fetish  men  declared  that  the  "matari 
ampuena,"  or  the  "  big  iron,"  had  fetished  the  rain 
and  prevented  its  appearance. 

The  matter  was  discussed  in  the  country  at  a 
meeting  of  the  people  of  the  neighbouring  towns, 
and  it  was   determined   to   destroy   the   press  and 


CH.  v.]  PRODUCTS.  127 

throw  it  into  the  sea  if  it  was  found  to  be  a 
"  feiticeiro,"  or  wizard.  Tliis  was,  of  course,  to  be 
proved  by  the  ordeal  by  poison,  namely,  by  making 
it  take  "casea,"  the  bark  that  I  have  already 
described  as  determining  the  innocence  or  guilt  of 
any  one  accused  of  witchcraft;  but  this  difficulty 
presented  itself  to  their  minds,  that  as  the  "big 
iron  "  had  no  stomach  or  insides,  the  "  casca  "  could 
have  no  action,  so  after  much  deliberation  it  was 
resolved  to  get  over  the  difficulty  by  giving  tlie 
dose  to  a  slave  of  the  king,  who  represented  the 
hydraulic  press.  Yery  luckily  the  poison  acted  as 
an  emetic,  and  the  press  was  proved  innocent  of 
bewitching  the  rain.  After  some  time,  the  rains 
persisting  in  not  coming  down,  the  poor  slave  was 
again  forced  to  take  "casca,"  but  with  the  same 
fortunate  result, — the  press  was  saved,  and  the 
natives  have  never  again  suspected  it  of  com- 
plicity with  evil  spirits. 

It  was  these  hydraulic  presses  for  baling  the 
baobab  fibre,  at  Ambriz  and  elsewhere,  which  more 
than  anything  else  firmly  established  amongst  the 
natives  the  name  they  had  given  me  of  "Endoqui 
ampuena,"  or,   the   great   wizard.      There  is  some- 


128  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO.      [ch.  v. 

thing  to  them  so  marvellous  in  the  simple  working 
of  a  lever  at  a  distance,  by  a  little  water  in  a 
tank,  that  no  rational  explanation  is  possible  to 
their  minds, — it  is  simply  a  case  of  pure  witch- 
craft. 

The  fruit  of  the  baobab  is  like  a  long  gourd, 
about  fourteen  to  eighteen  inches  in  length,  covered 
by  a  velvety  greenish-brown  coating,  and  hanging 
by  a  stalk  two  to  three  feet  long.  It  is  filled  inside 
with  a  curious  dry,  pulverulent,  yellowish-red  sub- 
stance, in  which  the  seeds,  about  the  size  of  pigeon- 
beans,  are  imbedded.  The  seeds  are  pounded  and 
made  into  meal  for  food  in  times  of  scarcity,  and 
the  substance  in  which  they  are  embedded  is  also 
edible,  but  strongly  and  agreeably  acid.  Tliis 
gourd-like  fruit  is  often  used  for  carrying  water  or 
storing  salt,  &c.,  the  walls,  or  shell,  beiug  very  hard 
and  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  thick.  From  its 
shape  it  makes  a  very  convenient  vessel  for  baling 
water  out  of  a  canoe,  one  end  being  cut  slantwise, 
and  it  is  used  by  the  natives  everywhere  on  the 
coast  for  this  purpose. 

The  finest  orchilla  weed  is  found  growing  on  the 
baobab  trees  near  the  coast,  and  the  natives  ascend 


CH.  v.]  PRODUCTS.  129 


the  great  trunks  by  driving  pegs  into  them  one 
above  the  other,  and  using  them  as  steps  to  get  to 
the  branches.  These  trees  are  the  great  resort  of 
the  several  species  of  doves  so  abundant  in  Angola, 
and  their  favourite  resting-place  on  account  of  the 
many  nooks  and  spaces  on  the  monstrous  trunks 
and  branches  in  which  they  can  conveniently  build 
their  flat  nests  and  rear  their  young. 

There  is  something  peculiarly  grand  in  the  near 
appearance  of  these  trees,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
describe  the  sensation  caused  by  these  huge  vege- 
table towers,  that  have  braved  in  solitary  grandeur 
the  hot  sun  and  storms  of  centuries ;  and  verv 
pleasant  it  is  to  lie  down  under  the  shade  of  one 
of  these  giants  and  listen  to  the  soft,  plaintive 
"  coo — coo — coo  "  of  the  doves  above,  the  only 
sound  that  breaks  the  noonday  silence  of  the  hot 
and  dry  untrodden  solitude  around. 

A  lowly  plant,  but  perhaps  the  most  important 
in  native  tropical  African  agriculture,  the  ground- 
nut (Arachis  hyjpogma),  next  deserves  description. 
Many  thousand  tons  of  this  little  nut  are  grown 
on  the  whole  West  Coast  of  Africa,  large  quantities 
being  exported  to  Europe, — principally  to  France, 

VOL.  I.  K 


130  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO.      [ch.  v. 

— to  be  expressed  into  oil.  We  liave  already  seen 
wliat  a  great  increase  has  taken  place  in  the  cul- 
tivation of  this  nut  in  the  part  of  the  coast  I  am 
now  specially  describing,  and  I  believe  that  it  is 
destined  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  oil-seeds 
of  the  future. 

The  native  name  for  it  is  "  mpinda  "  or  "  ginguba," 
and  it  is  cultivated  in  the  greatest  abundance  at  a 
few  miles  inland  from  the  coast,  where  the  com- 
paratively arid  country  is  succeeded  by  better 
ground  and  climate.  It  requires  a  rich  soil  for  its 
cultivation,  and  it  is  chiefly  grown,  therefore,  in  the 
bottoms  of  valleys,  or  in  the  vicinity  of  rivers  and 
marslies.  The  plant  grows  from  one  to  two  feet 
high,  with  a  leaf  and  habit  very  much  like  a 
finely-grown  clover.  The  bright-yellow  pea-like 
flowers  are  borne  on  long  slender  stalks;  these, 
after  flowering,  curl  down,  and  force  the  pod  into 
the  ground,  where  it  ripens  beneath  the  soil.  Its 
cultivation  is  a  very  simple  affair.  The  ground 
being  cleared,  the  weeds  and  grass  are  allowed  to 
dry,  and  are  then  burnt;  the  ground  is  then 
lightly  dug  a  few  inches  deep  by  the  women  with 
their  little  hoes — their   only    implement    of    agri- 


CH.  v.]  PRODUCTS,  131 

culture — and  the  seeds  dropped  into  the  ground 
and  covered  up.  The  sowing  takes  place  in  October 
and  November,  at  the  beginning  of  the  rainy 
season,  and  the  first  crop  of  nuts  for  eating  green 
is  ready  about  April ;  but  they  are  not  ripe  for 
nine  months  after  sowing,  or  about  July  or  August, 
when  they  are  first  brought  down  to  the  coast  for 
trade. 

A  large  plantation  of  ground-nuts  is  a  very 
beautiful  sight:  a  rich  expanse  of  the  most  luxuriant 
foliage  of  the  brightest  green,  every  leaf  studded 
with  diamond-like  drops  glittering  in  the  early 
sun.  The  ground-nut  is  an  important  part  of  the 
food  of  the  natives,  and  more  so  in  the  country  from 
Ambriz  to  the  Kiver  Congo  than  south  at  Loanda 
and  Benguella.  It  is  seldom  eaten  raw,  but  roasted, 
and  when  young  and  green,  and  roasted  in  the 
husks,  is  really  delicious  eating.  It  is  excessively 
oily  when  fully  ripe,  and  the  natives  then  generally 
eat  it  with  bananas  and  either  the  raw  mandioca 
root,  or  some  preparation  of  it,  experience  showing 
them  the  necessity  of  the  admixture  of  a  farinaceous 
substance  with  an  excessively  oily  food.  The  nuts 
are  also   ground  on  a  stone  to  a  paste,  with  which 

K  2 


132  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v. 

to  thicken  their  stews  and  messes.  This  paste, 
mixed  with  ground  Chili  pepper,  is  also  made  into 
long  rolls,  enveloped  in  leaves  of  the  PJirynium 
ramosissimum,  and  is  eaten  principally  in  the 
morning  to  stay  the  stomach  in  travelling  till  they 
reach  the  proper  camping-places  for  their  break- 
fast or  first  meal  and  rest,  generally  about  noon. 
It  is  called  ^^quitaba,"  and  I  shall  never  forget  the 
first  time  I  tasted  this  composition:  I  thought  my 
palate  and  tongue  were  blistered,  so  great  was  the 
proportion  of  Chili  pepper  in  it. 

A  considerable  quantity  of  oil  used  to  be  pre- 
pared by  the  natives  from  this  nut  by  the  most 
rudimentary  process  it  is  possible  to  imagine.  The 
nuts  are  first  pounded  into  a  mass  in  a  wooden 
mortar ;  a  handful  of  this  is  then  taken  between  the 
palms  of  the  hands,  and  an  attendant  pours  a  small 
quantity  of  hot  water  on  it,  and  on  squeezing  the 
hands  tightly  together  the  oil  and  water  run  out. 
Since  the  great  demand  for,  and  trade  in,  the 
ground-nut,  but  little  oil  is  prepared  by  the  natives, 
as  they  find  it  more  advantageous  to  sell  the 
nuts  than  to  extract  the  oil  from  them  by  the 
wasteful  process  I  have  just  described.     Ground-nut 


CH.  v.]  PRODUCTS. 


133 


oil  is  very  thin  and  clear,  and  is  greatly  used  in 
cookery  in  Angola,  for  whicli  it  is  well  adapted  as 
it  is  almost  free  from  taste  and  smell. 

The  greater  part  of  the  several  thousand  tons 
of  nuts  that  at  present  constitute  the  season's  crop 
in  this  part  of  the  country  is  grown  in  the 
Mbamba  country,  lying  parallel  with  the  coast,  at 
a  distance  of  from  thirty  to  eighty  miles  inland,  or 
at  the  first  and  second  elevation.  Some  idea  of 
the  great  population  of  this  comparatively  small 
district  may  be  formed  from  the  fact  that  the 
whole  of  the  above  ground-nuts  are  shelled  by 
hand,  and  brought  down  to  the  coast  on  the  heads 
of  the  natives.  It  is  difficult  for  any  one 
unacquainted  with  the  subject  to  realise  the  vast 
amount  of  labour  implied  in  the  operation  of 
shelling  this  large   quantity  by  hand. 

The  trade  in  coffee  is  almost  entirely  restricted 
to  Ambriz,  and  it  comes  principally  from  the 
district  of  Encoge,  a  considerable  quantity  also 
being  brought  from  the  Dembos  country  and  from 
Cazengo,  to  the  interior  of  Loanda,  from  which 
latter  place  the  trade  is  shut  out  by  the  stupid  and 
short-sighted  policy  of  high  custom-house  duties  on 


134  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO.      [ch.  v. 

goods,  and  other  restrictions  on  trade  of  the 
Portuguese  authorities.  Very  little  of  the  coffee 
produced  in  the  provinces  of  Encoge  and  Dembos  is 
cultivated  ;  it  is  the  product  of  coffee-trees  growing 
spontaneously  in  the  virgin  forests  of  the  second 
elevation.  The  natives,  of  course,  have  no 
machinery  of  any  kind  to  separate  the  berry  from 
the  pod,  these  being  dried  in  the  sun  and  then 
broken  in  a  wooden  mortar,  and  the  husks  separated 
by  winnowing  in  the  open  air. 

The  sesamum  seed  (Sesamum  indicu^n)  has  only 
very  recently  become  an  article  of  trade  in  Angola. 
It  was  cultivated  sparingly  by  the  natives,  who 
employ  it,  ground  to  a  paste  on  a  stone  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  ground-nut,  to  add  to  their  other  food 
in  cooking.  It  is  as  yet  cultivated  for  trade  prin- 
cipally by  the  natives  about  Mangue  Grande,  and 
only  since  about  the  year  1868,  but  there  is  no 
doubt  it  will  be  an  important  product  all  over 
Angola,  as  it  is  found  to  grow  near  the  coast,  in 
soil  too  arid  for  the  ground-nut. 

The  red  gum  copal,  called  "maquata"  by  the 
natives,  is  of  the  finest  quality,  and  is  almost  entirely 
the  product   of  the  Mossulo  country.     It  is  known 


CH.  v.]  PRODUCTS.  135 

to  exist  north,  in  the  vicinity  of  Mangue  Grande, 
but  it  is  "  fetish  "  for  the  natives  to  dig  it,  and  con- 
sequently they  will  not  bring  it  for  trade,  and  even 
refuse  to  tell  the  exact  place  where  it  is  found,  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  about  it,  as  they  formerly 
traded  in  it  with  the  white  men. 

Until  about  the  year  1858,  it  was  a  principal 
article  of  export  from  Ambriz ;  vessels  being  loaded 
with  it,  chiefly  to  America,  but  with  the  American 
war  the  trade  ceased,  and  it  has  never  since  attained 
anything  like  its  former  magnitude.  I  believe  it 
to  be  a  fossil  gum  or  mineral  resin.  I  have 
examined  quantities  of  it,  to  discover  any  trace  of 
leaves,  insects,  or  other  remains,  that  might  prove 
it  to  have  been  of  vegetable  origin,  but  in  vain. 

It  is  obtained  from  a  part  of  Angola  where  white 
men  are  not  permitted  by  the  natives  to  penetrate, 
and  I  have  consequently  not  been  an  actual 
observer  of  the  locality  in  which  it  occurs ;  but  by 
all  the  accounts  received  from  intelligent  natives,  it 
is  found  below  the  surface  of  a  highly  ferruginous 
hard  clay  or  soil,  at  a  depth  of  a  few  inches  to  a 
couple  of  feet.  It  is  very  likely  that  if  the  ground 
w^ere  properly  explored,  it  would  be  found  deeper. 


136  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO.      [ch.  v. 

but  most  probably  this  is  as  deep  as  the  natives  care 
to  dig  for  it,  if  they  can  obtain  it  elsewhere  nearer 
the  surface.  It  is  said  to  be  found  in  irregular 
masses,  chiefly  flat  in  shape,  and  from  small  knobs 
to  pieces  weighing  several  pounds.  These  are  all 
carefully  chopped  into  small  nearly  uniform  pieces, 
the  object  of  this  being  to  enable  the  natives  to 
sell  it  by  measure, — the  measures  being  little 
"  quindas "  or  open  baskets ;  the  natives  of  the 
country  where  it  is  obtained  not  only  bring  it  to  the 
coast  for  barter,  but  also  sell  it  to  the  coast  natives, 
who  go  with  goods  to  purchase  it  from  them. 

The  blacks  of  the  gum  country  are  so  indolent 
that  they  will  only  dig  for  the  gum  during  and 
after  the  last  and  heaviest  rains,  about  March,  April, 
and  May,  and  these,  and  June  and  July,  are  the 
months  when  it  almost  all  makes  its  appearance? 
and  they  will  only  allow^  a  certain  quantity  to  leave 
the  country,  for  fear  that  its  price  on  the  coast 
may  fall;  hence  only  a  few  tons  of  this  beautiful 
gum  are  now  obtained,  where  some  years  ago 
hundreds  were  bought.  It  is  said  by  the  natives 
that  no  trees  grow  on  or  near  the  places  where  the 
gum  copal  is  found,  and  that  even  grass  grows  very 


CH.  v.]  PRODUCTS.  137 

sparingly:  the  very  small  quantities  of  red  earth 
and  sand  sometimes  attached  to  the  gum  show  it  to 
be  so  highly  ferruginous,  that  I  should  imagine  such 
was  really  the  case. 

The  white  Angola  gum  is  said  to  be  the  product 
of  a  tree  growing  near  rivers  and  water,  a  little  to 
the  interior  of  the  coast.  I  have  never  had  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  the  tree  myself,  however. 

We  now  come  to  one  of  the  most  curious  pro- 
ducts of  this  interesting  country,  namely,  india- 
rubber,  called  by  the  natives  "  Tangandando."  It 
had  been  an  article  exported  in  considerable 
quantities  north  of  the  Kiver  Congo,  and  knowing 
that  the  plant  from  which  it  was  obtained  grew  in 
abundance  in  the  second  region,  about  sixty  miles 
inland  from  Ambriz,  I  distributed  a  number  of 
pieces  of  the  india-rubber  to  natives  of  the  interior, 
and  offered  a  high  price  for  any  that  might  be 
brought  for  sale.  In  a  very  short  time  it  began  to 
come  in,  and  the  quantity  has  steadily  increased  to 
the  present  day. 

The  plant  that  produces  it  is  the  giant  tree- 
creeper  {Landoljphia,  floridaf),  covering  the  highest 
trees,  and  growing  principally  on  those  near  rivers 


138  ANGOLA  AND  THE  EIVER  CONGO.      [ch.  v. 

or  streams.  Its  stem  is  sometimes  as  tliick  as  a 
man's  thigh,  and  in  the  dense  woods  at  Quiballa  I 
have  seen  a  considerable  extent  of  forest  festooned 
down  to  the  ground,  from  tree  to  tree,  in  all 
directions  with  its  thick  stems,  like  great  hawsers; 
above,  the  trees  were  nearly  hidden  by  its  large, 
bright,  dark-green  leaves,  and  studded  with  beau- 
tiful bunches  of  pure  white  star-like  flowers,  most 
sweetly  scented.  Its  fruit  is  the  size  of  a  large 
orange,  of  a  yellow  colour  when  ripe,  and  perfectly 
round,  with  a  hard  brittle  shell ;  inside  it  is  full  of 
a  soft  reddish  pulp  in  which  the  seeds  are  con- 
tained. This  pulp  is  of  a  very  agreeable  acid 
flavour,  and  is  much  liked  by  the  natives.  The  ripe 
fruit,  when  cleaned  out,  is  employed  by  them  to 
contain  small  quantities  of  oil,  &c.  It  is  not  always 
easy  to  obtain  ripe  seeds,  as  this  creeper  is  the 
favourite  resort  of  a  villainous,  semi-transparent, 
long  legged  red  ant — with  a  stinging  bite  like  a 
red-hot  needle — which  is  very  fond  of  the  pulp 
and  seeds. 

Every  part  of  this  creeper  exudes  a  milky  juice 
when  cut  or  wounded,  but  unlike  the  india-rubber 
tree  of  America,  this  milky  sap  will  not  run  into  a 


CH.  v.]  IVORY.  139 

vessel  placed  to  receive  it,  as  it  dries  so  quickly  as 
to  form  a  ridge  on  the  wound  or  cut,  which  stops  its 
further  flow. 

The  blacks  collect  it,  therefore,  by  making  long 
cuts  in  the  bark  with  a  knife,  and  as  the  milky 
juice  gushes  out,  it  is  wiped  off  continually  with 
their  fingers,  and  smeared  on  their  arms,  shoulders, 
and  breast  until  a  tliick  covering  is  formed ; 
this  is  peeled  off  their  bodies  and  cut  into  small 
squares,  which  are  then  said  to  be  boiled  in 
water. 

From  Ambriz  the  trade  in  this  india-rubber 
quickly  spread  south  to  the  Kiver  Quanza,  from 
whence  considerable  quantities  are  exported. 

The  ivory  that  reaches  this  part  of  the  coast  is 
brought  down  by  natives  of  the  Zombo  country. 
These  are  similar  in  appearance  to  the  Mushicongos, 
to  which  tribe  they  are  said  to  be  neighbours,  and 
are  physically  a  poor-looking  race,  dressed  mostly 
in  native  grass-cloth,  and  wearing  the  wool  on  their 
heads  in  very  small  plaits,  thickly  plastered  with  oil 
and  charcoal  dust,  which  they  also  plentifully  apply 
to  their  faces  and  bodies. 

They  are  about  thirty  days  on  the  journey  from 


140  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO.      [ch.  v. 

tlieir  country  to  the  coast,  which  can  therefore  be 
very  closely  calculated  to  be  about  300  miles  dis- 
tance. The  road  they  follow  passes  near  Bembe, 
and  the  caravans  shortly  afterwards  divide  into 
three  portions,  one  taking  the  road  to  Moculla, 
another  to  Ambrizzette,  and  the  third  to  Quissembo, 
the  three  centres,  at  present,  of  the  ivory  trade. 
The  caravans  of  ivory  generally  travel  in  the 
"  cacimbo "  or  dry  season,  on  account  of  the  great 
number  of  streams  and  gullies  they  have  to  cross 
on  their  long  journey,  and  almost  impassable  in  the 
rainy  season.  These  caravans  never  bring  down 
any  other  produce  with  them  but  ivory,  except  at 
times  a  few  grass-cloths,  some  bags  of  white  haricot- 
beans,  and  iine  milk-white  onions,  neither  of  which 
are  cultivated  by  the  natives  near  the  coast.  The 
tusks  are  carried  by  the  natives  on  their  heads  or 
shoulders,  and,  to  prevent  their  slipping,  are  fastened 
in  a  sort  of  cage  of  four  short  pieces  of  wood  (Plate 
IV.).  Very  heavy  teeth  are  slung  to  a  long  pole 
and  carried  by  two  blacks.  The  largest  tusks  I  have 
seen  were  two  that  came  to  Quissembo,  evidently 
taken  from  the  same  animal;  they  weighed  re- 
spectively 172  and  174  pounds  ! 


Plate  IV. 


1.  Aukle-ring— 2.  Ring  to  ascend  Palm-trees.— 3.  Cage  for  carrying  Ivory  Tusks. 

4.  Eiigoiigui.— 5.  Fetish  figure.— 6.  Mask.— 7,  Pillow.       To  fa/ie  page  140. 


CH.  v.]  IVORT.  141 

The  knives  on  Plate  V.  were  obtained  from 
natives  composing  these  caravans. 

From  all  the  more  intelligent  natives  I  always 
obtained  the  same  information  respecting  the  origin 
of  the  ivory  brought  down  to  the  coast,  namely, 
that  it  was  all  from  animals  killed,  and  not  from 
elephants  found  dead.  The  natives  from  the  interior 
always  laughed  at  the  idea  of  ivory  becoming  scarce 
from  the  numbers  of  elephants  that  must  necessarily 
be  killed  to  supply  the  large  number  of  tusks 
annually  brought  down, — the  number  slaughtered 
must  therefore  be  very  small  in  comparison  to  the 
living  herds  they  must  be  in  the  habit  of  seeing 
on  the  vast  plains  of  the  interior.  They  are  said 
to  be  shot,  and  that  the  natives  put  such  a  charge 
of  powder  and  iron  bullets  into  their  guns  that 
when  fired  from  the  shoulder  the  hunter  cannot 
use  his  gun  again  that  day,  so  great  is  the  kick  he 
gets  from  its  recoil.  I  can  well  understand  that 
this  is  not  an  exaggerated  account,  from  the  manner 
in  which  blacks  always  load  a  gun,  the  charge  of 
powder  being  one  handful,  as  much  as  it  can  hold, 
then  a  wadding  of  baobab  fibre,  then  lead  shot,  or 
lead  or  iron  bullets  (in  default  of  which  they  use 


142  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO.      [ch.  v. 

the  heavy  round  pieces  of  pisolitic  iron  ore  very 
common  in  the  country),  another  wad  of  baobab 
fibre,  and  the  gun  must  then  show  that  it  is  loaded 
a  "palm,"  or  about  eight  or  nine  inches  of  the  barrel. 

On  festive  occasions,  or  at  their  burials,  the  guns 
are  loaded  with  a  tamping  of  "  fuba,"  or  fine  man- 
dioca-meal,  instead  of  other  wadding,  and  they  then 
give  a  terrific  report  when  fired  off,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  burst. 

This  coast  abounds  wdth  fish,  but  very  few  of  the 
natives  engage  in  their  capture,  as  they  make  so 
much  by  trading  that  they  will  not  take  the  trouble. 
Several  fish,  such  as  the  "Pungo,"  weighing  as 
much  as  three  "  arrobas,"  or  ninety-six  pounds, 
visit  the  coast  only  in  the  "  cacimbo  "  or  cold  season 
of  the  year,  or  from  June  to  August. 

The  Bay  of  Musserra  is  a  noted  place  for  large 
captures  of  this  fine  fish,  as  many  as  forty  or  fifty 
being  caught  in  a  day  by  the  natives,  with  hook  and 
line,  from  their  small  curious  shaped  canoes.  It  is  a 
very  firm-fleshed  fish,  and  cut  up,  salted,  and  dried 
in  the  sun,  was  a  great  article  of  trade  at  Musserra, 
being  sold  to  the  natives  from  the  interior,  particu- 
larly to  the  "  Zombos  "  composing  the  caravans  of 


CH.  v.]  MUSSERBA— SLEEP  DISEASE.  143 


ivory,  who  are  very  fond  of  salt  fish.  There  was  a 
great  row  in  the  season  1870,  which  was  a  very 
scarce  one  for  ground-nuts,  between  the  natives  of 
the  interior  and  the  blacks  at  Musserra,  on  account 
of  the  latter  taking  to  collect  Adansonia  fibre  in 
preference  to  catching  "Pungo,"  and  therefore  dis- 
appointing the  inlanders  of  their  favourite  salt 
delicacy. 

The  canoes  on  this  part  of  the  coast,  and  as  far 
north  as  Cabinda,  are  very  curious,  and  totally 
unlike  any  that  I  have  seen  anywhere  else.  They 
are  composed  of  two  rounded  canoes  lashed  or  sewn 
together  below,  and  open  at  the  top.  This  aperture 
is  narrow,  and  each  canoe  forms,  as  it  were,  a  long 
pocket.  The  natives  stand  or  sit  on  them  with 
their  legs  in  the  canoe,  or  astride,  as  most  con- 
venient according  to  the  state  of  the  surf,  on  which 
these  canoes  ride  beautifully. 

The  town  of  Musserra  was  formerly  a  large  and 
populous  one,  but  small-pox  and  "  sleep  disease " 
have  reduced  it  to  a  mere  handfuL 

This  "  sleep  disease  "  was  unknown  south  of  the 
River  Congo,  where  it  formerly  attacked  the  slaves 
collected  in  the  barracoons  for  shipment.      It  sud- 


144  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v. 

denly  appeared  at  the  town  of  Musserra  alone, 
where,  I  was  told  by  the  natives,  as  many  as  200  of 
the  inhabitants  died  of  it  in  a  few  months.  This 
was  in  1870,  and,  curious  to  say,  it  did  not  spread  to 
the  neighbouring  towns.  I  induced  the  natives  to 
remove  from  the  old  town,  and  the  mortality  de- 
creased till  the  disease  died  out. 

This  singular  disease  appears  to  be  well  known 
at  Gaboon,  &c.,  and  is  said  to  be  an  affection  of  the 
cerebellum.  The  subjects  attacked  by  it  suffer 
no  pain  whatever,  but  fall  into  a  continual  heavy 
drowsiness  or  sleep,  having  to  be  awakened  to  be 
fed,  and  at  last  become  unable  to  eat  at  all,  or  stand, 
and  die  fast  asleep  as  it  were.  There  is  no  cure 
known  for  it,  and  the  patients  are  said  to  die  gene- 
rally in  about  twenty  to  forty  days  after  being  first 
attacked. 

There  was  nothing  in  the  old  town  to  account  for 
this  sudden  and  singular  epidemic ;  it  was  beauti- 
fully clean,  and  well  built  on  high,  dry  ground, 
surrounded  by  mandioca  plantations,  and  the  last 
place  to  all  appearance  to  expect  such  a  curious 
outbreak. 

About  four  or  five  miles  inland  of  Musserra,  on  a 


mint 


Granite  Pillar  of  Musserra.— 1.  Wooden  Trumpet.— 2.  Hoe.— 3.  Pipe.— 4.  Knives.— 

5  and  6.  Clapping  Hands,   and  Answer.  To  face  page  145. 


cn.  v.]  OBANITE  PILLAR.  145 


ridge  of  low  hills,  stands  the  remarkable  granite 
pillar  marked  on  the  charts,  and  forming  a  capital 
landmark  to  ships  at  sea  (Plate  V.). 

The  country  at  that  distance  from  the  coast  is 
singularly  wild  in  appearance,  from  the  whole  being 
broken  up  into  what  can  only  be  compared  to  a  vast 
granite  quarry: — huge  blocks  of  this  rock,  of  every 
imaginable  size  and  shape,  are  scattered  over  the 
hilly  ground,  thickly  interspersed  with  gigantic 
baobabs  and  creepers.  Some  of  the  masses  of  rock 
imitate  grotesquely  all  manner  of  objects:  a  very 
curious  one  is  exactly  like  a  huge  cottage-loaf  stuck 
on  the  top  of  a  tall  slender  pillar.  Otliers  are 
generally  rounded  masses,  large  and  small,  piled  one 
on  top  of-  another,  and  poised  and  balanced  in  the 
most  fantastic  manner.  This  extraordinary  appear- 
ance is  due  to  softer  horizontal  layers  or  beds  in  the 
granite  weathering  unequally,  and  to  strongly-marked 
cleavage  planes  running.  N.N.E.  and  S.S.W. 

The  granite  pillar  itself  stands  on  the  top  of  one 
of  the  last  of  the  low  hills  forming  the  rocky  ridge 
that  comes  down  to  within  a  few  miles  of  the  coast. 
It  consists  of  a  huge  slice  or  flat  piece  of  gi-anite, 
facing  the  sea,  standing  upright  on  another  block 
VOL.  I.  L 


146  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v. 

that  serves  it  for  a  pedestal.  The  top  piece  is 
about  forty-five  feet  high,  and  twenty-seven  broad 
at  the  base,  and  eight  to  ten  feet  thick.  Its  faces 
correspond  to  the  cleavage  plane  of  the  granite  of  the 
country,  and  from  large  masses  that  lie  around  on 
the  same  hill,  it  is  clear  that  these  have  fallen  away 
from  each  side,  and  left  it  alone  standing  on  the  top. 
The  square  pedestal  on  which  it  stands  is  about 
forty  feet  long,  and  twenty  high,  by  twenty-seven 
wide.  I  climbed  once  to  the  top  of  this  square  block 
by  the  help  of  a  small  tree  growing  against  it,  and 
found  that  the  top  piece  rested  on  three  points  that 
I  could  just  crawl  under.  Under  some  lichen 
growing  there  I  found  numbers  of  a  beetle  {Penta- 
lohiis  harbatus,  Fabr.),  which  I  presented  to  the 
British  Museum. 

A  considerable  quantity  of  salt  is  made  by  the 
natives  of  this  part  of  the  coast,  from  Quissembo 
to  Ambrizzette,  particularly  at  the  latter  place,  in 
the  small  salt  marshes  near  the  sea,  and  with  which 
they  carry  on  a  trade  with  the  natives  from  the 
interior. 

At  the  end  of  the  dry  season  the  women  and 
children  divide  the  surface  of  these  marshes   into 


CH.  v.]  SALT.  147 

little  square  portions  or  pans,  by  raising  mud  walls 
a  few  inches  high,  so  as  to  enclose  in  each  about 
two  or  three  gallons  of  the  water,  saturated  with 
salt  from  the  already  nearly  evaporated  marsh. 
As  the  salt  crystallizes  in  the  bottom  of  these 
little  pans,  it  is  taken  out,  and  more  water  added, 
and  so  the  process  is  continued  until  the  marsh  is 
quite  dry.  In  many  cases  a  small  channel  is  cut 
from  the  marsh  to  the  sea  (generally  very  close  to 
it)  to  admit  fresh  sea-water  at  high  tide. 

It  is  an  amusing  sight  to  see  numbers  of  women 
and  children,  all  stark  naked,  standing  sometimes 
above  their  knees  in  the  water,  baling  it  into  the 
"  pans  "  with  small  open  baskets  or  "  quindas,"  and 
all  suiging  loudly  a  monotonous  soug; — others  are 
engaged  in  filling  large  ''quindas"  with  dirty  salt 
from  the  muddy  pans,  whilst  others  again  are  busily 
washing  the  crystallized  salt  by.  pouring  sea- water 
over  it  till  all  the  mud  is  washed  away,  and  the 
basketfuls  of  salt  shine  in  the  sun  like  driven  snow. 

Towards  evening  long  lines  of  women  and  children 
will  be  seen  carrying  to  their  towns,  on  their  heads, 
the,  harvest  of  salt,  and  great  is  the  fun  and  chaff 
from  them  if  they  meet  a  white  man  travelling  in  a 

L  2 


148  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,      [ch.  v. 

hammock, — all  laughing  and  shouting,  and  wanting 
to  shake  hands,  and  running  to  keep  pace  with  the 
hammock-bearers. 

The  proprietress  of  each  set  of  little  evaporating 
pans  marks  them  as  her  property  by  placing  a  stick 
in  each  corner,  to  which  is  attached  some  "  fetish  " 
to  keep  others  from  pilfering.  This  "fetish"  is 
generally  a  small  bundle  of  strips  of  cloth  or  rags,  or 
a  small  gourd  or  baobab  fruit  containing  feathers, 
fowl-dung,  "  taenia  "  (red  wood),  or  very  often  some 
little  clay  or  wooden  figure,  grotesquely  carved,  and 
coloured  red  and  white. 

Quantities  of  little  fish  are  also  captured  about 
the  same  time  from  these  marshes,  being  driven 
into  corners,  &c.,  and  prevented  from  returning  to 
the  marsh  by  a  mud  wall.  The  water  from  the 
enclosure  thus  formed  is  then  baled  out  by  the 
women  with  baskets,  and  the  fish  caught  in  the 
mud.  I  have  often  seen  as  many  as  twenty  women 
all  standing  in  a  line,  baling  out  the  water  from  a 
large  pool  in  which  they  had  enclosed  shoals  of 
little  fish.  These  are  spread  out  on  the  ground  to 
dry  in  the  sun,  and  the  stench  from  them  during 
the     process    is    something    terrific.      When     dry 


CH.  v.]  AQUATIC  BIRDS.  149 

they    are    principally    sold    to    natives    from    the 
interior. 

Many  kinds  of  aquatic  birds  of  all  sizes  flock  in 
the  dry  season  to  these  marshes,  where  a  rich 
abundance  of  finny  food  awaits  them,  and  it  is 
curious  to  see  what  little  regard  they  pay  to  the 
women  collecting  salt  or  baling  water,  and  singing 
loudly  in  chorus,  very  often  quite  close  to  them. 
The  reason  of  this  tameness  is  that  the  natives 
seldom  fire  at  or  molest  them,  only  a  very  few 
hunters  shooting  wild-ducks  for  sale  to  the  white 
men,  though  they  will  always  eat  any  kind  of  rank 
gull  or  other  bird  that  a  white  man  may  shoot. 
Very  beautiful  are  the  long  lines  of  spoonbills, 
flamingoes,  and  herons  of  different  species,  standing 
peacefully  in  these  shallow  marshes,  their  snow- 
white  plumage  and  tall  graceful  forms  brightly 
reflected  on  the  dark  unrufiled  surface  of  the 
water. 

The  marshes  on  this  coast  are  fortunately  not 
extensive  enough  to  influence  much  the  health  of 
the  white  residents;  they  are  all  perfectly  salt, 
and  free  from  mangrove  or  other  vegetation,  and 
generally  dry  up  completely  (with  rare  exceptions) 


150  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  v. 

ill  the  dry  season,  when  sometimes  the  stench  from 
them  is  very  perceptible. 

The  worst  season  for  Europeans  is  about  May, 
June,  and  July,  wdien  the  marshes  are  quite  full 
from  the  last  heavy  rains,  and  exhale  no  smell 
whatever. 

The  point  at  Musserra  is  composed  of  sandstone, 
the  lower  beds  of  which  are  strongly  impregnated 
with  bitumen,  so  strongly,  indeed,  that  it  oozes  out 
ill  the  hot  season. 

At  Kinsao,  near  Mangue  Grande,  and  a  few  miles 
to  the  interior,  a  lake  of  this  mineral  pitch  is  said 
to  exist,  but  of  course  the  natives  will  not  allow 
a  white  man  to  visit  the  locality  to  ascertain  the 
fact,  and  it  is  also  "  fetish "  for  the  natives  to 
trade  in  it.  The  fear  of  annexation  of  the  country 
by  the  white  men  has  caused  the  natives  to  "  fetish  " 
and  absolutely  prohibit  even  the  mention  of  another 
very  important  article — malachite — of  which  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  a  large  deposit  exists, 
about  six  miles  up  the  river  at  Ambrizzette.  The 
scenery  up  this  little  river  is  very  lovely,  but  the 
natives  will  not  allow  white  men  to  ascend  more 
than   a   few   miles  or  up  to  a  hill   beyond  which 


CH.  v.]  MALACHITE  DEPOSIl.  151 

the  deposit  or  mine  of  malachite  is  believed  to 
exist.  In  the  slave-trading  time  quantities  of  this 
mineral  in  fine  lumps  used  to  be  purchased  of  the 
natives  from  this  locality,  but  on  the  occupation  of 
Ambriz  by  the  Portuguese,  in  1855,  for  the  purpose 
of  reaching  the  malachite  deposit  at  Bembe,  the 
natives  of  Ambrizzette  closed  the  working  of  their 
mine,  and  it  remains  so  to  this  day,  and  nothing 
will  induce  them  to  open  it  again. 

I  have  had  many  private  conversations  with  them, 
and  tried  hard  to  make  them  work  it  again,  but,  as 
might  be  expected,  without  success. 


(     152     ) 


CHAPTER  VI. 

AMBRIZ  —  TRADE  —  MALACHITE  —  ROAD  TO  BEMBE 
—  TRAVELLING  —  MOSQUITOES  —  QUIBALLA  TO 
QUILUMBO  —  QUILUMBO   TO   BEMBE. 

Ambriz,  seen  from  the  sea,  consists  of  a  higli  rocky- 
cliff  or  promontory,  with  a  fine  bay  sweeping  with  a 
level  beach  northward  nearly  to  the  next  promon- 
tory, on  which  stand  the  trading  factories  forming 
the  place  called  Quissembo,  or  Kinsembo  of  the 
English. 

In  the  bay  the  little  River  Logo  has  its  mouth, 
and  marks  the  northern  limit  of  the  Portuguese 
possession  of  Angola.  The  country  beyond,  de- 
scribed in  the  last  chapter,  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
natives,  under  their  own  laws,  and  owing  no  alle- 
giance or  obedience  to  any  white  power.  Ambriz 
was,  up  to  the  year  1855,  when  it  was  occupied  by 
the  Portuguese,  also  in  the  hands  of  the   natives. 


CH.  VI.]  AMBJRIZ.  153 

and  was  one  of  the  principal  ports  for  tlie  shipment 
of,  and  trade  in  slaves,  from  the  interior. 

There  were  also  established  there  American  and 
Liverpool  houses,  trading  in  gum  copal,  malachite, 
and  ivory,  and  selling,  for  hard  cash,  Manchester 
and  other  goods  to  the  slave  dealers  from  Cuba 
and  the  Brazils,  with  which  goods  the  slaves  from 
the  interior  were  all  bought  by  barter  from  the 
natives. 

The  Portuguese,  following  their  usual  blind  and 
absurd  policy,  at  once  established  a  custom-house, 
and  levied  high  duties  on  all  goods  imported.  The 
consequence  was,  that  the  foreign  houses,  to  escape 
their  exactions,  at  once  removed  to  Quissembo,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Eiver  Loge,  and  the  trade  of 
Ambriz  was  completely  annihilated  and  reduced  to 
zero.  For  many  years  the  revenue  barely  sufficed 
to  pay  the  paltry  salaries  of  the  custom-house 
officials,  but  when  I  established  myself  at  Ambriz, 
I  succeeded  in  inducing  the  Governor-General  of 
Angola  to  reduce  the  duties,  so  as  to  enable  us  at 
Ambriz  to  compete  successfully  with  the  factories 
at  Quissembo,  six  miles  off,  where  they  paid  no 
duties   whatever,  with   the   annual   exception   of  a 


154  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vi. 

few  pounds'  worth  of  cloth,  &c.,  in  "customs"  or 
presents  to  the  natives. 

The  Goyernor,  Francisco  Antonio  Gonpalves 
Cardozo,  a  naval  officer,  had  the  common  sense  to 
perceive  that  moderate  duties  would  yield  a  greater 
revenue,  and  would  be  the  only  means  of  bringing 
back  trade  to  the  place.  An  import  duty  of  six 
per  cent,  ad  valorem  was  decreed,  notwithstanding 
the  violent  opposition  of  the  petty  merchants,  and 
ignorant  officials  at  Loanda.  The  experiment,  it  is 
needless  to  say,  was  highly  successful,  and  the  re- 
ceipts of  the  Ambriz  custom-house  now  amount  to  a 
considerable  sum,  of  which  a  third  is  devoted  to 
public  works.  The  factories  at  Quissembo  are  at 
present  doing  but  little  trade,  except  in  ivory,  which 
has  not  yet  been  coaxed  back  to  Ambriz. 

The  town  of  Ambriz  consists  principally  of  one 
long,  broad  street  or  road,  on  the  ridge  that  ends  at 
the  cliff  or  promontory  forming  the  southern  point 
of  the  bay.  At  the  end  of  the  road  a  small  fort 
has  been  built,  in  which  are  the  barracks  for  the 
detachment  of  troops  forming  the  garrison.  This 
useless  fort  has  been  a  source  of  considerable  profit 
to  the  many  ill-paid  Portuguese  governors  or  com- 


CH.  Yi.j  AMBRIZ.  155 

mandants  of  Ambriz,  and  though  it  has  cost  the 
country  thousands  of  pounds,  it  is  not  yet  finished. 
There  is  a  tumble-down  house  for  the  commandant, 
and  an  attempt  at  an  hospital,  also  unfinished, 
though  it  has  been  building  for  many  years.  There 
are  no  quarters  for  the  officers,  who  live  as  best 
they  can  with  the  traders,  or  hire  whatever  mud  or 
grass  huts  they  can  secure. 

The  custom-house  is  in  ruins,  notwithstanding 
many  years  of  expenditure,  for  which,  in  fact,  fort, 
hospital,  barracks,  custom-house,  and  all  other 
government  and  public  works  might  have  been 
built  long  ago,  of  stone  and  building  materials 
from  Portugal.  A  church  was  commenced  to  be 
built  by  subscriptions,  the  walls  only  were  raised, 
and  thus  it  remains  to  this  day.  There  is  a  govern- 
ment paid  priest  who  celebrates  mass  on  most 
Sunday  mornings  in  a  small  room  in  the  com- 
mandant's house,  but  for  whom  no  school-room, 
residence,  or  any  convenience  whatever  is  pro- 
vided, and  who  lives  in  a  hut  in  a  back  street, 
where  he  trades  for  produce  with  the  natives  on 
week  days. 

The    garrison    is  badly   armed    and    disciplined. 


156  AXGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVEB  CONGO,    [ch.  vi. 

Some  time  ago  the  soldiers  revolted,  and  for  some 
days  amused  themselves  by  firing  their  muskets 
about  the  place,  and  demanding  drink  and  money 
from  the  traders.  There  was  nobody  killed  or 
wounded,  no  house  or  store  robbed  or  sacked,  the 
mutineers  in  fact  behaving  remarkably  well.  The 
commandant  kept  indoors  until  the  news  reached 
Loanda,  and  after  several  days  the  Governor-General 
arrived  in  a  Portuguese  man-of-war  with  troops, 
which  were  disembarked,  the  valiant  Governor- 
General  remaining  on  board  till  order  was  restored, 
when  he  landed,  had  a  couple  of  the  ringleaders 
thrashed,  made  a  speech  to  the  rest  of  the  muti- 
neers, and  returned  to  Loanda,  leaving  the  tall  com- 
mandant to  twirl  his  moustaches.  The  Governor- 
General  was  at  that  time  an  officer  called  Jose  da 
Ponte  e  Horta,  and  though  not  one  of  the  most 
competent  men  that  Portugal  has  sent  to  Angola  as 
governor,  the  inhabitants  of  Loanda  have  to  thank 
him  for  paving  a  great  part  of  their  sandy  city. 

Were  not  the  natives  of  Ambriz  such  a  remark- 
ably inoffensive  and  unwarlike  race,  they  would 
long  ago  have  driven  the  Portuguese  into  the  sea. 
It  is  a  great  pity  that  Portugal  should  neglect  so 


CH.  VI.]  AMBRIZ.  157 

disgracefully  her  colonies,  so  rich  in  themselves,  and 
offering  such  wonderful  advantages  in  every  way  for 
colonization  and  development. 

In  the  year  1791  the  Portuguese  built  a  fort  at 
Quincollo,  about  six  miles  up  the  Kiver  Loge,  on  a 
low  hill  commanding  the  road  from  Ambriz  to 
Bembe  and  St.  Salvador,  where  they  then  had  a 
large  establishment,  and  the  masses  of  masonry  still 
remain,  a  standing  memorial  of  the  former  energy 
and  bravery  of  the  Portuguese  who  subjugated  the 
then  powerful  kingdom  of  Congo  and  the  savage 
tribes  of  the  coast,  so  strikingly  in  contrast  to  the 
present  spiritless  and  disgraceful  military  misrule 
of  Angola. 

Ambriz  boasts  of  the  only  iron  pier  in  Angola, 
and  this  was  erected  at  my  instigation.  It  is  200 
feet  long,  and  is  a  great  advantage  in  loading  and 
discharging  cargo  into  or  from  the  lighters. 

Ambriz  is  an  open  roadstead,  and  vessels  have  to 
anchor  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  beach, 
and  though  the  surf  sometimes  interferes  with  the 
above  operations  on  the  beach,  vessels  are  always 
safe,  such  things  as  storms  or  heavy  seas  being 
unknown. 


158  ANGOLA  AND  THE  EIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  yi. 


Behind  the  beach  a  salt,  marshy  plain  extends 
inland  for  a  mile  or  so,  and  nearly  to  Quissembo  in 
a  northerly  direction.  Along  the  edge  of  this  plain 
is  the  road  to  Quincollo,  ^nd  many  little  ravines 
or  valleys  lead  into  it.  These,  in  the  hot  season 
particularly,  are  most  lovely  in  their  vegetation, 
the  groups  of  gigantic  euphorbias  festooned  with 
many  delicate-leaved  creepers  being  especially  quaint 
and  beautiful. 

A  handsome  orange  and  black  diurnal  moth  is 
found  abundantly  about  Ambriz,  and  is  curious 
from  its  exhaling  a  strong  smell  of  gum  benzoin, 
so  strong  indeed  as  to  powerfully  scent  the  collect- 
ing box.  It  is  the  Eusemia  ocliracea  of  entomo- 
logists. 

In  1872,  the  ship  "Thomas  Mitchell"  took  a 
cargo  of  coals  from  England  to  Kio  de  Janeiro,  and 
after  discharging  proceeded  in  ballast  to  Ambriz. 
The  crew  on  arrival  were  suffering  from  '*  chigoes  " 
or  "  jiggers  "  in  their  feet,  which  they  contracted  in 
the  Brazils.  These  pests  were  quickly  communi- 
cated to  the  black  crews  of  our  boats  and  introduced 
on  shore,  and  in  a  short  time  every  one  in  Ambriz 
had   them   in   their  feet  and  hands.     Many  of  the 


CH.  vl]  malachite.  159 

blacks  were  miserable  objects  from  tlie  ravages  of 
this  horrid  insect  on  their  feet  and  legs,  in  the 
skin  of  which  they  burrow  and  breed.  They 
gradually  extended  up  the  coast,  but  not  towards 
the  interior.  By  last  advices  they  appear  to  be 
dying  out  at  Ambriz.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  such  is 
the  case,  and  that  this  fresh  acquisition  to  the  insect 
scourges  of  tropical  Africa  may  be  only  temporary. 
A  friend  just  arrived  from  the  coast  tells  me  that 
they  have  alreacjy  reached  Gaboon,  and  they  will 
doubtlessly  run  all  the  way  up  the  coast. 

Previous  to  the  occupation  of  Ambriz  by  the  Por- 
tuguese in  1855,  the  natives  used  to  bring  down  a 
considerable  quantity  of  fine  malachite  from  Bembe 
for  sale.  A  Brazilian  slave-dealer,  a  man  of  great 
energy  and  enterprise,  called  Francisco  Antonio 
Flores,  who,  after  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade, 
laboured  incessantly  to  develop  the  resources  of 
Angola,  in  which  effort  he  sank  the  large  fortune 
he  had  previously  amassed,  obtained  the  concession 
of  the  Bembe  mines  from  the  Portuguese  Govern- 
ment, who  sent  an  expedition  to  occupy  the  country, 
and  succeeded  without  any  opposition  on  the  part 
of  the  natives. 


160  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  vi. 

In  January,  1858,  I  was  engaged  "by  the  Western 
Africa  Malachite  Copper  Mines  Company,  who  had 
acquired  the  mines  from  Senhor  Flores,  to  accom- 
pany a  party  of  twelve  miners  sent  under  a  Cornish 
mining  captain  to  explore  them.  We  arrived  at 
Bembe  on  the  8th  March,  and  the  next  day  seven  of 
the  men  were  down  with  fever;  the  others  also 
quickly  fell  ill,  and  for  three  months  that  followed 
of  the  heavy  rainy  season,  they  passed  through 
great  discomforts  from  want  of  proper  accommoda- 
tion. Ultimately  eight  died  within  the  next  nine 
months,  and  the  rest  had  to  be  sent  home,  with 
the  exception  of  one  man  and  myself.  This  result 
was  not  so  much  the  effect  of  the  climate,  as  the 
want  of  proper  lodgings  and  care. 

The  superintendent  was  at  that  time  the  Por- 
tuguese commandant,  who  of  course  did  not  interfere 
with  the  mining  captain,  an  ignorant  man,  who 
made  the  men  work  in  the  same  manner  of  day 
and  night  shifts  as  if  they  were  in  Cornwall,  in  the 
full  blaze  of  the  sun,  in  their  wet  clothes,  &c. 

An  English  superintendent  next  arrived,  but  he 
unfortunately  was  addicted  to  intemperance,  and 
soon   died   from   the   effects   of  the   brandy  bottle. 


CH.  VT.]  TBAVELLING.  161 

After  being  at  Bembe  eigbt  or  nine  months,  tbe 
mining  captain,  either  from  stupidity  or  wilfulness, 
not  only  had  not  discovered  a  single  pound  of 
malachite,  but  insisted  that  there  was  none  in  the 
place,  where  the  natives  for  years  previously  had 
extracted  from  200  to  300  tons  every  dry  season! 
In  view  of  his  conduct  I  took  upon  myself  the 
responsibility  of  taking  charge  of  the  mining  opera- 
tions, and  sent  him  back  to  England.  A  few  days 
after  we  discovered  fine  blocks  of  malachite,  fifteen 
tons  of  which  I  sent  to  the  Company  in  the  same 
steamer  that  took  him  home. 

It  would  not  interest  the  reader  to  describe 
minutely  the  causes  that  led  gradually  to  the  aban- 
donment of  the  working  of  these  mines,  and  to  the 
heavy  loss  sustained  by  the  Company,  but  I  am 
convinced  that,  had  duly  qualified  and  experienced 
men  directed  the  working  from  the  beginning,  they 
would  have  proved  a  success.  Many  hundred  tons 
of  malachite  were  afterwards  raised,  with  the  help 
of  a  very  few  white  miners,  but  too  late  to  correct 
the  previous  mistakes  and  losses. 

During  the  years  1858  and  1859  I  travelled  the 
road  from   AmbrLz  to   Bembe  eight  times,   and  in 

VOL.  I.  M 


162  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  vi. 

the  month  of  April  1873,  I  went  again,  for  the 
last  time,  with  my  wife. 

Lieutenant  Grandy  and  his  brother  had  been  our 
guests  at  Ambriz,  where  we  had  supplied  them  with 
the  greater  part  of  the  beads  and  goods  they 
required  for  their  arduous  journey  into  the  interior. 
These  gentlemen,  it  will  be  recollected,  were  sent 
by  the  Koyal  G-eographical  Society  to  discover  the 
source  of  the  Congo,  and  to  meet  and  aid  Dr. 
Livingstone  in  the  interior  should  he  have  crossed 
the  continent  from  the  east  coast,  as  it  was 
imagined  he  might  probably  do. 

We  had  arranged  to  proceed  together  from 
Ambriz  as  far  as  Bembe,  but  owing  to  the  great 
mortality  in  the  country  from  two  successive  visita- 
tions of  small-pox,  which  had  ravaged  the  coast, 
we  were  unable  to  obtain  the  necessary  number 
of  carriers.  The  two  brothers  alone  required 
nearly  200,  and  as  only  a  few  comparatively 
could  be  had  at  a  time,  they  went  singly  first,  and, 
about  a  week  after  they  had  both  started,  my  wife 
and  myself  were  able  to  get  together  sufficient  car- 
riers to  leave  also. 

To  travel  in  a  country  like  Angola  it  is  necessary 


CH.  VI.]  TPiAVELLING.  163 

to  be  provided  with  almost  everything  in  the  way 
of  food  and  clothing,  and  goods  for  money,  and  as 
everything  has  to  be  carried  on  men's  heads,  a  great 
number  of  carriers  are  necessarily  requisite. 

The  "tipoia,"  or  hammock,  is  the  universal 
travelling  apparatus  in  Angola  (Plate  I.),  and  is  of 
two  forms,  the  simple  hammock  slung  to  a  palm 
pole  (the  stem  of  the  leaf  of  a  Metroxylon,  Welw.), 
which  is  very  strong  and  extremely  light,  or  the 
same  with  a  light-painted  waterproof  cover,  and 
curtains,  very  comfortable  to  travel  in,  and  always 
used  by  the  Portuguese  to  the  interior  of  Loanda, 
where  the  country  is  more  open,  and  better  paths 
or  roads  exist,  but  they  would  qtiickly  be  torn  to 
pieces  north,  and  on  the  road  to  Bembe,  from  the 
very  dense  bush,  and  in  the  wet  season  the  very 
high  grass;  consequently  the  plain  hammock  and 
pole  only  are  generally  employed,  the  traveller 
shading  himself  from  the  sun  by  a  movable  cover 
held  in  position  by  two  cords,  or  by  using  a  white 
umbrella.  When  travelling  long  distances  six  or 
eis^ht  bearers  are  necessarv:  the  two  hammock- 
carriers  generally  run  at  a  trot  for  about  two  hours 
at  a  stretch,  when  another  couple  take  their  places. 

M  2 


164  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVEll  CONGO,     [ch.  vi. 

On  any  well-known  road  the  natives  have  esta- 
blished changing  or  resting  places,  which,  when  not 
at  a  town,  are  generally  at  some  shady  tree  or 
place  where  water  is  to  be  had, — or  at  the  spots 
where  fairs  are  held,  or  food  cooked  and  exposed  for 
sale  by  the  women. 

When  the  road  was  clear  of  grass,  in  the  dry 
season,  I  have  more  than  once  travelled  from 
Ambriz  to  Bembe — a  distance  of  not  less  than  130 
miles — in  four  days,  with  only  eight  bearers  and 
light  luggage,  and  this  without  in  any  way  knocking 
up  or  distressing  the  carriers,  and  only  running  from 
daybreak  to  nightfall ; — very  often  they  joined  in 
a  "  batuco "  or  dance,  for  seveml  hours  into  the 
night,  at  the  town  I  slept  at,  and  were  quite  fresh 
and  ready  to  start  next  morning. 

It  is  only  the  stronger  blacks  that  are  good 
hammock-bearers,  especially  the  coast  races,  very 
few  of  the  natives  of  the  interior,  such  as  the 
Mushicongos,  being  sufficiently  powerful  to  carry  a 
hammock  for  any  distance.  The  motion  is  ex- 
tremely disagreeable  at  first,  from  the  strong  up  and 
down  jerking  experienced,  but  one  soon  becomes 
quite  used  to  it,  and  falls  asleep  whilst  going  at  full 


CH.  VI.]  HAMMOCK-BEARERS.  165 

trot,  just  as  if  it  were  perfectly  still.  The  natives 
of  Loanda  and  Benguella,  though  not  generally 
such  strong  carriers  as  the  Ambriz  blacks,  take  the 
hammock  at  a  fast  walk  instead  of  the  sharp  trot 
of  the  latter,  and  consequently  hammock  travelling 
there  is  very  lazy  and  luxurious. 

The  pole  is  carried  on  the  shoulder,  and  rests 
on  a  small  cushion  generally  made  of  fine  grass- 
cloth  stuffed  with  wild  cotton,  the  silky  fibre  in 
the  seed-pod  of  the  "Mafumeira,"  or  cotton-wood 
tree  {Eriodendron  anfractuosum),  or  "isca,"  a 
brown,  woolly-like  down  covering  the  stems  of 
palm-trees.  Each  bearer  carries  a  forked  stick  on 
which  to  rest  the  pole  when  changing  shoulders,  and 
also  to  ease  the  load  by  sticking  the  end  of  it  under 
the  pole  behind  their  backs,  and  stretching  out 
their  arm  on  it.  No  one  who  has  not  tried  can 
form  an  idea  what  hard,  wearying  work  it  is  to 
carry  a  person  in  a  hammock,  and  it  is  wonderful 
how  these  blacks  will  run  with  one  all  day,  in  the 
hot  sun,  nearly  naked,  with  bare  shaved  heads,  and 
not  feel  distressed. 

On  arriving  at  any  stream  or  pool  they  dash  at 
once  into  the  water,  and  wash  off  the  perspiration 


166  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vi. 

that  streams  from  their  bodies,  and  I  never  heard 
of  any  ill  consequence  occurring  from  this  practice. 
The  hammock-bearers  do  not  as  a  rule  carry  loads  ; 
by  native  custom  they  are  only  obliged  to  carry  the 
white  man's  bed,  his  provision-box,  and  one  port- 
manteau. To  take  my  wife,  myself,  a  tent — as  it 
was  the  rainy  season — provisions,  bedding,  and  a 
few  changes  of  clothes,  only  what  was  absolutely 
necessary  for  a  month's  journey,  we  had  to  engage 
exactly  thirty  carriers:  this  included  our  cook  and 
his  boy  with  the  necessary  pots  and  pans ;  our  ''  Jack 
Wash,"  as  the  laundry-boys  are  called,  with  his  soap 
and  irons ;  and  one  man  with  the  drying-papers  and 
boxes  for  collecting  plants  and  insects.  We  also  took 
a  Madeira  cane  chair,  very  useful  to  be  carried  in 
across  the  streams  or  marshes  we  should  meet 
with. 

All  being  ready  we  started  off,  passing  Quincollo 
and  arriving  at  Quiiigombe,  w^here  we  encamped  for 
the  night  on  top  of  a  hill,  to  be  out  of  the  way,  as 
I  thought,  of  a  peculiarly  voracious  mosquito  very 
abundant  there,  and  of  which  I  had  had  experience 
in  my  former  journeys  to  and  from  Bembe. 

I   shall    never   forget  the    first    night   I   passed 


CH.  VI.]  MOSQUITOES.  167 

there  in  going  up  to  the  mines  with  the  twelve 
miners.  There  was  at  that  time  a  large  empty 
barracoon  built  of  sticks  and  grass  for  the  accom- 
modation of  travellers.  Soon  after  sunset  a  hum 
like  that  of  distant  bees  was  heard,  and  a  white 
mist  seemed  to  rise  out  of  the  marshy  land  below, 
which  was  nothing  less  than  a  cloud  of  mos- 
quitoes. The  men  were  unprovided  with  mosquito 
nets,  and  the  consequence  was  that  sleep  was 
perfectly  out  of  the  question,  so  they  sat  round  the 
table  smoking  and  drinking  coffee,  and  killing 
mosquitoes  on  their  hands  and  faces  all  night  long. 
I  had  been  given  an  excellent  mosquito  bar  or 
curtain,  but  the  ground  was  so  full  of  sand-fleas, 
that  although  I  was  not  troubled  with  mosquitoes, 
the  former  kept  me  awake  and  feverish.  In  the 
morning  we  laughed  at  our  haggard  appearance, 
and  swollen  faces  and  hands ;  luckily  we  were  not 
So  troubled  any  more  on  our  journey  up. 

Where  mosquitoes  are  in  such  abundance,  nothing 
but  a  proper  curtain  will  avail  against  them; 
smoking  them  out  is  of  very  little  use,  as  only 
•such  a  large  amount  of  acrid  smoke  will  effectually 
drive  them  away  as  to  make  the   remedy  almost 


168  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vi. 

unbearable.  The  substances  usually  burnt  in  such 
cases  are  diy  cow-dung,  mandioca-meal,  or  white 
Angola  gum. 

There  are  several  species  of  mosquito  in  Angola ; 
that  found  in  marshes  is  the  largest,  and  is  light 
brown  in  colour,  and  very  sluggish  in  its  flight 
or  movements.  When  'the  fellow  settles  to  insert 
his  proboscis,  it  is  quite  suflScient  to  put  the  tip 
of  a  finger  on  him  to  annihilate  him,  but  none 
of  the  others  can  be  so  easily  killed ;  two  or  three 
species —notably  a  little  black  shiny  fellow,  only 
found  near  running  water — are  almost  impossible 
to  catch  when  settled  and  sucking,  even  with  the 
most  swiftly  delivered  slap.  Another  species  is 
beautifully  striped  or  banded  with  black,  body  and 
legs. 

Mosquitoes  rarely  attack  in  the  daytime,  except 
in  shady  places,  where  they  are  fond  of  lying  on 
the  under  side  of  leaves  of  trees.  Some  with  large 
beautiful  plumed  antennae  appear  at  certain  times  of 
the  year  in  great  numbers,  and  are  said  to  be  the 
males,  and  are  not  known  to  bite  or  molest  in  any 
way. 

Although  we  pitched  our  tent  on  top  of  a  hill  to 


CH.  VI.]  MOSQUITOES.  169 

escape  the  marsh  mosquitoes,  and  had  a  terrific 
rain-storm  nearly  the  whole  of  the  night,  they 
found  us  out,  and  in  the  morning  the  inner  side 
of  our  tent  was  completely  covered  with  them ; — 
had  we  not  slept  under  a  good  mosquito  net,  we 
should  have  passed  just  such  another  night  as  I 
have  described.  We  had  to  stop  a  second  night 
on  this  hill  to  wait  for  our  full  number  of  carriers. 
The  scenery  from  it  is  magnificent,  low  hills 
covered  with  dense  bush  of  the  prickly  acacia  tree 
{A.  Welwitsehii),  high  grass,  baobabs  and  euphor- 
bias, and  in  the  low  places  a  great  abundance  of 
a  large  aloe,  with  pale  crimson  flowers  in  tall 
spikes. 

At  last  all  loads  were  properly  distributed  and 
secured  in  the  "  mutetes,"  an  arrangement  in  which 
loads  are  very  conveniently  carried.  They  are 
generally  made  from  the  palm  leaves,  the  leaflets  of 
which  are  woven  into  a  kind  of  basket,  leaving  the 
stems  only  about  five  or  six  feet  long  ;  a  little  shoe 
or  slipper,  made  of  wood  or  hide,  is  secured  to  the 
under  side.  When  the  carrier  wishes  to  rest,  he 
bends  down  his  head  until  the  palm  stems  touch 
the  ground,  and  the  load  is  then  leant  up  against 


170  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vi. 

a  tree.  If  there  is  not  a  tree  handy,  then  the  end 
of  their  stick  or  staff  being  inserted  into  the  shoe, 
forms  with  the  two  ends  three  legs,  on  which  it 
stands  securely.  This  shoe  is  also  useful  with  the 
staff  when  on  the  journey,  to  rest  the  carrier  for 
a  few  minutes  by  easing  the  weight  of  the  load  off 
his  head  without  setting  it  down.  The  natives  of 
the  interior  carry  loads  on  their  heads  that  they  are 
unable  to  lift  easily  from  the  ground,  and  the 
*'  mutete  "  is  therefore  very  convenient.  In  carry- 
ing a  large  bag  of  produce,  a  long  stick  is  tied  on 
to  ■  each  side,  to  act  in  the  same  way  as  the 
"  mutete." 

In  four  days  we  arrived  at  Quiballa,  where  we 
rested  a  couple  of  days,  to  collect  plants  and  some 
fine  butterflies  from  the  thick  surrounding  woods, 
and  to  dry  the  plants  we  had  gathered  thus  far. 
The  country  we  had  passed  was  comparatively 
level,  and  the  scenery  for  the  most  part  was  very 
like  that  of  a  deserted  park  overgrown  with  rank 
grass  and  weeds. 

As  Quiballa  is  approached  the  country  becomes 
very  hilly  in  all  directions,  and  the  vegetation 
changes    to    fine    trees    and    creepers,    conspicuous 


CH.  VI.]  QUIBALLA.  171 

amongst  which  is  the  india-rubber  plant  already- 
described. 

Quiballa  is  a  large  town  most  picturesquely 
situated  on  a  low,  flat-topped  hill,  surrounded  on 
all  sides  by  other  higher  hills,  and  separated  from 
them  by  a  deep  ravine  filled  with  magnificent 
forest  vegetation,  and  in  the  bottom  of  which  a 
shallow  stream  of  the  clearest  water  runs  swiftly 
over  its  fantastic  rocky  bed — all  little  waterfalls 
and  shady  transparent  pools.  Oar  finest  specimens 
of  butterflies,  such  as  Godartia  Trajanus,  Bomaleo- 
soma  losiyiga^  B.  medon,  Euryjphene  PUstonax  and 
others,  were  collected  in  these  lovely  woods ;  they 
do  not  come  out  into  the  sunny  open,  but  flit  about 
in  the  shadiest  part  under  the  trees,  flying  near 
the  ground,  and  occasionally  settling  on  a  leaf  or 
branch  on  which  a  streak  of  sunshine  falls  through 
the  leafy  vault  above.  Other  species,  such  as  the 
Papilios  (P.  menestlieus,  P.  hrutus,  P.  demoleus,  P. 
erinus,  Diadema  misujo^pus),  &c.  &c.,  on  the  con- 
trary, we  only  found  in  the  full  sunshine,  on  the 
low  bushes  and  flowering  plants,  skirting,  as  with  a 
broad  belt,  the  woods  or  forest. 

The    change    in   vegetation   from    the    coast    to 


172  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vi. 

Quiballa  may  be  due  not  only  to  difference  of  alti- 
tude, but  partly  to  the  rock  of  the  country,  which 
is  a  large-grained,  very  quartzose  mica  rock  or 
gneiss  from  the  coast  to  near  Quiballa,  where  it 
changes  to  a  soft  mica  slate,  easily  decomposed 
by  water  and  atmospheric  influences.  Several 
species  of  birds,  very  abundant  on  the  coast  and  as 
far  as  Matuta,  disappear  about  Quiballa,  the  most 
notable  being  the  common  African  crow  (Corvus 
seapulatus),  the  brilliantly-coloured  starlings  (Lam- 
procoUus),  and  the  several  rollers ;  doves  also,  so 
abundant  on  the  coast,  are  comparatively  rare  after 
passing  Quiballa. 

The  Goraeias  caudata,  the  most  beautiful  of  the 
African  rollers,  has  a  very  extraordinary  manner 
of  flying,  tumbling  about  in  a  zig-zag  fashion  in 
the  air  as  if  drunk,  and  chattering  loudly  all  the 
time.  I  once  shot  at  one  on  the  top  of  a  high 
tree  at  Matuta ;  it  fell  dead,  as  I  thought,  but  on 
picking  it  up  I  was  gladly  surprised  to  find  it  quite 
uninjured,  and  only  stunned  apparently.  I  placed 
it  in  a  hastily-constructed  cage,  and  took  it  with 
me  to  Bembe,  where  it  became  quite  tame,  and  I 
had  it  several  months,  till  my  boy,  feeding  it  one 


CH.  VI.]  QUIBALLA.  173 

morning,  left  the  door  of  its  cage  open,  and  it  flew 
away.  In  its  native  state  it  feeds  principally  on 
grasshoppers ;  in  captivity  its  food  was  mostly  raw 
meat,  which  it  ate  greedily. 

The  starlings  of  darkest  shades  of  blue,  with 
bright  yellow  eyes,  are  strikingly  beautiful  when 
seen  flying,  the  sunshine  reflecting  the  metallic 
lustre  of  their  plumage. 

The  cooing  of  the  doves  serves  the  natives  at 
night  instead  of  a  clock,  as  they  coo  at  the  same 
hours  as  the  common  cock,  and  in  travelling,  if 
the  natives  are  asked  the  time  during  the  night, 
they  always  refer  to  the  "  dove  having  sung," 
as  they  term  it,  or  not.  Its  cooing  a  little  before 
day-dawn  is  the  signal  to  prepare  for  the  start 
that  day. 

At  the  town  of  QuiriUo,  where  we  slept  one 
night,  the  Madeira  chair  first  came  into  use,  to 
cross  a  stream  and  marsh  in  which  the  water  came 
up  to  the  men's  necks.  Our  hammock-boys  thought 
it  fine  fun  to  pass  us  over  the  different  streams  in 
the  chair;  all  twelve  would  stand  in  the  water 
close  together,  with  the  chair  on  their  shoulders, 
and   pass   my  wife  across   first,  singing  in  chorus. 


174:  ANGOLA  AND  THE  EIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vi. 

"  Mundelle  mata  -  bicho,  Mundelle  mata  -  biclio  " 
(Mundelle  =  white  -  man,  mata  -  bicho  =  a  "  dash  " 
of  a  drink  of  rum).  On  landing  her  safely 
they  would  yell  and  whistle  like  demons,  accom- 
panied by  all  the  rest  on  the  banks,  and  splash 
and  dabble  about  like  ducks  in  the  water.  The 
chair  would  then  come  back  for  me,  and  the 
same  scene  be  again  enacted.  A  bottle  of  rum, 
or  a  couple  of  bunches  of  beads,  was  always  the 
reward  for  crossing  us  over  without  wetting  us. 

Quiballa  is  by  far  the  largest  town  to  be  met  with 
from  Ambriz,  and  contains  several  hundred  huts 
distributed  irregularly  over  the  flat  top  of  the 
hill  on  which  it  stands.  The  huts  are  square, 
built  of  sticks  covered  with  clay,  and  roofed  with 
grass.  The  principal  room  in  the  largest  hut  was 
swept  out,  and  placed  at  our  disposal  by  the 
king,  and  we  made  ourselves  very  comfortable  in 
it.  The  king,  Dom  Paolo,  is  a  fine,  tall  old  negro, 
and  knowing  of  our  arrival  sent  his  son  and  a  num- 
ber of  men  to  meet  us,  when  they  toolv  my  wife's 
hammock,  and  raced  her  into  the  town  at  a  great 
pace.  He  has  considerable  influence  in  the  country, 
where  his  is  an  important  town,  as   it   marks  the 


CH.  VI.]  QTJIBALLA.  175 

limits  of  the  coast  or  Ambriz  race,  and  that  of  the 
MushicoDgo  tribe  beyond. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  riyalry  between  the  two 
races ; — the  Ambriz  blacks  do  not  like  going  beyond 
Quiballa,  and  the  Mushicongos  object  to  go  into 
the  Ambriz  country.  Before  the  road  was  taken 
possession  of  by  the  Portuguese,  Quiballa  was  the 
great  halting-place  for  the  two  tribes,  the  Mushi- 
congos bringing  the  proceeds  of  the  copper  mines 
at  Bembe  to  sell  to  the  Ambriz  natives,  who  then 
carried  it  to  the  traders  on  the  coast.  With  the 
increased  trade  in  other  produce,  a  great  deal  of 
this  separation  has  been  done  away  with,  and  both 
tribes  now  mingle  more  freely;  but  at  the  time  I 
was  engaged  at  the  Bembe  mioes  we  were  obliged  to 
have  a  large  store  at  Quiballa  to  receive  loads  going 
up  from  Ambriz,  and  copper  ore  comiug  down  from 
Bembe,  and  there  change  carriers. 

The  Ambriz  negroes,  being  very  much  stronger, 
never  objected  to  any  loads,  however  heavy,  some 
of  these  going  up  the  country  with  sixteen  or  twenty 
carriers,  such  as  the  heavy  pieces  of  the  steam- 
engine,  saw-mill,  pumps,  &c.  There  was  great  diffi- 
culty in  inducing  the   Mushicongos  to  take  these 


176  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vi. 

heavy  and  very  often  cumbersome  loads  from 
Quiballa  to  Bembe,  and  once,  when  loads  for  up- 
wards of  1000  carriers  had  accumulated  at  the 
store,  I  was  obliged  to  hit  upon  the  following  plan 
to  get  the  MushicoDgos  to  take  them  up,  and  it 
succeeded  admirably. 

I  engaged  1000  carriers  at  Bembe  to  go  empty- 
handed  to  Quiballa  for  the  cargo  there,  and  paid 
them  only  the  customary  number  of  beads  for 
rations  on  the  road,  rations  for  the  return  journey 
to  be  paid  at  Quiballa,  and  pay  for  the  whole 
journey  at  Bembe,  on  delivery  of  the  loads.  My 
calculation  was  that  the  greater  number  would  be 
forced  from  hunger  to  take  them,  and  so  it  hap- 
pened. The  morning  after  we  arrived  at  Quiballa 
they  all  flatly  refused  to  take  a  single  load  of  the 
machinery  in  the  store ; — I  very  quietly  told  them 
they  might  go  about  their  business,  and  for  three 
days  I  was  yelled  at  by  them,  but  they  were  at 
last  forced  to  accept  my  terms,  and  I  returned  to 
Bembe  with  800  loads. 

It  was  at  Quiballa  that  we  were  so  fortunate  as 
to  obtain  specimens  of  the  flowers,  and  a  quantity 
of  ripe  seeds  of  the  beautiful  plant  named  Camo- 


Plate  VI. 


:s^/^%=a.-^ 


VIEW   IN    THE   HILLY    L'OUNTKY    OF   QUIBALLA  — CA3I0ENSIA    MAXIMA. 

Tu  face  page  117. 


CH.  VI.]  CAMOENSIA  MAXIMA.  177 

ensia  maxima  by  its  discoverer,  Dr.  Welwitsch. 
We  saw  it  growing  along  the  sides  of  the  road  as 
soon  as  we  left  the  gneiss  formation  and  entered 
on  the  mica  slate,  but  most  abundantly  in  the 
more  bare  places  on  the  sides  of  the  hills  at 
Quiballa,  in  the  very  hard  clay  of  the  decomposed 
mica  slate. 

The  Camoensia  maxima  (Plate  VI.)  grows  as  a 
hard,  woody  bush,  with  rather  straggling  long 
branches  covered  with  fine  large  leaves,  and  bearing 
bunches  of  flowers,  the  lower,  and  by  far  the  largest 
petal  of  which  is  shaped  like  a  shell,  of  a  delicate 
creamy  white,  with  its  edges  exquisitely  crisped, 
bordered  with  a  golden  rim,  and  nearly  the  size  of 
an  open  hand.  Its  roots  spread  underground  to 
great  distances  and  shoot  out  into  other  plants,  so 
that  on  attempting  to  remove  what  we  thought 
nice  small  plants,  we  always  came  on  great  thick 
roots  which  we  followed  and  found  to  proceed  from 
old  bushes  at  a  considerable  distance.  Several 
small  plants  that  we  brought  away  alive  died 
subsequently  at  Ambriz.  Half  a  dozen  of  the 
seeds  germinated  on  arrival  at  Kew  Gardens,  so 
that  I  hope  this  lovely  flower  will   be  shortly  in 

VOL.  I.  N 


178  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  vi. 

cultivation,  a  welcome  addition  to  our  hot-houses. 
All  the  plants  that  we  collected  and  dried  are 
deposited  in  the  herbarium  at  Kew  Gardens. 

A  peculiarity  of  the  towns  on  the  coast  inhabited 
by  the  Ambriz  blacks,  and  which  disappears  inland, 
is  their  being  surrounded  by  a  thick,  high  belt  or 
hedge  of  a  curious,  thin,  very  branching  Euphorbia. 

The  huts  in  coast  towns  are  all  built  separately, 
but  near  one  another,  in  a  clear  space,  and  not 
separated  by  trees  or  hedges;  in  the  interior,  how- 
ever, the  space  occupied  by  the  towns  is  very  much 
larger,  and  many  of  the  huts  are  built  in  a  square 
piece  of  ground  and  enclosed  by  a  hedge  either  of 
a  equare-stemmed,  prickly,  cactus-like  euphorbia, 
or  more  generally  of  the  Physic-nut  plant  (Jatropha 
curcas)y  the  "  Purgueira "  of  the  Portuguese,  and 
from  the  greater  number  of  trees  and  palms  left 
standing,  the  towns  are  very  much  prettier,  some 
being  remarkably  picturesque.  Most  of  them  are 
situated  in  woods,  which  are  not  found  in  the 
littoral  region.  The  huts  of  the  Mushicongos,  from 
the  greater  abundance  of  building  materials,  are 
very  much  larger  than  those  of  the  Ambriz  blacks, 
and  very  often  contain  two  rooms.     The  towns  of 


CH.  VI.]     A  CLEANLY  HABIT  OF  NATIVES.  179 

both  are  remarkably  clean,  and  are  always  kept 
well  swept,  as  are  also  the  interiors  of  their  huts ; — 
their  brooms  are  a  bundle  of  twigs,  and  the  dust, 
ashes,  &c.,  are  always  thrown  into  the  bush  sur- 
rounding the  towns. 

A  cleanly  habit  of  all  blacks,  and  one  which  it 
always  struck  me  might  be  imitated  with  advantage 
by  more  civilized  countries,  is  that  of  always  turning 
away  their  faces  to  expectorate,  and  invariably  cover- 
ing it  with  dust  or  sand  with  their  feet. 

At  certain  places  on  the  road,  generally  in  the 
vicinity  of  water,  or  where  several  trees  afford  a 
convenient  shade,  a  kind  of  little  market  is  held 
all  day,  of  plantains,  green  indian-corn,  mandioca 
roots,  and  other  articles  of  food  for  the  supply  of 
the  carriers  or  natives  passing  up  and  down.  Here 
the  women  from  the  neighbouring  towns  come  with 
their  pots,  and  cook  food,  such  as  dr}^  fish  and 
beans,  and  sell  "  garapa  "  or  "  uallua,"  as  a  kind  of 
beer  made  from  indian-corn  is  called. 

My  wife,  of  course,  excited  the  greatest  curiosity 
in  all  the  towns  we  passed  through;  only  two 
white  women  (both  Portuguese)  had  before  made 
the  journey  to  Bembe,  and  the  remarks  and  obser- 

N  2 


180  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vi. 

vations    made   on    her   appearance,   principally   by 
the   women,    were   often   very   amusing.     One   old 
woman   at  a  town  where  we   stayed   to   breakfast, 
and  who  was  the  king's  mother,  after  watching  ns 
for   some   time,  expressed  her   satisfaction   at   our 
conduct,  and  said  we  appeared  to  be  a  very  loving 
pair,  as  I  had  helped   my  wife   first   to  food  and 
drink.     She  was  very  thankful  for  a  cup  of  coffee, 
and  a  handful  of  lumps   of  sugar   for   her  cough. 
Their  greatest  astonishment,  however,  was  at   our 
india-rubber  bed   and   bath,   and   the  whole   town 
would  flock  round  in  breathless  amazement  to  see 
them  blown  out  ready  for  use,  when  our  tent  had 
been  put  up.     Some  would  ask  to  be  allowed  to 
touch  them,  and  would  then  look  quite  frightened 
at  their  peculiar  feel. 

In  the  mornings  on  coming  out  of  our  tent  we 
would  generally  find  a  large  audience  squatted  on 
the  ground  waiting  for  our  appearance,  to  wish  us 
good  morning,  though  curiosity  to  see  the  finishing 
touches  of  our  toilette  was  the  principal  cause. 

My  wife's  last  operations  of  hair-dressing,  which 
could  not  be  conveniently  effected  in  the  closed 
tent,  seemed  to  cause  them  most  surprise.     Beyond 


CH.  VI.]  QUIBALLA  TO  QUILUMBO.  181 

this  very  natural  curiosity  to  see  us,  we  were  never 
once  annoyed  by  any  rudeness  or  impropriety  on  the 
part  of  the  natives. 

Having  rested  a  couple  of  days  at  Quiballa,  we 
again  started  on  our  journey.  The  road  (which  is 
nowhere  other  than  a  narrow  path,  only  admitting 
the  passage  of  blacks  in  single  file),  after  leaving 
Quiballa,  winds  around  some  rocky  hills,  which  are 
succeeded  by  a  couple  of  miles  of  level  valley 
thickly  grown  with  cane  and  very  high  grass,  until 
the  hill  called  Tuco  is  reached,  the  first  great 
sudden  elevation.  On  the  left  is  a  deep  valley, 
filled  with  an  almost  impenetrable  forest  of  the 
most  luxuriant  foliage  and  creepers ;  the  great 
trunks  and  branches  of  the  high  trees  are  mostly 
white  and  shiny,  and  contrast  in  a  singular  manner 
with  the  dark  green  of  their  leaves.  On  the  right 
the  hill-side  is  also  covered  with  trees  and  bush 
on  which  was  growing  abundantly  a  beautiful 
creeper,  bearing  large  handsome  leaves  and  bright 
yellow  flowers  {Luffa  sp.).  From  the  top,  looking 
back  towards  Quiballa,  a  magnificent  view  is  ob- 
tained. As  far  as  the  eye  can  reach  is  seen  a 
succession  of  forest-covered  mountains  brightly  lit 


182  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  vi. 

in  the  cloudless  sun  to  the  distant  horizon,  shaded 
off  into  a  haze  of  lovely  blue.  It  is  almost 
impossible  to  imagine  a  more  exquisite  pano- 
rama, and  words  fail  to  describe  its  beauty  and 
grandeur. 

After  this  hill  is  passed,  the  country  continues 
comparatively  level  for  some  miles,  and  is  very 
beautiful,  being  covered  with  dense  vegetation,  in 
which  are  seen  abundance  of  dark  feathery  palms, 
relieved  by  the  bright  green  patches  of  the  banana 
groves,  planted  round  the  little  towns.  The  soil 
is  very  fertile,  and  many  ground-nut  and  mandioca 
plantations  are  seen  everywhere. 

Our  first  halt  was  at  Ngungungo,  a  large  and 
very  picturesque  town,  where  there  is  a  considerable 
trade  carried  on  in  mandioca  root  and  its  different 
preparations,  as  well  as  in  beans  and  ground-nuts, 
the  produce  of  the  country  around. 

After  passing  this  town  the  road  becomes  very 
rocky  and  stony,  necessitating  getting  out  of  the 
hammocks  and  walking  a  good  deal  over  the  rough 
ground.  Farther  on,  another  steep  but  bare  hill 
had  to  be  ascended,  and  finally  we  reached  a  little 
new  town  called  Quioanquilla,  where  we  slept.    This 


CH.  ^a.]  QUIBALLA.  183 


had  been  a  large  and  important  town,  but  the 
natives  having  robbed  several  caravans  going  up 
to  the  mines,  the  Portuguese  punished  them  by- 
burning  it  some  years  ago.  We  saw  a  considerable 
quantity  of  wild  pineapples  growing  about  this 
town,  but  the  natives  make  no  use  of  its  fine 
fibre,  contenting  themselves  with  eating  the  unripe 
fruit. 

Next  day's  journey  brought  us,  early  in  the 
afternoon,  to  a  very  prettily  situated  new  town,  of 
which  a  little  old  woman  was  the  queen;  her  two 
sons  were  the  head  men,  and  we  were  most  hos- 
pitably received  by  them. 

We  had,  fortunately,  thus  far  escaped  rain-storms 
during  the  day  whilst  travelling ;  rain  had  always 
come  down  at  night,  when  we  were  comfortably 
housed  in  our  tent  or  in  the  hut  at  Quiballa. 
We  put  up  our  tent  in  an  open  space  in  the  middle 
of  the  town,  and  took  the  precaution,  as  usual,  of 
cutting  a  small  trench  round  it  to  carry  away  the 
water  in  case  of  rain.  When  we  retired  the 
weather  was  fine,  but  we  had  not  been  asleep  long 
before  we  were  awakened  by  a  terrific  thunderstorm, 
accompanied  by  torrents  of  rain.    The  trench  over- 


184  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vi. 

flowed,  and  a  stream  of  water  began  to  enter  our 
tent.  In  the  greatest  hurry  I  cut  another  trench 
along  the  side  of  our  bed,  a  foot  wide  and  about 
nine  inches  deep,  and  for  two  hours  did  this  drain 
run  full  of  water,  such  was  the  downpour  of  rain. 
Next  morning  we  continued  our  journey,  and  in 
about  half-an-hour's  time  arrived  at  a  rivulet  that 
drained  what  was  usually  a  large  marsh,  but  the 
storm  of  the  previous  night  had  turned  the  marsh 
into  a  lake  and  the  rivulet  into  a  roaring  stream 
quite  impassable.  After  trying  it  lower  down,  and 
finding  we  could  not  ford  it,  we  had  no  alternative 
but  to  return  to  the  town  and  remain  there  for 
that  day,  or  till  the  water  should  have  subsided 
sufficiently  to  enable  us  to  cross.  The  remainder 
of  the  day  we  employed  in  collecting  insects  and  in 
drying  the  plants  we  had  gathered  the  last  few 
days. 

A  child  was  born  whilst  we  were  in  this  town, 
and,  being  a  girl,  it  was  at  once  named  Kose,  after 
my  wife,  who  had  therefore  to  make  the  mother 
a  present  of  a  piece  of  handkerchiefs  and  an  extra 
fine  red  cotton  one  for  the  baby. 

Next    day   we   were    able    to    pass    the    swollen 


CH.  VI.]  Q  TJIL  UMB  0,  185 

stream  in  our  chair,  after  a  couple  of  hours  spent 
in  cutting  away  branches  of  trees,  &c.,  that 
obstructed  the  passage,  at  a  place  where  the  depth 
of  water  was  about  five  feet.  In  a  fish-trap  I  here 
found  the  curious  new  fish  described  by  Dr.  A. 
Giinther,  and  named  by  him  Gymnallabes  ajms 
('  Annals  and  Magazine  of  Natural  History '  for 
August,  1873). 

That  day's  journey,  through  a  country  alternately 
covered  with  lovely  forest  and  high  grass,  brought 
us  to  the  large  town  of  Quilumbo,  beautifully 
situated  in  a  forest,  and  with  a  great  number  of 
oil-palm  trees  (Plate  VII.).  This  is  at  present  the 
largest  and  most  important  town  on  the  road  to 
Bembe,  containing  several  hundred  huts  and  quite 
a  swarm  of  inhabitants.  About  noon  we  halted  for 
breakfast  at  a  market-place  near  a  town  on  the 
Kiver  Lifua.  Here  were  about  forty  or  fifty  armed 
blacks,  with  the  king  from  the  neighbouring  town, 
all  getting  rapidly  drunk  on  "  garapa,"  or  indian- 
corn  beer;  their  faces  and  bodies  painted  bright 
red,  with  a  few  white  spots,  looking  like  so  many 
stage  demons,  dancing,  singing,  and  flourishing 
their  guns  about.     They  were  all  going  to  a  town 


186  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vi. 

where  we  heard  the  kings  of  five  towns  were  to 
have  their  heads  cut  off  that  day  for  comphcity 
in  the  murder  of  a  woman  by  one  of  them.  They 
were  accompanied  by  a  man  blowing  a  large  wooden 
trumpet  of  most  extraordinary  form  (Plate  V.). 

This  trumpet  is  made  of  the  hollow  root  and  stem 
of  a  tree,  said  to  grow  in  the  mud  of  rivers  and 
marshes ;  it  does  not  appear  to  have  been  thinned 
away  much  at  its  narrow  end,  but  seems  to  have 
grown  naturally  from  the  large  flat  root  to  a  thin 
stem  at  a  shoi't  distance  above  it.  I  immediately 
wanted  to  buy  this  instrument,  but  nothing  would 
induce  the  king  to  part  with  it  till  I  offered  to  ex- 
change it  for  a  brass  bugle.  I  had  to  give  them  a 
**  mucanda  "  or  order  for  one  at  our  store  at  Ambriz  ; 
even  then  it  was  not  delivered  to  me,  but  the  king 
agreed  to  send  one  of  his  sons  to  Ambriz  with  it  on 
my  return  from  Bembe,  which  he  did,  and  thus  I 
became  possessed  of  it. 

Next  day's  journey  was  through  pretty  undu- 
lating country,  covered  principally  with  high  grass, 
and  after  passing  a  couple  of  small  towns  we 
arrived,  early  in  the  afternoon,  at  the  Eiver 
Luqueia,   which   we   passed   over   on   a   very  good 


CH.  VI.]  QU IB  ALL  A  TO  BEMBE.  187 

plank  bridge,  just  built  by  the  Portuguese  officer 
commanding  tlie  small  detachment  at  Bembe. 
Here  our  carriers  stopped  for  about  an  houT, 
bathing  in  the  river,  and  dressing  themselves  in 
their  best  cloths  and  caps,  that  they  had  brought 
>vith  them  carefully  packed— so  as  to  make  their 
appearance  in  a  dandy  condition  on  entering 
Bembe,  which  we  did  in  about  half-an-hour's  time, 
having  to  walk  up  a  stiff  hill,  too  steep  to  be  carried 
up  in  our  hammocks. 

We  had  thus  travelled  the  whole  distance  from 
Ambriz  to  Bembe,  which,  as  I  have  before  stated, 
is  certainly  not  less  than  130  miles,  in  eight  travel- 
ling days.  This  will  give  some  idea  of  the 
endurance  of  the  Ambriz  natives,  as,  from  haying 
to  take  down  and  pack  the  tent  every  morning, 
and  make  hot  tea  or  coffee  before  starting,  it  was 
never  before  seven  or  eight  o'clock  that  we  were  on 
the  move.  Moreover,  from  the  rain  and  heavy 
dew  at  night,  the  high  grass  was  excessively  wet, 
and  it  would  not  do  to  start  till  it  had  somewhat 
dried  in  the  morning  sun.  In  going  through  woods 
we  generally  got  out  of  our  hammocks  in  the 
grateful,   cool  shade,   and  collected  butterflies,    the 


188  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  vi. 

finest  being  found  in  sncli  places.  In  rocky  and 
hilly  places  my  wife,  of  course,  could  not  get  over 
the  ground  on  foot  so  quickly  as  a  man  might  have 
done. 

A  description  of  the  dress  she  adopted  may  be 
useful  to  other  ladies  who  may  travel  in  similar  wild 
countries,  as  she  found  it  exceedingly  comfortable 
and  convenient  for  going  through  wet  grass  and 
tangled  bush,  and  through  the  excessively  spiny 
trees  and  thorny  bushes  of  the  first  thirty  or  forty 
miles  of  the  road.  It  was  very  simple  and  loose, 
and  consisted  of  one  of  my  coloured  cotton  shirts 
instead  of  the  usual  dress-body,  and  the  skirt  made 
short  and  of  a  strong  material,  fastening  the  shirt 
round  the  waist ;  either  or  both  could  then  be 
easily  and  promptly  changed  as  required. 


(    189    ) 


CHAPTER  VII. 

BEMBE  —  MALACHITE  DEPOSIT  —  ROOT  PARASITE  — 
ENGONGUI  —  MORTALITY  OF  CATTLE  —  FAIRS  — 
KING  OF  CONGO  —  RECEPTIONS  —  CUSTOMS  —  SAN 
SALVADOR — FEVERS  —  RETURN   TO   AMBRIZ. 

Bembe  is  the  third  great  elevation,  and  it  stands 
boldly  and  cliff-like  out  of  the  broad  plain  on  which 
we  have  been  travelling,  and  at  its  base  runs  the 
little  river  Luqueia. 

Approaching  it  from  the  westward,  we  see  a 
high  mountain  to  the  right  of  the  plateau  of  Bembe, 
separated  from  it  by  a  narrow  gorge  thickly  wooded 
that  drains  the  valley,  separating  in  its  turn  the 
table-land  of  Bembe  from  the  high  flat  country 
beyond,  in  a  north  and  easterly  direction.  This 
valley,  in  which  the  great  deposit  of  malachite 
exists,  is  about  a  mile  long  in  a  straight  line  and 
runs  N.N.W.  by  S.S.E.  (Plate  YIIL). 

It  is  a  cvl'de-sao  at  its  northern  end,  terminating 


190  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  vii. 

in  a  beautiful  waterfall  which  the  waters  of  a  rivulet 
have  worn  in  the  clay  slate  of  the  country.  This 
rivulet,  after  running  at  the  bottom  of  the  valley, 
takes  a  sudden  bend  at  its  southern  end,  and 
escapes  through  the  narrow  gorge  described  above 
as  separating  the  peak  or  mountain  from  the  table- 
land of  Bembe.  The  side  of  the  valley  next  to 
Bembe  is  very  steep  along  its  whole  length,  and 
shows  the  clay  slate  of  the  country  perfectly ;  the 
other  side,  however,  is  a  gradual  slope,  and  is 
covered  by  a  thick  deposit  of  clayey  earths,  in 
which  the  malachite  is  irregularly  distributed  for 
the  whole  length  of  the  valley. 

The  malachite  is  often  found  in  large  solid 
blocks ; — one  resting  on  two  smaller  ones  weighed 
together  a  little  over  three  tons,  but  it  occurs 
mostly  in  flat  veins  without  any  definite  dip  or 
order,  swelling  sometimes  to  upwards  of  two  feet 
in  thickness,  and  much  fissured  in  character 
from  admixture  with  dark  oxide  of  iron,  with  which 
it  is  often  cemented  to  the  clay  in  which  it  is 
contained. 

Two  kinds  of  clay  are  found,  a  ferruginous  red, 
and   an   unctuous   black  variety.      The    malachite 


CH.  VII.]  MALACHITE  DEPOSIT.  191 


occurs  almost  entirely  in  the  former.  A  large  pro- 
portion was  obtained  in  the  form  of  small  irregularly- 
shaped  shot,  by  washing  the  clay  in  suitable  appa- 
ratus. Large  quantities  had  been  raised  by  the 
natives  from  this  valley  before  the  country  was 
taken  possession  of  by  the  Portuguese. 

For  about  fifteen  years  previously,  as  before 
stated,  from  200  to  300  tons  per  annum  had  been 
brought  down  to  Ambriz  by  the  natives  for  sale. 
The  mining  captain  sent  out  by  the  English  Com- 
pany did  not  judiciously  employ  his  force  of  miners 
in  properly  exploring  the  deposit,  so  that  its  extent 
was  never  fully  ascertained ;  no  shafts  were  sunk  to 
more  than  six  or  eight  fathoms  in  dej^th  at  the 
bottom  of  the  valley,  from  the  quantity  of  water 
met  with,  but  in  several  places  the  bottom  of  these 
shafts  was  found  to  be  pure  solid  malachite.  In 
no  case  was  malachite  ever  found  in  the  clay-slate 
rock  of  the  country,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
this  vast  deposit  was  brought  and  deposited  in  the 
valley  by  the  agency  of  water.  No  other- mineral  is 
to  be  found  in  the  valley,  and  only  some  rounded, 
water-worn  pieces  of  limestone  were  found  in  the 
clay  and  associated  with  the  malachite. 


192  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  vii. 

In  some  pieces  of  this  a  few  crystals  of  atacamite 
are  to  be  rarely  seen.  The  clay-slate  is  completely 
bare  of  minerals, — with  very  few  veins  of  quartz, 
which  is  highly  ciystalline,  —  has  well-defined 
cleavage  planes,  with  a  strike  of  N.W.  by  S.E.,  and 
dips  to  the  S.S.W.  at  an  angle  of  about  55°. 

In  no  part  of  Angola,  except  at  Mossamedes,  have 
any  regular  lodes  or  deposits  of  copper  or  other 
metals  (except  iron)  been  found  in  situ  ;  all  bear 
unmistakable  evidences  of  having  been  brought 
from  elsewhere,  and  deposited  by  the  action  of 
water  in  the  places  where  they  are  now  found. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  the  country  farther  to  the 
interior  will  be  found  immensely  rich — in  copper 
principally — where  the  lodes  most  likely  exist  that 
have  supplied  the  enormous  amount  of  copper  carbo- 
nates found  all  over  Angola,  and  farther  north  at 
Loango. 

Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  great  extent  of 
the  Bembe  deposit,  if  we  consider  the  manner  in 
which  the  natives  formerly  extracted  the  malachite. 
It  was  entirely  by  means  of  little  round  pits,  about 
three  or  four  feet  in  diameter,  sunk  in  the  bottom 
of  the  valley  and  along  its  whole  length,  particularly 


CH.  VII.]  MALACHITE.  193 

at  several  places  where  the  water  draining  from  the 
country  above  had  washed  away  the  clay,  and  formed 
little  openings  on  the  same  level  as  the  bottom  of 
the  valley.  When  I  arrived  at  Bembe,  many  of 
these  pits  were  still  open  for  a  couple  of  fathoms 
deep,  as  many  as  eight  or  nine  pits  being  sunk 
together  in  a  rich  spot.  They  sunk  them  only  in 
the  dry  season,  and  as  deep  as  four  or  five  fathoms, 
but  of  course  they  were  never  carried  down  quite 
perpendicularly,  but  in  an  irregular  zigzag  fashion, 
and  not  being  timbered  they  often  fell  together, 
and  numbers  of  blacks  were  buried  alive  in  them 
every  year.  We  several  times  came  across  bones  of 
blacks  who  had  thus  lost  their  lives.  During  the 
rainy  season,  of  course,  these  pits  w^ere  filled  up 
with  water  and  mud,  and  fresh  ones  had  to  be  dug 
in  the  succeeding  dry  season. 

To  ascend  and  descend  them  the  natives  drove 
wooden  pegs  into  the  walls,  and  their  only  mining 
tools  were  the  little  hoes  used  in  clearing  and  culti- 
vating the  ground,  and  the  cheap  spear-pointed 
knives,  ten  or  eleven  inches  long,  they  received  in 
barter  at  Ambriz  from  the  traders. 

The  mines  belonged  to  several  of  the  towns  in  the 

VOL.  I.  o 


194  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  vii. 

immediate  neighbourhood,  principally  to  one  called 
Matuta ;  but  they  allowed  the  natives  of  other  towns 
to  extract  malachite  from  them,  on  payment  of  a 
certain  quantity  of  the  ore  they  raised. 

The  natives  of  Ambriz  who  went  up  to  Bembe 
to  buy  malachite  of  the  Mushicongos  were  seldom 
allowed  to  pass  the  Eiver  Luqueia,  where  the  mala- 
chite was  brought  down  for  sale  by  measure,  in 
little  baskets,  being  like  the  red  gum  copal,  broken 
into  moderate-sized  pieces,  except  the  finer  lumps, 
which  were  sold  entire.  Most  of  the  malachite 
has  since  been  obtained  by  means  of  levels  driven 
into  the  side  from  the  bottom  of  the  valley,  but 
the  great  mass,  below  the  level  at  which  water  is 
reached,  remains  practically  untouched. 

The  failure  of  the  English  Company,  from  causes 
to  which  it  is  here  unnecessary  further  to  advert, 
caused  the  works  at  the  mines  to  be  gradually 
abandoned,  and  for  the  last  few  years  the  Portuguese 
have  allowed  the  blacks  to  work  them  in  their  own 
fashion  again ;  and  I  was  very  sorry  to  see  the  place 
in  a  complete  state  of  ruin,  with  only  a  few  stone 
walls  overgro^^n  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of  creepers 
and   other  plants   to   mark   the    places   where  the 


CH.  VII.]  MALACHITE.  195 

houses  and  stores  formerly  stood,  and  where  several 
hundred  natives  used  to  be  daily  at  work. 

During  the  years  1858  and  1859,  when  I  was 
first  at  Bembe,  any  number  of  natives  could  be 
had  from  tlie  neighbouring  towns,  willing  to  work 
at  the  mines,  and  as  many  as  200  to  300  were  daily 
employed,  principally  in  carrying  the  ore  and  clay 
to  the  washing-floors,  cutting  timber,  clearing  bush, 
&c. ;  they  were  generally  engaged  for  a  week's  time, 
their  pay  ranging  from  one  to  three  cotton  hand- 
kerchiefs, and  twenty  or  thirty  beads  for  rations  per 
day.  Some  few  worked  steadily  for  several  weeks 
or  even  months,  when  they  would  go  off  to  their 
towns,  with  perhaps  only  a  few  handkerchiefs, 
leaving  the  rest  of  their  earnings  to  the  care  of 
some  friend  at  Bembe  till  their  return,  as,  if  they 
took  such  an  amount  of  wealth  to  their  towns, 
they  ran  the  risk  of  being  accused  of  "  fetish  "  and 
of  having  the  whole  taken  from  them,  with  perhaps 
a  beating  besides.  Yery  often  they  would  go  "  on  the 
spree  "  for  a  week  or  more  till  they  had  spent  it  all 
on  drink  and  rioting,  when  they  would  return  to 
visit  their  towns  nearly  as  poor  as  when  they  arrived. 

Our   best    workmen    were    the    soldiers   of   the 

o  2 


196  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVEE  CONGO,   [oh.  vii. 

garrison,  mostly  blacks  and  mulattoes  from  Loanda, 
and  belonging  to  a  sapper  corps,  and  consequently 
having  some  knowledge  of  working,  and  of  tools 
and  implements.  It  was  great  trouble  to  teach  the 
natives  the  use  of  the  pick  and  shovel,  and  the 
wheelbarrow  was  a  special  difficulty  and  stumbling- 
block  ; — when  not  carrying  it  on  their  heads,  which 
they  always  did  when  it  was  empty,  two  or  three 
would  carry  it ;  but  the  most  amusing  manner  in 
which  I  saw  it  used,  was  once  w^here  a  black  was 
holding  up  the  handles,  but  not  pushing  at  all, 
whilst  another  in  front  was  walking  backward,  and 
turning  the  wheel  round  towards  him  with  his 
hands.  As  many  as  1000  carriers  at  a  time  could 
easily  be  had  from  the  neighbouring  towns  to  carry 
the  copper  ore  to  Quiballa  or  Ambriz,  by  giving 
them  two  or  three  days'  notice. 

The  carriers,  either  at  Bembe  or  on  the  coast, 
are  always  accompanied  by  a  head-man,  called  a 
"Capata"  (generally  from  each  town,  and  bringing 
from  10  to  100  or  more  carriers),  who  is  responsible 
for  the  loads  and  men.  The  load  of  the  carriers  used 
to  be  two  and  a  half  "  arrobas "  or  eighty  pounds  of 
malachite,   and   some   few    stron<r  fellows  used   to 


CH.  VII.]  METAMOEPHIC  LIMESTONE.  197 

carry  two  such  loads  on  their  heads  all  the  way  to 
Ambriz.  Their  pay  was  one  piece  of  ten  cotton 
handkerchiefs,  and  300  blue  glass  beads  for  each 
journey — the  "Capata"  taking  double  pay  and  no 
load.  This  was  equal  to  about  bl.  per  ton  carriage 
to  Ambriz.  At  present  the  cost  would  be  much 
more  on  account  of  the  great  decrease  of  population 
from  several  epidemics  of  small-pox,  and  from  the 
very  large  carrying  trade  in  ground-nuts  and 
coffee. 

At  the  end  of  the  valley,  where  it  joins  the  narrow 
gorge  that  drains  it,  an  enormous  mass  of  a  very 
hard  metamorphic  limestone,  destitute  of  fossil  re- 
mains, rises  from  the  bottom  to  a  height  of  about 
thirty  feet,  and  in  it  are  contained  two  caverns  or 
large  chambers.  This  mass  of  rock  is  imbedded  in 
a  dense  forest,  and  is  overgrown  by  trees  and 
enormous  creepers,  the  stems  of  which,  like  great 
twisted  cables,  hang  down  through  the  crevices  and 
openings  to  the  ground  below. 

Great  numbers  of  bats  inhabit  the  roof  of  the 
darkest  of  these  caverns,  and  some  that  I  once  shot 
were  greatly  infested  with  a  large,  and  very  active, 
nearly  white  species  of  the  curious  spider-looking 


198  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  yii. 

parasite    N3xtiribia,    that    lives   on    this    class   of 
animals. 

In  tlie  thick  damp  shade  of  the  trees  surrounding 
this  mass  of  rock,  we  collected  the  rose-coloured 
flowers  of  that  extremely  curious  root  parasite,  the 
Thonningea  sangiiinea  (Dr.  Hooker,  *  Transactions  of 
the  Linnean  Society,'  1856). — These  specimens  are 
now  in  the  Kew  Museum. 

The  Portuguese  built  a  fine  little  fort  at  Bembe, 
with  a  dry  ditcli  round  it,  which  has  stood  one  or 
two  sieges ;  but  the  Mushicongos  are  a  cowardly  set 
without  any  idea  of  fighting,  so  that  they  were 
easily  beaten  off  by  the  small  garrison. 

At  the  time  of  my  first  arrival  at  Bembe,  there 
were  about  200  men  in  garrison,  who  were  well 
shod,  clothed,  and  cared  for.  They  had  a  band  of 
music  of  some  fifteen  performers,  and  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  got  up  was  most  amusing.  One 
of  the  oflScers  sent  to  Loanda  for  a  number  of 
musical  instruments,  and  picking  out  a  man  for 
each,  he  was  given  the  option  of  becoming  a 
musician,  or  of  being  locked  up  in  the  calaboose  on 
bread  and  water  for  a  certain  period.  They  all,  of 
course,  preferred  the  former  alternative,  and  there 


CH.  VII.]  A  PICNIC. 


199 


happening  to  be  a  mulatto  in  the  garrison  who  had 
been  a  bandsman, '  he  was  elevated  to  the  post  of 
bandmaster,  and  forthwith  ordered  to  teach  the 
rest. 

The  performances  of  this  band  may  be  best  left 
to  the  imagination,  but  wonderful  to  relate,  the 
governor  (Andrade)  used  to  take  pleasure  in  listen- 
ing to  the  excruciating  din,  which  would  have 
delighted  a  Hottentot,  and  would  make  them  play 
under  his  quarters  several  evenings  a  week. 

On  the  anniversary  of  the  signing  of  the  "  Carta 
Constitucional,"  a  great  day  in  Portugal,  the  same 
governor  invited  us  all  to  a  picnic  at  the  top  of  the 
Peak,  where  a  large  tent  had  been  erected  and  a 
capital  breakfast  provided:  a  three-pounder  gun 
had  been  dragged  up  to  fire  salutes,  and  we  en- 
joyed a  very  pleasant  day.  From  the  summit  a 
magnificent  view  of  the  surrounding  country  is 
obtained,  and  on  descending,  we  proceeded  to  visit 
the  town  of  Matuta,  some  little  distance  off.  On 
approaching  the  town,  the  band  struck  up,  accom- 
panied by  the  big  drum  beaten  to  the  utmost.  Our 
approach  had  not  been  perceived,  and  at  the  unac- 
countable uproar  of  the  band   as   we   entered  the 


200  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  vii. 

town,  a  most  laughable  effect  was  produced  on  the 
inhabitants,  who  fled  in  all  directions  in  the  greatest 
dismay,  with  the  children  crying  and  yelling  as  only 
small  negroes  can.  After  our  sitting  down,  and 
holding  out  bottles  of  rum  and  bunches  of  beads, 
they  quickly  became  convinced  of  our  peaceable 
intentions  and  flocked  round  us,  and  in  a  little  time 
the  king,  a  short  thin  old  man,  made  his  appear- 
ance, dressed  in  a  long  red  cloak,  a  large  cavalry 
helmet  on  his  head,  and  carrying  a  cutlass  upright 
in  his  hand,  at  arm's-length.  After  the  usual 
drinks  and  compliments,  the  band  played  again,  to 
the  now  intense  enjoyment  of  the  inhabitants,  who 
capered  and  danced  and  shouted  around  like 
demons.  So  great  was  the  effect  and  pleasure 
produced  on  them  by  the  band,  that  they  made  a 
subscription  of  beads,  and  presented  it  to  the  per- 
formers. 

From  this  town  we  went  to  another  close  by, 
separated  only  by  a  small  stream,  which  was 
governed  by  another  king,  also  a  very  old  man, 
who,  we  found,  was  nearly  dying  of  age  and  rheu- 
matism. In  crossing  the  stream,  our  king  of  the 
red  cloak  and  helmet  presented  a  comical  appear- 


CH.  VII.]  IV0R7,  201 

ance,  for  to  save  his  finery  from  wetting,  he  tucked 
it  up  rather  higher  than  was  necessary  or  dignified. 
This  same  king,  having  on  one  occasion  brought 
into  Bembe  a  couple  of  blacks  who  had  robbed  their 
loads  in  coming  up  the  country  from  Ambriz,  got 
so  drunk  upon  the  rum  which  he  received  as  part 
of  the  reward  for  capturing  them,  that  his  attendants 
stripped  him  of  his  state  uniform  and  helmet,  and 
left  him  by  the  side  of  the  road  stark  naked,  with 
a  boy  sitting  by  his  side  holding  an  umbrella  over 
him  till  his  everyday  clothes  were  sent  from  his 
town,  and  he  was  sufficiently  sober  to  walk  home. 
In  Africa,  as  everywhere  else,  there  is  often  but  a 
step  from  the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous ! 

Mr.  Flores's  agent  at  Bembe  used  to  buy  ivory, 
though  after  a  time  he  had  to  give  up  trading 
there,  partly  on  account  of  having  to  carry  up  the 
goods  for  barter  from  Ambriz,  and  from  the  natives 
wanting  as  much  for  the  tusks  as  they  were  in  the 
habit  of  getting  on  the  coast; — blacks  having  no 
regard  whatever  for  time  or  distance,  eight  or  ten 
days'  journey  more  or  less  being  to  them  perfectly 
immaterial.  The  road  followed  by  the  caravans  of 
ivory  from  the  interior  passes,  as  I  have  said  before, 


202  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  vii, 

near  Bembe;  consequently  a  good  many  caravans 
left  the  usual  track  and  came  there  to  sell  their 
ivory,  or  if  they  could  not  agree  on  the  terms, 
passed  on  to  the  coast,  and  it  was  interesting  to  see 
them  arrive,  and  watch  the  process  of  bartering. 

From  Bembe  we  could  descry  the  long  black 
line  of  negroes  composing  the  "Quibucas"  or 
caravans,  far  away  on  the  horizon  across  the  mine 
valley,  and  it  was  here  that  I  became  convinced  of 
the  superiority  of  the  negro's  eyesight  over  the 
white  man's.  Our  blacks,  particularly  old  Pae 
Tomas,  could  tell  with  the  naked  eye  the  number 
of  tusks,  and  the  number  of  bags  of  '^  fuba"  or  meal, 
in  a  caravan,  and  w^hether  they  brought  any  pigs  or 
sheep  T\ith  them,  at  such  a  distance  that  not  one  of 
us  could  distinguish  anything  without  a  glass — in 
fact,  when  we  could  only  see  a  moving  black  line. 
Caravans  of  200  and  300  natives,  bringing  as  many 
as  100  large  tusks  of  ivory,  were  not  unfrequent. 

As  soon  as  they  came  within  hearing  distance, 
they  beat  their  *'  Engongui,"  as  the  signal  bells  are 
called,  one  of  w^hich  accompanies  every  "  Quibuca," 
and  is  beaten  to  denote  their  approach,  the  towns 
answering  them  in  the  same  manner,  and  intimating 


cii.  VII.]  E NO  ON  QUI.  203" 

whether  they  can  pass  or  not,  if  there  is  war  on 
the  road,  and  so  on.  These  "  Engongui "  (Plate  lY.) 
are  two  flat  bells  of  malleable  iron  joined  together 
by  a  bent  handle,  and  are  held  in  the  left  hand 
whilst  being  beaten  with  a  short  stick.  There  is  a 
regular  code  of  signals,  and  as  each  bell  has  a 
different  note,  a  great  number  of  variations  can  be 
produced  by  striking  each  alternately,  or  two  or 
three  beats  on  one  to  the  same,  or  lesser  number  on 
the  other ;  a  curious  effect  is  also  produced  by  the 
performer  striking  the  mouths  of  the  bells  against 
his  naked  stomach  whilst  they  are  reverberating 
from  the  blows  with  the  stick. 

As  the  caravans  were  coming  down  the  valley, 
Pae  Tomas  used  to  amuse  himself  sometimes  by 
signalling  "war,"  or  that  the  road  was  stopped, 
when  the  whole  caravan  would  squat  down,  whilst 
the  "  Capatas,"  or  head-men  in  charge,  would  come 
on  alone,  but  at  the  signal  *'all  right,"  or  *'road 
clear,"  all  would  start  forward  again. 

Only  one  "Engongui"  can  be  allowed  in  each 
town,  and  belongs  to  the  king,  who  cannot  part 
with  it  on  any  account,  as  it  is  considered  a 
great  "fetish,"  and  is   handed  down  from  king  to 


204:  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  EIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  vii. 

king.  To  obtain  the  one  in  my  possession,  I  Lad 
to  send  Pae  Tomas  to  the  *'  Mujolo  "  country,  where 
they  are  principally  made,  but  as  he  was  away  only 
four  days,  I  believe  he  must  have  got  it  nearer 
J3embe  than  the  "  Mujolo,"  which  lies  to  the  N.N.E. 
of  Bembe,  but  according  to  all  accounts  at  many 
days'  journey,  which  I  am  inclined  to  believe,  as 
these  ''  Mujolos "  never  come  down  to  the  coast, 
and  were  formerly  very  rarely  brought  as  slaves  in 
the  caravans.  They  are  greatly  prized  as  slaves  by 
the  Portuguese,  as  they  are  very  strong  and  intelK- 
gent,  and  work  at  any  trade  much  better  than  any 
other  race  in  Angola.  They  have  very  peculiar 
square  faces,  and  are  immediately  known  by  their 
cheeks  being  tattooed  in  fine  perpendicular  lines, 
in  fact  the  only  race  in  Angola  that  tattoo  the 
face  at  all.  They  are  said  to  be  a  very  savage 
race,  and  to  practise  cannibalism. 

When  the  caravans  approached  Bembe,  the 
"Gapatas"  would  dress  themselves  in  their  best 
and  each  carry  an  open  umbrella,  or  when  the 
*'Capata"  was  a  very  important  personage,  the 
umbrella  used  to  be  carried  before  him  by  a 
black,  whilst  he  followed  behind  in  the  sun. 


CH.  vn.]        PRICE  OF  SLAVES  AT  BEMBE.  205 

The  day  of  their  arrival  was  always  spent  in 
looking  over  the  stock  of  goods,  and  receiving 
presents  of  cloth^  and  rum,  and  generally  a  pig  for 
a  feast.  The  next  day  the  tusks  would  be  produced 
and  the  barter  arranged  in  the  manner  explained 
in  the  preceding  chapter. 

The  caravans  seldom  brought  any  curiosities,  only 
very  rarely  a  few  mats  or  skins ;  one  skin  that  I 
purchased  proved  to  be  that  of  a  new  monkey, 
described  by  Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater  as  the  Colohus 
Angolensis  (*  Proceedings  of  the  Zoological  Society  of 
London/  May,  1860). 

A  few  slaves  were  sometimes  brought  to  Bembe 
from  the  interior,  and  sold  to  the  Cabinda  blacks, 
who  were  our  washer-boys,  and  also  to  the  Ambriz 
men,  our  servants,  slaves  being  amongst  the  natives 
in  Angola  the  principal  investment  of  their  savings. 
The  prices  paid  for  them  varied  according  to  size, 
sex,  age,  and  freedom  from  blemish  or  disease, 
and  ranged  from  one  to  two  pieces  of  "chilloes" 
(a  Manchester-made  cloth,  in  pieces  of  fourteen 
yards,  and  costing  about  3s.  each)  for  a  boy  or  girl ; 
to  six  or  seven  pieces,  at  most,  for  a  full-grown 
man  or  woman. 


206  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  vii. 

Gum  Elemi,  called  "  Mubafo,"  used  to  be  broiiglit 
in  large  cakes,  and  is  said  to  be  very  abundant 
not  many  days'  journey  from  Bembe,  but  its  low 
price  in  Europe  does  not  allow  of  its  becoming  an 
article  of  trade  from  this  part  of  Africa  at  present. 

There  are  no  cattle  from  the  Kiver  Congo  to  the 
latitude  of  Loanda.  At  Bembe  a  few  oxen  used  to 
arrive  fi'om  a  country  eight  to  ten  days'  journey  off, 
in  a  S.E.  direction,  but,  although  carefully  tended, 
would  gradually  lose  flesh  and  die  in  a  few  months. 
On  the  coast  they  seem  to  thrive  very  well  in  the 
hands  of  white  men,  but  yet  the  natives  never 
breed  them,  whether  from  indolence,  or  from  the 
climate  not  being  quite  suitable  to  them,  it  is  diflB- 
cult  to  say,  but  most  likely  from  the  former. 

The  Portuguese  expedition  to  occupy  Bembe 
took  mules,  donkeys,  and  camels  from  the  Cape 
de  Yerde  Islands,  but  they  all  died,  though  in 
charge  of  a  veterinary  sui'geon,  who  attributed 
their  death  to  the  character  of  the  grass,  most  of 
the  species  having  the  blades  very  serrated,  and 
according  to  him  causing  death  by  injury  to  the 
coats  of  the  stomach. 

In  connection  with  the  mortality  of  cattle   and 


CH.  VII.]  MORTALITY  OF  CATTLE.  207 

other  animals,  I  may  mention  that  all  the  cats  at 
Bembe  had  their  hind  quarters  more  or  less 
paralysed,  generally  when  a  few  months  old,  some- 
times even  when  quite  young  kittens,  when  it 
certainly  could  not  be  the  result  of  any  blow.  This 
was  the  case  without  exception  during  the  two 
years  I  was  at  Bembe.  I  have  seen  the  same  occur 
on  the  coast,  but  more  rarely. 

Sheep  and  goats  breed  very  well,  particularly 
about  Ambrizzette.  The  sheep  are  a  very  peculiar 
variety,  long-legged,  and  covered  with  short  hair. 
The  goats  are  small  but  especially  beautiful,  and 
generally  black  and  white  in  colour.  Cocks  and 
hens  are  small  and  tasteless  and  always  scarce,  as 
the  natives  are  too  indolent  to  rear  any,  only 
keeping  a  few  animals  that  can  find  their  own 
living:  they  never  think  of  giving  them  any  food 
or  water  unless  they  are  actually  dying,  the  con- 
sequence is  that  only  sheep  and  goats  and  a  few 
fowls  thrive  or  are  seen  in  their  towns.  I  have 
only  seen  a  few  pigeons  in  two  or  three  towns. 
Their  pigs,  as  might  be  imagined,  are  painful  to  look 
upon,  living  on  grass  and  what  few  roots  they  can 
grub  up,  and  on  all  the  excrement  and  filth  of  the 


208  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vii. 

towns.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  anything  more 
distressingly  thin  and  gaunt  than  the  poor  pigs, 
perfectly  flat,  and  hardly  able  to  trot  along. 

On  our   journey   to    Bembe    the    natives    were 
greatly  surprised   at  our   giving   some   boiled   rice 
from  our  plates  to  a  brood  of  pretty  little  chickens 
at  a  town  where  we  breakfasted,  as  they  did  not 
belong  to  us.     Their  dogs,  wretched,  small,  starved, 
long-eared  animals,  like  little  jackals,  live,  like  the 
pigs,  upon  rubbish,  and  hunt  rats  and  other  small 
game.      I  once  saw  a  dog  eating  the  grains  off  a 
green  indian-corn  cob,  which  he  was  holding  down 
with   his  two   front   paws,   nibbling  it   as   a   sheep 
would,   and  seeming  to  enjoy  it.      Cats    are   very 
rarely    seen    in     the    towns  ; — they     are     greatly 
esteemed  by  the  Mushicongos  for  food,  and  their 
skins  for  wearing  as  an  ornament.      I  once  shot  a 
half-wild  cat  that  used  to  visit  my  fowl-yard,  and 
had  eaten  some  chickens ;  my  cook  skinned  it,  and 
sold  the  flesh  for  300  beads,  and  the  skin  for  200 — 
300  beads  being  then  a  fancy  price  for  the  largest 
fowl,  ordinary  chickens  usually  averaging  100  beads 
each  only. 

Provisions   at  that  time   were   fabulously  cheap, 


CH.  VII.]  FAIRS.  209 


though  not  more  so,  perhaps,  than  should  be  ex- 
pected from  the  wonderful  fertility  of  the  soil,  the 
little  trouble  the  natives  have  in  its  cultivation,  and 
their  small  necessities.  Eggs  and  bananas  were  sold 
at  one  blue  glass  bead  each,  of  a  kind  made  in 
Bohemia,  and  costing  wholesale  under  twopence  for 
a  bunch  of  600.  Mandioca-meal,  beans,  &c.,  were 
sold  at  a  similar  rate. 

One  ugly  black  was  the  principal  purveyor  of 
eggs;  he  used  to  collect  them  at  all  the  towns 
and  fairs  around,  and  bring  them  into  Bembe  for 
sale,  but  he  was  a  sad  rogue,  and  never  sold  a 
basketful  of  eggs  but  a  number  were  sure  to  be 
found  rotten.  At  the  fort  he  was  once  tied  over 
a  gun  and  well  thrashed,  but  this  did  not  cure 
him,  and  at  last,  tired  of  buying  bad  eggs  from  him, 
I  had  him  held^  by  a  couple  of  our  servants  the 
next  time  he  brought  me  a  basket  of  eggs  for  sale, 
whilst  my  cook  broke  them  into  a  basin  one  by  one, 
the  rotten  ones  being  rubbed  on  his  great  woolly 
head,  on  which  he  had  allowed  the  hair  to  grow 
like  a  great  frizzled  bush.  His  appearance  when 
released  was  most  comical,  and  produced  the 
greatest  excitement  among  the  rest  of  the  niggers, 

VOL.  I.  p 


210  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vii. 

who  danced  and  yelled  and  hooted  at  him  as  he 
ran  along,  crying,  to  the  stream  at  the  mines  to 
wash  himself.  The  cure  was  effectual  this  time, 
and  we  never  had  further  cau^e  of  complaint 
against  him. 

There  are  four  weekly  fairs  or  markets  held  near 
Bembe,  the  principal  one  being  at  Sona,  about  six 
miles  off.  To  this  market  natives  from  many  miles 
distant  come  with  produce,  &c.,  to  barter  for  cloth, 
rum,  and  beads  from  the  coast.  To  travel  two  or 
three  days  to  attend  a  fair  is  thought  nothing  of 
by  the  blacks, — this  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  when 
we  consider  the  climate,  and  that  a  mat  to  sleep  on 
is  the  most  they  need  or  carry  with  them  on  a 
journey.  Their  food  being  almost  entirely  vegetable 
and  uncooked,  they  either  take  it  with  them,  or 
buy  it  on  the  road. 

Another  celebrated  fair  is  at  Quimalen90,  on  the 
road  to  Bembe,  and  about  thirty  miles  distant,  and 
our  servants  and  blacks  working  at  the  mine  were 
constantly  asking  leave  to  go  to  it.  Both  at  Sona 
and  the  latter  fair  no  blacks  are  allowed  with  sticks 
or  knives,  a  very  wise  precaution,  considering  the 
quantity  of  palm  wine,  garapa,  and   other   intoxi- 


CH.  VII.]  THE  KING  OF  CONGO.  211 

eating  liquors  consumed.  I  have  seen  not  less 
than  2000  natives  assembled  at  these  fairs,  selling 
and  buying  beans,  mandioca  roots  and  meal  of 
different  kinds,  Indian  corn,  ground-nuts,  palm-nuts 
and  oil;  pigs,  sheep,  goats,  fowls;  cotton  cloth, 
handkerchiefs,  &c. ;  crockery,  clay  pipes,  and  pipe- 
stems,  but  not  a  single  article  manufactured  by 
themselves,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  a  few 
sleeping-mats,  and  the  conical  open  baskets  called 
"  Quindas,"  in  which  the  women  carry  roots,  meal, 
and  other  produce  on  their  heads. 

During  my  first  stay  in  Bembe,  the  king  of 
Congo  having  died,  his  successor,  the  Marquis  of 
Catende,  came  in  state  to  Bembe  to  ask  the  Portu- 
guese to  send  priests  to  San  Salvador,  to  bury  his 
predecessor  and  to  crown  him  king.  In  former 
times,  San  Salvador,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom  of 
Congo,  was  the  chief  missionary  station  of  the 
Portuguese,  who  built  a  cathedral  and  monasteries 
there,  the  ruius  of  which  still  exist;  they  appear 
to  have  been  very  successful  in  civilizing  the 
natives,  and  though  the  mission  was  abandoned 
more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  their  memory  is 
revered  in  the  country  to  this  day.     I  have  been 

P  2 


212        ANGOLA  AND  TEE  EIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vii. 

told  by  the  Portuguese  priests  and  officers  who  have 
been  at  San  Salvador  that  the  graves  of  the  former 
missionaries  are  still  carefully  tended  and  preserved, 
with  every  sign  of  respect,  and  that  missals  and 
other  books,  letters,  chalices,  and  other  church  fur- 
niture of  the  olden  time  still  exist,  and  the  natives 
would  not  part  with  them  on  any  account. 

In  times  past  the  King  of  Congo  was  very 
powerful ;  all  the  country,  as  far  as  and  including 
Loanda,  the  Eiver  Congo,  and  Cabinda,  was  subject 
to  him,  and  paid  him  tribute.  The  missionaries 
under  his  protection  worked  far  and  wide,  attained 
great  riches,  and  were  of  immense  benefit  to  the 
country,  where  they  and  the  Portuguese  established 
and  fostered  sugar-cane  plantations,  indigo  manu- 
facture, iron  smelting,  and  other  industries.  With 
the  discovery  and  colonization  of  the  Brazils, 
however,  and  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  from 
Angola,  the  power  of  the  Portuguese  and  of  the 
king  of  Congo  has  dwindled  away  to  its  present 
miserable  condition.  The  king  of  Congo  is  now 
only  the  chief  of  San  Salvador  and  a  few  other 
small  towns,  and  does  not  receive  the  least  tribute 
from  any  others,  nor  does  he  possess  any  pow^er  in 


CH.  Yii.]  THE  KING  OF  CONGO.  213 


the  land.  Among  the  natives  of  Angola,  however, 
he  still  retains  a  certain  amount  of  prestige  as  king 
of  Congo,  and  all  would  do  homage  to  him  in  his 
presence,  as  he  is  considered  to  possess  the  greatest 
*'  fetish  "  of  all  the  kings  and  tribes,  though  power- 
less to  exact  tribute  from  them. 

The  Marquis  came  to  Bembe  attended  by  a 
retinue  of  300  blacks  and  his  private  band,  con- 
sisting of  eight  elephant  tusks  blown  like  horns,  and 
six  drums.  These  tusks  were  moderate  sized,  about 
three  to  three  and  a  half  feet  long,  and  were  bored 
down  the  centre  nearly  to  the  point,  to  a  small 
hole,  or  narrow  aperture  cut  in  the  side,  to  which 
the  lips  are  applied  to  produce  the  sound,  which 
is  deep  and  loud,  but  soft  in  tone,  and  can  be 
heard  at  a  great  distance.  The  drums  are  hol- 
lowed out  of  one  piece  of  wood,  generally  of  the 
"  Mafumeira "  tree,  which  is  very  soft  and  easily 
worked:  the  open  end  is  covered  with  a  sheepskin 
tightly  stretched  and  rubbed  over  with  bees-wax, 
a  small  portion  of  which  is  left  sticking  in  the 
middle.  Before  use,  these  drums  are  slightly 
warmed  at  a  fire  to  soften  the  wax  and  make  the 
skin  a  little  sticky,  when  being  struck  by  the  flat 


214  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  vii. 

of  the  fingers  (not  the  palms  of  the  hands)  they 
adhere  slightly,  and  cause  the  blows  to  produce  a 
more  resonant  sound.  The  better  made  ones  are 
rubbed  quite  smooth  on  the  outside  with  the  dry 
leaf  of  a  certain  tree,  which  is  very  rough,  and  acts 
like  sand-paper,  and  then  dyed  a  bright  red  with 
the  fresh  red  pulp  enveloping  the  seeds  of  the 
Annatto  plant  {Bixa  Orellana),  which  I  have  seen 
gro^\dng  wild  in  the  interior. 

When  the  Marquis  approached  Bembe  he  made 
known  his  coming  by  his  band  blowing  the  horns 
and  thumping  the  drums,  and  we  could  see  the 
caravan  in  the  distance  slowly  winding  through 
the  grass.  On  arriving  at  the  edge  of  the  mine 
valley  they  all  halted,  and  the  band  again  struck 
up.  The  Marquis  got  out  of  his  hammock,  attired 
like  any  other  black,  unlocked  a  small  box  con- 
taining his  wardrobe,  and  proceeded  to  dress  himself, 
in  which  operation  he  was  assisted  by  his  two 
secretaries ; — first  he  put  on  a  white  shirt,  but  not 
having  taken  the  precaution  to  unbutton  the  front, 
it  was  some  time  before  his  head  emerged  from  it ; 
a  gaily-coloured  cloth  was  next  produced  from  the 
box  and   fastened  round  his  waist;   a   blue  velvet 


CH.  VII.]  TEE  KING  OF  CONGO.  215 

cloak  edged  with  gold  lace  was  put  on  his  shoulders, 
and  on  his  head  a  blue  velvet  cap,  which  completed 
his  royal  costume ;  his  feet  bare  of  course. 

They  then  came  into  Bembe,  and  proceeded  to 
the  fort,  where  they  were  received  with  a  salute 
of  four  guns,  which  it  was  the  Marquis's  right  to 
receive  from  the  Portuguese,  but  which  being 
evidently  unexpected,  made  one  half  of  the  crowd 
scamper  as  fast  as  they  could,  till  they  were 
recalled.  At  the  gate  the  guard  turned  out  and 
presented  arms,  and,  preceded  by  the  band  of  the 
fort,  he  was  taken  to  the  Governor's  quarters,  where 
we  were  all  assembled  to  meet  him. 

The  usual  complimentary  speeches  then  took 
place,  his  secretary  translating  for  him,  and  the 
Governor's  cook  being  interpreter  on  our  side. 
The  Marquis  spoke  only  a  few  words  of  Portuguese, 
and  never  having  been  among  white  men,  he  was 
rather  strange  to  the  use  of  knives  and  forks,  so  at 
dinner  his  meat  was  cut  up  small  for  him,  which 
he  forked  slowly  into  his  mouth,  now  and  then 
draining  a  whole  tumblerful  of  Lisbon  wine.  The 
dinner-service  of  crockery  and  glass,  &c.,  seemed  to 
strike  him  as  being  of  marvellous  magnificence. 


216  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  vii. 

After  first  tasting  a  glass  of  beer  myself,  according 
to  the  fashion  of  the  country,  I  offered  it  to  him,  to 
see  how  he  would  like  it;  he  took  a  mouthful, 
but  immediately  turned  round  and  spat  it  out,  with 
a  very  wry  face.  He  passed  the  remainder  to  his 
two  secretaries,  who  were  squatted  on  the  ground 
behind  him,  eating  stewed  fowl  and  m-andioca-meal 
out  of  a  dish  with  their  fingers.  As  it  would  have 
been  an  unpardonable  incivility  on  their  part  not 
to  drink  whatever  he  gave  them,  they  each  took 
a  mouthful  from  the  glass,  though  he  was  making 
faces  and  wiping  his  mouth  with  the  sleeve  of  his 
shirt,  but  both  got  up  instantly  and  hurried  outside, 
where  we  could  hear  them  spitting  and  sputtering  at 
the  bitter  draught. 

On  handing  round  the  "palitos"  or  tooth23icks 
after  dinner,  he  took  one,  but  did  not  know  what 
to  do  with  it  till  he  saw^  to  what  use  they  were 
applied  by  us,  when  he  burst  out  laughing,  and  said 
in  Congo  language,  "that  the  white  men  were  very 
strange  people,  who,  after  putting  such  delicious 
food  into  their  mouths,  must  needs  pick  out  the 
little  bits  from  their  teeth  with  a  stick,"  and 
he  asked  for  a  few,  which  he  gave  to  his   secre- 


CH.  VII.]  THE  KING  OF  CONGO.  217 

taries  to  keep,  to  take  back  to  his  country  as 
curiosities. 

He  is  a  handsome,  stout,  middle-aged  man,  and 
with  a  yery  much  better  cast  of  countenance  than  is 
usual  among  the  Mushicongos. 

During  the  time  that  he  was  at  Bembe,  the  kings 
of  the  neighbouring  towns  came  together  one  morn- 
ing to  pay  him  homage,  and  his  state  reception  was 
a  very  amusing  and  interesting  ceremony. 

The  kings  and  their  people  appeared,  not  in  their 
best,  but  in  the  poorest  and  most  ragged  condition 
possible,  whether  according  to  custom,  or  from  a 
fear  that  the  Marquis  might,  in  view  of  their  riches, 
demand  tribute  from  tliem  as  formerly,  I  know  not. 
The  Marquis  was  seated  on  a  chair  placed  on  a 
large  mat,  ^^ith  his  bare  feet  on  a  leopard  skin ; — 
behind  his  chair  squatted  the  whole  of  his  retinue. 

The  kings,  with  their  people,  not  less  than  100 
blacks,  on  arriving  at  some  little  distance,  dropped 
on  their  knees,  bowed  their  heads  to  the  ground, 
and  then  clapped  their  hands,  to  which  the  Marquis 
replied  by  moving  the  fingers  of  his  right  hand  to 
them;  one  of  his  secretaries,  a  very  tall,  lanky 
negro,  dressed  in  a  quaker  coat  with  a  very  high. 


218  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  vii. 

straight  collar,  then  knelt  before  him,  and  presented 
him  with  the  sword  of  state,  which  the  Marquis 
pulled  out  of  the  scabbard  and  returned  to  him. 

The  tall  secretary  now  borrowed  a  red  cloak 
from  one  of  the  retinue,  which  he  secured  round 
his  w^aist  with  his  left  hand,  allowing  it  to  drag 
behind  him  like  a  long  red  tail,  and  commenced 
a  series  of  most  extraordinary  antics,  dancing  about 
brandishing  his  sword,  and  pretending  to  cut  off 
heads,  to  exemphfy  the  fate  in  store  for  his  majesty's 
enemies. 

Approaching  the  kneeling  embassy,  he  shook  his 
sword  at  them  like  a  harlequin  at  a  clown  in  a 
pantomime,  when  they  all  rose  and  followed  him 
for  a  few  paces,  and  then  dropped  on  then-  knees 
whilst  he  went  through  the  dance  and  sword 
exercise  again;  this  performance  repeated,  brought 
them  nearer  the  Marquis,  and  a  third  time  brought 
the  whole  lot  to  his  feet,  w^here  they  all  rubbed 
their  foreheads  and  fingers  in  the  dust,  w^hilst  the 
secretary  knelt  and  placed  the  sword  across  his 
knees;  then  came  a  general  clapping  of  hands, 
and  the  king  of  Matuta  and  several  others  made 
long  speeches,  to  which  the  Marquis  replied,  not 


CH,  VII.]  THE  KING  OF  CONGO.  219 

to  them  directly,  but  to  liis  secretary,  wlio  repeated 
it,  every  twenty  or  thirty  words  being  interrupted 
by  a  great  blowing  of  the  horns  and  beating  of  the 
drums,  lasting  for  a  couple  of  minutes. 

After  the  speeches  the  kings  presented  their 
offering,  which  consisted  only  of  a  gourd  of  palm 
wine,  of  which,  according  to  custom,  the  Marquis 
had  to  drink. 

The  Governor  of  Bembe  had  provided  him  with 
a  couple  of  bottles  of  Lisbon  wine  for  the  ceremony, 
and  also  a  tumbler;  this  last  was  filled  with  palm 
wine  from  the  gourd,  and  given  to  the  secretary, 
and  he  handed  it  to  the  Marquis,  who  made  the 
sign  of  the  cross  over  it  with  his  hand,  repeating 
at  the  same  time  some  words  in  Latin :  this  they 
have  learnt  from  the  ceremonies  of  the  mass 
in  the  old  Eoman  Catholic  missals  still  in  their 
possession. 

The  Marquis,  not  feeling  inclined  to  drink  palm 
wine,  availed  himself  of  the  custom  of  the  kings  of 
Congo  not  eating  or  drinking  in  public,  to  practise 
a  little  deception.  Whilst  two  attendants  held  up 
a  large  mat  before  him,  he  passed  the  tumblerful 
of    palm    wine    to    his    secretaries,    who    quickly 


220  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  yii. 

swallowed  its  contents,  and  taking  up  one  of  the 
bottles  of  Lisbon  wine  from  under  his  chair,  put 
it  to  his  mouth,  and  nearly  emptied  it  at  a  draught. 
The  curtain  was  then  removed,  and  the  nearly  empty 
bottle  of  wine  passed  to  the  king  of  Matuta,  who 
poured  the  contents  into  the  tumbler,  took  a  drink 
himself,  and  passed  it  to  the  rest,  who  had  a  sip 
each  till  it  was  drained  dry.  Speeches  were  again 
made,  and  the  embassy,  having  once  more  rubbed 
their  foreheads  and  fingers  in  the  dust,  got  up  and 
bent  nearly  double,  then  turned  and  walked  away 
very  slowly  and  carefully,  reminding  me  most 
comically  of  cats  after  they  have  been  fighting. 

A  singular  custom  of  the  kings  of  Congo  is  that 
of  never  expectorating  on  the  ground  in  public, 
it  being  "fetish"  to  do  so,  and  foretelling  some 
calamity.  When  the  Marquis  wdshed  to  clear  his 
throat,  the  lanky  secretary  would  kneel  before  him, 
and  taking  a  dirty  rag  out  of  a  grass  pouch  sus- 
pended from  his  shoulder,  would  present  it  to  him 
with  both  his  hands,  to  spit  into ;  the  rag  was  then 
carefully  doubled  up,  kissed,  and  replaced  in  the 
pouch. 

I  was  told  by  the  padre  at  Bembe,  who  went  on 


CH.  VII.]  CUSTOMS.  221 

a  mission  to  Engoge,  that  the  king  there,  the 
"  Dembo  Ambuilla,"  also  has  the  same  custom,  but 
performed  in  a  much  more  disgusting  manner,  as, 
instead  of  spitting  into  a  rag  like  the  King  of 
Congo,  the  "  Dembo  "  expectorates  into  the  palm  of 
an  attendant's  hand,  who  then  rubs  it  on  his  head ! 

Having  heard  at  Loanda  that  Dr.  Bastian  had 
passed  through  San  Salvador,  I  inquired  of  the 
Marquis  whether  he  had  seen  him.  He  replied  that 
a  white  man,  whose  name  he  knew  not,  had  lately 
been  through  his  town  (a  little  distance  from  San 
Salvador),  and  had  given  him  a  "mucanda"  or 
letter,  which  he  would  show  me:  and,  taking  me 
into  his  hut,  he  took  out  of  his  box  a  parcel  of 
rags,  which  he  carefully  undid  till  he  came  to  a 
half-sheet  of  small  paper,  on  which  was  engraved 
the  portrait  of  some  British  worthy  dressed  in  the 
high-collared  coat  in  fashion  some  thirty  or  forty 
years  ago.  As  the  lower  half  of  the  sheet  was  torn 
off,  there  was  no  inscription  on  it  by  which  I  could 
identify  the  portrait,  which  seemed  to  have  been 
taken  from  a  small  octavo  volume.  The  Marquis 
would  not  show  the  portrait  to  the  Governor  or 
any  Portuguese,   as   he   was    afraid  that  it   might 


222  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vii. 

say  something  that  would  compromise  him  with 
them,  and  on  my  assuring  him  that  there  was  no 
danger  whatever  in  it,  he  seemed  to  be  much  easier 
in  his  mind. 

On  the  Sunday  morning  the  Marquis  attended 
the  garrison's  military  mass,  and  caused  much 
amusement  by  bringing  his  band  with  him,  which 
played  during  the  service.  Although  lie  had 
never  before  heard  mass,  his  conduct,  and  that  of 
the  head  men  who  accompanied  him,  was  most 
proper  and  decorous;  they  knelt,  crossed  them- 
selves, and  seemed  to  pray  as  earnestly  as  if  they 
had  been  brought  up  to  it  all  their  lives. 

A  visit  they  paid  the  works  at  the  mines  greatly 
interested  them,  the  steam-engine  and  saw-mill 
specially  attracting  their  attention ;  but  the  most 
incomprehensible  wonder  to  them  was  an  ordinary 
monkey,  or  screw-jack,  which  was  fixed  under  one 
end  of  a  huge  trunk  of  a  tree  lying  on  the  groimd, 
and  on  which  as  many  blacks  were  asked  to  sit  as 
it  could  carry; — great  was  their  astonishment  to 
see  me  lift  the  wdiole  tree  and  blacks  by  simply 
turning  the  handle  of  the  monkey.  After  much 
clapping  of    their  hands  to  their  mouths,  the  uni- 


CH.  VII.]  SAN  SALVADOR.  223 

versal  way  of  expressing  surprise  by  the  blacks, 
the  Marquis  asked,  through  his  tall  secretary,  how 
I  had  performed  the  wonderful  "fetish?"  I  ex- 
plained as  well  as  I  could,  that  it  was  due  to  the 
mechanism  inside,  but  I  could  see  they  did  not 
believe  me,  and  I  afterwards  ascertained  that  they 
thought  the  power  was  contained  in  the  handle. 

The  king  only  spoke  a  few  words  of  Portuguese, 
but  the  tall  secretary  not  only  spoke,  but  wrote  it 
very  fairly.  He  assured  me  that  he  had  not  been 
taught  by  the  white  men,  but  by  blacks  whose 
ancestors  had  acquired  the  language  from  the  old 
missionaries.  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  he 
must  have  been  a  native  of  Ambaca,  or  some  other 
province  of  the  interior  of  Angola,  where  a  great 
many  of  the  natives  at  the  present  day  can  read 
and  write  Portuguese,  transmitted  from  father  to 
son  since  the  olden  time. 

Some  time  after  the  Marquis  left,  the  Portu- 
guese sent  a  padre  from  Loanda  to  join  the  one 
at  Bembe,  and  proceed  together  to  San  Salvador, 
with  an  escort  in  charge  of  the  officer  at  Bembe, 
an  ignorant  man,  who,  after  the  old  king  had 
been    buried,    became     frightened    and    suddenly 


2^54:  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  vii. 

decamped  without  allowing  them  to  crown  the 
Marquis  of  Catende.  A  second  expedition  of 
100  soldiers  was  then  sent.  The  priests  were 
welcomed  with  demonstrations  of  the  greatest  joy 
by  the  natives,  who  loaded  them  with  presents; 
but  the  military  were  coldly  received,  and  not  a 
single  present  was  given  to  them  or  the  officer  in 
command,  who,  alarmed  at  their  hostility  and 
vexed  at  the  reception  given  to  the  padres,  again 
retreated  to  Bembe  as  fast  as  he  could,  and  to 
screen  his  want  of  success  and  cowardice,  intrigued 
with  the  Governor-Greneral  at  Loanda,  and  the 
padres  were  censured  for  that  for  which  he  him- 
self was  alone  to  blame. 

Nearly  200  blacks  presented  themselves  to  the 
padres,  saying  that  they  were  the  descendants  of 
the  slaves  of  the  former  missionaries,  and  offering 
to  rebuild  the  church  and  monasteries,  if  they  were 
only  directed  and  fed. 

Had  the  Portuguese  allowed  the  padres  to  go 
to  San  Salvador  alone,  unaccomj)anied  by  a  mili- 
tary force,  which  gave  an  air  of  conquest  to  the 
expedition,  a  great  step  would  have  been  made 
in    the    introduction   of   trade   and    civilization  in 


CH.  VII.]  SAN  SALVADOR.  225 

that  part  of  the  interior,  and  it  would  have 
opened  the  way  to  geographical  discovery.  I  am 
convinced  that  the  invincible  opposition  to  Lieu- 
tenant Grandy's  passage  into  the  interior  was  due 
principally  to  the  fear  of  the  natives  that  the 
Portuguese  might  follow  in  his  steps,  and  annex 
the  country  from  whence  they  derive  their  ivory. 

The  soil  about  Bembe  is  magnificent,  and  will 
produce  almost  anything.  Sugar-cane  grows  to  a 
huge  size,  and  vegetables  flourish  in  a  remarkable 
manner.  During  the  time  I  was  there  I  had  a 
fine  kitchen-garden,  and  not  only  kept  the  miners 
supplied  with  vegetables,  but  almost  every  day 
sent  as  much  as  one,  and  sometimes  two,  blacks 
could  carry  to  the  fort  for  the  soldiers.  Greens 
of  all  kinds  and  cabbages  grow  beautifully,  al- 
though the  latter  seldom  form  a  hard  head ;  all 
kinds  of  salad  grow  equally  well,  such  as  endive, 
lettuce,  radishes,  mustard  and  cress,  &c. ;  peas, 
turnips,  carrots,  mint,  and  parsley  also  flourish, 
and  tomatoes,  larger  than  I  ever  saw  them  even 
in  Spain  and  Portugal.  Cucumbers,  melons,  and 
vegetable-marrows,  we  obtained  very  flne  the  first 
season,  but  the  succeeding  year  a  swarm  of  very 

VOL.  I.  Q 


226  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  vn. 

small  grasshoppers  prevented  us  from  getting  a. 
single  one.  Broad  beans,  although  growing  and 
flowering  luxuriantly,  never  produced  pods.  I 
gave  seeds  to  the  old  King  of  Matuta,  and  pro- 
mised to  buy  their  produce  from  him,  and  we 
very  quickly  had  a  load  of  beautiful  vegetables 
every  day. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  estimate  the  advan- 
tage, in  a  country  and  climate  like  Africa,  of  an 
abundant  supply  of  "fresh  salad  and  vegetables,  and 
yet,  although  growing  so  luxuriantly,  and  with  so 
small  an  amount  of  trouble,  they  are  never  culti- 
vated by  the  natives  of  any  part  of  Angola,  and 
rarely  by  the  Portuguese ;  the  market  at  Loanda, 
for  instance,  is  very  badly  supplied  with  vegetables. 

Benguella  and  Mossamedes  —  particularly  the 
latter — are  the  only  exceptions  to  the  general  and 
stupid  want  of  attention  to  the  cultivation  of 
vegetables.  The  only  vegetable  introduced  by  the 
former  missionaries  that  still  exists  in  cultivation 
in  the  country  is  the  cabbage,  which  is  sometimes 
seen  in  the  towns  (generally  as  a  single  plant 
only),  growing  with  a  thick  stem,  which  is  kept 
closely  cropped  of  leaves,  and  as  much  as  four  or 


CH.  VII.]  FEVEBS.  227 

five  feet  high,  surrounded  by  a  fence  to  keep  the 
goats  and  sheep  from  browsing  on  it;  but  I  have 
never  seen  it  in  their  plantations. 

About  Bembe  a  handsome  creeper  {Mueuna 
jpruriensjj  with  leaves  like  those  of  a  scarlet- 
runner,  and  bearing  large,  long  bunches  of  dark 
maroon  bean-like  flowers,  grows  very  abundantly. 
The  flowers  are  succeeded  by  crooked  pods  covered 
with  fine  hairs  (cow-itch)  which  cause  the  most 
horrible  itching  when  rubbed  on  the  skin.  The 
first  time  I  pulled  off  a  bunch  of  the  pods  I  shook 
some  of  the  hairs  over  my  hand  and  face,  and  the 
sensation  was  alarming,  like  being  suddenly  stung 
all  over  with  a  nettle.  I  have  seen  blacks,  when 
clearing  bush  for  plantations,  shake  these  hairs  on 
their  hot,  naked  bodies,  and  jump  about  like  mad, 
until  they  were  rubbed  with  handfuls  of  moist 
earth. 

I  saw  at  Bembe  a  striking  illustration  of  the 
immunity  of  Europeans  from  fever  and  ague  when 
travelling  or  otherwise  actively  employed. 

One  hundred  Portuguese  soldiers  having  miscon- 
ducted themselves  in  some  way  at  Loanda,  were 
ordered  to  Bembe  as  a  punishment.     They  marched 

Q  2 


228  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  EIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  vii. 

from  Ambriz  in  the  worst  part  of  tlie  rainy  season 
without  tents  (which,  singular  to  say,  are  never 
used  in  Angola  by  the  Portuguese  troops),  and  were 
a  fortnight  in  reaching  Bembe. 

They  were  not  a  bad-looking  set  of  men,  and 
were  well  shod  and  clothed,  but  had  been  badly  fed 
on  the  road,  principally  on  beans  and  mandioca- 
meal,  and  had  had  only  water  from  the  swollen 
pools  and  rivers  to  drink.  Notwithstanding  the 
exposure  and  hardships,  only  twelve  fell  ill  on  the 
march,  and  of  those,  only  four  or  five  had  to  be 
brought  into  Bembe  in  hammocks. 

Fine  barracks  at  the  fort  had  been  prepared  for 
them,  but  next  morning,  on  inspection  by  the 
doctor,  no  less  than  forty  were  ordered  into  hospital ; 
next  day  thirty  more  followed,  and  within  a  week 
of  their  arrival  every  one  of  the  100  men  had 
passed  through  the  doctor's  hands,  suffering  princi- 
pally from  attacks  of  intermittent  fever  and  ague, 
remittent  fever,  and  a  few  cases  of  diarrhoea ;  but, 
to  show  the  comparatively  healthy  climate  of 
Angola,   only  one   man   died. 

We  were  not  so  fortunate  with  our  Cornish 
miners,    all    fine,    strong,    healthy,    picked    men; 


CH.  VII.]  FEVERS. 


229 


several  causes  contributed  to  tlieir  ill-health  and 
deaths;  exposure  to  sun  and  wet  whilst  at  work, 
bad  lodging,  but  principally  great  want  of  care  on 
their  part  in  eating  and  drinking  whilst  recovering 
from  an  attack  of  illness. 

One  circumstance  that  struck  the  doctor  greatly, 
was  the  total  want  of  pluck  in  the  Cornishmen  when 
ill ;  they  used  actually  to  cry  like  children,  and  lie 
down  on  their  beds  when  suffering  from  only  a 
slight  attack  of  fever  that  a  Portuguese  would  think 
nothing  of.  When  they  were  seriously  ill,  it  was 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  we  could  make  them 
keep  up  their  spirits,  which  is  so  essential  to 
recovery,  in  fevers  particularly.  When  convales- 
cent, on  the  contrary,  they  could  not  be  kept  from 
eating  or  drinking  everything,  however  indigestible 
or  objectionable,  that  came  in  their  way ;  and  often 
was  our  good  doctor  vexed,  and  obliged  to  employ 
the  few  words  of  abuse  he  knew  in  English,  on 
finding  them,  after  a  serious  illness,  eating  unripe 
bananas,  or  a  great  plateful  of  biscuit  and  cheese 
and  raw  onions. 

So  constant  were  their  relapses,  from  want  of  the 
commonest  care  on  their  23art,  that  the  doctor  at  last 


230  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  yii. 

refused  to  attend  them  unless  tliey  were  placed 
under  lock  and  key  till  fit  to  be  let  out  and  feed 
themselves.  Their  complaints  and  grumblings, 
when  well  even,  were  incessant,  and  they  were  the 
most  unhandy  set  imaginable ;  they  could  not  even 
mend  a  broken  bedstead,  or  put  up  a  hook  or  shelf 
to  keep  their  things  from  the  wet  or  rats.  There 
was  but  one  exception,  a  boiler-maker,  named 
Thomas  Webster,  who  was  a  universal  favourite 
from  his  constant  good-humour  and  willingness. 
Poor  fellow !  after  recovering  from  a  very  severe 
attack  of  bilious  fever,  he  died  at  Ambriz,  whilst 
waiting  for  the  steamer  that  was  to  take  him 
home. 

The  worthy  Portuguese  officer  in  command  at 
Bembe  on  my  last  visit,  Lieutenant  Yital  de  Bet- 
tencourt  Vasconcellos  Canto  do  Corte  Keal,  had 
prepared  for  our  use  the  old  house  in  which  I  had 
formerly  lived,  and  received  us  most  hospitably. 
We  breakfasted  and  dined  with  him  for  the  eight 
days  of  our  stay,  and  with  Lieutenant  Grandy  and 
his  brother,  who  were  also  his  guests.  We  were  all 
the  more  thankful  for  Lieutenant  Vital's  very  kind 
reception,  from  our  cook  having  fallen  ill  the  day 


mm 


m  „,.      /•    -^ 


iiliiliiili 


CH.  VII.]  BETUBN  TO  AMBRIZ.  231 

before  we  arrived,  and  being  consequently  unable  to 
prepare  our  food. 

We  made  several  excursions  to  the  mines  and 
to  the  caves,  and  one  morning  my  wife  and  myself 
ascended  to  the  top  of  the  peak  or  mountain  (Plate 
IX.),  and  breakfasted  there. 

On  the  15th  April,  1873,  we  bade  good-bye  to 
Bembe,  and  to  the  brothers  Grandy  and  Lieutenant 
Vital,  who  accompanied  us  to  the  Eiver  Luqueia. 
On  the  third  day  we  arrived  at  Quiballa,  where  we 
remained  four  days,  employing  them,  as  before,  in 
collecting  butterflies  and  drying  some  fine  plants, 
amongst  others  the  beautiful  large  red  flowers 
almost  covering  a  fine  tree  {8j)at]iodea  cam^a^iulata 
— E.  de  B.  ?). 

The  second  afternoon  we  were  visited  by  a  terrific 
thunderstorm ;  one  vivid  flash  of  lightning  was  fol- 
lowed almost  instantaneously  by  a  deafening  clap  of 
thunder ;  the  former  must  have  struck  the  ground 
very  near  our  hut,  as  both  my  wife  and  myself  felt  a 
slight  shock  pass  through  our  ankles  quite  distinctly, 
and  on  asking  the  owner  of  the  hut  and  one  of  our 
blacks  who  were  with  us,  if  they  had  felt  anything, 
they  both  described  having  felt  the  same  sensation. 


232  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  tii. 

So  much  rain  fell  during  tliis  storm  that  we  were 
forced  to  remain  a  couple  of  days  longer,  as  some 
carriers  had  been  obliged  to  return  to  Quiballa, 
unable  to  pass  the  rivers.  It  was  now  nearly  the 
end  of  the  rainy  season,  when  the  heaviest  falls 
occur,  and  we  had  already,  after  leaving  Bembe, 
found  that  a  lovely  bank  on  the  Kiver  Lifua,  on 
our  journey  up  the  country,  had  been  swept  away 
by  a  flood,  and  a  high  pile  of  sand  covered  the 
beautiful  carpet  of  flowers  and  ferns. 

A  small  dog  that  we  had  taken  a  fancy  to  on 
board  the  steamer  in  which  we  went  out,  and  who 
had  been  our  constant  companion,  also  accomp)anied 
us  on  this  journey,  and  it  was  amusing  to  see  her 
attempts  to  swim  the  swift  currents,  where  she 
generally  had  to  be  carried  across.  The  faithful 
creature  seemed  to  know  that  there  was  danger  in 
crossing  the  sw^ollen  streams,  and  she  would  yelp 
and  cry  on  the  bank  till  my  wife  and  myself  had 
been  carried  over,  when  she  would  express  her 
delight  by  tearing  along  the  banks  and  paths  like 
mad. 

Her  solicitude  for  our  safety  was  sometimes  rather 
embarrassing,  as  whenever  she  had  passed  a  swamp. 


CH.  VII.]  RETURN  TO  AMBRIZ.  233 

in  which  her  legs  generally  sank  deep  into  the 
black  mud,  she  would  always  insist  on  jumping  up 
on  the  hammocks,  evidently  to  ascertain  that  we 
were  all  right,  and  of  course  quite  unmindful  of  the 
dreadful  mess  she  made  with  her  wet  paws. 

Like  all  European  dogs,  she  never  got  over  a 
certain  antipathy  to  the  black  race,  and  although 
on  the  best  terms  with  our  own  boys,  who  delighted 
in  petting  her,  she  always  showed  her  contempt  for 
the  natives  by  making  sudden  rushes  at  them,  from 
under  her  mistress's  hammock,  when  in  passing 
through  a  town  the  women  and  children  came  run- 
ning along  cheering  and  shouting,  to  see  the  "  white 
woman."  Though  she  never  bit  them,  her  sudden 
and  fierce-looking  attack  would  generally  scatter 
the  crowd,  who,  however,  always  took  it  in  good 
part.  At  night  we  always  put  her  under  the 
Madeira  chair,  which  made  a  very  good  kind  of 
cage,  and  which  we  placed  at  the  foot  of  our  bed 
under  the  mosquito  curtain,  thus  saving  her  from 
these  pests,  and  also  preventing  her  from  rushing 
out  at  any  noise  outside  the  tent. 

The  evening  before  we  reached  Quingombe,  we 
raced  the  blackest  thunderstorm  I  liave  ever  wit- 


234  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vii. 


nessed.  About  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
very  fierce,  hot  and  sultry  day,  the  wind  began  to 
lull  and  distant  thunder  was  heard  behind  us.  The 
sky  indicated  plainly  that  no  ordinary  storm  was 
gathering,  the  clouds  deepening  in  colour  till  at  last 
they  seemed  to  descend  and  touch  the  ground, 
forming  a  nearly  black  curtain,  which  as  it  slowly 
advanced  hid  hills,  trees,  and  everything  behind  it ; 
the  top  part  of  this  thick  black  curtain  seemed  to 
travel  at  a  faster  rate  than  the  rest  below,  and 
slowly  formed  a  black  arch  over-head ;  at  about 
five  o'clock  it  seemed  to  be  only  a  few  hundred 
yards  behind  us,  like  a  solid  angry  night  trying  to 
overtake  us.  Sudden  flashes  and  long  streaks  of 
lightning  seemed  to  shoot  out  of  it,  up  and  down 
and  in  all  directions,  with  scarcely  any  intermission 
of  the  explosions  of  thunder  that  accompanied 
them. 

Our  carriers  seemed  perfectly  frightened,  and  ran 
us  along  in  our  hammocks  as  if  racing  for  life,  till, 
a  little  before  sunset,  we  reached  a  small  village 
near  the  road,  just  as  the  advancing  raindrops  at 
last  overtook  and  began  pattering  down  upon  us. 
We  hurried  with  our  baggage  into  a  hut,  but  the 


CH.  VII.]  BETURN  TO  AMBRIZ.  235 

wind  suddenly  seemed  to  increase  in  power  from  the 
soutli,  and  blew  the  storm  away  from  its  path  to  the 
westward,  so  that  it  only  rained  for  about  half  an 
hour,  and  we  had  just  time  to  set  up  our  tent  before 
the  darkness  of  night,  calm  and  cool,  came  on.  Some 
of  our  carriers,  who  had  remained  behind  and  not 
been  able  to  keep  ahead  of  the  storm,  described  the 
rain  as  coming  down  on  them  like  a  perfect  deluge. 

Next  day  we  arrived  late  in  the  afternoon  at 
Quingombe,  and  our  carriers  tried  to  dissuade  us 
from  proceeding  on  to  Anibriz,  alleging  that  the 
heavy  rains  had  filled  the  marshes,  so  that  they 
were  impassable  in  the  dark;  but  disbelieving 
them,  I  hurried  them  on,  and  reached  the  swamp 
that  separates  the  town  of  Quingombe  from  the 
ferry  on  the  Elver  Logo  at  QuincoUo ;  —  sure 
enough  it  was  one  sheet  of  water,  but  unwilling 
to  brave  another  night  of  mosquitoes  we  pushed 
on.  Twice  we  had  to  get  out  of  our  hammocks 
(which  were  slung  as  high  as  they  could  possibly 
be)  on  to  the  Madeira  chair,  to  be  carried  across 
deep  places ;  and  for  about  two  miles  there  was 
hardly  a  dry  place,  our  poor  dog  swimming  and 
carried  most  of  the  time. 


236  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  vii. 

At  last,  at  seven  in  the  evening,  we  arrived  at 
Quincollo  to  find  that  the  river  had  overflowed 
the  banks,  and  that,  with  the  exception  of  a  house 
and  cane-mill,  there  was  not  a  foot  of  dry  ground 
to  encamp  upon,  except  a  great  heap  of  cane  refuse 
from  the  mill.  This  and  the  house  belonged  to  a 
convict,  who  had  been  a  swineherd  in  Portugal, 
but  in  consequence  of  the  abolition  of  capital 
punishment  in  that  country,  had  escaped  hanging, 
after  committing  a  cruel  murder.  He  is  now  a 
large  slaveholder,  agent  to  the  line  of  steamers 
from  Lisbon  owned  by  an  English  firm  at  Hull, 
and  much  protected  by  the  Portuguese  authorities 
at  Loanda ! 

Not  caring  to  sleep  on  his  premises,  we  encamped 
on  the  heap  of  refuse,  on  which  we  found  it  im- 
possible to  put  up  our  tent,  contenting  ourselves 
with  hanging  up  the  mosquito-bar  alone.  We  had 
reached  our  last  biscuit  and  tin  of  preserved  pro- 
vision, and  had  just  finished  our  tea  and  supper 
when  the  white  man  in  charge  of  the  convict's 
premises,  with  his  servants,  came  out  with  torches 
and  armed,  to  find  out  who  we  were,  fearing  it 
might  be  an  attack  of  the  natives  of  Quingombe. 


CH.  VII.]  RETURN  TO  AMBRIZ.  237 


He  was  most  kind  and  pressing  in  bis  offers  of 
shelter,  in  tiie  absence  of  tbe  owner,  but  we 
declined.  He  made  us  promise,  however,  that  we 
would  accept  a  canoe  of  his  in  the  morning,  which 
took  us  down  the  river  about  six  miles  to  the  bar, 
from  whence  we  rode  in  our  hammocks  along  the 
beach  to  Ambriz,  thus  happily  ending  our  last 
excursion  in  Africa. 

We  had  been  absent  just  one  month,  in  the  w^orst 
part  of  the  rainy  season,  without  the  slightest  illness, 
and  returned  laden  with  a  very  interesting  collection 
of  insects  and  plants. 


(     238     ) 


CHAPTEE  YIIL 

CHAEACTER  OF  THE  NEGEO  —  FETISH  —  CUSTOMS 
—  AEaiS  AND  WAE  —  DEESS  —  ZOMBO  TEIBE  — 
BUEIAL  —  INSANITY. 

The  language,  customs,  and  habits  of  the  Mussu- 
rongo,  Ambriz,  and  Mushicongo  tribes  are  very 
similar,  and  are  distinguished  in  many  particulars 
from  those  of  the  natives  of  the  district  of  Loanda, 
who  speak  the  Bunda  language.  This  is  not 
astonishing,  when  we  consider  that  Loanda  has 
been  constantly  occupied  by  the  white  race  since 
its  discovery,  and  that  this  intercourse  has  neces- 
sarily modified  their  character  to  a  certain  extent. 
The  former  tribes  are,  however,  still  almost  in 
their  primitive  or  natural  condition,  and  should  be 
studied  or  described  apart  and  before  continuing 
the  description  of  the  country  south  of  about  8°, 
their  limit  in  latitude. 

I  believe  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  understand 


CH.  VIII.]       CHARACTER  OF  TEE  NEGRO.  239 

correctly  the  cliaracter  of  tlie  negro  race  in  Africa, 
and  that  it  requires  long  intercourse  with,  and 
living  amongst  them,  to  get  behind  the  scenes,  as 
it  were,  and  learn  their  manner  of  thought  or 
reasoning,  and  in  what  way  it  influences  their  life 
and  actions. 

In  the  first  instance,  it  is  not  easy  to  dispossess 
oneself  of  the  prejudices  both  against  and  in  favour 
of  the  negro.  It  is  so  natural  to  judge  him  by 
our  own  standard,  and  as  we  should  wish  him  to 
be ; — so  easy  to  think  of  him  as  agreeing  with  the 
preconceived  idea  that  he  is  just  like  one  of  our- 
selves, but  simply  in  a  state  of  innocent  darkness, 
and  that  we  have  only  to  show  him  the  way  for  him 
to  become  civilized  at  once. 

It  is  very  disagreeable  to  find  in  the  negro  an 
entirely  new  and  different  state  of  things  to  that 
we  had  fondly  imagined,  and  to  have  to  throw 
overboard  our  cherished  theories  and  confess  our 
ignorance  and  that  we  have  been  entirely  mistaken ; 
but  the  truth  must  be  told,  and  we  shall  have  to 
run  counter  to  the  self-satisfied  wisdom  of  the 
great  number  of  people  who  judge  from  not  always 
wilfully  false  reports,  but  from  hasty  or  superficial 


240         ANGOLA  AND  TEE  EIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  viii. 

descriptions  or  tales  that  agree  with  their  foregone 
conclusions,  and  whose  benevolent  feelings  and 
sympathy  for  the  negro  are  therefore  established 
upon  baseless  grounds. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  deprecate  any,  efforts 
for  the  benefit  of  the  negro  race,  but  simply  to 
show  that  the  good  seed  in  Africa  icill  fall  on 
bare  and  barren  ground,  and  where  weeds  will  rise 
and  choke  it;  and  I  must  warn  philanthropy  that 
its  bounty  is  less  productive  of  good  results  on  the 
negro  of  tropical  Africa  than  perhaps  on  any  other 
race. 

It  is  heartrending  to  see  money,  lives,  and  efforts 
squandered  and  wasted  under  the  misguided  idea 
of  raising  the  negro  to  a  position  wliich,  from  his 
mental  constitution,  he  cannot  possibly  attain,  whilst 
so  many  of  our  own  race  are  doomed  from  innocent 
infancy  to  grow  up  among  us  to  a  future  of  misery 
and  vice,  and  when  we  know  that  the  charity  so 
lavishly  shown  to  the  negro  and  almost  completely 
wasted  would  enable  many  of  these  poor  children 
to  become  good  and  useful  members  of  society.  Let 
us,  by  all  means,  bring  in  the  frozen  vipers,  and 
feed  the  famished  wolves  and  the  hungry  vultures. 


CH.  VIII.]       CHARACTER  OF  TEE  NEGRO.  241 

but  do  not  let  us  expect  tliat  because  we  have 
done  so  they  will  change  into  harmless  snakes, 
noble  dogs,  or  innocent  doves,  or  neglect  to  succour 
the  lambs  and  sheep  of  our  own  flock. 

I  cannot  help  thinking  that  so  long  as  (in  a  rich 
country  like  England)  we  read  of  poor  creatures 
perishing  from  starvation  on  doorsteps  and  in 
garrets,  more  care  should  be  taken  of  our  starving 
poor  at  home  and  less  charity  showered  upon  the 
negro,  who  has  growing  close  to  his  hut  all  he  wants 
to  sustain  life  in  almost  absolute  laziness. 

The  character  of  the  negro  is  principally  distin- 
guished not  so  much  by  the  presence  of  positively 
bad,  as  by  the  absence  of  good  qualities,  and  of 
feelings  and  emotions  that  we  can  hardly  under- 
stand or  realize  to  be  wanting  in  human  nature. 
It  is  hardly  correct  to  describe  the  negro  intellect 
as  debased  and  sunken,  but  rather  as  belonging  to 
an  arrested  stage.  There  is  nothing  inconsistent 
in  this ;  it  is,  on  the  contrary,  perfectly  consistent 
with  what  we  have  seen  to  be  their  physical 
nature.  It  would  be  very  singular  indeed  if  a 
peculiar  adaptation  for  resisting  so  perfectly  the 
malignant    influences   of   the    climate    of   tropical 

VOL.  I.  R 


242         ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viii. 

x^frica,  the  result  of  aD  inferior  physical  organiza- 
tion, was  unaccompanied  by  a  corresponding  in- 
feriority of  mental  constitution.  It  is  only  on  the 
theory  of  "Natural  Selection,  or  the  survival  of 
the  fittest "  to  resist  the  baneful  influence  of  the 
climate  through  successive  and  thousands  of  gene- 
rations —  the  "  fittest "  being  those  of  greatest 
physical  insensibility  —  that  the  j^resent  fever- 
resisting,  miasma-proof  negro  has  been  produced, 
and  his  character  can  only  be  explained  in  the 
corresponding  and  accompanying  retardation  or 
arrest  of  development  of  his  intellect. 

The  negro  knows  not  love,  affection,  or  jealousy. 
Male  animals  and  birds  are  tender  and  loving  to 
their  females  ;  cats  show  their  affection  by  delicious 
purring  noises  and  by  licking;  horses  by  neighing 
and  pawing ;  cocks  by  calling  their  hens  to  any  food 
they  may  find ;  parroquets,  pigeons,  and  other  birds, 
by  scratching  one  another's  polls  and  billing  and 
cooing ;  monkeys  by  nestling  together  and  hunting 
for  inconvenient  parasites  on  each  other's  bodies; 
but  in  all  the  long  years  I  have  been  in  Africa  I 
have  never  seen  a  negro  manifest  the  least  tender- 
ness  for  or  to  a   nesfress.      I  have    never   seen   a 


CH.  VIII.]         CHARACTER  OF  THE  NEGEO.  243 

negro,  even  when  inebriated,  kiss  a  girl  or  ever 
attempt  to  take  the  least  liberty,  or  show  by  any 
look  or  action  the  desire  to  do  so.  I  have  never 
seen  a  negro  put  his  arm  round  a  woman's  waist,  or 
give  or  receive  any  caress  whatever  that  would 
indicate  the  slightest  loving  regard  or  affection  on 
either  side.  They  have  no  words  or  expressions 
in  their  language  indicative  of  affection  or  love. 
Their  passion  is  purely  of  an  animal  description, 
unaccompanied  by  the  least  sympathetic  affections 
of  love  or  endearment.  It  is  not  astonishing,  there- 
fore, that  jealousy  should  hardly  exist ;  the  greatest 
breach  of  conduct  on  the  part  of  a  married  woman  is 
but  little  thought  of.  The  husband,  by  their  laws, 
can  at  most  return  his  wife  to  her  father,  who  has 
to  refund  the  present  he  received  on  her  marriage ; 
but  this  extreme  penalty  is  seldom  resorted  to,  fining 
the  paramour  being  considered  a  sufficient  satisfac- 
tion. The  fine  is  generally  a  pig,  and  rum  or  other 
drink,  with  which  a  feast  is  celebrated  by  all  parties. 
The  woman  is  not  punished  in  any  way,  nor  does 
any  disgrace  attach  to  her  conduct.  Adultery  on 
the  part  of  the  husband  is  not  considered  an  offence 
at  all,  and  is  not  even  resented  by  the  wives. 

R  2 


244         ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viii. 

It  might  be  imagined  tliat  tliis  lax  state  of 
things  would  lead  to  much  immorality;  but  such 
is  not  the  case,  as  from  their  utter  want  of  love 
and  appreciation  of  female  beauty  or  charms,  they 
are  quite  satisfied  and  content  with  any  woman 
possessing  even  the  greatest  amount  of  the  hideous 
ugliness  with  which  nature  has  so  bountifully  pro- 
vided them.  Even  for  their  offspring  they  have  but 
little  love  beyond  that  which  is  implanted  in  all 
animals  for  their  young.  Mothers  are  very  rarely 
indeed  seen  playing  with  or  fondling  their  babies: 
as  for  kissing  them,  or  children  their  mothers,  such 
a  thing  is  not  even  thought  of.  At  the  same  time 
I  have  never  seen  a  woman  grossly  neglect  or 
abandon  her  child,  though  they  think  nothing  of 
laying  them  down  to  sleep  anywhere  in  the  sun, 
where  they  soon  become  covered  with  flies;  but 
as  this  does  not  appear  to  hurt  or  inconvenience 
them  in  the  least,  it  can  hardly  be  termed  neglect. 

The  negro  is  not  cruelly  inclined ;  that  is  to  say, 
he  will  not  inflict  pain  for  any  pleasure  it  may 
cause  him,  or  for  revenge,  but  at  the  same  time  he 
has  not  the  slightest  idea  of  mercy,  pity,  or  com- 
passion for  suffering.     A  fellow-creature,  or  animal. 


CH.  VIII.]        CHARACTER  OF  THE  NEGRO.  245 

writhing  in  pain  or  torture,  is  to  him  a  sight  highly- 
provocative  of  merriment  and  enjoyment.  I  have 
seen  a  number  of  blacks  at  Loanda,  men,  women, 
and  children,  stand  round,  roaring  with  laughter  at 
seeing  a  poor  mongrel  dog  that  had  been  run 
over  by  a  cart,  twist  and  roll  about  in  agony  on 
the  ground,  where  it  was  yelping  piteously,  till  a 
white  man  put  it  out  of  its  misery.  An  animal 
that  does  not  belong  to  them,  might  die  a 
thousand  times  of  hunger  and  thirst  before  they 
would  think  of  stirring  a  foot  to  give  it  either  food 
or  drink,  and  I  have  already  described  how  even 
their  own  animals  are  left  to  fare  and  shift  as 
best  they  can  on  their  own  resources,  and  their 
surprise  that  my  wife  should  feed  some  little 
chickens  that  did  not  belong  to  her,  at  a  town  on 
the  road  to  Bembe. 

In  the  houses  it  is  necessary  to  see  for  oneself 
that  all  the  animals  are  regularly  fed  and  watered 
every  day,  or  they  would  quickly  die  of  neglect. 
We  cannot,  therefore,  be  surprised  to  find  the  negro 
so  completely  devoid  of  vindictive  feelings  as  he 
is.  He  may  be  thrashed  to  within  an  inch  of  his 
life,  and  not  only  recover  in  a  marvellously  short 


246  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  viii. 

space  of  time,  but  bear  no  malice  whatever,  either  at 
the  time  or  afterwards.  In  Angola,  the  attempt  to 
take  a  white  man's  life  by  his  slaves,  for  ill  treatment 
or  cruelty  to  them,  is  extremely  rare.  If  any  amount 
of  bad  treatment  is  not  resented,  no  benefit  or  good, 
however  great,  done  to  a  negro,  is  appreciated  or 
recognised  by  him :  such  a  thing  as  gratitude  is 
quite  unknown  to  him  ;  he  will  express  the  greatest 
delight  at  receiving  a  present  or  any  benefit,  but 
it  is  not  from  thankfulness ;  he  only  exhibits  the 
pleasure  he  feels  at  having  obtained  it  without  an 
effort  on  his  part.  He  cannot  be  called  ungrateful 
exactly,  because  that  would  imply  a  certain  amount 
of  appreciation  for  favours  conferred,  which  he  does 
not  feeh  In  the  same  way  his  constant  want  of 
truth,  and  his  invariable  dishonesty  are  the  result, 
not  so  much  of  a  vicious  disposition,  as  of  the  impos- 
sibility to  understand  that  there  is  anything  wrong 
in  being  either  a  liar  or  a  thief:  that  they  are  not 
vicious  thieves  is  shown  by  the  few  concerted  rob- 
beries practised  by  them,  and  the  comparative  safety 
of  property  in  general ;  their  thieving,  as  a  rule,  is 
more  of  a  petty  and  pilfering  description,  in  which, 
as  might  be  expected,  they  are  very  cunning  indeed. 


CH.  VIII.]  FETISH.  247 

To  sum  up  the  negro  character,  it  is  deficient  in 
the  passions,  and  in  their  corresponding  virtues, 
and  the  life  of  the  negro  in  his  primitive  condition, 
apparently  so  peaceful  and  innocent,  is  not  that  of 
an  unsophisticated  state  of  existence,  but  is  due  to 
what  may  be  described  as  an  organically  rudi- 
mentary form  of  mind,  and  consequently  capable 
of  but  little  development  to  a  higher  type;  mere 
peaceable,  vegetarian,  prolific  human  rabbits  and 
guinea  pigs,  in  fact ;  they  may  be  tamed  and  taught 
to  read  and  write,  sing  psalms,  and  other  tricks,  but 
negroes  they  must  remain  to  the  end  of  the  chapter. 
The  negro  has  no  idea  of  a  Creator  or  of  a  future 
existence;  neither  does  he  adore  the  sun  nor  any 
other  object,  idol,  or  image.  His  whole  belief  is  in 
evil  spirits,  and  in  charms  or  "fetishes:"  these 
"fetishes"  can  be  employed  for  evil  as  well  as  to 
counteract  the  bad  effect  of  other  malign  "  fetishes  " 
or  spirits.  Even  the  natives  of  Portuguese  Angola, 
who  have  received  the  idea  of  God  or  Creator  from 
the  white  men,  will  not  allow  that 'the  same  Power 
rules  over  both  races,  but  that  the  God  of  the  white 
man  is  another,  and  different  from  the  God  of  the 
black   man;    as    one    old  negro   that  I  was   once 


248         ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viii. 

arguing  with  expressed  it,  "  Your  God  tauglit  you  to 
make  gunpowder  and  guns,  but  ours  never  did,"  and 
it  is  perfectly  established  in  their  minds  that  in 
consequence  of  our  belonging  to  another  and  more 
powerful  God,  their  ''  fetishes  "  are  unavailing  either 
for  good  or  evil,  to  the  white  man;  our  ridiculing 
their  belief  in  "fetish"  only  serves  to  make  them 
believe  the  more  in  it. 

In  almost  every  large  town  there  is  a  "fetish 
house"  under  the  care  of  a  "fetish  man."  This 
house  is  generally  in  the  form  of  a  diminutive 
square  hut,  with  mud  walls,  painted  white,  and 
these  covered  with  figures  of  men  and  beasts  in  red 
and  black  colours.  The  spirit  is  supposed  to  reside 
in  this  habitation,  and  is  believed  to  watch  over 
the  safety  of  the  town:  the  hut  also  contains  the 
stock-in-trade  of  the  "  fetish  man."  These  "  fetish 
men "  are  consulted  in  all  cases  of  sickness  or 
death,  as  also  to  work  charms  in  favour  of,  and 
against  every  imaginable  thing;  for  luck,  health, 
rain,  good  crops,  fecundity;  against  all  illness, 
storms,  fire,  surf,  and  misfortunes  and  calamities 
of  every  kind.  No  death  is  attributed  to  natural 
causes,    it    is    always    ascribed    to    the    person   or 


CH.  VIII.]  FETISH.  249 

animal  having  been  "fetished"  by  some  spirit  or 
living  person,  and  the  "fetish  man*'  is  consulted 
to  find  out,  and  if  the  latter,  the  culprit  is  fined, 
sold  into  slavery  or  executed,  or  has  to  take  "  casca," 
to  prove  his  innocence.  The  "fetish  man"  also 
prepares  the  charms  against  sickness,  &c.,  with 
which  every  man,  woman,  and  child,  as  well  as  their 
huts  and  plantations,  is  provided. 

These  charms  are  of  many  kinds,  and  are  worn 
round  the  neck  and  waist,  or  suspended  from  the 
shoulder.  A  short  bit  of  wood  with  a  carved  head, 
with  a  couple  of  beads,  cowries,  or  brass  tacks  for 
eyes,  and  contained  in  a  little  pouch,  with  the  head 
left  sticking  out,  and  hung  by  a  string  round  the 
neck,  is  a  very  common  form.  A  pouch  stuffed  full 
of  fowls'  dung,  feathers,  and  "taenia,"  is  also  a 
favourite  ''fetish."  A  bundle  of  rags  or  shreds  of 
cotton  cloth  of  all  kinds,  black  with  filth  and  per- 
spiration, is  often  seen  suspended  from  the  shoulder 
or  hung  in  their  huts.  The  large  flat  seed  of  the 
"Entada  gigantea"  is  also  a  common  "fetish"  to 
hang  from  the  neck.  A  couple  of  iron  bells  like 
the  "Engongui"  described  in  page  203  but  very 
much  smaller,  and   with  a  small  bit  of  iron  as  a 


250         ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viii. 

clapper  inside,  are   often  hung  from  the   neck   or 
waist.     Small  antelopes'  horns,  empty  or  filled  with 
various  kinds  of  filth,  are  also  suspended  round  the 
neck  for  charms.     Children  are  never  seen  without 
a    string   tied    round    the    waist,    with    or    without 
some   beads   strung   on   it,  and  the   ends   hanging 
down   in   front.     The   land    shells    (Aeliatina    Wei- 
witscliii  and  Zebrina)  are    filled   with   fowls'  dung 
and  feathers,  "  taenia,"  &c.,  and  stuck  on  a  stick  in 
the  plantations  and  salt  pits,  to  protect  them  from 
thieves;   also  the  gourd-like  pods   or   fruit  of  the 
baobab  tree,  likewise   filled  with  various  kinds   of 
filth,   and   painted   on  the   outside  white   and   red, 
with  "  pemba "  (a  white  talcose  earth  from  the  de- 
composition of  mica  and  mica  schist)  and  "  taenia." 
A  great  ** fetish"  in  childbirth  and  infancy  is  made 
in  the  shape   of  a  little   pouch   about  two  inches 
long  and  the  thickness  of  the  middle  finger,  very 
prettily  woven  of  fine  grass;  these  are  filled  with 
fowls'  dung  and  "  taenia,"  and  a  couple  are  placed 
in  a  small  vessel  containing  water;   the  father  of 
the  child  squeezes  the  pouches  in  the  water,  much 
in  the  manner  that  a  washerwoman  does  her  blue- 
bag,  till  it  becomes  coloured  by  the  dirt  and  dye 


CH.  VIII.]  FETISH.  251 

in  the  pouch;  he  then  sjDiinkles  the  mother  and 
newly-born  child  with  the  dirty  water,  and  ties  one 
of  the  pouches  round  the  mother's  neck,  and  the 
other  round  the  child's.  If  this  be  not  done,  the 
blacks  believe  that  the  mother  and  child  would 
quickly  die ; — the  pouches  are  not  taken  off  till  the 
child  can  walk.  Another  great  *' fetish"  in  child- 
birth is  a  large  bunch  of  a  round  hollow  seed 
like  a  large  marble,  which  is  hung  round  the 
mother's  neck,  and  not  taken  off  till  the  child  is 
weaned,  generally  in  twelve  moons,  or  a  year's 
time. 

Hung  in  the  huts,  and  outside  over  the  doors 
are  all  kinds  of  "fetishes,"  and  in  the  towns  and 
about  the  huts  are  various  figures,  generally  roughly 
carved  in  wood,  and  sometimes  made  of  clay,  but 
always  coloured  red,  black,  and  white.  The  finest 
*' fetishes"  are  made  by  the  Mussurongos  on  the 
Congo  Kiver.  Plate  IV.  represents  one  obtained 
at  Boma.  Some  of  these  large  '* fetishes"  have  a 
wide-spread  reputation,  and  the  "  fetish  men "  to 
whom  they  belong  are  often  sent  for  from  long 
distances  to  work  some  charm  or  cure  with  them. 
I  have  constantly  met  them   carrying  these  great 


252         ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  yiii. 

ugly  figures,  and  accompanied  by  two  or  three 
attendants  beating  drums  and  chanting  a  dismal 
song  as  they  go  along. 

On  the  coast  there  are  several  "fetish  men" 
who  are  believed  to  have  power  over  the  surf,  and 
their  aid  is  always  invoked  by  the  natives  when  it 
lasts  long,  or  is  so  strong  as  to  prevent  them  going 
out  in  their  canoes  to  fish.  There  is  a  celebrated 
one  at  Musserra,  and  I  have  often  seen  him  on  the 
high  cliff  or  point  going  through  his  incantations 
to  allay  the  heavy  surf;  he  has  a  special  dress 
for  the  occasion,  it  being  almost  covered  with  shells 
and  sea-weed;  he  is  called  the  "Mother  of  the 
Water,"  and  his  power  is  held  in  great  dread  by 
the  natives.  No  white  man  can  go  to  the  Granite 
Pillar  at  Musserra  without  having  propitiated  him 
by  a  present.  This  one,  however,  being  half  idiotic, 
is  a  poor  harmless  black,  but  others  are  not  so,  and 
render  themselves  very  troublesome  to  the  white 
traders  by  working  mischief  against  them  amongst 
the  natives.  A  young  Englishman  established  at 
Ambrizzette,  although  well  known  to  them  for  many 
years,  having  been  formerly  engaged  amongst  them 
in  the  slave  trade,  was  obliged  to  escape  from  there 


CH.  VIII.]  FETISH,  253 

for  a  time,  in  consequence  of  an  epidemic  of  small- 
pox being  ascribed  by  the  "  fetish  men  "as  having 
been  introduced  into  the  country  by  him,  in  a  jar ! 

Others  take  advantage  of  the  dread  the  natives 
have  of  spirits,  to  commit  robberies.  One  at  Bembe 
robbed  several  houses  during  the  absence  of  the 
white  owners,  by  mewing  like  a  cat,  when,  such  was 
the  fear  of  the  blacks,  that  they  instantly  lay  on  the 
ground,  face  downwards,  and  covered  their  heads  till 
he  had  gone  away ;  meantime  he  had  coolly  walked 
in  and  helped  himself  to  whatever  he  pleased ; — in 
this  way  he  went  off  with  a  trunk  full  of  clothes 
from  the  doctor's  house,  the  servants  not  daring  to 
lift  up  their  heads  as  soon  as  they  heard  the  mewing 
approajching,  in  the  firm  belief  that  they  would  be 
instantly  struck  dead  if  they  even  saw  him.  I 
heard  this  man  mewing  in  the  high  grass  behind  my 
house  one  night,  when  I  instantly  fired  a  charge  of 
small  shot  in  the  direction  of  the  noise,  and  I 
did  not  hear  him  again  till  a  few  days  after,  when, 
having  been  captured  by  a  Portuguese  soldier  w^hilst 
attempting  to  rob  his  hut,  he  was  tied  on  a  gun  at 
the  fort,  and  by  a  tremendous  thrashing  made  to 
mew  in  earnest.     All  the  blacks  in  the  place  went 


254         ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viii. 

to  see  him  punished,  jeering  at  him,  and  telling  him 
the  white  man's  "  fetish  "  was  stronger  than  his. 

The  negroes  have  great  confidence  in  the  power 
of  "  fetishes  "  to  protect  their  houses,  &c.,  from  fire 
or  other  misfortune,  and  an  instance  that  I  witnessed 
at  Bembe  proves  their  blind  faith  in  them.  The 
Cabinda  negroes  who  were  working  as  washer-boys, 
&c.,  lived  apart  from  the  other  natives,  as  they 
always  do,  in  a  little  town  or  collection  of  huts  by 
themselves ;  one  afternoon  one  of  these  huts  caught 
fire,  and  such  was  their  belief  in  their  "Mani- 
panzos  "  as  they  call  their  "  fetish  "  figures,  to  pre- 
serve the  huts  from  fire,  that  they  did  nothing 
either  to  put  it  out,  or  to  prevent  the  flames 
spreading;  in  a  very  short  time  the  town  was 
consumed,  and  the  Cabindas  lost  the  whole  of 
theu'  property;  they  ran  about  like  madmen, 
throwing  up  their  arms  and  crying  out,  and 
abusing  the  "Endochi"  (their  name  for  Endoqui) 
in  Cabinda  who  had  cheated  them  with  useless 
"fetishes,"  and  vowed  vengeance  on  him  when 
they  should  return  to  their  country. 

The     Mussurongo,     Ambriz,     and     Mushicongo 
negroes,  are  much  afraid  of  going  about  at  night. 


CH.  VIII.]  CUSTOMS.  255 

unless  there  is  moonlight ;  if  one  is  sent  with  a 
message  on  a  dark  night,  he  always  takes  one 
or  two  more  with  him  for  protection,  for  fear  of 
spirits. 

As  already  noticed,  when  speaking  of  the  present 
want  of  power  of  the  King  of  Congo,  there  are  no 
very  great  chiefs  in  the  country  from  the  Kiver 
Congo  to  the  district  of  Loanda,  the  most  im- 
portant or  powerful  being  the  King  of  N'Bamba 
and  the  "  Dembo  Ambuilla,"  or  King  of  Encoge. 
Every  town  has  its  own  king  and  council,  gene- 
rally of  ten  or  twelve  of  the  oldest  men,  who 
are  called  *•'  Macotas,"  and  who  together  administer 
the  laws,  settle  disputes,  &g.  A  king  has  no  power 
by  himselfj  the  natives  simply  reverencing  him  as 
being  invested  with  the  "fetish"  of  chief,  and  he 
receives  very  little  tribute  from  the  natives  of  his 
own  town ;  the  fines  and  penalties  levied  he  has 
also  to  divide  with  the  "  Macotas." 

In  all  the  tribes  of  Angola  that  I  am  acquainted 
with,  the  office  of  king  descends  from  uncle  to 
nephew  (or  in  want  of  nephew,  to  niece),  but  by 
the  sister's  side,  as,  from  what  we  call  morals 
being  but  little  understood  by  them,  the  paternity 


256  ANGOLA  AND  TEE  RIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  vni. 

of  any  child  is  liable  to  very  great  doubt ;  but  as 
a  black  once  explained  to  me,  '^  there  is  no  doubt 
that  my  sister  and  myself  came  from  the  same 
mother,  and  there  is  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  my 
sister's  child  must  be  my  nephew."  This  necessity 
for  a  positive  or  certain  descent  is  very  curious, 
as  no  record  is  kept  of  their  pedigree  or  history. 

The  only  division  of  time  being  into  moons  or 
months,  and  into  dry  and  wet  seasons,  and  no 
record  of  any  kind  being  kept,  blacks  are  quite 
unable  to  estimate  their  own  age ;  servants  keep  an 
account  of  the  months  they  are  in  service  by  tying 
a  knot  on  a  string  for  every  moon. 

Every  king  has  a  stick  of  office ;  this  is  in 
form  like  a  straight,  thick,  smooth  walking-stick, 
generally  made  of  ebony,  or  of  other  wood  dyed 
black,  almost  always  plain,  but  sometimes  carved 
with  various  patterns  and  ornamented  with  brass 
tacks,  or  inlaid  with  different  designs  in  brass 
or  tin  plate.  These  sticks  are  always  sent  with  a 
messenger  from  the  king,  and  serve  to  authenticate 
the  message.  The  principal  insignia  of  the  king's 
office  is  the  cap,  which  is  hereditary.  It  resembles 
a  short  nightcap,  and  is  made  of  fine  fibre,  generally 


CH.  VIII.]  CUSTOMS.  257 

that  of  the  wild  pineapple  leaf,  and  some  are  beauti- 
fully woven  with  raised  patterns.  The  king  never 
wears  it  in  the  usual  way,  but  on  any  occasion  of 
ceremony  it  is  carried  on  the  head  doubled  in  four. 
The  "  Macotas  "  also  use  the  same  kind  of  cap,  but 
worn  properly  on  the  head,  and,  like  the  king,  only 
on  occasions  of  ceremony. 

When  a  white  man,  travelling,  stops  to  rest  for 
meals,  or  to  sleep  at  a  town,  it  is  usual  for  the  king 
and  "Macotas"  to  give  him  a  ceremonious  recep- 
tion, for  which  the  king  dresses  himself  in  his  best, 
and  when  they  are  all  assembled  they  send  word 
to  say  that  they  are  ready  to  make  their  compli- 
ments. The  meeting  is  generally  in  front  of  the 
king's  hut,  or  else  under  the  largest  tree  in  the 
town  (usually  a  baobab),  where  ceremonials  have 
taken  place  from  time  immemorial.  The  king  only 
is  seated,  another  seat  being  placed  at  a  little 
distance  in  front  for  the  traveller.  All  the 
hammock-boys  and  servants  belonging  to  the  latter 
attend  and  squat  behind  him;  on  the  king's  side  is 
generally  the  whole  available  population  of  the 
town,  for  whom  the  occasion  is  an  excitement,  the 
front  rows  squatting  on  the  ground,  and  the  rest 

VOL.  I.  s 


258         ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,   [ch,  viii. 

standing  crowded  together  in  a  circle.  The  travel- 
ler's retinue  first  begin  by  clapping  hands  to  the 
king  and  "Macotas."  This  is  performed  in  a 
peculiar  manner  by  hollowing  both  palms,  as  in  the 
action  of  filling  them  with  water,  and  then  bringing 
them  together  crosswise,  when  a  much  louder  and 
deeper  sound  is  produced  than  by  clapping  the 
hands  in  the  ordinary  manner.  The  king  returns 
the  salute  by  extending  the  left  hand  before  him 
horizontally,  with  the  palm  towards  him,  and 
placing  the  back  of  the  right  hand  flat  in  the  palm 
of  the  left,  and  the  fingers  projecting  over  it  are 
then  waved  quickly  in  succession  in  that  position. 
(Plate  v.,  figs.  5,  6.)  This  is  the  universal  manner 
of  greeting  in  Angola  between  an  inferior  and 
superior  of  high  rank ;  when  the  difference  is  not  so 
great,  as  children  to  their  parents,  slaves  to  their 
masters,  ordinary  natives  to  their  "Macotas,"  &c., 
both  clap  their  hands,  but  the  inferior  has  to  do 
it  first,  and  both  squat  down  for  a  moment  to  do  it. 
A  powerful  king  answers  a  salute  by  simply  lifting 
his  right  hand,  and  waving  his  first  and  second 
fino-er  onlv. 

The  king  then  speaks  to  one  of  the  "  Macotas  " 


CH.  VIII.]  CUSTOMS.  259 

who  can  best  translate  his  speech  to  the  white  man, 
welcoming  him  to  the  town,  and  inquiring  after  his 
health  ;  the  traveller  tlien  calls  one  of  his  attendants 
to  act  as  interpreter,  and  returns  the  compliments, 
and  makes  the  king  a  present  of  a  few  handkerchiefs 
and  beads  for  his  wives,  but  the  ceremonial  is  not 
considered  complete  without  the  traveller  pre- 
senting a  bottle  or  a  drink  of  wine  or  rum,  which 
the  king  first  partakes  of,  and  then  passes  to  the 
"  Macotas ;  " — the  white  man  then  shakes  hands 
with  the  king  and  takes  his  leave,  the  king  always 
sending  him  some  little  present,  generally  a  fowl  or 
pig,  for  which,  however,  another  present  equal  to  its 
value  is  expected.  It  is  not  considered  etiquette 
for  the  king  to  speak  Portuguese  on  these  occasions, 
however  well  he  may  know  or  understand  it,  but 
always  to  use  his  native  language,  and  employ  an 
interpreter ;  the  white  man  must  also  employ  an  in- 
terpreter to  translate  his  speech. 

Besides  rubbing  the  forehead  on  the  ground  to 
a  powerful  king,  which  I  have  described  as  practised 
to  the  King  of  Congo,  the  blacks  have  another  way 
of  rendering  homage ;  this  is  by  rubbing  the  fingers 
of  both  hands  on  the  ground,  and  transferring  the 

s  2 


260         ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viii. 

dust  tliat  adheres  to   them  to  the  eyebrows,  ears, 
and  cheeks. 

The  appearance  of  some  of  the  kings  dressed  in 
their  fine  clothes  is  very  ridiculous,  A  red  or  blue 
baize  cloak  thrown  over  the  shoulders  is  considered 
the  correct  thing,  particularly  over  an  old  uniform 
of  any  kind,  with  the  more  gold  lace  on  it  the 
better.  The  old  King  of  Quirillo,  on  the  road  to 
Bembe,  was  as  amusing  a  figure  as  any  I  have  seen. 
He  always  used  to  appear  in  a  woman's  brightly- 
coloured  chintz  gown,  with  a  short  red  cloak  over 
his  shoulders,  and  a  great  brass  cavalry  helmet  on 
his  head,  his  black  wrinkled  face  in  a  broad  grin 
of  satisfaction  at  the  admiration  that  his  brilliant 
costume  appeared  to  excite  among  the  natives. 

The  blacks  in  this  part  of  the  country  are  armed 
•with  flint  muskets,  of  which  many  thousands  are 
annually  passed  in  trade  on  the  coast.  They  like 
the  heavy  pattern  of  gun,  unlike  the  natives  to  the 
south,  who  will  only  have  very  light  flimsy  Liege- 
made  guns.  They  are  fond  of  ornamenting  the 
stock  with  brass  tacks ; — I  have  seen  the  whole  of 
the  woodwork  of  some  of  their  muskets  completely 
covered  with  them.     They  have   no   idea   of  using 


CH.  viii.J  AR3IS  AND  WAR,  261 

them  properly,  generally  firing  them  from  the  side 
without  any  regard  to  aim  or  the  distance  that  they 
can  carry.  Their  manner  of  loading  them  I  have 
already  described. 

These  natives  are  arrant  cowards,  and  in  their 
so-called  wars  or  disputes  between  one  town  and 
another  they  seldom  resort  to  firearms  to  settle 
their  differences.  If  one  man  is  killed  or  wounded 
it  is  considered  a  very  great  war  indeed,  although 
a  great  deal  of  powder  may  have  been  burnt  in 
mutual  defiance  at  a  safe  distance.  The  Portuguese 
were  engaged  in  war  on  several  occasions  on  the 
road  to  Bembe,  and  punished,  by  burning,  a  number 
of  towns  where  robberies  had  been  committed,  and 
where,  from  the  thickness  of  the  bush  and  forest, 
the  ridiculously  small  force  at  their  command  would 
have  been  quickly  massacred,  had  not  the  natives 
been  such  craven  cowards,  and  so  incapable  of 
using  their  firearms.  A  shot  from  a  six-pounder 
gun,  by  which  a  king  and  seven  other  blacks  were 
killed — swept  off  a  path  where  they  were  standing 
in  file  at  what  they  considered  a  safe  distance — 
contributed  more  than  anything  else  to  restore 
peace  on  the  road. 


262         ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viii. 

The  boats  that  used  to  navigate  the  Eiver  Congo 
were  formerly  armed  with  a  small  carronade,  to 
protect  themselves  from  any  attack  by  the  piratical 
Mussnrongos  on  that  river.  One  of  these  car- 
ronades  falling  into  the  hands  of  those  blacks  was 
by  them  sold  to  a  town  in  the  interior.  The  natives 
of  this  became  involved  in  a  dispute  with  those  of 
a  powerful  neighbouring  town,  who  proceeded  to 
attack  it.  The  natives  of  the  former  town,  who 
depended  on  the  carronade  as  their  principal  means 
of  defence,  placed  it  on  the  path,  loaded  to  the 
muzzle  with  powder  and  stones,  and  laying  a  long 
train  of  powder  to  it  awaited  the  advance  of  the 
enemy;  when  it  appeared  in  sight  the  train  was 
fired,  and  the  inhabitants  took  to  their  heels.  The 
assailing  army,  hearing  such  a  terrific  report,  paused 
to  consider,  and  prudently  decided  to  return  to  their 
town.  Next  day  they  sent  proposals  of  peace  to  the 
little  town,  saying  that  as  the  latter  had  such  a  big 
"  fetish,"  they  could  not  think  of  making  war  any 
more. 

The  Mussurongo  and  Ambriz  blacks  knock  out 
the  two  middle  front  teeth  in  the  upper  jaw  on 
arriving  at  the  age  of  puberty.     The  Mushicongos 


GH.  VIII.]  DRESS.  263 

are  distinguished  from  them  by  haying  all  their 
front  teeth,  top  and  bottom,  chipped  into  points, 
which  gives  them  a  very  curious  appearance. 
These  tribes,  like  all  blacks,  have  magnificent  sets  of 
teeth,  and  the  great  care  they  take  to  keep  them 
beautifully  clean  is  most  singular,  considering  their 
generally  dirty  habits  and  want  of  cleanliness.  A 
negro's  first  care  in  the  morning  is  to  rinse  out  his 
mouth,  generally  using  his  forefinger  to  rub  his 
teeth  ;  the  big  mouthful  of  water  with  which  they 
wash  their  mouths  is  always  squirted  out  afterwards 
in  a  thin  stream  on  their  hands,  to  wash  them  with, 
this  being  about  the  extent  of  their  ablutions. 
Many  use  a  bit  of  cane  switch  or  soft  stick  with  the 
end  beaten  into  a  brush  of  fibres  to  clean  their  teeth 
with,  this  brush  being  often  carried  suspended  from 
a  piece  of  string  round  their  necks.  After  every 
meal  they  always  wash  their  mouths  and  teeth,  and 
I  have  seen  them  dip  their  forefinger  into  the  clean 
sharp  sand  of  a  river,  and  use  it  vigorously  as 
tooth-powder. 

Polygamy  is  of  course  an  established  institution 
among  the  natives  of  Angola,  and  the  number  of 
wives  that  a  black  may  keep  is  only  regulated  by 


264         ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viii. 

his  means  to  maintain  them.  This  applies  to  free 
blacks,  the  wives  or  married  women  being  all  free. 
A  free  man  may  also  keep  as  many  slaves  and 
concubines  as  he  can  clothe. 

There  is  no  ceremony  of  marriage  amongst  the 
Mussurongo,  Ambriz,  or  Mushicongo  blacks,  except 
mutual  consent,  but  the  bridegroom  has  to  make 
his  father-in-law  a  present  of  from  two  to  three 
pieces  of  cloth  and  some  bottles  of  rum.  He 
has,  besides,  to  provide  a  feast  to  which  all  the 
relatives  of  both  families  are  invited,  and  in  which 
a  pig  is  an  indispensable  element,  and  as  much 
rum  or  other  drink  as  his  means  will  allow.  The 
bride's  trousseau  is  also  provided  by  him,  but 
this,  among  the  poorer  Mushicongos,  very  often 
only  consists  of  a  couple  of  handkerchiefs  or  a 
fathom  of  cotton  cloth.  In  many  cases  the  bride 
is  delivered  over  naked  to  the  bridegroom.  He 
has  to  provide  her  with  clothing,  baskets,  hoe, 
pipe,  pots  for  cooking,  wooden  platters,  &c.,  and 
a  separate  hut  with  sleepiug-mat  for  each  wife ; 
in  return  for  this  the  wives  have  to  cook  and 
cultivate  the  plantations  and  to  keep  themselves 
and   the   husband   in   food.     Should   he  be  unable 


CH.  ^^IT.]  DRESS.  265 


to  supply  a  wife  with  the  customary  clothing,  &c., 
she  can  leave  him  and  return  to  her  parents,  in 
which  case  he  loses  her,  and  the  amount  he  gave 
for  her  as  well. 

The  dress  of  the  blacks  near  the  coast  is,  as 
might  be  expected,  not  so  scanty  as  those  farther 
inland.  The  men  wear  a  waistcloth  reaching  to 
the  knees,  tied  round  the  waist  with  a  strip  of 
red  baize,  and  those  who  can  afford  it  fringe  the 
ends  of  the  cloth,  which  are  allowed  to  hang 
nearly  to,  and  in  some  cases  to  trail  on,  the 
ground.  The  women  sew  together  two  widths  of 
cotton  cloth,  which  is  worn  wrapped  round  the 
body,  coveriDg  it  from  under  the  arm-pits  to  the 
knees,  and  tied  in  the  same  manner  round  the 
waist  with  a  strip  of  baize; — the  top-end  being 
tucked  in,  secures  the  cloth  under  the  arms  over 
the  breast,  but  when  travelling  or  working  in  the 
fields,  they  allow  the  top  width  to  fall  down  on 
their  hips,  and  leave  the  upper  part  of  the  body 
exposed.  In  the  poorer  towns  the  men  only  wear 
a  small  waistcloth  of  cotton  cloth  or  matting;  the 
women  also  wear  a  short  waistcloth,  and  a  hand- 
kerchief folded  diagonally  and  tied  tightly  under 


26B         ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,   [ch.  viii. 

the  arms,  with,  the  ends  hanging  over  and  partly 
concealing   the   breasts.     Girls   and   young   women 
generally   wear   a   single   handkerchief   tied  by   a 
string  round  their  hips,  the  ends  of  the  handker- 
chief not  meeting  at   the  side,  leaving  one   thigh 
exposed.     Children  run  about  stark  naked,  or  with 
a   piece   of    string   tied   round   the   waist   and   the 
ends  hanging  down   in   front.     Their   covering   at 
night  is  only  the  waistcloth  or  mat,  which  is  gene- 
rally  long    enough    to    cover   them   from   head  to 
foot.     These   mats   are   made    from   the   cuticle   of 
the   leaves   of  a   dwarf  palm,  which  is   peeled   off 
when  green  and  dried  in  the  sun.     It  is  only  very 
few  of  the  richer  folks  who  have  a  baize  cloth  or 
other  covering  for  their  bodies  at  night.     As  might 
be  expected,  they  are  very  glad  to  get  cast-off  gar- 
ments, and  they  will  wear  any  article  of  clothing 
however  ragged  it  may  be.     One  of  my  boys,  to 
whom  I  had   given   an   old   shirt  without  a  back, 
fastened    it   on    by    lacing    it   up    behind    with    a 
string,   and    the   contrast    presented    by   his    shiny 
black    back   and  his  clean  shirt   front,  collar,  and 
sleeves,    was    most    comical.     Another    hammock- 
boy   made   his  appearance   in   a   wide-awake,  blue 


GH.  vm.]  DRESS.  267 

silk  tie,  pair  of  slippers,  and  the  body-part  of  an 
old  pair  of  white  duck-trousers  I  had  given  him, 
the  legs  of  which  he  had  cut  off  to  make  a 
present  of  to  his  brother.  The  cotton  umbrellas 
they  receive  in  barter  from  the  traders,  each  seg- 
ment of  which  is  a  different  bright  colour,  when 
old  are  taken  off  the  ribs,  the  hole  at  the  top  is 
enlarged  to  pass  the  head  through,  and  they  are 
then  worn  on  the  shoulders  like  a  cape. 

The  coast  tribes  do  not  interfere  with  nature  in 
the  development  of  the  female  figure,  but  the 
Mushicongos  object  to  prominent  breasts,  and  girls 
tie  a  string  tightly  round  the  chest  to  reduce  the 
growing  breasts  to  the  perfectly  flat  shape  in 
fashion ;  —  the  appearance  of  some  of  the  old 
negresses  with  their  breasts  hanging  low  and  flat 
in  front  is  very  disgusting. 

The  blacks  have  a  great  admiration  for  a  wliite 
woman's  costume,  and  I  shall  never  forget  an  old 
"Capata's"  description  of  a  Portuguese  ofiicer's 
wife  that  he  had  seen  at  Ambriz,  or  his  imitation 
of  her  slim  waist  and  flowing  dress.  I  told  him  I 
would  send  him  a  thin-waisted  wife  from  England 
if  he   promised   to  put  away  the   three   he   then 


268        ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  yiii. 

had;  he  refused  then,  but  uext  day  came  to  me 
and  said  that,  having  considered  my  offer,  he  would 
accept  it ! 

The  Mussurongo,  but  not  the  Ambriz  or  Mushi- 
congo  men,  wear  ankle  -  rings  made  of  brass 
(European  make),  or  of  tin,  made  by  themselves 
from  bar-tin  obtained  in  trade  from  the  white 
men.  The  women  of  the  three  tribes  are  very 
fond  of  wearing  rings  both  on  their  arms  and 
legs;  these  are  sometimes  made  in  one  piece  of 
thin  brass  wire  wound  loosely  round  the  arm  or 
leg,  but  a  number  of  separate  rings,  about  the 
size  of  ordinary  rings  on  curtain-rods,  is  most 
esteemed,  and  they  must  be  solid;  they  are  not 
appreciated  if  hollow.  Some  of  the  richer  women 
wear  as  many  as  twenty  of  these  rings  on  each 
leg  and  arm,  the  weight  rendering  them  almost 
unable  to  move,  but  six  or  eight  is  a  very  usual 
number  to  wear  on  each  limb.  It  must  not  be 
understood  that  this  is  the  universal  custom,  as  it 
is  only  the  wives  of  the  kings  or  "Macotas"  who 
can  afford  these  ornaments. 

These  three  tribes  generally  keep  their  heads 
shaved,  or  else  only  allow  their  hair  to  grow  very 


CH.  VIII.]  BBESS.  269 


short,  and  cut  or  shave  it  into  various  patterns, 
sometimes  very  complicated  in  character.  Where 
razors  or  scissors  are  scarce,  I  have  seen  blacks 
shave  heads  with  a  piece  of  glass  split  from 
the  bottom  of  an  ordinary  bottle,  the  operator 
stretching  the  skin  of  the  scalp  tightly  towards 
him  with  the  thumb  of  the  left  hand,  while  he 
scrapes  away  from  him  with  the  sharp  edge  of 
the  wedge-shaped  piece  of  glass  in  his  right.  Did 
they  not  keep  their  woolly  heads  so  free  from 
hair,  great  would  be  the  production  of  a  certain 
obnoxious  insect,  under  the  combined  influence  of 
dirt  and  heat.  Amongst  the  Mushicongos  the 
chiefs'  wives  and  other  more  aristocratic  ladies 
allow  their  hair  to  grow  into  a  huge  worsted- 
looking  bush  or  mop,  which  is  carefully  combed 
straight  up  and  out,  and  of  course  swarms  with 
insect  inhabitants.  A  very  curious  plan  is  adopted 
to  entrap  them: — a  number  of  little  flask-shaped 
gourds,  about  the  size  of  an  ordinary  pear,  are 
strung  through  their  necks  on  a  string,  which  is 
tied  round  the  greasy  forehead ;  a  little  loose 
cotton-wool  is  stuffed  into  each,  and  the  open 
narrow  ends  stick  into  the  bush  of  hair;  they  are 


270         ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viii. 

taken  off  each  morning,  the  cotton-wool  is  pulled 
out,  and  the  little  innocents  that  have  crawled 
into  it  are  crunched  on  the  ground  with  a  stone ; 
the  w^ool  is  replaced,  and  they  are  again  huog 
round  the  back  of  the  head  as  before.  These 
traps  in  fact  act  in  the  same  way  as  the  little 
pots  turned  upside  down  and  filled  with  hay, 
which  our  gardeners  employ  to  capture  earwigs 
on  dahlias. 

Hunting  them  by  hand  is  of  course  very  much 
in  vogue,  and  I  was  once  greatly  amused  at  the 
way  the  chase  was  carried  on  on  a  woman's  head 
at  a  town  called  Sangue,  near  Bembe.  She  was 
sitting  on  a  low  stool,  and  two  girls  were  busily 
turning  over  her  hair  and  collecting  the  lively 
specimens,  which,  as  they  were  caught,  were 
pinched  to  prevent  their  crawling,  and  placed  in 
the  open  palm  of  a  child's  hand,  who  also  stood 
in  the  group.  My  curiosity  was  excited  as  to  the 
reason  of  the  specimens  being  thus  carefully  pre- 
served, and  on  asking  one  of  my  hammock-boys, 
he  told  me  "that  is  for  the  payment" — they  are 
afterwards  counted,  and  the  girls  get  a  glass  bead 
for  every  one  they  have  caught. 


CH.  viiL]  ZOMBO  TRIBE.  271 

I  thonglit  that  a  bead  each  was  rather  high  pay 
for  the  work,  and  told  him  so ;  his  answer  was, 
"  If  yon  had  a  hundred  on  your  head,  would  you 
not  give  a  hundred  beads  to  have  them  caught?" 
and  I  was  obliged  to  confess  that  I  should  consider 
it  a  cheap  riddance. 

The    Zombo    and    other   natives   farther   to   the 

interior,  who   come   to   the   coast  with  ivory,  &c., 

seldom    shave    their   heads :    the   common    lot   let 

their   hair   grow  anyhow,  without   apparently  ever 

combing   it    out — a   confused   mass    of   wool,   dirt, 

and    palm    oil  —  so    that    it    gives    them    a    wild 

appearance;   others  comb  it  straight  up,  letting  it 

grow   about    six    inches    long,   and    ornament    the 

front   with   a   cock's   feather    or   a   red    flower,   or 

sometimes  stick   two   or  three   brass   tacks   in   it; 

others   shave   their   heads   all   round,   leaving    the 

hair  in  the  middle  to  grow  upright,  but  the  most 

usual  manner  is  to  plait  their  hair  in  little  strings 

all    over    the    head ;    some   twist    and   plait   these 

strings  again  round  the   head,  ending  at   the   top 

in  a  round  knob,  so  that  they  look  exactly  as  if 

they  had  a  basket  on  their  heads. 

Any   malformation  with  which  a  child   may  be 


272         ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viii. 

born  is  considered  a  "fetish"  by  the  negroes  in 
Angola.  A  very  short  or  sunken  neck  is  thonght 
a  very  great  fetish  indeed.  I  saw  two  blacks  in 
the  Bembe  country  who  seemed  to  have  no  necks 
at  all. 

Albinos  are  not  at  all  uncommon,  and  very  re- 
pulsive looking  creatures  they  are,  with  their  dirty 
white,  scabby,  shrunken  skins.  Blacks  with  six 
fingers  and  toes  are  often  seen,  and  are  also  con- 
sidered as  "fetish." 

Women  bear  children  with  the  greatest  facility. 
In  every  town  there  are  one  or  more  old  women 
who  act  as  mid  wives,  and  I  was  informed  that 
very  few  deaths  indeed  occui*  from  childbirth,  and 
in  a  very  short  time  after  the  mothers  may  be 
seen  about. 

A  very  striking  instance  of  the  ease  with  which 
women  go  through  this  trial,  happened  to  my 
knowledge  whilst  I  was  at  Benguella.  Senhor 
Conceicao,  the  agent  of  the  copper  mine  I  was 
exploring  there,  had  occasion  to  send  up  a  number 
of  poles  to  the  mine,  which  was  about  six  miles 
inland.  He  called  his  slaves  together  early  one 
morning  and  told  them  that  all  who  were  able  to 


CH.  vin.]  A  BIRTH.  273 

carry  poles  should  take  up  one  and  go  off  to  the 
mine  with  it; — these  wooden  poles  w^eighing  about 
thirty  to  forty  pounds  each.  About  twenty  of  the 
slaves  in  the  yard  shouldered  one,  and  away  they 
went,  merrily  singing  together.  Amongst  them 
was  a  woman  near  her  confinement,  who  need  not 
have  gone  with  her  companions  if  she  had  chosen 
to  remain  behind.  After  breakfast  we  proceeded 
to  the  mine,  and  on  arriving  at  a  place  about  four 
miles  off  we  noticed  a  few  of  the  poles  on  the 
ground,  but  none  of  the  bearers  near;  our  ham- 
mock-boys shouted  for  them,  thinking  they  had 
perhaps  gone  into  the  bush  and  laid  down  to 
sleep,  leaving  their  loads  on  the  road.  A  woman 
came  out  of  a  thicket  and  explained  that  the 
pregnant  woman's  time  had  arrived,  and  that 
the  child  had  just  been  born.  Senhor  Conceipao 
ordered  the  women  to  remain  with  her  till  we 
should  arrive  at  the  mine,  when  he  would  send 
bearers  with  a  hammock,  blanket,  wine,  &c.,  to 
carry  her  back.  After  some  time  they  returned, 
saying  that  she  and  the  other  women  had  gone! 
and  when  we  reached  Benguella  in  the  evening, 
Senhora  Gonceipao  described  to  us  her  surprise  at 

VOL.  I.  T 


274         ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viii. 

seeing  the  Avomen  return  carrying  green  boughs, 
singing  merrily,  and  accompanying  the  woman 
bearing  her  new-born  baby  in  her  arms,  she  having 
walked  back  all  the  way,  not  caring  to  wait  for 
the  hammock ! 

An  allowance  of  grog  was  served  out,  and  a 
"batuco,"  or  dance,  was  held  by  all  the  slaves  in 
honour  of  the  event,  whilst  the  woman  coolly  sat 
on  a  stone  in  their  midst,  nursing  her  baby  as  if 
nothing  had  happened. 

The  burial  of  kings,  or  head  men,  and  their 
wives  in  this  part  of  Angola  is  very  singular. 
When  the  person  dies,  a  shallow  pit  is  dug  in  the 
floor  of  the  hut  in  which  he  or  she  died,  just 
deep  enough  to  contain  the  body.  This,  which  is 
seldom  more  than  skin  and  bone,  is  placed  naked 
in  the  trench  on  its  back,  and  then  covered  with 
a  thin  layer  of  earth.  On  this  three  fires  are 
lighted  and  kept  burning  for  a  whole  moon  or 
month,  the  hot  ashes  being  constantly  spread  over 
the  whole  grave.  At  the  end  of  this  timQ  the 
body  is  usually  sufiSciently  baked  or  dried:  it  is 
then  taken  out  and  placed  on  its  back  on  an 
open  framework  of  sticks,  and  fires  kept  burning 


CH.  VIII.]  BURIAL.  275 

under  it  till  the  body  is  thoroughly  smoke-dried. 
During  the  whole  time  the  body  is  being  dried, 
the  hut  in  which  the  operation  is  performed  is 
always  full  of  people,  the  women  keeping  up  a 
dismal  crying  day  and  night,  particularly  the 
latter; — I  have  often  been  annoyed  and  had  my 
rest  disturbed,  by  their  monotonous  and  unceasing 
howl  on  these  occasions. 

At  the  pretty  town  of  Lambo  I  was  obliged  one 
night  to  leave  and  bivouac  at  some  distance  under 
a  baobab,  to  escape  the  noise  kept  up  over  the 
dead  body  of  one  of  the  king's  wives,  which  was 
undergoing  the  last  process  of  drying  over  a  fire ; 
I  looked  into  the  hut  and  saw  a  naked  bloated 
body  stiff  and  black  on  the  frame,  over  a  good 
fire,  where,  as  one  of  my  hammock-boys  told  me, 
it  would  take  long  in  drying,  as  she  was  "so  fat 
and  made  so  much  dripping."  The  stench  from 
the  body  and  the  number  of  blacks  in  the  hut 
w^as  something  indescribable. 

When  the  body  is  completely  desiccated  it  is 
wrapped  in  cloth  and  stuck  upright  in  a  corner  of 
the  hut,  where  it  remains  until  it  is  buried,  some- 
times two  years  after.     The  reason  for  this  is,  that 

T  2 


276         ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viii. 

all  the  relations  of  the  deceased  must  be  present 
at  the  final  ceremony,  when  the  body  is  wrapped 
in  as  many  yards  of  cloth  as  they  can  possibly 
afford,  some  of  the  kings  being  rolled  in  several 
hundred  yards  of  different  cloth.  On  the  occasion 
of  the  burial  a  "wake"  or  feast  consisting  of 
"batuco,"  or  dancings  with  firing  of  guns  and  con- 
sumption of  drink,  roast  pig,  and  other  food,  is 
held  for  the  whole  night. 

It  is  believed  that  the  spirit  of  the  dead  person 
will  haunt  the  town  where  lie  died,  and  commit 
mischief  if  the  "  wake  "  is  not  held. 

About  Ambriz,  and  on  the  coast,  it  is  the  fashion 
to  place  boots  or  shoes  on  the  feet  of  free  men 
when  they  are  buried,  and  old  boots  and  shoes 
are  considered  a  great  gift  from  the  whites  for 
this  purpose.  The  body  is  generally  buried  in 
the  same  hut  occupied  by  the  person  during  life. 
In  some  few  places  they  have  a  regular  burial 
ground,  the  graves,  generally  simple  mounds,  being 
ornamented  with  broken  crockery  and  bottles.  The 
natives  have  great  veneration  for  their  dead,  and 
I  found  it  impossible  to  obtain  a  dried  body  as  a 
specimen,  although  I  offered  a  high  price  for  one. 


CH.  VIII.]  BURIAL.  277 

Very  little  ceremony  is  used  in  burying  blacks 
found  dead,  who  do  not  belong  to  tlie  town  in  or 
near  Avhich  they  have  died;  the  wrists  and  knees 
are  tied  together  and  a  pole  passed  through,  and 
they  are  then  carried  by  two  men  and  buried 
outside,  anywhere ;  —  if  the  corpse  is  that  of  a 
man,  his  staff  and  "mutete"  are  laid  on  the 
grave;  if  a  woman,  a  basket  is  placed  on  it. 
(Plate  XII.) 

Their  mourning  is  simple  and  inexpensive;  a 
few  ground-nuts  are  roasted  in  a  crock  till  they 
are  nearly  burnt,  and  being  very  oily  are  then 
readily  ground  into  a  perfectly  black  paste.  This, 
according  to  the  relationship  with  the  deceased,  is 
either  rubbed  over  the  whole,  or  only  part  of  the 
face  and  head;  in  some  cases  this  painting  is  a 
complicated  affair,  being  in  various  devices  all 
over  the  shaven  head  and  face,  and  takes  some 
time  and  pains  to  effect;  and  to  prevent  its  being 
rubbed  off  at  night  by  the  cloth  with  which  they 
cover  themselves,  they  place  a  basket  kind  of 
mask  on  their  faces.  (Plate  lY.)  This  mask  is 
also  employed  to  keep  off  the  cloth  from  the  face 
and  prevent  the  mosquitoes  from  biting  through. 


278         ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,  [ch.  viti. 

Circumcision  is  a  universal  custom  among  the 
blacks  of  Angola.  They  have  no  reason  for  this 
custom  other  than  that  it  would  be  "fetish"  not 
to  perform  it,  and  in  some  of  the  tribes  they 
cannot  marry  without. 

The  operation  is  only  performed  in  a  certain 
"moon"  (June),  the  one  after  the  last  of  the 
rainy  season,  and  on  a  number  of  boys  at  a  time. 
For  this  purpose  a  large  barracoon  is  built,  gene- 
rally on  a  hill  and  at  some  little  distance  from 
any  town.  There  the  boys  live  for  a  "moon"  or 
month  under  the  care  of  the  "fetish  man"  or 
doctor,  and  employ  their  time  in  beating  drums 
and  singing  a  wild  kind  of  chant,  and  in  hunting 
rats  in  the  fields  immediately  the  grass  is  burnt 
down.  The  boys'  food  is  taken  up  daily  by  the 
men  of  the  towns,  w^omen  not  being  allowed  to 
approach  the  barracoon  during  the  time :  the  path 
leading  to  it  is  marked  where  it  joins  the  main 
path  by  one  or  two  large  figures  made  either  of 
clay  or  straw,  or  smaller  ones  roughly  carved  of 
wood,  and  always  of  a  very  indecent  character. 
At  the  end  of  the  month  the  boys  return  to  their 
towns,   wearing   a   head-dress   of   feathers,    singing 


CH.  VIII.]  INSANITY.  279 

and   beating   drums,   and   preceded  by  the  "fetish 
man." 

Insanity  exists,  though  rarely,  among  blacks.  I 
have  only  seen  several  natural  born  idiots,  but  I 
have  been  informed  by  the  natives  that  they  have 
violent  madmen  amongst  them,  whom  they  are 
obliged  to  tie  up,  and  sometimes  even  kill ;  and  I 
have  been  assured  that  some  lunatics  roam  about 
wild  and  naked  in  the  forest,  living  on  roots,  some- 
times entering  the  towns  when  hard  pressed  by 
hunger,  to  pick  up  dirt  and  garbage,  or  pull  up 
the  mandioca  roots  in  the  plantations.  This  can 
only  be  in  this  part  of  the  country,  where  the 
larger  carnivora  are  scarce,  or  with  the  exception 
of  the  hyena,  almost  entirely  absent. . 


180    ) 


CHAPTER  IX. 

CUSTOMS  OF  THE  MUSSURONGO,  AMBRIZ,  AND 
MUSHICONGO  NEGROES  —  MANDIOCA  PLANT  —  ITS 
PREPARATIONS  —  CHILI  PEPPER  —  BANANAS  — 
RATS  —  WHITE  ANT  —  NATIVE  BEER  —  STRANGE 
SOUNDS. 

The  Mussurongo,  Ambriz,  and  Mushicongo  negroes 
have  hardly  any  industrial  or  mechanical  occupa- 
tion ;  they  weave  no  cloths  of  cotton  or  other  tibre ; 
their  only  manufactures  being  the  few  implements, 
baskets,  pots,  &c.,  required  in  their  agriculture  and 
household  operations. 

The  reason  for  this  want  of  industry,  apart  from 
the  inherent  laziness  and  utter  dislike  of  the  negroes 
for  work  of  any  kind,  is  to  be  found  in  their 
socialistic  and  conservative  ideas  and  laws. 

No  man  can  be  richer  than  his  neighbour,  nor 
must  he  acquire  his  riches  by  any  other  than  the 


CH.  IX.J  CUSTOMS.  281 

usual  or  established  means  of  barter  or  trade  of 
the  natural  products  of  the  country,  or  of  his 
plantations. 

Should  a  native  return  to  his  town,  after  no 
matter  how  long  an  absence,  with  more  than  a 
moderate  amount  of  cloth,  beads,  &c.,  as  the  result 
of  his  labour,  he  is  immediately  accused  of  witch- 
craft or  '^fetish,"  and  his  property  distributed  among 
all,  and  is  often  fined  as  well. 

I  have  already  mentioned  how  the  natives  at 
Bembe,  on  receiving  their  pay,  would  squander  it 
in  riot  before  leaving  for  their  towns,  knowing 
that  it  would  only  be  taken  away  from  them,  and 
so  preferring  to  enjoy  themselves  with  it  first. 

Some  of  the  black  traders  on  the  coast,  who 
acquire  large  values  in  the  ivory  trade,  have  to 
invest  them  in  slaves,  and  even  form  towns  con- 
sisting of  their  wives  and  slaves,  and  entirely 
maintained  by  them ; — even  these  traders  are 
constantly  being  accused  of  "fetish,"  from  which 
they  have  to  clear  themselves  by  heavy  payments. 

We  have  already  seen  how  there  are  hardly  any 
social  distinctions  among  the  negroes,  and  con- 
sequently   no    necessity    for    finer    clothing,    food, 


282         ANaOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ix. 


houses,  &c. ;  it  is  even  considered  very  mean  for 
one  black  to  eat  or  drink  by  himself.  Any  food 
or  drink,  ho^yeYer  little,  given  to  them,  is  always 
distributed  amongst  those  present.  The  Portuguese 
convict  whom  I  have  described  as  owning  the  sugar- 
cane plantation  at  QuincoUo,  goes  under  the  nick- 
name among  the  blacks  of  "Fiadia,"  or  one  who 
eats  alone,  from  his  having,  when  first  starting  a 
grog  shoj),  lived  in  a  hut  apart,  and  as  the  blacks 
said  "when  he  ate  his  dinner  no  other  white  man 
saw  him,  and  what  was  over  he  kept  for  the  next 
day." 

Kature  favours  the  habits  and  customs  of  the 
blacks,  removing  all  inducement  to  work  by  pro- 
viding with  a  prodigal  hand  their  few  necessities, 
and  exacting  scarcely  any  exertion  on  their  part  in 
return.  Their  principal  food  or  staff  of  life,  the 
mandioca  root,  does  not  even  require  harvesting 
or  storing.  A  knife  or  matchet,  a  hoe,  a  sleeping- 
mat,  and  a  couple  of  pots  and  baskets,  enable 
persons  about  to  marry  to  begin  life  and  rear  a 
large  family  without  the  least  misgiving  for  the 
future,  or  anxiety  for  the  payment  of  rent,  doctor's 
and  tailor's  bills,  schooling,  rates,  or  taxes. 


CH.  IX.]  HUT-BUILDING.  283 


The  materials  for  tlieir  huts  grow  around  them 
in  the  greatest  abundance,  a  few  forked  upright 
poles  form  the  walls,  and  bear  others  forming  the 
roof;  thin  sticks  tied  horizontally  or  perpen- 
dicularly to  the  uprights,  both  inside  and  out, 
forming  a  double  wall,  complete  the  framework  of 
the  hut,  which  is  then  plastered  with  clay  or  earth, 
or  covered  with  grass  or  "loandos,"  or  mats  made 
of  the  dried  stem  of  the  papyrus.  The  roof  is  of 
grass  neatly  laid  on  in  layers  like  thatch,  on  a 
frame  of  light  cane  or  the  mid-rib  of  the  palm-leaf. 
The  door  is  made  of  slabs  of  the  ''Mafumeira"  or 
cotton-wood  tree,  or  of  palm-leaves  woven  together ; 
the  door  is  always  about  a  foot  from  the  ground, 
and  the  threshold  generally  the  trunk  of  a  small 
tree,  forming  the  usual  seat  of  the  inmates  during 
the  day. 

The  Mushicongos,  living  on  the  mica  schist  and" 
clay  slate  formations,  which  decompose  readily,  form- 
ing tenacious  clayey  soils,  and  are  the  favourite 
habitat  of  the  white  ant,  are  obliged  to  prepare 
with  great  care  the  poles  employed  in  building 
their  huts,  in  order  to  preserve  them  from  the 
ravages  of  that   most  destructive  insect. 


284  ANGOLA  AND  THE  PdVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ix. 

For  this  purpose  the  poles  are  soaked  for  months 
in  stagnant  pools,  until  they  become  black  \\ith 
fetid  mud  or  slime,  and  the  end  which  is  intended 
to  be  stuck  in  the  ground  is  then  held  over  a  fire 
till  the  surface  is  charred.  The  smoke  from  the 
fire,  always  kept  burning  in  a  hut,  preserves  it 
perfectly  from  the  attacks  of  the  white  ant,  the 
interior  becoming  in  time  perfectly  black  and 
shining  as  if  yarnished,  there  being  of  course  no 
chimney  and  very  seldom  a  window,  though  some- 
times an  open  space  is  left  at  the  top  ends  for  the 
smoke  to  issue  from. 

The  furniture  is  restricted  to  a  bed,  made  of  a 
framework  of  sticks  or  palm-leaves  plaited  together, 
and  resting  on  two  logs  of  wood  or  short  forked 
sticks,  so  as  to  raise  it  about  six  inches  or  a  foot 
from  the  ground.  On  the  bed  is  laid  a  sleeping- 
mat  made  by  the  natives  of  the  interior,  and 
sometimes  there  is  a  mat-pillow  stuffed  with  wild 
cotton,  but  this  is  seldom  more  than  an  inch  or  two 
thick; — blacks  mostly  sleep  without  pillows,  with 
their  heads  resting  on  the  extended  arm. 

The  negroes  from  the  interior  are  sometimes  seen 
usiug   curious  small   pillows  made  of  wood   (Plate 


CH.  IX.]        AGRICULTURAL  OPERATIONS.  28r 


IV.)  and  carved  in  fanciful  patterns;  tliey  carry 
them  slung  from  the  shoulder.  A  very  singular 
habit  of  all  negroes  is  that  of  never  slinging  any- 
thing across  the  shoulders  and  chest  as  we  do,  but 
always  from  one  shoulder,  and  hanging  under  the 
arm. 

Building  huts  is  man's  w^ork,  and  as  no  nails  of 
any  kind  are  employed  in  their  construction,  the 
sticks  only  being  notched  and  tied  together  with 
baobab  fibre,  a  few  days,  with  but  little  trouble, 
suffices  to  build  one. 

Women's  work  is  entirely  restricted  to  cultiva- 
ting the  ground  and  preparing  the  food.  Their 
simple  agricultural  operations  are  all  performed 
with  one  implement,  a  single-handed  hoe  (Plate  Y.). 
This  hoe  is  made  of  iron,  nearly  round,  about  the 
size  and  shape  of  a  large  oyster-shell,  and  has  a 
short  spike  which  is  burnt  into  the  end  of  the 
handle,  a  short  knobbed  stick  about  eighteen 
inches  long.  With  this  hoe  the  ground  is  cleared 
of  grass  and  weeds,  which  are  gathered  into  heaps 
when  dry,  and  burnt.  The  ground  is  then  dug  to 
a  depth  of  about  six  to  eight  inches,  and  the  loose 
broken  earth   scraped   together  into  little  hillocks 


286  ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  ix. 

ready  for  planting  tlie  mandioca.  This  plant,  the 
Cassada  or  Cassava  of  tlie  West  Indies,  &c.  (Manihot 
aijoi),  grows  as  a  peculiar  thick  round  bush  from 
three  to  six  feet  high,  bearing  an  abundance  of 
bright  green,  handsome  deeply-cut  leaves;  it 
flowers  but  sparingly,  and  bears  few  seeds ;  it  is 
propagated  by  cuttings,  any  part  of  the  stem  or 
branches,  which  are  soft,  brittle,  and  knotty,  very 
readily  taking  root.  About  the  beginning  of  the 
rainy  season  is  the  usual  time  of  planting, — two  or 
three  short  pieces  of  stem,  about  a  foot  long,  being 
stuck  in  each  hillock.  In  some  places  two  of  the 
pieces  are  of  equal  length,  and  planted  near  each 
other,  the  third  piece  being  shorter,  and  planted  in 
a  slanting  position  across  the  other  two.  This 
method  of  planting  is  supposed,  but  with  what 
truth  I  know  not,  to  produce  a  greater  crop  of 
roots  than  any  other.  The  mandioca  is  of  rapid 
and  luxuriant  growth,  and  in  favourable  soil  the 
plant  throws  out  many  branches.  The  roots  are 
very  similar  in  outward  appearance  to  those  of  the 
dahlia,  though  of  course,  very  much  larger;  the 
usual  size  is  about  a  foot  long,  but  roots  two  feet 
long  and    several    inches   wide   throughout   are    of 


CH.  IX.]  HAND  IOC  A  PLANT.  287 

common  occurrence.  When  fresh  they  are  white 
and  of  a  peculiar  compact,  dense,  brittle  texture, 
more  like  that  of  the  common  chestnut  than  any- 
thing else  I  can  compare  it  to,  and  not  unlike  it 
in  taste,  though  not  so  sweet,  and  more  juicy. 
They  are  covered  by  a  thin,  dark,  rough,  dry 
skin,  which  is  very  easily  detached.  Gentle  hill- 
slopes  are  the  places  generally  chosen  for  the 
mandioca  plantations,  to  ensure  good  drainage,  as 
the  roots  are  said  to  rot  readily  in  places  where 
water  stagnates.  The  mandioca-root  is  sufficiently 
large  and  good  to  eat  about  nine  months  after 
planting,  but  is  only  pulled  up  then  in  case  of 
need,  as  it  does  not  attain  its  full  perfection  for 
fifteen  or  eighteen  months  after  the  cuttings  are 
planted,  and  as  it  can  remain  in  the  ground  for  two 
or  even  three  years  without  damage  or  deteriora- 
tion, there  is  no  need  of  a  regular  time  for  digging 
it  up.  It  is  eaten  fresh  and  raw  as  taken  out  of 
the  ground,  though  the  natives  are  fondest  of  its 
various  preparations. 

The  roots  peeled  and  dried  in  the  sun  constitute 
what  is  called  "bala,"  and  are  eaten  thus  or  roasted. 
"  Bombo "  is  prepared  by  placing  the  roots  in  water 


288        ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO.      [ch.  ix. 

for  four  or  five  days,  running  streams  being  pre- 
ferred to  stagnant  pools  for  this  purpose ;  the  outer 
black  skin  then  peels  off  very  readily  and  the  roots 
have  suffered  a  kind  of  acetous  fermentation  affect- 
ing   the   gluten    and   gum,    and    setting   free    the 
starch — of  which  the  bulk  of  the  root  is  composed ; 
— they  now  have  a  strong  disagreeable  acid  taste 
and    flavour,    but   on   drying    in   the    sun   become 
beautifully  white  and  nearly  tasteless,  and  so   dis- 
integrated  as  to'  be   readily   crushed   between   the 
fingers    into    the    finest   flour.      This   "  bombo "   is 
also   eaten  thus  dry  or  roasted,  but  most  usually 
it   is   pounded  in  a  wooden   mortar  and   sifted   in 
the   "uzanzos"    or    baskets,    into   the    white    flour 
called    "fuba."      From   this   is   prepared   the   "in- 
fundi,"  the  food  most  liked  by  the  natives,  which 
is   made   in  this   way: — into   an   earthen   pot   half 
full  of  water,  kept  boiling  on  three  stones  over  a 
fire,  the  *'fuba"  is  gradually  added,. and  the  whole 
kept  constantly  stirred   round  with   a   stick;  when 
the  mass  attains  the  consistency  of  soft  dough  the 
pot    is   taken   off  the   fire,   and   being   secured  by 
the   woman's  toes   if  she   be   sitting   down,   or   by 
her  knees  if  kneeling,  it  is  vigorously  stirred  with 


CH.  IX.]  MANDIOCA  PLANT.  289 

the  stick  worked  by  both  hands,  for  some  minutes 
longer,  or  till  it  no  longer  sticks  to  the  side  of 
the  pot.  Portions  of  the  semi-transparent  viscous 
mass  are  then  transferred  with  the  stick  to  a  small 
basket  or  "quinda,"  dusted  with  dry  "fuba,"  and 
rolled  round  into  a  flat  cake  about  three  or  four 
inches  in  diameter  and  a  couple  of  inches  thick. 
It  is  eaten  hot,  bits  of  the  sticky  cake  being 
pulled  out  with  the  fingers  and  dipped  for  a 
flavour  into  a  mess  of  salt  fish,  pork,  or  beans,  or 
into  a  gravy  of  stewed  mandioca  or  bean-leaves. 
Chili  pepper,  and  oil.  This  "infundi,"  or  "  infungi " 
as  it  is  also  pronounced  by  some  of  the  natives,  is 
delicious  eating  with  "palm-chop." 

"  Quiquanga "  is  also  a  very  important  prepa- 
ration of  the  mandioca-root,  large  quantities  being 
prepared  in  the  interior  and  brought  down  to  the 
coast  for  sale  and  for  barter  for  dried  fish,  salt,  &c. 
The  fresh  roots  are  placed  in  water  for  a  few  days, 
in  the  same  manner  as  described  for  "  bombo,"  and 
peeled,  but  instead  of  being  dried  in  the  sun,  are 
transferred  wet  as  they  are  taken  out  of  the  water 
to  the  wooden  mortars,  and  pounded  to  a  homo- 
geneous paste;    this   is   rolled   between  the   hands 

VOL.  I.  u 


290         ANGOLA  AND  THE  BIVER  CONGO,    [ch.  ix. 

into  long,  flattened  cakes  about  eight  inches  in 
length,  or  into  round  thick  masses.  These  are 
rolled  neatly  in  the  large,  strong  smooth  leaf  of 
the  Phrynium  ramosissimum — a  beautiful  trailing 
plant  with  a  knotted  stem,  growing  very  abun- 
dantly in  moist  and  shady  places, — and  steamed 
over  a  pot  of  boiling  water  carefully  covered  up 
to  keep  the  steam  in,  and  then  left  to  dry  in  the 
sun  or  air.  The  cakes  then  become  fit  to  keep 
for  a  long  time,  and  are  of  a  very  close,  cheesy, 
indigestible  character,  with  a  disagreeable  acid 
flavour.  Cut  into  thin  slices  and  toasted,  the 
"quiquanga"  is  not  a  bad  substitute  for  bread  or 
biscuit. 

It  is  curious  tliat  in  the  district  of  Loanda  and 
as  far  south  as  Mossamedes,  the  principal  food  of 
the  people  should  be  a  preparation  of  the  man- 
dioca-root,  which  is  hardly  ever  used  by  the 
natives  of  the  country  from  Ambriz  to  the  Kiver 
Congo :  this  is  the  meal  called  by  the  Portuguese 
and  Brazilians  "Farinha  de  pao."  It  is  made  by 
rasping  the  fresh  roots,  previously  peeled,  on  a 
grater,  generally  a  sheet  of  tin-plate  punched  with 
holes  or  slits,  and  nailed  over  a  hole  in  a  board. 


CH.ix.]  MANDIOCA:  PBEPARATION,  291 

The  grated  pulp  is  then  put  into  bags  and  squeezed 
in  a  rude  lever-press  to  extract  as  much  of  the 
juice  as  possible,  and  then  dried  on  large  round 
iron  or  copper  sheets  fitting  on  a  low  circular 
stone  wall,  where  a  wood  fire  is  kept  burning. 
When  thoroughly  dry  it  is  nearly  white,  and  has 
the  appearance  of  coarse  floury  saw-dust,  and  is 
excellent  eating.  Carefully  prepared,  it  appears 
on  all  Angolan  and  Brazilian  tables,  and  is  taken 
dry  on  the  plate  to  mix  with  the  gravy  of 
stews,  &c.  Scalded  with  boiling  water,  and. mixed 
with  a  little  butter  and  salt,  it  is  very  nice  to 
eat  with  meat,  &c. 

Another  very  favourite  way  of  cooking  it  is  by 
boiling  it  to  a  thick  paste  with  water,  tomatoes. 
Chili  pepper,  and  salt,  with  the  addition  of  some 
oil  or  butter  in  which  onions  have  been  fried. 
This  is  called  "pirao,"  and  a  dish  of  it  appears  at 
table  as  regularly  as  potatoes  do  with  us. 

With  cold  meat,  fish,  &c.,  it  is  also  eaten  raw, 
moistened  with  water,  oil,  vinegar,  pepper,  and 
salt,  or,  better  still,  with  orange  or  lemon  juice, 
with  pepper  and  salt.  This  is  called  "farofa," 
and    is    an    excellent    accompaniment    to    a    cold 

u  2 


292  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVEB  CONGO,    [ch.  ix. 

dinner.  The  natives  generally  eat  it  dry,  or 
slightly  moistened  with  water,  and  from  its  being 
carelessly  prepared  it  is  always  very  gritty  with 
sand  and  earth,  and  is  the  cause  of  the  molars 
of  the  natives  being  always  ground  very  jSat.  A 
negro  never  makes  any  objection  to  grit  in  his 
food.  Fish  is  always  dried  on  the  sandy  beach; 
mandioca-roots  or  meal,  if  wet,  are  also  spread 
on  a  clean  bit  of  ground  and  swept  up  again 
when  dry,  and  he  crunches  up  his  always  sandy 
food  with  the  most  perfect  indifference,  his 
nervous  system  not  being  of  a  sufficiently  delicate 
character  to  "set  his  teeth  on  edge"  during 
the  operation,  as  it  would  those  of  a  white 
man. 

Next  to  the  mandioca-root,  as  an  article  of  food 
among  the  blacks,  is  the  small  haricot  bean ; 
these  are  of  various  colours,  the  ordinary  white 
bean  being  scarce.  A  species  is  much  cultivated, 
not  only  for  the  beans,  which  are  very  small,  but 
also  for  its  long,  thin,  fleshy  pods,  which  are  ex- 
cellent in  their  green  state.  Beans  are  boiled 
in  water,  with  the  addition  of  palm  or  ground- 
nut oil  or  other  fat,  salt,  and  Chili  pepper.     The 


CH.  IX.]  CHILI  PEPPER.  293 

leaves  of  the  bean,  mandioca,  or  pumpkin  plants 
are  sometimes  added. 

Chili  pepper  is  the  universal  condiment  of  the 
natives  of  Angola,  and  it  is  only  one  species,  with  a 
small  pointed  fruit  about  half  an  inch  long,  that 
is  used.  It  grows  everywhere  in  the  greatest 
luxuriance  as  a  fine  bush  loaded  with  bunches  of 
the  pretty  bright  green  and  red  berries.  It  seems 
to  come  up  spontaneously  around  the  huts  and 
villages,  and  is  not  otherwise  planted  or  cultivated. 
It  is  eaten  either  freshly-gathered  or  after  being 
dried  in  the  sun.  It  has  a  most  violent  hot  taste, 
but  the  natives  consume  it  in  incredible  quantities ; 
their  stews  are  generally  of  a  bright-red  colour 
from  the  quantity  of  this  pepper  added,  previously 
ground  on  a  hollow  stone  with  another  smaller 
round  one.  Their  cookery  is  mostly  a  vehicle  for 
conveying  this  Chili  pepper,  and  the  "infuncli" 
is  dipped  into  it  for  a  flavour. 

Eating  such  quantities  of  this  hot  pepper  often 
affects  the  action  of  the  heart,  and  I  remember 
once  having  to  hire  a  black  to  carry  the  load  of  one 
of  my  carriers,  who  was  unable  to  bear  it  from 
strong   palpitation  of  the   heart,    brought  on  from 


294         ANGOLA  AND  TEE  BIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ix. 

the  quantity  of  Chili  pepper  he  had  eaten  with  his 
food. 

In  our  garden  at  Bembe  we  grew  some  "Mala- 
gueta "  peppers,  a  variety  with  a  long  pod,  and 
perhaps  even  hotter  than  the  Chilies.  Our  doctor's 
cook,  coming  to  me  once  for  a  supply  of  vege- 
tables, was  given  a  few  of  these,  and  commenced 
eiting  one.  I  asked  him  how  he  could  bear  to  eat 
them  alone?  He  laughed,  and  said  he  *' liked 
them  with  rum  early  in  the  morning."  To  try  him, 
I  gave  him  a  couple  and  a  glass  of  strong  hollands 
gin,  and  he  coolly  chewed  them  up  and  drank  the 
spirit  without  the  slightest  indication  that  he  felt 
the  pungency  of  the  fiery  mixture.  A  round  and 
deliciously-scented  variety,  bearing  pods  the  size  of 
a  small  marble,  is  also  grown,  but  is  not  commonly 
seen. 

Bananas  or  plantains,  grow  magnificently,  as 
might  be  expected,  and  without  requiring  the 
least  trouble;  yet,  such  is  the  stupid  indolence  of 
the  natives  that  there  is  often  a  scarcity  of  them. 
They  are  principally  grown  in  valleys  and  other 
places,  where  the  rich,  moist  earth  in  wdiich  they 
delight   is   found,    and   where,   protected   by    palm 


CH.  IX.]  BANANAS,  295 

and  other  trees,  they  rear  their  magnificent  leaves 
unbroken  by  a  breath  of  air.  A  grove  of  banana- 
trees  thus  growing  luxuriantly  in  a  forest  clearing 
is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  sights  in  nature ; — the 
vast  leaves,  reflecting  the  rays  of  the  hot  sun  from 
their  bright-green  surface,  contrast  vividly  with  the 
dark-hued  foliage  of  the  trees  around,  and  show 
off  the  whorls  of  flowers  with  their  fleshy,  me- 
tallic, purple-red  envelopes  and  the  great  bunches 
of  green-  and  ripe  yellow  fruit.  Numbers  of 
butterflies  flit  about  the  cool  stems  and  moist 
earth,  whilst  the  abundant  flowers  are  surrounded 
by  a  busy  crowd  of  bees  and  pther  flies,  and  by 
lovely  sunbirds  that,  poised  on  the  wing  in  the  air, 
insert  their  long  curved  beaks  into  the  petals  in 
search  of  the  small  insects  and  perhaps  honey  that 
constitute  their  food. 

The  negroes  of  Angola  always  eat  the  banana 
raw,  but  it  is  roasted  by  the  whites  when  green, 
when  it  becomes  quite  dry  and  a  good  sub- 
stitute for  bread,  or  boiled,  to  eat  with  meat 
instead  of  potatoes ;  and  when  ripe,  roasted  whole, 
or  cut  lengthways  into  thin  slices  and  fried  in  batter 
and  eaten  with  a  little  sugar  and  cinnamon  or  wine, 


296  ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ix. 

forming  a  delicious  dish  for  dessert.  A  very  large 
plantain,  growing  as  long  as  eighteen  or  twenty- 
inches,  is  cultivated  in  the  interior,  and  is  brought 
down  to  the  coast  by  the  "Zombos"  with  their 
caravans  of  ivory.  Indian  corn  is  the  only  other 
plant  that  is  grown  and  used  as  food  by  the 
negroes  of  Angola,  except  the  ground-nut  already 
described.  It  is  sparingly  cultivated,  tliough 
bearing  most  productively,  and  is  eaten  in  the 
green  state,  raw  or  roasted,  and  sometimes  boiled. 
About  Loanda  the  dry  grain  is  occasionally 
pounded  into  meal  and  boiled  into  a  stiff  paste 
with  water,  and  eaten  in  the  same  manner  as  the 
"  infundi "  from  the  mandioca-root. 

Other  edible  plants,  though  not  much  culti- 
vated by  the  natives,  are  the  sweet  potato ;  the 
common  yam  (which  is  very  rarely  seen,  and  I  am 
quite  unable  to  give  a  reason  for  its  not  being 
more  commonly  cultivated) ;  the  Cajanus  indicus,  a 
shrub  bearing  yellow  pea-like  flowers  and  a  pod 
with  a  kind  of  flat  pea,  which  is  very  good  eating 
when  young  and  green;  the  purple  egg-plant,  or 
"  berenjela "  of  the  Portuguese ;  the  *'  ngillo  " 
(Solanum    sp.),    bearing  a   round   apple-like   fruit. 


CH.  IX.]  RATS.  297 

used  as  a  vegetable;  the  ordinary  pumpkin,  and 
a  species  of  small  gourd  ;  and,  lastly,  the  "  quiavo  " 
or  ''  quingombo "  (Ahelmosehus  esculentus)  of  the 
Brazilians. 

The  Ambriz  and  Mushicongo  natives  make  but 
little  use  of  animal  food,  seldom  killing  a  domestic 
animal,  and  of  these  the  pig  is  the  most  esteemed 
by  them.  Very  little  trouble  would  enable  them  to 
rear  any  quantity  of  sheep,  goats,  and  other  live 
stock;  but,  such  is  their  indolence,  that,  as  I 
have  already  stated,  these  animals  are  quite  scarce 
in  the  country,  and  are  daily  becoming  more  so. 

Blacks,  as  a  rule,  seldom  engage  in  the  chase. 
Antelopes,  hares,  &c.,  are  only  occasionally  captured 
or  shot,  though  they  are  abundant  in  many  places ; 
but  they  are  very  fond  of  field-rats  and  mice, 
though  house-rats  are  held  in  disgust  as  articles  of 
food.  Immediately  after  the  annual  grass-burnings 
the  inhabitants  of  the  towns  turn  out  with  hoes  and 
little  bows  and  arrows  to  dig  out  and  hunt  the  rats 
and  mice.  Various  devices  are  also  employed  to 
entrap  them.  A  small  framework  of  sticks,  about 
a  foot  high,  is  raised  across  the  footpaths,  leaving 
small  apertures   or   openings  into  which   the    open 


298         ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ix. 

ends  of  long  funnel-shaped  traps  of  open  flexible 
wickerwork  are  inserted.  Tlie  bushes  are  then 
beaten  with  sticks,  and  the  rats,  frightened  out  of 
their  haunts,  rush  along  the  paths  into  the  traps, 
in  which  they  cannot  turn  round,  and  as  many  as 
four  or  five  are  caught  at  a  time  in  each  (Plate 
XL). 

Another  common  trap  is  made  by  firmly  fixing 
in  the  ground  one  end  of  a  strong  stick,  and 
bending  down  the  other  end,  to  which  is  attached 
a  noose  inserted  in  a  small  basket-trap,  and  so 
arranged  as  to  disengage  the  bow  and  catch  the 
unlucky  rat  round  the  throat  and  strangle  it  as 
soon  as  it  touches  the  bait.  The  rats,  as  soon  as 
killed,  are  skewered  from  head  to  tail  on  a  long 
bit  of  stick,  and  roasted  over  a  fire  in  their 
"jackets"  whole,  without  any  cleaning  or  other 
preparation,  generally  five  on  each   skewer. 

Frogs  are  only  eaten  by  the  Mushicongos.  They 
are  also  very  fond  of  grasshoj^pers,  which  are 
beaten  down  with  a  flapper,  like  a  battledore,  made 
out  of  a  palm-leaf,  their  legs  and  wings  pulled  oif, 
and  roasted  in  a  pot  or  crock  over  a  fire;  they 
smell  exactly  like  stale  dry  shrimps. 


CH.  Tx.]  '      WHITE  ANT.  299 


A  large  kiDg-cricket  {Bracliytry^pes  achaiinus)  is 
greatly  relished  everywhere,  and  the  blacks  are 
wonderfully  clever  at  finding  the  exact  spot  where 
one  is  chirping  in  the  ground,  and  digging  it  out 
from  perhaps  the  depth  of  a  foot  or  more.  It  is 
incredible  how  puzzling  it  is  to  discover  the  exact 
place  from  whence  the  loud  chirp  of  this  insect 
proceeds. 

A  large  white  grub  or  larva,  the  interior  of 
which  is  very  streaky  in  appearance,  and  which  is 
roasted  and  eaten  spread  on  a  cake  of  "  infundi "  as 
we  should  spread  marrow  on  a  slice  of  toast,  is 
considered  a  great  delicacy,  as  also  is  a  very  large 
yellow  caterpillar.  I  have  seen,  when  travelling, 
all  the  blacks  of  my  party  suddenly  rush  off  with 
the  greatest  delight  to  a  shrub  covered  with  these 
caterpillars,  which  they  eagerly  collected  to  eat  in 
the  same  way  as  the  grubs  I  have  just  described. 
The  "salale,"  or  white  ant,  is  eaten  by  the 
natives  of  Angola  when  it  is  in  its  perfect  or  winged 
state ;  they  are  captured  by  hand  as  they  issue  from 
holes  in  the  ground,  stewed  with  oil,  salt,  and 
Chili  pepper,  and  used  as  a  sauce  or  gravy  with 
which  to    eat   the   ''infundi."     They   have  a  very 


300  ANGOLA  AND    TEE  BIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ix. 

sharp   taste,    from    the    formic    acid   contained     in 
them. 

The  natives  of  xingola  manufacture  but  one 
kind  of  drink,  called  "uallua"  in  the  district  of 
Ambriz,  and  ^'garapa"  in  the  rest  of  Angola.  It 
is  a  sort  of  beer,  prepared  from  Indian  corn  and 
"bala,"  or  dry  mandioca-root.  The  Indian  corn  is 
first  soaked  in  water  for  a  few  days,  or  until  it 
germinates ;  it  is  then  taken  out  and  thinly 
spread  on  clean  banana  leaves,  and  placed  on 
the  ground  in  the  shade,  where  it  is  left  for  two 
or  three  days;  at  the  end  of  that  time  it  has 
become  a  cake  or  mass  of  roots  and  sprouts ;  it  is 
then  broken  up  and  exposed  in  the  hot  sun  till 
it  is  quite  dr}^  then  pounded  in  wooden  mortars 
and  sifted  into  fine  flour;  the  dry  mandioca-roots 
are  also  pounded  fine  and  mixed  in  equal  parts 
with  the  Indian  corn.  This  mixture  is  now  intro- 
duced in  certain  proportions,  into  hot  water,  and 
boiled  until  a  thick  froth  or  scum  rises  to  the 
surface.  Large  earthen  pots,  called  "sangas,"  are 
filled  with  this  boiled  liquor,  which  when  cold  is 
strained  through  a  closely  woven  straw  bag  or 
cloth,  and  allowed  to  stand  for  one  night,  when  it 


CH.  IX.]  NATIVE  BEEE.  301 

ferments  and  is  ready  for  use.  It  is  slightly  milky 
in  appearance,  and  \yhen  freshly  made  is  sweetish 
and  not  disagreeable  in  taste,  but  with  the  pro- 
gress of  fermentation  becomes  acid  and  intoxica- 
ting. The  rationale  of  the  process  of  making 
'^garapa"  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  manufacture 
of  beer.  The  germination  of  the  Indian  corn,  in 
which  part  of  its  starch  is  changed  into  sugar 
with  the  production  of  diastase,  and  the  arrest  of 
this  process  by  drying,  corresponds  to  the  "malt- 
ing," and  the  boiling  in  water  with  mandioca 
flour  to  the  "mashing;"  the  diastase  acting  on 
the  starch  of  the  mandioca-root,  transforms  it  into 
sugar,  which  in  its  turn  is  fermented  into  alcohol, 
rendering  the  "garapa"  intoxicating,  and  ulti- 
mately becoming  acid,  or  sour,  from  its  passing  to 
the  state  of  acetous  fermentation. 

The  "quindas"  or  baskets,  used  by  the  natives 
of  Angola,  are  of  various  sizes  and  all  conical  in 
shape.  They  are  made  of  straw,  but  are  not 
woven.  A  kind  of  thin  rope  is  made  by  covering 
a  quantity  of  straight  straws  or  dry  grass  stems, 
about  the  thickness  of  an  ordinary  lead  pencil, 
with  a  flat  grass,   or   strips   of  palm  leaf,  and  the 


302         ANGOLA  AND  THE  RIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ix. 

basket  is  built  up  by  twisting  this  rope  round  and 
round,  and  tightly  sewing  it  together.  A  coarser 
kind  is  made  at  Loanda  for  carrying  earth  or 
rubbish.  It  is  very  curious  that  no  other  form  of 
basket  should  be  made  in  the  country,  and  when 
a  cover  is  required,  another  basket  inverted  is 
employed. 

The  "loangos,"  or  "loandos"  are  large  mats 
about  four  to  five  feet  long,  and  from  two  to  four 
wide ;  they  are  made  of  the  dry,  straight,  flattened 
stems  of  the  papyrus  plant  (Pajnjrus  antiquorum), 
and  like  the  baskets  are  also  not  woven  or  plaited, 
but  the  stems  are  passed  through  or  sewn  across 
at  several  places  with  fine  string  made  of  baobab 
fibre.  These  mats  are  stiff,  but  at  the  same  time 
thick  and  soft;  they  are  used  for  a  variety  of 
useful  purposes,  such  as  for  fencing,  for  lying  or 
sitting  upon,  and  for  placing  on  the  ground  on 
wdiich  to  spread  roots,  corn,  &c.,  to  dry  in  the 
sun,  but  principally  to  line  or  cover  huts  and 
houses.  The  papyrus  growls  most  luxuriantly  in 
all  the  pools,  marshes,  and  wet  places  of  Angola, 
and  in  many  parts  lines  the  banks  of  the  rivers. 
I  have   seen   it   growing   everyw^here,   from   a   few 


CH.  IX.]  STRANGE  SOUNDS.  303 

hundred  yards  distance  from  the  sea,  to  as  far  in 
the  interior  as  I  have  been.  It  is  always  of  the 
brightest  bluish-grey  green,  and  the  long,  graceful, 
smooth  stalk  surmounted  by  the  large  feathery 
head,  waving  in  every  breath  of  wind,  makes  it  a 
beautiful  object.  It  often  covers  a  large  extent 
of  ground  in  low  places,  particularly  near  rivers, 
to  the  exclusion  of  any  other  plant,  and  forms  then 
a  most  lovely  cool  patch  of  colour  in  the  land- 
scape, and  hides  numbers  of  happy  water  birds 
which,  unmolested,  boom  and  churrr  and  tweet  in 
its  welcome  shade. 

Very  curious  are  the  sounds  that  issue  in  the 
stillness  of  the  night  from  these  papyrus-covered 
fields,  principally  from  different  species  of  water- 
fowl; and  I  have  often  remained  awake  for  hours 
listening  to  the  weird  trumpetings,  guttural  noises 
and  whistlings  of  all  kinds,  joined  to  the  croak 
of  frogs  and  the  continual,  perfectly  metallic, 
ting,  ting,  ting — like  the  ring  of  thousands  of  tiny 
iron  hammers  on  steel  anvils — said  to  be  made 
by  a  small  species  of  frog. 

Nothing  gives  such  an  idea  of  the  wonderful 
multiplicity    of    bird    or    insect    life    in    tropical 


304         ANGOLA  AND  THE  EIVER  CONGO,     [ch.  ix. 

Africa,  as  the  number  and  variety  of  sounds  to 
be  beard  at  night.  Every  square  foot  of  ground 
or  marsh,  every  tree,  bush,  or  plant,  seems  to  give 
out  a  buzz,  chirp,  or  louder  noise  of  some  sort. 
With  the  first  streak  of  daylight  these  noises  are 
suddenly  hushed,  to  be  quickly  succeeded  by  the 
various  glad  notes  of  the  awakened  birds,  and 
later  on,  when  the  sun's  rays  are  clear  and  hot, 
the  air  is  filled  with  the  powerful  whirr  of  the 
cieads  on  every  tree. 

The  '^uzanzos"  are  a  kind  of  sieve  in  the  form 
of  an  openwork  basket,  rather  prettily  and  neatly 
made  of  the  thin  and  split  midrib  of  the  palm 
leaflets,  in  which  the  women  sift  mandioca,  Indian 
corn,  or  whatever  else  they  may  pound  into  meal 
in  their  wooden  mortars.  These  latter  are  "  uzus," 
and  the  long  wooden  pestles  employed  with  them 
are  termed  "  muinzus  "  (Plate  XIT.). 

These  mortars  are  made  of  soft  wood,  mostly 
of  the  cotton-wood  tree,  which  is  easily  cut  with 
a  knife;  for  scooping  out  the  interior  of  the 
mortars  the  natives  use  a  tool  made  by  bending 
round  about  an  inch  of  the  point  of  an  ordinary 
knife,  which  they  then  call  a  "  locombo." 


(11.  IX.]    EARTHENWABE  PLATES  AND  BOWLS,    305 

The  last  article  to  be  described,  in  daily  use 
amongst  the  natives  of  Angola,  is  a  small  wooden 
dish,  which  is  more  rarely  made  now  owing  to 
the  large  quantity  of  earthenware  plates  and  bowls 
that  have  been  introduced  by  the  traders  on  the 
coast.  These  dishes  are  invariably  made  square 
in  shape  (Plate  XIY.). 


END    OF    VOL.   I. 


VOL.  L 


LONDON  : 

PRINTED    15Y    WILLIAM    CLOWES    AND   SONS, 

STAMFORD    STREET   AND   CHARING   CROSS.