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David Livingstone;
Missionary Travels

Chapter 20

Contents page

Introduction etc. | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15 | Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20 | Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 | Chapter 25 | Chapter 26 | Chapter 27 | Chapter 28 | Chapter 29 | Chapter 30 | Chapter 31 | Chapter 32 | Appendices etc.

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Chapter 20.

  Continued Sickness -- Kindness of the Bishop of Angola
  and her Majesty's Officers -- Mr. Gabriel's unwearied Hospitality --
  Serious Deportment of the Makololo -- They visit Ships of War --
  Politeness of the Officers and Men -- The Makololo attend Mass
  in the Cathedral -- Their Remarks -- Find Employment
  in collecting Firewood and unloading Coal -- Their superior Judgment
  respecting Goods -- Beneficial Influence of the Bishop of Angola --
  The City of St. Paul de Loanda -- The Harbor -- Custom-house --
  No English Merchants -- Sincerity of the Portuguese Government
  in suppressing the Slave-trade -- Convict Soldiers --
  Presents from Bishop and Merchants for Sekeletu -- Outfit -- Leave Loanda
  20th September, 1854 -- Accompanied by Mr. Gabriel as far as Icollo i Bengo
  -- Sugar Manufactory -- Geology of this part of the Country --
  Women spinning Cotton -- Its Price -- Native Weavers -- Market-places --
  Cazengo; its Coffee Plantations -- South American Trees --
  Ruins of Iron Foundry -- Native Miners -- The Banks of the Lucalla --
  Cottages with Stages -- Tobacco-plants -- Town of Massangano --
  Sugar and Rice -- Superior District for Cotton -- Portuguese Merchants
  and foreign Enterprise -- Ruins -- The Fort and its ancient Guns --
  Former Importance of Massangano -- Fires -- The Tribe Kisama --
  Peculiar Variety of Domestic Fowl -- Coffee Plantations --
  Return to Golungo Alto -- Self-complacency of the Makololo --
  Fever -- Jaundice -- Insanity.



In the hope that a short enjoyment of Mr. Gabriel's generous hospitality
would restore me to my wonted vigor, I continued under his roof;
but my complaint having been caused by long exposure to malarious influences,
I became much more reduced than ever, even while enjoying rest.
Several Portuguese gentlemen called on me shortly after my arrival;
and the Bishop of Angola, the Right Reverend Joaquim Moreira Reis,
then the acting governor of the province, sent his secretary to do the same,
and likewise to offer the services of the government physician.

Some of her majesty's cruisers soon came into the port, and,
seeing the emaciated condition to which I was reduced, offered to convey me
to St. Helena or homeward; but, though I had reached the coast,
I had found that, in consequence of the great amount of forest,
rivers, and marsh, there was no possibility of a highway for wagons,
and I had brought a party of Sekeletu's people with me,
and found the tribes near the Portuguese settlement so very unfriendly,
that it would be altogether impossible for my men to return alone.
I therefore resolved to decline the tempting offers of my naval friends,
and take back my Makololo companions to their chief,
with a view of trying to make a path from his country to the east coast
by means of the great river Zambesi or Leeambye.

I, however, gladly availed myself of the medical assistance of Mr. Cockin,
the surgeon of the "Polyphemus", at the suggestion of his commander,
Captain Phillips.  Mr. Cockin's treatment, aided by the exhilarating presence
of the warm-hearted naval officers, and Mr. Gabriel's unwearied
hospitality and care, soon brought me round again.  On the 14th
I was so far well as to call on the bishop, in company with my party,
who were arrayed in new robes of striped cotton cloth and red caps,
all presented to them by Mr. Gabriel.  He received us,
as head of the provisional government, in the grand hall of the palace.
He put many intelligent questions respecting the Makololo,
and then gave them free permission to come to Loanda as often as they pleased.
This interview pleased the Makololo extremely.

Every one remarked the serious deportment of the Makololo.  They viewed the
large stone houses and churches in the vicinity of the great ocean with awe.
A house with two stories was, until now, beyond their comprehension.
In explanation of this strange thing, I had always been obliged
to use the word for hut; and as huts are constructed by the poles being let
into the earth, they never could comprehend how the poles of one hut
could be founded upon the roof of another, or how men could live
in the upper story, with the conical roof of the lower one in the middle.
Some Makololo, who had visited my little house at Kolobeng,
in trying to describe it to their countrymen at Linyanti, said,
"It is not a hut; it is a mountain with several caves in it."

Commander Bedingfeld and Captain Skene invited them to visit their vessels,
the "Pluto" and "Philomel".  Knowing their fears, I told them
that no one need go if he entertained the least suspicion of foul play.
Nearly the whole party went; and when on deck, I pointed to the sailors,
and said, "Now these are all my countrymen, sent by our queen for the purpose
of putting down the trade of those that buy and sell black men."
They replied, "Truly! they are just like you!" and all their fears
seemed to vanish at once, for they went forward among the men,
and the jolly tars, acting much as the Makololo would have done
in similar circumstances, handed them a share of the bread and beef
which they had for dinner.  The commander allowed them to fire off a cannon;
and, having the most exalted ideas of its power, they were greatly pleased
when I told them, "That is what they put down the slave-trade with."
The size of the brig-of-war amazed them.  "It is not a canoe at all;
it is a town!"  The sailors' deck they named "the Kotla";
and then, as a climax to their description of this great ark, added,
"And what sort of a town is it that you must climb up into with a rope?"

The effect of the politeness of the officers and men on their minds
was most beneficial.  They had behaved with the greatest kindness to me
all the way from Linyanti, and I now rose rapidly in their estimation;
for, whatever they may have surmised before, they now saw that I was respected
among my own countrymen, and always afterward treated me
with the greatest deference.

On the 15th there was a procession and service of the mass in the Cathedral;
and, wishing to show my men a place of worship, I took them to the church,
which now serves as the chief one of the see of Angola and Congo.
There is an impression on some minds that a gorgeous ritual
is better calculated to inspire devotional feelings than the simple forms
of the Protestant worship.  But here the frequent genuflexions,
changing of positions, burning of incense, with the priests' back turned
to the people, the laughing, talking, and manifest irreverence of the singers,
with firing of guns, etc., did not convey to the minds of my men
the idea of adoration.  I overheard them, in talking to each other,
remark that "they had seen the white men charming their demons;"
a phrase identical with one they had used when seeing the Balonda
beating drums before their idols.

In the beginning of August I suffered a severe relapse, which reduced me
to a mere skeleton.  I was then unable to attend to my men
for a considerable time; but when in convalescence from this last attack,
I was thankful to find that I was free from that lassitude which,
in my first recovery, showed the continuance of the malaria in the system.
I found that my men, without prompting, had established a brisk trade
in fire-wood.  They sallied forth at cock-crowing in the mornings,
and by daylight reached the uncultivated parts of the adjacent country,
collected a bundle of fire-wood, and returned to the city.
It was then divided into smaller fagots, and sold to the inhabitants;
and as they gave larger quantities than the regular wood-carriers, they found
no difficulty in selling.  A ship freighted with coal for the cruisers
having arrived from England, Mr. Gabriel procured them employment
in unloading her at sixpence a day.  They continued at this work
for upward of a month, and nothing could exceed their astonishment
at the vast amount of cargo one ship contained.  As they themselves
always afterward expressed it, they had labored every day
from sunrise to sunset for a moon and a half, unloading,
as quickly as they could, "stones that burn", and were tired out,
still leaving plenty in her.  With the money so obtained they purchased
clothing, beads, and other articles to take back to their own country.
Their ideas of the value of different kinds of goods rather astonished
those who had dealt only with natives on the coast.  Hearing it stated
with confidence that the Africans preferred the thinnest fabrics,
provided they had gaudy colors and a large extent of surface,
the idea was so new to my experience in the interior that I dissented,
and, in order to show the superior good sense of the Makololo,
took them to the shop of Mr. Schut.  When he showed them
the amount of general goods which they might procure at Loanda
for a single tusk, I requested them, without assigning any reason,
to point out the fabrics they prized most.  They all at once selected
the strongest pieces of English calico and other cloths,
showing that they had regard to strength without reference to color.
I believe that most of the Bechuana nation would have done the same.
But I was assured that the people near the coast, with whom the Portuguese
have to deal, have not so much regard to durability.  This probably arises
from calico being the chief circulating medium; quantity being then
of more importance than quality.

During the period of my indisposition, the bishop sent frequently
to make inquiries, and, as soon as I was able to walk, I went to thank him
for his civilities.  His whole conversation and conduct showed him to be
a man of great benevolence and kindness of heart.  Alluding to
my being a Protestant, he stated that he was a Catholic from conviction;
and though sorry to see others, like myself, following another path,
he entertained no uncharitable feelings, nor would he ever sanction
persecuting measures.  He compared the various sects of Christians,
in their way to heaven, to a number of individuals choosing to pass
down the different streets of Loanda to one of the churches --
all would arrive at the same point at last.  His good influence,
both in the city and the country, is universally acknowledged:
he was promoting the establishment of schools, which, though formed
more on the monastic principle than Protestants might approve,
will no doubt be a blessing.  He was likewise successfully attempting
to abolish the non-marriage custom of the country; and several marriages
had taken place in Loanda among those who, but for his teaching,
would have been content with concubinage.

St. Paul de Loanda has been a very considerable city, but is now
in a state of decay.  It contains about twelve thousand inhabitants,
most of whom are people of color.*  There are various evidences
of its former magnificence, especially two cathedrals,
one of which, once a Jesuit college, is now converted into a workshop;
and in passing the other, we saw with sorrow a number of oxen
feeding within its stately walls.  Three forts continue
in a good state of repair.  Many large stone houses are to be found.
The palace of the governor and government offices are commodious structures,
but nearly all the houses of the native inhabitants are of wattle and daub.
Trees are planted all over the town for the sake of shade,
and the city presents an imposing appearance from the sea.
It is provided with an effective police, and the custom-house department
is extremely well managed.  All parties agree in representing
the Portuguese authorities as both polite and obliging;
and if ever any inconvenience is felt by strangers visiting the port,
it must be considered the fault of the system, and not of the men.

--
* From the census of 1850-51 we find the population of this city
  arranged thus:  830 whites, only 160 of whom are females.
  This is the largest collection of whites in the country,
  for Angola itself contains only about 1000 whites.
  There are 2400 half-castes in Loanda, and only 120 of them slaves;
  and there are 9000 blacks, more than 5000 of whom are slaves.
--

The harbor is formed by the low, sandy island of Loanda, which is inhabited
by about 1300 souls, upward of 600 of whom are industrious native fishermen,
who supply the city with abundance of good fish daily.  The space between it
and the main land, on which the city is built, is the station for ships.
When a high southwest wind blows, the waves of the ocean dash over
part of the island, and, driving large quantities of sand before them,
gradually fill up the harbor.  Great quantities of soil
are also washed in the rainy season from the heights above the city,
so that the port, which once contained water sufficient to float
the largest ships close to the custom-house, is now at low water dry.
The ships are compelled to anchor about a mile north of their old station.
Nearly all the water consumed in Loanda is brought from the River Bengo
by means of launches, the only supply that the city affords
being from some deep wells of slightly brackish water.
Unsuccessful attempts have been made by different governors to finish a canal,
which the Dutch, while in possession of Loanda during the seven years
preceding 1648, had begun, to bring water from the River Coanza to the city.
There is not a single English merchant at Loanda, and only two American.
This is the more remarkable, as nearly all the commerce is carried on
by means of English calico brought hither via Lisbon.
Several English houses attempted to establish a trade about 1845,
and accepted bills on Rio de Janeiro in payment for their goods,
but the increased activity of our cruisers had such an effect
upon the mercantile houses of that city that most of them failed.
The English merchants lost all, and Loanda got a bad name
in the commercial world in consequence.

One of the arrangements of the custom-house may have had some influence
in preventing English trade.  Ships coming here must be consigned to some one
on the spot; the consignee receives one hundred dollars per mast,
and he generally makes a great deal more for himself by putting a percentage
on boats and men hired for loading and unloading, and on every item
that passes through his hands.  The port charges are also rendered heavy by
twenty dollars being charged as a perquisite of the secretary of government,
with a fee for the chief physician, something for the hospital,
custom-house officers, guards, etc., etc.  But, with all these drawbacks,
the Americans carry on a brisk and profitable trade in calico, biscuit,
flour, butter, etc., etc.

The Portuguese home government has not generally received the credit
for sincerity in suppressing the slave-trade which I conceive to be its due.
In 1839, my friend Mr. Gabriel saw 37 slave-ships lying in this harbor,
waiting for their cargoes, under the protection of the guns of the forts.
At that time slavers had to wait many months at a time for a human freight,
and a certain sum per head was paid to the government
for all that were exported.  The duties derived from the exportation of slaves
far exceeded those from other commerce, and, by agreeing to
the suppression of this profitable traffic, the government actually sacrificed
the chief part of the export revenue.  Since that period, however,
the revenue from lawful commerce has very much exceeded that on slaves.
The intentions of the home Portuguese government, however good, can not be
fully carried out under the present system.  The pay of the officers
is so very small that they are nearly all obliged to engage in trade;
and, owing to the lucrative nature of the slave-trade, the temptation
to engage in it is so powerful, that the philanthropic statesmen of Lisbon
need hardly expect to have their humane and enlightened views carried out.
The law, for instance, lately promulgated for the abolition
of the carrier system (carregadores) is but one of several
equally humane enactments against this mode of compulsory labor,
but there is very little probability of the benevolent intentions
of the Legislature being carried into effect.

Loanda is regarded somewhat as a penal settlement, and those who leave
their native land for this country do so with the hope of getting rich
in a few years, and then returning home.  They have thus
no motive for seeking the permanent welfare of the country.
The Portuguese law preventing the subjects of any other nation
from holding landed property unless they become naturalized,
the country has neither the advantage of native nor foreign enterprise,
and remains very much in the same state as our allies found it in 1575.
Nearly all the European soldiers sent out are convicts,
and, contrary to what might be expected from men in their position,
behave remarkably well.  A few riots have occurred, but nothing at all
so serious as have taken place in our own penal settlements.
It is a remarkable fact that the whole of the arms of Loanda
are every night in the hands of those who have been convicts.
Various reasons for this mild behavior are assigned by the officers,
but none of these, when viewed in connection with our own experience
in Australia, appear to be valid.  Religion seems to have no connection
with the change.  Perhaps the climate may have some influence in subduing
their turbulent disposition, for the inhabitants generally are a timid race;
they are not half so brave as our Caffres.  The people of Ambriz
ran away like a flock of sheep, and allowed the Portuguese
to take possession of their copper mines and country without striking a blow.
If we must have convict settlements, attention to the climate
might be of advantage in the selection.  Here even bulls are much tamer
than with us.  I never met with a ferocious one in this country,
and the Portuguese use them generally for riding; an ox is seldom seen.

The objects which I had in view in opening up the country,
as stated in a few notes of my journey, published in the newspapers of Angola,
so commended themselves to the general government and merchants of Loanda,
that, at the instance of his excellency the bishop,
a handsome present for Sekeletu was granted by the Board of Public Works
(Junta da Fazenda Publica).  It consisted of a colonel's complete uniform
and a horse for the chief, and suits of clothing for all the men
who accompanied me.  The merchants also made a present,
by public subscription, of handsome specimens of all their articles of trade,
and two donkeys, for the purpose of introducing the breed into his country,
as tsetse can not kill this beast of burden.  These presents were accompanied
by letters from the bishop and merchants; and I was kindly favored
with letters of recommendation to the Portuguese authorities
in Eastern Africa.

I took with me a good stock of cotton cloth, fresh supplies
of ammunition and beads, and gave each of my men a musket.
As my companions had amassed considerable quantities of goods,
they were unable to carry mine, but the bishop furnished me
with twenty carriers, and sent forward orders to all the commandants
of the districts through which we were to pass to render me every assistance
in their power.  Being now supplied with a good new tent made by my friends
on board the Philomel, we left Loanda on the 20th of September, 1854,
and passed round by sea to the mouth of the River Bengo.
Ascending this river, we went through the district in which stand
the ruins of the convent of St. Antonio; thence into Icollo i Bengo,
which contains a population of 6530 blacks, 172 mulattoes, and 11 whites,
and is so named from having been the residence of a former native king.
The proportion of slaves is only 3.38 per cent. of the inhabitants.
The commandant of this place, Laurence Jose Marquis,
is a frank old soldier and a most hospitable man; he is one of the few
who secure the universal approbation of their fellow-men for stern,
unflinching honesty, and has risen from the ranks to be a major in the army.
We were accompanied thus far by our generous host, Edmund Gabriel, Esq., who,
by his unwearied attentions to myself, and liberality in supporting my men,
had become endeared to all our hearts.  My men were strongly impressed
with a sense of his goodness, and often spoke of him in terms of admiration
all the way to Linyanti.

While here we visited a large sugar manufactory belonging to a lady,
Donna Anna da Sousa.  The flat alluvial lands on the banks
of the Senza or Bengo are well adapted for raising sugar-cane,
and this lady had a surprising number of slaves, but somehow the establishment
was far from being in a flourishing condition.  It presented such a contrast
to the free-labor establishments of the Mauritius, which I have since seen,
where, with not one tenth of the number of hands, or such good soil,
a man of color had, in one year, cleared 5000 Pounds by a single crop,
that I quote the fact, in hopes it may meet the eye of Donna Anna.

The water of the river is muddy, and it is observed that such rivers
have many more mosquitoes than those which have clear water.
It was remarked to us here that these insects are much more numerous
at the period of new moon than at other times; at any rate,
we were all thankful to get away from the Senza and its insect plagues.

The whole of this part of the country is composed of marly tufa,
containing the same kind of shells as those at present alive in the seas.
As we advanced eastward and ascended the higher lands, we found eruptive trap,
which had tilted up immense masses of mica and sandstone schists.
The mica schist almost always dipped toward the interior of the country,
forming those mountain ranges of which we have already spoken
as giving a highland character to the district of Golungo Alto.
The trap has frequently run through the gorges made in the upheaved rocks,
and at the points of junction between the igneous and older rocks
there are large quantities of strongly magnetic iron ore.
The clayey soil formed by the disintegration of the mica schist and trap
is the favorite soil for the coffee; and it is on these mountain sides,
and others possessing a similar red clay soil, that this plant
has propagated itself so widely.  The meadow-lands adjacent to
the Senza and Coanza being underlaid by that marly tufa
which abounds toward the coast, and containing the same shells,
show that, previous to the elevation of that side of the country,
this region possessed some deeply-indented bays.

28TH SEPTEMBER, KALUNGWEMBO. --  We were still on the same path
by which we had come, and, there being no mosquitoes, we could now
better enjoy the scenery.  Ranges of hills occupy both sides of our path,
and the fine level road is adorned with a beautiful red flower
named Bolcamaria.  The markets or sleeping-places are well supplied
with provisions by great numbers of women, every one of whom
is seen spinning cotton with a spindle and distaff, exactly like those
which were in use among the ancient Egyptians.  A woman is scarcely ever seen
going to the fields, though with a pot on her head, a child on her back,
and the hoe over her shoulder, but she is employed in this way.
The cotton was brought to the market for sale, and I bought a pound
for a penny.  This was the price demanded, and probably double
what they ask from each other.  We saw the cotton growing luxuriantly
all around the market-places from seeds dropped accidentally.
It is seen also about the native huts, and, so far as I could learn,
it was the American cotton, so influenced by climate as to be perennial.
We met in the road natives passing with bundles of cops,
or spindles full of cotton thread, and these they were carrying to other parts
to be woven into cloth.  The women are the spinners, and the men
perform the weaving.  Each web is about 5 feet long, and 15 or 18 inches wide.
The loom is of the simplest construction, being nothing but two beams
placed one over the other, the web standing perpendicularly.
The threads of the web are separated by means of a thin wooden lath,
and the woof passed through by means of the spindle on which
it has been wound in spinning.

The mode of spinning and weaving in Angola, and, indeed,
throughout South Central Africa, is so very like the same occupations
in the hands of the ancient Egyptians, that I introduce a woodcut
from the interesting work of Sir Gardner Wilkinson.  The lower figures
are engaged in spinning in the real African method, and the weavers
in the left-hand corner have their web in the Angolese fashion.*

--
* Unfortunately, this woodcut can not be represented in this ASCII text.
  The caption reads, `Ancient Spinning and Weaving, perpetuated in Africa
  at the present day.  From Wilkinson's "Ancient Egyptians", p. 85, 86.'
  The web, or cloth on the loom, mentioned, has the vertical threads,
  or the warp, hanging, perhaps five feet, from a horizontal beam.
  The woof is passed through from side to side.  -- A. L., 1997.
--

Numbers of other articles are brought for sale to these sleeping-places.
The native smiths there carry on their trade.  I bought ten
very good table-knives, made of country iron, for twopence each.

Labor is extremely cheap, for I was assured that even carpenters, masons,
smiths, etc., might be hired for fourpence a day, and agriculturists
would gladly work for half that sum.*

--
* In order that the reader may understand the social position of the people
  of this country, I here give the census of the district of Golungo Alto
  for the year 1854, though the numbers are evidently not all furnished:

     238 householders or yeomen.
    4224 patrons, or head men of several hamlets.
      23 native chiefs or sovas.
     292 macotas or councilors.
    5838 carriers.
     126 carpenters.
      72 masons.
     300 shoemakers.
     181 potters.
      25 tailors.
      12 barbers.
     206 iron-founders.
     486 bellows-blowers.
     586 coke-makers.
     173 iron-miners.
     184 soldiers of militia.
    3603 privileged gentlemen, i.e., who may wear boots.
      18 vagabonds.
     717 old men.
      54 blind men and women.
      81 lame men and women.
     770 slave men.
     807 slave women.
    9578 free women.
     393 possessors of land.
     300 female gardeners.
     139 hunters of wild animals.
     980 smiths.
     314 mat-makers.
    4065 males under 7 years of age.
    6012 females under 7 years of age.

  These people possess 300 idol-houses, 600 sheep, 5000 goats, 500 oxen,
  398 gardens, 25,120 hearths.  The authorities find great difficulty
  in getting the people to furnish a correct account of their numbers.
  This census is quoted merely for the purpose of giving
  a general idea of the employments of the inhabitants.

  The following is taken from the census of Icollo i Bengo,
  and is added for a similar reason:

    3232 living without the marriage tie.  (All those who have
           not been married by a priest are so distinguished.)
       4 orphans -- 2 black and 2 white.
       9 native chiefs.
       2 carpenters.
      21 potters.
      11 tailors.
       2 shoemakers.
       3 barbers.
       5 mat-makers.
      12 sack-makers.
      21 basket-makers.

  The cattle in the district are:  10 asses, 401 oxen, 492 cows, 3933 sheep,
  1699 goats, 909 swine; and as an annual tax is levied of sixpence per head
  on all stock, it is probable that the returns are less than the reality.
--

Being anxious to obtain some more knowledge of this interesting country
and its ancient missionary establishments than the line of route
by which we had come afforded, I resolved to visit the town of Massangano,
which is situated to the south of Golungo Alto, and at the confluence
of the rivers Lucalla and Coanza.  This led me to pass
through the district of Cazengo, which is rather famous
for the abundance and excellence of its coffee.  Extensive coffee plantations
were found to exist on the sides of the several lofty mountains
that compose this district.  They were not planted by the Portuguese.
The Jesuit and other missionaries are known to have brought
some of the fine old Mocha seed, and these have propagated themselves
far and wide; hence the excellence of the Angola coffee.
Some have asserted that, as new plantations were constantly discovered
even during the period of our visit, the coffee-tree was indigenous;
but the fact that pine-apples, bananas, yams, orange-trees,
custard apple-trees, pitangas, guavas, and other South American trees,
were found by me in the same localities with the recently-discovered coffee,
would seem to indicate that all foreign trees must have been introduced
by the same agency.  It is known that the Jesuits also introduced
many other trees for the sake of their timber alone.  Numbers of these
have spread over the country, some have probably died out,
and others failed to spread, like a lonely specimen which stands
in what was the Botanic Garden of Loanda, and, though most useful in yielding
a substitute for frankincense, is the only one of the kind in Africa.

A circumstance which would facilitate the extensive propagation of the coffee
on the proper clay soil is this:  The seed, when buried beneath the soil,
generally dies, while that which is sown broadcast, with no covering
except the shade of the trees, vegetates readily.  The agent in sowing
in this case is a bird, which eats the outer rind, and throws the kernel
on the ground.  This plant can not bear the direct rays of the sun;
consequently, when a number of the trees are discovered in the forest,
all that is necessary is to clear away the brushwood,
and leave as many of the tall forest-trees as will afford good shade
to the coffee-plants below.  The fortunate discoverer has then
a flourishing coffee plantation.

This district, small though it be, having only a population of 13,822,
of whom ten only are white, nevertheless yields an annual tribute
to the government of thirteen hundred cotton cloths, each 5 feet
by 18 or 20 inches, of their own growth and manufacture.

Accompanied by the commandant of Cazengo, who was well acquainted
with this part of the country, I proceeded in a canoe down the River Lucalla
to Massangano.  This river is about 85 yards wide, and navigable for canoes
from its confluence with the Coanza to about six miles above the point
where it receives the Luinha.  Near this latter point
stand the strong, massive ruins of an iron foundry, erected in
the times (1768) and by the order of the famous Marquis of Pombal.
The whole of the buildings were constructed of stone, cemented with
oil and lime.  The dam for water-power was made of the same materials,
and 27 feet high.  This had been broken through by a flood,
and solid blocks, many yards in length, were carried down the stream,
affording an instructive example of the transporting power of water.
There was nothing in the appearance of the place to indicate unhealthiness;
but eight Spanish and Swedish workmen, being brought hither
for the purpose of instructing the natives in the art of smelting iron,
soon fell victims to disease and "irregularities".  The effort of the marquis
to improve the mode of manufacturing iron was thus rendered abortive.
Labor and subsistence are, however, so very cheap that almost
any amount of work can be executed, at a cost that renders
expensive establishments unnecessary.

A party of native miners and smiths is still kept in the employment
of the government, who, working the rich black magnetic iron ore,
produce for the government from 480 to 500 bars of good malleable iron
every month.  They are supported by the appropriation of a few thousands
of a small fresh-water fish, called "Cacusu", a portion of the tax levied upon
the fishermen of the Coanza.  This fish is so much relished in the country
that those who do not wish to eat them can easily convert them into money.
The commandant of the district of Massangano, for instance,
has a right to a dish of three hundred every morning, as part of his salary.
Shell-fish are also found in the Coanza, and the "Peixemulher",
or woman-fish of the Portuguese, which is probably a Manatee.

The banks of the Lucalla are very pretty, well planted with orange-trees,
bananas, and the palm (`Elaeis Guineensis') which yields the oil of commerce.
Large plantations of maize, manioc, and tobacco are seen along both banks,
which are enlivened by the frequent appearance of native houses
imbosomed in dense shady groves, with little boys and girls
playing about them.  The banks are steep, the water having cut out its bed
in dark red alluvial soil.  Before every cottage a small stage is erected,
to which the inhabitants may descend to draw water without danger
from the alligators.  Some have a little palisade made in the water for safety
from these reptiles, and others use the shell of the fruit of the baobab-tree
attached to a pole about ten feet long, with which, while standing
on the high bank, they may draw water without fear of accident.

Many climbing plants run up the lofty silk, cotton, and baobab trees,
and hang their beautiful flowers in gay festoons on the branches.
As we approach Massangano, the land on both banks of the Lucalla becomes
very level, and large portions are left marshy after the annual floods;
but all is very fertile.  As an illustration of the strength of the soil,
I may state that we saw tobacco-plants in gardens near the confluence
eight feet high, and each plant had thirty-six leaves,
which were eighteen inches long by six or eight inches broad.
But it is not a pastoral district.  In our descent we observed the tsetse,
and consequently the people had no domestic animals save goats.

We found the town of Massangano on a tongue of rather high land,
formed by the left bank of the Lucalla and right bank of the Coanza,
and received true Portuguese hospitality from Senhor Lubata.
The town has more than a thousand inhabitants; the district has 28,063,
with only 315 slaves.  It stands on a mound of calcareous tufa,
containing great numbers of fossil shells, the most recent of which
resemble those found in the marly tufa close to the coast.
The fort stands on the south side of the town, on a high perpendicular bank
overhanging the Coanza.  This river is here a noble stream,
about a hundred and fifty yards wide, admitting navigation in large canoes
from the bar at its mouth to Cambambe, some thirty miles above this town.
There, a fine waterfall hinders farther ascent.  Ten or twelve large canoes
laden with country produce pass Massangano every day.  Four galleons
were constructed here as long ago as 1650, which must have been of good size,
for they crossed the ocean to Rio Janeiro.

Massangano district is well adapted for sugar and rice, while Cambambe
is a very superior field for cotton; but the bar at the mouth of the Coanza
would prevent the approach of a steamer into this desirable region,
though a small one could ply on it with ease when once in.  It is probable
that the objects of those who attempted to make a canal from Calumbo to Loanda
were not merely to supply that city with fresh water,
but to afford facilities for transportation.  The remains of the canal
show it to have been made on a scale suited for the Coanza canoes.
The Portuguese began another on a smaller scale in 1811,
and, after three years' labor, had finished only 6000 yards.
Nothing great or useful will ever be effected here so long as men come
merely to get rich, and then return to Portugal.

The latitude of the town and fort of Massangano is 9d 37' 46" S., being nearly
the same as that of Cassange.  The country between Loanda and this point
being comparatively flat, a railroad might be constructed at small expense.
The level country is prolonged along the north bank of the Coanza
to the edge of the Cassange basin, and a railway carried thither
would be convenient for the transport of the products of the rich districts
of Cassange, Pungo Andongo, Ambaca, Cambambe, Golungo Alto, Cazengo,
Muchima, and Calumbo; in a word, the whole of Angola and independent tribes
adjacent to this kingdom.

The Portuguese merchants generally look to foreign enterprise
and to their own government for the means by which this amelioration
might be effected; but, as I always stated to them when conversing
on the subject, foreign capitalists would never run the risk,
unless they saw the Angolese doing something for themselves,
and the laws so altered that the subjects of other nations
should enjoy the same privileges in the country with themselves.
The government of Portugal has indeed shown a wise and liberal policy
by its permission for the alienation of the crown lands in Angola;
but the law giving it effect is so fenced round with limitations,
and so deluged with verbiage, that to plain people it seems
any thing but a straightforward license to foreigners to become
`bona fide' landholders and cultivators of the soil.  At present
the tolls paid on the different lines of roads for ferries and bridges
are equal to the interest of large sums of money, though but a small amount
has been expended in making available roads.

There are two churches and a hospital in ruins at Massangano;
and the remains of two convents are pointed out, one of which
is said to have been an establishment of black Benedictines,
which, if successful, considering the materials the brethren had to work on,
must have been a laborious undertaking.  There is neither
priest nor schoolmaster in the town, but I was pleased to observe
a number of children taught by one of the inhabitants.
The cultivated lands attached to all these conventual establishments in Angola
are now rented by the government of Loanda, and thither the bishop
lately removed all the gold and silver vessels belonging to them.

The fort of Massangano is small, but in good repair; it contains
some very ancient guns, which were loaded from the breech, and must have been
formidable weapons in their time.  The natives of this country
entertain a remarkable dread of great guns, and this tends much
to the permanence of the Portuguese authority.  They dread a cannon greatly,
though the carriage be so rotten that it would fall to pieces
at the first shot; the fort of Pungo Andongo is kept securely
by cannon perched on cross sticks alone!

Massangano was a very important town at the time the Dutch held
forcible possession of Loanda and part of Angola; but when, in the year 1648,
the Dutch were expelled from this country by a small body of Portuguese,
under the Governor Salvador Correa de Sa Benevides, Massangano was left
to sink into its present decay.  Since it was partially abandoned
by the Portuguese, several baobab-trees have sprung up and attained
a diameter of eighteen or twenty inches, and are about twenty feet high.
No certain conclusion can be drawn from these instances, as it is not known
at what time after 1648 they began to grow; but their present size shows
that their growth is not unusually slow.

Several fires occurred during our stay, by the thatch having,
through long exposure to a torrid sun, become like tinder.
The roofs became ignited without any visible cause except
the intense solar rays, and excited terror in the minds of the inhabitants,
as the slightest spark carried by the wind would have set the whole town
in a blaze.  There is not a single inscription on stone visible in Massangano.
If destroyed to-morrow, no one could tell where it and most Portuguese
interior villages stood, any more than we can do those of the Balonda.

During the occupation of this town the Coanza was used
for the purpose of navigation, but their vessels were so frequently plundered
by their Dutch neighbors that, when they regained the good port of Loanda,
they no longer made use of the river.  We remained here four days,
in hopes of obtaining an observation for the longitude,
but at this season of the year the sky is almost constantly overcast
by a thick canopy of clouds of a milk-and-water hue; this continues
until the rainy season (which was now close at hand) commences.

The lands on the north side of the Coanza belong to the Quisamas (Kisamas),
an independent tribe, which the Portuguese have not been able to subdue.
The few who came under my observation possessed much of the Bushman
or Hottentot feature, and were dressed in strips of soft bark
hanging from the waist to the knee.  They deal largely in salt,
which their country produces in great abundance.  It is brought
in crystals of about 12 inches long and 1-1/2 in diameter.
This is hawked about every where in Angola, and, next to calico,
is the most common medium of barter.  The Kisama are brave;
and when the Portuguese army followed them into their forests,
they reduced the invaders to extremity by tapping all the reservoirs of water,
which were no other than the enormous baobabs of the country hollowed
into cisterns.  As the Kisama country is ill supplied with water otherwise,
the Portuguese were soon obliged to retreat.  Their country, lying near
to Massangano, is low and marshy, but becomes more elevated in the distance,
and beyond them lie the lofty dark mountain ranges of the Libollo,
another powerful and independent people.  Near Massangano I observed
what seemed to be an effort of nature to furnish a variety of domestic fowls,
more capable than the common kind of bearing the heat of the sun.
This was a hen and chickens with all their feathers curled upward,
thus giving shade to the body without increasing the heat.
They are here named "Kisafu" by the native population,
who pay a high price for them when they wish to offer them as a sacrifice,
and by the Portuguese they are termed "Arripiada", or shivering.
There seems to be a tendency in nature to afford varieties
adapted to the convenience of man.  A kind of very short-legged fowl
among the Boers was obtained, in consequence of observing that
such were more easily caught for transportation in their frequent removals
in search of pasture.  A similar instance of securing a variety
occurred with the short-limbed sheep in America.

Returning by ascending the Lucalla into Cazengo, we had
an opportunity of visiting several flourishing coffee plantations,
and observed that several men, who had begun with no capital
but honest industry, had, in the course of a few years,
acquired a comfortable subsistence.  One of these, Mr. Pinto,
generously furnished me with a good supply of his excellent coffee,
and my men with a breed of rabbits to carry to their own country.
Their lands, granted by government, yielded, without much labor,
coffee sufficient for all the necessaries of life.

The fact of other avenues of wealth opening up so readily
seems like a providential invitation to forsake the slave-trade
and engage in lawful commerce.  We saw the female population occupied,
as usual, in the spinning of cotton and cultivation of their lands.
Their only instrument for culture is a double-handled hoe, which is worked
with a sort of dragging motion.  Many of the men were employed in weaving.
The latter appear to be less industrious than the former, for they require
a month to finish a single web.  There is, however, not much inducement
to industry, for, notwithstanding the time consumed in its manufacture,
each web is sold for only two shillings.

On returning to Golungo Alto I found several of my men laid up with fever.
One of the reasons for my leaving them there was that they might recover
from the fatigue of the journey from Loanda, which had much more effect
upon their feet than hundreds of miles had on our way westward.
They had always been accustomed to moisture in their own well-watered land,
and we certainly had a superabundance of that in Loanda.  The roads, however,
from Loanda to Golungo Alto were both hard and dry, and they suffered severely
in consequence; yet they were composing songs to be sung
when they should reach home.  The Argonauts were nothing to them;
and they remarked very impressively to me, "It was well you came
with Makololo, for no tribe could have done what we have accomplished
in coming to the white man's country:  we are the true ancients, who can tell
wonderful things."  Two of them now had fever in the continued form,
and became jaundiced, the whites or conjunctival membrane of their eyes
becoming as yellow as saffron; and a third suffered from an attack of mania.
He came to his companions one day, and said, "Remain well.
I am called away by the gods!" and set off at the top of his speed.
The young men caught him before he had gone a mile, and bound him.
By gentle treatment and watching for a few days he recovered.  I have observed
several instances of this kind in the country, but very few cases of idiocy,
and I believe that continued insanity is rare.





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