AMBRIZ--TRADE--MALACHITE--ROAD TO
BEMBE--TRAVELLING--MOSQUITOES--QUIBALLA TO QUILUMBO--QUILUMBO TO BEMBE.
Ambriz, seen from the sea, consists of a high rocky cliff or
promontory, with a fine bay sweeping with a level beach northward
nearly to the next promontory, on which stand the trading factories
forming the place called Quissembo, or Kinsembo of the English.
In the bay the little River Loge has its mouth, and marks the northern
limit of the Portuguese possession of Angola. The country beyond,
described in the last chapter, is in the hands of the natives, under
their own laws, and owing no allegiance 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, and was one of the
principal ports for the 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 River
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 few pounds’ worth of
cloth, &c., in “customs” or presents to the natives.
The Governor, Francisco Antonio Gonçalves 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 receipts 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 commandants 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 government paid
priest who celebrates mass on most Sunday mornings in a small room in
the commandant’s house, but for whom no school-room, residence, or any
convenience whatever is provided, 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. 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
mutineers, and returned to Loanda, leaving the tall commandant to twirl
his moustaches. The Governor-General was at that time an officer called
José 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 remarkably 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 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 River 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.
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, and 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 collecting box. It is the
_Eusemia ochracea_ of entomologists.
In 1872, the ship “Thomas Mitchell” took a cargo of coals from England
to Rio 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 communicated 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 blacks were miserable objects from the 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 already
reached Gaboon, and they will doubtlessly run all the way up the coast.
Previous to the occupation of Ambriz by the Portuguese 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 Government, who sent an expedition to occupy the country,
and succeeded without any opposition on the part of the natives.
In January, 1858, I was engaged by the Western Africa Malachite Copper
Mines Company, who had acquired the mines from Senhor Flores, to
accompany 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 accommodation.
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 Portuguese 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. After being at Bembe eight or nine months, the 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 operations, 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 abandonment 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 Ambriz to
Bembe eight times, and in 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 Royal Geographical 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
visitations 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
carriers to leave also.
To travel in a country like Angola it is necessary 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 quickly 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 eight bearers are necessary: the two
hammock-carriers generally run at a trot for about two hours at a
stretch, when another couple take their places.
On any well-known road the natives have established 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 several 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 extremely 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 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 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 portmanteau. 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
Quingombe, where 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 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 accommodation 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 mosquitoes. 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 unbearable. The substances usually
burnt in such cases are dry 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 sufficient 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 antennæ 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 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. Welwitschii_),
high grass, baobabs and euphorbias, 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 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 carrying 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 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. Our finest specimens of butterflies, such
as _Godartia Trajanus_, _Romaleosoma losinga_, _R. medon_, _Euryphene
Plistonax_ 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. menestheus_, _P.
brutus_, _P. demoleus_, _P. erinus_, _Diadema misuppus_), &c. &c., on
the contrary, 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 Quiballa may be due not
only to difference of altitude, 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
scapulatus_), the brilliantly-coloured starlings (_Lamprocolius_),
and the several rollers; doves also, so abundant on the coast, are
comparatively rare after passing Quiballa.
The _Coracias 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
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 Quirillo, 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, “Mundelle mata-bicho,
Mundelle mata-bicho” (Mundelle = white-man, mata-bicho = a “dash” of a
drink of rum). On landing her safely they would yell and whistle like
demons, accompanied 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
number of men to meet us, when they took 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 limits of the
coast or Ambriz race, and that of the Mushicongo tribe beyond.
There is a good deal of rivalry 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 Mushicongos 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 mines we were
obliged to have a large store at Quiballa to receive loads going up
from Ambriz, and copper ore coming 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 difficulty in inducing the
Mushicongos to take these heavy and very often cumbersome loads from
Quiballa to Bembe, and once, when loads for upwards of 1000 carriers
had accumulated at the store, I was obliged to hit upon the following
plan to get the Mushicongos 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 happened. 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 _Camoensia 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.
[Illustration: PLATE VI.
VIEW IN THE HILLY COUNTRY OF QUIBALLA--CAMOENSIA MAXIMA.
_To face page 177._]
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
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, however, 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 square-stemmed, prickly, cactus-like euphorbia,
or more generally of the Physic-nut plant (_Jatropha curcas_), 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 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 surrounding
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 covering
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 dry 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 observations 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 us 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 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 obtained. As far
as the eye can reach is seen a succession of forest-covered mountains
brightly lit 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 panorama, 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 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 hospitably 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 overflowed,
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 Rose, 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 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. Günther, and named by him _Gymnallabes apus_ (‘Annals and
Magazine of Natural History’ for August, 1873).
[Illustration: PLATE VII.
QUILUMBO. _To face page 185._]
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 River 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 where we heard the kings of five towns were
to have their heads cut off that day for complicity 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 short distance above it. I
immediately wanted to buy this instrument, but nothing would induce the
king to part with it till I offered to exchange 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 undulating country, covered
principally with high grass, and after passing a couple of small
towns we arrived, early in the afternoon, at the River Luqueia,
which we passed over on a very good plank bridge, just built by the
Portuguese officer commanding the small detachment at Bembe. Here our
carriers stopped for about an hour, bathing in the river, and dressing
themselves in their best cloths and caps, that they had brought with
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 travelling days. This will give some idea of the endurance of
the Ambriz natives, as, from having 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 finest being
found in such 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.
[Illustration: PLATE VIII.
BEMBE VALLEY. _To face page 189._]