This Affair Being Disposed Of For The Time,
The Commandant Gave Them An Ox, And Me A Friendly Dinner Before
Parting.
All the merchants of Cassange accompanied us, in their hammocks
carried by slaves, to the edge of the plateau
On which their village stands,
and we parted with the feeling in my mind that I should never forget
their disinterested kindness. They not only did every thing they could
to make my men and me comfortable during our stay; but, there being no hotels
in Loanda, they furnished me with letters of recommendation to their friends
in that city, requesting them to receive me into their houses,
for without these a stranger might find himself a lodger in the streets.
May God remember them in their day of need!
The latitude and longitude of Cassange, the most easterly station
of the Portuguese in Western Africa, is lat. 9d 37' 30" S.,
and long. 17d 49' E.; consequently we had still about 300 miles to traverse
before we could reach the coast. We had a black militia corporal as a guide.
He was a native of Ambaca, and, like nearly all the inhabitants
of that district, known by the name of Ambakistas, could both read and write.
He had three slaves with him, and was carried by them in a "tipoia",
or hammock slung to a pole. His slaves were young, and unable
to convey him far at a time, but he was considerate enough to walk
except when we came near to a village. He then mounted his tipoia
and entered the village in state; his departure was made in the same manner,
and he continued in the hammock till the village was out of sight.
It was interesting to observe the manners of our soldier-guide.
Two slaves were always employed in carrying his tipoia,
and the third carried a wooden box, about three feet long,
containing his writing materials, dishes, and clothing.
He was cleanly in all his ways, and, though quite black himself,
when he scolded any one of his own color, abused him as a "negro".
When he wanted to purchase any article from a village, he would sit down,
mix a little gunpowder as ink, and write a note in a neat hand
to ask the price, addressing it to the shopkeeper with
the rather pompous title, "Illustrissimo Senhor" (Most Illustrious Sir).
This is the invariable mode of address throughout Angola. The answer returned
would be in the same style, and, if satisfactory, another note followed
to conclude the bargain. There is so much of this note correspondence
carried on in Angola, that a very large quantity of paper
is annually consumed. Some other peculiarities of our guide
were not so pleasing. A land of slaves is a bad school for even the free;
and I was sorry to find less truthfulness and honesty in him
than in my own people. We were often cheated through his connivance with
the sellers of food, and could perceive that he got a share of the plunder
from them. The food is very cheap, but it was generally made dear enough,
until I refused to allow him to come near the place where we were bargaining.
But he took us safely down to Ambaca, and I was glad to see,
on my return to Cassange, that he was promoted to be sergeant-major
of a company of militia.
Having left Cassange on the 21st, we passed across the remaining portion
of this excessively fertile valley to the foot of Tala Mungongo.
We crossed a fine little stream called the Lui on the 22d, and another
named the Luare on the 24th, then slept at the bottom of the height,
which is from a thousand to fifteen hundred feet. The clouds came floating
along the valley, and broke against the sides of the ascent,
and the dripping rain on the tall grass made the slaps in the face it gave,
when the hand or a stick was not held up before it, any thing but agreeable.
This edge of the valley is exactly like the other; jutting spurs and defiles
give the red ascent the same serrated appearance as that which we descended
from the highlands of Londa. The whole of this vast valley
has been removed by denudation, for pieces of the plateau
which once filled the now vacant space stand in it, and present
the same structure of red horizontal strata of equal altitudes
with those of the acclivity which we are now about to ascend.
One of these insulated masses, named Kasala, bore E.S.E. from the place
where we made our exit from the valley, and about ten miles W.S.W.
from the village of Cassange. It is remarkable for its perpendicular sides;
even the natives find it extremely difficult, almost impossible, to reach
its summit, though there is the temptation of marabou-nests and feathers,
which are highly prized. There is a small lake reported to exist
on its southern end, and, during the rainy season, a sort of natural moat
is formed around the bottom. What an acquisition this would have been
in feudal times in England! There is land sufficient
for considerable cultivation on the top, with almost perpendicular sides
more than a thousand feet in height.
We had not yet got a clear idea of the nature of Tala Mungongo.
A gentleman of Cassange described it as a range of very high mountains,
which it would take four hours to climb; so, though the rain and grass
had wetted us miserably, and I was suffering from an attack of fever
got while observing by night for the position of Cassange,
I eagerly commenced the ascent. The path was steep and slippery;
deep gorges appear on each side of it, leaving but a narrow path along
certain spurs of the sierra for the traveler; but we accomplished the ascent
in an hour, and when there, found we had just got on to a table-land
similar to that we had left before we entered the great Quango valley.
We had come among lofty trees again.
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