One Of These, Bearing A Fruit
About The Size Of A Thirty-Two Pounder, Is Named Mononga-Zambi.
We took a glance back to this valley, which equals that of the Mississippi
in fertility, and thought of the vast mass of material which had been
scooped out and carried away in its formation.
This naturally
led to reflection on the countless ages required for the previous
formation and deposition of that same material (clay shale),
then of the rocks, whose abrasion formed THAT, until the mind grew giddy
in attempting to ascend the steps which lead up through
a portion of the eternity before man. The different epochs of geology
are like landmarks in that otherwise shoreless sea. Our own epoch,
or creation, is but another added to the number of that wonderful series
which presents a grand display of the mighty power of God:
every stage of progress in the earth and its habitants is such a display.
So far from this science having any tendency to make men undervalue
the power or love of God, it leads to the probability
that the exhibition of mercy we have in the gift of his Son
may possibly not be the only manifestation of grace which has taken place
in the countless ages during which works of creation have been going on.
Situated a few miles from the edge of the descent, we found
the village of Tala Mungongo, and were kindly accommodated with
a house to sleep in, which was very welcome, as we were all both wet and cold.
We found that the greater altitude and the approach of winter
lowered the temperature so much that many of my men suffered severely
from colds. At this, as at several other Portuguese stations,
they have been provident enough to erect travelers' houses
on the same principle as khans or caravanserais of the East.
They are built of the usual wattle and daub, and have benches of rods
for the wayfarer to make his bed on; also chairs, and a table,
and a large jar of water. These benches, though far from luxurious couches,
were better than the ground under the rotten fragments of my gipsy-tent,
for we had still showers occasionally, and the dews were very heavy.
I continued to use them for the sake of the shelter they afforded,
until I found that they were lodgings also for certain
inconvenient bedfellows.
27TH. Five hours' ride through a pleasant country of forest and meadow,
like those of Londa, brought us to a village of Basongo, a tribe living
in subjection to the Portuguese. We crossed several little streams,
which were flowing in the westerly direction in which we were marching,
and unite to form the Quize, a feeder of the Coanza. The Basongo
were very civil, as indeed all the tribes were who had been conquered
by the Portuguese. The Basongo and Bangala are yet only partially subdued.
The farther west we go from this, the less independent we find
the black population, until we reach the vicinity of Loanda,
where the free natives are nearly identical in their feelings
toward the government with the slaves. But the governors of Angola
wisely accept the limited allegiance and tribute rendered
by the more distant tribes as better than none.
All the inhabitants of this region, as well as those of Londa,
may be called true negroes, if the limitations formerly made be borne in mind.
The dark color, thick lips, heads elongated backward and upward and covered
with wool, flat noses, with other negro peculiarities, are general; but,
while these characteristics place them in the true negro family, the reader
would imbibe a wrong idea if he supposed that all these features combined
are often met with in one individual. All have a certain
thickness and prominence of lip, but many are met with in every village
in whom thickness and projection are not more marked than in Europeans.
All are dark, but the color is shaded off in different individuals
from deep black to light yellow. As we go westward, we observe
the light color predominating over the dark, and then again,
when we come within the influence of damp from the sea air,
we find the shade deepen into the general blackness of the coast population.
The shape of the head, with its woolly crop, though general, is not universal.
The tribes on the eastern side of the continent, as the Caffres,
have heads finely developed and strongly European. Instances of this kind
are frequently seen, and after I became so familiar with the dark color
as to forget it in viewing the countenance, I was struck by
the strong resemblance some natives bore to certain of our own notabilities.
The Bushmen and Hottentots are exceptions to these remarks,
for both the shape of their heads and growth of wool are peculiar; the latter,
for instance, springs from the scalp in tufts with bare spaces between,
and when the crop is short, resembles a number of black pepper-corns
stuck on the skin, and very unlike the thick frizzly masses
which cover the heads of the Balonda and Maravi. With every disposition
to pay due deference to the opinions of those who have made ethnology
their special study, I have felt myself unable to believe
that the exaggerated features usually put forth as those of the typical negro
characterize the majority of any nation of south Central Africa.
The monuments of the ancient Egyptians seem to me to embody the ideal
of the inhabitants of Londa better than the figures of any work of ethnology
I have met with.
Passing through a fine, fertile, and well-peopled country to Sanza,
we found the Quize River again touching our path, and here we had the pleasure
of seeing a field of wheat growing luxuriantly without irrigation.
The ears were upward of four inches long, an object of great curiosity
to my companions, because they had tasted my bread at Linyanti,
but had never before seen wheat growing.
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