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.
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