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.*
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* 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.
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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.*
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* 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.
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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.
