He Came As A Servant In A Ship,
And, By A Long Course Of Persevering Labor, Has Raised Himself To Be
The Richest Merchant In Angola.
He possesses some thousands of cattle;
and, on any emergency, can appear in the field with several hundred
armed slaves.
While enjoying the hospitality of this merchant-prince
in his commodious residence, which is outside the rocks,
and commands a beautiful view of all the adjacent country, I learned
that all my dispatches, maps, and journal had gone to the bottom of the sea
in the mail-packet "Forerunner". I felt so glad that my friend
Lieutenant Bedingfeld, to whose care I had committed them,
though in the most imminent danger, had not shared a similar fate,
that I was at once reconciled to the labor of rewriting. I availed myself
of the kindness of Colonel Pires, and remained till the end of the year
reproducing my lost papers.
Colonel Pires having another establishment on the banks of the Coanza,
about six miles distant, I visited it with him about once a week
for the purpose of recreation. The difference of temperature
caused by the lower altitude was seen in the cashew-trees;
for while, near the rocks, these trees were but coming into flower,
those at the lower station were ripening their fruit.
Cocoanut trees and bananas bear well at the lower station,
but yield little or no fruit at the upper. The difference indicated
by the thermometer was 7 Deg. The general range near the rocks
was 67 Deg. at 7 A.M., 74 Deg. at midday, and 72 Deg. in the evening.
A slave-boy belonging to Colonel Pires, having stolen and eaten some lemons
in the evening, went to the river to wash his mouth, so as not to be detected
by the flavor. An alligator seized him and carried him to an island
in the middle of the stream; there the boy grasped hold of the reeds,
and baffled all the efforts of the reptile to dislodge him,
till his companions, attracted by his cries, came in a canoe
to his assistance. The alligator at once let go his hold;
for, when out of his own element, he is cowardly. The boy had
many marks of the teeth in his abdomen and thigh, and those of the claws
on his legs and arms.
The slaves in Colonel Pires' establishments appeared more like free servants
than any I had elsewhere seen. Every thing was neat and clean,
while generally, where slaves are the only domestics,
there is an aspect of slovenliness, as if they went on the principle
of always doing as little for their masters as possible.
In the country near to this station were a large number of the ancient
burial-places of the Jinga. These are simply large mounds of stones,
with drinking and cooking vessels of rude pottery on them. Some are arranged
in a circular form, two or three yards in diameter, and shaped like a haycock.
There is not a single vestige of any inscription. The natives of Angola
generally have a strange predilection for bringing their dead
to the sides of the most frequented paths. They have a particular anxiety
to secure the point where cross-roads meet. On and around the graves
are planted tree euphorbias and other species of that family.
On the grave itself they also place water-bottles, broken pipes,
cooking vessels, and sometimes a little bow and arrow.
The Portuguese government, wishing to prevent this custom, affixed a penalty
on any one burying in the roads, and appointed places of public sepulture
in every district in the country. The people persist, however,
in spite of the most stringent enforcement of the law,
to follow their ancient custom.
The country between the Coanza and Pungo Andongo is covered with low trees,
bushes, and fine pasturage. In the latter, we were pleased to see
our old acquaintances, the gaudy gladiolus, Amaryllis toxicaria, hymanthus,
and other bulbs in as flourishing a condition as at the Cape.
It is surprising that so little has been done in the way of agriculture
in Angola. Raising wheat by means of irrigation has never been tried;
no plow is ever used; and the only instrument is the native hoe,
in the hands of slaves. The chief object of agriculture is the manioc,
which does not contain nutriment sufficient to give proper stamina
to the people. The half-caste Portuguese have not so much energy
as their fathers. They subsist chiefly on the manioc,
and, as that can be eaten either raw, roasted, or boiled,
as it comes from the ground; or fermented in water, and then roasted or dried
after fermentation, and baked or pounded into fine meal;
or rasped into meal and cooked as farina; or made into confectionary
with butter and sugar, it does not so soon pall upon the palate
as one might imagine, when told that it constitutes their principal food.
The leaves boiled make an excellent vegetable for the table; and,
when eaten by goats, their milk is much increased. The wood is a good fuel,
and yields a large quantity of potash. If planted in a dry soil,
it takes two years to come to perfection, requiring, during that time,
one weeding only. It bears drought well, and never shrivels up,
like other plants, when deprived of rain. When planted in low alluvial soils,
and either well supplied with rain or annually flooded,
twelve, or even ten months, are sufficient to bring it to maturity.
The root rasped while raw, placed upon a cloth, and rubbed with the hands
while water is poured upon it, parts with its starchy glutinous matter,
and this, when it settles at the bottom of the vessel, and the water
poured off, is placed in the sun till nearly dry, to form tapioca.
The process of drying is completed on an iron plate over a slow fire,
the mass being stirred meanwhile with a stick, and when quite dry
it appears agglutinated into little globules, and is in the form
we see the tapioca of commerce.
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