I Now Discovered That When
These Starchy Substances Are Eaten Along With A Proportion Of Ground-Nuts,
Which Contain A Considerable Quantity Of Oil, No Injurious Effects Follow.
While on the way to Cabango we saw fresh tracks of elands,
the first we had observed in this country.
A poor little slave girl,
being ill, turned aside in the path, and, though we waited all the next day
making search for her, she was lost. She was tall and slender for her age,
as if of too quick growth, and probably, unable to bear the fatigue
of the march, lay down and slept in the forest, then, waking in the dark,
went farther and farther astray. The treatment of the slaves
witnessed by my men certainly did not raise slaveholders in their estimation.
Their usual exclamation was "Ga ba na pelu" (They have no heart);
and they added, with reference to the slaves, "Why do they let them?"
as if they thought that the slaves had the natural right
to rid the world of such heartless creatures, and ought to do it.
The uneasiness of the trader was continually showing itself,
and, upon the whole, he had reason to be on the alert both day and night.
The carriers perpetually stole the goods intrusted to their care,
and he could not openly accuse them, lest they should plunder him of all,
and leave him quite in the lurch. He could only hope to manage them
after getting all the remaining goods safely into a house in Cabango;
he might then deduct something from their pay for what they had purloined
on the way.
Cabango (lat. 9d 31' S., long. 20d 31' or 32' E.) is the dwelling-place
of Muanzanza, one of Matiamvo's subordinate chiefs. His village
consists of about two hundred huts and ten or twelve square houses,
constructed of poles with grass interwoven. The latter are occupied
by half-caste Portuguese from Ambaca, agents for the Cassange traders.
The cold in the mornings was now severe to the feelings,
the thermometer ranging from 58 Deg. to 60 Deg., though, when protected,
sometimes standing as high as 64 Deg. at six A.M. When the sun is well up,
the thermometer in the shade rises to 80 Deg., and in the evenings
it is about 78 Deg.
A person having died in this village, we could transact no business
with the chief until the funeral obsequies were finished. These occupy
about four days, during which there is a constant succession of dancing,
wailing, and feasting. Guns are fired by day, and drums beaten by night,
and all the relatives, dressed in fantastic caps, keep up the ceremonies
with spirit proportionate to the amount of beer and beef expended.
When there is a large expenditure, the remark is often made afterward,
"What a fine funeral that was!" A figure, consisting chiefly
of feathers and beads, is paraded on these occasions,
and seems to be regarded as an idol.
Having met with an accident to one of my eyes by a blow from a branch
in passing through a forest, I remained some days here,
endeavoring, though with much pain, to draw a sketch of the country thus far,
to be sent back to Mr. Gabriel at Loanda.
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