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. This small field was cultivated
by Mr. Miland, an agreeable Portuguese merchant. His garden was interesting,
as showing what the land at this elevation is capable of yielding;
for, besides wheat, we saw European vegetables in a flourishing condition,
and we afterward discovered that the coffee-plant has propagated itself
on certain spots of this same district. It may be seen
on the heights of Tala Mungongo, or nearly 300 miles from the west coast,
where it was first introduced by the Jesuit missionaries.
We spent Sunday, the 30th of April, at Ngio, close to the ford of the Quize
as it crosses our path to fall into the Coanza.
