Ten Or Twelve Large Canoes
Laden With Country Produce Pass Massangano Every Day.
Four galleons
were constructed here as long ago as 1650, which must have been of good size,
for they crossed the ocean to Rio Janeiro.
Massangano district is well adapted for sugar and rice, while Cambambe
is a very superior field for cotton; but the bar at the mouth of the Coanza
would prevent the approach of a steamer into this desirable region,
though a small one could ply on it with ease when once in. It is probable
that the objects of those who attempted to make a canal from Calumbo to Loanda
were not merely to supply that city with fresh water,
but to afford facilities for transportation. The remains of the canal
show it to have been made on a scale suited for the Coanza canoes.
The Portuguese began another on a smaller scale in 1811,
and, after three years' labor, had finished only 6000 yards.
Nothing great or useful will ever be effected here so long as men come
merely to get rich, and then return to Portugal.
The latitude of the town and fort of Massangano is 9d 37' 46" S., being nearly
the same as that of Cassange. The country between Loanda and this point
being comparatively flat, a railroad might be constructed at small expense.
The level country is prolonged along the north bank of the Coanza
to the edge of the Cassange basin, and a railway carried thither
would be convenient for the transport of the products of the rich districts
of Cassange, Pungo Andongo, Ambaca, Cambambe, Golungo Alto, Cazengo,
Muchima, and Calumbo; in a word, the whole of Angola and independent tribes
adjacent to this kingdom.
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