The Libollo On The S. Have Not So Good A Character,
But The Coanza Is Always Deep Enough To Form A Line Of Defense.
Colonel Pires Is A Good Example Of What An Honest Industrious Man
In This Country May Become.
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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 634 of 1070
Words from 181562 to 181841
of 306638
