This complaint
is the only serious drawback Angola possesses. It is in every other respect
an agreeable land, and admirably adapted for yielding
a rich abundance of tropical produce for the rest of the world.
Indeed, I have no hesitation in asserting that, had it been
in the possession of England, it would now have been yielding
as much or more of the raw material for her manufactures
as an equal extent of territory in the cotton-growing states of America.
A railway from Loanda to this valley would secure the trade
of most of the interior of South Central Africa.*
-
* The following statistics may be of interest to mercantile men.
They show that since the repression of the slave-trade in Angola
the value of the exports in lawful commerce has steadily augmented.
We have no returns since 1850, but the prosperity of legitimate trade
has suffered no check. The duties are noted in Portuguese money, "milreis",
each of which is about three shillings in value.
Return of the Quantities and Value of the Staple Articles,
the Produce of the Province of ANGOLA, exported from
ST. PAUL DE LOANDA between July 1, 1848, and June 30, 1849,
specifying the Quantities and Value of those exported
in Portuguese Ships and in Ships of other Nations.
