294 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



neighboring chiefs had not done all they could 

 to hinder their departure, as they did. They 

 finally set out with a small number of porters, 

 taking only articles of absolute necessity, toward 

 the end of May, for the Coauza River, whose 

 head is a small lake. Just below its source it 

 is sixty metres broad and three deep. To the 

 eastward extends the broad dominion of the 

 Ganguellas, tall, muscular people, who exchange 

 iron and other minerals which abound in their 

 country for calico, glass beads, and rum, at 

 Bihe. In the absence of this beverage they 

 prepare a mead by fermenting honey in water. 

 The Loando, one of the chief affluents of the 

 Coanza, was reached June 24th, after a trouble- 

 some march through an inundated country. It 

 rises in the Quico table-land, and flows in a 

 north-northwesterly direction into the Coanza 

 above Quibinda. Its average width is sixty or 

 seventy metres. This river divides the Luimbe, 

 Quimbanda, and Ganguella countries on the 

 south from the territories of the Songos and 

 Quicos. It flows through an exceedingly fruit- 

 ful region, and supports with its fish a numer- 

 ous population. The travelers visited the moun- 

 tains in which the Coango, Chikapa, and Cassai 

 rise. They were hospitably aided in their re- 

 searches into the hydrography of this region 

 by N'dumba Attembo, the large-minded Soba 

 of Quico. The mountain-plain in which the 

 three rivers have their sources close together, 

 and which forms the parting between the Con- 

 go and Zambesi basins, has an absolute eleva- 

 tion of 1,700 metres. The Coango, after receiv- 

 ing a number of affluents, descends by many 

 rapids and waterfalls, some of these sixty me- 

 tres high, into the Cassange plains. The Cas- 

 sai, in its upper course an insignificant stream, 

 flows eastward, and then northward into the 

 Catende country. The source of the Chikapa 

 lies northeast of the head-waters of the Coan- 

 go, and empties into the Cassai in 8 south 

 latitude. The Quicos are a tribe of hunters 

 whose wanderings extend as far as Imbarri, 

 the residence of the Arab chief Tipo-Tipo. 

 The other dwellers in the Cassai Valley are 

 successively the Macocos, Matabas, Cauris, Pe- 

 indes, and Malacas, to the northward, and on 

 the east the Sambos, Calundas, and Moluas, Ca- 

 wandas, Casselanges, and Zuala Mavumos, the 

 two latter tribes cannibals. The Quicos and 

 the allied Sambos and Bangelas are a branch 

 of the Central African family. 



The travelers separated to more thoroughly 

 examine the Coango basin, Capello going east, 

 while Ivens followed the west bank of the Co- 

 ango through the dominion of Muene Coje or 

 Mozul. Having only sixty or seventy carriers 

 between them, they were compelled to abandon 

 their provisions and a large portion of their 

 equipments. The march along the river-side 

 to determine the exact course was attended with 

 great difficulties. The way led now through a 

 narrow chasm with precarious footing, now 

 through a dense thicket of bamboos and thorny 

 grasses ; sometimes they were turned aside by 



a sharp abyss, and sometimes they had to find a 

 crooked path over a flooded district. The food- 

 supplies had to be brought from places twenty or 

 thirty miles away from the route. The obstruc- 

 tions and extortions of the chiefs through whose 

 country they passed were a serious annoyance. 

 Particularly insolent and exacting was the 

 drunkard N'duuiba Chiquilla, into whose pow- 

 er Capello fell. Ivens, on the other hand, ob- 

 tained much assistance from a female chief, 

 named Moa Chandalla Dicuata, who placed at 

 his service a company of female carriers. The 

 Coango is a rapid river, sixty or seventy metres 

 broad, with steep banks. The variation of the 

 water-level is 2'6 metres. The vegetation along 

 its banks is very abundant and luxuriant. Be- 

 fore coming to the Luale, the first large tribu- 

 tary of the Coango from the left, above which 

 the country is very much broken, Ivens found 

 himself deserted by the greater part of his car- 

 riers, and the Soba Muene-Lhinica exacted a 

 portion of his effects as toll before permitting 

 him to engage carriers and pass over his terri- 

 tory. He reached the confluence of the Coan- 

 go and Luale near the end of August, traveling 

 a northeasterly course, through the country of 

 the old chief Chantana, and then northward 

 along the river-banks. At the end of a long 

 gorge, called the Tala-Mogongo, is the cataract 

 of Caparanga, where the river, with a breadth 

 of thirty-five or forty metres, plunges over an 

 abyss fifty metres high. Erom an eminence 

 the traveler could see the sinuous course of the 

 river for sixty miles, through the plain in which 

 is the village of Cassange in the Bangela coun- 

 try. This plain is 450 metres below the level 

 of the country through which the river has 

 been passing. On the way through the Quimbo 

 and Manungo territories to Cassange, Ivens 

 heard that Capello was unable to advance for 

 lack of carriers. He pushed through to Cas- 

 sange, along the swampy margin of the Coango, 

 crossing many tributaries, and visiting the lake 

 Quibonda, which furnishes salt for the inhabit- 

 ants of these regions. When there, he raised a 

 force of carriers and dispatched them to his 

 comrade. While waiting for the latter, he at- 

 tempted, though the wet season had set in, to 

 explore the country northeast of Cassange, but 

 was obliged by attacks of marsh-fever and neu- 

 ralgia to return. After a month's illness he 

 recovered sufficiently to conduct scientific re- 

 searches, but did not venture on extended ex- 

 cursions. Toward the end of October Capello 

 arrived. He also collected a store of valuable 

 geographical data. 



Notwithstanding the rains, which had trans- 

 formed the plain of Cassange into a vast mo- 

 rass, the explorers started eastward to reach 

 the Coango again. The Soba Banza-e-Lunda 

 opposed with arms their passage in this direc- 

 tion, and they were obliged to take a north- 

 westerly route, striking the river about twenty- 

 five miles farther down. In 9 20' south lati- 

 tude, they discovered the N'zamba cataract, 

 and a little below that of Joaza. Stopped by 



