406 



GEOGRAPHICAL PROGEESS AND DISCOVERY. 



allel, rise the Cuito, an important affluent of 

 the Cubango, which flows southward and unites 

 with the main river at a place called Darico ; 

 the Ouiba, a tributary of the Cuanza; and the 

 Lungo-e-ungo, an important river flowing east- 

 ward, and emptying into the Liba all close 

 together ; and in the neighboring regions other 

 affluents of the Cuanza and the Cubango, and 

 the head-waters of the Cuando, the Quango, 

 and the Cunene, take their rise. The Cuando 

 rises in latitude 13 S., longitude 19 E., east 

 of the Cuito. This is a large and deep navi- 

 gable river, receiving several affluents as navi- 

 gable as itself, watering a great area of fertile 

 and inhabited country. It was this same river 

 which Livingstone called Chobe, and which is 

 the principal affluent of the Zambesi, uniting 

 with the main stream in about latitude 18 S., 

 longitude 25 E., after a navigable course of 500 

 miles. The standard of size must be taken 

 differently in Africa from that applied to Eu- 

 ropean rivers, as the smaller rivers in Africa 

 exceed those which are usually called great in 

 Europe. The rise of rivers in Africa is a sin- 

 gular and apparently mysterious process. A 

 trickling rill is observed and followed down a 

 short distance, and is seen to wax rapidly, 

 without receiving any visible affluents, into a 

 flowing, navigable river. From the head- 

 waters of the Cuando, Serpa Pinto took a 

 course which would lead him to the Liba or 

 Upper Zambesi. He traversed a region cov- 

 ered with forests, in which the elephant still 

 'abounds. Here he came across a singular race 

 of people, whose skins are yellowish-white, 

 paler in fact than the average European, and 

 whose head is covered with a tufted growth of 

 short woolly hair. He observed one day that 

 'one of his carriers had a white skin, and upon 

 inquiry he learned of this anomalous people 

 that they were a nomadic race who live upon 

 roots and the products of the chase, wander- 

 ing in bands of from four to six families in the 

 region between the Cuchi, one of the affluents 

 of the Cubango, and the main river, and east- 

 ward as far as the Cuando. They are extraor- 

 dinarily muscular, burying their arrows en- 

 tirely in the flesh of the elephant. They are 

 the only African people who devour their food 

 without cooking. They hold no intercourse 

 with the neighboring tribes, except when they 

 are threatened with famine, on which occa- 

 sions they exchange ivory for the necessaries 

 of life with the Anguellas. They never stay 

 a second night in the same encampment. This 

 tribe are called Cassequeres. Their tufted hair 

 might warrant the conjecture that the Bushmen 

 of the south are descendants of this race in- 

 termarried with the blacks. Their faces are 

 very prognathous, and their eyes are set ob- 

 liquely in their heads like those of the Chinese. 

 As none of the Portuguese traders have ever 

 made mention of this strikingly marked peo- 

 ple, it seems not unlikely that Senhor Pinto 

 has permitted himself to be misled by an al- 

 bino. In one of Petermann's maps, published 



in 1858, a tribe of Bushmen named Kassakarie 

 are put down in the region between the Cu- 

 nene and the Cubango. Another nomadic 

 tribe, called the Mussambas, inhabit this coun- 

 try. Their wanderings extend as far as the 

 country of the Sulatebele. They are a black 

 race, entirely distinct from the Bushmen of 

 the Kalihari Desert, called Massaruas. The re- 

 gions lying between Bib.6 and the Zambesi are 

 inhabited by three distinct races, the Kimban- 

 des, the Luchares, and the Ambuellas; while 

 a fourth, the Kibokwcs, are migrating at pres- 

 ent from the north to the banks of the Cuban- 

 go and the Cuando, where thoy find a soil more 

 productive than that which they have occu- 

 pied. The whole country is exceedingly fruit- 

 ful. The people of all these tribes are lively 

 and capable of learning quickly ; they show a 

 remarkable fondness for dress. They are gov- 

 erned by chiefs whose power is absolute. Dif- 

 ferent tribes join together in confederations. 

 They had never seen a European before the 

 arrival of Serpa Pinto, but him they received 

 very cordially. Between the Cuando and the 

 Liambai he encountered no important river. 

 In this eastward journey through the valley of 

 the Lungo-e-ungo the expedition was put to 

 severe straits, going without food at one time 

 for 103 hours, and repeatedly for nearly 48 

 hours, and then breaking fast only with some 

 alpista or canary-seed. The country traversed 

 was very marshy, but contained no trace of 

 game, and not even the turtles which are so 

 abundant in the marshy spots along the Zam- 

 besi. Crocodiles, however, were so numerous 

 that bridges had to be constructed over some 

 of the streams to avoid them. After troubles 

 and hardships without number he reached at 

 last the town of Lialui (probably the same as 

 the Katongo of Livingstone), on the Liambai, 

 or Upper Zambesi, in latitude 15 12' S., longi- 

 tude 22 48' E. 



Serpa Pinto had intended to proceed from 

 here to the northeast. In that direction he 

 hoped to discover the true source of the Lua- 

 laba, which, according to a map drawn for him 

 by a Bihean, is not the Luapala connecting the 

 lakes Bangweolo and Moero and the Chambeze, 

 but the true Lualaba, which rises, like the other 

 great African rivers, in about the 12th degree 

 of south latitude, between the Liambai and 

 the Luengwe or Cafuque, the river which was 

 called by Livingstone Cafue. In this same re- 

 gion live the Chuculumbe, a ferocious race of 

 savages, who will not suffer either whites or 

 Arabs to set foot within their territories, but 

 who carry on considerable commerce through 

 the agency of native traders. Although warned 

 by Stanley not to enter the dominions of these 

 relentless barbarians, he intended to push his 

 way in that direction ; but the sudden deser- 

 tion of his followers compelled him to alter 

 his plans. In the night of the 6th of August, 

 while encamped at Lialui, a fire suddenly broke 

 out in the camp, and simultaneously they were 

 attacked by the natives. His men were very 



