8 THROUGH ANGOLA 



So far everything had gone well, but my mis- 

 fortunes began when I went to one of the best- 

 known English shipping companies, which appar- 

 ently was content to advertise the arrival of ships 

 without taking the trouble to verify their sailings. 

 A ship advertised to arrive on 25th May, passed 

 the island without calling ; others advertised to 

 arrive in June came in July, and it was only with 

 the help of a friend, Mr. Hinton of Madeira, that 

 I managed to get away from the island. 



To those intending to visit Angola, I would 

 say avoid Madeira and its shipping agencies. If 

 travelling by a Portuguese ship from Lisbon, 

 book your passage several weeks in advance. 

 The best course is to sail from Rotterdam, or by 

 English ships that arc beginning to sail again, 

 generally from Liverpool, to Angola. Come back 

 if you can in the same way, for this will save you 

 the perfectly infernal Customs worries at Lisbon. 



I will not describe modern Madeira, further 

 than to say that it is a beautiful island mountain, 

 rising to 6000 feet above the sea, that its climate 

 is like that of the south of France, and its 

 '' Quintas," or country houses, are as beautiful 

 as Funehal itself is ugly and dirty. 



Two and a half months of my precious leave, 

 and the best of the hunting season, had been lost, 

 but not entirely wasted, as by hard study I learned 

 Portuguese, a language which helped me on my 

 trip through Angola, and to read old histories of 

 this part of Africa. 



It is a curious fact that our friends the Portu- 

 guese, who allege that Livingstone, Bruce, Speke, 



