THE LOANDA-MELANJE RAILWAY 3<J 



made my cook. Augusto, as he called himself, 

 said he had been cook to the Governor of Melanje 

 who would surely choose a good chef ! He also 

 said he knew a little of our road south to the sable 

 country. In this, however, Augusto lied. With 

 the blundering aid of the newly-acquired servants, 

 my kit had been cleared from the Customs and 

 repacked ; and stores, clothes, and cartridges so 

 arranged that no load weighed more than 50 lb., 

 all that a native will carry on a long clay's march. 



One evening after dinner with Mr. Monteiro 

 and his family, he took a party of us to the Loanda 

 theatre. It was a gala night, and the Governor 

 was there. The building is a modest one, but the 

 acting was good and the audience enthusiastic. 



On most occasions there was an excellent 

 dinner to be had at one of the restaurants, and 

 just at this time the company could be relied on 

 to be cheerful, for the town was full of American 

 oil engineers. A very fine lot of young fellows 

 were these Americans, full of go, or " pep," as 

 they themselves call it, and very optimistic about 

 the oil future of the country. 



It took three hours at the station on the 

 4th August to ensure a place for myself and all 

 my stores for that night's journey to Melanje ; 

 nor did the train give promise of comfort, for the 

 first class carriages looked cramped, while those 

 for natives were merely covered trucks. 



The train was crowded and hot, with eight or 

 ten people in every compartment, meant to hold 

 six. To add to other troubles, Augusto the cook, 

 who was to have helped at the train, did not turn 



