96 THROUGH ANGOLA 



enthusiasm. The Sova and the other men of the 

 village remained glum and crestfallen, and were 

 chaffed unmercifully by my men. 



While the rest of the carriers marched direct 

 to a village called Quingombe, two and a half 

 hours to the south, three of us made a detour to 

 the east to search for sable, but saw nothing but 

 their spoor. We returned to find the carriers 

 waiting in New Quingombe, a dirty and shadeless 

 village, whilst only 300 yards away on a hill was 

 the beautiful deserted site of Old Quingombe. 



On the summit of this hill grew great mulemba 

 trees (Ficus psilopoga), in a circle so regular 

 in outline that the trees which formed it must- 

 have grown from the original stockade which 

 surrounded the village, perhaps a hundred years 

 before. Among these trees hundreds of birds 

 were singing merrily, revelling in the wonderful 

 coolness and greenery ; while in the dense shade 

 below was a carpet of green grass like English 

 turf. From this hill could be seen, 6 miles to 

 the east and near the Coanza River, another hill 

 with a similar great clump of trees. The natives 

 called this place Mulundu ; they said that a native 

 sable hunter lived there, and that opposite 

 Mulundu and between it and Massanga, a village 

 on the other bank of the Coanza. was a wa^on 



o 



crossing whence a wagon road led to Bihe in the 

 south. 



The camp at Quingombe was so delightful 

 that we remained there two clays ; and yet, 

 probably because one Chief had died, this beauty 

 spot had been abandoned by his successor for the 



