100 THROUGH ANGOLA 



west to the Coanza. In my fifth and longest 

 traverse, from Chimbango near the Loando to 

 Chuso on the Coanza, three rivers, the Luce, 

 Lusengo, and Caluando, and five small tributaries 

 of the Mazi, which had been passed, all flowed 

 north-eastwards to the Loando. The traverses 

 had crossed most branches of the herring-bone- 

 pattern drainage of the Loando - Coanza water- 

 shed. This watershed is comparatively sparsely 

 inhabited, in the north by the Songho tribe, and 

 in the south by the Luimbes. 



The destruction of the power of their Chiefs, 

 and the great mortality caused by epidemic 

 small-pox thirty years ago, have done much to 

 diminish the number and alter the character and 

 customs of these people. The Songho villages 

 were small and wretchedly built, and there were 

 no big Chiefs and few witch doctors to impose 

 the older and more dreadful customs and cere- 

 monies on their people. 



Beyond an occasional dance, and one funeral 

 ceremony similar to that seen elsewhere, there was 

 little to remind one of what Douville, the French 

 traveller, described when on a visit to these people 

 a century ago. He states that he found it difficult 

 to pass through the Songho country without 

 bribing them and consenting to the sacrifice of 

 animals, the blood of which, mixed with ashes, 

 was used to anoint the feet and head of the 

 travellers. 



Speaking of the funeral ceremonies of the Sova 

 or Chief of Catenda on the Coanza River, Douville 

 describes how the mourners dancvJ nnd shouted. 



