152 THROUGH ANGOLA 



this district one of the richest in Angola. The 

 commonest trees in the valleys are baobabs and 

 acacias, and on the hills between them grow bush 

 and small timber. To north and east of the post 

 the hills rise abruptly, while to the south are more 

 hills over which we must climb as we march south 

 to Lubango. 



The Quillenge ; people are tall and robust, and 

 once were warlike, but now are lazy, confining 

 their work to the herding of cattle ; the women 

 doing most of the agriculture. The girls wear 

 wooden anklets if virgins, and it is a great offence 

 for the parent to allow a giri to continue to wear 

 them if no longer innocent. The women spend 

 a good deal of time in plaiting beads into innumer- 

 able ringlets in their remarkable coiffures. 



Most villages have a shelter, where the people 

 spend a good deal of time talking ; for they are 

 garrulous and, what often goes with it, fond of 

 drink ; and their morals are lax, for adultery is 

 not discouraged by the husbands, who benefit 

 financially by the indiscretion of their wives. 



On the death of a Quillenge, there is much 

 feasting and noise, and the dead man's heir has 

 to supply meat to the whole village. If the dead 

 man is a Chief, he is dressed in gala clothes before 

 internment, and is buried, as were many ancient 

 Europeans, in a prepared ox-hide. 



Besides the court-house, and the quarters of 

 the Civil Administrator of the district, there are 

 about a dozen stores at Quillenges, where trade 

 is very brisk, especially in cattle, more numerous 

 here than elsewhere in Anemia. 



