LABOUR AND STOCK 327 



of excellent quality can be easily obtained from 

 ant-hill earth. , 



g.J The want of a reliable and plentiful source of J 

 labour is the main difficulty of the Portuguese in 

 central and south Angola ; as with a population of 

 only three millions in 480,000 square miles, the 

 country is much under-populated ; and there are 

 probably not more than 100,000 people on the 

 Benguella highlands, and about the same number 

 on the uplands of Caconda and Huilla. Even the 

 local system of compulsory labour cannot supply 

 requirements, and the recruitment of labour for 

 San Thome and Principe, and for railroad con- 

 struction, have decreased available numbers and 

 increased wages. In 1920 a native labourer 

 could command 15 escudos a month, an amount 

 which means the equivalent of 3 to a Portuguese ^ 

 farmer, though it represents only a few shillings^, 

 in British currency and should be readily afforded' " 

 by the British settler. Even at this wage, labour 

 was difficult to obtain, especially near the big 

 towns and the southern districts, like Benguella 

 and Mossamedes. 



A company which has taken up large tracks 

 of land in Angola and is prepared to help others 

 with information, advises British settlers to join 

 and take farms in a large block, when they could 

 be more prosperous by forming a co-operative 

 society, and more contented from the benefit of 

 their own. 



STOCK. Though Angola has so many of the 

 characteristics of a cattle country, the number of 

 its stock is not commensurate with these advan- 



