FRUITS OF JESUIT TEACHING. 243 



for the commandant, but neither fort nor church, though 

 the ruins of a place of worship are still standing. 



We were most kindly received by the commandant of 

 Ambaca, Arsenio de Carpo, who spoke a little English. 

 He recommended wine for my debility, and here I took 

 the first glass of that beverage I had taken in Africa. I 

 felt much refreshed, and could then realize and meditate 

 on the weakening effects of the fever. They were curious 

 even to myself; for, though I had tried several times since 

 we left !N~gio to take lunar observations, I could not avoid 

 confusion of time and distance, neither could I hold the 

 instrument steady, nor perform a simple calculation : hence 

 many of the positions of this part of the route were left 

 till my return from Loanda. Often, on getting up in the 

 mornings, I found my clothing as wet from perspiration as 

 if it had been dipped in water. In vain had I tried to 

 learn or collect words of the Buncla, or dialect spoken in 

 Angola. I forgot the days of the week and the names of 

 my companions, and, had I been asked, I probably could 

 not have told my own. The complaint itself occupied 

 many of my thoughts. One day I supposed that I had got 

 the true theory of it, and would certainly cure the next 

 attack, whether in myself or companions; but some new 

 symptoms would appear and scatter all the fine specula- 

 tions which had sprung up, with extraordinary fertility, in 

 one department of my brain. 



This district is said to contain upward of 40,000 souls. 

 Some ten or twelve miles to the north of the village of Am- 

 baca there once stood the missionary station of Cahenda; 

 and it is now quite astonishing to observe the great num- 

 bers who can read and write in this district. This is the 

 fruit of the labors of the Jesuit and Capuchin missionaries, 

 for they taught the people of Ambaca ; and ever since the 

 expulsion of the teachers by the Marquis of Pombal the 

 natives have continued to teach each other. These devoted 

 men are still held in high estimation throughout the coun- 

 try to this day. All speak well of them, (os padres Jesuitas;) 



