274 PUNGO ANDONGO. 



S.S.E. ; for, seen from the top, they appear arranged in that 

 direction, and must have withstood the surges of the ocean 

 at a period of our world's history when the relations of 

 land and sea were totally different from what they are now, 

 and long before "the morning stars sang together, and all 

 the sons of God shouted for joy to see the abodes prepared 

 which man was soon to fill." The embedded pieces in 

 the conglomerate are of gneiss, clay shale, mica and sand- 

 stone schists, trap, and porphyry, most of which are large 

 enough to give the whole the appearance of being the 

 only remaining vestiges of vast primeval banks of shin- 

 gle. Several little streams run among these rocks, and 

 in the central part of the pillars stands the village, com- 

 pletely environed by wellnigh-inaccessible rocks. The 

 pathways into the village might be defended by a small 

 body of troops against an army; and this place was long 

 the stronghold of the tribe called Jinga, the original pos- 

 sessors of the country. 



In former times the Portuguese imagined that this place 

 was particularly unhealthy, and banishment to the black 

 rocks of Pungo Andongo was thought by their judges to 

 be a much severer sentence than transportation to any 

 part of the coast; but this district is now well known to 

 be the most healthy part of Angola. The water is remark- 

 ably pure, the soil is light, and the country open and undu- 

 lating, with a general slope down toward the river Coanza, 

 a. few miles distant. That river is the southern boundary 

 of the Portuguese, and beyond, to the S. and S.W., we see 

 the high mountains of the Libollo. On the S.E. we have 

 also a mountainous country, inhabited by the Kjmbonda or 

 A.mbonda, who are said by Colonel Pires to be a very brave 

 and independent people, but hospitable and fair in their 

 dealings. They are rich in cattle, and their country pro- 

 duces much bees'-wax, which is carefully collected and 

 brought to the Portuguese, with whom they have always 

 been on good terms. 



The Ako, (Hako,) a branch of this family, inhabit the 



