276 ANCIENT BURIAL-PLACE. 



bear well at the lower station, but yield little or no fruit 

 at the upper. The difference indicated by the thermo- 

 meter was 7°. The general range near the rocks was 67° 

 at 7 a.m., 74° at mid-day, and 72° in the evening. 



A slave-boy belonging to Colonel Pires, having stolen 

 and eaten some lemons in the evening, went to the river 

 to wash his mouth, so as not to be detected by the flavor. 

 An alligator seized him and carried him to an island in the 

 middle of the stream : there the boy grasped hold of the 

 reeds, and baffled all the efforts of the reptile to dislodge 

 him, till his companions, attracted by his cries, came to his 

 assistance. The alligator at once let go his hold; for when 

 out of his own element he is cowardly. The boy had many 

 marks of the teeth in his abdomen and thigh, and those of 

 the claws on his legs and arms. 



The slaves in Colonel Pires' establishments appeared 

 more like free servants than any I had elsewhere seen. 

 Every thing was neat and clean, — while generally, where 

 slaves are the only domestics, there is an aspect of sloven- 

 liness, as if they went on the principle of always doing as 

 little for their masters as possible. 



In the country near to this station were a large number 

 of the ancient burial-places of the Jinga. These are simply 

 large mounds of stone, with drinking and cooking vessels 

 of rude pottery on them. Some are arranged in a circular 

 form, two or three yards in diameter, and shaped like a 

 haycock. There is not a single vestige of any inscription. 

 The natives of Angola generally have a strange predilec- 

 tion for bringing their dead to the sides of the mos't fre- 

 quented paths. They have a particular anxiety to secure 

 the point where cross-roads meet. On and around the 

 graves are planted tree-euphorbias and other species of 

 that family. On the grave itself they also place water- 

 bottles, broken pipes, cooking-vessels, and sometimes a 

 little bow and arrow. 



The Portuguese Government, wishing to prevent thru 

 custom, affixed a penalty on any one burying in the roads, 



