282 CASSANGE VILLAGE. 



as they were not obliged to erect sheds for themselves, in 

 consequence of finding them already built at the different 

 sleeping-places, all their care was bestowed in making me 

 comfortable. Mashauana, as usual, made his bed with his 

 head close to my feet, and never during the entire journey 

 did I have to call him twice for any thing I needed. 



January 15, 1855. — We descended in one hour from the 

 heights of Tala Mungongo. I counted the number of paces 

 made on the slope downward, and found them to be sixteen 

 hundred, which may give a perpendicular height of from 

 twelve to fifteen hundred feet. 



Before we reached Cassange we were overtaken by the 

 commandant, Senhor Carvalho, who was returning, with a 

 detachment of fifty men and a field-piece, from an unsuc- 

 cessful search after some rebels. The rebels had fled, and 

 all he could do was to burn their huts. He kindly invited 

 me to take up my residence with him ; but, not wishing to 

 pass by the gentleman (Captain Neves) who had so kindly 

 received me on my first arrival in the Portuguese pos- 

 sessions, I declined. Senhor Rego had been superseded in 

 his command, because the Governor Amaral, who had come 

 into office since my departure from Loanda, had determined 

 that the law which requires the office of commandant to be 

 exclusively occupied by military officers of the line should 

 once more come into operation. I was again most kindly 

 welcomed by my friend Captain Neves, whom I found 

 laboring under a violent inflammation and abscess of the 

 hand. There is nothing in the situation of this village t<? 

 indicate unhealthiness, except, perhaps, the rank luxu 

 nance of the vegetation. Nearly all the Portuguese in- 

 habitants suffer from enlargement of the spleen, the effects 

 of frequent intermittents, and have generally a sickly ap- 

 pearance. Thinking that this affection of the hand was 

 simply an effort of nature to get rid of malarious mattei 

 from the system, I recommended the use of quinine. He 

 himself applied the leaf of a plant called cathory, famed 

 among the natives as an excellent remedy for ulcers. TltP 



