A LARGE TUSK. 285 



the Government of Angola to allow their subjects to pene- 

 trate farther into the interior. The present would have 

 oeen a good opportunity for me to have visited that chief, 

 aud I felt strongly inclined to do so, as he had expressed 

 dissatisfaction respecting my treatment by the Chiboque, 

 and even threatened to punish them. As it would be im- 

 proper to force my men to go thither, I resolved to wait 

 and see whether the proposition might not emanate from 

 themselves. When I can get the natives to agree in the 

 propriety of any step, they go to the end of the affair 

 without a murmur. I speak to them and treat them as 

 rational beings, and generally get on well with them in 

 consequence. 



February 20. — On the day of starting from Cassange the 

 westerly wind blew strongly, and on the day following we 

 were brought to a stand by several of our party being laid 

 up with fever. This complaint is the only serious draw- 

 back Angola possesses. It is in every other respect an 

 agreeable land, and admirably adapted for yielding a rich 

 abundance of tropical produce for the rest of the world. 

 Indeed, I have no hesitation in asserting that, had it been 

 in the possession of England, it would now have been 

 yielding as much or more of the raw material for her 

 manufactures as an equal extent of territory in the cotton- 

 growing States of America. A railway from Loanda to 

 this valley would secure the trade of most of the interior 

 of South Central Africa. 



As soon as we could move toward the Quango we did so, 

 meeting in our course several trading-parties, both native 

 and Portuguese. We met two of the latter carrying a 

 tusk weighing 126 lbs. The owner afterward informed us 

 that its fellow on the left side of the same elephant was 130 

 lbs. It was 8 feet 6£ inches long, and 21 inches in circum- 

 ference at the part on which the lip of the animal rests. 

 The elephant was rather a small one, as is common in this 

 hot central region. Some idea may be formed of the 

 strength of his neck when it is recollected that he bore a 



