VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 397 



Cliefe, Senhor de Silva Rego. Having shown my passport to 

 this gentleman, lie politely asked me to supper, and, as we had 

 eaten nothing except the farina of Cypriano from the Quango to 

 this, I suspect I appeared particularly ravenous to the other gen- 

 tlemen around the table. They seemed, however, to understand 

 my position pretty well, from having all traveled extensively 

 themselves ; had they not been present, I might have put some in 

 my pocket to eat by night ; for, after fever, the appetite is excess- 

 ively keen, and manioc is one of the most unsatisfying kinds of 

 food. Captain Antonio Rodrigues Neves then kindly invited me 

 to take up my abode in his house. Next morning this generous 

 man arrayed me in decent clothing, and continued during the 

 whole period of my stay to treat me as if I had been his brother. 

 I feel deeply grateful to him for his disinterested kindness. He 

 not only attended to my wants, but also furnished food for my 

 famishing party free of charge. 



The village of Cassange (pronounced Kassanje) is composed of 

 thirty or forty traders' houses, scattered about without any regu- 

 larity, on an elevated flat spot in the great Quango or Cassange 

 valley. They are built of wattle and daub, and surrounded by 

 plantations of manioc, maize, etc. Behind them there are usual- 

 ly kitchen gardens, in which the common European vegetables, as 

 potatoes, peas, cabbages, onions, tomatoes, etc., etc., grow. Gua- 

 vas and bananas appear, from the size and abundance of the trees, 

 to have been introduced many years ago, while the land was still 

 in the possession of the natives ; but pine-apples, orange, fig, and 

 cashew trees have but lately been tried. There are about forty 

 Portuguese traders in this district, all of whom are officers in the 

 militia, and many of them have become rich from adopting the 

 plan of sending out Pombeiros, or native traders, with large quan- 

 tities of goods, to trade in the more remote parts of the country. 

 Some of the governors of Loanda, the capital of this, the kingdom 

 of Angola, have insisted on the observance of a law which, from 

 motives of humanity, forbids the Portuguese themselves from 

 passing beyond the boundary. They seem to have taken it for 

 granted that, in cases where the white trader was killed, the 

 aggression had been made by him, and they wished to avoid the 

 necessity of punishing those who had been provoked to shed 

 Portuguese blood. This indicates a much greater impartiality 



