400 COUNTRY AROUND CASSANGE. 



thousands of blacks ; Ibut nowhere else in Africa is there so much 

 good-will between Europeans and natives as here. If some bor- 

 der colonists had the absolute certainty of our government de- 

 clining to bear them out in their arrogance, we should proba- 

 bly hear less of Caffre insolence. It is insolence which begets in- 

 solence. 



From the village of Cassange we have a good view of the sur- 

 rounding country : it is a gently undulating plain, covered with 

 grass and patches of forest. The western edge of the Quango 

 valley appears, about twenty miles ofT, as if it were a range of 

 lofty mountains, and passes by the name of Tala Mungongo, " Be- 

 hold the Eange." In the old Portuguese map, to which I had 

 been trusting in planning my route, it is indicated as Talla Mu- 

 gongo, or '•'■Castle of Rocks /" and the Coanza is put down as ris- 

 ing therefrom ; but here I was assured that the Coanza had its 

 source near Bihe, far to the southwest of this, and we should not 

 see that river till we came near Pun go Andonga. It is somewhat 

 remarkable that more accurate information about this country has 

 not been published. Captain Neves and others had a correct idea 

 of the courses of the rivers, and communicated their knowledge 

 freely ; yet about this time maps were sent to Europe from An- 

 gola representing the Quango and Coanza as the same river, and 

 Cassange placed about one hundred miles from its true position. 

 The frequent recurrence of the same name has probably helped to 

 increase the confusion. I have crossed several Quangos, but all 

 insignificant, except that which drains this valley. The repe- 

 tition of the favorite names of chiefs, as Catende, is also per- 

 plexing, as one Catende may be mistaken for another. To avoid 

 this confusion as much as possible, I have refrained from intro- 

 ducing many names. Numerous villages are studded all over 

 the valley ; but these possess no permanence, and many more 

 existed previous to the Portuguese expedition of 1850 to punish 

 the Bangala. i 



This valley, as I have before remarked, is all fertile in the 

 extreme. My men could never cease admiring its capability for 

 raising their corn {Holcus sorghum), and despising the compar- 

 atively limited cultivation of the inhabitants. The Portuguese 

 informed me that no manure is ever needed, but that, the more 

 the ground is tilled, the better it yields. Virgin soil does not give 



