THE QUIZE. 409 



own notabilities. The Bushmen and Hottentots are exceptions 

 to these remarks, for both the shape of their heads and growth 

 of wool are peculiar ; the latter, for instance, springs from the 

 scalp in tufts with bare spaces between, and when the crop is 

 short, resembles a number of black pepper-corns stuck on the 

 skin, and very unlike the thick frizzly masses which cover the 

 heads of the Balonda and Maravi. With every disposition to pay 

 due deference to the opinions of those who have made ethnology 

 their special study, I have felt myself unable to believe that the 

 exaggerated features usually put forth as those of the typical 

 negro characterize the majority of any nation of south Central 

 Africa. The monuments of the ancient Egyptians seem to me to 

 imbody the ideal of the inhabitants of Londa better than the fig- 

 ures of any work of ethnology I have met with. 



Passing through a fine, fertile, and well-peopled country to San- 

 za, we found the Quize River again touching our path, and here we 

 had the pleasure of seeing a field of wheat growing luxuriantly with- 

 out irrigation. The ears were upward of four inches long, an ob- 

 ject of great curiosity to my companions, because they had tasted 

 my bread at Linyanti, but had never before seen wheat growing. 

 This small field was cultivated by Mr. Miland, an agreeable Por- 

 tuguese merchant. His garden was interesting, as showing what 

 the land at this elevation is capable of yielding ; for, besides wheat, 

 we saw European vegetables in a flourishing condition, and wc 

 afterward discovered that the coffee-plant has propagated itself 

 on certain spots of this same district. It may be seen on the 

 heights of Tala Mungongo, or nearly 300 miles from the west 

 coast, where it was first introduced by the Jesuit missionaries. 



We spent Sunday, the 30th of April, at Ngio, close to the ford 

 of the Quize as it crosses our path to fall into the Coanza. The 

 country becomes more open, but is still abundantly fertile, with 

 a thick crop of grass between two and three feet high. It is also 

 well wooded and watered. Villages of Basongo are dotted over 

 the landscape, and frequently a square house of wattle and daub, 

 belonging to native Portuguese, is placed beside them for the 

 purposes of trade. The people here possess both cattle and pigs. 

 The different sleeping-places on our path, from eight to ten miles 

 apart, are marked by a cluster of sheds made of sticks and grass. 

 There is a constant stream of people going and returning to and 



