418 GOLUNGO ALTO. 



the government of 1000 reis, or about three shillings per load 

 carried. The trader is obliged to pay the carrier also the sum 

 of 50 reis, or about twopence a day, for his sustenance. And 

 as a day's journey is never more than from eight to ten miles, 

 the expense which must be incurred for this compulsory labor 

 is felt to be heavy by those who were accustomed to employ 

 slave labor alone. Yet no effort has been made to form a 

 great line of road for wheel carriages. The first great want of a 

 country has not been attended to, and no development of its vast 

 resources has taken place. The fact, however, of a change from 

 one system of carriage to another, taken in connection with the 

 great depreciation in the price of slaves near this coast, proves 

 the effectiveness of our efforts at repressing the slave-trade on the 

 ocean. 



The latitude of Golungo Alto, as observed at the residence 

 of the commandant, was 9° 8' 30" S., longitude 15° 2' E. A 

 few days' rest with this excellent young man enabled me to 

 regain much of my strength, and I could look with pleasure on 

 the luxuriant scenery before his door. We were quite shut in 

 among green hills, many of which were cultivated up to their 

 tops with manioc, coffee, cotton, ground-nuts, bananas, pine-ap- 

 ples, guavas, papaws, custard-apples, pitangas, and jambos, fruits 

 brought from South America by the former missionaries. The 

 high hills all around, with towering palms on many points, made 

 this spot appear more like the Bay of Rio de Janeiro in miniature 

 than any scene I ever saw ; and all who have seen that confess 

 it to be unequaled in the world beside. The fertility evident 

 in every spot of this district was quite marvelous to behold, but 

 I shall reserve further notices of this region till our return from 

 Loanda. 



We left Golungo Alto on the 24th of May, the winter in these 

 parts. Every evening clouds come rolling in great masses over 

 the mountains in the west, and pealing thunder accompanies the 

 fall of rain during the night or early in the morning. The clouds 

 generally remain on the hills till the morning is well spent, so 

 that we become familiar with morning mists, a thing we never 

 once saw at Kolobeng. The thermometer stands at 80° by day, 

 but sinks as low as 76° by night. 



In going westward we crossed several fine little gushing streams 



