SPINNING AND WEAVING 433 



ore. The clayey soil formed by the disintegration of the mica 

 schist and trap is the favorite soil for the coffee ; and it is on these 

 mountain sides, and others possessing a similar red clay soil, that 

 this plant has propagated itself so widely. The meadow- lands 

 adjacent to the Senza and Coanza being underlaid by that marly 

 tufa which abounds toward the coast, and containing the same 

 shells, show that, previous to the elevation of that side of the coun- 

 try, this region possessed some deeply-indented bays. 



28th /September, Kalungwembo. — We were still on the same 

 path by which we had come, and, there being no musquitoes, we 

 could now better enjoy the scenery. Ranges of hills occupy both 

 sides of our path, and the fine level road is adorned with a beau- 

 tiful red flower named Bolcamaria. The markets or sleeping- 

 places are well supplied with provisions by great numbers of 

 women, every one of whom is seen spinning cotton with a spindle 

 and distaff, exactly like those which were in use among the an- 

 cient Egyptians. A woman is scarcely ever seen going to the 

 fields, though with a pot on her head, a child on her back, and 

 the hoe over her shoulder, but she is employed in this way. The 

 cotton was brought to the market for sale, and I bought a pound 

 for a penny. This was the price demanded, and probably double 

 what they ask from each other. We saw the cotton growing lux- 

 uriantly all around the market-places from seeds dropped acci- 

 dentally. It is seen also about the native huts, and, so far as I 

 could learn, it was the American cotton, so influenced by climate 

 as to be perennial. We met in the road natives passing with bun- 

 dles of cops, or spindles full of cotton thread, and these they were 

 carrying to other parts to be woven into cloth. The women are 

 the spinners, and the men perform the weaving. Each web is 

 about 5 feet long, and 15 or 18 inches wide. The loom is of the 

 simplest construction, being nothing but two beams placed one 

 over the other, the web standing perpendicularly. The threads of 

 the web are separated by means of a thin wooden lath, and the 

 woof passed through by means of the spindle on which it has been 

 wound in spinning. 



The mode of spinning and weaving in Angola, and, indeed, 

 throughout South Central Africa, is so very like the same occu- 

 pations in the hands of the ancient Egyptians, that I introduce 

 a woodcut from the interesting work of Sir Gardner Wilkinson. 



Ee 



