ILLNESS OF SEKELETU'S HORSE. 451 



enlarged supplies of cotton from new sources were so much needed 

 at home. 



It is common to cut down cotton-trees as a nuisance, and culti- 

 vate beans, potatoes, and manioc sufficient only for their own con- 

 sumption. I have the impression that cotton, which is deciduous 

 in America, is perennial here ; for the plants I saw in winter were 

 not dead, though going by the name Algodao Americana, or Amer- 

 ican cotton. The rents paid for gardens belonging to the old con- 

 vents are merely nominal, varying from one shilling to three 

 pounds per annum. The higher rents being realized from those 

 in the immediate vicinity of Loanda, none but Portuguese or half- 

 castes can pay them. 



When about to start, the horse which the governor had kindly 

 presented for Sekeletu was seized with inflammation, which de- 

 layed us some time longer, and we ultimately lost it. We had 

 been careful to watch it when coming through the district of Ma- 

 tamba, where we had discovered the tsetse, that no insect might 

 light upon it. The change of diet here may have had some influ- 

 ence in producing the disease ; for I was informed by Dr. Wel- 

 weitsch, an able German naturalist, whom we found pursuing his 

 arduous labors here, and whose life we hope may be spared to 

 give his researches to the world, that, of fifty-eight kinds of grasses 

 found at Loanda, only three or four species exist here, and these 

 of the most diminutive kinds. The twenty-four different species 

 of grass of Golungo Alto are nearly all gigantic. Indeed, gigan- 

 tic grasses, climbers, shrubs and trees, with but few plants, con- 

 stitute the vegetation of this region. 



JVovember 20th. An eclipse of the sun, which I had anxiously 

 hoped to observe with a view of determining the longitude, hap- 

 pened this morning, and, as often took place in this cloudy cli- 

 mate, the sun was covered four minutes before it began. When 

 it shone forth the eclipse was in progress, and a few minutes be- 

 fore it should (according to my calculations) have ended the sun 

 was again completely obscured. The greatest patience and perse- 

 verance are required, if one wishes to ascertain his position when 

 it is the rainy season. 



Before leaving, I had an opportunity of observing a curious 

 insect, which inhabits trees of the fig family (Ficus), upward of 

 twenty species of which are found here. Seven or eight of them 



