FEVER AETER WESTERLY "WINDS. 473 



arm-chair with a canopy and curtains of crimson calico, an iron 

 bedstead, musquito curtains, beads, etc., and a number of pictures 

 rudely painted in oil by an embryo black painter at Cassange. 



Matiamvo, like most of the natives in the interior of the coun- 

 try, has a strong desire to possess a cannon, and had sent ten 

 large tusks to purchase one ; but, being government property, 

 it could not be sold : he was now furnished with a blunderbuss, 

 mounted as a cannon, which would probably please him as well. 



Senhor Graca and some other Portuguese have visited this chief 

 at different times ; but no European resides beyond the Quango ; 

 indeed, it is contrary to the policy of the government of Angola 

 to allow their subjects to penetrate further into the interior. The 

 present would have been a good opportunity for me to have visited 

 that chief, and I felt strongly inclined to do so, as he had expressed 

 dissatisfaction respecting my treatment by the Chiboque, and even 

 threatened to punish them. As it would be improper to force my 

 men to go thither, I resolved to wait and see whether the propo- 

 sition might not emanate from themselves. When I can get the 

 natives to agree in the propriety of any step, they go to the end of 

 the affair without a murmur. I speak to them and treat them as 

 rational beings, and generally get on well with them in consequence. 



I have already remarked on the unhealthiness of Cassange; and 

 Captain Neves, who possesses an observing turn of mind, had 

 noticed that always when the west wind blows much fever imme- 

 diately follows. As long as easterly winds prevail, all enjoy good 

 health ; but in January, February, March, and April, the winds 

 are variable, and sickness is general. The unhealthiness of the 

 westerly winds probably results from malaria, appearing to be 

 heavier than common air, and sweeping down into the valley of 

 Cassange from the western plateau, somewhat in the same way as 

 the carbonic acid gas from bean-fields is supposed by colliers to 

 do into coal-pits. In the west of Scotland strong objections are 

 made by that body of men to farmers planting beans in their 

 vicinity, from the belief that they render the mines unhealthy. 

 The gravitation of the malaria from the more elevated land of 

 Tala Mungongo toward Cassange is the only way the unhealthi- 

 ness of this spot on the prevalence of the westerly winds can be 

 accounted for. The banks of the Quango, though much more 

 marshy, and covered with ranker vegetation, are comparatively 



