Chap. XIX. BOOKS AND IMAGES. 367 



books they possessed, and found a small work on medicine, a 

 small cyclopaedia, and a Portuguese dictionary, in which the 

 definition of a " priest " seemed strange to a Protestant, namely, 

 " one who takes care of the conscience." They had also a few 

 tracts containing the Lives of the Saints, and Cypriano had three 

 small wax images of saints in his room. One of these was St. 

 Anthony, who, had he endured the privations he did in his cell 

 in looking after these lost sheep, would have lived to better pur- 

 pose. Neither Cypriano nor his companions knew what the 

 Bible was, but they had relics in German-silver cases hung round 

 their necks, to act as charms and save them from danger by land 

 or by water, in the same way as the heathen have medicines. It 

 is a pity that the church to which they belong, when unable to 

 attend to the wants of her children, does not give them the sacred 

 writings in their own tongue ; it would surely be better to see 

 them good Protestants, if these would lead them to be so, than 

 entirely ignorant of God's message to man. For my part, I 

 would much prefer to see the Africans good Eoman Catholics, 

 than idolatrous heathen. 



Much of the civility shown to us here was, no doubt, owing to 

 the flattering letters of recommendation I carried from the Che- 

 valier Du Prat, of Cape Town ; but I am inclined to believe, that 

 my friend Cypriano was influenced too by feelings of genuine 

 kindness, for he quite bared his garden in feeding us during the 

 few days which I remained, anxiously expecting the clouds to 

 disperse, so far as to allow of my taking observations for the deter- 

 mination of the position of the Quango. He slaughtered an ox 

 for us, and furnished his mother and her maids with manioc- 

 roots, to prepare farina for the four or five days of our journey 

 to Cassange, and never even hinted at payment. My wretched 

 appearance must have excited his compassion. The farina is 

 prepared by washing the roots well, then rasping them down to a 

 pulp. Next, this is roasted slightly on a metal plate over a fire, 

 and is then used with meat as a vegetable. It closely resembles 

 wood sa wings, and on that account is named "wood-meal." It 

 is insipid, and employed to lick up any gravy remaining on one's 

 plate. Those who have become accustomed to it, relish it even 

 after they have returned to Europe. 



The manioc cultivated here is of the sweet variety : the bitter, 



