372 COUNTRY AROUND CASSANGE. Chap. XIX. 



among thousands of blacks ; but nowhere else in Africa is there 

 so much goodwill between Europeans and natives as here. If 

 some border colonists had the absolute certainty of our Govern- 

 ment declining to bear them out in their arrogance, we should 

 probably hear less of Caffre insolence. It is insolence which 

 begets insolence. 



From the village of Cassange we have a good view of the sur- 

 rounding country : it is a gently undulating plain, covered with 

 grass and patches of forest. The western edge of the Quango 

 valley appears about twenty miles off as if it were a range of lofty 

 mountains, and passes by the name of Tala Mungongo, " Behold 

 the range." In the old Portuguese map, to which I had been 

 trusting in planning my route, it is indicated as Talla Mugongo, 

 or " Castle of rocks I " and the Coanza is put down as rising there- 

 from ; but here I was assured that the Coanza had its source near 

 Bihe, far to the south-west of this, and we should not see that river 

 till we came near Pungo Andongo. It is somewhat remarkable, 

 that more accurate information about this country has not been 

 published. Captain Neves and others had a correct idea of the 

 courses of the rivers, and communicated then knowledge freely ; 

 yet about this time, maps were sent to Europe from Angola repre- 

 senting the Quango and Coanza as the same river, and Cassange 

 placed about one hundred miles from its true position. The fre- 

 quent recurrence of the same name, has probably helped to 

 increase the confusion. I have crossed several Quangos, but all 

 insignificant, except that which drains this valley. The repeti- 

 tion of the favourite names of chiefs, as Catende, is also per- 

 plexing, as one Catende may be mistaken for another. To avoid 

 this confusion as much as possible, I have refrained from intro- 

 ducing many names. Numerous villages are studded all over 

 the valley; but these possess no permanence, and many more 

 existed previous to the Portuguese expedition of 1850 to punish 

 the Bangala. 



This valley, as I have before remarked, is all fertile in the 

 extreme. My men could never cease admiring its capability for 

 raising then corn (Holcus sorghum), and despising the compara- 

 tively limited cultivation of the inhabitants. The Portuguese 

 informed me that no manure is ever needed, but that the more 

 the ground is tilled, the better it yields. Virgin soil does not give 



