Chap. XIX. A SOLDIER-GUIDE. 375 



they could to make my men and me comfortable during our 

 stay, but, there being no hotels in Loanda, they furnished me 

 with letters of recommendation to their friends in that city, 

 requesting them to receive me into then- houses, for without these, 

 a stranger might find himself a lodger in the streets. May God 

 remember them in their day of need ! 



The latitude and longitude of Cassange, the most easterly 

 station of the Portuguese in Western Africa, is lat. 9° 37' 30" S., 

 and long. 17° 49' E. ; consequently we had still about 300 miles 

 to traverse before we could reach the coast. We had a black 

 militia corporal as a guide. He was a native of Ambaca, and, like 

 nearly all the inhabitants of that district, known by the name of 

 Ambakistas, could both read and write. He had three slaves with 

 him, and was carried by them in a " tipoia," or hammock slung 

 to a pole. His slaves were young, and unable to convey him far at 

 a time, but he was considerate enough to walk except when we 

 came near to a village. He then mounted his tipoia and entered 

 the village in state ; his departure was made in the same manner, 

 and he continued in the hammock till the village was out of sight. 

 It was interesting to observe the manners of our soldier-guide. 

 Two slaves were always employed in carrying his tipoia, and the 

 third carried a wooden box, about three feet long, containing his 

 writing materials, dishes, and clothing. He was cleanly in all his 

 ways, and, though quite black himself, when he scolded any one 

 of his own colour, abused him as a " negro." When he wanted 

 to purchase any article from a village, he would sit down, mix a 

 little gunpowder as ink, and write a note in a neat hand to ask 

 the price, addressing it to the shopkeeper with the rather pom- 

 pous title, " Illustrissimo Senhor" (Most Illustrious Sir). This 

 is the invariable mode of address throughout Angola. The 

 answer returned would be in the same style, and, if satisfactory, 

 another note followed to conclude the bargain. There is so 

 much of this note correspondence carried on in Angola, that a 

 very large quantity of paper is annually consumed. Some other 

 peculiarities of our guide were not so pleasing. A land of slaves 

 is a bad school for even the free ; and I was sorry to find less 

 trathfulness and honesty in him, than in my own people. We 

 were often cheated through his connivance with the sellers of 

 food, and could perceive that he got a share of the plunder from 



