Chap. XIX. COFFEE ESTATE. 387 



which never dry. They unite in the Luinha (pronounced Lu- 

 eenya) and Lucalla. As tliey flow over many little cascades, 

 they might easily be turned to good account, but they are all 

 allowed to run on idly to the ocean. We passed through forests 

 of gigantic timber, and at an open space named Cambondo, about 

 eight miles from Golungo Alto, found numbers of carpenters 

 converting these lofty trees into planks, in exactly the same 

 manner as was followed by the illustrious Eobinson Crusoe. A 

 tree of three or four feet in diameter, and forty or fifty feet up to 

 the nearest branches, was felled. It was then cut into lengths of 

 a few feet, and split into thick junks, which again were reduced 

 to planks an inch thick by persevering labour with the axe. The 

 object of the carpenters was to make little chests, and they drive 

 a constant trade in them at Cambondo. When finished with 

 hinges, lock, and key, all of their own manufacture, one costs 

 only a shilling and eightpence. My men were so delighted with 

 them that they carried several of them on then heads all the way 

 to Linyanti. 



At Trombeta, we were pleased to observe a great deal of taste 

 displayed by the Sub-Commandant, in the laying out of his 

 ground, and adornment of Ins house with flowers. Tins trifling 

 incident was the more pleasing, as it was the first attempt at 

 neatness I had seen since leaving the establishment of Mozinkwa 

 in Londa. Rows of trees had been jxlanted along each side of 

 the road, with pine-apples and flowers between. This arrange- 

 ment I had an opportunity of seeing in several other districts of 

 this country, for there is no difficulty in raising any plant or tree, 

 if it is only kept from being choked by weeds. 



This gentleman had now a fine estate which but a few years 

 ago was a forest, and cost him only 161. He had planted about 

 900 coffee-trees upon it, and as these begin to yield in three 

 years from being planted, and in six attain their maximum, I 

 have no doubt but that ere now his 161. yields him sixty fold. 

 All sorts of fruit-trees and grape-vines yield their fruit twice 

 in each year, without any labour or irrigation being bestowed on 

 them. All grains and vegetables if only sown do the same, and if 

 advantage is taken of the mists of winter, even three crops of pulse 

 may be raised. Cotton was now standing in the pods in his fields, 

 and he did not seem to care about it. I understood him to say 



2 c 2 



