Chap. XXI. ILLNESS OF SEKELETU'S HOUSE. 415 



enlarged supplies of cotton from new sources were so much 

 needed at home. 



It is common to cut down cotton-trees as a nuisance, and culti- 

 vate beans, potatoes, and manioc, sufficient only for their own 

 consumption. I have the impression that cotton, which is decidu- 

 ous in xlmeriea, is perennial here ; for the plants I saw in winter 

 were not dead, though going by the name Algodao Americana, 

 or American cotton. The rents paid for gardens belonging to the 

 old convents are merely nominal, varying from one shilling to 

 three pounds per annum. The higher rents being realized from 

 those in the immediate vicinity of Loanda, none but Portuguese 

 or half-castes can pay them. 



When about to start, the horse which the Governor had kindly 

 presented for Sekeletu was seized with inflammation, which de- 

 layed us some time longer, and Ave ultimately lost it. We had 

 been careful to watch it when coming through the district of 

 Mataniba, where we had discovered the tsetse, that no insect 

 might light upon it. The change of diet here, may have had some 

 influence in producing the disease ; for I was informed by Dr. 

 Welweitsch, an able German naturalist, whom we found pursuing 

 his arduous labours here, and whose life we hope may be spared 

 to give his researches to the world, that, of fifty-eight kinds of 

 grasses foimd at Loanda, only three or four species exist here, 

 and these of the most diminutive kinds. The twenty-four dif- 

 ferent species of grass of Golungo Alto are nearly all gigantic. 

 Indeed, gigantic grasses, climbers, shrubs, and trees, with but few 

 plants, constitute the vegetation of this region. 



November 20th. — An eclipse of the sun, which I had anxiously 

 hoped to observe with a view of determining the longitude, hap- 

 pened tliis morning, and, as often took place in this cloudy climate, 

 the sun was covered four minutes before it began. When it shone 

 forth, the eclipse was in progress, and a few minutes before it 

 should (according to my calculations) have ended, the sun was 

 again completely obscured. The greatest patience and perse- 

 verance are required, if one wishes to ascertain Ms position when 

 it is the rainy season. 



Before leaving, I had an opportunity of observing a curious 

 insect, which inhabits trees of the fig family (Ficus), upwards of 

 twenty species of which are found here. Seven or eight of them 



