436 FEVER AFTER WESTERLY WINDS. Chap. XXII. 



bedstead, mosquito curtains, beads, &c., and a number of pictures 

 rudely painted in oil by an embryo black painter at Cassange. 



Matiamvo, like most of the natives in the interior of the 

 country, has a strong desire to possess a cannon, and had sent 

 ten large tusks to purchase one ; but being government property, 

 it could not be sold : he was now furnished with a blunderbuss, 

 mounted as a camion, which would probably please him as well. 



Senhor Graca and some other Portuguese have visited this chief 

 at different times ; but no European resides beyond the Quango ; 

 indeed, it is contrary to the policy of the government of Angola, 

 to allow their subjects to penetrate further into the interior. The 

 jiresent would have been a good opportunity for me to have visited 

 that chief, and I felt strongly inclined to do so, as he had expressed 

 dissatisfaction respecting my treatment by the Clnboque, and even 

 threatened to punish them. As it would be improper to force my 

 men to go thither, I resolved to wait and see whether the propo- 

 sition might not emanate from themselves. When I can get the 

 natives to agree in the propriety of any step, they go to the end of 

 the affair without a murmur. I speak to them and treat them as 

 rational beings, and generally get on well with them in consequence. 



I have already remarked on the unhealthiness of Cassange ; and 

 Captain Neves, who possesses an observing turn of mind, had 

 noticed that always when the west wind blows, much fever imme- 

 diately follows. As long as easterly winds prevail, all enjoy good 

 health ; but in January, February, March, and April, the winds 

 are variable, and sickness is general. The unhealthiness of the 

 westerly winds probably results from malaria, appearing to be 

 heavier than common air, and sweeping down into the valley of 

 Cassange from the western plateau, somewhat in the same way as 

 the carbonic acid gas from bean-fields is supposed by colliers to do 

 into coalpits. In the west of Scotland, strong objections are made, 

 by that body of men, to farmers planting beans in their vicinity, 

 from the belief that they render the mines unhealthy. The gravita- 

 tion of the malaria from the more elevated land of Tala Mungongo 

 towards Cassange, is the only way the unhealthiness of this spot on 

 the prevalence of the westerly winds can be accounted for. The 

 banks of the Quango, though much more marshy, and covered 

 with ranker vegetation, are comparatively healthy ; but thither 

 the westerly wind does not seem to convey the noxious agent. 



