THE PORTUGUESE IN AFRICA. 



311 



every kind of tropical plant in rank luxuriance. Passing on 

 to the valley of Quango, the stalk of the grass was as thick as 

 a quill, and towered above my head, although I was mounted 

 on my ox ; cotton is produced in great abundance, though 

 merely woven into common cloth ; bananas and pine-apples 

 grow in great luxuriance ; but the people having no maritime 

 communication, these advantages are almost lost. The country 

 on the other side is not quite so fertile, but in addition to indigo, 

 cotton, and sugar-cane, produces a fibrous substance, which I 

 am assured is stronger than flax. 



The Zambesi has not been thought much of as a river by 

 Europeans, not appearing very large at its mouth ; but on 

 going up it for seventy miles it is enormous. The first three 

 hundred miles might be navigated without obstacle ; then there 

 is a rapid, and near it a coal-field of large extent. The elevated 

 sides of the basin, which form the most important feature of the 

 country, are far different in climate to the country nearer the 

 sea, or even the centre. Here the grass is short, and the Angola 

 goat, which could not live in the centre, had been seen on the 

 east highland by Mr. Moffat. 



My desire is to open a path to this district, that civilization, 

 commerce, and Christianity might find their way there. I con- 

 sider that we made a great mistake when we carried commerce 

 into India in being ashamed of our Christianity ; as a matter of 

 common sense and good policy, it is always best to appear in 

 one's true character. In travelling through Africa I might 

 have imitated certain Portuguese, and have passed for a chief; 

 but I never attempted anything of the sort, although endeavor- 

 ing always to keep to the lessons of cleanliness rigidly instilled 

 by my mother long ago . the consequence was that the natives 

 respected me for that quality, though remaining dirty themselves. 



I had a pass from the Portuguese consul, and on arriving at 

 their settlement I was asked what I was. I said, "A mis- 

 sionary, and a doctor, too." They asked, u Are you a doctor 

 of medicine ? " — " Yes." — " Are you not a doctor of mathematics, 

 too ? " — " No." — " And yet you can take longitudes and lati- 

 tudes." Then they asked me about my moustache ; and I simply 

 said I wore it because men had moustaches to wear and ladies 

 had not. They could not understand either why a sacerdote 



