32 



SERVICES OF DE. KIEK. 



Chap. I. 



and better still, Colonel Nunes and Major Sicard put their 

 good- will into action, by cutting wood for the steamer and 

 sending men to help in unloading. It was observable that not 

 one of them knew anything about the Kongone Mouth ; all 

 thought that we had come in by the " Barra Catrina," or East 

 Luabo.* Dr. Kirk remained here a few weeks ; and, besides 

 exploring a small lake twenty miles to the south-west, had the 

 sole medical care of the sick and wounded soldiers, for which 

 valuable services he received the thanks of the Portuguese 

 Government. We wooded up at this place with African ebony 

 or black wood, and lignum vitae ; the latter tree attains an 

 immense size, sometimes as much as four feet in diameter; 

 our engineer, knowing what ebony and lignum vitae cost at 

 home, said it made his heart sore to burn woods so valuable. 

 Though botanically different, they are extremely alike ; the 

 black wood as grown in some districts is superior, and 

 the lignum vitae inferior in quality, to these timbers brought 

 from other countries. Caoutchouc, or India-rubber, is found 

 in abundance inland from Shupanga-house, and calumba-root 

 is plentiful in the district ; indigo, in quantities, propagates 

 itself close to the banks of the river, and was probably at some 

 time cultivated, for manufactured indigo was once exported. 

 The India-rubber is made into balls for a game resembling 

 " fives," and calumba-root is said to be used as a mordant 

 for certain colours, but not as a dye itself. 



* The reason of their want of know- 

 ledge — in which, notwithstanding the 

 tone subsequently assumed in official 

 papers, the Government at Lisbon un- 

 questionably shared — was probably, as 

 we conjecture, its recent formation. 

 During the period of our acquaintance 

 with the Kongone, about eighty yards 



were washed away on one side and 

 deposited on the other. A navigable 

 channel by Nyangalule was quite filled 

 up, and Pearl Island nearly all washed 

 away. As nothing whatever is done 

 to preserve the channel, it will soon 

 be as shallow as the Milambe, and 

 entirely useless for navigation. 



