248 CYPRIANO'S HOSPITALITY. Chap. XIX. 



pay being given to this branch of the service oy the govern- 

 ment. 



I pitched my little tent in front of the dwelling of Cypriano 

 for the night. We here had the company of mosquitoes, with 

 which we had never been troubled on the banks of the pure 

 streams of Londa. On the morning of the 5th Cypriano 

 generously supplied my men with pumpkins and maize, and 

 then invited me to a magnificent breakfast, consisting of 

 ground-nuts and roasted maize, followed by ground-nuts and 

 boiled manioc-roots, and concluded with guavas and honey by 

 way of dessert. At dinner he was equally bountiful, and 

 several of his friends joined us in doing justice to his hospi- 

 tality. Before eating, water was poured on the hands of each 

 by a female slave. This proceeding was necessary, as forks 

 and spoons were used only for carving, not for eating. The 

 repast was conducted with decency and good manners, and 

 was concluded by washing the hands as at first. 



All of them could read and write with ease. The only 

 books they possessed were a small work on medicine, a small 

 cyclopaedia, and a Portuguese dictionary, besides a few tracts 

 containing the Lives of the Saints. Cypriano had three 

 small wax images of saints in his room, and both he and his 

 companions had relics in German- silver cases hung round 

 their necks, to act as charms and save them from danger by 

 land or by water, in the same way as the heathen have 

 medicines. They were entirely ignorant not only of the 

 contents, but even of the very name, of the Bible. 



Much of the civility shown to us here was, no doubt, owing 

 to the letters of recommendation I carried from the Chevaliei 

 Du Prat, of Cape Town ; but I am inclined to believe that my 

 friend Cypriano- was influenced by feelings of genuine kind- 

 ness, excited partly by my wretched appearance, for he quite 

 bared his garden in feeding us during the few days which I 

 remained. He slaughtered an ox for us, and furnished his 

 mother and her maids with manioc-roots to prepare farina for 

 the four or five days of our journey to Cassange, and never 

 even hinted at payment. The farina is prepared by washing 

 the roots well, then rasping them down to a pulp, which is 

 roasted slightly on a metal plate, and is used as a vegetable 

 with meat. It closely resembles wood-sawings and on that 



