251 A SOLDIER-GUIDE. Chap. XIX. 



leading them down to the sea-coast only to sell them, and that 

 they would be taken on board ship, fattened, and eaten by 

 the white men, who were cannibals. I told them that, if they 

 doubted my intentions, they had better not go to the coast ; 

 but that I was determined to proceed. They replied that 

 they only thought it right to tell me what had been told to 

 them, but that they had no intention of leaving me, and 

 would follow wherever I led the way. This affair being 

 disposed of for the time, the Commandant gave them an ox, 

 and entertained me at a friendly dinner before parting. All 

 the merchants of Cassange accompanied us to the edge of the 

 plateau on which the village stands, and I parted from them 

 with the feeling in my mind that I should never forget their 

 disinterested kindness. They not only did everything they 

 could to make myself and my men comfortable during our 

 stay, but they furnished me with letters of recommendation to 

 their friends in Loan da, where there are no hotels, requesting 

 them to receive me into their houses. May God remember 

 them in their day of need ! 



From Cassange we had still about 300 miles to traverse 

 before we reached the coast. We had a black militia corporal 

 as a guide, a native of Ambaca, who, like most of the inha- 

 bitants of that district, was able to read and write. He had 

 three slaves to carry him in a " tipoia," or hammock, slung to 

 a pole : but as they were young, and unable to convey him far 

 at a time, he was considerate enough to walk except when we 

 came near to a village, when he mounted his tipoia and 

 entered in state, his departure being made in the same 

 manner. Two slaves were always employed in carrying his 

 tipoia, and the third carried a wooden box about three feet 

 long, containing his writing materials, dishes, and clothing. 

 He was cleanly in all his ways, and, though quite black 

 himself, abused others of his own colour as " negroes." When 

 he wanted to purchase any article from a village, he would 

 sit down, mix a little gunpowder as ink, and write a note in a 

 neat hand to ask the price, addressing it to the shopkeeper 

 with the rather pompous title " Illustrissimo Senhor " (Most 

 Illustrious Sir), which is the invariable mode of address 

 throughout Angola. The answer would be in the same style, 

 and, if satisfactory, another note followed to conclude the 



