Chap. XIX. THE TAMPAN. 259 



of the week and the names of my companions, and, had I 

 been asked my own, I probably could not have told it. 



The district of Ambaca is said to contain upwards of 40,000 

 souls, of whom a large number are able to read and write. 

 This is the fruit of the labours of the Jesuits, who had in 

 former times a missionary station at Cahenda, about ten miles 

 north of Ambaca, and since whose expulsion by the Marquis 

 of Pombal the natives have continued to teach each other. 

 These devoted men are held in high estimation through- 

 out the country to this day ; and I could only regret that they 

 had not felt it their duty to give the people the Bible, to be a 

 light to their feet when they themselves were gone. 



When sleeping in the house of the Commandant I was 

 bitten on the foot by a kind of tick, known in the southern 

 country by the name Tampan, and common in all the native 

 huts in this country. It varies in size from that of a pin's- 

 head to that of a pea, and its skin is so tough and yielding 

 that it is impossible to burst it by any amount of squeezing 

 with the fingers. The effects of its bite are, a tingling 

 sensation of mingled pain and itching, which gradually 

 ascends the limb until it reaches the abdomen, where it 

 soon causes violent vomiting and purging. Where these 

 effects do not follow, as we found afterwards at Tete, fever 

 sets in; and I was assured by intelligent Portuguese there 

 that death has sometimes resulted from this fever. The 

 anxiety manifested by my friends at Tete to keep my men out 

 of the reach of the tampans proved that they had good cause 

 to dread this insignificant insect. The only inconvenience 

 I afterwards suffered from this bite was the continuance of 

 the tingling sensation for about a week. 



May 12th. — As we were about to start this morning, the 

 Commandant provided a most bountiful supply of bread and 

 meat for my use on the way to the next station, and sent two 

 militia soldiers as guides. About midday we sought shelter 

 from the sun in the house of Senhor Mellot, at Zangu ; and 

 though I was unable to sit up and engage in conversation, I 

 found on rising from his couch that he had cooked a fowl for 

 my use ; and at parting he gave me a glass of wine, which pre- 

 vented the violent fit of shivering I expected that afternoon. 

 We spent Sunday, the 14th, at Cabinda, one of the stations of 



