Chap. XX. MASSANGANO. 273 



branches. Near Massangano the land becomes very level, 

 and largo portions are left marshy after the annual floods ; 

 but all is very fertile. As an illustration of the strength of 

 the soil, I may state that we saw tobacco-plants eight feet 

 high, and furnished with thirty-six leaves, each of which was 

 eighteen inches long by six or eight inches broad. In our 

 descent we observed the tsetse, and consequently the people 

 had no domestic animals, save goats. 



We found the town of Massangano placed on an elevated 

 tongue of land, composed of calcareous tufa, between the 

 Lucalla and the Coanza, the latter of which is here a noble 

 stream, about a hundred and fifty yards wide, and navigable 

 icr carces to Cambambe, some thirty miles higher up. 



There are two churches and an hospital in ruins at 

 Massangano ; and the remains of two convents are pointed 

 out, one of which is said to have been an establishment of 

 black Benedictines. The cultivated lands attached to all these 

 conventual establishments in Angola are now rented by the 

 Government cf Luanda. The fort, which stands on the south 

 side of the town, on a high perpendicular bank overlooking 

 the Coanza, is small, but in good repair : it contains some very 

 ancient guns, which were loaded from the breech, and mus< 

 have been formidable weapons in their time. The native* 

 entertain a remarkable dread of a great gun, though the 

 carriage may be so rotten that it would fall to pieces at the 

 first shot; the fcrt of Pungo Andongo is kept securely by 

 cannon perched on cross sticks alone ! 



Massangano was a very important town under the Dutch, but (5$) 

 after their expulsion by the Portuguese in 1648 the place fell 

 into a state of decay, and now contains little more than a 

 thousand inhabitants. Fires are very frequent, and several 

 occurred during the four days we remained there, apparently 

 through the ignition of the dry thatch by the sun's rays. 

 Each event of the sort excited terror in the minds of the 

 inhabitants, as the slightest spark carried by the wind would 

 have set the whole town in a blaze. There is not a single 

 inscription on stone visible in Massangano, so that, if it were 

 destroyed to-morrow, no one could tell where it had stood. 



The Massangano district is well adopted for sugar and rice, 

 while Cambambe is a very superior field for cotton ; but it is 



