28tf COLOURED PRIESTS. Chap. XXI. 



imagine. The leaves boiled make an excellent vegetable for 

 the table ; and, when eaten by goats, their milk is much 

 increased. The wood is a good fuel, and yields a large 

 quantity of potash. In a dry soil it takes two years to come 

 to perfection, requiring, during that time, one weeding only. 

 It bears drought well, and never shrivels up under it as 

 other plants do. When planted in low alluvial soils, and 

 well watered, it will come to maturity in twelve, or even ten 

 months. The well-known substance tapioca is extracted from 

 the plant by pouring water over the grated root, and thus 

 disengaging the starch from it, which subsides and is then 

 dried over a slow fire, the mass being kept in motion during 

 the process, and thus forming itself into the globules with 

 which we are familiar. Throughout the interior of Angola 

 fine manioc-meal, which could with ease have been converted 

 either into superior starch or tapioca, is commonly sold at the 

 rate of about ten pounds for a penny. This region possesses, 

 however, no means of transport to Loanda other than the 

 shoulders of the carriers and slaves, and no road better than 

 a footpath. 



Cambambe, to which the navigation of the Coanza reaches, 

 is reported to be thirty leagues below Pungo Anclongo. A 

 large waterfall is the limit on that side ; and another exists 

 higher up, at the confluence of the Lombe (lat. 9° 41' 26" S., 

 and about long. 16° E.), over which hippopotami and elephants 

 are sometimes drawn and killed. Between these points the 

 current is rapid and the bed generally rocky. The course of 

 the Coanza turns southwards from the point of its confluence 

 with the Lombe : its source is stated to be near Bihe, about 

 eight days' journey south of Sanza. 



The prospects of Christianity are at present anything but 

 bright in these parts. There are only three or four priests in 

 Loanda, all men of colour, but educated for the office. I was 

 visited by one of these, who was on a tour of visitation in the 

 different interior districts, for the purpose of baptizing and 

 marrying. He had lately visited Lisbon, in company with the 

 Prince of Congo, and had been invested with an order of 

 honour by the King of Portugal as an acknowledgment of his 

 services. He had all the appearance of a true negro, but 

 commanded the respect of the people. I was informed that 



