Uhap. XX111. CHEAPNESS OF FOOD. 305 



We crossed two small streams, the Kanesi and Fombeji, 

 before reaching Cabango, on the banks of the Chihombo. The 

 country was becoming more densely peojried as we proceeded, 

 but the population was scanty compared to what it might 

 sustain. Provisions were in great abundance ; a fowl and 

 basket of meal weighing 20 lbs. were sold for a yard and a half 

 of very inferior cotton-cloth, worth not more than three pence. 

 At this rate four persons can be well fed with animal and 

 vegetable food at the rate of a penny a day. The chief vege 

 table food is the manioc and lotsa meal. These contain a 

 very large proportion of starch, and when eaten alone for 

 any length of time produce a most distressing heartburn and 

 a weakness of vision ; but when mixed with a proportion of 

 ground-nuts, which contain a considerable quantity of oil, 

 they produce no injurious effects. 



Cabango (lat. 9° 31' S., long. 20° 31' or 32' E.) is the dwell- 

 ing-place of Muanzanza, one of Matiamvo's subordinate chiefs. 

 The village consists of about two hundred native huts, and 

 ten or twelve square houses, constructed of poles with grass 

 interwoven, which are occupied by half-caste Portuguese 

 from Ambaca, agents for the Cassange traders. The cold in 

 the mornings was now severe to the feelings, the thermometer 

 in the open air ranging from 58° to GO at 6 a.m., and rising to 

 80° in the shade about midday. A person having died in the 

 village, we could transact no business with the chief until the 

 funeral obsequies, which occupied four days, were finished. 

 These days I spent in writing up my journal in order to send 

 it back to Loanda by a party of traders. 



I picked up some information from native traders relative 

 to the country of Luba, which lies far to the north of this, 

 and the town of Mai, which is situated far down the Kasai. 

 In going to Mai the traders crossed only two large rivers, 

 the Loajima and Chihombo. The Kasai flows a little to 

 the east of Mai, and near it there is a large waterfall, which 

 puis a stop to the navigation from the coast. They described 

 the Kasai as being there of very great size, and as bending 

 round to the west from that point. They also described the 

 Kasai as reosiving the Quango about thirty-five or forty 

 miles to the westward of Mai, after which it assumes the 

 name of Zaire or Zerezere. The Kasai, even previous to the 



