EXPEDITION UNDER LIEUTENANT GRAND Y. 605 



draining Angola, and the northern one being apparently identical with the 

 Lualaba. 



The expedition under Lieutenant Grandy left Liverpool on the 3rd of 

 November, 1S72, arriving at Ambriz in February 1873, where considerable 

 difficulty was experienced in securing the requisite number of carriers. On 

 the 23rd of March after a journey of eleven days, they reached Bembe, 

 where they were very kindly received by the chief, who gave up a portion 

 of the barracks for the accommodation of the men, as well as a lock-up store 

 for stowing away their cargoes. Bembe is the most advanced port of the 

 Portuguese, and from its command of the roads to and from the interior, is 

 of considerable importance. The fort is in a very dilapidated state, and a 

 rumour prevailed that the Portuguese intended abandoning it. While at 

 Bembe Lieutenant Grandy paid a visit to the copper mines, where there 

 seems still to be a considerable amount of ore. In his published Journal, he 

 says : — " Formerly they had an English manager here, and every requisite 

 machinery, but the manager died, and the Company got into difficulties, and 

 the whole plant was eventually destroyed by fire. There is a chief at Encoge, 

 three days south of this place, through whom communication is kept up with 

 Loanda. The place produces large quantities of good quality coffee, and 

 fine sheep may also be obtained ; but the climate, from the greater quantity 

 of rain that falls, is much more unhealthy. . . Paid a visit to the caves, 

 which are in the same valley as the mines, but a mile further to the south- 

 eastward : they are very interesting, and the rocks from which they have been 

 scooped form a strange feature amongst the surrounding soil of slate and 

 shale, being composed entirely of limestone. The entrance to the first cave 

 is by a low, narrow passage, and having arrived at the end, you enter a 

 circular vaulted chamber about thirty-five feet in diameter and forty feet 

 hio-h. Beyond this again is another chamber, nearly sixty feet in height, 

 and also circular. In these caves, it is said, the natives deposited the copper 

 ore they collected at the mines before the Portuguese took possession. Pass- 

 ing round to the right, after emerging from the first two chambers, you enter 

 a second cave of greater extent, but not so singular in shape, the roof gradu- 

 ally sloping to the ground. We found some few specimens of malachite in 

 the caves." 



On Wednesday, the 8th March, Lieutenant Grrandy left Bembe, and bade 

 farewell to the chief, of whom he says : — " I was exceedingly sorrow at part- 

 ing with the chief, who, in his kindness to our men and selves, has been 

 almost as a brother. He pressed on me from his small store some rice, wine, 

 bread, etc., and accompanied me to the first village, where he embraced me, 

 and wished me Godspeed and good fortune. Our men, I am glad to state, 

 fell in of their own free will, and one of them, acting as spokesman for the 

 rest, thanked the chief for his great kindness to them. The chief seemed 



