888 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONS, LL.D. 



bit of meat or fish in the larder, they send out to a neighbour for the ' lent 

 rat,' as it is called. This is a field rat roasted on a skewer, and it is presented 

 to the guest, who, holding the skewer in his left hand, dabs bits of the 

 ' infundi ' on the rat before he swallows them, as if to give them a flavour ; 

 but he is very careful not to eat the rat, or even the smallest particle of it, 

 as this would be considered a great crime or offence, and would be severely 

 punished by their laws. It is supposed that the host has duly preserved the 

 dignity of his house and position, and has performed the rites of hospitality, 

 in presenting his guest with meat and ' infundi,' though he has not tasted a 

 morsel of the former, which is returned intact to the owner from whom it was 

 borrowed." 



The River Quanza is the gem of the Portuguese possession of Angola, 

 south of the Congo; it is about fifty miles south of Loanda, and is the only 

 river navigable for any distance, and the natural highway to the most fertile 

 and. healthy countries of the interior. From the mouth of the river to Ca- 

 lumbo there are large mangrove marshes; but when it reaches that place the 

 banks are mostly bare, or lined with sedges and papyrus. At Calumbo there 

 is a considerable assemblage of huts and mud-plastered houses, belonging to 

 the native population. A few miles higher up is Bruto, where the cultivation 

 of the sugar-cane is largely carried on. At Bruto there is a fine lagoon, in 

 which abundance of fish is netted, and there are some lovely woods and 

 valleys near, which abound with birds and monkeys. Beyond this the river 

 scenery is much finer, cliffs and hills on either side covered with the baobab, 

 and the valleys filled with a luxuriant green forest of trees and creepers, with 

 here and there brilliant patches of colour from the abundant flowers of the 

 latter; the banks of the river forming a foreground of papyrus and sedges of 

 unfading green. 



About fifty or sixty miles from the coast, on the southern bank of the 

 river, is the town of Muxima, built on a bare, white limestone rock, on which 

 the hot sun seems to have baked the mud huts with their straw roofs to a 

 dark brown. Beyond Muxima, the appearance of the banks becomes really 

 charming. Mile after mile a continuous panorama of magnificent dark forest 

 of high feathery-topped oil-palms stretches on both sides, but principally on 

 the north bank. Under these palms is seen a succession of picturesque huts. 

 The forest resounds with the cooing of innumerable doves, and the chatter 

 of noisy weaver-birds. 



Passing Massangano, the voyager reaches twenty miles higher up the 

 town of Dondo — a growing and prosperous place. Thousands of tons of 

 ground-nuts, coffee, wax, palm-oil, and ivory, are shipped yearly at Dondo for 

 Loanda by the steamers. There is a fine large square in the middle of the 

 town, where a market is held every day, and to this the natives resort from 

 all parts around with produce and provisions. " About six or eight miles 



