344 Portuguese: hospitality. 



Senhor de Silva Rego. Having shown my passport to 

 this gentleman, he politely asked me to supper, and as we 

 had eaten nothing except the farina of Cypriano from the 

 Quango to this, I suspect I appeared particularly ravenous 

 to the other gentlemen around the table. They seemed, 

 however, to understand my position pretty well, from 

 having all travelled extensively themselves ; had they 

 not been present, I might have put some in my pocket to 

 eat by night, for, after fever, the appetite is excessively 

 keen, and manioc is one of the most unsatisfying kinds of 

 food. Captain Antonio Rodrigues Neves then kindly 

 invited me to take up my abode in his house. Next 

 morning this generous man arrayed me in decent clothing, 

 and continued during the whole period of my stay to 

 treat me as if I had been his brother. I feel deeply grateful 

 to him for his disinterested kindness ; he not only attended 

 to my wants, but also furnished food for my faniishing 

 party free of charge. 



The village of Cassange (pronounced Kassanje) is com- 

 posed of thirty or forty traders' houses, scattered about 

 without any regularity, on an elevated flat spot in the 

 great Quango or Cassange valley. They are built of wattle 

 and daub, and surrounded by plantations of manioc, 

 maize, &c. Behind them, there are usually kitchen 

 gardens, in which the common European vegetables, as 

 potatoes, peas, cabbages, onions, tomatoes, &c. &c, grow. 

 Guavas and bananas appear, from the size and abundance 

 of the trees, to have been introduced many years ago, 

 while the land was still in the possession of the natives, 

 but pine-apples, orange, fig, and cashew-trees have but 

 lately been tried. There are about forty Portuguese 

 traders in this district, all of whom are officers in the 

 militia, and many of them have become rich from adopting 

 the plan of sending out Pombeiros, or native traders, with 

 large quantities of goods, to trade in the more remote parts 

 of the country. Some of the governors of Loanda, the 

 capital of this, the kingdom of Angola, have insisted on 

 the observance of a law which, from motives of humanity, 

 forbids the Portuguese themselves from passing beyond 

 the boundary. They seem to have taken it for granted 

 that, in cases where the white trader was killed, the 

 aggression had been made by him, and they wished to 

 avoid the necessity of punishing those who had been 

 provoked to shed Portuguese blood. This indicates a 



