380 FIRES. — THE KISAMAS. 



Massangano was a very important town at the time the 

 Dutch held forcible possession of Luanda and part of 

 Angola; but when, m the year 1648, the Dutch were 

 expelled from this country by a small body of Portuguese, 

 under the Governor Salvador Correa de Sa Benevides, 

 Massangano was left to sink into its present decay. Since 

 it was partially abandoned by the Portuguese, several 

 baobab-trees have sprung up and attained a diameter of 

 eighteen or twenty inches, and are about twenty feet high. 

 No certain conclusion can be drawn from these instances, 

 as it is not known at what time after 1648 they began to 

 grow ; but their present size shows that their growth is 

 not unusually slow. 



Several fires occurred during our stay, by the thatch 

 having, through long exposure to a torrid sun, become like 

 tinder. The roofs became ignited without any visible 

 cause except the intense solar rays, and excited terror in 

 the minds of the inhabitants, as the slightest spark carried 

 by the wind would have set the whole town in a blaze. 

 There is not a single inscription on stone visible in Massan- 

 gano. If destroyed to-morrow, no one could tell where 

 it, and most Portuguese interior villages, stood, any more 

 than we can do those of the Balonda. 



During the occupation of this town, the Coanza was used 

 for the purpose of navigation, but their vessels were so 

 frequently plundered by their Dutch neighbours, that, 

 when they regained the good port of Loanda, they no 

 longer made use of the river. We remained here four days, 

 in hopes of obtaining an observation for the longitude, but 

 at this season of the year the sky is almost constantly 

 overcast by a thick canopy of clouds of a milk-and-water 

 hue ; this continues until the rainy season (which was now 

 close at hand) commences. 



The lands on the north side of the Coanza belong to the 

 Quisamas (Kisamas), an independent tribe, which the 

 Portuguese have not been able to subdue. The few who 

 came under my observation possessed much of the Bush- 

 man or Hottentot feature, and were dressed in strips of 

 soft bark hanging from the waist to the knee. They deal 

 largely in salt, which their country produces in great 

 abundance. It is brought in crystals of about 12 inches 

 long and i\ in. diameter. This is hawked about every- 

 where in Angola, and, next to calico, is the most common 

 medium of barter. The Kisama are brave ; and when 



