DEPARTURE FROM PUNGO ANDONGO. 399 



missionary field, it is more than probable that the presence 

 of a few Protestants would soon provoke the priests, if 

 not to love, to good works. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



January 1, 1855. — Having, through the kindness of 

 Colonel Pires, reproduced some of my lost papers, I left 

 Pungo Andongo the first day of this year ; and at Can- 

 dumba, slept in one of the dairy establishments of my 

 friend, who had sent forward orders for an ample supply 

 of butter, cheese, and milk. Our path lay along the 

 right bank of the Coanza. This is composed of the same 

 sandstone rock, with pebbles, which forms the flooring of 

 the country. The land is level, has much open forest, 

 and is well adapted for pasturage. 



On reaching the confluence of the L,ombe, we left the 

 river, and proceeded in a north-easterly direction, through 

 a fine open green country, to the village of Malange, where 

 we struck into our former path. A few miles to the west 

 of this, a path branches off to a new district named the 

 Duke Braganza. This path crosses the Lucalla, and 

 several of its feeders. The whole of the country drained 

 by these is described as extremely fertile. The territory 

 west of Braganza is reported to be mountainous, well 

 wooded and watered ; wild coffee is abundant, and the 

 people even make their huts of coffee- trees. The rivers 

 Dande, Senza, and Lucalla, are said to rise in one moun- 

 tain-range. Numerous tribes inhabit the country to the 

 north, who are all independent. The Portuguese power 

 extends chiefly over the tribes through whose lands we 

 have passed. It may be said to be firmly seated only 

 between the rivers Dande and Coanza. It extends inland 

 about three hundred miles to the river Quango ; and the 

 population, according to the imperfect data afforded by 

 the census, given annually by the commandants of the 

 fifteen or sixteen districts into which it is divided, cannot 

 be under 600,000 souls. 



Leaving Malange, we passed quickly, without deviation, 

 along the'path by which we had come. At Sanza (lat. 9 



