406 TRADING POMBEIROS. 



maps ; and as there is a post twice a month from Loanda, 

 I had the happiness to receive a packet of the ' Times,' 

 and, among other news, an account of the Russian war 

 up to the terrible charge of the light cavalry. The intense 

 anxiety I felt to hear more, may be imagined by every 

 true patriot ; but I was forced to brood on in silent 

 thought, and utter my poor prayers for friends who per- 

 chance were now no more, until I reached the other side 

 of the continent. 



A considerable trade is carried on by the Cassange 

 "merchants with all the surrounding territory by means of 

 native traders, whom they term " Pombeiros." Two of 

 these, called in the history of Angola " the trading blacks " 

 '(os feir antes pretos), Pedro Joao Baptista and Antonio 

 Jose, having been sent by the first Portuguese trader that 

 lived at Cassange, actually returned from some of the 

 Portuguese possessions in the Bast with letters from the 

 governor of Mozambique in the year 1815, proving, as is 

 remarked, " the possibility of so important a communi- 

 cation between Mozambique and L,oanda." This is the 

 only instance of native Portuguese subjects crossing the 

 continent. No European ever accomplished it, though 

 this fact has lately been quoted as if the men had been 

 " Portuguese." 



Captain Neves was now actively engaged in preparing 

 a present, worth about fifty pounds, to be sent by Pom- 

 beiros to Matiamvo. It consisted of great quantities of 

 cotton cloth, a large carpet, an arm-chair, with a canopy 

 and curtains of crimson calico, an iron bedstead, mosquito 

 curtains, beads, &c, and a number of pictures rudely 

 painted in oil by an embryo black painter at Cassange. 



Matiamvo, like most of the natives in the interior of the 

 country, has a strong desire to possess a cannon, and had 

 sent ten large tusks to purchase one ; but being govern- 

 ment property, it could not be sold : he was now furnished 

 with a blunderbuss, mounted as a cannon, which would 

 probably please him as well. 



Senhor Graca and some other Portuguese have visited 

 this chief at different times ; but no European resides 

 beyond the Quango ; indeed, it is contrary to the policy 

 of the government of Angola, to allow their subjects to 

 penetrate further into the interior. The present would 

 have been a good opportunity for me to have visited that 

 chief, and I felt strongly inclined to do so, as he had 



