COMERS V. FARMERS. 407 



expressed dissatisfaction respecting my treatment by the 

 Chiboque, and even threatened to punish them. As it 

 would be improper to force my men to go thither, I 

 resolved to wait and see whether the proposition might 

 not emanate from themselves. When I can get the 

 natives to agree in the propriety of any step, they go to 

 the end of the affair without a murmur. I speak to them 

 and treat them as rational beings, and generally get on 

 well with them in consequence. 



I have already remarked on the unhealthiness of 

 Cassange ; and Captain Neves, who possesses an observing 

 turn of mind, had noticed that always when the west wind 

 blows, much fever immediately follows. As long as 

 easterly winds prevail, all enjoy good health ; but in 

 January, February, March, and April, the winds are 

 variable, and sickness is general. The unhealthiness of 

 the westerly winds probably results from malaria, appear- 

 ing to be heavier than common air, and sweeping down 

 into the valley of Cassange from the western plateau, 

 somewhat in the same way as the carbonic acid gas from 

 bean-fields is supposed by colliers to do into coalpits. In 

 the west of Scotland, strong objections are made, by that 

 body of men, to farmers planting beans in their vicinity, 

 from the belief that they render the mines unhealthy. 

 The gravitation of the malaria from the more elevated land 

 of Tala Mungongo towards Cassange, is the only way the 

 unhealthiness of this spot on the prevalence of the westerly 

 winds can be accounted for. The banks of the Quango, 

 though much more marshy, and covered with ranker 

 vegetation, are comparatively healthy ; but thither the 

 westerly wind does not seem to convey the noxious 

 agent. 



Feb. 20th. — On the day of starting from Cassange, the 

 westerly wind blew strongly, and on the day following 

 we were brought to a stand, by several of our party being 

 laid up with fever. This complaint is the only serious 

 drawback Angola possesses. It is in every other respect 

 an agreeable land, and admirably adapted for yielding 

 a rich abundance of tropical produce for the rest of the 

 world. Indeed I have no hesitation in asserting that, 

 had it been in the possession of Kngland, it would now 

 have been yielding as much or more of the raw material 

 for her manufactures, as an equal extent of territory in 

 the cotton-growing States of America. A railway from 



