234 
ARRIVAL AT 0 ASSANGE. 
clothing among our Portuguese allies. The first gentleman 
I met in the village asked if I had a passport, and said it 
was necessary to take me beforo the authorities. As I was 
In the same state of mind in which individuals are who 
commit a petty depredation in order to obtain the shelter 
and food of a prison, I gladly accompanied him to the house 
of the commandant or Chefe, Senhor de Silva Kego. Having 
shown my passport to this gentleman, he politoly asked me 
to supper, and, as wo had eaten nothing except the farina 
of Cypriano from the Quango to this, I suspect I appeared 
particularly ravenous to the other gontlemen around the 
table. They seemed, however, to understand my position 
pretty well, from having all travelled extensively them- 
selves : 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 unsatisfv- 
ing kinds of food. Captain Antonio Eodrigues 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 famishing 
party free of charge. 
The village of Cassango (pronounced Kassanje) is com- 
posed of thirty or forty traders’ houses, slattered 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 
There are about forty Portuguese traders in this district, 
all of whom are officers in the militia, and many of them 
ha 70 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. If 1 
might judge from the week of feasting I passed among 
them, they are generally prosperous. 
As I always preferred to appeal in my own proper cha- 
