AFRICAN EXPLORERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 93 
them does not coincide with that which they are known 
to have occupied for many years. 
“ The Houzonanas,” says the narrative, “ are small in 
stature, the tallest being scarcely five feet four in height. 
These small beings are perfectly proportioned, and are 
surprisingly strong and active. They have an imposing 
air of boldness.” Le Vaillant considers them the best 
endowed mentally, and the strongest physically, of all the 
savage races he had met with. In face they resemble 
the Hottentots, but they have rounder chins, and they 
are far less black. They have curly hair, so short that 
Le Vaillant at first imagined it to be shaven. 
One striking peculiarity of the Houzonanas is a large 
mass of flesh upon the back of the women, which forms 
a natural saddle, and oscillates strangely with every 
movement of the body. Le Vaillant describes a woman 
whom he saw with her child about three years old, who 
Was perched upon his feet behind her, like a footman 
behind a cabriolet. 
We will pass over the traveller’s description of the 
appearance and customs of these various races, many of 
which are now extinct, or incorporated in some more 
powerful tribe. Although by no means the least curious 
portion of his narrative, the details are so exaggerated 
that we prefer to omit them. 
Upon the eastern coast of Africa, a Portuguese tra¬ 
veller, named Fransisco Jose de Lacerda y Almeida, left 
Mozambique in 1797, to explore the interior. The ac¬ 
count of this expedition to a place which has only lately 
been revisited is of great interest. A very few words 
will convey the history of a man who made important 
discoveries, and whose name has most unfairly been 
forgotten. 
Lacerda, the date and place of whose birth are un¬ 
known, was an engineer, and he was professionally 
engaged in settling the boundary of the frontier be¬ 
tween the Spanish and Portuguese possessions in South 
America. Whilst thus employed, he collected a mass of 
interesting particulars of the province of Mato Grosso. 
Lacerda was appointed governor of the Portuguese 
