BETWEEN ANGOLA AND THE ZAMBESI. 
453 
in Africa, and it was all the more valuable as coming 
from a patriot so enthusiastic as Major Pinto. 
Alfredo Pereira de Mello,* Governor of Benguella, on 
hearing my request for hospitality, exhibited an amount 
of embarrassment which was only too perceptible, and 
after a pause said that he had no accommodation to offer 
me. His answer surprised me, as I knew him to be 
naturally courteous and open-handed. I had received 
MAJOR SERPA PINTO. 
invitations, from the very moment of my arrival, both 
from Antonio Ferreira Marques and Cauchoix, but I had 
made up my mind to take up my quarters in the 
Governor’s house. 
He then said that he had not a bed to offer me, at 
which I pointed to my travelling bed, for I had had 
* Alfredo Pereira de Mello, a captain in the army and Governor of 
Benguella, was the same Lieutenant Mello referred to by Cameron in his 
work ‘ Across Africa,’ and who was then aide-de-camp to the Governor 
of the Province, Snr. Andrade .—Note of the Author. 
