BETWEEN ANGOLA AND THE ZAMBESI. 
501 
assiduously imbibing capata. In those districts where 
hops are wanting, their place is supplied by a flour 
made of maize in a state of germination; the latter 
produced by burying the corn or steeping it in water 
for a few days. In the honey season, considerable 
alcoholic fermentation is produced by the addition of 
honey to the capata , which becomes, in the course of a 
few days, transformed into alcohol. The liquor thus 
prepared is very intoxicating, and it then bears the 
name of quiassa. 
There is also another drink which can scarcely be 
termed refreshing, but is nevertheless both pleasant and 
very nutritious. This is made from the root of a 
herbaceous plant that my imperfect botanical knowledge 
does not allow me to classify, and which the negroes 
call imbundi. They make a strong decoction of this 
root which, as containing a great quantity of saccharine 
matter, ferments readily, and add to it the flour of the 
Indian corn,—drinking it when cold. This liquor they 
call quissangua. 
The food of the Bihe people is almost entirely vege¬ 
table, for having little cattle, which they never kill to 
eat, they go on for months tasting no animal food 
beyond an occasional treat- off the flesh of swine. Pigs 
abound there in a domesticated state. They were, I 
believe, introduced by Silva Porto. The country being 
thickly peopled, game is scarce, and the little there is 
consists of small antelopes (Cephaloplius mergens), diffi¬ 
cult to bring down on account of their excessive shyness. 
It must not be thought, however, that the Bihenos 
have any objection to flesh; on the contrary, they 
devour all that falls in their way, and prefer it in a 
state of putrefaction. Lions, jackals, hyenas, crocodiles, 
and all the carnivora are consumed with like gusto, 
but they have a special liking for dogs, which they 
fatten up for food. This fondness may perhaps have 
arisen from the scarcity of animal food existing in the 
country. They are not positively cannibals, but they 
do from time to time indulge in a mouthful or two 
of a roasted neighbour. They prefer, it appears, the 
