372 
COUNTKY AROUND OASSANGE. 
Chap. XIX. 
among thousands of blacks; but nowhere else in Africa is there 
so much goodwill between Europeans and natives as here. If 
some border colonists had the absolute certainty of our Govern¬ 
ment declining to bear them out in their arrogance, we should 
probably hear less of Caffre hisolence. It is insolence which 
begets insolence. 
From the village of Cassange we have a good view of the sur¬ 
rounding country: it is a gently undulating plain, covered with 
grass and patches of forest. The western edge of the Quango 
valley appears about twenty miles off as if it were a range of lofty 
mountains, and passes by the name of Tala Mungongo, Behold 
the range.” In the old Portuguese map, to which I had been 
trusting in planning my route, it is indicated as Talla Mugongo, 
or Castle of rocks I ” and the Coanza is put down as rising there¬ 
from ; but here I was assured that the Coanza had its source near 
Bihe, far to the south-west of this, and we should not see that river 
till we came near Pungo Andongo. It is somewhat remarkable, 
that more accurate information about this country has not been 
published. Captain Neves and others had a correct idea of the 
courses of the rivers, and communicated their knowledge freely; 
yet about this time, maps were sent to Europe from Angola repre¬ 
senting the Quango and Coanza as the same river, and Cassange 
placed about one hundi’ed miles from its true position. The fre¬ 
quent recurrence of the same name, has probably helped to 
increase the confusion. I have crossed several Quangos, but all 
insignificant, except that which drains this valley. The repeti¬ 
tion of the favourite names of chiefs, as Catende, is also per¬ 
plexing, as one Catende may be mistaken for another. To avoid 
this confusion as much as possible, I have refrained from intro¬ 
ducing many names. Numerous villages are studded all over 
the valley; but these possess no permanence, and many more 
existed previous to the Portuguese expedition of 1850 to punish 
the Bangala. 
This valley, as I have before remarked, is all fertile in the 
extreme. My men could never cease admiring its capability for 
raising their corn {Holeus sorghum), and despising the compara¬ 
tively limited cidtivation of the inhabitants. The Portuguese 
informed me that no manure is ever needed, but that the more 
the ground is tilled, the better it yields. Virgin soil does not give 
