Chap. XIX. 
FEELINGS OF FREED SLAVES. 
357 
the country. As we were now in the alleged latitude of the 
Coanza, I was much astonished at the entire absence of any 
knowledge of that river among the natives of this quarter. But I 
was then ignorant of the fact that the Coanza rises considerably 
to the west of this, and has a comparatively short course from 
its source to the sea. 
The famous Dr. Lacerda seems to have laboured under the 
same mistake as myself, for he recommended the government 
of Angola to estabhsh a chain of forts along the banks of that 
river, with a view to communication with the opposite coast. 
As a chain of forts along its course would lead southwards instead 
of eastwards, we may infer that the geographical data within 
reach of that eminent man, were no better than those according 
to which I had directed my course to the Coanza where it does 
not exist. 
26^A.—We spent Sunday on the banks of the Quilo, or Kweelo; 
here a stream of about ten yards wide. It runs in a deep 
glen, the sides of which are almost five hundred yards of slope, 
and rocky, the rocks being hardened calcareous tufa lying on 
clay shale and sandstone below, with a capping of ferruginous 
conglomerate. The scenery would have been very pleasing, but 
fever took away much of the joy of life, and severe daily inter- 
mittents rendered me very weak and always glad to recKne. 
As we were now in the slave-market, it struck me that the 
sense of insecurity felt by the natives, might account for the 
circumstance that those who have been sold as slaves, and freed 
again, when questioned, profess to like the new state better than 
their primitive one. They Kved on rich fertile plains, which 
seldom inspire that love of country which the mountains do. If 
they had been mountaineers they would have pined for home. To 
one who has observed the hard toil of the poor in old civilized 
countries, the state in which the inhabitants here live is one 
of glorious ease. The country is full of little villages. Food 
abounds, and very little labour is required for its cultivation; 
the soil is so rich that no manure is required; wFen a garden 
becomes too poor for good crops of maize, midet, &c., the owner 
removes a little farther into the forest, applies fire round the roots 
of the larger trees to kill them, cuts down the smaller, and a new 
rich garden is ready for the seed. The gardens usually present 
