Chap. XXI. 
ILLNESS OF SEKELETU’S HOESE. 
415 
enlarged supplies of cotton from new sources were so much 
needed at home. 
It is common to cut down cotton-trees as a nuisance, and culti¬ 
vate beans, potatoes, and manioc, sufficient only for them own 
consumption. I have the impression that cotton, which is decidu¬ 
ous in America, is perennial here; for the plants I saw in winter 
were not dead, though going by the name Algodao Americana, 
or American cotton. The rents paid for gardens belonging to the 
old convents are merely nominal, varying from one shilling to 
three pounds per annum. The higher rents being realized from 
those in the immediate vicinity of Loanda, none but Portuguese 
or half-castes can pay them. 
Wlien about to start, the horse which the Governor had kindly 
presented for Sekeletu was seized with inflammation, which de¬ 
layed us some time longer, and we ultimately lost it. We had 
been careful to watch it when coming through the district of 
Matamba, where we had discovered the tsetse, that no insect 
might light upon it. The change of diet here, may have had some 
influence in producing the disease; for I was mformed by Dr. 
Welweitsch, an able German naturahst, whom we found pm-suing 
his arduous labours here, and whose life we hope may be spared 
to give his researches to the world, that, of fifty-eight kinds of 
grasses found at Loanda, only tlmee or four species exist here, 
and these of the most diminutive kmds. The twenty-four dif¬ 
ferent species of grass of Golungo Alto are nearly all gigantic. 
Indeed, gigantic grasses, climbers, shrubs, and trees, with but few 
plants, constitute the vegetation of this region. 
November 20^A.—-An eclipse of the sun, wliich I had anxiously 
hoped to observe with a view of determining the longitude, hap¬ 
pened tliis morning, and, as often took place in this cloudy chmate, 
the sun was covered four minutes before it began. When it shone 
forth, the echpse was in progress, and a few minutes before it 
should (according to my calculations) have ended, the sun was 
again completely obscmred. The greatest patience and perse¬ 
verance are required, if one -wishes to ascertain Ms position when 
it is the rainy season. 
Before leaving, I had an opportunity of observing a curious 
insect, which inhabits trees of the fig family {^Ficus\ upwards of 
twenty species of which are found here. Seven or eight of them 
