424 
ANCIENT BUEIAL-PLACE. 
Chap. XXL 
Cocoa-nut trees and bananas bear well at the lower station, but 
yield little or no fruit at the upper. The difference indicated by 
the thermometer was 7°. The general range near the rocks was 
67° at 7 A.M., 74° at midday, and 72° in the eyening. 
A slave-boy belonging to Colonel Fires, having stolen and eaten 
some lemons in the evening, went to the river to wash his mouth, 
so as not to be detected by the flavour. An alligator seized him 
and carried him to an island in the middle of the stream; there 
the boy grasped hold of the reeds, and baffled aU the efforts of 
the reptile to dislodge him, till his companions, attracted by his 
cries, came in a canoe to liis assistance. The alligator at once 
let go liis hold, for when out of his own element he is cowardly. 
The boy had many marks of the teeth in liis abdomen and tlugh, 
and those of the claws on his legs and arms. 
The slaves in Colonel Fires’ establishments, appeared more 
like free servants than any I had elsewhere seen. Everything 
was neat and clean, while generally, where slaves are the only 
domestics, there is an aspect of slovenliness, as if they went 
on the principle of always doing as little for their masters as 
possible. 
In the country near to this station were a large number 
of the ancient burial-places of the Jinga. These are simply 
large mounds of stones, with drinking and cooking vessels of 
rude pottery on them. Some are arranged in a circular form, 
two or three yards in diameter, and shaped like a haycock. 
There is not a single vestige of any inscription. The natives of 
Angola generally have a strange predilection for bringing their 
dead to the sides of the most frequented paths. They have a 
particular anxiety to secure the point where cross roads meet. 
On and around the graves, are planted tree euphorbias and other 
species of that family. On the grave itself, they also place water- 
bottles, broken pipes, cooking vessels, and sometimes a httle bow 
and arrow. 
The Fortuguese Grovernment, wisliing to prevent this custom, 
affixed a penalty on any one burying in the roads, and appointed 
places of public sepulture in every district in the country. The 
people persist, however, in spite of the most stringent enforcement 
of the law, to follow their ancient custom. 
The country between the Coanza and Fungo Andongo is 
