440 
SUPERSTITIOUS FEARS. 
Chap. XXII. 
mention that most of the flour which the Portuguese consumed, 
came from another country, they exclaimed, “ Are they ignorant 
of tillage ?” “ They know nothing hut bupng and selling: they 
are not men!” I hope it may reach the ears of my Angolese 
friends, and that they may be stirred up to develop the resources 
of their fine country. 
On coming back to Cypriano’s village on the 28th, we found 
that his step-father had died after we had passed, and, accord¬ 
ing to the custom of the country, he had spent more than his 
patrimony in funeral orgies. He acted with his wonted kind¬ 
ness, though, unfortunately, drinking has got him so deeply into 
debt, that he now keeps out of the way of his creditors. He 
informed us that the source of the Quango is eight days, or one 
hundred miles, to the south of this, and in a range called Mo- 
samba, in the country of the Basongo, We can see from this, a 
sort of break in the high land which stretches away round to 
Tala Mongongo, through which the river comes. 
A death had occurred in a village about a mile off, and the 
people were busy beating drums and firing guns. The funeral 
rites are half festive, half mourning, partaking somewhat of the 
character of an Irish wake. There is nothing more heartrending 
than theff death wails. When the natives turn their eyes to the 
future world, they have a view cheerless enough of their own 
utter helplessness and hopelessness. They fancy themselves com¬ 
pletely in the power of the disembodied spirits, and look upon the 
prospect of following them, as the greatest of misfortunes. Hence 
they are constantly deprecating the wrath of departed souls, 
behoving that, if they are appeased, there is no other cause of 
death but witchcraft, winch may be averted by charms. The 
whole of the coloured population of Angola are sunk in these 
gross superstitions, but have the opinion, notwithstanding, that 
they are wiser in these matters than then wliite neighbom’s. 
Each tribe has a consciousness of foUowing its own best interests 
in the best way. They are by no means destitute of that self¬ 
esteem which is so common in other nations; yet they fear aU 
manner of phantoms, and have half-developed ideas and traditions 
of something or other, they know not what. The pleasures of 
animal Hfe are ever present to their minds as the supreme good; 
and, but for the innumerable invisibilities, they might enjoy their 
