16 To Sao Paulo de Loanda. 
fine membraneous structure adhering to the rocks, 
and coagulating in spirits or salt water. The 
drum-fish was not heard except when we were at 
anchor; its sound somewhat suggests a distant 
frog-concert, and I soon learned to enjoy what M. 
Dufosse has learnedly named “ ichthyopsophosis,” 
the song of the fish. Passing Cabinda, 57 miles 
from Loanda, but barely in sight, we fell in with 
H.M. Steamship “ Espoir,” Commander Douglas, 
who had just made his second capture of a slave- 
schooner carrying some 500 head of Congos. In 
these advanced days, the representative man walks 
up to you as you come on board ; touches his cap 
or his wool, and expresses his best thanks in West 
Coast English ; when you offer him a dram he 
compares it with the trade article which “ only 
’ting, he no burn.” The characteristic sights are 
the captured Moleques or negrokins, who, habited 
in sacks to the knees, choose an M.C. to beat time, 
whilst they sing in chorus, extending the right arm, 
and foully abusing their late masters, who skulk 
about the forecastle. 
Ten days sped by before we sighted the begin¬ 
ning of the end, Cape Spilemberta and Dande 
Point, two bluffs in distinct serrations ; the aspect 
of the land was pleasant, a vista of tall cliffs, white 
or red, rising wall-like from a purple sea, jagged 
with sharp, black reef and “ diabolito,” and bearing 
on the summit a plateau well grown with grass 
