40 
Portuguese Hospitality. 
shifting bars on the whole coast. At this distance, 
five leagues from the mouth, its width is one hundred 
fathoms, and the depth varies from eight to nine. 
It breeds good fish ; the manatus is common, 
people talk of fresh-water sharks, and the jacare 
(crocodile) is fatal to many a pig even in the vil¬ 
lage. It is navigable for schooners, they say, six 
days, or 150 miles, to the large “ Presidio de 
Cambembe,” where Andrew Battel (1589- 1600) 
visited a “ perpendicular water-fall, which made 
such a noise as to be heard thirty miles’ distance.” 
This and another water-fall higher up are laid 
down in the map of Dr. Livingstone’s admirable 
first journey. Above Cambembe the river-bed is 
broken by archipelagoes, and the shoals render it 
fit only for boats. The Cuanza head has been ex¬ 
plored only lately, although a royal order to that 
effect was issued on March 14, 1800. 
After receiving and returning the visits of 
the principal whites, all habited in frocks and 
continuations of the blackest and heaviest broad¬ 
cloth, we feasted with the excellent commandant, 
who was hospitality itself. The mosquitoes soon 
roused us from any attempt at sleep, and we passed 
the night after a fashion which sometimes leads 
to red eyes and “ hot coppers ” in the morning. 
I left early, for my companions had business 
at Calumbo ; as they were no longer present to 
control the bearers, a race soft as putty, and I was 
