76 
The Padrao and Pinda . 
were abundant despite the lateness of the season, 
and the sterility of the soil was evidenced by 
cactus and euphorbia. 
After a walk of six miles Tom Peter pompously 
announced that we had reached the church. We 
saw only an oblong furrow and a little worm- 
eaten wood near three or four of the most miserable 
“magalia;” but a bell, hung to a dwarf gallows, 
was dated 1700, and inscribed, “ Si Deus cum nobis 
Qis (sic) contra nos ?” The aspect of this article 
did not fail to excite Mr. Richards’ concupiscence : 
I looked into the empty huts, and in the largest 
found a lot of old church gear, the Virgin (our 
Lady of Pinda), saints, and crucifixes, a tank-like 
affair of iron that acted as font, and tattered 
bundles of old music-scores in black and red ink. 
In Captain Tuckey’s day some of the Sonho men 
could read the Latin Litany ; there was a priest 
ordained by the Capuchins of Loanda, a bare¬ 
footed (and bare-faced) black apostle, with a wife 
and five handmaids; and a multitude of converts 
loaded with crucifixes and satchels of relics. Our 
vhome march was enlivened by glimpses of the 
magnificent river seen through the perennial 
tropical foliage, and it did not suggest trite re¬ 
flections upon the meanness of man’s highest 
aspirations in presence of eternal Nature. 
We had been treading upon no vulgar spot. 
We are now in the earldom of Sonho, bounded 
