The Slave Depot , 
Loango Grande, and others—and many canoes 
were seen plying up and down. On the left or to 
the south was nothing but dense reedy vegetation 
upon the low islands, which here are of larger 
dimensions than the northern line. As evening 
drew near, the grasshoppers and the tree frogs 
chirped a louder song, and the parrots whistled as 
they winged their rapid flight high overhead. 
Presently we passed out of the lower archipelago, 
and sighted the first high land closing upon 
the stream, rolling hills, which vanished in blue 
perspective, and which bore streaks of fire during 
the dark hours. Our Cabinda Patron grounded 
us twice, and even the high night breeze hardly 
enabled us to overcome the six-knot current off 
the narrow, whose right side is called Ponta da 
Diabo. Devil’s Point is not so named in the chart; 
the place is marked “ Strong Tide” (No. i), op¬ 
posite Chombae Island, which the natives term 
Zunga chya Bundfka, hence probably the name 
of the village Bemandika (Boma ndika). At this 
satanic headland, where the banks form a gate three 
miles broad, a man hailed us from the bank ; none 
understood him, but all made up their minds that 
he threatened to visit us during the night. 
A light breeze early next morning fortunately 
freshened as we approached “Strong Tide” (No. 2). 
We ran north of the second archipelago above the 
gate ; south of us lay the “ Low Islands ” of the 
