the Balonda, as evidence of having been to the sea.  But when at the village of Shinte, a hyaena came into our midst when we were all sound asleep, and picked out the giant in his basket from eighty-four others, and he was lost, to the great grief of my men.  The anxiety these people have always shown to improve the breed of their domestic animals is, I think, a favorable point in their character.  On looking at the common breeds in the possession of the Portuguese, which are merely native cattle, and seeing them slaughter both heifer-calves and cows, which they themselves never do, and likewise making no use of the milk, they concluded that the Portuguese must be an inferior race of white men.  They never ceased remarking on the fine ground for gardens over which we were passing; and when I happened to mention that most of the flour which the Portuguese consumed came from another country, they exclaimed, “Are they ignorant of tillage?” “They know nothing but buying 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, according to the custom of the country, he had spent more than his patrimony in funeral orgies.  He acted with his wonted kindness, though, unfortunately, drinking has got him so deeply in 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 Mosamba, 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 heart-rending than their 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 completely 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, believing that, if they are appeased, there is no other cause of death but witchcraft, which may be averted by charms.  The whole of the colored population of Angola are sunk in these gross superstitions, but have the opinion, notwithstanding, that they are wiser in these matters than their white neighbors.  Each tribe has a consciousness of following 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 all manner of phantoms, and have half-developed ideas and traditions of something