[51] The Pete, more correctly called Puita, or Kipuita, is a musical instrument described by Monteiro (Angola, vol. ii, p. 140), and in Cordeiro da Matta’s Diccionario, p. 29. It consists of a hollow wooden cylinder, one end of which is covered with sheepskin. A wooden stick is passed through the centre of this sheepskin, and a most hideous noise is produced by moving this stick to and fro.
[52] The Pongo (mpunga) is an ivory trumpet.
[53] Engeriay seems to be a misprint, perhaps for the Ogheghe of Duarte Lopez, which Ficalho identifies with Mung’eng’e (Spondias lutea) of Angola, called Gego by Lopez de Lima (Ensaios, vol. iii, p. 15). Dr. Welwitsch found the tree growing wild in the mountains of Benguella, whence it was transplanted to Loanda. It is valued for its wood, the shade it affords, and its fruit, which resembles a yellow plum, is of delicious flavour and esteemed as a remedy against bile (Ficalho, Plantas uteis, p. 126; Monteiro, Angola, vol. ii, p. 298). Purchas, in a marginal note, Bk. VII, c. 4, says that the Ogheghe “bears a fruit which is like a yellow plumme and is very good to eat, and hath a very sweet smell withall.” This information was given by Battell.
[54] Pome-water, a kind of apple, called malus carbonaria by Coles (Nares’s Glossary).
[55] Margarita is the Portuguese (and Latin) for pearl. Purchas may have suggested the word, whilst Battell simply referred to the cowrie currency of the country, or to a more valuable shell such as Cavazzi (p. 12) says was found near Cambambe, a collar of which had the value of a slave; or to a crystal found in Shela, and called “thunder-stone” by the natives. Mr. R. C. Phillips writes: “I have found that some kind of stone used to pass as money in the old slave times, say in 1850 or 1860, but I never saw one. These stones were of great value, and I have a vague idea they were called ‘agang.’”
[56] The author’s “wheat” is maize (see p. 7).
[57] This is undoubtedly the bay upon which Manuel Cerveira Pereira, in 1617, founded the city of S. Filippe de Benguella. The bay at that time was known as Bahia da Torre, or de S. Antonio. By its discoverers it seems to have been named Golfo de S. Maria. The “torre” is, of course, the Ponta do Sombreiro or S. Philip’s bonnet. Pimentel (Arte de Navegar, 1762, p. 276) locates a Bahia da Torre fifty miles to the south of Benguella Bay, which therefore corresponds to the Elephant Bay of modern maps, with its “mesa,” or table-mountain rising to a height of a thousand feet.
[58] Cacongo (recte Kikongo), according to Welwitsch, is the wood of Tarchonanthes camphoratus. It is hard, of a greyish olive colour, and has the perfume of camphor. Its powder is esteemed as a tonic (Ficalho, Plantas uteis, p. 206).
[59] Carraca, a vessel, generally of considerable burthen, and such as could be profitably employed in the Brazilian and Indian trade.
[60] Ndalabondo seems to be the name of a person. The people in the interior of Benguella are known as Bi’nbundo.