In Angola the markets, or sleeping places, were well supplied with provisions by the native women. These women congregated in great numbers, each spinning cotton with a spindle and distaff, which were precisely like those in use among the ancient Egyptians.
It was not uncommon to see one of them passing through the fields with a jar on her head, a child on her back, and a hoe over her shoulder, while her fingers were busily employed in spinning. The cotton was brought to market and commanded a penny a pound.
Frequently the cotton seeds, dropped accidentally around the market places, sprouted, and grew luxuriantly in various spots.
Along the roads natives were seen passing with spindles full of cotton thread. These they were carrying to other parts to have woven into cloth. The women did the spinning and the men the weaving.
The loom was of very simple construction. It consisted of two beams placed one over the other, on which the web stood perpendicularly. The threads of the web were separated by means of a thin wooden lath, while the woof passed through by means of the same spindle on which it had been wound in spinning. Each web was about five feet long, and fifteen or eighteen inches wide.
This mode of spinning and weaving in Angola and throughout South Central Africa was very similar to the same pursuits as practiced by the ancient Egyptians.
At the sleeping stations the native smiths carried on their trade, and various articles, as good table knives, and the like, made of country iron, were offered for sale.
Livingstone found the banks of the Lucalla very pretty, and well planted with orange trees, bananas, and the oil palm, and wrote: "Large plantations of maize, manioc, and tobacco are seen along both banks, which are enlivened by the frequent appearance of native houses imbosomed in dense shady groves, with little boys and girls playing about them.
"The banks are steep, the water having cut its bed in dark red, alluvial soil. Before every cottage a small stage is erected to which the inhabitants may descend to draw water without danger from the alligators. Some have a little palisade made in the water for safety from these reptiles, and others use the shell of the fruit of the baobab tree attached to a pole about ten feet long, with which, standing on the high bank, they may draw water without fear of accident."
The whole of the colored population of Angola was sunk in superstition. When a death occurred, the people busied themselves in beating drums and firing guns. The funeral rites were half festive, half mourning. Nothing could have been more heartrending than the death wails.