While here, I reproduced the last of my lost papers and maps; and as there is a post twice a month from Loanda, I had the happiness to receive a packet of the "Times", and, among other news, an account of the Russian war up to the terrible charge of the light cavalry. The intense anxiety I felt to hear more may be imagined by every true patriot; but I was forced to brood on in silent thought, and utter my poor prayers for friends who perchance were now no more, until I reached the other side of the continent.
A considerable trade is carried on by the Cassange merchants with all the surrounding territory by means of native traders, whom they term "Pombeiros". Two of these, called in the history of Angola "the trading blacks" (os feirantes pretos), Pedro Joao Baptista and Antonio Jose, having been sent by the first Portuguese trader that lived at Cassange, actually returned from some of the Portuguese possessions in the East with letters from the governor of Mozambique in the year 1815, proving, as is remarked, "the possibility of so important a communication between Mozambique and Loanda." This is the only instance of native Portuguese subjects crossing the continent. No European ever accomplished it, though this fact has lately been quoted as if the men had been "PORTUGUESE".
Captain Neves was now actively engaged in preparing a present, worth about fifty pounds, to be sent by Pombeiros to Matiamvo. It consisted of great quantities of cotton cloth, a large carpet, an arm-chair with a canopy and curtains of crimson calico, an iron bedstead, mosquito curtains, beads, etc., and a number of pictures rudely painted in oil by an embryo black painter at Cassange.
Matiamvo, like most of the natives in the interior of the country, has a strong desire to possess a cannon, and had sent ten large tusks to purchase one; but, being government property, it could not be sold: he was now furnished with a blunderbuss, mounted as a cannon, which would probably please him as well.
Senhor Graca and some other Portuguese have visited this chief at different times; but no European resides beyond the Quango; indeed, it is contrary to the policy of the government of Angola to allow their subjects to penetrate further into the interior. The present would have been a good opportunity for me to have visited that chief, and I felt strongly inclined to do so, as he had expressed dissatisfaction respecting my treatment by the Chiboque, and even threatened to punish them. As it would be improper to force my men to go thither, I resolved to wait and see whether the proposition might not emanate from themselves. When I can get the natives to agree in the propriety of any step, they go to the end of the affair without a murmur. I speak to them and treat them as rational beings, and generally get on well with them in consequence.
I have already remarked on the unhealthiness of Cassange; and Captain Neves, who possesses an observing turn of mind, had noticed that always when the west wind blows much fever immediately follows. As long as easterly winds prevail, all enjoy good health; but in January, February, March, and April, the winds are variable, and sickness is general. The unhealthiness of the westerly winds probably results from malaria, appearing to be heavier than common air, and sweeping down into the valley of Cassange from the western plateau, somewhat in the same way as the carbonic acid gas from bean-fields is supposed by colliers to do into coal-pits. In the west of Scotland strong objections are made by that body of men to farmers planting beans in their vicinity, from the belief that they render the mines unhealthy. The gravitation of the malaria from the more elevated land of Tala Mungongo toward Cassange is the only way the unhealthiness of this spot on the prevalence of the westerly winds can be accounted for. The banks of the Quango, though much more marshy, and covered with ranker vegetation, are comparatively healthy; but thither the westerly wind does not seem to convey the noxious agent.
FEB. 20TH. On the day of starting from Cassange, the westerly wind blew strongly, and on the day following we were brought to a stand by several of our party being laid up with fever. This complaint is the only serious drawback Angola possesses. It is in every other respect an agreeable land, and admirably adapted for yielding a rich abundance of tropical produce for the rest of the world. Indeed, I have no hesitation in asserting that, had it been in the possession of England, it would now have been yielding as much or more of the raw material for her manufactures as an equal extent of territory in the cotton-growing states of America. A railway from Loanda to this valley would secure the trade of most of the interior of South Central Africa.*
* The following statistics may be of interest to mercantile
men. They show that since the repression of the slave-trade in
Angola the value of the exports in lawful commerce has
steadily augmented. We have no returns since 1850, but the
prosperity of legitimate trade has suffered no check. The
duties are noted in Portuguese money, "milreis", each of which
is about three shillings in value.
Return of the Quantities and Value of the Staple Articles, the
Produce of the Province of ANGOLA, exported from ST. PAUL DE
LOANDA between July 1, 1848, and June 30, 1849, specifying the
Quantities and Value of those exported in Portuguese Ships and
in Ships of other Nations.
| | In Portuguese Ships. || In Ships of other Nations. |
| Articles. |————————————||——————————————|
| | Amount. | Value. || Amount. | Value. |
|————————-|————-|———————||——————-|———————|
| | | L. s. d. || | L. s. d. |
| Ivory. . . Cwt. | 1454 | 35,350 0 0 || 515 | 12,875 0 0 |
| Palm oil . " | 1440 | 2,160 0 0 || 6671 1 qr. | 10,036 17 6 |
| Coffee . . " | 152 | 304 0 0 || 684 | 1,368 0 0 |
| Hides. . . No. | 1837 | 633 17 6 || 849 | 318 17 6 |
| Gum. . . . Cwt. | 147 | 205 16 0 || 4763 | 6,668 4 0 |
| Beeswax. . " | 1109 | 6,654 0 0 || 544 | 3,264 0 0 |
| Orchella . Tons | 630 | 23,940 0 0 || .... | .... |
| | |———————|| |———————|
| | | 69,247 13 6 || | 34,530 19 0 |
TOTAL Quantity and Value of Exports from LOANDA.
L. s. d.
Ivory . . . Cwt. 1969 . . . . 48,225 0 0
Palm oil. . " 8111 1 qr. . . . . 12,196 17 6
Coffee. . . " 836 . . . . 1,672 0 0
Hides . . . No. 2686 . . . . 952 15 0
Gum . . . . Cwt. 4910 . . . . 6,874 0 0
Beeswax . . " 1653 . . . . 9,918 0 0
Orchella. . Tons 630 . . . . 23,940 0 0
——————-
L. 103,778 12 6
ABSTRACT VIEW of the Net Revenue of the Customs at St. Paul de Loanda
in quinquennial periods from 1818-19 to 1843-44, both included;
and thence in each year to 1848-49.
| | | | | |Tonnage Dues,|
| | Duties on | Duties on |Duties on | Duties on |Store Rents, |
| Years. | Importation.|Exportation.|Re-export-| Slaves. | and other |
| | | | ation. | | incidental |
| | | | | | Receipts. |
|————-|——————-|——————|—————|——————|——————-|
| | Mil. reis.| Mil. reis.|Mil. reis.| Mil. reis.| Mil. reis.|
| 1818-19 | 573 876 | ... | .... |137,320 800 | 148,608 661 |
| 1823-24 | 3,490 752 | 460 420 | .... |120,843 000 | 133,446 892 |
| 1828-29 | 4,700 684 | 800 280 | .... |125,330 000 | 139,981 364 |
| 1833-34 | 7,490 000 | 1,590 000 | .... |139,280 000 | 158,978 640 |
| 1838-39 | 25,800 590 | 2,720 000 | .... |135,470 320 | 173,710 910 |
| 1843-44 | 53,240 000 | 4,320 000 | .... | 72,195 230 | 138,255 230 |
| 1844-45 | 99,380 264 | 6,995 095 | .... | 17,676 000 | 134,941 359 |
| 1845-46 | 150,233 789 | 9,610 735 | .... | 5,116 500 | 181,423 550 |
| 1846-47 | 122,501 186 | 8,605 821 | .... | 549 000 | 114,599 235 |
| 1847-48 | 119,246 826 | 9,718 676 | 4097 868 | 1,231 200 | 146,321 476 |
| 1848-49 | 131,105 453 | 9,969 960 | 1164 309 | 1,183 500 | 157,152 400 |
| |——————-|——————| |——————| |
| | 717,763 420*| 54,790 987 | |756,195 550 | |
| | = L.102,680 | = L.7827 | |= L.108,028 | |
* This figure was originally miscalculated as 718,763 420,
which probably affected its conversion into Pounds.—A. L., 1997.
————————————————————————————————————-
| | Net Revenue | Revenue from | Total Net | Total Amount |
| Years. | of Customs. | other Sources. | Revenue. | of Charges. |
|————-|———————|————————|———————|———————|
| | L. s. d. | L. s. d. | L. s. d. | L. s. d. |
| 1844-45 | 26,988 5 5 | 9,701 10 8 | 36,689 16 1 | 53,542 5 4 |
| 1845-46 | 36,284 14 2 | 24,580 4 10 | 60,864 19 0 | 56,695 9 7 |
| 1846-47 | 28,919 16 11 | 23,327 9 11 | 52,247 6 10 | 52,180 9 7 |
| 1847-48 | 29,264 5 10 | 24,490 11 8 | 53,754 17 6 | 53,440 8 8 |
| 1848-49 | 31,430 9 7 | 18,868 3 10 | 51,298 13 5 | 50,686 3 3 |
————————————————————————————————————-