Angola and the River Congo, vol. 2

by Joachim John Monteiro

Till quite lately the roads and streets of Loanda were of fine, loose, red sand, rendering walking difficult and uncomfortable, particularly in the daytime, when the sand becomes burning hot from the sun’s rays; hence very few people ever walked even short distances, and the consequence was the constant recourse to the “maxilla” for locomotion. This is a flat frame of wood and cane-work, with one, or sometimes two arms at the side, and a low back provided with a cushion. This frame is hung by cords to hooks on a “bordão,” or palm-pole, about fifteen or eighteen feet long, and is carried by two blacks ([Plate XII.]). It is a very comfortable and lazy contrivance, and the carriers take it easily at the rate of about three to four miles an hour. The maxilla is provided with a light painted waterproof cover, and with curtains to draw all round and effectually hide the inmate, if necessary. The Portuguese ladies were never seen walking out at any time, and when going to church, or paying visits, always went in a maxilla closely curtained that no one might see them. It is difficult to explain the reason for this, but I believe that a fear of Mrs. Grundy was at the bottom of it.

There is a very fair military band at Loanda, which plays twice a week in the high town, and once in a square near the bay. When I was last at Loanda with my wife, two other English ladies were also there with their husbands, and as we all listened to the band regularly, enjoying the cool evening promenade, we, no doubt, at first shocked the Portuguese greatly by so doing. It had at last, however, the good effect of bringing many of the Portuguese ladies out also, and they did not draw the curtains of their maxillas quite so closely as they used. An officer from Lisbon explained to my wife that the reason his countrywomen did not like to go about and be seen was that they were so ugly! But I can emphatically testify that this was an ill-natured libel on the white ladies of Loanda.

There is a commodious custom-house in the centre of the town. On the quay are some benches on which the merchants sit in the afternoon to discuss current events, and to retail the choice bits of scandal of the day. There are several large and roomy Roman Catholic churches in the lower town, at which the attendance, however, is not very great, except at some of the principal festivals. I once saw, in a procession from one of the churches, in carnival time, a number of little black girls dressed to represent angels, with white wings affixed to their backs, and intensely funny they looked. On these occasions, and also at weddings, christenings, &c., quantities of rockets are sent up in the daytime, no feast being considered complete without an abundant discharge of these fire-works, to the immense delight of the black juvenile population, who yell and scream like demons and throw and roll themselves about in the sand.

At several places may be seen open barbers’ shops for the natives, distinguished by a curious sign, namely, two strips of blue cloth edged with red, about three or four feet long and six inches wide, stretched diagonally over the entrance ([Plate XII.]). Inside, a chair covered with a clean white cotton cloth—with the threads at the ends pulled out for about four inches, to leave a lace-like design, called “crivo”—invites customers to enter and sit down, and have their heads shaved quite bare, the usual custom at Loanda, particularly of the negro women.

The dress of the blacks at Loanda is the same as elsewhere in Angola;—a cloth round the waist reaching to the knees or ankles and another thrown over the shoulders, or a cotton shirt, is the most common. Those who can afford it are fond of dressing in white man’s costume of coat and trousers, but the grand ambition of all is to possess an ordinary chimney-pot hat, which is worn on special occasions, no matter whether the wearer be dressed in cloths or coat.

The costume of the black women of Loanda is hideous. An indigo black cotton cloth is folded round the body and envelopes it tightly from the armpits to the feet; another long piece of the same black cloth covers the head and is crossed over the bosom, or hangs down loosely over the shoulders, showing only the face and arms.

The correct costume is to have a striped, or other cotton cloth or print under the black cloths, but as only these latter are seen, the women have a dreadfully funereal appearance. The poorer class and slaves wear bright cotton prints, &c., and always a white or red handkerchief folded narrow and wound round the head very cleverly, suiting their dark skins remarkably well. A very common ornament round the forehead is a narrow strip of seed bead-work of different colours and patterns, and the women are fond of copying the large capital letters of the advertisements in the Portuguese newspapers, quite unconscious, of course, of the meaning of their pattern:—I once saw “Piannos para alugar” (Pianos for hire) worked in beads round the head of a black woman.

The Loanda women have a singular habit of talking aloud to themselves as they walk along, which at first strikes a stranger very forcibly; the men do the same, but to nothing like the extent that the women do. All loads are carried by the women on their heads, in all parts of Angola, and the ease with which they balance anything on their shaven heads is wonderful. It is not difficult to understand that baskets or heavy loads can be easily balanced, but it is no uncommon thing to see women and girls walking along with a tea-cup, bottle, tumbler, or wine glass on their heads, and turning round and talking without the least fear of its dropping off. The manner in which they balance the “sangas,” or earthen pots in which they carry water, is the most curious of all; these are large, and have round, rather pointed bottoms; a handkerchief is rolled round into a small cushion and put on the side of the head, and the “sanga” is placed on it, not quite on its bottom, but a little on one side.

All the natives of Angola, but particularly the women of Loanda, are very fond of “cola,” the beautiful rose-coloured fleshy fruit of the Sterculia cola. The tree bearing it is very handsome, with small pretty flowers having a powerful and most disgusting odour. The first time I became acquainted with the tree was at Bembe. I was out walking, and suddenly noticed a very bad smell, and on asking a black with me where it could possibly come from, thinking it was from some dead animal in a high state of decomposition, he laughed, and pointing to a tree said it came from the flowers on it;—I plucked a small bouquet of them, and when I reached home put them in a wine-glass of water to keep them fresh, and left them on the table of the padre (with whom I was then staying). When he went into his room he began to call out for his servants, and asked them why they had allowed cats to get into his room, and it was some time before he was pacified, or convinced that the few innocent-looking flowers had made the room stink to that degree. The flowers are succeeded by large pods, in which are contained five or more large seeds like peeled chestnuts, closely wedged together, soft and fleshy, and with a very peculiar, disagreeable, acrid, bitter flavour. The natives eat a small piece of “cola” with a bit of green ginger the first thing in the morning, and wash it down with a dram of gin or other spirit.

Amongst the mulattoes and black women it is usual to send a fresh “cola” as a present, and there is a symbolical language expressed by the number of nicks made on it by the nail, of greeting, good wishes, &c.