Angola and the River Congo, vol. 2

by Joachim John Monteiro

A considerable quantity of “cola” was formerly exported to Rio de Janeiro from Loanda, packed in moist clay or earth to keep it fresh.

Servants in Loanda are almost all slaves. It is very difficult to hire free men or women. Those seeking service as carriers, porters &c., are nearly all slaves to other natives. Slaves as a rule are very well treated in Angola by the Portuguese, and cases of neglect or ill-usage are rare. Public opinion is strongly opposed to ill-treatment of slaves, and there is a certain amount of rivalry in presenting household slaves, especially well-dressed, and with a healthy appearance, and even on the plantations inland, or removed from such influence, I never knew or heard of slaves being worked or treated in the hard and cruel manner in which they are said to have been in the Southern States of America, or at the present day in Cuba. It is easy for slaves in Angola to run away, and it is hardly worth while to take any steps to recapture them; and if they have any vice or bad habits, it is so well known that harsh measures will never cure them of it, that they are sold at once. An ordinary slave is not worth much, 3l. to 5l. being the utmost value. If proficient in any trade, or good cooks, then they fetch as much as 20l. or more. Many of the old-established houses make it a point of never selling a slave they have once bought; and when a slave requires correction or punishment, he is delivered over to the police for that purpose, and as desired, he is either placed in the slave-gang, chained by the neck to others, and made to work at scavengering, carrying stone, &c., or receives a thrashing with a cat-o’-nine-tails, or a number of strokes on the palms of the hands with a flat, circular piece of wood pierced with five holes and with a short handle.

The abolition of slavery in the Portuguese possessions was decreed some years ago. The names of all the existing slaves had to be inscribed in the Government office as “Libertos,” and the owners were obliged to supply them with proper food, clothing, and medicine, and were not allowed to punish them; while they, on their part, were required to work for seven years as compensation to their owners, at the expiration of which time they were to be free. This has been allowed to remain virtually a dead-letter, the slaves never having had the law explained to them, and the authorities not troubling themselves to enforce their liberation at the end of the seven years.

The complete abolition of slavery in Angola has, however, been decreed to take place in the year 1878; and should the measure be strictly enforced, the total annihilation and ruin of the thriving and rising cotton and sugar-cane plantations, &c., will be the result, with a vast amount of misery to the thousands of liberated blacks.

It is a pity that philanthropy should blindly put so sudden a stop to a custom that has existed from time immemorial, and of which the evils are, in a country like Angola, exceedingly slight. The effect of this measure will be to destroy its nascent industry, the only means for its progress and development, and will plunge a great part of its population into helpless misery for years to come. Let slavery be abolished by all means, but only in the most gradual manner, and in proportion to the industrial and moral advancement of the race.

The natives of Angola are specially fitted for the introduction of habits of industry and usages of civilization, as they are naturally of a peaceable, quiet, and orderly disposition. The difference between them and the natives of Sierra Leone and the rest of the West Coast is very striking and pleasing. They have none of the disgusting swagger, conceit, or cant of the former, but are invariably civil and kindly, and under a firm and enlightened policy they would become more really civilized and industrious than any other natives of the West Coast.

That such would be the case is abundantly proved by what has already been done under the Portuguese in Angola, notwithstanding the intolerable system of rapine and oppression which the natives have borne for so many years from their government, a system in which only quite recently has any improvement been noticed. Were the natives otherwise than inoffensive and incapable of enmity, they would long ago have swept away the rotten power of the Portuguese in that large extent of territory.

Two good paved roads lead from the lower to the upper town of Loanda; in this are the Governor’s palace, the prison, the treasury and other public offices, the barracks, and the military and general hospital. This is the healthiest part of the town, being fully exposed to the strong sea breeze, and splendid views are obtained from it of the bay, shipping, and town to the north, and of the coast and the “Ilha” or island to the south.

The country inland, immediately beyond the town, is dotted with “mosseques” or country-houses and plantations, and in one depression or valley are situated the huts comprising the dwelling-places of the native population, which have lately been removed from the back of the lower town, where they were a nuisance. In the “Cidade Alta” there existed till lately the ruins of the former cathedral: these were cleared away and a tower built on the spot, in which are a few meteorological instruments, and observations of temperature, height of barometer, &c., are taken daily. The extensive ruins of a monastery have also been levelled, and a public garden laid out on their site. These ruins gave some idea of the importance of Loanda in former and richer times.

A tame pelican has lived in the “Cidade Alta” for some years. He is fed daily with a ration of fresh fish from the Governor’s palace, and flies over every morning to the island to have his bath and plume himself at the water’s edge, returning regularly after completing his ablutions. He is very playful, and is fond of giving the nigger children sly pokes and snaps, or trying to pick the buttons off people’s coats. On the evenings when the band plays he may be seen promenading about with becoming gravity as if he enjoyed the music. He is very fond of being taken notice of, and having his head, and the soft pouch under his long bill, stroked.