Angola and the River Congo, vol. 2

by Joachim John Monteiro

To assist the traders established at Pungo Andongo, Cassange, and other parts of the interior to transport their ivory, wax, and other produce to the coast, the government directed that a certain number of carriers should be supplied by the “Soba” or native king of each district, and that a stipulated payment should be made to these carriers for their services by the traders. This was immediately turned by the Portuguese “chefes” to their own advantage. The carriers were forced to work without any pay, which was retained by the “chefe;” and as fines and imprisonments helped to depopulate whole districts, and carriers became more difficult to obtain, the “chefes” in their rapacity exacted a larger and larger sum from the traders for each, over and above the stipulated pay. This frightful abuse existed in full force till 1872, when the forced liability of the natives to serve as carriers was abolished by law.

So easy and successful a robbery was this, that large sums were spent, and much interest employed, for the sake of getting the post of “chefe” to the more important districts, such as Golungo Alto, Pungo Andongo, &c., even for a short time. The “chefe” being military commandant and civil judge, the population were perfectly incapable of resistance or complaint, and if such reached Loanda, it was of course quashed by the friends of the despot in power, who had themselves received a heavy sum to obtain him the post.

While I was exploring the district of Cambambe, an order arrived from Loanda for the “chefe” to draw up and forward a list of the number of men capable of bearing arms and being called out as a native militia. Such an apparently simple order supplied the “chefe” with a means of committing a dastardly robbery on the defenceless natives; and he in his turn was cheated of more than half of it by his subordinates, two mulatto militia officers, who were sent by him with half-a-dozen black soldiers to scour the country and obtain the desired information.

I was staying at the house of a Portuguese trader, at a place called Nhangui-a-pepi, on the road to Pungo Andongo, and about half way between that place and Dondo, when these two scoundrels arrived, and arranged the following plan with the trader, whose name was Diaz. They had agreed with the “chefe” of Cambambe at Dondo, to receive a small share of the plunder they were to collect for him, but as they considered this share was not sufficiently liberal, they proposed to Diaz to send him part of the horned cattle they should obtain, for which he was to pay them in cash,—a certain amount below the value of course. This was agreed to, and they departed in high spirits.

A month after, on calling again on Diaz, I found that the two villains had already sent him seventy oxen, and that their journey was not yet completed! How many they had sent to the “chefe” at Cambambe of course I could not ascertain.

The manner of proceeding was simple and ingenious. They pretended that the Governor-General at Loanda had sent an order that all men in the district should be enlisted as soldiers and sent to the coast to serve in some war, that the names of all were down from the registers at Cambambe, and they had come to revise the list, and that all would be liable to serve and be taken from their homes unless they were bribed to have the names erased.

In this way they robbed the poor inhabitants wholesale of oxen, sheep, goats, fowls, money, &c., with what success will be seen from the number of cattle only that they sent Diaz in one month, and from a part only of an extensive district.

On my arrival at Loanda some months later, I informed the governor personally of what I had witnessed, but he declared himself unable to prevent it or punish the culprits, from the impossibility of obtaining legal proofs, and from the influential position held by the principal robber.

Shortly after the commencement of steam navigation on the River Quanza, the Governor-General was asked to order the “chefes” of Cambambe and Muxima to cause stumps and snags that were dangerous to the steamers to be removed from the river. By a similar ingenious interpretation this inoffensive order of the government was converted into a means of levying black-mail on the natives of the river. The subordinates intrusted with the execution of the measure declared that they had orders to cut down all palm-trees on or near the banks of the river, and would do so unless bribed to spare them. In this way a considerable sum of money was netted by the rogues in power.

The natives of the interior of Loanda are very fond of litigation, and this again is a source of considerable profit to the “chefes,” as they will not receive any petition, issue a summons, &c., without being bribed, and the crooked course of justice may in consequence be imagined.