Several large and small steamers hardly suffice to bring to Loanda the large quantity of palm-oil, palm-kernel, coffee, ground-nuts, and other produce from that river. Mr. Silva has unfortunately lately died on his way home, unrewarded by Portugal for his signal services to Angola; and it is to be feared that his widow even will not receive any recognition of the great benefits that his long years of disinterested efforts so justly merit.
My first visit to the River Quanza was in 1859, when almost the only trader there was a Portuguese of the name of Manoel Lobato, established at Massangano.
Travelling was then performed in a large canoe, with two or three or four blacks, who punted it with long poles along the sides of the banks. The trip from Calumbo to Dondo used to be performed in this way in about six days, and very pleasant indeed it was. Only a few barges used to leave the river for Loanda with produce, and these would sometimes remain at the bar for weeks, under the excuse of waiting for a good bar, but generally from the attractions of a small town near, where the crews (natives of Cabinda) would stop and amuse themselves. Even of canoes there were but few, and the banks were consequently covered with different kinds of waterfowl and other birds; and on several occasions when I subsequently had to travel in a canoe on this river, I used to supply myself and the half-a-dozen blacks with me with abundance of food in the shape of ducks, &c., simply by shooting them off the banks or in the water as we went along. In the mornings I would walk for miles along the river side, under the shade of the thick palm forest.
With the steamers and increased traffic it is more rare to see birds on the banks in the same numbers; they have mostly taken to the lagoons and marshy places extensively bordering this beautiful river.
The mouth of the River Quanza is about fifty miles south of Loanda; the course of the river is then so far northerly, that a well-kept path or road south from Loanda reaches it at a distance of twenty-one miles at a place called Calumbo. This road to Calumbo used formerly to be much infested with lions, but with the greatly increased traffic they are seldom now seen or heard of. Lions used to come close to Loanda even, and I was shown a walled enclosure which one had cleared, dragging a calf with him over it. The blacks always use the word “Ngana,” or “Sir,” when speaking of the lion, as they believe that he is “fetish,” and would not fail to punish them for their want of respect if they omitted to do so.
The scenery on this road is very pretty, but is of the same character as that of the littoral region at Ambriz and Mossulo; gigantic baobabs, euphorbias, aloes, prickly shrubs and trees, delicate creepers, and hard, wiry grass.
From the mouth of the river to Calumbo there are large mangrove marshes, and there is a native town called Tumbo, the inhabitants of which are mostly engaged as pilots, mangrove wood-cutters, and fishermen.
The mangrove tree grows here to a large size, and is cut and sent to Loanda for beams, piles, &c.; the longer thin trees are also in great request for roof timbers, scaffoldings, and other uses. The mangrove is a very hard and heavy wood; a pole of it sinks in water almost like a bar of iron, and it is magnificent for fuel. It is sent to Loanda in rafts floated out of the river to the sea, and navigated with a sail.
As the mangrove-wood is so heavy, the natives first make a bed of palm-stems, which are also valuable for hammock-poles, roofs, &c., and on these the mangrove timber is piled, and all securely tied together with tough creeper-stems. These rafts, called “balças,” are worth at Loanda from 200l. to 300l. and upwards each.
Calumbo boasts of a “chefe,” and of the most voracious mosquitoes in Angola.