There is a considerable assemblage of huts and mud-plastered houses at Calumbo, belonging to the native population, but the river floods the whole place almost every year. There is also a beautiful avenue of cocoa-nut palm trees planted by the old missionaries, who appear to have had an extensive establishment here, but all that remains of it at the present day is a pretty church in very good repair, and picturesquely situated on a slight eminence on the banks of the river about a mile from Calumbo. The low ground about Calumbo is exceedingly fertile, and is beautifully cultivated immediately after the floods.
The best land is on the southern bank of the river; on the northern bank there is but little ground under cultivation, and the marshes are left to breed clouds of mosquitoes.
The river from its mouth to Calumbo passes through level country, and the banks are covered with mangrove, “bordao” palm, and other trees and plants. The mangrove disappears before arriving at Calumbo, where the water is perfectly sweet, and the banks are mostly bare or lined with sedges and papyrus. The appearance of the low, hilly ground behind is very much like that of the cliffs on the sea shore, being mostly covered with a perfect forest of baobabs. At Calumbo there grew a baobab with a monstrous trunk; this was with great difficulty cut down by order of the vandalic idiot of a “chefe,” who objected to the leviathan tree because it stood in the middle of the road along the bank of the river!
A few miles higher up the river we arrive at Bruto, belonging to my friend Senhor Felicianno da Silva Oliveira, who has there a magnificent sugar-cane plantation, distillery, and farm, and also does a considerable trade with the natives in ground-nuts and other produce. This gentleman is well known as one of the most intelligent and energetic industrial explorers of Angola. I knew him first in Benguella Velha, where he had extensive cotton plantations, &c.; but, convinced of the great resources of the River Quanza, he started, some years back, the cultivation of sugar-cane at Bruto with complete success, but entailing incessant work that only those who have any experience of the vast difficulties of such an undertaking, without capital and in a wild country, can appreciate.
A large extent of cultivated ground, well built and commodious houses and stores, steam sugar-cane mill, and stills for the production of rum from the juice of the sugar-cane, beautiful herds of cattle, garden, lime-kiln, &c., are proud monuments of his well-directed efforts, and a bright example to his, in general, apathetic countrymen. It is to such men that the authorities should give every assistance, but I am sorry to say that it only takes the form, at most, of empty praise. The Government at Lisbon, to favour men who devote their energies to the development of her provinces, did give exceptional privileges to the “Banco Ultramarino” or Colonial Bank for this purpose, but its operations at Loanda, instead of being principally directed to aiding planters, &c., with capital, have been hitherto restricted to a system of miserable usury.
In a draft on England for a small amount that this bank once discounted, it was stipulated that it should be paid in gold, and not in Bank of England notes, as from information that had reached Loanda of a commercial panic in London, it was considered a proper precaution to adopt, in case such notes should suffer depreciation in value!
In digging the foundations of the cane-house, Senhor Oliveira discovered a beautifully carved ivory crucifix in the most perfect state of preservation. This work of art is about two feet high, and evidently belonged to some monastery existing there.
At Bruto there is a fine lagoon in which abundance of fish is netted, and there are some lovely woods and valleys near, which abound with birds and monkeys.
I obtained some exquisite little kingfishers (Corythornis cyanostigma) from a kind of little bay in the banks of the river near Bruto. This bay was covered with the leaves and flowers of the water-lily (Nymphæa dentata and stellata), and trailing on these were long stems of a plant many yards in length, covered with bright green leaves and lovely purple bell-shaped flowers. I sat down behind a bush and watched this beautiful nook for some time, looking at a number of water-hens and other birds running over the water-lilies, and, with the kingfishers, chasing their insect and finny prey.
Beyond Bruto the river scenery is much finer, cliffs and hills on either side covered with the everlasting baobab, and the valleys filled with a luxuriant green forest of trees and creepers, with here and there brilliant patches of colour from the abundant flowers of the latter—the banks of the river a foreground of papyrus and sedges of unfading green.