Angola and the River Congo, vol. 2

by Joachim John Monteiro

I was informed that at these feasts every particle of the body was eaten, even to the entrails. At the principal towns of Ambuin and Sanga (said to be the capital) I was told that as many as six and seven blacks were eaten every month, and that the “sobas” of those two towns, and their wives, only used human fat to anoint their bodies with.

I was shown at one of the towns the little axe with which the poor wretches were decapitated, and which was distinguished from others used by the natives by having a lozenge-shaped hole in the blade.

I was very much surprised to find that, notwithstanding their cannibal propensities, the natives of Novo Redondo were such an extremely fine race; in fact, they are the finest race of blacks, in every way, that I have met with in Africa.

Cannibalism may possibly be one reason of their superiority, from this custom supplying them with a certain amount of animal food more than other tribes make use of, or it may be due to their usual food, which is principally a mixture in equal parts of haricot beans and indian-corn, being very much more nutritious than the diet of mandioca meal, of almost pure starch, that supplies the staple food of other tribes. Whatever the reason may be, there can be no question of the superior physique and qualities of this cannibal tribe.

When about to start on my journey, I saw that only four carriers had been provided for my hammock, and I refused to start with less than six or eight, as I made sure, judging from every other place in Africa I had travelled in, that I should have to walk a great deal, as four men, even in Ambriz, where I had found the best carriers, would not be able to carry me, day after day, on a long journey. I was assured that it was never customary to have more than four, that two would carry me from daybreak till noon, and the other two from noon till sunset, and that I might have six or more, but that four alone would carry me every day. This I found was the case, not only in that journey, but also when returning overland from Novo Redondo to Benguella, a distance of about ninety miles.

Another extremely curious feature, distinguishing them favourably from all other negro races, is their degree of honesty and honour.

Any white or other trader going into the interior agrees to pay the “soba” of a town the customary dues, and he provides the trader with a clean hut, and is responsible for the goods in it. The trader may go away farther inland, and he is perfectly certain that on coming back he will find his property untouched, exactly as he left it. Whilst I was at Novo Redondo, an embassy arrived from a town in the interior, where a Portuguese had established himself to trade in palm-oil and beeswax, and where he had died, bringing every scrap of produce and goods belonging to him to deliver the same to the “chefe.”

They were paid and rewarded for their honesty, and I was told that it was the usual thing for these natives to do, on the death of a trader in their country. I do not know of any other part of Africa where such an example would be imitated, certainly not by the Christian negroes at Sierra Leone.

There is a magnificent palm forest on the banks of the river at Novo Redondo. This river is small, but brings down a considerable body of water in the rainy season.

I crossed it on the second day of my journey inland by means of a curiously constructed suspension-bridge attached to the high trees on either side. This bridge was made entirely of the stems of a very tough tree-creeper, growing in great lengths, and about the thickness of an ordinary walking-stick. From two parallel ropes made of this creeper, right across the stream and about two feet apart, hung a frame of open, large-meshed basket-work about three feet deep, forming a kind of flexible net or trough open at the top. The bottom or floor of this trough was made of the same creeper, woven roughly and openly in the same manner as the sides, and when walking in it, I found it necessary to be careful to tread on the network, or my feet would have slipped through, and to help myself along by holding on to the guys or ropes at the top, which reached up to about my waist.