Angola and the River Congo, vol. 2

by Joachim John Monteiro

The length of the bridge must have been some thirty paces. Near it I noticed, on a flat-topped tree of no great height, a large bird of the eagle species sitting on its eggs in an open nest, and the male bird on a branch near his mate; this tree was quite close to the road or path, and though numerous natives passed under it to and fro, neither they nor the birds seemed to heed one another in the least.

The Celis country is infested with lions, but I was not so fortunate as to see one, though one morning we came upon the fresh footprints of what the natives affirmed to be a family consisting of a full-grown male and female and three half-grown young ones. To my inexperienced eyes there appeared to have been more, so numerous seemed the plainly-marked footprints in the moist sand of the bottom of a small ravine.

We escaped an encounter with one the day we started on our trip. About half-past four in the afternoon we arrived at a pretty clump of trees round a pool of deliciously cool water, and near a low line of rather bare-looking hills. David would not allow our carriers to tarry at this pool, as he knew it to be the evening drinking-place for the lions living in the low hills near. We went on, and shortly after we met an old Cabinda man on his way to Novo Redondo, carrying a letter tied in a cleftstick (the usual way to send a native with a letter in Angola). He was an acquaintance of David’s, who had a talk with him, and we went on our several ways. Next morning we heard that the poor fellow had been caught by a lion not more than an hour after, and at the very pool of water where David had warned us not to stop long. The lion had evidently eaten part of the body at the pool itself, and had carried off the rest to its lair in the hills.

I went to several places where indications of copper had been found, but was disappointed in finding any worth exploring. They were all in the recent beds at the junction or near the primary rock of the country, and consisted of indications of blue and green carbonate of copper in the fine sedimentary mud and sandstone beds. These indications are most abundant everywhere in that district, and curiously enough the plantain-eaters are also most abundant, more so than in any other part of Angola I have been in. I went as far as a range of very quartzose schist rock or gneiss mountains, called Ngello, which I suppose to be between forty and fifty miles from the sea; and at a pass called Tocota on the road to some important town in the interior, named Dongo, I visited a hot-water spring about half way up the mountain side. I had no thermometer with me, but the water, as it issued from a crevice in the rock, was so hot that I could only keep my hand in it for a few seconds.

The direction of the mountain range was about N.N.E by S.S.W.; the rock composing it was nearly vertical, inclining slightly to the west, and with a strike about north and south. There is a most picturesque little town of huts stuck on a rocky ledge, and the natives use the water from the hot springs to drink, but first allow it to stand a day to cool. It has a very pleasant taste when cold, with just the slightest ferruginous flavour. From this range of mountains magnificent views are obtained, the scenery and vegetation reminding me strongly of Cazengo; and there can be no question that it is likewise capable of growing the coffee-plant to perfection. Some sugar-cane I saw growing there was as fine as I have ever seen it, and the native plantations were most luxuriant. I do not know whether trade at Novo Redondo has increased in the same ratio as on the Quanza and Ambriz, but that it is destined to be a very rich country I have no doubt. There is a great deal of white gum in the country, collected from a tree of which whole forests are said to be found.

The principal article of trade at Novo Redondo when I was there was palm-oil, which was mostly bought in exchange for rum, measure for measure, and I often saw the very gourds and pots in which the natives brought the palm-oil filled up with the rum in exchange without any more cleansing than allowing the vessels to well drain off the oil.

I noticed a great variety of birds, and I am sure the country would well repay a collector’s trouble. In the middle of a small cultivated valley I saw a low, flat-topped baobab, which had been taken possession of by a flock of eight or ten birds about the size of a thrush, of a black colour, with smoky-white feathers on the wings. They had built a common nest on the flat top of the tree, and were all sitting hatching their eggs together, quite unprotected from the sun. This bird is the Amydrus fulvipennis, Sw., of ornithologists.

I also saw numbers of a beautiful green pigeon (Treron calva), which is very fat and good to eat. The food of this bird is principally fruit and berries, especially the small figs of the “Mucozo,” a large-leaved, handsome tree. They are generally seen in small flocks, and they sit very close on the trees whilst feeding, during which operation they utter a curious low noise, as of people talking at a distance. If alarmed, they suddenly hush and stop eating until the alarm has passed away, when they re-commence feeding. The natives state that if a man is completely concealed, he can shoot a number, one after the other, off the same tree where a flock may be feeding, as the discharge of the gun is not sufficient to frighten them away if they do not see the sportsman.

The natives here are great bee-keepers, as are also the natives on both banks of the Quanza. The hives are to be seen on almost every baobab, this being the tree chosen in preference to any other, and as many as four or five hives may be seen on one tree. They are made by splitting a piece of wood, generally a branch of a tree with the bark on, about five feet long and ten or twelve inches in diameter; the centre is scooped out, leaving the ends entire; the two halves are securely tied together, and three holes large enough to admit the little finger are bored at each end. An aperture is cut in the middle of the hollow cylinder, where the two halves are joined together, large enough to admit the hand. This aperture is closed with a piece of wood, and clayed over to thoroughly prevent any rain from getting in. The hive is securely placed in the branches of the tree, and a quantity of dry grass put over it as a roof or thatch.

Once a year the owner climbs the tree and draws up a basket for the wax and honey with a cord, and also some dry grass and fire. He opens the aperture, and, lighting wisps of grass, smokes the bees as they issue out. Most of them drop half suffocated to the ground, and the comb is extracted, a small quantity being left behind to induce the bees to work again in the same hive. If no comb be left, the natives affirm that they will not return to the hive. In some places the natives are careful not to kill any of the bees, and are said to extract the comb as often as three times a year. Bee-hives are the principal wealth of these blacks, and some families possess as many as three and four hundred.