Several of these little birds are greatly esteemed by the Portuguese as cage song-birds; such are the “Maracachão” (Pytelia elegans), noted for its exquisitely sweet song, the “Bigode” (Crithagra ictera) or “moustache bird,” the “Viuva” or long-tailed whydah-finch (Vidua paradisea), and others.
They are captured with birdlime, the very sticky, gummy matter enveloping the seeds of the beautiful parasite—a species of Loranthus—already mentioned as being employed by the natives of Cambambe as gum for sealing letters. This plant grows very abundantly on trees, but most usually on the thinly-leaved spiny bushes near the coast, and even on herbaceous plants. I have often observed it growing luxuriantly on cotton bushes.
Many kinds of ducks and other beautiful aquatic birds inhabit two lagoons, called the “Bimbas,” about seven or eight miles inland from Benguella. From Benguella to Mossamedes almost all the numerous bays on the coast are inhabited by Portuguese, who employ their slaves either in fishing or in cotton and sugar-cane planting. The principal plantations are at Equimina and Carunjamba. Formerly all were engaged in orchilla-weed picking, as already stated.
There is no trade whatever between Benguella and Mossamedes, the littoral region being very desert in character, and but little populated, and the small quantity of produce from the interior finding its way to either one or the other of those places.
The fishery on that part of the coast is mostly carried on by deep lines, and the fish caught are opened flat, and salted and dried in the sun. Very large quantities are thus prepared and shipped to Loanda and to the Portuguese islands of St. Thomé and Principe. A great proportion is consumed by the slaves on the plantations.
Great numbers of a dogfish, called “Cassão,” are also caught. The livers of this fish are thrown into large iron pots and melted into a strong-smelling oil, which is shipped to Europe, and employed to adulterate whale and other fish-oils. It takes about 300 livers to make a quarter-cask of oil. In the season (for these fish are not always on the coast) a boat with two or three blacks will take from 60 or 70 to 300 fish each night, the latter being considered a large take.
The lines and nets of the fishermen are prepared or tanned by steeping them in the juice of an exceedingly curious plant growing in the sand. This plant, specimens of which I sent to Dr. Hooker, proved to be a new species of the genus Hydnora, a Rafflesiaceous plant. It is an underground parasite on the roots of the euphorbia trees and bushes, and consists of a square stem from one to two inches thick, soft in texture, and of a beautiful rose-colour. This stem is covered with a thin dark skin, and is full of tubercles; it has no leaves, and is attached to the roots of the euphorbia, from which it derives its nourishment.
At certain seasons it sends up a thick stalk through the sand, on the end of which it bears a large red flower of a very extraordinary shape, and with an offensive odour of badly decayed meat. There are only three other species known; two in South Africa, and one in Buenos Ayres. Besides its use for tanning lines and nets, it is also employed by the natives as a valuable astringent in cases of diarrhœa.
During the latter years of the slave-trade, these various industries were turned to a double account. When a vessel was on the coast seeking a cargo of slaves, the planters, &c., of course always had a stock ready. At other times any objection or suspicion was met by the fact that the large number of slaves on the coast were employed in the legitimate pursuits above mentioned, so that no slave barracoons existed, and all were as industrious as bees when a cruiser, or some local Portuguese governor or “chefe,” fired by zeal, or by disgust at the little games carried on, sometimes without his usual fee, appeared on the scene.
Lions are common in the country, more especially to the south of Dombe Grande, about Carunjamba and Lucira. I spent a week once at Carunjamba, arriving there shortly after a number of lions had caused the proprietor of a fine plantation to be in forced confinement for days within the high walls enclosing his house and grounds, and in which his slaves and herds of cattle and sheep were lodged every night to preserve them from the attacks of these animals. I saw the ground all trodden down with their footprints, where they had gone round and round, attracted by the scent of the cattle within.