Angola and the River Congo, vol. 2

by Joachim John Monteiro

The climate of Angola is not so hot as might be expected from its latitude. Near the coast the sea-breeze, which sets in about nine or ten o’clock in the morning, and lasts till sunset or an hour later, always blows strongly, and consequently cools the burning rays of the sun in the hot season: it is very often too strong to be agreeable, blowing everything about in the houses, which always have the doors and windows open. The thermometer in the hot season is seldom more than 80° to 86° Fahrenheit in the shade during the day; 90° and over is not often attained. In the “cacimbo,” or cool season, the usual temperature is 70° to 75° Fahrenheit, and at night as low as 60° to 65°. The nights are always cool, and for not less than six months in the year a blanket on the bed at night is found comfortable.

Towards the interior, away from the influence of the sea-breeze, the temperature is rather higher, but soon the greater elevation of the country lowers it, so that the thermometer ranges about the same.

Rain only falls in the hot season, or from the end of October to the beginning or middle of May, when violent storms with but little wind deluge the country. There is generally a cessation of the rains during the month of January and part of February; the last rains are the heaviest, and seldom occur after the 12th or 15th of May. During the cool or “cacimbo” season, the sun is often not visible for days together, a thick uniform white sky preventing its position being seen at any time of the day. A thick white mist covers the ground at night, and in the mornings valleys and low places are completely enshrouded in it.

As the wind and sun dissipate these rolling vapours, very beautiful effects are seen, particularly among the valleys and mountains in the interior. When looking down into a deep valley, the mist is exactly like a cloud of steam from a locomotive. The “cacimbo” is the best season for Europeans newly arrived on the coast, but is always disagreeably felt by those who have lived in the country for some years, the sudden fall of the thermometer checking the action of the skin. It has a very depressing effect on old stagers, who are then more than usually disinclined for any kind of work, bodily or mental. To new comers, apt to be distressed by heat, the cool season is delicious, as it enables them to go about freely, carry a gun, work, &c., without protection from the sun.

The climate of the coast of Africa is everywhere more or less enervating, and it requires the exercise of a strong will and determination to overcome its influence, and resist the natural tendency to produce inactivity of mind and body. This being the case when in perfect health, it can easily be imagined how much more this is required when a touch of fever, however slight, still further enfeebles the system.

I am not competent to speak medically on the subject of the action of the African climate and fevers on Europeans, which I believe to be very difficult and obscure, but a few detached facts and observations I have noted may be interesting. I fancy there must be something in the action of an atmosphere so completely saturated with moisture, to account for the sensation of exhaustion and prostration that is felt in Africa at any bodily exertion, generally accompanied by a clammy perspiration. I have felt this more especially in the cool or rainless but misty season, when the air is, I believe, even more saturated with moisture than in the rainy season with its almost daily storms, but bright atmosphere, blue sky, and hot sun.

Keys or penknives in use, and kept constantly in the pocket, get rusty to an extraordinary degree, and steel-springs of every kind become brittle and break very readily; I never saw a shot-pouch or powder-flask of which the spring did not very shortly snap in two, sometimes even before it had become rusty, and when only a thin line or streak of rust could be seen on it.

For the first few months after arrival, Europeans have enormous appetites, and all increase in weight;—it is very rarely that fever attacks those first arriving on the South-West Coast.

Persons of a nervous temperament, of a thin, active, muscular habit of body, and not above medium height, I have found to be the most likely to resist the climate.

Previous good health and sobriety are no guarantees against the probable effects of the climate, and I believe that the best and surest indication is to be obtained not from the physical, but from the mental constitution of the individual. Those of a light-hearted and happy disposition, naturally disposed to make the best of circumstances, and whom no inconveniences or annoyances can rob for long of their good humour, are almost certain to enjoy their health on the South-West Coast, whilst those difficult to please, who worry themselves about every little unpleasantness, and who are irritable and unhappy under difficulties, are soon attacked by fever and ague, although apparently just as strong and healthy as the former.