This again, I think, is very indicative of their low type; as also is the fact that no animal is tamed or utilized by the negro, or made subservient to his comfort in any way. Even the cows or goats are not milked except by the natives south of the River Quanza. In no part of Angola (and the same holds good, I believe, of the whole negro race) is a single animal employed in agriculture as a beast of burden, or for riding.
The burial places of the blacks of Angola are almost everywhere alike. A square place is raised about a foot from the ground, and the earth enclosed by short stakes or flat pieces of rock, and on this raised space broken bottles and crockery of every description are placed.
The ordinary burial places, like those mentioned about Ambriz, are merely mounds of earth or stones, with a stick to mark the grave of a man, and a basket that of a woman; and sometimes a slab of rock is stuck upright in the ground to indicate the head of the grave. Occasionally, in the case of a big “soba,” there are several tiers of earth raised one above the other, and ornamented with broken glass and crockery and various figures representing “fetishes,” and I have also seen a shade of sticks and grass erected over the whole, to keep it from the rain.
Plate XVI.
Pelopœus spirifex and nest.—Devil of the Road.—Dasylus sp.—Caterpillars’ nests.—Mantis and nest.—Manis multiscutatum and Ants’ nests.
To face page 277.
The “Salalé” or “white ant,” as the larva of quite a small black ant is called, is, from its numbers and the ravages it commits, a very important insect, and merits some notice. It is most abundant in the interior, where the soil, from the decomposition of the clay and mica slate, is more earthy or clayey, as it is not fond of rocky, stony, or sandy ground unless it is very ferruginous. Their nests are sometimes large, pointed masses of earth three and four feet high, and as many in diameter at the base, internally tunnelled in every direction, and swarming with ants, eggs, and larvæ; but the usual nests are about a foot or eighteen inches high, like a gigantic mushroom, with from one to six round curved heads placed one on top of the other ([Plate XVI.]). These nests are very hard, and the exceedingly fine earth or clay of which they are made must be mixed with some gummy secretion, by means of which it becomes so hard on drying.
My cook at Cambambe was very clever at making small dome-shaped ovens from old ants’ nests, which he ground fine and mixed to a thick paste or mortar. When the oven was dry (nothing else being used in building it but this mortar), he lit a fire in it, and it burnt to almost the hardness of stone, and without a crack or flaw in it; it was then ready for use, and lasted a long time. These ovens were big enough to bake three small loaves of bread at a time.
These nests are sometimes so numerous, particularly in the grassy plains of the interior, as to render walking difficult in many places, and, when the grass has been burnt off, they give a very peculiar appearance to the surface, looking something like a field of brown cauliflowers. They are, like the larger ones, perforated with galleries in every direction, and also full of ants and larvæ. It is curious that considering the existence of the countless millions of these ants over large areas of country, no bird, and with the exception of the rare Manis multiscutata, no animal, should be found to feed on them. This animal is something like an armadillo, with a long tail, and covered with large, hard, long scales ([Plate XVI.]). Specimens are sold at Loanda and elsewhere, and used as “fetishes” by the natives. A species of the “ant-bear,” apparently the same as that found at the Cape, is not uncommon in Benguella, but I have seen its burrows in situations near the sea, in salt, dusty plains, &c., where very little or no “Salalé” is found, and from examination of the dung, I found that its food must consist principally of small lizards and larvæ of insects, and beetles, especially the Psammodes oblonga, Dej., so extremely abundant in its haunts.
The natives of Benguella say there are two kinds, one very much larger than the other. I once tasted a roasted leg of the ant-bear, called “Jimbo” by the natives, and its flavour was very much like pork.
It is a well-known fact that the white ant is most destructive to timber and woodwork of every description, as well as to all clothes and fabrics. Nothing comes amiss to its insatiable jaws, with the exception of metal and some very few woods. Goods, provisions, &c., must be kept on tables or frames built on wooden legs, as if placed on the ground they would quickly be destroyed; but even then care must be taken to examine the legs or supports of the frames every day, as they will run up these in search of the good things on the top. The white ant is about a quarter of an inch long, and its body is very soft and white, but with a black head provided with most powerful jaws for so small a creature.