“The most remarkable new species in the collection was the large Euryphene Plistonax, since figured in the ‘Exotic Butterflies.’
“It is interesting to learn that the same species of butterflies are in Africa spread over a very large extent of country. The distance from the Cape of Good Hope to Angola is 1400 miles. Several new species which I have had from the West Coast have been received by Mr. Ward from Zanzibar, a distance of 36 degrees. Two new species of Papilio, remarkable because unlike anything previously seen from Africa, which I had received from Bonny, were very soon afterwards sent to Mr. Ward from Zanzibar.”
Mr. H. Druce has published a list of the butterflies we collected in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 1875.
Several caterpillars form very curious nests or houses to protect their bodies. One is made of bits of twig about an inch and a half long, attached round a strong cocoon or web ([Plate XVI.]); the head and front legs alone are protruded at will, which enables the insect to walk about on the under side of the leaves on which it feeds. Another is built up on the same plan, but the bits of twig are short and laid across the length of the cocoon, and the whole enveloped in a strong white web ([Plate XVI.]).
The coast of Angola has never to my knowledge been dredged for shells. The surf grinds and destroys any that may be thrown up on the beach, but as this is almost everywhere sandy and very slightly shelving from the land, dredging would probably prove its fauna to be rich. Land and fresh-water shells are rare.
I have seen land tortoises at Benguella and Musserra only, and they appear to be confined to the gneiss and granite rocks of those two places. They are only found in the hot season, and according to the natives they hybernate in holes in the rock during the “cacimbo.” The natives eat them, so that it is not easy to obtain live specimens. Two that I brought home from Musserra lived for some time at the gardens of the Zoological Society, and were described by Dr. Selater as the Cinixys erosa and the Cinixys belliana (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871).
Porcupines are not uncommon, and I often found their quills lying on the ground. The natives are fond of the flesh of this pretty animal; they are also fond of sticking the quills in the wool of their heads as an ornament, but they have no acquaintance with the story of their being able to project their quills when angry, or as a means of defence.
Fruits are by no means so abundant in Angola as they might be. It is only within the last few years that the Portuguese have followed the good example of the old missionaries in planting fruit-trees. Most of the European fruit-trees grow remarkably well. Oranges are of delicious quality. Mulberries bear most abundantly, but only a very few trees are to be seen. Limes grow wild in many places. Mangoes (Mangifera Indica) grow splendidly, but are scarce everywhere except about the Bengo country; there are none on the Quanza, the natives having a prejudice against planting the tree, as they believe it would be unlucky. Sweet and sour Sop (Anona sp.) and Papaw (Carica Papaya) are very common. The Guava (Psidium Guaiava) grows wild in abundance in many places, and the Araçá, another species (P. Araçá) is also cultivated. The Jambo (Jambosa vulgaris) is found growing wild, and, although rather insipid, it has a delicious scent of attar of roses. The “Munguengue” is the name of a tree (a species of Spondiaceæ) bearing bunches of yellow, plum-like fruit of a very delicious flavour and scent, and its pulp mixed with water and sugar makes one of the nicest drinks I have tasted. It is a very handsome tree with leaves of a bright, spring green, of which goats, sheep, and other animals are exceedingly fond. The wood is soft and useless for carpentry, but the branches are much used for fences round huts and enclosures, as any piece stuck in the ground quickly takes root, and soon grows into a fine shady tree. The natives on the coast eat the fruit of the Chrysobolamus Icaca, var., which they call “Jingimo”; it is like a round, black-purple plum, tasteless and astringent. It is a common sea-side plant, covering large stretches of coast, and growing from large trailing masses a few inches high, to small bushy trees. It has a round, bright, shiny, green leaf. Pineapples are generally very fine, and might be grown to any extent. Grapes and figs are sparingly grown, but bear well.
The only plants employed by the natives as scents are the seeds of the Hibiscus Abelmoschus, smelling strongly of musk, and a very sweet-smelling wood. These they keep in their boxes with their cloths, &c., and also rub them over the head and body. The natives from the interior also rub themselves over with a stinking nut something like an acorn, with a powerful smell like rotten onions. These are brought to the coast for sale to the natives of Ambriz. On my asking one of them how he could bear to rub his body with such a bad-smelling substance, he answered by another question, “Do not you whites use Eau-de-Cologne?”
The blacks also use the skin of the musk or civet-cat, which is very common in the interior, to scent their cloths and bodies. The smell of this animal is so powerful that the clothes of a person passing through grass where one has previously been, acquire such a strong smell of musk as to retain it perceptibly for days.