The district of Ambaca, through which he now passed, was excessively fertile. Large numbers of cattle exist on its pastures, which are well-watered by flowing streams, while lofty mountains rise in the distance. It is said to contain forty thousand souls.
The doctor was delighted with Golcongo Alto, a magnificent district—the hills bedecked with trees of various hues, the graceful oil-yielding palm towering above them.
Here the commandant, Lieutenant Castro, received him in a way which won the doctor’s affectionate regard.
He calculated that this district has a population of a hundred and four thousand.
The lieutenant regretted, as does every person of intelligence, the neglect with which this magnificent country has been treated.
As they proceeded, they passed streams with cascades, on which mills might easily be formed; but here numbers of carpenters were converting the lofty trees which grew around into planks, by splitting them with wedges.
At Trombeta the commandant had his garden ornamented with rows of trees, with pineapples and flowers growing between them. A few years ago he had purchased an estate for 16 pounds, on which he had now a coffee plantation and all sorts of fruit-trees and grape-vines, besides grain and vegetables growing, as also a cotton plantation.
As they approached the sea the Makololo gazed at it, spreading out before them, with feelings of awe, having before believed that the whole world was one extended plain. They again showed their fears that they might be kidnapped, but Dr Livingstone reassured them, telling them that as they had stood by each other hitherto, so they would do to the last.
On the 31st of May they descended a declivity leading to the city of Loanda, where Dr Livingstone was warmly welcomed by Mr Gabriel, the British commissioner for the suppression of the slave trade. Seeing him so ill, he benevolently offered the doctor his bed. “Never shall I forget,” says Dr Livingstone, “the luxurious pleasure I enjoyed in feeling myself again on a good English couch, after for six months sleeping on the ground.”
It took many days, however, before the doctor recovered from the exposure and fatigue he had endured. All that time he was watched over with the most generous sympathy by his kind host. The Portuguese Bishop of Angola, and numerous other gentlemen, called on him and tendered their services.