to persuade my men to move on
to the bank in spite of these people, a young half-caste Portuguese
sergeant of militia, Cypriano di Abreu, made his appearance, and gave
the same advice. He had come across the Quango in search of bees'-wax.
When we moved off from the chief who had been plaguing us, his people
opened a fire from our sheds, and continued to blaze away some time in
the direction we were going, but none of the bullets reached us. It
is probable that they expected a demonstration of the abundance of
ammunition they possessed would make us run; but when we continued
to move quietly to the ford, they proceeded no farther than our
sleeping-place. Cypriano assisted us in making a more satisfactory
arrangement with the ferrymen than parting with my blanket; and as soon
as we reached the opposite bank we were in the territory of the Bangala,
who are subjects of the Portuguese, and often spoken of as the Cassanges
or Cassantse; and happily all our difficulties with the border tribes
were at an end.

Passing with light hearts through the high grass by a narrow footpath
for about three miles to the west of the river, we came to several neat
square houses, with many cleanly-looking half-caste Portuguese standing
in front of them to salute us. They are all enrolled in the militia, and
our friend Cypriano is the commander of a division established here.
The Bangala were very troublesome to the Portuguese traders, and at last
proceeded so far as to kill one of them; the government of Angola then
sent an expedition against them, which being successful, the Bangala
were dispersed, and are now returning to their former abodes as
vassals. The militia are quartered among them, and engage in trade and
agriculture for their support, as no pay is given to this branch of the
service by the government.

We came to the dwelling of Cypriano after dark, and I pitched my little
tent in front of it for the night. We had the company of mosquitoes
here. We never found them troublesome on the banks of the pure streams
of Londa. On the morning of the 5th Cypriano generously supplied my
men with pumpkins and maize, and then invited me to breakfast, which
consisted of ground-nuts and roasted maize, then boiled manioc roots
and ground-nuts, with guavas and honey as a dessert. I felt sincerely
grateful for this magnificent breakfast.

At dinner Cypriano was equally bountiful, and several of his friends
joined us in doing justice to his hospit