portion of slaves is only 3.38 per cent.
of the inhabitants. The commandant of this place, Laurence Jose Marquis,
is a frank old soldier and a most hospitable man; he is one of the few
who secure the universal approbation of their fellow-men for stern,
unflinching honesty, and has risen from the ranks to be a major in the
army. We were accompanied thus far by our generous host, Edmund Gabriel,
Esq., who, by his unwearied attentions to myself, and liberality in
supporting my men, had become endeared to all our hearts. My men were
strongly impressed with a sense of his goodness, and often spoke of him
in terms of admiration all the way to Linyanti.

While here we visited a large sugar manufactory belonging to a lady,
Donna Anna da Sousa. The flat alluvial lands on the banks of the Senza
or Bengo are well adapted for raising sugar-cane, and this lady had a
surprising number of slaves, but somehow the establishment was far from
being in a flourishing condition. It presented such a contrast to the
free-labor establishments of the Mauritius, which I have since seen,
where, with not one tenth of the number of hands, or such good soil,
a man of color had, in one year, cleared 5000 Pounds by a single crop,
that I quote the fact, in hopes it may meet the eye of Donna Anna.

The water of the river is muddy, and it is observed that such rivers
have many more mosquitoes than those which have clear water. It was
remarked to us here that these insects are much more numerous at
the period of new moon than at other times; at any rate, we were all
thankful to get away from the Senza and its insect plagues.

The whole of this part of the country is composed of marly tufa,
containing the same kind of shells as those at present alive in the
seas. As we advanced eastward and ascended the higher lands, we found
eruptive trap, which had tilted up immense masses of mica and sandstone
schists. The mica schist almost always dipped toward the interior of the
country, forming those mountain ranges of which we have already spoken
as giving a highland character to the district of Golungo Alto. The trap
has frequently run through the gorges made in the upheaved rocks, and
at the points of junction between the igneous and older rocks there are
large quantities of strongly magnetic iron ore. The clayey soil formed
by the disintegration of the mica schist and trap is the favorite soil
for the coffee; and it is on these mountain sides, and others possess