Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo, vol 2 | Page 5

a cross worth a
silbergroschen."
After three months spent upon the coast, and much suffering from fever,
the energetic Dr. Bastian was welcomed home on December 13, 1873.
His present book[FN#1] makes only one instalment of the work, the
other being the "Correspondenzblätter der Afrikanischen Gesellschaft."
Briefly, everything has been done to lay the foundation for success and
to advertise the undertaking. Finally, not satisfied with these steps, the
German Society for the Exploration of equatorial Africa organized in
September, 1874, a second expedition. Captain Alexander von
Homeyer, a well-known ornithologist, will lead it viâ S. Paulo de
Loanda and Cassange (Kasanji) to the mysterious lands of the Mwata
ya Nvo, and thus supplement the labours of Portuguese travellers. This
fine undertaking set out early in 1875.

Chapter II.
To São Paulo De Loanda.

At Loango, by invitation of Commander Hoskins, R.N., I transferred
myself on board H.M. Steamship "Zebra," one of the nymphs of the
British navy, and began the 240 miles southwards. There was no wind
except a slant at sunset, and the current often carried us as far
backwards as the sails drove us onwards. The philosophic landlubber
often wonders at the eternal restlessness of his naval brother-man, who
ever sighs for a strong wind to make the port, and who in port is ever
anxious to get out of it. I amused myself in the intervals of study with
watching the huge gulls, which are skinned and found good food at
Fernando Po, and in collecting the paper-nautilus. The Ocythoë
Cranchii was often found inside the shell, and the sea was streaked as
with cotton- flecks by lines of eggs several inches long, a mass of
mucus with fine membraneous structure adhering to the rocks, and
coagulating in spirits or salt water. The drum-fish was not heard except
when we were at anchor; its sound somewhat suggests a distant frog-
concert, and I soon learned to enjoy what M. Dufosse has learnedly
named "ichthyopsophosis," the song of the fish. Passing Cabinda, 57
miles from Loanda, but barely in sight, we fell in with H.M. Steamship
"Espoir," Commander Douglas, who had just made his second capture
of a slave-schooner carrying some 500 head of Congos. In these
advanced days, the representative man walks up to you as you come on
board; touches his cap or his wool, and expresses his best thanks in
West Coast English; when you offer him a dram he compares it with
the trade article which "only ‘ting, he no burn." The characteristic
sights are the captured Moleques or negrokins, who, habited in sacks to
the knees, choose an M.C. to beat time, whilst they sing in chorus,
extending the right arm, and foully abusing their late masters, who
skulk about the forecastle.
Ten days sped by before we sighted the beginning of the end, Cape
Spilemberta and Dande Point, two bluffs in distinct serrations; the
aspect of the land was pleasant, a vista of tall cliffs, white or red, rising

wall-like from a purple sea, jagged with sharp, black reef and
"diabolito," and bearing on the summit a plateau well grown with grass
and tree. We then opened a deep bight, which has the honour of being
entitled the longest indentation from Cape Lopez to Great Fish Bay,
some 17° or a thousand miles of coast. A gap in the cliff line and darker
vegetation showed the Zenza River, generally called Bengo from the
district (Icolo e Bengo) which it traverses. Here was once a busy
settlement much frequented by shipping, which thus escaped harbour
dues. The mosquito-haunted stream, clear in the dries, and, as usual,
muddy during the rains, supports wild duck, and, carried some ten
miles in "dongos" or flat-bottomed boats, supplies the capital of Angola
with drinking water and dysentery.
As we glide towards the anchorage two features attract my attention:
the Morro or hill-ridge on the mainland, and the narrow strip which
forms the harbour. The escarpment, sweeping from a meridian to a
parallel, juts westward in the bluff Cape Lagostas (Lobsters), a
many-coloured face, in places not unlike the white cliffs of Dover; it
then trends from north-east to south-west, bending at last in a
picturesque bow, with a shallow sag. The material is the tauá or
blood-red marl of the Brazil, banded with white and brown, green,
chocolate, and yellow; huge heaps of "rotten earth," washed down by
the rains, cumber the base of the ruined sea-wall north of the town; in
front is a pellucid sea with the usual trimmings, while behind roll the
upland stubbles of autumn, here mottled black with fire, there scattered
with the wild ficus and the cashew, a traveller from the opposite
hemisphere.
The Ilha de Loanda, which gave its name to the city, according to Mr.
W. Winwood Reade ("Savage