Summary: |
Almost at Loanda [Luanda]; account of journey from the land of the Leeambye; travelled by canoe up the Leeba for 40 to 50 miles then on oxback to the first Balonda chief, called Kabompo or Shinte, whose approval they gained and who provided guides and orders for his people to supply food along the route; hindered by the heavy rain; frequent attacks of fever and illness; passed many villages and greeted by inhabitants; good climate for cultivation of crops, land fertile and beautiful; describes impassable country of Lobale to the West; describes the Balonda as ""idolators" - describes the idols that he sees; unfriendliness of people in the vicinity of Portuguese settlements; confrontation with the Chiboque [baChokwe, a Lunda group living in eastern Angola] and resolution; payment of fines (money and goods) to obtain passage through towns and villages; passage by night to avoid fighting; difficulties crossing the Quango [Cuango, which Livingstone reached on 4 April]; met by Portuguese Sergeant, Cyprio de Abreu; arrived at Cassanga [Cassanza] and offered food and clothes by Portuguese; meeting with Commandant [Arsenio de Carpo]; begins by saying how polite and hospitable the Potugese are, and ends by commenting on their corruption.
Loanda, 14th August
Reached Loanda 31 May; severe illness with fever and diarrhoea - near death; visit to house of Edmund Gabriel, Her Majesty's Commissioner for the Suppression of the Slave Trade; recovery and plans to begin his retun 20 August; received kindly by the Bishop of Angloa, the acting Governor, who sends a present to Sekeletu and offers Livingstone's men protection; describes Loanda; intends to go down the Zambesi to Quilimane [Quelimane] rather than returning to the West Coast and explains why - no roads, harbour filling up, trade in the hands of the Americans, no English trade has established itself; has left George at the town of Sekeletu and is concerned for him.
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