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Candumba, 15 miles E. of 9 42 46 . . . 1855, Jan. 2 Pungo Andongo, 300 yards N. of the Coanza. Kalai, 17 51 54 25 41 0 1855, Nov. 18 2 3 near the Mosioatunya Falls. Top of the hills Semalembue, water boils 204-1/2 Deg. = 4078 feet. Tete or Nyungwe station, 16 9 3 33 28 0 Mar. 2, 17 4 8 house of commandant. Hot Spring Makorozi, 15 59 35 . . . Mar. 13 about 10 m. up the river.
In former times the Portuguese imagined that this place was particularly unhealthy, and banishment to the black rocks of Pungo Andongo was thought by their judges to be a much severer sentence than transportation to any part of the coast; but this district is now well known to be the most healthy part of Angola.
The country between the Coanza and Pungo Andongo is covered with low trees, bushes, and fine pasturage. In the latter, we were pleased to see our old acquaintances, the gaudy gladiolus, Amaryllis toxicaria, hymanthus, and other bulbs in as flourishing a condition as at the Cape. It is surprising that so little has been done in the way of agriculture in Angola.
They dread a cannon greatly, though the carriage be so rotten that it would fall to pieces at the first shot; the fort of Pungo Andongo is kept securely by cannon perched on cross sticks alone!
Cambambe, to which the navigation of the Coanza reaches, is reported to be thirty leagues below Pungo Andongo. The river between is rapid, and generally rushes over a rocky bottom. Its source is pointed out as S.E. or S.S.E. of its confluence with the Lombe, and near Bihe. The situation of Bihe is not well known.
Schut of Loanda, and, as it shows the cheapness of provisions here, I may mention that the cost was only about a guinea per head. On crossing the Lucalla we made a detour to the south, in order to visit the famous rocks of Pungo Andongo. As soon as we crossed the rivulet Lotete, a change in the vegetation of the country was apparent.
The rocks Pungo Andongo. of Pungo Andongo are a conglomerate of rounded shingle in Rocks 4000 feet. a matrix of sandstone, and stand on horizontal sandstone, on which fossil palms appear. Fault. RED SHALES CAPPED BY FERRUGINOUS CONGLOMERATE. Soft red shale or "keele". G| 5000 feet. R| Water boils E| at 202 Deg.
It was almost dark when I reached the storehouse at Pungo Ferry; and as Sunday is a sacred day with me, I determined to camp there until Monday. A deformed negro held a lease of the ferry, and pulled a flat back and forth across the river by means of a chain and windlass. He was very civil, and placed his quarters at my disposal until I should be ready to start southward to Currituck Sound.
The western edge of the Quango valley appears, about twenty miles off, as if it were a range of lofty mountains, and passes by the name of Tala Mungongo, "Behold the Range". In the old Portuguese map, to which I had been trusting in planning my route, it is indicated as Talla Mugongo, or "Castle of Rocks!" and the Coanza is put down as rising therefrom; but here I was assured that the Coanza had its source near Bihe, far to the southwest of this, and we should not see that river till we came near Pungo Andonga.
My kind host introduced me to his neighbors, several of whom returned with us to dinner. I found the people about Pungo Ferry, like those I had met along the sounds of the eastern shore of Maryland and Virginia, very piously inclined, the same kindhearted, hospitable people.
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