On board Portuguese Steamer Estaphania, Province of Angola,April 24, 1860.
Being so far down on the south-west coast of Africa, my full intention had been to proceed to the Cape of Good Hope, if by any possible conveyance I could get there; but it appears I have run out the end of the chain, and no opportunity offering, Imust get back by the best possible means. This steamer is my only chance, direct to Portugal, and, if nothing presents itself, I must turn my face again towards Europe, with the prospect of a thirty-five days’ passage, touching along the African coast at Ambriz and the Island of San Tomé, and thence up to the Cape de Verdes.
The captain of the English gunboat Lynx, now bound to the island of Ascension, has kindly offered to take me, through the recommendation of the English consul, but the chance being less of getting away from there I declined.
This is the province where the African traveller, Livingstone, came out when he returned to England. The captain of the Lynx met him recently, on the east coast of Africa.
The colonial government here is in trouble. I noticed Portuguese and black soldiers going on board of a brig moored near us. The negroes rose near Ambriz in large numbers, attacked the troops, and succeeded in killing and driving into the river some one hundred and forty men. One of the officers, who dined with a government employé where I was invited the other day, narrowly escaped with his life.
The heat is now most oppressive and overpowering. We have frequent thunderstorms with vivid lightning, which tends to purify the atmosphere. It is far the safest to sleep on shipboard, as the fever is prevailing ashore.
Maxillas are used for moving about the town of Loanda, as the least exertion produces violent perspiration, and exposure to the sun brings disastrous results. The mode of conveyance is somewhat like the palanquin in the East Indies, but not so spacious or convenient. You are carried by two negroes, instead of four or six, as are used there. Here a sort of sofa bottom of cane work is suspended by cords from a light roof, attached to a strong pole, resting upon the shoulders of the bearers. A cushion supports the back, and curtains are floating on each side, which keep off the sun, and the motion produces a gentle breeze. In this manner you make your visits and excursions in the town and suburbs.
There are no American or English men-of-war in port. We have three persons on board waiting for a passage; one a purser of an American man-of-war going home invalided; a Portuguese from Benguela who has exposed himself and got the fever; andmyself, afflicted with “Job’s comforters,” which keep off the same disease. Our numbers will be augmented in a day or two.
The English are making great efforts to introduce the culture of cotton in Africa, so as to render them less dependent upon the United States. I heard at Acra, on the Gold Coast, that a few bales had been shipped to Liverpool. In Liberia I learned that the Manchester Cotton Association had sent medals and fifty pounds sterling as premiums, for the encouragement of the growth of the plant in that district. I learned also at Bonny that two bales, purchased at Rabba on the Niger, had been brought down by the Rainbow, attached to the Niger expedition, which is the first from that country. The captain reports he could have filled his ship with uncleaned cotton. The price of the cleaned was from three to four cents per pound, our currency, uncleaned about one cent. Another report said one hundred and fifteen pounds of cotton in the seed were bought for five and-a-half yards of cotton velvet and eight pounds of salt. There is plenty of raw cotton, and gins and presses are all that is required to produce a merchantable article. If the English persevere and the natives turn their attention to cotton, there is no calculating what the production might in time amount to; but there is this satisfaction for the American planter, the consumption is rapidly increasing, and there is not much fear of a surplus for years to come. The culture of the plant, as I have seen it in Algeria and the East Indies, cannot come in competition with the negro labor at the South; but we may rest assured that the British are using every means possible to have it produced, and make themselves less subject to our Southern King Cotton.
I must say something of a peculiar race of negroes on the African coast, who seem far superior to their fellows. They are the Kroomen, who make invaluable sailors for men of-war-and merchant vessels, and indeed are indispensable for all labor on shipboard, saving the white mariners from service and consequent fever. They are generally large, stalwart, well-formed men, obedient and industrious. They are shipped in Monrovia by vessels of war for the cruise, and receive from five to eight dollars per month, the chief as much as twelve dollars. In Sierra Leone, merchant vessels procure them for five dollars per month. Many of them understand a little English, and theycould not be made slaves of without great difficulty. They rather look down with contempt upon common negroes. On shipboard they answer to the call of the roll. Some names given them are so ludicrous one can scarcely refrain from laughing when he hears them. Some bear the names of ships upon which they have sailed, and feel highly flattered in consequence, such as Constitution, Congress, Vincennes, Dale, &c., but the others, Up Side Down, Tom Bottle, Sunbeam, Main Mast, Main Hatch, Joe Propeller, Inside Out, Tar Bucket, Ash Bucket, Last One, Nothing New, and so on, display the extraordinary nomenclature conceived by the Jack Tars. When on duty ashore from men-of-war they wear blue woollen shirts and pants, but always on shipboard they have the privilege of the native waistcloth. They choose their chief, who is at the head of the gang, and whom they obey most rigidly. The Marion will land sixty or more at Monrovia before she leaves the coast for the United States, being the complement of two vessels. They save their money to increase the number of their wives.
The process of coaling here is of the slowest kind, and that of ballasting ships the same. The distance from the shore is considerable, and the manner of doing things is, as the Portuguese language describes it, poco-a-poco, little by little. The coal or ballast is put in at the rate of thirty-six tons per day, with baskets like good-sized soup dishes, passed from hand to hand, not unlike the old-fashioned system of handing buckets at a fire.
No freight of consequence is offering, as the disturbance in the country has checked the movement. Ordinarily elephants’ tusks, palm oil, gum, coffee, etc., are coming forward.
We are now in the height of midsummer, with the thermometer over a hundred. There is no such thing as restraining perspiration, except by the fever. What would one give for a cooling draught of ice water, and the other luxuries and comforts of a northern clime, which are not obtainable even at an advance of two hundred or three hundred per cent. We are looking forward to our deliverance from this heated atmosphere in a few days at least, and to be under motion, when some circulation will be produced.
The slow, backward Portuguese colony even requires strangers, as well as its own citizens, on leaving it to procure a passport, with all the formalities attending the same, at an expense of fivedollars, without recognising the passport of one’s own country. This may be in part caused from apprehension of the escape of felons and soldiers, who are sent to this convict colony to expiate their crimes. I should think no worse punishment could be inflicted than a residence in such a climate.
Island of San Miguel, Azores,June 8, 1860.
In my last I informed you that I was on the eve of leaving the Portuguese province of Angola, on the south-west of Africa. I expected to reach the Cape de Verde Island in time to catch the English steamer for Lisbon, but arrived two days too late.
We stopped at the town of Ambriz, in the Congo territory, now the seat of war between the Portuguese and the blacks, and found the residents in great consternation from the recent successes of the negroes. A war vessel had just arrived with fresh troops.
We then proceeded to the island of San Tomé, one of the volcanic group consisting of that, Prince’s and Fernando Po, which for fertility, magnificent mountain scenery, and beautiful tropical forests can scarcely be surpassed, producing the choicest coffee and fruits in abundance, but occupied mostly by the dark race, with small numbers of Portuguese colonists, the former indolent as usual unless force is exercised, and the latter lethargic from the oppressive heat and afflicted with fevers—otherwise, these islands might be considered perfect gems of the ocean.
On the ninth day we left San Tomé for Porto Praya, Cape de Verdes. Our complement of passengers had now reached fifteen, including one white lady. Our ship reminded me of Noah’s ark, as we had such a variety of animals and birds on board, either as supplies, or belonging to passengers bound to Portugal and carrying specimens of the brute creation occupying the countries they came from, not forgetting a few negro boys and girls, from six to seven years old, as presents to friends, which seem to be classed in the same category, as they cost from ten dollars to fifteen dollars each. For a voyage of twenty to thirty days in a large screw steamer of only fifty horse power, relying upon wind as well as steam, the auxiliary force being only four or five milesper hour, it was necessary to provide abundantly, and we had oxen, sheep, goats, chickens, turkeys and guinea fowls. The rigging and chain about the boats suspended on the sides were hung with green bananas to ripen, and vegetables of different kinds. A full supply of limes, oranges, and other tropical fruit was also laid in. A part of our upper deck or promenade was monopolized with bird cages containing hundreds of every color and variety. The main deck had its share of baboons, gazelles, monkeys, and parrots. It was a menagerie in itself, and it required at first strong nerves to accustom one’s self to the chattering, chirping, singing, and other vocal sounds of such a mixed tribe. Little by little they, like passengers at the outset of a voyage, got quieted down, and were rather a source of amusement than an annoyance.
I was fortunate in obtaining a large and airy cabin, or state-room, to myself, which made the long passage more supportable, as most of our passengers were suffering from debility on account of the climate, or from the effects of fever. I was still a martyr to the African boils, but recovered from them as soon as we reached cooler latitudes. One of our passengers, whom we took in at San Tomé, died before reaching here, and his remains were thrown overboard. It was the result of prostration caused by long residence in an enervating climate.
Our supplies of all kinds were abundant, but a bad Portuguese cook was a source of vexation to all; for in no position is the exercise of the culinary art more desirable than on shipboard, where travellers are deprived of their usual exercise, and the stomach and digestive organs are most sensitive.
Our passage to Porto Praya, one of the Cape de Verdes, was a fair one, say nineteen days, but a delay of five days, taking in coffee and sugar, caused me the loss of the English steamer, which would have taken me direct to Portugal in seven days. The disappointment was great, as the strong trade winds from the north-east were blowing, making a prospect of another twenty days’ sailing; it must be submitted to, however, as in these parts of the world we cannot choose our conveyance and embark when we please, as in the United States.
Porto Praya has hitherto been the naval station for the American cruisers; and although a small town, situated upon a high, arid bluff, with bleak and dreary mountains in the background,it has its redeeming qualities in fruitful palm, banana, and coffee groves in the valleys, which induced the American officers, after a long cruise in the scorching climate of the coast, to call it the paradise of the African station.
Porto Grande, or St. Vincent, our next island, possesses an excellent harbor, of great size. Here we found a steamer coaling for China, and another for Java. The English have large coal yards here, and the iron launches and little tug steamers give every dispatch, quite like England. The contrast between the energy of the races could be seen at a glance.
As I apprehended, the strong head winds, which we could not resist, have carried us to the west, and we found ourselves short of coal, and our supplies so much reduced that we made for the Azores. It is, however, worth the delay of a few days to visit this beautiful and highly cultivated island. Its population is dense, and exceedingly industrious. The town of Punta Delgada contains twelve thousand inhabitants, is well built of stone, its streets well paved, is favorably situated in a rainy latitude, and produces most exuberantly. The exportation of oranges to England keeps a large number of vessels employed during the fruit season. The Quintas, or estates of the nobility which I have visited, are magnificent, and would not disgrace the parks and gardens of some of the small princes of Europe. The immense variety of flowers in bloom, the fountains of water, the close cultivation to the very summit of the hills upon this isolated spot, and the general amount of production rather took us by surprise, particularly as our last port, St. Vincent, was entirely barren, with scarcely a sign of vegetation; and the time before, when we touched there on our way to Brazil, some years since, we landed famine supplies, as half the population had died from starvation.
Our prospects now are for an early arrival in Lisbon, and I hope in the course of five or six days to be in direct correspondence with Europe and America, and shall rejoice in having accomplished a long and perilous African trip, without any desire to repeat the same.
THE END.
Transcriber’s Notes:1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.