Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/69

BlUfe. 47 as tbe region of the great lakes, and bringing back such commodities as ivory, wax, and caoutchouc. The southern trade route which starts from Benguella, JiOO miles south of Loanda, also possesses in the Cuanza basin an outlying station towards the interior. It lies, however, much farther south than Malang<?, on the upland j)Uiin where are collected the farthest headstreanis of the Cuanza. Jiclmonte, us this post is called, is not a military station. It was long the residence of the famous Portuguese traveller, Silva Porto, one of the few explorers who have crossed the continent from ocean to ocean, besides also visiting many hitherto little-known regions of the interior. The village of Belmonte, as well as the town of Cangombi, residence of the most powerful local chief, is commonly designated by the name of liihe (Bie), a term applied to the whole plateau, some 5,000 feet above the sea-level, which forms the waterparting for the streams flowing north to the Cuanza and south to the Ku- Bp.ngo. According to Cappello and Ivens, the lUhenos, who number altogether about twenty thousand, present no very distinct physical type. Descending from peoples of the most varied origin, brought by wars and slavery to this plateau, and having also introduced all manner of usages acquired during their long wanderings over the continent, they possess few characteristic points beyond their common love of gain and inborn capacity for trade. As many of them have also learned to read and write, a Portuguese dealer must be himself more than usually shrewd to get the better of the Bihe agent in their mutual bargainings. As a rule, the advantage is always on the side of the latter in the international dealings. The land thus enriched by profitable commercial pursuits might also become one of the granaries of the continent ; for the reddish silicious clayey soil is extremely fertile, and during the rainy season vegetation seems, so to say, to spring up with u visible growth. Capello and Ivens, who organised their expedition for the interior near Belmonte, obtained in two months abundant crops from a piece of ground near the camp, on which beans, maize, and other cereals had been carelessly scattered. One of the natives assured them with the utmost seriousness that, during the rainy season, he had one day stuck his freshly-cut staff into the mud in front of his hut, and stood at the door spinning a long yam to his relations seated round al)out, and that, before he had finished, he found himself under the shade of a mighty tree, whose existence was totally unknown to him, but which on examination he found to be his staff, that had taken root, shot out branches and leaves, and showed signs of bursting into flower. The vegetation of this region nmst be marvellously rapid to give rise to such popular " yarns." Travellers coming from the wilderncpscs of the interior speak in enthusiastic language of this " earthly paradise," where, after long periods of scarcity and hardships, they suddenly find an abundance of exquisite fruits and vegetables. The rich plateau of Bihe has accordingly been spoken of as a promising field of future colonisation for the hard-pressed Portuguese peasantry. But during the