The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

PUNGO-NDONGO. 45almost complete depopulation of the land. Although naturally very fertile andcaijable of growing tobacco, cotton, and ground-nuts, as well as European fruitsand vegetables, thanks to its altitude of nearly 3,500 feet above the sea, thedistrict yields scarcely any agricultural produce. A short time before the explorersCapello and Ivens passed this way, a Jinga tribe encamped in the vicinitj'of the fort moved oif in the direction of the -west, scared away through fear ofbeing deprived of all their cattle.Although lacking the agricultural importance for -which the Lu-Calla valleyis indebted to its extensive cofPee plantations, the basin of the Cuanza mainstreamis nevertheless much more frequented as a commercial highway. Dondo, thefirst riverain Jjort, is followed eastwards by the town of Pungo-Ndoiigo, the"Fetish of J^dongo," chief dejjot of the dealers trading with the interior of thecontinent, and one of the historical cities of Angola. Here formerly resided thesovereigns from whom the Angolan territory took its name, and here thePortuguesefounded a permanent settlement so early as the year 1671. This town,which lies at an altitude of about 4,000 feet above the sea, occupies a remarkableposition in a highh- picturesque district. In the middle of a vast plain stretchingsouthwards in the direction of the Cuanza, abruptly rises to a height of oOOor GOO feet, and even more, a group of conglomerate, schistose, gneiss, and porph3T}'crags, presenting the most varied and eccentric outlines.Some have the appearanceof obelisks, others of domes, while most of them are disposed in verticalturret-shaped peaks separated by narrow intervening crevasses, which are renderedconspicuous from a distance by the shrubs of dark green foliage with whichthey are overgrown. In some of these gorges—a very paradise of botanists, thanksto the endless variety of their plants— the trees are completely matted withparasitic creepers, which stretch from crag to crag in form of a vast canopy abovethe lower vegetation. In the flowering season this canopy of entangled lianas,itself now veiled bj^ a dense mass of fiery red blossom, spreads out like a purplelake embedded between sheer rocky walls. These beautiful rocks of Pungo-Ndongo are commonly known by the name of Pedras Negras, or "Black Stones,"a designation, however, which is little deserved for at least a great part of theyear. At the end of the dry season they assume rather a greyish hue. But inDecember, when the crevices of the rocks are flooded by lakelets formed by therains, the vertical sides exhibit blackish streaks which gradually broaden outdownwards, at last completely covering the base of the cliffs as with a coatingof black varnish. This coating is composed of myriads of tiny weeds of thescytonema family, which sj^ring up during the rainsbut which disappear with thereturn of the dry season, sealing offand again revealing the natural greyish tintof the rocky surface.On one of these picturesque eminences stands the fortress, while in an irregularcirque at its foot are grouped the huts of Pungo-Ndongo, environed by orangegrovesand gardens, which are watered by rills of limpid water. Here areintermingled the fruit-trees of Europe and the Antilles, above which rise thespreading branches of a mighty baobab, associated with the first traditions of the