Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/52

 82 SOUTH AND EAST AFRICA. no busy trading stations along this extensive section of the river. Nearly all vessels putting in to discharge or ship cargoes in the estuary stop either at Banana, Punta da Lenha, or Boma, all of which ports lie on the right bank, and consequently belong to the Congo Free State. The Portuguese side is thus almost deserted, and the water being shallower, is here loss favourable for navigation, while the riverain populations are more hostile to foreigners. The station of Santo- Antonio, although sheltered from the* west winds by the promontory of Cape PadrJio, is merely a military outpost without any local traffic. Quissaina, whose exuberant vegetation is a source of wonder to the traders of Boma, possesses three factories and some plantations, the produce of which is forwarded by a few light craft. The most frequented of all the riverain ports in Portuguese territory is Noki {Noqui), the Lukango of the natives, which is situated near the frontier, just below the cataracts. This haven, which is accessible to vessels of one thousand five hundred tons, has acquired some importance since the ivory trade has been transferred to the banks of the Congo, from the port of Ambriz on the seacoast. Noki is also the starting-point of travellers proceeding south-eastwards to San-Salvador, capital of the ancient kingdom of Congo, now tributary to the " King of the sea " residing in Lisbon. San -Salvador. Amhasv, the native city known to the Portuguese by the name of San- Salvador, occupies a commanding position worthy of an imperial capital which at one time ruled over all the land frotn the Gaboon to the Cuanza. It crowns the summit of a plateau of elliptical form, which stretches north and south for a distance of nearly two miles, with an average breadth of over half a mile. Towards the south, the valley of the Lueji, winding its way through a papyrus and grass-grown marshy tract, describes a semicircle round the escarpments of the plateau. On the east and west sides the narrow gorges, nearly 400 feet below the upper terraces, are traversed by rivulets, over which have been thrown suspen- sion bridges of twisted creepers Copious springs of pure water gush from the sides of the granite rock, which forms the base of this isolated plateau, and which is enclosed on all sides b)'^ old limestone formations. The " great fetish " of San-Salvador, formerly renowned throughout all the Angolan lands, has long lost its prestige, and the religious rites introduced by the Roman Catholic missionaries— Portuguese Dominicans and Italian Capuchin friars — had until recently been completely forgotten. Little survived of those times except a few inherited crucifixes, regarded by the chiefs as badges of authority, and the standard of the cross blessed by Pope Innocent* VIII., and still jealously guarded by the king as an aegis of his faded majesty. In the capital were also still preserved some images of saints, which were carried in procession with great pomp on certain festivals, accompanied by genuflexions and prayers, in which nothing but the merest traces could be detected of the ancient liturgy. Negro