Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/65

 AMBAOA. 48 was ablo to raise eight tons of coffee, and in 1880 as much aa two thousand five hundred tons were exported from this district alone. In the Lu-Culla basin the cotton-plant is also grown ; but this industry, which promised to acquire a great development during the American war of secession, at present yields pcx)r returns to the planters. The whole country abounds in mineral deposits, although little is work-nl except the iron ores, which have been famous from time immemorial for the excellence of the articles produced from them by the native metallurgists. The double blast b.dlows used by them are absolutely identical with those figured on the ancient monuments of f]g'pt. In the sands of the Golungo-Alto torrents is also found gold dust, but hitherto in insufficient quantity to yield any profit from the washings. This region of the Lu-Calla, one of the most picturesque and productive in the whole of Angola, was till recently entirely destitute of regular highways, so that the porters had to make their way to the coast-towns through the thoniy paths of the forests. A large part of the native traffic even took the direction of Ambriz, attracted thither by the cheap and abundant supply of commodities taken in exchange for the local produce. Pending the construction of the railway by which this produce may be forwarded direct to Loanda, all the foreign trade of the Lu-Calla basin is carried on by means of the steamers plying on the Cuanza. But to reach the riverain ports, the coffee has still to be conveyed by porters across th.e trackless forests. It is calculated that of the total annual trade of the Cuanza, estimated at over eleven thousand tons, about one-half is contributed by the Lu-Calla district. Hence, allowing a hundred pounds as an average load, the number of carriers, who yearly make the toilsome journey from the inland plantations to the banks of the Cuanza, must be reckoned at about a hundred and twenty-five thousand. Recently a road »H miles long has been opened between Dando and Cacullo, capital of the Cazengo district, which lies near the sources of the Lu-Inha, a southern affluent of the liU-Calla. This highway, which will henceforth dispense with human " beasts of burden," crosses two branches of the Lu-Calla by means of iron viaducts, the most remarkable work of man in the whole of the Angolan territory. PiinthOy which has been chosen as the terminus in the Ambaca district of the future railway from Loanda towards the interior, is situated, not on the Lu-Calla, but five miles west of that rivf r on a schistose and sandstone bluff, at the foot of which winds the Rio Pamba, a smalj affluent of the main stream. This station, which commonly takes the name of Ambaca, from the district itself, consisted of a single street with three houses and a dozen straw huts in the year 1879, when the engineers had already traced on the maps the definite course of the railway for 90 miles between Dando and Ambaca. The inhabitants, all clothed in black, presente:! a wretched funereal appearance, and the few travellers passing through the district asked with astonishment why this hamlet of all others had been chosen as the terminal point of a railway running for 210 miles, from the capital of the Portuguese possessions towards the interior of the continent. But Pamba owes this privilege to its rank as administrative centre of the countrj', to the