ality. Before eating, all had
water poured on the hands by a female slave to wash them. One of the
guests cut up a fowl with a knife and fork. Neither forks nor spoons
were used in eating. The repast was partaken of with decency and good
manners, and concluded by washing the hands as at first.

All of them could read and write with ease. I examined the books they
possessed, and found a small work on medicine, a small cyclopaedia, and
a Portuguese dictionary, in which the definition of a "priest" seemed
strange to a Protestant, namely, "one who takes care of the conscience."
They had also a few tracts containing the Lives of the Saints, and
Cypriano had three small wax images of saints in his room. One of these
was St. Anthony, who, had he endured the privations he did in his cell
in looking after these lost sheep, would have lived to better purpose.
Neither Cypriano nor his companions knew what the Bible was, but they
had relics in German-silver cases hung round their necks, to act as
charms and save them from danger by land or by water, in the same way as
the heathen have medicines. It is a pity that the Church to which they
belong, when unable to attend to the wants of her children, does not
give them the sacred writings in their own tongue; it would surely be
better to see them good Protestants, if these would lead them to be so,
than entirely ignorant of God's message to man. For my part, I would
much prefer to see the Africans good Roman Catholics than idolatrous
heathen.

Much of the civility shown to us here was, no doubt, owing to the
flattering letters of recommendation I carried from the Chevalier Du
Prat, of Cape Town; but I am inclined to believe that my friend Cypriano
was influenced, too, by feelings of genuine kindness, for he quite bared
his garden in feeding us during the few days which I remained, anxiously
expecting the clouds to disperse, so far as to allow of my taking
observations for the determination of the position of the Quango. He
slaughtered an ox for us, and furnished his mother and her maids with
manioc roots, to prepare farina for the four or five days of our journey
to Cassange, and never even hinted at payment. My wretched appearance
must have excited his compassion. The farina is prepared by washing
the roots well, then rasping them down to a pulp. Next, this is roasted
slightly on a metal plate over a fire, and is then used with meat as
a vegetable. It closely resembles wood-sawings,