Their numbers in Angola have amounted to 30,000,
and they aided in conquest like the Indian Sipahi (sepoy) and the
Tupi of the older Brazil. Now they wear the Tanga or Pagne, a
waist cloth falling to the knee, and they are armed with trade
muskets and cartridge-boxes fastened to broad belts. Barbot calls
the Nyare a buffalo, and tells us that it was commonly shot at
Sandy Point, where in his day elephants also abounded. Captain
Boteler (ii. 379) well describes a specimen, which was killed by
Dr. Guland, R.N., as exactly resembling the common cow of
England, excepting that its proportions are far more "elegant."
This hearty breakfast is washed down with long drinks of palm
wine, and followed by sundry pipes of tobacco; after which, happy
souls! all enjoy a siesta, long and deep as that of Andine
Mendoza; and they "kill time" as well as they can till evening.
The men assemble in the club round the Nampolo-fire, where they
chat and smoke, drink and doze; those who are Agriophagi or
Xylobian AEthiopians, briefly called hunters, spend their days
much like the race which Byron declared
"Merely born
To hunt and vote, and raise the price of corn.
Pages:
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197