See J. J.∙ Monteiro, Angola and the River Congo, London, 1875; and Lux, Von Loanda nach Kimbundu, Vienna, 1880.

Though a large proportion of the Loango coast region is occupied by primeval forest, with trees rising to a height of 150 and 200 feet, there is considerable variety of scenery—open lagoons, mangrove swamps, scattered clusters of trees, park-like reaches, dense walls of tangled underwood along the rivers, prairies of tall grass through which no pathway can be driven, and patches of cultivation. Among the more characteristic forms of vegetation are baobabs, silkcotton trees, screw-pines, and palms—especially Hyphaene guineensis (a fan-palm), Raphia (the wine-palm), and Elaeis g urne ensis (the oil-palm). Anonaceous plants (notably Anona senegalensis) and ↑λιεpallabanda, an olive-myrtle-like tree, are common in the prairies; the papyrus shoots up to a height of 20 feet along the rivers (particularly the Luemma); the banks are fringed by the cottony Hibiscus tiliaceus, ipomaeas, and fragrant jasmines; and the thickets are bound together in one inextricable mass by lianas of many kinds. Among the fruit trees are the mango and the papaw; the orange has been successfully introduced at Vista and Kabinda; and the lemon continues to flourish well up the country. Negro-pepper (a variety of capsicum) and ginger grow wild; the natives, in addition to manioc (their staple sustenance) and bananas, cultivate groundnuts and tobacco; and the planters have European vegetables in their gardens.

The crocodile, thehippopotamus, andseveralkindsof apes—including the chimpanzee and the rare gorilla—are the most noteworthy larger animals; the birds are various and beautiful—grey parrots, shrikes, fly-catchers, rhinoceros birds, weaver birds (often in large colonies on the palm-trees), ice-birds, from the Cecyle Sharρii to the dwarfish Alcedo cristata, butterfly-finches, and helmet-birds CΓuracus giganteus), not to mention doves, snipes, and other more familiar types. Snakes are extremely common— Caucus rhombeatus, Atractaspis irregularis, Dendraspis Jamesonii, Dasypeltis palmarum, &c.; but they give comparatively little trouble. The curious climbing-fish, which frequents the mangroves, the Pteropterus or lung-fish, which lies in the mud in a state of lethargy during the dry season, the strange and poisonous Tetrodon guttifer, and the herring-like Bellona africana, often caught in great shoals—are the more remarkable of the fishes. Oysters are got in abundance from the lagoons, and the Portuguese fatten the huge Cardisoma armatum or heart-crab for table. Fireflies and unfortunately also mosquitoes and sandflies are among the most familiar forms of insect life; the bird spider among the rarer. A kind of ant builds very striking pent-house or umbrella-shaped nests rising on the tree trunks one above the other like the roofs of a Chinese pagoda.

Well-built and tall (average height of the men 5’5 feet, of the women 5 , 2), strongly dolichocephalous and very thick of skull, never black but of various shades of warm brown with the faintest suggestion of purple, the Bafiote (as the natives of the Loango coast call themselves) are on the whole very favourable specimens of the Negro stock to which they belong. Their black curly hair never becomes white with age, and grey only in the case of very old people. Baldness is quite unknown, and many of the men wear beards. Physical deformity is extremely rare. Like the west-coast negroes in general the Bafiote have a ghastly and grotesque belief in fetiches and witchcraft; and their gangas or priests employ the cassa (nkassa) ordeal with such recklessness that for every grown-up person who dies a natural death three or four, it is estimated, perish by this judgment of the invisible powers. A custom which readily catches the eye of the foreigner is that of setting their marriageable maidens forth to view in a little bower specially erected in front of the parents’ dwelling—their skins stained red with a peculiar powder. Near Chinchoxo there is a curious tribe, the Mavumbu or Umwambu, known to Europeans as Black Jews on account of their strikingly Semitic features. The coast people proper or Bavilli look down on their more inland neighbours as less civilized; and these in their turn pay the same compliment to those beyond,—the Bayombe and Bayaka, who occupy the mountainous woodland on the borders of Loango, being reckoned as genuine savages.

The people are scattered throughout the country in small villages; Nkondo, probably the largest, contains only 350 to 400 huts, though it is the seat of one of the most influential “princes.” There is no town or village of Loango,—the place of that name on Loango Bay being a mere group of factories. Buri, Boari, or Boali, was the name of the former capital; Loangiri or Loangele (visited in 1873 by Bastian) was the burial-place of the ancient kings; and Lubu, which is still neutral in war, is that of the “princes.” At one time included in the great Congo kingdom, Loango became independent about the close of the 16th century, and was still of considerable importance in the days of Abbé Proyart (1750), though Kakongo and other districts were practically independent. At present there is no central authority in the country; the petty local chiefs are local chiefs and nothing more; but the members of the blood royal are still honoured with special privileges, a large number of nominal titles remain in use, and a common tradition of greatness gives a sort of cohesion to the political conglomerate.

The slave trade was longer maintained in Loango than anywhere else on the West African seaboard; and since its extirpation palm oil and india-rubber have been the main objects of commerce. Perfect freedom of trade prevails; and there are Dutch, Portuguese, German, French, and English factories on the coast and up the rivers. The Portuguese have made considerable efforts to secure territorial supremacy; but they have hitherto failed, partly owing to direct French opposition, partly to the state of the country.

The following are the principal stations of European trade :— Banana at the mouth of the Congo, the central post of the Rotterdam African Trading Company, whose comptoirs are scattered along a vast extent of the west coast; Muanda, with one of the best of the native villages; Vista; Kabinda, the natives of which are known as far south as Mossamedes for their enterprise and skill as car-? enters, tailors, &c.; Landana, the seat of Dutch, French, and 'ortuguese factories, and of a French mission from the Gaboon; and Chincho or Tchinchotcho (5° 9' 14" S. lat., 12°3' 45" E. long.) the post occupied by the German Exploring Expedition in 1873-76.

See, besides Merolla and Battel (Pinkerton, vol. it), Proyart, Histoire de Loango, Paris, 1766 (also in Pinkerton); X>egrandprc, Reise nach der westlichen Küste von Afrika, Weimar, 1801; Bastian, Die deutsche Expedition an der Loango-Küste, Jena, 1874-75; and Die Loango-Expedition, by Dr Paul Güssfeldt (1879), Julius Falkenstein (1879), and Pechuel-Loesche (1882).