Paulo de Loanda its ecclesiastical name "da Assumpcao." The
ceremonies of the day were duly set forth in the Boletim Official
do Governo Geral da Provincia de Angola. A military salute and
peals of bells aroused us at dawn; followed a review of the
troops, white and black; and a devout procession, flags flying
and bands playing, paced through the chief streets to the
Cathedral. A visit of ceremony in uniform to the Governor-
General, Captain Jose Baptista de Andrade, a historic name in
Angola, led to an invitation for the evening, a pleasant soiree
of both sexes. The reception was cordial: whatever be the
grievances of statesmen and historians, lawyers and slave-
mongers, Portuguese officers are always most friendly to their
English brethren. The large and airy rooms were hung with
portraits of the several dignitaries, and there was an Old World
look about Government House, like the Paco at Pangim (Goa). Fifty
years ago colonial society was almost entirely masculine; if you
ever met a white woman it was in a well-curtained manchila
surrounded by "mucambas" or "mucacamas, negro waiting maids:" as
the old missioner tells us, "when they go abroad, which is
seldom, they are carried in a covered net with attendance of
captives." All this is changed, except as regards leaving the
house, which is never done during the day: constitutionals are
not wanted in the tropics, and the negroes everywhere make the
streets unfit, except for any but the very strongest-minded of
the weaker sex. The evenings at Government House are passed with
music and dancing, and petits jeux innocents for the juniors,
whilst the seniors talk and play voltarete till midnight. I well
remember one charming face, but I fear to talk about it--ten
years in Africa cannot pass without the saddest changes.