The town of Loando is situated on a high, sandy bluff, sloping quite down to the water, and the houses of the European residents, which are constructed of sun-dried bricks, with very thick walls, are of two stories, and furnished with verandas. They are located along the curve of the bay, so as to command the cool sea-breezes, and are finished externally with pale yellow chunam. The roofs are flat and tiled, while those of the natives are thatched. The windows are not glazed, but are draped with some kind of curtain fabric instead, and in some instances with a fine matting made by the natives. There are four churches in the place, one of which--an old cathedral, but now falling into ruins--was built more than two hundred years ago. We were informed, however, by a Portuguese officer, that no one but the priests attend at the morning service of mass; and that only a few negro women were to be seen at church at any time during the day; and yet but a few weeks before our arrival there was an importation into this colony of a bishop and thirty priests, from the mother country. There is a large, low, and substantially built Custom-house near the beach, where most of the commercial business is transacted, and nearly all the importations are sold at auction. The town is lighted with oil, and as seen of an evening from the quarter-deck of the _Poyang_, presented quite a brilliant and imposing appearance. It is, however, fast going to decay,--the slave-trade, which enriched and built it up, being nearly destroyed; this mart, that once nourished, and was supported by the ill-gotten gains of cruelty and oppression, has now lost nearly all outward appearance of thrift and prosperity. Our attention was particularly arrested, on first entering the harbor, by the situation of the three forts whose battlements frown over its waters. One,--the San Pedro, built on the bluff point around which we sailed on entering the bay,--is in a most commanding position to guard the channel through which vessels enter from the north. It is built of brick, with an exterior finish of chunam, like that of the private houses in the town. The San Francisco stands three quarters of a mile farther down in the curve of the bay, on a low, sandy point or beach, extending quite out into the water. This fortification is also of brick, and is finished with a chunam mixture, which gives it the appearance of being constructed of a light gray limestone. The last of these three fortifications--the San Miguel--is built on the extreme and highest point of the bluff on which the town is situated, and is a much larger and more formidable structure than either of the other two; and commanding, as it does, the entire sweep of the bay, can be made a sure defence for the place from any attacks of vessels of war.