Calumbo is now a poor place, with a few dilapidated stone houses in a mass of wattle and daub huts, surrounded by large "arimos." The whole "Districto da Barra do Calumbo" contains only 444 hearths. A little stone pier, which Loanda wants, projects into the stream; the lime was formerly procured from shells, but in 1761 calcareous stone was found near the Dande stream. The sightliest part is the vegetation, glorious ceibas (bombax) used for dug-outs; baobabs, tamarinds which supply cooling fruit and distilled waters; limes and bitter oranges. The most remarkable growth is the kaju or cashew nut: an old traveller quaintly describes it "as like St. John's apple with a chestnut at the end of it." M. Valdez ("Six Years of a Traveller's Life," vol. ii. 267), calls it "a strange kind of fruit," though it was very familiar to his cousins in the Brazil, of which it is an aborigine. Here it is not made into wine as at Goa: "Kaju-brandy" is unknown, and the gum, almost equal to that of the acacia, is utterly neglected. A dense and shady avenue of these trees, ten paces apart, leads from the river to the parish church of S. José, mentioned by Carli in 1666: an inscription informs us that it was rebuilt in 1850, but the patron is stored away in a lumber-room, and the bats have taken the place of the priest. Portugal has perhaps gone too far in abolishing these church establishments, but it is a reaction which will lead to the golden mean. The site of Calumbo is well chosen, commanding a fine view, and raised above the damps of the cold Cuanza, whose stagnant lagoon, the Lagôa do Muge on the other side, is divided from the main branch by a low islet with palms and some cultivation. At the base of Church Hill are huts of the Mubiri or blacksmiths, who gipsy-like wander away when a tax is feared; they are not despised, but they are considered a separate caste. I was shown a little north of the town a place where the Dutch, true to their national instincts, began a canal to supply Loanda with sweet and wholesome drinking material and water communication; others place it with more probability near the confluence of the Cuanza and the Lucala, the first great northern fork, where Massangano was built by the Conquistadores. This "leat" was left incomplete, the terminus being three miles from St. Paul's; the Governor-General José de Oliveira Barbosa, attempted to restore it, but was prevented by considerations of cost.