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mathematical modeling and applied
calculus
Mathematical Modeling and Applied Calculus

J O E L KI LT Y A N D A L E X M . M C A LLISTER

1
 3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries
© Joel Kilty and Alex M. McAllister 2018
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
First Edition published in 2018
Impression: 1
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
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rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2018940139
ISBN 978–0–19–882472–5 (hbk.)
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for information only. Oxford disclaims any responsibility for the materials
contained in any third party website referenced in this work.
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and
For Benjamin, Daniel, and Ella
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Contents

Preface ix

1 Functions for Modeling Data 1

1.1 Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Multivariable Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
1.3 Linear Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
1.4 Exponential Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
1.5 Inverse Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
1.6 Logarithmic Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
1.7 Trigonometric Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

2 Mathematical Modeling 121

2.1 Modeling with Linear Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
2.2 Modeling with Exponential Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
2.3 Modeling with Power Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
2.4 Modeling with Sine Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
2.5 Modeling with Sigmoidal Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
2.6 Single-Variable Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
2.7 Dimensional Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241

3 The Method of Least Squares 263

3.1 Vectors and Vector Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
3.2 Linear Combinations of Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
3.3 Existence of Linear Combinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
3.4 Vector Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
3.5 The Method of Least Squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

4 Derivatives 347
4.1 Rates of Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
4.2 The Derivative as a Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
4.3 Derivatives of Modeling Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
4.4 Product and Quotient Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
4.5 The Chain Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
4.6 Partial Derivatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440
4.7 Limits and the Derivative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

vii
viii CONTENTS

5 Optimization 480
5.1 Global Extreme Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480
5.2 Local Extreme Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
5.3 Concavity and Extreme Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 518
5.4 Newton’s Method and Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
5.5 Multivariable Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 552
5.6 Constrained Optimization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570

6 Accumulation and Integration 589

6.1 Accumulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 589
6.2 The Definite Integral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 605
6.3 First Fundamental Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
6.4 Second Fundamental Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 640
6.5 The Method of Substitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 654
6.6 Integration by Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667

A Answers to Questions 677

B Answers to Odd-Numbered Exercises 703

C Getting Started with RStudio 770

D Sources 773

Index 791
Preface

Human beings have an innate desire to understand reality. From the moment we are
born, we touch, we listen, we look, we taste, we smell, and we process this sensory
information in an e↵ort to make sense of our world. For millenia now, humans have
recognized that mathematics serves as an impressively e↵ective tool for understand-
ing many aspects of reality. This book, Mathematical Modeling and Applied Calculus
(MMAC), explores some of the most important elements of such mathematics by intro-
ducing the reader to mathematical modeling and provides a set of tools for analyzing
these mathematical models by means of calculus.
Our driving motivation for writing this book is to create a learning experience that
introduces the mathematical content students need for allied disciplines in the contexts
they will encounter in those disciplines. Many traditional introductory courses in math-
ematics are oriented toward supporting students who intend to major in mathematics,
engineering, physics, or chemistry. However, students who intend to major in other
disciplines, such as biology, economics, psychology, or sociology, genuinely benefit from
an introduction to the process of mathematical modeling and to the tools of calculus as
a means to analyze models. These students often have di↵erent needs than just a sim-
plified version of a traditional Calculus I course, and this book is designed to meet these
needs. Throughout MMAC, the study of mathematical ideas takes place in real-world
contexts. In the first half of this book, we study various mathematical functions and the
process of mathematical modeling by creating models for diverse data sets, both large
and small. This integrated approach allows us to accomplish these two goals simultane-
ously, and students should feel as though they are learning new ideas, rather than just
reviewing the same old material from previous courses. In the second half of the book,
as we study the tools of calculus, we constantly revisit the models that were created in
the first half of the book, especially when we are learning the basic rules of di↵erenti-
ation and integration. The study of more sophisticated di↵erentiation and integration
techniques includes the introduction of more sophisticated models of real-life phenom-
ena. By embedding the development of mathematical content in specific contexts, we
integrate the study of mathematical ideas with the application of these ideas.
While the primary audience of MMAC is students enrolled in introductory collegiate
courses, we do not shy away from introducing more advanced topics. For example, mul-
tivariable functions are introduced in the first chapter, and techniques for multivariable
functions are introduced alongside their single-variable counterparts. We have gone to
great lengths to introduce these ideas at a level that is appropriate to the audience and
have field-tested our approach in multiple classes, fine-tuning our approach. Similarly,
in our treatment of the method of least squares, we develop the techniques from courses

ix
x PREFACE

in Linear Algebra and Calculus III needed to introduce the method, as well as explaining
why it works. Our study of these ideas is accessible to an introductory audience and does
not require the mathematical sophistication involved in the typical study of the method
of least squares in Linear Algebra. Finally, we regularly provide explanations for why
certain mathematical statements are true at appropriate points in the development of
these ideas. We often present mathematical justifications at the end of a section or in
optional sections. This approach enables students first to master the procedural aspects
of these ideas and then to focus on the often more difficult process of understanding why
these ideas are true.
As an example, we chose to postpone the study of limits until after the study of
derivatives, which might strike some users as unusual. This choice is consistent with
our desire for students to first master the procedural and conceptual aspects of the
derivative, which led us to present the more theoretical underpinning of limits in an
optional section at the end of Chapter 4. This section could easily be presented before
derivatives and covers all of this topic’s major ideas, including the definition of the limit,
graphically and numerically estimating limits, algebraic techniques for computing limits,
continuity, and the limit definition of the derivative. Our field tests of this approach
have been quite successful with the intended audience and have shown that it improves
student understanding of the idea of the derivative without side e↵ects in subsequent
courses.
On a related note, we have made choices in defining terms that are not always the
more rigorous or complete and, similarly, the hypotheses of some theorems are not always
the most general. These choices were made very thoughtfully and with particular care
with respect to what would be the most successful approach for our intended audience,
while also remaining correct within the context of the most common modeling functions.
This approach works well for these students, keeps them engaged, and helps them develop
informed, if still sometimes novice, understandings. As these students persist in taking
a next mathematics course, they will encounter these more complete world-views of the
mathematician and are well prepared to acquire more nuanced understandings.
In summary, this book enables a rich learning experience for students, accomplishing
the study of sophisticated mathematical ideas and methods in real-world contexts and
at an appropriate level of challenge.

Overview of the Book

The first half of this book focuses on the basics of modeling: the most commonly used
functional models, the process of identifying both reasonable models for given data sets
and the parameters of such models, the basics of dimensional analysis, and the method of
least squares as a means for finding best possible models when an exact model does not
exist. In Chapter 1, we review basic properties of the functions that are most commonly
used as mathematical models of data. Many of these functions will be familiar, including
linear, exponential, logarithmic, sine, and sigmoidal models. This chapter also provides
an introduction to multivariable functions. In Chapter 2, we study and implement
the modeling cycle. Namely, for a given data set, we learn analytic, graphical, and
numerical approaches to identifying reasonable models and their parameters, as well as
other tools of mathematical modeling, including dimensional analysis. Chapter 3 details
the aspects of linear algebra necessary for understanding and implementing the method
PREFACE xi

of least squares, including vectors, linear combinations, matrices, matrix multiplication,

projections, and residual vectors. This chapter culminates in the application of the
method of least squares to linear data sets.
The second half of this book explores the calculus as a collection of tools that en-
able a more thorough analysis of mathematical models. In Chapter 4, we introduce the
derivative as the value approached by the average rate of change of a function, when this
average rate is calculated over smaller and smaller intervals. We develop the standard
di↵erentiation rules for the basic modeling functions and their various combinations,
including sum, product, quotient, and chain rules. We also study partial di↵erentia-
tion to enable the analysis of multivariable models. In Chapter 5, we study single- and
multivariable optimization, including both global and local optimization as well as mul-
tivariable and constrained multivariable optimization. In Chapter 6, we introduce the
definite integral as a means for measuring the accumulation of quantities. We study
left and right approximations of the definite integral, and then the first and second fun-
damental theorems of calculus as a means to exactly evaluate definite integrals of the
common modeling functions and their combinations. Chapter 6 concludes with the two
most important techniques of integration: the method of substitution and integration
by parts.

Pedagogical Features
Throughout the process of writing this book, our guiding principle has been: “How
can we share these ideas so as to best enable e↵ective learning and teaching?” We
were certainly informed by our own experiences as teachers and students, but also by
countless conversations with colleagues and students. Motivated by our goal to enable
e↵ective teaching, we incorporate various special features into this book:
• Real-life data and examples are incorporated throughout the book and are
drawn from multiple fields of inquiry, including economics, medicine, biology, psy-
chology, sociology, and more.
• Examples with justification alongside each step of a calculation help students
to follow each of the calculations presented.
• Embedded questions for immediate application of ideas and methods as they
are introduced. When teaching from this book, we use many of these questions
as in-class exercises. Alternatively, when we teach a flipped class, we assign these
questions for homework.
• Answers to embedded questions are provided in Appendix A to provide feed-
back and help solidify ideas. More than just answers, these solutions provide key
intermediate steps to facilitate student learning.
• Exercise sets are thorough and quite extensive, with 75 to 100 exercises at the
end of every section. These exercises have been crafted to provide a spectrum of
practice opportunities, from the straightforward to the more challenging. We also
include exercises with distinctive features. These include the following:
Your Turn exercises, which ask for students to create their own examples and
questions.
xii PREFACE

In Your Own Words exercises, which ask for students to explain important
mathematical ideas and methods.
RStudio exercises, which ask for students to use RStudio, or a similar software
package, to implement mathematical algorithms, model data sets, and analyze
such models.

• Section summaries provide a focused, condensed outline of the main ideas from
each section.

• Answers to the odd-numbered exercises are provided in Appendix B to

provide immediate feedback to students about the accuracy of their solutions.
Again, some of these answers are left relatively unsimplified to facilitate student
learning of the mathematical ideas and processes that are being studied.

• RStudio commands are introduced at appropriate points throughout the book

to enable the development and application of mathematical models and methods.
R is the standard statistical software package used by academic and professional
statisticians, and includes powerful tools for modeling and analyzing data sets.
RStudio is an open source, freeware software package that provides an integrated
interface for using R. In addition, the MOSAIC project team has developed an ex-
tensive library of add-ons, many of which enable the successful study of this book’s
focus: mathematical modeling and applied calculus. The data sets used in the book
are all available in the MMAC package written especially for this book. Addition-
ally, the mosaic, mosaicCalc, and manipulate packages are needed throughout
the book. As we introduce the ideas of modeling, we detail how to use RStudio
to carry out these same methods. Embedded questions and exercises with a spe-
cific technological focus are included throughout the book. Appendix C provides
information about accessing and starting to use these free, open source software
packages.

Course Designs
This book has been written to support the teaching of a variety of di↵erent introductory
mathematics courses. For the most part, the first three chapters of the book do not
depend on each other and can be studied independently. Chapter 4 on derivatives,
Chapter 5 on optimization, and Chapter 6 on accumulation and integrals build upon
themselves, as is typical in the study of calculus. However, Chapter 6 does not rely on
Chapter 5.
Depending on course goals, audience, and pace, we envision at least four likely courses
for which this book would be an excellent choice:

• The primary, intended audience is students taking a course in Mathematical Mod-

eling and Applied Calculus. These students need an introduction to the main ideas
of calculus, but may not intend to enroll in the traditional calculus sequence. This
course would focus on Chapter 2 through Chapter 6, and the mostly precalculus
topics in Chapter 1 can be utilized as more of a reference or as a just in time
review.
PREFACE xiii

• A second audience is students taking a precalculus course, which develops a careful

study of functions along with some attention to modeling. This course would focus
heavily on Chapters 1 and 2, and perhaps include some content from Chapter 3.
The study of the method of least squares in Chapter 3 does not utilize the ideas
of calculus studied later in this book and so can be readily studied in such a
precalculus course.
• A third audience is students taking a one-semester course in Calculus or Applied
Calculus with some review of functions. This course would consist of a thorough
treatment of Chapter 4 through Chapter 6, with periodic references back to Chap-
ter 1 as needed for a just-in-time review of precalculus topics.
• A fourth possibility is students taking a lower-level undergraduate Mathematical
Modeling course. This course would use Chapter 1 through Chapter 3, and select
portions of Chapter 4 through Chapter 6 depending on instructor preferences.
Such a course would have a greater focus on Chapters 2 and 3 than a precalculus
course, as well as probably including some of the calculus topics from Chapter 4
through Chapter 6 for analyzing the mathematical models developed in Chapters
2 and 3.

Acknowledgments
This book was only possible with the help and encouragement of all of our colleagues in
the Mathematics Department at Centre College. John H. Wilson played a particularly
vital role in helping us develop and design the course curriculum that led to writing
this book, spending hours in conversation with us, attending every class meeting of a
pilot course, and writing initial drafts of portions of this book. John’s insightful wisdom
and enthusiastic investment were essential for the success of this project and we are
extremely grateful to him.
Our students at Centre College have proven very helpful in crafting this book. For
multiple summers, we were able hire teams of students to work on various elements of
this book. They helped us find many of the interesting real-world examples studied in
this book and provided feedback on early drafts of the manuscript, highlighting potential
points of confusion and cumulatively working every example, question, and exercise. The
answers to the odd-numbered exercises in the back of the book are a direct result of their
e↵orts. We are particularly grateful to Monica E. Fitch, Wangdong Jia, Adrienne C.
Kinney, Daniel J. McAllister, Matthew D. O’Brien, Abby Quirk-Royal, Melissa Stravitz,
William S. Thackery, and Anne Wilson. In addition, we used initial drafts of this book
while teaching our MAT 145: Mathematical Modeling and Applied Calculus during the
2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, and 2017-18 academic years. Our students’ and
colleagues’ feedback has made this book immeasurably better.
We thank Centre College for supporting this project through Faculty Development
Funds in Summers 2014, 2015, and 2016. In addition, Centre College awarded a multi-
course release to Joel through a Stodghill Research Professorship in Spring 2015 and
Alex an H. W. Stodghill Jr. and Adele H. Stodghill Professorship beginning in Fall
2015, both of which enabled significant work on this project.
We thank Danny Kaplan and Benjamin Klein, who suggested that the Centre College
Mathematics Department rethink how we teach our lower-level calculus course during a
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exciting offers!
xiv PREFACE

2013 external review of our Mathematics Department. As leaders of the Summer 2013
MAA PREP workshop Modeling: Early and Often in Undergraduate Calculus, Karl-
Dieter Crisman, Robyn Cruz, Danny Kaplan, and Randall J. Pruim were inspiring and
encouraging in our creation of this book. Throughout this writing project, the Project
MOSAIC team has been vital in enabling our e↵ective use of RStudio as a tool for
developing and analyzing mathematical models. Likewise, almost all the graphs in this
book were created using Maple 16, which was provided through the Maplesoft Author
Support Program. We were grateful to have access to this software package in support
of our work.
Our editor Daniel Taber and the production teams at Oxford University Press have
been incredibly encouraging and helpful in this past year as we have finished this project.
We worked on our own from 2013 through 2016, hopeful that a publisher might take
interest in this project once it had been developed sufficiently. Daniel’s enthusiastic
reception of our proposal and continuing support have been vital in help us carry through
to the finish.
Most importantly, we thank God and our families for their unflagging support and
encouragement. We dedicate this book to our children in recognition of their sacrifice of
much time with us. Renee and Julie, we could not have completed this project without
you, and we are forever grateful for your support in seeing this book to completion.

And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything

in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God the Father through Him.
Colossians 3:17

Joel Kilty
Alex M. McAllister

June 2018
Chapter 1

Functions for Modeling Data

One major goal of mathematics is to help develop a better understanding of physical

and social phenomena. Humans care about many aspects of reality, from the price of
textbooks to human relationships, from weather events to changing populations, from
profit margins to the success of medical interventions. Researchers in diverse fields of
work and study develop an understanding of such phenomena through a dynamic process
known as the modeling cycle.

THE MODELING CYCLE. The five steps of the modeling cycle are as fol-
lows:

(1) Ask a question about reality.

(2) Make some observations and collect the corresponding data.

(3) Conjecture a model or modify a known model based on the data.

(4) Test the model against known data (from step (2)) and modify the model as
needed.

(5) Repeat steps (2)–(4) to improve the model.

In broad strokes, the modeling cycle begins by asking a question about some phe-
nomena of interest, gathering data relevant to this question, and conjecturing a model
describing the data. The accuracy of this model is then tested against the gathered data,
possibly leading to modifications in order to obtain a model that more closely matches
the data set. This cycle is then repeated as we develop a better understanding of the
phenomenon through the model and through additional observations and collection of
data.
For these purposes, a model is a mathematical function whose input and output
correspond to observations of some phenomenon of interest. This first chapter explores
the basic idea of a function and then studies the particular functions that are used
most commonly as models of data sets. Chapter 2 develops an ability to apply the

1
2 CHAPTER 1. FUNCTIONS FOR MODELING DATA

modeling cycle, which will help enable better insights into the world and more informed
predictions.

1.1 Functions
Many aspects of reality can be described in terms of inputs and outputs. We experi-
ence input–output relationships all the time. When purchasing textbooks, we pay the
bookseller some money (an input to the bookseller), and receive a copy of the book
needed for class (an output from the bookseller). In order to earn money, we work some
number of hours (an input to the business) and are paid a corresponding wage in return
(an output from the business). At your school, most teachers (an input to the school)
teach multiple sections of various classes (an output from the school). Before reading
further, take a moment to think about some additional input–output relationships from
your day-to-day life.
We focus on input–output relationships that identify each input with exactly one
output, known as functions. This focus arises from mathematicians’ success in develop-
ing diverse tools for analyzing functions, which, in turn, carries over to success with the
modeling cycle.
Before diving into the mathematics of functions, some graphical presentations of
input–output relationships are considered. Figure 1 provides the performance of the
Dow Jones Industrial Average at the end of each quarter from 2007 to 2011, which
happens to be a functional input–output relationship. Namely, at each point in time
(an input), the Dow Jones had exactly one stock market value (the output).

Figure 1: The Dow Jones Industrial Average from 2007 to 2011

As demonstrated in Figure 1, the inputs are typically listed along the horizontal
x-axis and the outputs are listed along the vertical y-axis. In some settings, alternative
points of view are explored by reversing the roles of inputs and outputs to work with the
inverse function. In such cases, a new graph of the original input–output relationship
is created, listing the objects now treated as inputs (the former outputs) along the
horizontal x-axis.
Another input–output relationship is the track of Hurricane Ivan in 2004, shown in
Figure 2. Following the standard practice just described, think of longitude as an input
1.1 FUNCTIONS 3

(listed along the x-axis) and latitude as an output (listed along the y-axis). From this
perspective, the hurricane’s track presents a di↵erent type of input–output relationship
because some inputs correspond to multiple outputs. Notice that for some longitudes
Ivan passed through multiple latitudes. For example, at 85 W, Ivan passed through
approximately latitudes 21 N, 25 N, and 35 N, as can be seen by tracing north along
the vertical line of longitude 85 W.

Figure 2: Path of Hurricane Ivan in 2004

Based on this observation, Ivan’s track is not a function, because some inputs cor-
respond to multiple outputs, rather than to exactly one output. In this example, there
happen to be many di↵erent longitude inputs with multiple latitude outputs. Take a
moment to identify a couple more longitudes for which Ivan passed through multiple
latitudes. The fact that several input values have multiple outputs is interesting (and
particularly important for the people who lived along the track of Hurricane Ivan), but
not necessary to show that this input–output relationship is not a function. Rather, if
one single input has multiple associated outputs, the input–output relationship is not a
function.
For some nonfunctional input–output relationships, adopting a di↵erent perspective
on the data may result in an alternative point of view that does represent a function.
Continuing the discussion of the track of Hurricane Ivan, perhaps you have already
identified a way to think about Ivan’s track that results in a function? The key insight
is to consider time as the input and the ordered pair (longitude, latitude) as the output.
4 CHAPTER 1. FUNCTIONS FOR MODELING DATA

At any particular time, Ivan is centered at a unique location, which corresponds to a

unique output pair (longitude, latitude). From this perspective, the track of Hurricane
Ivan is a function.
In addition to functions whose outputs consist of multiple components, as with the
output (longitude, latitude) for Hurricane Ivan, many functions have inputs with more
than one component. For example, Figure 3 presents a weather map displaying tem-
perature and is an example of such an input–output relationship, which is known as
a multivariable function. For this temperature map, think of the input as an ordered
pair of (longitude, latitude) that outputs the unique numeric temperature at the given
location on a winter’s day in 2017.

Figure 3: U.S. maximum and minimum temperatures on a winters day in 2017

Another way to interpret the map in Figure 3 is to think about the input as the
name of a city and the output as the corresponding temperature. Adopting this common
reading of temperature maps still requires a two-component input, because some cities
have the same name. According to the U.S. Postal Service, the most common city name
in the United States is “Franklin,” which is used to identify 31 di↵erent cities. Therefore,
an input consisting of the ordered pair (city, state) is needed in order to determine a
unique output of temperature.
This section and the next extend the ideas discussed in these specific examples to
more general settings. Building on this intuitive understanding of functions, the defini-
tion of a function is stated, followed by examining both examples and nonexamples of
these important mathematical objects.
1.1 FUNCTIONS 5

Note. Any definition, including a mathematical definition, is meaningful only when

there exist both examples and nonexamples of the object or event. For example,
the word “human” is meaningful because some beings are human and other beings
(such as dogs) are not human.

Intuitively, a function is an input–output relationship with the distinctive feature

that each input corresponds to exactly one output, as illustrated in Figure 4(a). In this
case, the input 1 maps to the output a, and the input 2 maps to the output b. The
potential output c is not actually an output, but this does not impact Figure 4(a) being
a function.

(a) (b)
a a
1 1
b b
2 2
c c

Figure 4: A function and a nonfunction

In contrast, a nonfunction is an input–output relationship for which some input

corresponds to more than one output, as illustrated in Figure 4(b). The input 1 maps to
both a and b, making this relationship a nonfunction. Note that even though the input
2 corresponds to only output c, a single repeated input is enough to make a relationship
a nonfunction.
These intuitive ideas motivate the formal definition of a function as well as various
adjectives for functions.

Definition.

• A function is a rule assigning every input to exactly one output.

• A single-variable function has one input and one output.

• A multivariable function has two or more inputs and one output.

• A vector-valued function has one or more inputs and two or more outputs.

Single-variable functions are discussed for the remainder of this section, multivariable
functions in Section 1.2, and vector-valued functions in Chapter 3. The study of single-
variable functions considers tabular, graphical, and analytic presentations of input–
output relationships and discusses how to determine whether each presentation is a
function or not.
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to consider; Salvador Correa accorded them two, at the end of which
he sent his secretary on shore, with orders to signal whether the
Dutch accepted his terms or meant to defend themselves; they
chose the latter, and the Portuguese immediately landed, and
invested the fortress of San Miguel. The Dutch had abandoned six
guns, these with four others from the ships were the same night
planted on two batteries, and the fortress bombarded. This not
having the desired effect, Salvador Correa ordered a general attack.
The Portuguese were, however, repulsed with a loss of 163 men
killed and wounded. The Dutch, unaware of this great loss, and
expecting a second attack, hoisted a white flag, and sent to arrange
the terms of capitulation, which being done, the gates, on the 15th of
August, 1648, were thrown open, and there issued forth 1100 Dutch,
German, and French infantry, and as many blacks, who were all
surprised, on passing the Portuguese troops, at the smallness of
their numbers, and repented their hasty submission. Salvador
Correa sent them all on board three vessels to await their
countrymen away in the interior. On their arrival these were also
placed on board, and they set sail the same day. Shortly after he
caused the Dutch establishments at Pinda and Loango to be
demolished, and their expulsion being completed, he next fell on and
defeated the native chiefs.
“It was in the time of this Governor that the Italian Capuchin Friars
passed from the kingdom of Congo to Loanda, to establish in the
interior their excellent missions. For several years the Portuguese
waged a constant war with the Libollos, the Quissamas, the Soba
N’golla Caboco, the Chiefs of Benguella, and the Dembos Ambuillas
at Encoge.
“In the year 1694 the first copper coinage was introduced from
Portugal into Angola, the currency up to that time being in the shape
of little straw mats called ‘Libongos,’ of the value of fifty reis each
(about 2d.). (These little mats are at present only employed as
money in Cabinda.)
“In 1758, the Portuguese established themselves at Encoge. In
1783, an expedition was despatched to the Port of Cabinda, to
establish a fort; 300 men, however, quickly died there from the
effects of the climate, and the rest surrendered to a French
squadron, sent to demolish any fortifications that might impede the
free commerce of all nations on the coast of Loango.
“Shortly after 1784, the Portuguese had a great war with the
natives of Mossulo, which lasted some five years before they were
finally defeated.
“It was during the government, and by the efforts of Antonio de
Saldanha da Gama (1807-1810), that direct intercourse was
established with the nation of the Moluas, and through their
intervention overland communication with the eastern coast was
obtained.
“The first attempt to communicate directly across the continent,
from Angola to Moçambique, was made as already noticed in the
year 1606. Two expeditions were proposed to start simultaneously
from Moçambique and Angola, and meet in the interior. The former,
under the command of the naturalist, Dr. Lacerda, started from the
River Senna, and reached Cazembe, where Lacerda fell a victim to
the insalubrity of the climate.
“Antonio de Saldanha, anxious to realize a project so interesting to
geographical knowledge, and which he judged might besides be of
great importance to Portugal, had renewed the inquiries and
investigations that might suggest the means of attaining its
accomplishment. At Pungo Andongo, there lived one Francisco
Honorato da Costa, Lieutenant-Colonel of Militia, a clever man, and
Chief of Cassange, the farthest inland of the Portuguese vassal
provinces. Through him Antonio de Saldanha learnt that the territory
of the Jaga, or Soba of Cassange, was bounded to the east by
another and more powerful kingdom, that of the Moluas, with whom
the Jaga was in constant intercourse, but whom he prevented from
treating directly with the Portuguese, so as to derive the great
advantage of monopolizing all the trade with the latter. For this end
the Jaga employed several absurd statements to intimidate the
Muata Yamba, or King of the Moluas, whose power he feared, telling
him that the Portuguese (or white men) issued out of the sea, that
they devoured negroes, that the goods he traded in were
manufactured in his dominions, and that if the Moluas invaded these,
the Portuguese would avenge him.
“As soon as the Governor was informed of these particulars, he
ordered Honorato to make himself acquainted with the position of the
nation of the Moluas. Honorato succeeded in sending his
‘Pombeiros’ (black traders) to their principal town, where the Muata
Yamba resided, and where they were hospitably received.
Convinced by them of the falsehoods of the Jaga Cassange, the
Muata, though still in fear, decided to send his wife, who lived at
some distance off, on an embassy to the same effect to Loanda.
Accompanied by Honorato’s ‘Pombeiros,’ the embassy, unable to
pass the territory of the Soba Cassange, through his opposition,
proceeded to the country of the Soba Bomba, who not only allowed
them free passage, but likewise sent an ambassador to the
Portuguese. They arrived in January, 1808, at Loanda, where they
were received in state by the Governor.
“On arriving at the door of the audience-room, they advanced
towards the General with great antics, and delivered to him the
presents they had brought, which consisted of slaves, a zebra skin,
several skins of ‘ferocious monkeys,’ a mat, some straw baskets, two
bars of copper, and a sample of salt from Cazembe. After receiving
the greatest hospitality, they were sent back with presents for their
respective sovereigns. The ambassadors wore long beards, their
heads adorned with a great bunch of parrots’ feathers, grey and red,
their arms and legs covered with brass and iron rings; from a large
monkey skin twisted and hanging from one shoulder depended a
large knife,—in their left hand a spear, in the right a horse’s tail, as
an emblem of authority, and round the waist a striped cloth, over
which hung a monkey skin, giving them altogether a very wild and
showy appearance. The ‘Pombeiros’ described the Moluas as a
somewhat civilized nation; that the ‘Banza,’ or town of the Muata,
was laid out in streets and shaded in summer, to mitigate the heat of
the sun and prevent dust; that they had a flour and grain market for
the housing and regular distribution of provisions, and many squares
or open spaces of large extent.
 “The wife of the Muata lived at a distance from him of thirty or forty
leagues, in a country where she reigned as Queen absolute, and
only saw her husband on certain days in the year. The executions in
the ‘Banza’ of the Queen amounted to eight, ten, and fifteen blacks
per day, and it is probable that in that of the Muata the number was
not less. The barbarity of their laws, and the want of communications
by means of which to get rid of their criminals, was the cause of this
horrible number of executions.”
Feo Cardozo, who expresses himself most strongly against
slavery, here observes: “Despite the theories and declamation of
sensitive minds led away by false notions of the state of the
question, as long as the barbarity and ignorance of the African
nations shall exist, the barter of slaves will always be considered by
enlightened philanthropists as the only palliative to the ferocity of the
laws that govern those nations.
“It was further ascertained from the ‘Pombeiros,’ that the nation of
Cazembe, where Dr. Lacerda had died, was feudatory to the Muata
Yamba, and in token of its vassalage paid him a yearly tribute of sea
salt, obtained from the eastern coast. The possibility of
communication with the east coast through the interior being now
evident, the Governor Saldanha instructed the ‘Pombeiros’ to retrace
their steps towards the east, and continue in that direction.
“It was during the succeeding Governorship of José d’Oliveira
Barboza, however, that the feasibility of such communication was
finally proved, for he sought out a black trader to go to Moçambique
across the interior, and return by the same route, bringing back
answers from the Governor of that Colony to letters sent him from
Loanda. This fact added nothing to geographical knowledge, from
the ignorance of the man who accomplished it.
“In 1813, this Governor formed the plan of conveying the waters of
the River Quanza into the city of Loanda, from a distance of about
fourteen leagues, by means of a canal, which was commenced in
that year, and the workings continued during 1814 and 1815, but
abandoned after being cut for a length of 3000 fathoms, on account
of the difficulties encountered for want of a previous survey.”
 No attempt has since been made to supply the city with water from
the Quanza, or from the still nearer River Bengo; besides the great
boon such a work would confer on the hot and dry town, it could not
fail to be a great success from a monetary point of view.

Plate I.
TRAVELLING IN ANGOLA—VIEW NEAR AMBRIZ.
To face page 23.
 CHAPTER II.
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY—CHARACTER OF
VEGETATION—RIVERS.

The Portuguese possessions of Angola on the south-west coast of

Africa extend from Ambriz in 7° 49´ S. Lat. to Cape Frio in 18° 20´ S.
Lat. Their farthest establishment south is, however, at Mossamedes,
or Little Fish Bay, in 15° 20´ S. Lat.
Throughout this book in speaking of Angola I include not only the
country from Mossamedes to Ambriz, at present occupied by the
Portuguese, but farther north, as far as the River Congo, that being
its strong natural limit of climate, fauna, and ethnology, as I shall
further explain.
This long extent of coast comprises, as may be readily imagined,
considerable variety in geological formation, physical configuration,
climate, vegetation, and natural productions, tribes of natives, and
different languages, habits, and customs.
The coast-line is nowhere very bold; level sandy bays, fringed with
a belt of the dark evergreen mangrove, alternate with long stretches
of cliffs, seldom attaining any great height or grandeur, and covered
with a coarse branching grass (Eragrostis sp.), small patches of
shrubby scrub, a tall cactus-like tree Euphorbia, and the gigantic
towering Baobab with its fantastic long gourd-like fruit. (Plate I.)
The “Calema,” or surf-wave, with its ceaseless roar, breaks heavily
in long white lines on the smooth beach, and pulverizes the hardest
rock, and every particle of shell and animal structure. It dashes
against the base of the cliffs, resounding loudly in its mad fury as it
has done, wave after wave and hour after hour, for unknown ages;
and the singular absence of gulls or any moving living objects, or
noises, to divert the eye or ear from the dreadful monotony of
constantly recurring sound, and line after line of dazzling white foam,
gives a distinctive and excessively depressing character to the coast,
in harmony, as it were, with the enervating influence of its climate.
The character of the Angolan landscape is entirely different from
that of the West Coast proper; say from Cape Verde to the Gaboon
and the River Congo. Along that great length of coast are hundreds
of square miles of brackish and salt-water lagoons and swamps,
level with the sea, and often only separated from it by a narrow
mangrove-fringed beach. The bottom of these lagoons is generally a
soft deep black fetid mud, and a stick plunged into it comes up
thickly covered with a mass nearly approaching in appearance to
paste blacking. In the dry season great expanses of the bottom of
these swamps become partially dry, and fermenting in the hot
tropical sun cause a horrible stench, from the decayed millions of
small fish, crabs, &c., left exposed on the surface. The number of
fish and some of the lower forms of life inhabiting the mud and water
of the lagoons is almost incredible. If one keeps quite still for a few
minutes, the slimy ground becomes perfectly alive and hissing from
the legions of small brightly coloured land crabs that issue
simultaneously from thousands of round holes, from the size of a
quill to about an inch and a-half in diameter.
It is in these gigantic hotbeds of decomposition that the deadly
types of African fever are, I believe, mostly generated; and these
pest waters and mud, when swept into the rivers by the floods in the
rainy season, are carried far and wide, with what effect to human life
on that coast it is needless to mention.
On those parts of the West Coast where level swampy ground is
not the rule, a most agreeable change is seen in the character of the
landscape, although, perhaps, the climate is just as unhealthy.
Drenched constantly by pelting thunderstorms, and drizzling mists
that roll down from the high lands and mountain-tops, the country is
covered by the most luxuriant forest vegetation, in one expanse of
the deepest unvarying green, the combined result of excessive
moisture and the tropical sun of an almost uninterrupted summer.
 This alternation of swamp and dense forest ends completely on
arriving at the River Congo, and a total change to the comparatively
arid country of Angola takes place; in fact, at about 13° S. Lat. it
becomes almost a perfectly arid, rocky, and sandy desert.
I may say that, without exception, from the River Congo to
Mossamedes no dense forest is seen from the sea, and from thence
not a single tree, it is said, for hundreds of miles to the Orange River.
A little mangrove, lining the insignificant rivers and low places in their
vicinity, is all that varies the open scrub, of which the giant
Adansonias and Euphorbias have taken, as it were, exclusive
possession. Nowhere on the coast is seen more than an indication of
the wonderful vegetation, or varied beauty and fertility, which
generally begins at a distance of from thirty to sixty miles inland.
At this distance, a ridge or hilly range runs along the whole length
of Angola, forming the first elevation; a second elevation succeeds it
at about an equal distance; and a third, at perhaps twice the distance
again, lands us on the central high plateau of Africa.
From the few and insignificant streams traversing Angola to the
coast, which at most only reach sufficiently far inland to have their
source at this third elevation or central plateau, it would seem that a
great central depression or fall drains the waters of that part of Africa
in either an easterly or southerly direction.
I think it is very doubtful whether the Congo, with its vast body of
water and rapid current, drains any large extent of country in an
easterly direction to the interior, beyond the first rapids. The gradual
elevation from the coast to the ridge beyond which the central
plateau begins, and from which the streams that drain Angola seem
to have their source, may have been formed by the upheaval of the
country by volcanic action. Of this there is evidence in the trachytes
and basalts of Cambambe and the country to the south of Benguella,
which form an anticlinal axis running the whole length of Angola, and
thus prevent the drainage of the interior to the sea on this part of the
coast.
These successive elevations inland are accompanied by very
remarkable changes in the character of the vegetation covering the
surface of the country, and in my several excursions and
explorations to the interior from Ambriz to Bembe, from Loanda to
the Pungo Andongo range, from Novo Redondo to Mucelis, and to
the interior of Benguella and Mossamedes, I have had frequent
opportunities of remarking these very singular and sudden changes.
These are due, I believe, as Dr. Welwitsch has pointed out, to the
difference of elevation alone, irrespective of its geological formation.
A sketch of the vegetation of the country traversed by the road
from Ambriz to Bembe, where is situated the wonderful deposit of
malachite,—a distance of about 120 miles E.N.E.—will give an idea
of the general character of the change observed in travelling towards
the interior of Angola. For about twenty-five miles from Ambriz the
vegetation is, as already described, principally composed of
enormous Baobabs, Euphorbias, a tall Agave (or aloe), a tree called
“Muxixe” by the natives, bearing curious seed-pods (Sterculia
tomentosa), a few small slender creepers, great abundance of the
Sansevieria Angolensis in the thickets of prickly bushes, and coarse
short tufty grasses,—the branching grass being only found near the
coast for a few miles. The country is pretty level, dry, and stony, of
weathered large-grained gneiss. At Matuta the scene suddenly and
magically changes, and in so striking a manner as to impress even
the most unobservant traveller. The Baobabs become much fewer in
number, the Agaves, the Sansevieria, the Euphorbias, suddenly and
almost completely disappear, as also do most of the prickly shrubs,
the fine trailing and creeping plants, the Muxixe, and several other
trees, and a number of smaller plants. A new set of larger, shadier
trees and shrubs take their place, the grass becomes tall and broad-
leaved, and one seems to be travelling in an entirely new country.
This character is preserved for another stretch of road till Quiballa
is reached, about sixty miles from the coast, where the rise in level is
more marked; and again the vegetation changes, almost as
remarkably as at Matuta, where, however, the difference in altitude is
not so sudden, but a gradual rise is noticed all the way from Ambriz.
Creepers of all kinds, attaining a gigantic size, here almost
monopolize the vegetation, clasping round the biggest trees, and
covering them with a mass of foliage and flower, and forming most
exquisite festoons and curtains as they web, as it were, one tree to
another in their embrace. No words can describe the luxuriance of
these tree creepers, particularly in the vicinity of the shallow rivers
and rivulets of the interior. Several trees together, covered from top
to bottom with a rich mantle of the India-rubber creeper (Landolphia
florida?), with bright, large dark-green leaves somewhat resembling
those of the magnolia, thickly studded with large bunches of purest
white jasmine-like flowers, loading the air for a considerable distance
with its powerful bitter-almond perfume, and attracting a cloud of
buzzing insects, form altogether a sight not easily forgotten. Once at
Bembe I saw a perfect wall or curtain formed by a most delicate
creeper, hung from top to bottom with bottle-brush-like flowers about
three inches long;—but the grandest view presented to my eyes was
in the Pungo Andongo range, where the bottom of a narrow valley,
for quite half a mile in length, was filled, as they all are in the interior,
by a dense forest of high trees; the creepers, in search of light, had
pierced through and spread on the top, where their stems and leaves
had become woven and matted into a thick carpet on which their
flowers were produced in such profusion that hardly a leaf was
visible, but only one long sea of beautiful purple, like a glacier of
colour—filling the valley and set in the frame of green of the luxuriant
grass-covered hill sides. The very blacks that accompanied me, so
little impressed as they are usually by the beauties of nature, beat
their open mouths with the palm of the hand as they uttered short
“Ah! ah! ahs!” their universal mode of expressing astonishment or
delight, so wonderful, even to them, appeared the magnificent mass
of colour below us as it suddenly came in view when we arrived at
the head of the valley, down one side of which we descended to the
plain below.
I have seen the surface of a large pool of water thickly covered
with a layer of purple pea-shaped flowers, fallen from the large
Wistaria-like bunches of blossom of a creeper overgrowing a mass
of trees standing at the edge: it seemed as if Nature, loth that so
much beauty should fade quickly, had kept for some time longer the
fallen flowers fresh and lovely on the cool still water of the shady
lake. This abundance of creeping plants is more or less preserved till
at about sixty miles farther inland we arrive at Bembe and the
comparatively level country stretching away to the interior; the oil-
palm (Elæis Guineensis) then becomes again abundant, these trees
being only found on the coast in any number in the vicinity of the
rivers; the beautiful feathery papyrus also again covers the lagoons
and wet places.
The comparatively short and spare thin-leaved and delicate tufted
grasses of the first or littoral region are succeeded in the second, as
I have already said, by much stronger kinds, attaining an
extraordinary development in the highest or third region. Gigantic
grasses from five to as much as sixteen feet high, growing
luxuriantly, cover densely the vast plains and tracts of country in
these two regions where tree vegetation is scarce. The edges of the
blades of most of these tall grasses are so stiff and finely and
strongly serrated as to be quite sharp, and if passed quickly over the
skin will cause a deep cut, as clean as if done with a knife; one
species is called by the natives “Capim de faca” in Portuguese, or
“knife grass,” from the manner in which it cuts if handled, or in going
through it.
I have often had my hands bleeding from cuts inflicted by this
grass when in going down steep, dry, slippery places I have clutched
at the high grass on each side of me to prevent falling. To any one
accustomed to grass only a few inches high, the dimensions that
these species attain are simply incredible. Like snow and ice in
northern latitudes, grasses in interior tropical Africa for some six
months in the year take undisputed possession of the country and
actually interrupt all communication in many places.
It is a very strange feeling when travelling in a hammock, to be
forced through grass so dense and so high that nothing but the sky
above can be seen,—a wall of dry rustling leaves on each side
shutting out all view sometimes for mile after mile, and so intensely
hot and breathless as to be almost unbearable, causing the
perspiration to run in drops off the wet, shining, varnished skins of
the almost naked blacks. In going through places where the grass
has nearly choked up all signs of a path, it is necessary to send in
advance all the blacks of the party, so as to open aside and widen it
sufficiently to allow the traveller in his hammock to be carried and
pushed through the dense high mass: even if there be a moderate
breeze blowing it is, of course, completely shut out; the perspiration
from the negroes is wiped on the grass as they push through it, now
shoving it aside with their hands and arms, now forcing their way
through it backwards, and it is most disagreeable to have the wetted
leaves constantly slapping one’s face and hands, to say nothing of
the horrible stink from their steaming bodies. It is a powerful odour,
and the quiet hot air becomes so impregnated with it as to be nearly
overpowering. It is difficult to compare it with any other disagreeable
animal smell; it is different from that of the white race, and the
nearest comparison I can give is a mixture of putrid onions and
rancid butter well rubbed on an old billy-goat. In some it is a great
deal worse than in others, but none, men or women, are free from it,
even when their bodies are at rest or not sensibly perspiring; and it
being a natural secretion of the skin, of course no amount of washing
or cleanliness will remove it. The mulattoes, again, have it, but
different, and not generally so strong as the pure black, and with a
more acid odour, reminding one strongly of the caprylic and similar
acids known to chemists. The natives themselves naturally do not
notice it, and after some time of residence in the country, except in
very powerful cases, strangers become comparatively accustomed
to it, and, as showing how a person may in time become used to
nastiness, I have even partaken of a dish in which were some
forcemeat balls that I had previously watched the negro cook roll
with the palm of his hand on his naked stomach, to make them of a
proper round shape, without spoiling my appetite or preventing me
from joining in the deserved praise of the stew that contained them.
The Portuguese and Brazilians call the smell that exhales from the
bodies of the blacks “Catinga,” and I witnessed an amusing instance
of its effect on a dog, when it smelt it for the first time. On my second
voyage to Angola, I took with me a beautiful “perdigueiro,” or
Portuguese pointer, from Lisbon; this animal had evidently never
smelt a negro before our arrival at Ilha do Principe (Prince’s Island);
for, on two of the blacks from the custom-house boat coming on the
poop, it began sniffing the air at some distance from where they
were standing, and carefully and slowly approached them with its
neck and nose at full stretch, with a look on its intelligent face of the
greatest curiosity and surprise. On approaching within three or four
yards, the smell of the blacks, who kept quite still, being afraid it
might bite them, seemed too much for its sensitive nose, and it
sneezed and looked perfectly disgusted. It continued to approach
them and sneeze and retreat repeatedly for some little time,
evidently unable to get used to the powerful perfume. The poor dog’s
unmistakeable expression of thorough dislike to the odour of the
black race was most comical.
An old Brazilian mule that I had at Benguella could not bear the
blacks to saddle her or put her bridle and head-gear on; she would
throw back her ears, and suddenly make a snap with her teeth at the
black who attempted it. She was a very tame animal, and would be
perfectly quiet to a white man. She had been seventeen years in
Benguella before she came into my possession, but never became
used to negroes; whether she disliked them from their disagreeable
odour, or from some other reason, I could not discover; but, judging
from the dog’s decided antipathy, I presume their smell was her
principal objection, and yet it is very singular that wild animals in
Africa will scent a white sooner than a black hunter. I have heard this
from many persons in Angola, both blacks and whites. It would be
interesting to know if our hunters at the Cape have noticed the same
thing. The fact that, notwithstanding the “Catinga,” black hunters can
lie in ambush, and antelope and other game come so close to them
that they can fire the whole charge of their flint muskets, wadding
and all, into them, is well known in Angola.
Whilst exploring for minerals in Cambambe, I was prevented for a
long time from visiting several localities, from the paths to them
being choked up with grass. It is difficult to imagine how exhausting it
is to push through thick, high grass; in a very short time one
becomes completely out of breath, and the arms hang powerless
with the exertion: the heat and suffocating stillness of the air may
have as much to do with this as the amount of force exerted to push
aside the yielding, rustling mass.
Shortly after the rains cease in May, the grass, having flowered
and attained its full growth, rapidly dries up under the hot sun, and is
then set on fire by the blacks, forming the wonderful “Queimadas,”
literally “burnings,” of the Portuguese, and “smokes” of the English in
the Bights. If only the leaves are sufficiently dry to catch fire, the
stems are left green, with a black ring at every joint or base of the
leaf, and the mass of whip-like stems then looks like a forest of long
porcupine quills. This is very disagreeable to travel through, as the
half-burnt stems spring back and cross in every direction behind the
front bearer of the hammock, and poke into the traveller’s face, and
thrash the hands when held up to save the eyes from injury, and
after a day’s journey one gets quite black, with eyes and throat sore
and parched from the charcoal dust and fine alkaline ash.
When the grass has become thoroughly dry, the effect of the
“Queimada” is indescribably grand and striking. In the daytime the
line of fire is marked by a long cloud of beautiful white steam-like
smoke curling slowly up, dense and high in the breathless air, in the
most fantastic forms against the clear blue sky. This cloud of smoke
is closely accompanied by a perfect flock of rapacious birds of every
size and description, from the magnificent eagle to the smallest
hawk, circling and sailing high and grandly in the air, and now and
then swooping down upon the unfortunate rats, mice, and small
animals, snakes, and other reptiles, burnt and left exposed by the
conflagration. Near the blazing grass the scene is very fine, a
deafening noise is heard as of thousands of pistol shots, caused by
the imprisoned air bursting every joint of the long stems, and the
loud rush and crackling of the high sheet of flame, as it catches and
consumes the dry upright straw. One is inspired with awe and a
feeling of puny insignificance before the irresistible march of the
flames that are rapidly destroying the enormous extent of the dense,
nearly impenetrable mass of vegetation covering the surface of the
country, leaving it perfectly bare with the exception of a few charred
root stumps of grass, and a few stunted, scorched shrubs and trees.
At night the effect is wonderfully fine: the vast wall of fire is seen over
hill and valley, as far as the eye can reach; above the brilliant leaping
flames, so bright in the clear atmosphere of the tropical night, vast
bodies of red sparks are shot up high into the cloud of smoke, which
is of the most magnificent lurid hue from the reflection of the grand
blaze below.
 No trees or shrubs are consumed by the burning of the grasses,
everything of a larger growth being too green to take fire; a whitening
or drying of the leaves is generally the only effect even where the
light annual creepers growing on them have been consumed. Forest
or jungle in Angola, unlike other countries, never burns, and is
consequently the refuge of all the larger animals and birds from the
“Queimadas,” which are undoubtedly the cause in many parts of
Angola of the great scarcity of animal and insect life which strikes a
traveller expecting to meet everywhere the great abundance known
to exist in the interior.
Great is the alarm of the natives on the near approach of these
fires to their towns, the whole population turning out, and with
branches of trees beating out the fire. It is seldom, however, that
their huts are consumed, as the villages are generally situated in
places where trees and shrubs abound, and the different huts are
mostly separated by hedges of different species of Euphorbiaceæ.
Many villages are entirely surrounded by a thick belt of these milky-
juiced plants, effectually guarding them from any chance of fire from
the grass outside. Where the huts are not thus protected, the danger,
of course, is very great, but the natives sometimes take the
precaution of setting fire to patches of the grass to clear a space
around the huts or village. There is no danger in travelling from these
grass fires, for, when they are seen approaching, their rate of
progress being slow, it is sufficient to set fire to the dry grass to
leeward to clear a space in which to encamp in safety.
The change in vegetation is also accompanied by difference of
climate, but it is difficult to say whether they react on each other, and
if so, in what proportion. The rains are very much more abundant
and constant towards the interior of the country, where the
vegetation is densest: on the coast the rains are generally very
deficient, and some seasons entirely fail; this is more especially the
case south of about 12° Lat., several successive rainy seasons
passing without a single drop of rain falling. A three years’ drought in
the interior of Loanda is still vividly remembered, the inhabitants,
from their improvident habits, perishing miserably by thousands from
starvation. In my mining explorations at Benguella, I was at Cuio
under a cloudless sky for twenty-six months, in the years 1863 and
1864, with hardly a drop of water falling.
I had under my charge at that time twenty-four white men, and
between 400 and 600 blacks at work on a copper deposit, mining
and carrying ore to the coast, distant about four miles; and no one
accustomed to a constant supply of water, can imagine the anxiety
and work I had to go through to obtain the necessary amount for that
large number of thirsty people, very often barely sufficient for
drinking purposes; no water fit for drinking or cooking was to be had
nearer than six miles, and as no bullock carts could be employed, it
had all to be carried in kegs on men’s shoulders, and by a troop of
the most miserable, small, idiotically stubborn donkeys that can be
imagined from the Cape de Verde Islands. It was impossible always
to be looking after the blacks told off daily on water duty, and words
cannot express the annoyance and vexation that the rascals
constantly caused us, by getting drunk on the road, wilfully damaging
the kegs, selling the water to natives on their way back, bringing the
filthiest water out of muddy pools instead of clear from the proper
place, sleeping on the road, and keeping all waiting, sometimes
without a drop of water, very often till far into the night. This was no
joke when we were thirsty, hungry, dusty, and tired, after a hot day’s
work blasting rock, breaking up copper ore in the sun at the mine in
the bottom of a circular valley, where the little air above seldom
reached, and where the dazzling white sand and gneiss rock, bare of
nearly all vegetation, reflected and intensified the glare and heat
almost unbearably in the hot season.
In going from north to south the character of the vegetation
changes very insensibly from the River Congo to Mossamedes. As
far as Ambrizzette the Mateba palm (Hyphæne Guineensis) is very
abundant. This palm-tree, unlike the oil-palm, which is only found
near water, or in rich soil, grows on the dry cliffs and country of the
littoral region very abundantly as far as about Ambriz. The leaves of
this palm-tree are employed to make small bags, in which most of
the ground-nuts are exported from the coast. The Cashew-tree
(Anacardium occidentale) grows on this part of the coast from Congo
to Ambrizzette still more abundantly, in many places there being
hardly any other tree or shrub; it is also very plentiful again around
Loanda, but to the south it nearly disappears. A thin stemmy
Euphorbia, nearly leafless, is a principal feature of the landscape
about Loanda, and gives it a very dull and arid appearance. The
cactus-like, upright Euphorbia is a notable characteristic of the whole
coast of Angola.
South of Benguella the country is extremely arid, the gneiss,
gypsum, and basalt, of which it is principally composed, appearing
only to afford nourishment to a very limited vegetation, both in
number or species, principally spiny trees and shrubs with numbers
of dreadful recurved prickles, nearly bare of leaves a great part of
the year,—and over immense tracts of very uneven ground even
these are scarce: only the gigantic Euphorbias, and the stunted roots
of grass sparingly distributed, break the monotony of a silent, dry,
rocky desert.
A very curious creeper, a species of Cassytha, is extremely
abundant in Benguella, covering the shrubs and small trees closely
with its network of leafless string-like stems. The Sansevieria
Angolensis is very plentiful all over the littoral region of Angola; the
flat-leaved species (S. longiflora) is only noticed north from Ambriz to
Congo, and only growing very near the sea: the S. Angolensis is but
rarely seen with it, and it is very curious how distinctly these two
species are separated. In the immediate vicinity of all the rivers and
streams of Angola the vegetation is, as might be expected, generally
very luxuriant, particularly north of Benguella.
The total absence of horned cattle among the natives on the
coast, from the River Congo to south of the River Quanza, is very
remarkable; due, I believe, as much to some influence of climate, or
poisonous or irritant nature of the vegetation, as to the neglect of the
natives to breed them, though a few small herds of cattle to be seen
at Ambrizzette and Quissembo belonging to the white traders, and
brought by the natives far from the interior, appear to thrive very well,
and several Portuguese have bred fine herds at the River Loge,
about three miles from Ambriz; they would not thrive, however, at
Bembe, where those that were purchased from the ivory caravans
from the interior gradually became thin and died. The natives south
of the Quanza beyond the Quissama country, as far as
Mossamedes, breed large numbers of cattle—their principal wealth,
in fact, consisting of their herds. The district of Loanda cannot supply
itself with cattle sufficient for its moderate consumption, a large
proportion having to be brought from Cambambe and Pungo
Andongo and even much farther from the interior.
South of the Congo there is only one navigable river, the Quanza,
in 9° 20´ S., and even the bar and mouth of this are shifty, and so
shallow as only to admit vessels drawing not more than five or six
feet of water, and this only at high tides. The Rivers Dande and
Bengo are only navigable by barges for a few miles; others, such as
the Ambrizzette, Loge, Novo Redondo, Quicombo, Egito, Anha,
Catumbella, and Luache, barely admit the entrance of a canoe, and
their bars are often closed for a considerable time in the dry season;
the beds of others are completely dried up for miles inland at that
time of the year, and it is very curious to see the level sandy bed
without water between the luxuriant and creeper-covered banks, and
the borders of sedge and grass.
Although dry on the surface, cool delicious water is met with at a
few inches below. I shall never forget, on my first journey into
Cambambe, the haste with which we pushed forward, on an
intensely hot morning, in order to arrive at the River Mucozo, a small
stream running into the Quanza. We had encamped the night before
at a place where only a small supply of water was to be had from a
filthy and muddy hole, and so thick and ochrey was it that, even after
boiling and straining, it was nearly undrinkable; on reaching the high
banks of the Mucozo, great was my disappointment to see the bed of
the river one long expanse of dry sand shining in the hot sun, and
my hope of water, as I thought, gone! Not so the blacks, who raised
a loud shout as they caught sight of it, dashed in a race down the
banks, and throwing themselves on the sand quickly scooped out a
hole about six inches deep with their hands, and lying flat on their
bellies stuck their faces in it, and seemed never to finish drinking to
their hearts’ content the inexpressibly refreshing, cool, filtered water.
After having only dirty and thick water to drink, not improved by
coffee or bad rum, after a long, hot day’s journey, tired and
exhausted, the ground for a bed, mosquitoes, and a smoky fire on
each side to keep them off, fleas and other biting things from the
sand, that nip and sting but are not seen or caught, snatches of
sleep, feverish awakening in the morning, with parched mouth, the
perspiration dried on the face and skin, gritty and crystallized and
salt to the feel and taste, no water to drink or wash with, the sun out
and shining strong again almost as soon as it is daylight, and hurry,
hurry, through dry grass and sand without a breath of air, and with
the thermometer at 90° in the shade, for four or five hours before we
reached the Mucozo—it was no wonder I was disinclined to move
from the place till the afternoon came, and the great heat of the day
was passed; or that I thought the water, fresh and cold from its clean
sandy bed, the most delicious drink that could be imagined!
The delight of a drink of pure cold water in hot climates has over
and over again been described by all travellers, but it is impossible to
realize it fully without experiencing the sensations that precede and
cause the thirst that only cold water seems to satisfy.
The River Luache, at Dombe Grande, near the sea, in the
province of Benguella, is dry for some miles inland every year, and
its bed of pure, clean, deep sand is as much as half a mile broad at
that place. The first great rains in the interior generally come down
the dry beds of these rivers suddenly, like a great torrent or wave,
and I was fortunate enough to be at Dombe Grande once when the
water came down the Luache from the interior. It was a grand sight
to see a wave the whole breadth of the river, and I should judge
about eight feet high, driving before and carrying with it an immense
mass of trees and branches, roots, sedges, and grasses all confused
and rolling irresistibly to the sea, with a dull rushing roar, quite unlike
the noise one would imagine a body of water to make, but more like
a rush of rocks down a mountain in the distance; and very strange
and agreeable was the change in the landscape—a broad desert of
white sand suddenly transformed into a vast running river of fresh
water, bringing gladness to all living things.
The sandy bars of some of the other small rivers of Angola
become closed sometimes for several months, but the stream
remains of about the same volume, or opens out into a pool or lake,
or partly dries up into lovely sedgy pools inhabited by wild-fowl of
various kinds, and fields of beautiful aquatic grasses and papyrus
plants, in which I have often seen caught by hand the singular fresh-
water fish “Bagre” (Clarias Capensis, Bagrus, &c.) vigorously alive,
left behind by the diminishing waters, in grassy swampy places
where the foot hardly sank ankle deep in water, and where it was
certainly not deep enough to cover them. The dry sandy beds of
rivers in the rainless season are often completely covered with a
magnificent growth of the Palma Christi, or Castor Oil plant, with its
beautiful large leaves. This I have noticed more particularly in the
district of Novo Redondo and Benguella.
Sharks, so frightfully dangerous in the surf of the West Coast, are
unknown south of the River Congo. I have never heard of a person
being attacked by one, although at Loanda the white population
bathe off the island in front of the town, and blacks dabble about in
the sea everywhere, and swim to and from the boats and barges.
No strikingly high mountain, I believe, exists in Angola; no hills of
any great importance till we arrive at the first rise, which, as we have
seen, extends the whole length of Angola at a distance of from thirty
to sixty miles from the sea. The second and third elevations contain
some fine mountain or hill ranges, as at Bembe, Pungo Andongo,
Cazengo, Mucellis, and Capangombe. To the south of Benguella as
far as Mossamedes flat-topped or table hills, perfectly bare of
vegetation, are a very prominent feature, seen from the sea; they are
of basalt, and are about 200 or 300 feet in height, and are in many
places the only remains left of a higher level. In others, this higher
level still exists for a considerable extent, deeply cut by narrow
gorges and ravines leading towards the sea, with nearly
perpendicular sides.