Statement showing the imports and exports between Madeira and the United States for the year ending September 30, 1877.

JULY 27, 1877. (Received December 15.)

Report upon the trade, commerce, navigation, and public works at Saint Paul de Loanda for the years 1875 and 1876.

GENERAL DEPRESSION.

The state of trade in the province of Angola has not been so flourish. ing during the past two years as formerly; in fact there has been a gradual falling off ever since 1871, but latterly things have arrived at such a state, owing principally to the failure of the crops of coffee and pea-nuts, that many houses have been obliged to stop payment, and the market at present could not be in a more unsatisfactory state, there existing every where a general want of confidence.

Drought, FLOODS, AND SCARCITY OF FOOD.

The reason of the above is owing to the want of rain in the proper season. We had heavy rains in the interior during the early months of 1875, but too late to do any good to the crops. The river Quanza overflowed its banks, and for miles the country was under water and growing crops were destroyed. The Palm oil nuts ripened too quickly, owing to this superabundance of water, and became rotten before they could be plucked.

The rains were also very heavy in some of the coffee districts, especially Casengo, where the chief trade of Loanda is drawn from. Almost two-thirds of the whole crop was destroyed. The pea-nut trade, I regret to say, has almost entirely ceased, owing in the first place to want of rain, and secondly the scarcity of food has obliged the natives to eat up what they generally kept for seed.

Almost a famine exists among the natives, owing to a scarcity of provisions of all sorts used by them. Several cargoes have been imported from the Cape de Verde Islands and Lisbon, but the prices ruling are so high that they cannot afford to buy. If it were not for the large quantities of fish obtained here, they would be in a thorough state of starvation.

FOOD PRICES.

The prices ruling for native provisions at present are as follows,

viz :

Statement showing the total quantity of produce brought down the river Quanza in 1876.

NOTE BY THE CONSUL.-This table is of very little use, as no weights are given, but it is all the infor mation I can get from the custom-house.

THE RIVER QUANZA AND ITS COMMERCE.

The Quanza is the great commercial highway of Angola, but only navigable for small craft, owing to its shallowness during the greater part of the year. In February and March it sometimes rises over 20 feet and partly overflows its banks. Trade is only carried on at different stations on the north bank of the river, the south one being still in the hands of the natives, and they will not allow white men to settle there. The Portuguese have an old fortress and church on the south bank called Muxima, but no trade is done there, and the place seems to be going to ruin. The south side is called the Quissama side, and from here very good palm-oil is taken across the river and sold in Dondo. The sand-banks in this river, as well as the bar at its mouth, shift yearly after the rainy season is over, owing to the strong current occasioned by the heavy rains. After the middle of October the river begins to rise gradually until March, when it is at its highest, and remains more or less stationary until the end of April, beginning to fall early in May. During the dry season the flood tide is felt about 20 miles. In the rainy season a current runs down constantly, with a velocity of from 4 knots at Dondo to 13 knots at the bar.

Arroba=32 pounds.

THE ROLLERS AT THE BAR.

A stranger should not attempt to cross the bar without previously having taken soundings from a boat. During the stormy months of the South Atlantic (June, July August, and September) frequent heavy rollers set in and render the navigation over the bar extremely hazardous. As these heavy rollers often come in on perfectly calm days, I presume they are occasioned by gales either at the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn.

NAVIGATION.

The number and description of vessels touching at Loanda during the year 1876 was as follows:

British mail steamers, 11, 11,061 tons; British trading steamer, 1, 351 tons; British bark steamer, 1, 1,269 tons; British men-of-war, 4, 24 guns, 4,722 tons; French man-of-war, 1, 3 guns, 1,740 tons; Dutch trading steamers, 3, 510 tons; American bark, 1, 396 tons; Portuguese mail steamers, 26, 28,516 tons; Portuguese trading steamers, 6, 900 tons; Portuguese barks, 3, 1,133 cubic meters;* Portuguese brigs, 9, 2,475 cubic meters; Portuguese brigantines, 9, 1,567 cubic meters; Portuguese launches, 11, 837 cubic meters; Portuguese schooners, 6, 514 cubic meters: Portuguese cahiques, 29, 1,086 cubic meters.

BANKS, DISCOUNTS, AND EXCHANGE.

All accounts in Loanda are kept in reis, an imaginary coin; 920 reis are equal to a dollar; four mil five, or four thousand five hundred reis, go to one pound English currency. There has been a bank established here for some years, whose rates are as follows: Discount for bills at three months, drawn and accepted in the province, 9 per cent. per annum; interest on loans on property, 9 per cent. per annum; accounts current for consignments of produce, 8 to 9 per cent. per annum.

Bills on Lisbon, 90 days, 3 per cent.; 60 days, 3 per cent.; 30 days, 2 per cent.

Exchange on London: Selling rates-90 days, 524d. per mil reis; 60 days, 524d. per mil reis; 30 days, 52d. per mil reis; 8 days, 513d. per mil reis. Buying rates-90 days, 554d. per mil reis; 60 days, 554d. per mil reis; 30 days, 55d. per mil reis; 8 days, 544d. per mil reis.

STEAM COMMUNICATION.

Communication with Europe is carried on by two lines of monthly steamers, one Portuguese and the other British, and produce from the interior by the Quanza River, by the Quanza River Steam Navigation vessels. This most useful line was originated and started by an American citizen, the late Mr. Augustus A. Silva, commercial agent for the United States, and a merchant of this city.

RAILROADS AND TELEGRAPHS AND PUBLIC WORKS.

The Portuguese Government have sent out a large staff of engineers and workmen to commence making a railway into the interior, passing through the coffee districts. The telegraph wire is to be seen passing over the tops of the houses in Loanda, and it really seems now that the

* NOTE BY THE CONSUL.-1.333 cubic meters are equal to one English ton.