to Kay the next place to the Royal Seat After the decease of the Mani-Kay immediately enters upon the Government yet comes not presently into the Court but continues near six Moneths in his own City till all Ceremonies of the Burial be perform'd The word Mani signifies Lord or Prince and is the greatest Title of Honour or Expression which they give one among another the King himself hath the Title of Mani-Lovango which signifies Prince of Lovango as Nani-Kay also signifies Lord of Kay Mani-Bocke Lord of Bocke The King and his Brothers are commonly jealous one of another for if any one of them happen to be sick they presently suspect State-policy The King commonly wears Cloth or Stuff which the Portuguese The King's Cloathing or other Whites bring to them The King and great Noble-men have on their left Arm the Skin of a wild Cat sew'd together with one end stuffed round and stiff The King hath peculiar Orders and Customs in Eating and Drinking Customs of the King 's in Eating and Drinking for which he keeps two several Houses one to eat in and the other to drink in and although he hath many Houses yet by vertue of this Custom he may use no other He makes two Meals a day the first in the Morning about ten a Clock where his Meat is brought in cover'd Baskets near which a Man goes with a great Bell to give notice to every one of the coming of the Kings Dishes whereupon the King so soon as he is acquainted with it leaves the Company he is withall and goes thither But the Servitors go all away because none He that sâ—â—s the King Eat must die neither Man or Beast may see him eat but it must die and therefore he eats with his Doors shut How strictly they observe this Custom appears by the ensuing relation A Portuguese of Lovango named St. Paulo lying in Angola to Trade had presented the King with a brave Dog which for his faithfulness he loved very much This Dog not so strictly look'd to by his Keeper while the King was eating ran smelling and seeking after his Master whom he missed and came at length without any body 's minding him to the Door which with his Nose he thrust open and went to the King whom he saw eating but the King caused his Servants instantly with a Rope to put the Dog to death for be it Man or Child Mouse Cat or Dog or any other living Creature that hath seen the King eat if it can be gotten it escapes not death It happened that a Noble-man's Child about seven or eight years old who was with his Father in the King's Banquetting-house fell asleep and when the King was drinking awaked whereupon it was instantly sentenc'd to die with a reprieve only for six or seven days at the Fathers request that time elapsed the Child was struck upon the Nose with a Smiths Hammer and the blood dropped upon the King's Makisies and then with a Cord about his Neck was dragg'd upon the Ground to a broad Way to which Malefactors are drawn which cannot bear the trial of the Bonde When the King hath done eating he goes accompanied in State with the Nobility Officers and common People to his Banquetting-house the greatest and most sumptuous Structure in all his Court scituate on a Plain fenced with Palm-Tree Boughs wherein the most difficult causes of difference are decided and determin'd in his presence This House stands with the fore-side open The King's Banquetting-house to receive all advantages of the Air about twenty Foot backward is a Skreen or Partition made cross one side eight Foot broad and twelve Foot long where they keep the Palm-Wine to preserve it from the sight of the People This Partition hath Hangings from the top to the bottom of fine Wrought Tufted or Quilted Leaves call'd by them Kumbel close to which appears a Tial or Throne made with very fine little Pillars of white and black Palmito-Branches artificially Wrought in the manner of Basket-work The Throne holds in length The Royal Throne a Man's Fathom in heighth a Foot and a half and in breadth two Foot on each side stand two great Baskets of the same work made of red and black Wicker wherein as the Blacks say the King keeps some familiar Spirits for the Guard of his Person next him sit on each side a Cup-bearer he on the right hand reaches him the Cup when he is minded to drink but the other on the left onely gives warning to the People to that end holding in his hands two Iron Rods about the bigness of a Finger and pointed at the end which he strikes one against another at which sound the People who are commonly as well within the House as without with all speed groveling into the Sand with their Faces and continue in that posture so long as the same Irons continue the voyce or signal that is till he hath done drinking and then they rise up again and according to custom signifie that they wish him health with clapping their hands which they hold for as great an honour as with us in Europe the putting off the Hat Now as none may see the King Eat or Drink without bazard of death None may see the King 〈◊〉 so no Subject may drink in his presence but must turn his Back towards him But the King drinks here seldom except for fashion-sake and then not till about six a Clock in the Evening or half an hour later if any difficult controversie hath been in debate but sometimes he goes thence at four and recreates himself among the Wines About an hour after Sun-set he comes the second time to the aforemention'd Place to Eat where again as before his Meal is made ready After which he visits his Banquetting-house again where he remains for about nine hours sometimes not so long as he finds himself dispos'd or indispos'd In the night one or two Torches are carried before him to Light him None may drink out of his Cup besides himself nor any eat of the Food he hath tasted but the remainder must be buried in the Earth The Stool or Seat whereon he then sits stands raised upon a Foot-pace The King's Seat dressed with white and black Wickers very artificially Woven and other sorts of curious adornings behind his Back hangs on a Pole a Shield cover'd with divers party-colour'd Stuffs brought out of Europe Near him stand also six or eight Fanns by them call'd Pos or Mani Fanne and containing in length and breadth half a Fathom at the upper end of a long Stick which runs through the middle of it having a round Brim in form of a half Globe fasten'd interwoven with little Horns and with white and black Parrots Feathers between Those Fanns certain People which the King keeps for that purpose move with great force which agitating the Air causes a refreshing and pleasant coolness Before the King's Seat lieth spread a
of Wheaten Ears Scatter'd about Teeth brayded on her Crown And broken Ivory hung The Wood-Elephants in the Kingdom of Senega especially near the River Gamba feed together in a Heard like wilde Swine in some parts of Europe Of which thus Petronius Quaeritur in silvis Mauri fera ultimus Ammon Afrorum excutitur ne desit bellua dente Ad mortes pretiosa suas The Lybian Sands we seek and th' utmost South To finde a Monster out whose precious Tooth Proves its own bane The Lybian or Mauritanian are lesser than the Indian and as Polybius writes can not endure the Voice or Cry of the Indian Elephant The Indian though the largest of all differ in size much amongst themselves They shew'd one at Constantinople that was eleven Foot betwixt his Eyes and the utmost of his Trunk from his Eye eight Foot in length many are nine Foot high some above eleven Aloysius Camustus saw one whose flesh weighed more than five of our Stall-fed Oxen They are all black except the Ethiopian yet the Relaters of the East-Indian Voyages say that the King of Narsinga had a white Elephant Their Skin is rough and hard but more on the back than the belly they have four teeth that are Chawers besides their Tusks which stick out of their Mandible and are crooked but the Females are streight some of these Tusks are of an incredible bigness Vertomanus saw two at the Isle of Sumatra that weigh'd three hundred thirty six pound Polybius says that in the borders of Ethiopia they are us'd for Jaums of Gates and Door-posts and in Beasts-stalls for stakes For a Nose or a Snout they have a long small hanging part call'd a Trunk reaching the ground and open being sinewy and bending every way it serves him for a Hand with which he gathers both his Food and Potation conveying so to his Mouth through this he also breathes and smells Aristotle says they have Joynts in their hinder Feet below but others write variously concerning the flexure of their Knees some say they have Joynts in their Legs others the contrary and that if fallen they cannot rise Plinie says which experience allows that they have short Joynts in their hinder Legs bending inwards like a Mans their Feet are round like Horses Hooffs but larger Vertomanus compares them to a round Table their broad soal being eighteen inches over their Toes being five look as if all one piece being black and squadded an unlick'd piece so little cloven that they scarce make any separation This creature hath two Teats not on her Breasts but backwards and more concealed His Pizzle little comparing his huge Bulk and like a Stallions his Stones appear not but abscond about his Reins which apts him more for Generation Their sustenance is Water-Herbs browsing on Trees * This grows upon a small Tree with great leaves and is of the bigness of a Cucumer and by the Mahumetan Doctors is affirmed to be the forbidden Fruit because so exceedingly pleasant Musae fruit and Indian Fig-Tree Roots sometimes they swallow Earth and Stones but such food proves obnoxious to them as Pliny judges unless well chaw'd when tam'd they feed most on Barley and drink untroubled Water delighting in Liquors made of Rice other Fruits and European Wine One at Antwerp guzzel'd down seven of our Wine Gallons at once and took such large potations often yet are they not impatient of thirst but will suffer eight days well and not languish under Drowth Their ingenuity is wonderful as appears by that Elephant which Emanuel King of Portugall presented Pope Leo who seeing him at a Window made formal Congees to his Holiness with bended knees Metellus says that in the Isle of Zeilan they understand the Language of the Natives Pliny reports that an Elephant he knew could write Greek and often set down in that Character this signification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. I my self writ this and offer'd up to the Celtick spoil Elian tells us that they us'd to eat handsomly and sit mannerly like men not tearing or devouring their Victuals when they drank they took their Cup delivering it to the next draining the Goblet moderately sprinkling the remainder as in a Joke upon the beholders when they would pass any water that is scarce fordable the tallest of them enters first the rest passing by him as it were a Bridge to whom they cast Branches of Trees to help out at last Some affirm that they are Religious adoring the most Eminent Lights the Sun and Moon and also hospitable directing wandring Passengers when out of their way observe Murtherers and other Criminals and will detect such Guilty Offenders how they will toss a Pike and Fence one with another playing out their several Weapons and Dance after a Warlike manner Augerius Busbeek writes in his Turkish Letters how he saw a young Elephant that Danc'd to a Song and play'd at Stool-Ball striking and retorting with his Trunk as we with our hands one at Rome would tye and untye hard knots by Moon-light so cunningly complicated that none else could unloose them and patiently receive correction from his Master when he fail'd and was out The female excels the Male in strength and hardiness yet Aristotle makes the Female more timerous Oppianus tells that they will beat down with their Teeth Beech Olive and Palm-trees and whole Houses as Aristotle relates Vertomannus Stories that an Elephant threw down a Tree whose body four men could not Fathom and that three Elephans drew a great Vessel on shore Aristotle saith they fight desperately charging with their Teeth and worsted flye the menacing voyce of the Conquerour an innate abhorring they have to Lyons Serpents Tygers Rams Swine and the Rhinoceros and also to some Colours and Fire Authors vary concerning their Copulation Pliny will have the Male fit at Five years the Female at Ten but Aristotle allows Twenty years to both of Twelve to the Female if forwards if slow fifteen they conjoyn usually in the water which is easier for both for the water supports the Male and lightens so great a burthen and fetches him after the Encounter more nimbly off they deal in love-affairs very private and but once in three years choosing every Triennial a new Mistress which work concluded they grow wild and almost stark mad throwing down their Stalls and Stables their time of production is also uncertain some say they go Eighteen Months others Three Years a few stretch it to Ten and these reduce it to Eight years in Travel their pangs are great squatting down on their hinder Legs bringing but one at a birth though others say four their young see and go as soon as born Sucking with his Mouth not his Trunk Eight years They are taken several ways both in Africk and India The Ethiopians knowing the Elephants Night-reposes where he alwayes withdraws to sleep catch him in a strong Palisado made of Timber in a close Covert a Trap-Door left open lying on the
of Red or other Colour with Caps of Linnen or Silk and on their Feet a kind of Slippers or single-soal'd Shooes which they call Reyas The Women pride themselves in much Linnen The Habit of the Women their wide Smocks being several Ells in the hem with large Linnen Drawers or Calsoons which come down to the Calf of the Leg. In Summer they have Bonnets of Silk in Winter of Linnen in stead of a Mantle they cast over them long pieces of Cloth call'd by the Inhabitants Likares trim'd with Embroidery or Fringes which they clasp together with a Buckle either of Gold or Silver Brass or Iron according as the Wearers ability will extend which it seems was antient there by Virgils Description of Dido Virgil. In their Ears they wear Jewels rich Neck-laces and Bracelets of Pearl which they call Gagales ¶ SEveral Languages are here spoken viz. the Morisk Arabick and Gemmick Tongues The Morisk is the antient African or rather a mixture of several Tongues with a dash of Arabick for they speak it not pure because of their converse with Forreign People whereby are introduced many strange words the Gemmick is half Spanish and half Portugues There is another Speech call'd Tamacete used by the People which dwell between Morocco and Tarudant Northerly of Mount Atlas and boast themselves to come of a Christian Parentage ¶ Every Mahumentan may by the Alcoran lawfully have four Wives The Marriage-condition from any of which he may divorce at his pleasure and take other When any man intends to Wed they have a Caziz Notary and Witnesses the Notary makes a seal'd Agreement of all that the Man promises to give his intended Bride for a Marriage-Portion which they call Codaka which he must give if at any time he part from her If a Woman will part from her Husband she loseth her Marriage-Goods Besides their Wives they may keep as many Concubines as they are able to maintain out of which the King may choose one to bestow upon his Favorites They count it no Crime to obstuprate their Slaves White or Black The King hath commonly four Wives besides a multitude of Concubines with whom he companies according to the dictates of his wandring Fancy On the day of Marriage The Solemnity of Marriage they set the Bride on a Mule sumptuously adorn'd and set forth begirt with a round Canopy in form of a Tower cover'd with Tapistry after the Turkish Manner so carrying her in State through the whole City follow'd by many Muletts laden with the Goods given her by her intended Husband and attended with Men and Women in great Multitudes After this Calvalcade they go to Feasting which done they remove to a spacious and open Place where all the Kindred and Friends assemble and such as are skil'd in Horsmanship for the space of two hours exercise themselves with Lances before the Bride But Diego de Torres says Cap. 76. the Woman is carried upon a well-furnish'd Camel in a small Castle or Tower call'd by them Gayola and curiously adorn'd and cover'd with thin and single Taffaty that she may easily see through it with a great Train of Followers so is she first brought to her Fathers House and from thence to her Husband where is great Feasting and Mirth If the Husband find she was devirginated before Maquet lib. 3. he immediately sends her away with all he gave her but if he be satisfied of her Chastity her praises are sung through the City and the tokens of his satisfaction publickly shewn which also be carried through the City in token of her being a Maid this was customary among the Jews Into their Church-yards the Women go every Friday and Holy-days to bewail their dead with Blew Mourning Garments on in stead of Black Mourning for the Dead as is the fashion in this Countrey The Revenue of this Kingdom yearly brought into the Kings Chamber or Exchequer is very great and rais'd thus Diego de Torret Botero Relat. univers p. 2. lib. 2. Every Male or Female of twelve Years or according to Botero of five Years old pays four fifths of a Ducat Hearth-Money and the like of every Hearth which by them is call'd Garama For every Bushel of Beans the King receives the second for every Beast the tenth but for every sack of Wheat half a Real Besides these there are other Customs paid upon exported Goods which sometimes they raise high pretending thereby to ease their Subjects However the Christian Merchants for all Commodities either imported or exported pay great Tolls besides a large Sum of Money for License to Trade freely there Lastly The King hath full power over all the Goods of his Subjects What makes the Kings mighty and rich of whom none can claim what he possesses for his own for when the Alkayde that is the Governour of the Countrey and other Officers that take Salary die the King seizes all they left giving to his Son if fit for the Wars his Fathers Imployments but if they be little he maintains them till they can handle a Weapon and the Daughters till they are married Another Device the King uses to possess himself of the Peoples Wealth When he hath intelligence of any rich Person he sends for him and under colour of Favour confers on him some Office that receives a Salary from the Crown in which continuing to his Death makes the King a Title to his Estate which is the cause that every one as well at Morocco as Fez to prevent this inconvenience endeavour to conceal their Wealth and keep as far from Court and the Kings knowledge as possible The King also takes one Beast in twenty and two when the Number riseth to a hundred His Collectors also gather the tenth of all Fruits growing in the Mountains which the People pay as a Rent for their Land ¶ THe English Hollanders and French drive here a notable Trade The Merchandise of several People in this Kingdom carrying thither several Commodities as Cloth c. bringing thence again Turky-Leather Wood Sugar Oyl Gold Wax and other Merchandise having their Consuls resident in the Cities of Sale Zaffi and other Places ¶ THe Inhabitants of Morocco in some things differ among themselves as to Religion most of them follow the Doctrine of the Xerif Hamet The strictness of the Moroccoians in observing Mahomets Doctrine who at first was a Monk but left his Cloister in the Year Fifteen hundred and fourteen and began to set abroach the Enthusiasm of one Elfurkan declaring that the Doctrine of Ali Omar and other Expounders of the Alcoran were only humane Traditions and that men were to observe the pure and single writings of Elfurkan who was a faithful Expositor of the same And as the Turks prohibit any to come into their Mosques that is not of their Religion upon pain of Death So this new Prophet admitted all Nations as well Christians as Jews to hear
Habits going constantly to and fro to warn the Women to work and to take care that no violence be done to any Here also the King shews himself at three a clock after noon in his highest State to encourage them to work and in the Evening they all eat at his Charge So that those days are accounted high Festivals In like manner must every Noble-mans Subjects with their Women Till their Land And when they have performed these Services then they may go work for themselves And as we have heretofore declared Every one may Till what Ground he will but that which one hath cultivated another may not meddle withal If any Embassador How Embassadors or Noble-men speak to the King or Noble-man of the Countrey desire to speak to the King in Person they must first give notice thereof with the sound of two or three Hand-clappers which every one present in like manner answers then the Suppliant cries out aloud Empoo lausan biau Pongo that is Hearken for Gods sake whereto the People about him answer and speak Tiesambie Zinga which signifies Long live God After which the Petitioner begins his Speech with the word Wag usual among them and ends with the words In Mama Wag which is as much as to say I herewith conclude Whereupon those that have any thing to say against it begin and end in the same manner And this form of Speech they use in all their Matters of Justice Warrants and Orders of the King When any Noble-man hath shot a Leopard What is done when a Leopard is taken he brings as a token of it the Tail to the King upon the top of a Palmeto Pole and pitches it in the Earth and this without any noise or further ceremony When the Inhabitants of Lovango have lodged a Leopard in the Woods every one is warned by the sound of Trumpet to be ready to attend the King at the Game If it be far without the City into the Woods the King is carried in a four-square Seat about two Foot deep made of black Tin and artificially wrought by four Men two before and two behind holding two Poles on each side one covered with blue Cloth Being come to the Leopards Den they instantly beset it round every one being ready prepared some with Bowes and Arrows and others with Lances and Darts Before the King standing a little elevated they spread long Cord-Nets incircled by the People that to rowse the Beast make many strange and uncouth noises with Horns Drums Shouting and the like but at last having in vain tried all means of escape tired out and overpower'd with multitude he falls a Prey to his eager Pursuers who forthwith bring him into the Plain before the King's Palace where the Hunters triumph over the Carcase with Dancing Leaping and Singing and all kinds of Revelling Pastimes Afterwards the King appoints divers Noble-men to oversee the Stripping of the Leopard and bring the Skin to him but the Flesh together with the Bowels the Gaul only taken out they bury very deep in the Earth that it may not be digged up again The Leopards Gaul is Poyson The Gaul which they reckon to be a most venomous Poyson they cut up in the presence of many and fling into the midst of a River that none might make use thereof to the damage of another The Ceremonies at the Funeral of a King are these The Funeral of the Kings First they make Vaults under ground wherein they place the dead King in his richest Habit upon a Stool and by him all manner of Houshold-stuff as Pots Kettles Pans Clothes and Garments Then they make many little Images of Wood and Red Earth and set round about the Corps Representatives of his Servants and Houshold-goods Next the Bodies of many Slaves are set by the Corps either in the same or some adjoyning Vault to serve the King as they believe in the other World and to shew when they shall come to the great Monarch what manner of Person he has been here for they believe after this another Life yet in general deride the Resurrection of the Dead The Commons shew themselves very humble to the Nobility The Nobility are very much honor'd for at the meeting of them in the Streets they fall down upon their Knees turning their Head another way signifying thereby that they are not worthy to look upon such yet when he speaks then they speak again So that we may not without Reason affirm That they are little better than Slaves beyond whom priviledg'd only in this that they may at pleasure pass into any other Countrey which a Slave without leave cannot do Noble-men of State have usually besides their Mansion-Houses also a Wine-Cellar as hath been said before concerning the King where they spend some part of the Day and the Evening in Eating and Drinking some days they have two three four and well near eight Callabasses of Wine of Palm of which they impart some quantity to their Women but the rest they drink with their Subjects Their Diet is commonly brought thither to them whereof every one present may take his part In like manner whoever hath any Cause may daily come and speak with a Nobleman there being as it were a publick place of receipt and where petty Differences arising between parties are heard and determin'd The Inhabitants of the Kingdoms of Lovango Kakongo and Goij Religion or Worship have no knowledge of God at all or his Word but onely the bare Name which their Language denominates Sambian Ponge but neither care nor desire to learn more All acts of Devotion they perform to the Field and House-Devils Field-Devils are pray'd unto by those of Lovange represented under the shapes of Idols of which they have great numbers to each of whom they give a peculiar name according as they attribute to them power having their distinct Jurisdiction to some they ascribe the power of Lightning and the Wind and also to serve as Scar-Crows to preserve their Corn from Fowl and other Vermin to one they give the command over Fishes of the Sea to another over the Fishes in the River to a third over the Cattel c. Some they make protectors of their health and safety others to avert evils and misfortunes to this as an expert Oculist they commend the charge of their sight of that they desire instruction in the mysteries of hidden Arts and to be able even to fore-judge destiny neither do they believe them at large but circumscribe them to limited places In what shapes they shew themselves and shew their Figures in several shapes some of Images like men others of Poles with small irons on the top or else a little Carv'd Picture some of which shapes or representations they carry commonly with them when they travel from one place to another Their greater Idols are stuck with Hens or Pheasants Feathers upon their heads and with all sorts of Tassils
The Trees call'd Ozeghes yields Fruit like yellow Plums delightful in smell and delicious in taste and with the Branches make Fences Pallizadoes and Arbors to shelter them from the scorching Beams of the Sun Nor do they want Melons Cucumbers and Citrons of an extraordinary bigness and pleasant taste The Shore of the River Lelunde going to Saint Salvadore stands beautifi'd with abundance of Cedars which the ignorance of the people make no other account of them than to make Canoos and Fuel Cassia Fistula and other Drugs fit for the use of Apothecaries as Tamarinds in Europe grow plentifully and have the repute of a good remedy in Feavers In the Towns near the Sea they have store of Beans Mille and Poultrey which the English Netherlanders and other Traders buy with Panos Simbos little Looking-Glasses and other Trifles In Bamba a Province of Congo Beasts and there especially they have good stocks of Cattel viz. Cows Oxen Swine and Goats Besides plenty of Fowl as Turkies Hens Ducks and Geese Elephants The Elephants breeding here in numerous droves grow to an extraordinary bigness insomuch that some of their Teeth have weigh'd above two hundred weight in Congoish Language such a Tooth they call Mene-Manzo and a young Elephant Moane-Manzo The Elephant if the Blacks report true casteth not his Teeth having indeed but onely two But they Hunt and Shoot them with Lances and Darts making from them a double advantage both of Merchandize and Victuals There are many scurfed or hollow Teeth found in the Wilderness which by lying many years in rain and wind become so This Commodity from the infinite abundance brought thence within these fifty or sixty years begins to abate much because they are compell'd to fetch them further out of the Countrey The Buffle in the language of the Countrey call'd Empakasse hath a red Skin and black Horns of which the Inhabitants make musical Instruments It is a mischievous beast and dangerous to be hunted especially after they are shot if not right struck wherefore the Huntsmen who mean to shoot a Buffle first choose out a secure place where they may not fear the furious assaults of the enrag'd Creature They say that if a Cow happen to eat where a Buffle Pastures it will instantly die for that the breath of the Buffle proves mortal poyson to other Cattel The flesh of it is very gross and slimy yet the Slaves eat freely of it cut in slices and dry'd Here breeds in the Woods another Creature Azebro seldom to be found elsewhere they stile it Zebro or Zebra in shape like a Mule with a Skin strip'd on the head and over the whole body with colours of white black and blewish They are very wild and swift hard to be taken alive and if taken more difficult to be tam'd though the Portuguese say that some years since they sent four of these Azebras to Portugal for a Present to the King who us'd them for a Caroch and rewarded the person who brought them over with the Notaryship of Angola to him and his Heirs Empalanga Empalanga is a great Beast like an Ox having two Horns and very savoury they are of several colours some brown others red and some white Envoeri Envoeri also a great Beast like a Stag with two Horns The Makoko Makoko differs little from a Horse in bigness but hath long and slender Legs a long and gray Neck with many white small stripes and upon his head long sharp Horns wreath'd below the Dung of this Creature resembles that of a Sheep Tygers in the Congoish language call'd Engri never hurt the Whites Engri or Tygers so that when he meets a White and a Black together he will assail the Black and let the White pass unmedled with therefore the King of Congo hath appointed a reward for those that can make appear by bringing of a Tygers Skin that he hath kill'd one with this proviso that the hair of the Lips remain upon it because they account them a venomous and mortal poyson The Leopards generally prey upon Cattel so do the Lions but they are not so cruel as the Tygers nor so much dreaded The Quumbengo or Wolves here very numerous have a thick head and neck almost like the Wolfs in Europe but much bigger gray headed speckl'd with black spots like the Tyger but much more ill-favour'd Foxes Stags Deer Conies and Hares swarm in incredible multitudes because they are never hunted as here with us Civet-Cats the Blacks catch and make tame for their perfume The Territory of Batta affords many Beavers Beavers whose Skins are of great value one of them being as dear as a Sheep so that none is suffer'd to wear them without the King's Licence Moreover Apes and wild Cats grow troublesome by their numbers especially in Songo by the River of Zaire Wild Boars by them call'd Emgalo may be seen here with two great Tusks Emgola or Wild-Boars with which he tears violently the Blacks stand more in fear of this than any other Beast and if they do but hear him will make away with all speed possible The filings of their Teeth which the Portuguese highly esteem and are very seldom gotten taken in some Liquor are reputed for a powerful Medicine against Poyson and Teeth themselves rubb'd against a stone and administred in a little Water proves an infallible Cure against an Ague They say this Beast finding himself sick regains his health by such rubbing of his Teeth upon a stone and likewise with his Tongue Roebucks call'd Golungo breed here abundantly but no bigger than Sheep Rocbucks of a brown colour with some white specks and two sharp little Horns several of the Blacks kill and eat them but the Congoians They are by those of Congo and Ambonde a forbidden food and Ambondes will by no means taste their flesh nay they bear such an antipithy to it that they will not touch any thing out of that Pot where their flesh hath been boyl'd nor come into the place where the fire was that dress'd it nor lay their hands on ought wherewith it was slain But of this niceness can give no other reason but that the flesh is their Quistilla that is a food prohibited to them by Authority and antient Custom by Traditions deliver'd from hand to hand by their Fore-fathers for they firmly and undoubtedly believe that if they should do the contrary they should not onely be lame in their bodies but their fingers and toes would rot off Lastly Bears Foxes and poysonous Serpents frequent the Woods and infinitely damage the people Besides these varieties of Quadrupeds they shew many sorts of Wing'd Animals as First Peacocks which none but the King onely may have Peacocks and he keeps them with great care in inclos'd Woods upon the borders of Angola Of Partridges they have two sorts tame and wild as also Pheasants Pigeons Turtle-Doves Eagles Falcons Merlins Sparrow-Hawks Pellicans green and
onely over the Shoulders they have Iron Chains hanging with Links as big as ones little Finger In the Onset and Retreat they use little Discipline or Order Confused disorder in fighting but upon the Word of Command the Drums beating and Horns blowing they march forward far distant from one another and in that Motion give the first Charge with a Flight of Arrows which done they very dexterously wheel about and leap from one place to another to avoid the Enemies Arrows In the Van commonly some sturdy Youths draw out who with the ringing of Bells that hang at their Girdles incourage and animate the other After the first have fought till they be weary upon the sound of one of their Horns directed by the Commander in Chief they Retreat and others instantly supply their Places and this continues so long till one of the Armies proves Victorious If it chance that the General of the Army be kill'd they instantly betake themselves to Flight and leave the Field no Force or Authority being able to make them Rally In going out to War they take little care to be furnished with Provision so that many times when they come into a Countrey with their Army they are forced for very hunger to leave the Enemy though half Conquer'd and Retreat into their own Countrey But now at length they begin to take notice of these Miscarriages and by the Instructions of the Portuguese to alter and amend their evil Discipline Most of the Territories and Lordships of Congo Government have peculiar Governors or Provincials entituled Mani that is Lord whereto they add the Name of the Province as Mani-Vamma that is Lord of Vamma Mani-Coansa Mani-Hany Mani-Kelle and many others But Bamba Pembo Pango and Batta have the Titles of (a) As was said before so we call them Dukedoms and others of Earldoms wherein the Blacks imitate the Portuguese as their Apes But the Portuguese stile themselves all Sovasen When they shew themselves openly before the People they appear very Stately sitting upon great Velvet Chairs with Velvet Cushions and spreading upon the Ground before them costly Tapestries and this also the Portuguese taught them to strike an awful Reverence into their Subjects of their Grandezza The Titles that the King uses to manifest his Greatness The King's Titles are these Mani-Congo by the Grace of God King of Congo Angola Makamba Okanga Cumba Lulla Zouza Lord of the Dukedoms of Batta Sunda Bamba Amboille and the Territories thereof Lord of the Earldoms of Songo Angoy Cacongo and of the Monarchy of Ambondes Ruler of the great and wonderful River of Zaire He rules with absolute Power and Sovereignty over his Subjects His Dominion who never approach near him but with the most humble Postures of Reverence and whoever fails to tender their due Respects and Obedience he punishes with Perpetual Slavery But the Pomp of his Majesty and Greatness he shews especially when he Treats his Nobility His Feeding of the Nobility glorious that are serviceable to him This himself in Person deals out in the following manner At Noon the King causeth all the Noble-men then in the Bounds of the Palace to be numbred Whereupon all the Pots are brought before them one with boyl'd Beans another with Flesh and a third with Mille without any Spicery but Salt and some Oyl of Palm To the greatest Lords he sends every one his Part in a Wooden Platter together with a small Flask of Palm-Wine But those of less Quality are by Name call'd up and Accommodated by six seven or eight together to whom the King directs such a great Pot of Mille Beans or Flesh according to their Number After the Feast is ended they come all into the King's Presence and falling upon their Knees clap their Hands and bow their Heads in token of Thanks and Submission and so depart to their own Homes onely some Favorites stay all the day long and drink so much Tobacco and Wine of Palm that every one as well the King as Nobles are so highly fluster'd that they cannot go from the Place When the King goes abroad With what State he goes abroad not only the Nobility but also those that dwell about the Court or by occasion are found there at that time attend him some going before others following but all dancing and tumbling with antick Postures to the Musick of certain ill-tun'd Drums and long Ivory Flutes like Cornets until the King be within his House At the King 's going to Church presently as soon as he is come without the Palace not onely his own Grandees which at all times are ready but also the Portuguese as well Temporality as Clergy must wait upon him and again from the Church to his Palace but at no other time are the Portuguese oblig'd to such Attendance When he sheweth himself openly to the People he is always attired in his richest Robes that is a great long Mantle or Cloak of Silk Velvet or fine Cloth most splendidly beautifi'd On his Fingers he hath some Gold Chains intermixt with fine Coral and upon his Head a bordered and preciously adorned Cap. He hath in his Palace about a hundred Waiters who all have Lodgings in the Court He eats his Meat after the manner of Europe at a high Table where he always sits alone with some few Pieces of Plate for his use All his Waiters go cloathed in black Mantles of Bais When the Hollanders in the Year Sixteen hundred forty two Hollanders sent to the King in Embassy came the first time to the King as Ambassadors from Lovando Sante Paulo immediately after they had forced it from the Portuguese they got Audience at the Evening in the Dark passing through a Gallery two hundred Paces long set on both sides with two Ranks of Men with Wax Candles in their Hands burning The King sate in a small Chappel hang'd with Rush Mats The State of the King from the top of which a Branch hung with Wax Candles Habited in a Cloth of Gold Coat and Drawers and about his neck three heavy Gold Chains He had on his right Thumb a very large Granate or Ruby Ring and on his left Hand two great Emeraulds upon the left Sleeve of his Coat a Gold Cross was fastned richly enclos'd in a piece of well-polish'd Crystal On his Head a fine white Cap and on his Legs a pair of Russet Boots At his right side stood an Officer that sometime gently fanned the Air with a Handkerchief and at his left side another holding a Tin Bowe and a Tin Scepter cover'd with fine strip'd Cloth in his Hand His Seat a red Velvet Spanish Chair aloft above which upon a Border was embroider'd in Letters Don Alvarez King of Congo Right before him lay spread a great Turkey Carpet and over his Head hung a Canopy of white Sattin set with Gold and trimm'd about with a deep Fringe A little on the right side kneeled before him Don
Bernardo de Menzos his Interpreter and Secretary The King's Apparel is very glorious and rich His Cloathing being for the most part Cloth of Gold or Silver with a long Velvet Mantle This King wears commonly a white Cap upon his Head He wears a white Cap. so do his Fidalgoes or Nobility in his Favour And this is indeed so eminent a token thereof that if the King be displeased with any of them he onely causes his Cap to be taken off from his Head For this white Cap is a Cognizance of Nobility or Knighthood here as in Europe every Order hath a peculiar Badge to distinguish it When the King goeth abroad with all his Nobles adorn'd with white Caps on their Heads When the King is desirous to have Taxes he lets his Cop blow off he sometimes puts on a Hat and at pleasure lays that aside and resumes his Cap which he then puts very loosely on upon set purpose that the Wind should blow it off the easier which according to design hapning his Fidalgoes run to take it up and bring it to the King again but the King as offended at the Disgrace will not receive the same but goeth home very much troubled the next day he sends two or three hundred Blacks abroad to gather in Taxes so punishing his whole Kingdom for the offence of the Wind in blowing off his Cap which he caused of set purpose He hath one Married Wife The Queen is call'd Mani-mombada which they call Mani-Mombada that is Queen all the rest Taxes for the Queen how rais'd being no small number are Concubines For this Wife a Yearly Tax is gathered through the whole Kingdom by them call'd Pintelso every House paying a Rate for their Beds viz. a Slave for every Spans breadth so that if it be three Spans broad they pay three Slaves The Queen hath her Lodgings in the Palace Her place of aboad apart with her Ladies of Honor which have little Courtship or Art to set them forth yet they go almost every night abroad to take their pleasure and to satisfie their wanton desires onely some stay according to their turns to wait upon the Queen who will her self if she finds a convenient opportunity and a Person that dares venture to come in the Night over the Straw Walls into the Court to her private Lodgings not be backward to receive their proffer'd Kindness But this she doth with great circumspection for if the King should hear of it it would endanger both their Lives The King on the contrary keeps as many Concubines as he pleases as well of the Ladies of Honor belonging to the Queen as of others without check but the Priests spare not to reprove him for it openly in their Preaching When the King dies his Relations put him into the Grave in a Sitting Posture to whom formerly a dozen young Maids leap'd out of free choice and were buried alive to serve him in the other Life as believing That he should not remain dead but go into that other World and live there These Maids were then so earnest and desirous of this Service to their deceased Prince that for eagerness to be first they kill'd one another And their Parents and Friends gather together all sorts of stately Clothes and put them into the Grave to the intent that when they arrive in that strange Countrey they may buy such things as they have occasion for therewith The Funeral of the King in stead of other Mourning is celebrated eight days together with continual Eating and Drinking and this kind of Mourning they call Malala and every Year after Solemnize it with an Anniversary-Meeting in the same manner This Custom is not only us'd for the King but also for the Nobility according to their Quality and continues to this day but by the progress of Christianity teaching better things they have laid aside totally the burying of People alive In the Succession to the Crown they observe no Order Inheritance of the Crown neither Legitimation nor Seniority taking place further than the Ruling Grandees please they according to the humor of barbarous Nations esteeming all alike Honorable For which reason the Nobles chuse one out of the King's Sons whether Legitimate or Illegitimate it matters not for whom they have the most respect or think the fittest or else perhaps sometimes sway'd by extravagant Fancies relinquish all the Children and give the Crown to a Brother or Nephew The Coronation of the King they Solemnize after this manner The manner of the King's Coronation All the Nobles and Portuguese assemble before the Palace in a four-square open Court built for that purpose of old encompass'd with a slight Stone Wall about five Yards high in the middle of which stands a great Velvet Chair and a Cushion with a stately Carpet spread before it and a Crown wrought of Gold Silk and Silver-Wyre laid thereon as also three Gold Armlets about the thickness of a Finger and a Velvet Purse wherein is the Pope's Bull or Letters of Confirmation to the new King The intended King after some time comes into this Congregation by invitation of the Nobless concern'd primarily in the Election where all things prepared there stands one up which in the nature of a Herald proclaims these words You that shall be King be no Thief neither covetous nor revengeful but be a friend of the Poor You shall bestow the Alms for the releasement of Prisoners or Slaves and help the Needy and be charitable to the Church and always endeavour to keep this Kingdom in Peace and Quietness and fully observe and keep the same without breach of League with your Brother the King of Portugal After this Speech ended the Musick begins to play with excellent Melody which having continued a convenient season the last two Fidalgo's go seemingly to seek him amongst the People the remaining part of them sitting upon the Ground These two in a short time find him they sought for and bringing him one by the right Arm and the other by the left place him upon the foremention'd Royal Chair and put the Crown upon his Head on his Arms the Gold Armlets and the usual black Cloth or Bayze-Cloak upon his Body then he lays his Hand upon a Mass-Book and the Evangelists which the Priest holds to him Clothed in a white Garment hung with white Tassels and the King swears to do and keep all that he hath been forewarned of by him the formention'd Herald After the ending of these Solemnities the twelve Noblemen and the King go to the Palace accompanied with all those that were present at the Coronation who cast Earth and Sand upon him for a Token of rejoycing and for an Admonition that though he be now King he shall be Dust and Ashes The King after his Crowning remains eight days in his Palace never going forth in which time all the Black Nobility none excepted and all the Portuguese come to visit and wish
commonly peculiar Turrets something elevated from the rest in which when they go abroad they secure their Wives who to pass the time with more content from thence have a full Survey of the whole City Of the seven hundred Mosques there The Churches above half a hundred are very spacious and of great Reception and stately built on Marble Pillars mingled with Stone Fountains on the Tops They are built after the manner of our Churches in Europe vaulted with Wooden Arches but the Floors are cover'd with matted Rush so close and neatly joyn'd together that the Seams can hardly be seen nor any dust come through And the Walls also in the same manner matted above six foot high The most Eminent Mosque in this City The chief Church is call'd Karuven which Gramay says is half a Mile in Compass with thirty Porticoes every one of an extraordinary Heighth and Breadth with a Roof of an hundred and fifty Cubits long and eighty Cubits broad The Tower or Steeple of it whence they daily cry aloud and set up certain Flags to give notice to call the people to the Sala or their Divine Service is exceeding high and being built not Square but Quadrangular Oblongo stands supported in Breadth with twenty and in Length with thirty Marble Pillars under which are always above four hundred Vessels of Water to wash in before Prayers Round about stand several Cloisters each of forty Cubits in Length and thirty in Breadth wherein all sorts of Church Utensils as Oyl Lamps and Mats are kept There are in that Church above nine hundred Arches with Marble Pillars at each of which hangs a lighted Lamp About a Mile from hence lieth New-Fez a glorious Structure New-Fez built by one Jacob son of the First Abdullach of the Marine Family in a rich and delightful Plain one Arm of the River on the Northside runs into the City and the other makes its Entry on the Southside taking a view of the Castle and the Colledge of King Abuhinam who nam'd it The White City but the common People New-Fez Founded at the first onely to be the nearer to the King of Telesin who at the beginning of his Reign had been his great Enemy He divided it into three parts the first allotted to be the Kings Palace It was divided into three Parts and a Residence for the Children and Brothers of the King wherein were contained many Gardens stately Mosques and Chambers for Accounts and Receipts of the Revenue Round about were Mansions for Artificers in the midst Dwellings for Receivers Treasurers Labourers Notaries Accomptants and Secretaries Near the Treasury-Chamber was the Goldsmiths Row and other Conveniences for the Assay-Master and Master of the Mint The second Part he set out for a Palace for his Courtiers Officers and chief Men contain'd within a Line of Fifteen hundred Paces from East to West and adjoyning to a Market set round about with Shops of Merchants and Artificers The third Part was at first the Quarters of the Kings Life-Guard but now is for the most part Inhabited by Jews and Goldsmiths This New City hath no fewer Mosques Baths and Colledges than the Old Here is an ingenious Water-Work the Invention of a Spaniard having many great Wheeles each of which turn but once round in four and twenty Hours and convey Water out of the River into Cisterns from whence again through Leaden-Pipes the Palaces Gardens Mosques Baths and Colledges are all plentifully served This City was brought to full Perfection in an Hundred and forty Years being environ'd with strong Walls and accommodated with Conveniences and Ornaments fit for a City except the fore-mentioned Water-Work which it had not of divers Years after being only contented with Water brought thither from a Spring ten Miles distant through Pipes by the contrivance of a Genoese ¶ THe Mountains of this Province are Zalagh Zarhon Tagat and Gereygure Zalagh somewhat more than half a Mile distant from Fez Northward The Mountains of Fez. beginneth on the East-side of the River Subu and extending four Miles Westward on which is scituate Lampte a fair Town supposed by Marmol to be the Bobrise of Ptolomy Zarhou call'd by the Inhabitants Zarahanum appearing first in the Plains of Eceis or Aseis three Miles from Fez and stretching eight Miles Westward It is properly under the Jurisdiction of Mequinez and contains forty Hamlets or Villages lying among the Green Olive-Trees wherewith it is every where abundantly shadowed Titulit standing on the top of it was formerly the Chief City of this Territory two Miles in Compass but by King Joseph of the Race of the Almoraviden utterly destroyed and hath ever since remain'd waste only that fifteen or twenty Alsakues or Priests reside there in so many Houses standing about the Mosque Some report there yet remains a City commonly call'd Elkazar-Pharon that is Pharaoh's Palace but by Geographers Kazar Zarahanum being three Miles from Titulit with a small River on each side and shadowed round about with Groves of Olive This City was ruined the same time with Titulit there being at present no other Remainder of it but a Market-place call'd Larbaa el Haibar frequented every Wednesday by the People of Fez and Mequinez But Dar el Hamare which Marmol thinks is The Epitiane of Ptolomy stands here yet without any injury and well Peopl'd though the Inhabitants are mightily terrifi'd with Lions coming thither frequently to seek Prey At the Foot of this Mountain near the way from Mequinez to Fez appear the Ruines of Gemae formerly call'd Gotiane destroyed by King Abu-saiid of the Benimerin Race Tagat or Togat two Miles West from Fez and extending from West to East two Miles as far as the River Bu Nacer Guerygure is very populous close to Atlas three Miles from Fez between the Plains of Eceis and Adhasen Here rises the Head of the River Aguber that after a short Western Course joyns with the Stream Beber ¶ IN this Province also six Miles from Fez lie the Plains of Eceis or Aseis full of Villages and Inhabitants and Beniguarten Vale containing about two hundred Residences of the Arabs This Jurisdiction produceth great abundance of Grain The Quality of the Soil of the Territory of Fez. Cotton and Flax even to admiration as also variety of Fruits especially Figs Almonds Olives and large Grapes Horses Camels Oxen Sheep Goats Deer and Hares breed here in great numbers But this Plenty of all Necessaries is attended with a great Inconvenience for the Air of the Countrey ten Miles in Length and five in Breadth Westward from Old Fez is infectious and unhealthful causing in the Inhabitants a pale yellow Colour and casting them into malignant and other mortal Diseases The whole Countrey is full of Gardens wherein grows Flax Melons Citrons Beets Herbs and all sorts of such Plants in such vaste quantities that it is said that the Gardeners in Summer bring five thousand Waggons with Fruit and Herbs to Market and
the Summer to eat in the Winter There grow also Figs Apples Pears and very much other Fruit but above all yielding great store of good Cattel as Oxen Calves and Sheep call'd by the Arabians Nedez sufficient to give Supplies of Butter and Milk not onely to the City Bona but also to Tunis and the Island Zerbes ¶ THe Mountains for the most part lie destitute of People yet full of pleasant Springs having Water enough to give a Current to several Rivers which afterwards take their course through the Plains between the Hills and the Midland Sea The Coast hereabouts yields much Coral both white red and black being a kind of Plant or Shrub growing in the Water between the Rocks ¶ THis City and Province were-Governed by Xeques and peculiar Lords of their own It s Government till the King of Tunis having subdued them built a strong Castle on the East side of the City to keep it in awe but afterwards Aruch Barbarossa in the Year Fifteen hundred and twenty coming with two and twenty Galleys and Ships into the Haven forced the Citizens to acknowledge him by which means they became Subjects to the Kings of Algier and so have ever since continued excepting for a short space that the Emperor Charles the Fifth in the Year Fifteen hundred thirty five made himself Master of it THE FORT OF FRANCE SIx Miles to the East of Bona between the Kingdoms of Algier and Tunis Peter Davity Estat Ture on Affique and between the Black and Rosie Cape you may see a Fort Commanded by the French and call'd Bastion de France that is French-Fort Formerly near this Cape of Roses stood another Building erected in the Year Fifteen hundred sixty one by two Merchants of Marseiles with the Grand Seignior's consent call'd a Fort but indeed was onely a Flat-rooft Ware-house for a residence of the French who come thither and employ the Natives Diving for Coral and under that pretence Exported all sorts of Merchandise as Grain Hides Wax and Horses which they bought there with more liberty and for less Price than in the Island Tabarka because no Turks lay there to hinder them But many years since this Structure whose Ruines yet appear was beaten down by the Algerines oppressed with a great scarcity of Provisions which the Moors reported was occasioned by the French Exporting their Corn. Afterwards in the Year Sixteen hundred twenty eight by order of Lewis the Thirteenth French King Mounsieur d'Argen Lieutenant of Narbone and chief Engineer of France was sent thither to re-build the razed Fort who took with him all Materials necessary for the Work from Marseiles and with great speed and diligence erected this Bastion But the Work was scarce begun when the Moors and Arabians came down Armed in great numbers and forced the Mounsieur to a Retreat and at present to Fortifie himself in a Half-Moon newly cast up from whence with the first opportunity he took Shipping At length the same King employed one Samson to re-attempt the same design who brought it to some perfection and was Governour of it Since which another was formed upon the Island Tabarka in the Year Sixteen hundred thirty and three This Bastion de France hath two great Courts the one to the North where the Store-Houses for Corn and other Merchandise are with many convenient Ground-Rooms for the Officers and Chief Commanders The other being more large and spacious than the former stands on a Sandy Beach where the Ships usually come to trade for Corall as we mention'd before To this adjoyns a fair and great Vaulted Chappel call'd St. Catharina in which they Celebrate their Mass and Preach having convenient Lodgings above for the Chaplains and Priests Before it there is a Church-yard and a little on one side a Garden-house set apart and us'd onely for sick and wounded Souldiers Between these two Courts towards the South standeth a great Quadrangle built all of Stone which is the Fort or Strength with a flat Roof wherein stand mounted two Mortar-Pieces and three other Brass-Pieces supply'd with a sufficient Garrison TUNIS THe Kingdom of Tunis The antient Borders at this day subject to the Great Turk compris'd formerly the Countreys of Constantine Bugie Tunis Tripolis in Barbary and Essab and by consequence the greater part of Africa the Less together with Carthage Old Numidia and other Countreys extending above a hundred and twenty miles along the Sea-Coast But now the greatest part of Bugie Constantine and Essab are wrested from it by Arms and annexed to Algier The Kingdom of Tunis then It s present Borders taken within these narrow Borders begins at the River Guadelbarbar formerly call'd Tuska dividing it on the West from Constantine as on the East the River of Caps or Capes by the Lake of Melaetses separates it from Tripolis and on the Southern Limit is the Modern Numidia Peter Dan in his Description of Barbary joyns it on the West to Algier to Barka Bona and Tripolis on the East So that by his account the Southern Part of Tunis lies Westward of Negro-Land containing but few places of note ¶ THe Rivers which run thorow and water this Countrey Its Rivers are chiefly four Guadelbarbar Magrida Megerada and Caps or Capes Guadelbarbar Guadelbarbar which Sanutus and Marmol call Hued d' Ylbarbar takes its Original out of a Hill lying a quarter of a mile from the City Urbs or Jorbus being serviceable onely to the Citizens in driving their Mills for the Current runs in so many crooked Meanders that such as travel from Tunis to Bona are necessitated with great trouble there being no Boats nor Bridges to help them to wade over five and twenty times Lastly it disembogues into the Sea by the forsaken Haven Tabarka seven miles from Bugie Magrida Magrida formerly call'd Catadt seems to be a Branch of the former flowing thorow Choros and then entring the Mediterrane near to a place call'd Marsa Megerada Megerada or rather Maggiordekka formerly Bagradag on whose Shore Pliny Gellius and Strabo say that when Attilius Zegulus was Consul for the Romans in these parts during the Punick Wars was found a Serpent of a hundred and twenty Foot long kill'd by Attilius and his Army with Arrows It rises according to Sanutus out of a Mountain bordering on the Countrey of Seb call'd by others Ursala whence giving a friendly Visit to the City Tebesse it runs Northward till discharging its Water into the Mediterrane-Sea about ten miles from Tunis This River swells up an unusual heighth when any great Rains fall so that the Travellers sometimes are compell'd to stay three days till that the Water abates that they may wade over for there are neither Bridges nor Boats for Ferry Tâ—UNIS ¶ MOuntains in this Kingdom are Zogoan Guislet Benitefren The Mountains and Nefuse besides some others on the South Zogoan lies six miles Southward of Tunis upon whose Side and Foot may be seen the
unsafe Road not onely lying open to the Sea-winds but full of blind Rocks and shifting Sands and a sprinkling of small Isles like Warts upon the Sea Beyond this Southward The Islands of Arguin opens another Bay in which are the Isles of Arguin and the Seven Cliffs which had once peculiar Names but now call'd onely Arguins from a Fort built on the chiefest of them by Alphonso first King of Portugal Its Names Anno 1441. But these were their former Names The White Island that the Portugals call Blanca because of the white Sands The Island of Skins by the In habitants call'd Adeger lying about two miles from the main Land Ilheo or Little Island otherwise call'd The Island de Las Garcas or Crane Isle not far from the main Land Nar and Tider two more near the Coast and lastly Arguin which now gives the denomination to all the rest long since possessed and fortifi'd by the Portugals Castle of Arguin whose Fort lies on a commanding Point strong built all of Stone four hundred and five and twenty Foot in circuit defended on the Land-side with a Wall or Out-work of eleven Foot thick and four and twenty high It hath also three Batetries two towards the Land and one to the Sea This Fort hath more than ordinary accommodation sixteen handsom Rooms of State and Address with their Apartments a large Kitchin good Cellars and other Offices and close by accommodated with a Fountain of fresh Water But in Sixteen hundred thirty and three on the nine and twentieth of January onely with three Ships of the Netherland West-India Company though so defensive the Portugals surprized with a pannick fear delivered it up to the Hollanders The Main Land Coasting this Bay is dry and barren but about five miles there are some Shrub and Heathy Grounds from whence those of Arguin fetch their Fewel Formerly there dwelt upon this Isle some Moors call'd Sebek-Moors who liv'd by Fishing and some Trade giving the fifth part of their Gain to the Castle Also the French Fisher-men yearly in December January and February using large Nets above fourscore Fathom long Fish up and down this Bay for Grampos's which they cut up at Land and dry in the Sun making Train-Oyl of them And also hereabouts the Portugals drive a notable Trade with the wild Arabs and the Whites bartering their Woollen and Linnen Cloth Silver course Tapestry but most of all Corn for Blacks Gold and Ostrich-Plumes They bring thither also Horses which yielded them a dozen or fifteen Slaves Under the Desart of Zannaga is also contained The Wild of Azoat The Desart of Azoat so call'd because of the general dryness and infertility reaching from the Pool of Azoat to that of Azoan near thirty miles distance from Tombut Here are to be seen two Stone Monuments with Inscriptions upon them signifying who were there Interr'd and the cause of their lying there which was thus One of them a wealthy Merchant travelling through those Defarts over-power'd by invincible Necessity suffering strangely by Thirst met by chance with a poor Carrier who had not yet spent all his Water though under the same calamity with whom he contracted at no less Rate than ten thousand Ducats which he laid down upon the Spot for the Moiety thereof but so it happened that neither of them had any great purchase for the Water being divided was soon exhausted and proved not sufficient to save either so that languishing with extream drought they both lost their lives and were there Interr'd The Desart of Zenega inhabited by the People Zanaga's is wondrous hot and hath little or no Water but what is bitter and brackish and those Pits or Wells are at least twenty miles one from another But the Wild of Zenega is destitute of all Water seldom or never raining there having but one Pit in all the way of thirty miles This Soyl is all Sandy and utterly unfruitful being a vast Plain so flat and level that the Traveller hath no mark to find his way or know where he is but is forced to steer his Coast by the Sun and Trade-Winds which blow always Easterly and other little knowledges they gather by former Prints from the Claws of Fowl as Crows Ravens and such like which always wait upon the Caravans as on great Armies expecting Prey for none ever travel through this Desart but with great Company This Countrey produces a kind of Grain like Wheat Plants or Vegetables which grows of its own accord without Sowing But those near the Banks of the River Zenega reap Barley not wanting Dates having also good store of Camels Goats and other Cattel The Inhabitants of these Desarts are Breberians Ludays Duleyns and Zenega's or Zanaga's by Sanutus call'd Azaneghes and some Arabs Sanutus who live upon others sweat and labour stealing their Cattel which they convey to Dara and elsewhere there bartering them for Dates Sometimes the Arabians of Beni-Anir pillage this Countrey between Nun and the City Tagaost Tegaza THe Desart of Tegaza so call'd from the chief Town Tegaza The Desart of Tegaza which hath also this denomination from the great quantity of Salt which is brought thither and from thence convey'd through this Wild to other Countreys This populous Dominion Borders Eastward on Zanaga's This Countrey though well inhabited is vexed in Summer with a dangerous South-Wind whose scorching blast strikes many blind and it hath also great scarcity of fresh Water Here are many Pits of pure white Salt round about which the Salt-boylers The Salt Pits being Strangers pitch their Huts and Tents and their business being done return with the Caravan to Tombut and there sell that Commodity being there very dear Those of Dara also send their Tivar Gold to Tombut The Gold of Tioar dispersing it from thence to Taragbel and Morocco Zuenziga THe Desart of Zuenziga Zuenziga beginning Westward on the Borders of Tegaza reaches Eastward to the Wilds of Haya Northerly confin'd with the Desart of Sugulmesse Tebelbelt and Beni-horai on the South with the Wilderness of Ghor lying near the Kingdom of Huber belonging to Negro-Land The Desart of Gogden is compris'd under that of Zuenziga The Inhabitants of the Desart of Zuenziga are call'd Guaneziries and Zuenziga's The Merchants which travel out of these Parts and from Tremecen to the City Tombut and the Kingdom of Isa must cross this Desart and that of Gogden This Zuenzigan Wild is much dryer and worse to be travell'd through than Zanaga very many being often choak'd for want of Water And that of Gogden hath in nine days Journey no Water except what falls from Heaven in sudden showers and onely in one place where Lading their Camels every one supplies his own private store There grow also many Dates in the Desart of Zuenziga on these Borders of Numidia ¶ AMongst the Inhabitants of this Countrey there are also Arabs call'd Hemrum The Inhabitants who take Tribute of Sugulmesse for
their Plough'd-Lands These as other Arabs rove up and down changing Pasture as far as Yguid they have store of Cattel and Dates and are so numerous that they have brought under their Contribution a great part of Biledulgerid They have other great Arabs Assisters as the Garfa and Esbeh which are looked upon as Nobles descended from famous Ancestors whom the Kings of Barbary have often courted desiring to make Alliance with them The Desart of Hayr or Terga THe Desart of Hayr The Desart of Hayr so call'd from a populous Town there yet by some call'd Terga from the Tergans of Little Africa hath for its Western Borders the Wilds of Zuenziga in the East that of Yguid in the North Its Borders the Wilderness of Tuat Teguirin and Mezzeb in Biledulgerid on the South conterminates with the Desarts near the Kingdom of Agade in Negro-Land spreading it self in some places the breadth of sixty mile that is from Biledulgerid to the Negroes Countrey The Air of this Desart is so temperate that in many places there is abundance of Grass and though other parts be very sandy yet nothing so bad to travel in as that of Zanaga or Zuinziga because it hath store of Springs and deep Wells with sweet and fresh Water but more especially on the Verges of Zuenziga On its Southern Limits near Agadez they find great store of Manna which early in the Morning the Inhabitants gather and carry to the Markets of that City which the Negroes mix with Water making it their Food being as they suppose very much refreshing and wholesome So that Strangers are not so often sick in Agadez though the Air be not so healthy as at Tombut this Cordial not being there so frequent ¶ THis Desart hath also wilde Arabs call'd Uled Huscein Arabians of Hayr which though they belong to the Numidian Countrey fetch in Winter larger Rovings with their Cattel as far as the Desart and sometimes to the Skirts of Atlas though they have few Laws yet they are all under one Government and these great Arabians have a meaner sort of little Arabs under them which live in the condition of Subjects or Servants some of which settle in Fenny Places and follow Tillage But the general business of the foremention'd is to steal and spirit away poor Negroes from thence carrying them to Barbary and Biledulgerid there selling them for great Rates as Slaves The Desart of Iguidi or Lemta THe Desart Iguidi or Lemta The Desart of Lemta taking its Name Iguidi from its chiefest Seat and Lemta from the Name of the Inhabitants The Borders borders in the West on the Wild of Hayr Eastward on that of Berdoa Northward on the Desart of Tekort Guerguela and Gademez in Biledulgerid and to the South Verges with a Desart near Kano in Negro-Land Between this and that of Sugulmesse lieth the Countrey of the Morabitins or Morabites which others call Almoravides Here is dangerous travelling for Merchants which pass from Constantine to the Negroes Countrey the Inhabitants being rude savage and beastial robbing all theymeet and taking all they lay their hands on They have also an antient feud and hatred against those of Guergula a Territory in Biledulgerid which they cruelly massacre putting to death when and where they come within their power In this Desart dwell also certain Arabians call'd Hemrum Kayd and Yahya mingled among the Lempta's The Desart of Berdoa THis Wild hath on the West for Borders the Wilderness Lempta The Desart of Berdoa The Borders on the East that of Augele on the North Fessa in Numidia and Barka and on the South it conterminates with a Desart bordering on the Kingdom of Borno a hundred ninety eight miles from Nylus it contains three fortifi'd Towns and six Villages It is very dry Plates and dangerous for travelling yet convenient for those of Gadamez or Numidia Allies to the Berdoaners The inhabited places have good Water and plenty of Dates The VVilderness of Augele BY some taken for the Countrey Augiles The Desart of Augele described by Mela hath for its Western Borders the Wild of Berdoa on the North the Desart of Barka and Marmarica and spreads in the form of a Towel to the Mediterranean-Sea opposite against Syrtes on the East the Wilds of the Levetans which reach to the Nyle It compriseth three inclosed Towns and many Villages a hundred and twenty miles distant from Nylus Their abundance of Dates answers all which supplies them with Corn and other Necessaries This Countrey is molested also with deadly biting Serpents The Desart of Serte and Alguechet THe Sertan Wild The Desart of Serte and Alguechet divided from the five other more eminent hath for its Western Borders the Desart of Augele on the South the Kingdom of Gaogo on the East Egypt There are yet to be seen the Ruines of the City Serte Also on the South of Serte four and twenty miles from Egypt the Countrey of Alguechet with three inclosed Towns and many Villages and whole Groves of Dates The Inhabitants are black and though stored with Dates yet are poor and Covetous and Tributary to a Xeque or King In this Dominion live eminent Arabians call'd Uled Yahaia Uled Said and Uled Sumeir being able to raise an Army of thirty thousand Horse and an innumerable number of Foot Yet they possess no fortifi'd Towns but live in Tents and are Masters of the Campaigne NIGRITARUM REGIO Negro-Land 3.5 contains In the Inland Gualata Towns Three very large and populous besides the Metropolis Gualata Rivers Zenega or Niger Mountains None of any remark Guinee or Genoua Neither Cities Towns nor Fortresses but one single village the Seat of the King and a University Melli The Village Melli with some Desarts and barren Mountains Tombut Towns Tombut Cabra or Kambre Rivers Niger Guber Towns Guber besides a great Number of Villages and Hamlets Agadez Towns Agadez Kano Towns Cano the head City and some Mountains Kassene Nothing but slight Huts in the manner of Villages Zegzed Towns Zegzed a City with some excessive cold Mountains Zanfara Some Villages consisting of mean Huts Gangara Some Villages consisting of mean Huts Borno Towns Borno the principal about which many smaller Cities Hamlets and Villages Gago Towns Gago the Metropolis standing by the River Zenega the rest of the inhabited Places are Villages and Hamlets Nubia Towns Tenepsus Kondari Dangala Nubia the Metropolis Kusa Ghatua Dankala Jalake and Sala besides Villages Bito Towns Onely Bito Temiam Towns Temikan alone Dauma Each one poor Town Madra Each one poor Town Gorhan Each one poor Town Semen A Countrey little known and less convers'd with Upon the Sea-coast about Cape-Verde Towns and Villages Refrisko Camino Punto Porto Novo Ivala Rivers De la Grace Barsala Garnba Rha St. Domingo Katcheo Rio de les Iletas Rio Grande Danalves Nunno Tristan Tabito Rio das Piedras Pechel Palmas Pagone Kagranka Kasses Karokane Kaper Tambefine Tabarim Rio de
about ten miles distance from the Niger It compriseth a great number of Villages and Hamlets the chiefest of which wherein formerly the King kept his Court contains about six thousand Houses and hath imparted its Name to the whole Kingdom This Countrey lies Annually under the overflowing of the Niger which causes a great Return by plentiful Harvests of Barley Rice and Mille Their Goats and Cattel though numerous are but small These Inhabitants are Reclaim'd being of a Civil Behaviour expert in Handicrafts weaving and making good Cotton-Cloth sufficient Tanners but exquisite Shoemakers their Ware supplying the Markets of Tombut and Gago whither they are sent in great parcels THE KINGDOM OF AGADEZ THe Kingdom of Agadez being more Easterly than that of Gualata The Kingdom of Agadez stretches its Limits to the North. The Metropolitan thereof also call'd Agadez stands upon the Confines of Lybia the nearest place to the White People except Gualata of all Negro-Land This Countrey abounds with much Meadow-Land having store of Springs and Grass it also yields much Manna which is not onely their common and best Food but makes them a most excellent and cordial Drink which together keeps them in good condition always strong and healthy Yet they want no store of Cattel nor Goats The Agazons for the most part are Strangers settling there their Staples of Merchandise trading to Forreign Countreys The Natives are Artificers or Souldiers but the Southern People follow Pasturage breeding Cattel and Goats their Receptacles are sleight Arbours of implicated Boughs like the Arabs or Mats with which they rove up and down Those of the Lybick Desarts insult over the Kings of Agadez and though they are Tributary to the people of Tombut where they might complain yet they carry so high a hand over them that they supplant and plant the Royal Throne deposing and establishing whom they please being commonly in such Removals one of their Favorites or nearest Relations THE KINGDOM OF KANO THe Kingdom of Kano The Borders of the Kingdom of Kano a great Realm is about a hundred twenty five miles Eastward from the River Niger and ninety from the Kingdom of Agadez The Head City also call'd Kano stands in the middle of the Countrey in thirty and a half Longitude and seventeen Degrees Northern Latitude and invested with a woodden and chalkey Wall as also their Houses are made of the same materials This Countrey in many places is full of Springs especially in the Mountains which are overgrown with many Orange and Lemmon-Trees which bear Fruit of an excellent Relish it also abounds in Wheat Rice and Cotton-Trees of which they make Cloth They have also many Beeves and Goats The Countrey Inhabitants follow both Grasing and Tillage The City People are Merchants and Artificers This King of Kano was formerly so powerful that he made the Kings of Zegzeg and Kassene Tributaries to him THE KINGDOM OF KASSENE THe Kingdom of Kassene to the Eastward of Kano The Kingdom of Kassene possesseth nothing but sleight Huts in the manner of Villages standing one by another The Countrey is mountainous and barren yet fruitful in Barley and Tares The Natives are Cole-Black and have Camisie Noses and thick Lips The Air of their Face much differing from their Neighbors their Noses and Lips so broad and thick that they leave them scarce Cheeks or Chin. The former Government was absolute under a Prince but the last of the Line being made away by Ischia King of Tombut under pretence of assisting him joyn'd it as a Province to his own Kingdom THE KINGDOM OF ZEGZEG THis Kingdom of Zegzeg borders in the East on the Kingdom of Kano The Kingdom of Zegzeg about thirty miles from Kassene The Villages and Houses are of the same form as in the Kingdom of Kassene The chiefest City being also Zegzeg lies in six and thirty Degrees and forty Minutes Longitude and in fourteen Degrees and forty Minutes North Latitude The Countrey in some places Flat and in others Mountainous is subjected to various Weather the Valleys exceeding hot and the Mountains excessive cold insomuch that they make great Fires in the middle of their Halls spreading the red hot Cinders under their Bedsteads which being high from the Ground secures them from the Fire but warms them exceedingly They are rich and drive a great Trade with other People The Valleys are so well watered that they are made luxuriously fruitful abounding in Corn and all other Products of the Soyl. This was also under a King but trapann'd both of Life and Crown by Izchia King of Tombut who annexed it to his Empire THE KINGDOM OF ZANFARA Or GANFARA THe Kingdom of Zanfara The Kingdom of Zanfara a fruitful Countrey abounding in Corn Rice Barley and Cotton borders in the East on Zegzeg The Inhabitants The Inhabitants exceeding Black and of large Stature broad-Faced Camosca-Noses thick-Lipt are savage and of wild disposition and also Subjects to the King of Tombut THE KINGDOM OF GUANGARA or GANGARA THis Kingdom confines on the South with that of Zanfara The Kingdom of Guangara and hath in the South-East some Countreys stored with Gold The inhabited places are onely Villages built with Huts except the chiefest which in greatness and fairness exceeds all the other lies in four and forty Degrees and a half Longitude and in fourteen North Latitude The Natives are surly and clownish dull of apprehension they traffick much abroad the Slaves carrying their Packs or Fardels of Goods on their Shoulders and some on their Heads in large dri'd Calf-skins so carrying them to barter to the Southern and Gold-Countreys for the Wayes are not passable being so ruffled with Woods Briers and Thorns that to all Beasts of burthen they are inaccessible The King if occasion require can raise seven thousand Foot many of them good Archers and five hundred Horse he governs by an Arbitrary Power his Will is his Law his Subjects no better than Slaves yet his greatest Revenue he raises out of his yearly Customs of Exported and Imported Goods THE KINGDOM OF BORNO THe wide-spreading Kingdom of Borno also call'd Burney The Borders of the Kingdom of Borno formerly a Dwelling-place as appears by the Customs thereof of the antient People of Atlas or as Cluverius will have it Garamantes hath on the West for Borders the Kingdom of Guangara with a vast Desart above a hundred and twenty five miles Eastward and lieth near the Head-Fountain of Niger in the Wild of Seu in the South of Seth in the North the Desarts which reach to that side of Barka Urreta sets down for Borders in the East Gaoga and Nubia in the South Histor de La. Ethiop l. 1. c. 32 the Kingdom of Kiofara and Ethiopia or Abyssine in the West the Inward Lybia or Sarra and in the North Berdoa It lieth according to Urreta from the sixteenth to the twentieth Degree Northern Elevation and as Marmol above eighty miles to the East There are
Cross Haven which the Portuguese possess The Countrey by means of the clear and serene Air is very healthful and pleasant to live in The King always appears in great State and when he goeth abroad The King's State is attended with a strong and numerous Guard of Bowe-men He keeps also fifty great and fierce Dogs which he arms as it were in tann'd Skins of Sea-Cows that are so hard and strong they can scarcely be cut each Dog in the day time hath a Keeper but in the night they are let loose for there is no other Watch in this City but these Dogs and such is their fierceness no body dares stir in the Streets without the hazard of his life for they will fall upon every one without regard This Dog-Watch was at first set up against the Thieves who in the nights used to break open the Houses and steal the Blacks to sell for Slaves This King gives a Hat to his Governors which is an Ensign of Honour of whom he has under him seven which are not onely his Homagers but his Slaves When the King dies there comes into the Street twelve Men call'd Schiten When the King's Death is proclaimed and by whom cloathed in parti-coloured long Coats made of Feathers with as many Claromen or Pipers before them which sound mournfully yet shrill there they proclaim his Decease whereupon every one with a white Cloth thrown over them comes out of their Houses and do nothing all that day but walk about the Streets in a mournful posture his Friends Relations and Servants in the mean time assemble to chuse a Successor The Funeral Afterwards the Corps is washed and the Intrals burnt before their Idol but the Ashes preserved to be Interr'd with the Body which lies as it were in State for a Moneth at the expiration whereof prepared for Burial the Subjects bring out of all parts of the Kingdom Balsom Myrrhe Ambergreece Musk and other Perfumes to burn and smoke about the Corps which lastly is carried to the Burying-place by six of the most eminent persons cloathed in white Silk Coats followed in the first place with Musick playing mournful Tunes and after them with a great many people on foot some of which cry aloud other sing Funeral Elegies last of all the Princes of the Blood ride on Horseback in white Habit. By the Grave are his Women and Servants which in his Lifetime he most affected together with his Favourites and Horses which are all put to death and buried with the Royal Corps which is done to this end that he may be served by them in the other World as they believe and are taught This slaughter is performed in a terrible manner viz. after the cutting off their Fingers and Toes they break their Bones by stamping all to pieces and when it is beat enough they throw it out in the presence of all the others that are to undergo the same fortune for the avoiding which cruelty many Servants after they have sufficiently provided for themselves either leave the King's Service in his Life and fly away or else they retire and hide themselves in time when they see he is without hope of recovery ¶ THe King's Jurisdiction extends over six Kingdoms Their Power and Dominion besides those wrested from him as we said before and for the better and more orderly management of State-Affairs has a Privy-Council consisting of many Lords of which one who is the second person in the Kingdom is President ¶ THey worship Their Religion as the Cassanga's abundnace of Idols the chief of which they name China which is to say God although a long time since by the Preaching of some Portugal Jesuits they are said to have embraced the Roman Religion The King himself with a great number of Nobles in the Year Sixteen hundred and seven desired of Emanuel Alvarez a Jesuit to be Baptized which he upon farther examination finding their unstedfastness deni'd THE KINGDOM OF BIGUBA AT the Nether-Arm of Rio Grande The Kingdom of Biguba above the River Guinala lieth the Kingdom of Biguba The chiefest place thereof is the Haven of Biguba and a little higher the Haven of Balola inhabited by the Tangos-Maas but the Village of the Haven Biguba the Portugals possess The Beafers lead the same manner of life as the People of Guinala The Tangos-Maas are extracted out of the Portugal Blood but have united themselves with the Blacks and live now no less barbarously than they as if they had never heard of Christianity in some places going all naked and Carving their Skins after the manner of the Countrey ¶ THey live under a Monarch as those of Guinala after whose death the most powerful of the Family obtain the Crown but not without great contest so that in the interim they are all in Arms committing all kinds of extravagant outrages till by Conquest reduced under the obedience of him that lays the strongest claim They are like the Beafers Idolaters although some are already by the Jesuits brought to the Christian Faith THE KINGDOM OF MANDINGA ON both sides of the River Gambea live a sort of Blacks The Kingdom of Mandinga which have enlarged their Seat above a hundred and twenty miles up into the Countrey so that they command a Tract of Land that spreads it self in breadth from nine to eleven Degrees North Latitude which the Spaniards call Mandimenca after the Name of one of their Kings by others Mandinga by Marmol Mani-Inga and by the French and Dutch The Kingdom of Mandinga The chief City is Sango some miles more Easterly than the Cape de Palmas The Countrey is watered with many Rivers all which after long courses through several places at last contribute their streams to replenish and augment those of the more famous River Gambea ¶ THe Inhabitants of Mandinga are reputed the best of all Guinee The Valour of the Inhabitants yet are barbarous of nature deceitful and treacherous to Merchants and Strangers but among themselves and Neighbors thought expert Horsemen so that they go into divers Kingdoms to serve as Troopers not onely being readily entertain'd into Pay but for their Skill in Martial Affairs and tried Valour have the Van of their Armies admitted into the best Commands and allowed large Priviledges to oblige them to stay in their Service ¶ THe Arabian and other Merchants drive a great Trade here for Gold Gold-Trade which they say this Countrey abounds with besides other Commodities which at Tombut the chief City they are admitted freely to barter for ¶ THe King of Mandinga some years since was so puissant The Power of the King that almost all the Kings and People of Upper-Guinee obey'd and paid him Tribute especially the Cassanga's and the other Kingdoms lying at the River Gambea Heretofore he held the Seat of his Empire in the In-land and gave the lower Countreys lying on the West Sea to one Chabos and Faim Braso placing moreover
belonging to the people Vey and Puy whereupon the Heir of the Crown when the King dies requires Earth from the Ambassadors of Folgia in token of Acknowledgement and Installs the Lord of Bolmberre with the Title of Dondagh by a particular Ceremony of which we shall give this brief Account The Heir is laid flat upon the ground with his Face downward and some Earth thrown upon him Lying thus they ask what Name he desireth to have and what he chuses they impose together with the Title of Dondagh Then they cause him to rise and put a Bowe into his hand and a Quiver of Arrows to defend the Countrey with which performed he distributes Slaves Clothes Kettles Basons and such like Presents to the King of Quoia The Power of the present Quoian-Prince is absolute and unlimited so that he is the onely and sole Judge of all Causes For although he admit his Counsellors sometimes to give their Opinions yet they signifie nothing for he follows his own single resolved Determinations This absolute Power makes him jealous of his Honor For he will not endure it should be diminished by any His highest Pomp consists in sitting upon a Shield whereby he gives to understand that he is the Protection and Defence of the Countrey and the manager of all Wars pacifying Civil Insurrections and other Weighty Matters belonging to him alone His Title as we said is Dondagh which is as much as Monarch When any Nobleman proves disobedient and will not appear before him on Summons then he sends his Koredo that is his Shield In what manner the King deals with any man who keeps away from his duty as if he would say upbraidingly if you be not obedient be Lord your self and bear the burden of the Countrey This peremptory Command by the Shield is sent by two Drummers who as soon as they come near the Offenders Habitation begin to beat their Drums and so continue without ceasing till they have delivered the Shield upon receipt whereof without delay he must speed away to the Court carrying the Shield with him which he presents to the King begging forgiveness of his miscarriages and so taking up Earth before the King humbles himself ¶ THose that make an Address to the King to obtain his Favor An address to the King to obtain his favor now it is made make their way with Presents of Ribbons Elephants-Teeth or such things which he must deliver at the house of the Kings chiefest Wife who receiving the same bears it to the King with request that the person may be admitted to his Presence If the King accept it the person hath leave to enter otherwise if any complaints be brought against him he sends it back yet so as the Presenter dares not receive and carry it away but continues his Suit by Friends without intermission by whose frequent and renewed mediations the King at last seeming a little pacified remits his severity takes the Present and calls for the Suppliant who entring the Royal Presence goes bowing all along towards the King who sits on the ground upon a Matt leaning upon a Stoole when he approaches within two steps he bows himself to the Earth kneeling down upon one Knee with his right Elbow to the Earth and names the Kings Title Dondagh whereupon the King if pleas'd answers Namady that is I thank you if not sits silent If it be a person of Quality and his Subject the King perhaps causes a Matt to be spread on the ground upon which sitting at the distance of a Pace he declares what he hath to request But if he be a Foraigner that comes onely to Salute the King without any further Ceremony he is conducted to him receiving an immediate dispatch If the person have any Proposition Petition or Complaint to make upon notice thereof a Jilly or Interpreter is call'd who coming with his Bow in his hand opens to the King the whole matter sentence by sentence whereto according to the quality of the Affair he receives answer with promise if upon a Complaint that as soon as he hath heard what the other party can say in his defence he will forthwith give Judgment according to Right If any man come to thank the King for doing Exemplary Justice in a difficult Cause How the King is thank'd for doing good Justice after his Presents receiv'd he devests himself of all his Clothes and Ornaments saving onely a little Cloth to cover his Pudenda so casts himself backwards upon the ground and instantly turning again rises upon one knee takes up earth with his hand and lays it upon his head then leaning with one elbow upon the earth he says three times Dondagh whereupon the King answers some times Namady that is to say I thank you and sometimes otherwise as he thinks fit The first Address usually is perform'd in his own House in the presence of his chiefest Wife But such as concern Justice or the State of the Countrey he hears in the Council-House in the presence of the Lords of the Council This Assembly they call Simannoe When some Eminent Person sent from a Neighbor King desires Audience one of the Kings Wives goes with a Present and tells him who sent it whereupon the Person appears before the King and takes earth This Address the King receives in his Simannoe or Council-House being open on all sides with great attendance round about After this Gratulatory Salutation the Ambassador desires leave to relate his Embassie but is put off till the next day so retiring he diverts himself till the appointed time in Feasts and Sportive Recreations The Ambassador receives Answer by the Kings Direction from a Jilly or Interpreter after which they shew the Ambassador and his Retinue the place where they are to remain where the Kings Slaves bring them Water to wash and the Kings Women bring very neatly drest in Dishes set on their heads Rice and Flesh much or little according to the number of his Attendants The Entertainment ended the King sends him for his Welcome Wine and other Presents either a Kettle Bason or such like If any European Merchant bring the King a Present he is invited to eat with him but with no Black how great of State soever will he eat out of the same Dish but lets their Meat be carried by his Women to the place where they are When the King dies the eldest Brother succeeds in his Throne The Inâ—eritance of the Kingdom and enjoys his Rice-Fields Slaves and Women except those which in his life were given to the Children The Folgia's are under the Emperor of Manou or Manoe a mighty Prince The Folgia's are under the Manou's who receives of them yearly Tributes in Slaves Salt red Cloth Kettles Basons and such like for which he bestows on them as a Gratuity certain Cloathes call'd Quaqua-Cloathes which the Folgian send to the Quoians as they again to the Bolmian or Hondoian Lords The People of Gala-Monou
less difficulty than a Wall and consequently a good Defence The Gates Strength being eight or nine Foot high and five broad and made of one whole Piece of Wood hang or rather turns on a Pin in the middle being the fashion of that Countrey De Stadt BENIN The City BENJN The City hath thirty very Strait and Broad Streets each a hundred and twenty Foot wide from one side of the Houses to the other from which by several smaller cross Lanes or Passages you may go to any part within the Walls The Houses stand built in Rows in good order close by one another Houses as here in Europe having slop'd Roofs cover'd with Palm Canes they seldom exceed one Story but of great capaciousness with long Galleries and many Chambers Traverses and Apartments especially the Houses of the Nobility and all the Partitions made of red Earth with great Art and Beauty which by washing and rubbing they keep Smooth Bright and Shining as a Looking-Glass of the same matters are the Cielings made In short the Houses are neatly Built here beyond those of all other places in this Countrey and every one furnisht with a convenient Well of pure and fresh Water A days journey Eastward of Benyn lieth the Village Koffo Koffo The Countrey appears low and full of Wood in some places beautifi'd by Rivers and great Lakes but between Gotton and great Benyn the King hath appointed certain Officers to supply the necessities of all Travellers in what they want for whose more fitting Accommodation great Pots full of cool and pleasant Water clear as Crystal with Drinking-Horns near them are set by the way side yet none dares take it without paying the appointed Price Among other Rivers that run through this Territory Rio Benyn by the Inhabitants call'd Arbo and by the Whites Rio de Benyn seems the best It lieth eighteen miles Eastwardly from Rio Lagos and with a broad and wide Mouth enters the Sea It hath a pretty convenient coming for Ketches and Slopes but upward grows more narrow and crooked dividing into many lesser Branches Here grow exceeding variety of Plants and Fruits as Oranges Lemmons and the like There grows also Pepper call'd Benyn Pepper but not in any quantity Fruits and very often it grows like that of the East-Indies but smaller and Cotton in great abundance whereof the Inhabitants make very fine Clothes Here breed divers sorts of Wild and Tame Beasts as Tygers Leopards Beasts wild Board Harts Civet and wild Cats Elephants Horses Asses Goats and Sheep which have no Wooll but Hair onely long Legs and well tasted flesh besides many sorts of Squirrels Land-Tortoises Serpents and the like and of Fowls Parrets Pigeons Pheasants Storks Turtle-Doves and other great Birds as Ostriches and many others The Rivers feed Crocodiles and very large Sea-Horses Fishes also divers kinds of Fish among the rest a certain small one which if touch'd by any causes a quaking and trembling in the Arm and therefore call'd The Quaking-Fish perhaps the Torpedo of Pliny The Inhabitants are all fashionable people The cordition of the Inhabitants excelling other Blacks of this Coast living together under good Laws and Justice and shewing to all Foraigners which Trade upon their Coast great courtesie Their Cloathing much like those of Arder Their constitution for persons of Ability wear two three or four Garments one shorter than another so pink'd that the undermost appeareth through the upper but the Common People have scarce one to cover their naked Bodies The Women have a blue Cloth from the middle reaching below the Knee Clothing and some small covering over their Breasts their Hair neatly ty'd up and Pleited on the Crown of the Head like a Garland the one half of a black the other of a red colour with Brass Rings on their Arms. No man may go Clothed to or in the Court unless the King appoint him his Habit insomuch that there are Men in the Palace of twenty or twenty four years of Age who go stark naked without any sign of shame onely with a Chain of fine Coral or Jasper about their Necks But when the King gives them Garments and together with them a Wife ever after they always go Cloathed and wash their Hair which never grows to such length as to need cutting Neither may the Women put on any Cloathes till given by her Husband so that Women of twenty and five and twenty years old run along the Streets stark naked without shame or rebuke but when the Husband hath once Suited her he causes a House to be made for her and sleeps by her as by his other Wives Every Man Marries as many Women as he desires Marriage yet keeps besides a great number of Concubines But a White or a Christian may not be permitted to keep a Girl because forbidden on pain of Death The Woman that hath had a Son by her deceased Husband A Widow is a Woman-Servant to her Son may not Marry again but must be a Slave to her Son Now if it happen that any Man have a mind to such a Widow he sues to the Son for her promising to give him another young Maid in her stead which must continue his Slavess as long as he please If the Parents bestow not their Daughter in Marriage before twelve or fourteen years of Age after that time they have nothing more to do with her All the Women that after the death of the Husband admit another into their private Embraces fall to the King whom he bestows in Marriage but such as keep themselves more reserv'd the Son claims and bestows upon request as we have said already Sometimes the King doth not bestow these Women in Marriage again but makes Regetairs or Nurses of them These considering they need not stand in fear of a Husband chuse as many single Men as they like to whom they prostitute themselves at pleasure and when any of them prove with Child and bear a Son they are free from paying of Tribute but if they have a Girl it becomes the King 's due to dispose of There are great Regetairs to whom the inferior give a yearly account as they again to the great Fiadores or Treasurers of the Empire who declare the same to the King onely No Man may sleep with his Wife when she hath lay'n in Childbed before the Child is a year and a half old but she knows well enough how to play her Game in the mean time with others of which if the Husband get any knowledge he complains to the Fiadoors There are no Twins found Why there are no Twins though likely enough that some are born yet conceal'd with all care possible by the Midwife because they count the bearing of two Children at a Birth a great shame to a Woman They bury their Dead with all their Cloathes Funeral and kill certain Slaves to serve them in the other World after which
and beautifi'd with exquisite Imagery each Cloth holding about two Spans and a half in Square which a Weaver with his greatest diligence may well spend fifteen or sixteen days in Working to finish it The second sort call'd Sokka are less by one half than the Kimbes yet many that have little handl'd their Work would easily mistake the one for the other for both are high and Cutwork with Images or Figures upon them but the turn'd side gives the distinction by the Courseness or Fineness Six of the foremention'd Pieces make a Garment which they know how to Colour Red Black or Green The two other sorts of Cloathes are a wearing for Common People being plain without Images or Figures yet have their distinctions one being closer and firmer wrought than the other These are many times Slash'd or Pink'd from the middle to the knees as old fashion'd Spanish Breeches were wont with small and great cuts Every man by promise or injunction is bound to wear a Furr-skin over his Cloathes right before his Privacies viz. of a tame Cat Otter Cattamountain great Wood or wild Cat or of an Agali or Civet Cat with whose Civet they sometimes also anoint themselves Besides these they have very fair speckl'd Skins call'd Enkiny of high Price among them which none may wear but the King and his peculiar Favorites Some Persons of high Degree when they Travel wear six or eight Skins for Garments others as the King and his greatest Nobility cause five or six Skins to be sew'd together interlac'd with many white and black speckl'd Tails of the foremention'd Enkiny Cross-wise in the midst of the Skin they set commonly round Tufts made of the aforesaid Furr and white and black Parrets Feathers and at the edges Elephants Hair spread round in winding-Trails Every one also wears a String about his middle made of the peeling of Matombe Leaves of which there are two sorts one call'd Poes-anana and the other Poes-anpoma with which they tye their Cloathes fast Besides they have two Girdles one above another that is one of fine Red or Black Cloath slightly Embroyder'd in three or four places the other of Yarn wrought in Flowers and fastned together before with double Strings call'd Pondes These Girdles are commonly three or four Inches broad wherefore the Cloathes sent thither out of Europe with broad Lists serve to be Embroider'd and Quill'd to make such Girdles Some wear Girdles of Bulrushes and young Palm Branches others of peelings of a Tree call'd Catta and in other places Emsande which they Weave and Pleit together of the same peelings Match for Guns is made which stand the Portugals in good stead Between the upper and lower Girdle they set several sorts of Ornaments and about their Necks white and black Beads the latter they call Insimba Frotta and the white Insimba Gemba but the last bears the greatest value Others wear Triangular Breast-Chains brought thither out of Europe Their Ornament and by them nam'd Panpanpane some Ivory cut in pieces and some sort of flat Scalops which they polish very smooth and round and wear them strung as Neck-Laces On their naked legs they put Brass Copper or Iron Rings about the bigness of the smallest end of a Tobacco Pipe or else trim them with black and white Beads On their Arms they wear many Rings of several fashions and light which they temper in the Forging with Oyl of Palm Over their Shoulders they hang a Sack about three quarters of a yard long sew'd together onely a little opening left to put in the hand Upon their Head they have an artificial Cap made to sit close And in their Hands either a great Knife Bowe and Arrows or a Sword for they never go without Arms. The Womens Clothes which come a little below their knees are made of the same with the Mens over which they sometimes put some fine European Stuff or Linen but without any Girdles The uppermost part of the body and the Head remains always naked and bare but on their Arms Legs and Necks many Rings Beads and other Toys Their usual Diet is fresh and smoak'd Fish especially Sardyn Food which they take with a Hook and Boyl with Herbs and Achy or Brasilian Pepper People of Quality eat with their Fish Massanga or small Mille first stamp'd with a Pestle then Boyled with Water and so Kneaded together They Swear by the King speaking these words Fyga Manilovanga Their Oath or Swearing but the highest Oath is the Drinking of Bondes Root and never used but when something is presently to be undertaken or perform'd The Bondes is onely a Root of a Tree of a russet Colour very Bitter Bondes Root or Adjuration Root and astringent and gets as they say by enchantment of the Ganga or Conjurer perfect power and vertue This Root they scrape with a Knife and put into a Pot of Water of which the accused Party takes about a Pint and half administred by a person appointed by the King for that purpose In like manner if any weighty or criminal matter either of Sorcery or Theft be laid to any ones charge and it cannot be ascertain'd by the Oracle of Ganga or their Conjurer they forthwith condemn the suspected person to drink of the Bonde-drink which is perform'd in this manner The Complainant must go to the King How the Bonde-drink is drank and beseech him to appoint an administrator of the Bondes for which he pays the King his due These Bonde-givers are about eight or ten persons appointed by the King and his Nobility who meeting under the open Heaven in a broad way sit down upon the ground and about three a Clock in the afternoon begin their work for by that the Complainers must be there who coming with their whole Retinue and Generation the Bonde-givers admonish to bring to light the righteousness of the Matter without any siding or partiality which he adjures them to with an Oath by their Fetisies which they have standing round about them Then also appears the Accus'd with his Family for seldom one person alone but commonly the whole Neighbourhood is accus'd these meet and standing in a row come by course one by one to the Bonde-givers who have a little Drum upon which they continually Beat and receiving about a Pint and a half of Liquor they retire to their places again After this one of the Bonde-givers riseth up with certain sticks of a Bacoven tree in his hands which he flings after the Accus'd requiring him to fall down and if he have no guilt to stand up and make Water in token of his Innocency Then the Bonde-giver cuts the Root before them all that every one may walk up and down over it In the doing whereof if one or other of them chance to fall then the standers by set up a loud Cry and the party fall'n lieth like a possess'd man speechless but with horrible Convulsions in all his Limbs not enduring his body
great Cloth twenty Fathom long and twelve broad made of quilted Leaves sew'd together upon which none may go but the King and his Children but round it they leave room for two or three persons to pass by the Nobility sitting in long Ranks every one with a Buffles Tail in his Hand which for the most part they move in the presence of the King Some sit upon the bare Ground others upon Cloathes made of the same Stuff with the King 's Behind them stand the People as behind the King all his great Officers not few in number In this publick Solemnity of State Playing Instruments there are some that very curiously Play upon several Instruments of Musick of which they use three sorts first Wind-Instruments made of Ivory in the shape of a Hunting-Horn hollow'd as deep as possible with a hole at the great end and an Inch and a half or two Inches broad Of these they have several sorts eight or ten whereof joyn'd in consort yield a pleasant sound The second sort are Drums made of whole hollowed Pieces of Timber covered over at one end with Leather or Skins of Wild Beasts and at the other end with a small Opening in which may be put two Fingers They bear commonly on four of these together sometimes striking with the Palms of the Hands flat-ways sometimes with one Stick and one Hand The third resembles a Pan or Sieve such as they use for Meal but the Wood bigger and deeper round about which are some long Holes cut two and two together each about a Fingers length In each Hole they put two Copper Plates fastned to the Wood with Copper Pins This Instrument being stirred gives a sound almost like the tinckling of little Bells on the Wheels At this time many of the Nobility salute the King How the Noble-men salute the King with leaping leaping after a manner which they call Chilomba which they do with great wide Paces and Strides along by the void spaces of the Cloth spread upon the rising Foot-pace this they perform backward and forward two or three times moving their Arms this way and that way Leaping thus the King and his Nobles receive them with out-stretched Arms and they clap together their Hands two or three times and then cast themselves just at the King's Feet into the Sand and rowl over and over in it in token of Subjection Such as are extraordinary Favourites having performed this Exercise run directly to the King and leaning with both Hands upon his Knees lay their Heads in his Bosom The Chiefest Noble-men have a Seat separate from the King 's to which for their greater Honor some of the inferior Subjects make the like Leaping and sometimes also not only one Noble-man salutes another so but the King himself though seldom uses it Before the running Passage Cryers about the King's Seat stand three or four Cryers with Instruments in their Hands of the fashion of Sheeps-bells but thick and heavy of Iron upon which they strike with a Stick to give notice of Silence or Quietness from whence proceeds a dull and hoarse sound These Cryers are also Officers of the City to proclaim the Orders of the King as also to signifie when any thing is lost or found They have no decorum of Modesty or Civil Deportment but shamelesly in what Company soever even in the King's presence discover their Nakedness before and behind in their unseemly and barbarous Dances Before the King's Cloth sit some Dwarfs Before the Kings Cloth sit Dwarfs with their backs towards him Pigmies indeed in Stature but with Heads of a prodigious bigness for the more exact deforming whereof they wear the Skin of some Beast tied round about them The Blacks say there is a Wilderness where reside none but Men of such a Stature who shoot those Gigantick Creatures the Elephants The common Name of these Dwarfs is Bakke Bakke but they are also call'd Mimo's There sit also certain White Men by the King Their Complexion with Skins on their Heads and indeed at distance seem like our Europeans having not only gray Eyes but red or yellow Hair yet coming nearer the discovery grows easie For they have not a lively Colour but white like the Skin of a dead Corps and their Eyes as it were fixed in their Heads like people that lie a dying The sight they have is but weak and dim turning the Eye like such as look asquint but at night they see strongly especially by Moon-shine Some are of opinion that these white Moors ought to be accounted Fairies Their Generating and to have sprung from a great-bellied Black with Child upon seeing a White as we read That a white Woman being Pregnant upon the seeing a Picture of a black Moor brought forth a black Child However this seems worthy remark if true as reported That these Whites of either Sex are incapable of Coition But Isaac Vossius in his Book of the Original of Nile and other Rivers Voscius lib. de Orig Nili lior Fluminum saith Though this sort of Men be generated of black Parents yet is it probable that in the Mid-land Countreys of Guinee People may be found of the like white Colour And in my Judgment continues he it may be concluded That they are a kind of Leapers and the difference of Colour proceeds from a Sickness common among the Moors especially those that dwell in dry and hot places for if these did not continually anoint the Skin they would all perhaps be afflicted with the same Evil For this cause there passeth no day among them without anointing for which they use not only Oyl but Fat and Oyntments wherewith they smear all their Bodies over and by that means not only prevent the parching of their Skin but makes it of a shining black the chiefest Beauty with them The Portuguese call these white Moors Albinoes and attempted to take some of them Prisoners in the Wars and carry them over to Brasile to work for they are very strong but so addicted to idleness that they had rather die than undertake any toylsom Labour The like sort of Men have been found by the Netherlanders and Portuguese not only in Africa but also in East-India in the Island of Borneo and in New Guince call'd the Countrey of Papos Thus far Vossius The King useth them in most of his Religious Ceremonies as in making Mokisies from whence themselves have generally that Name among the Inhabitants which in our Language properly signifies Field-devils This Solemn Appearance of the King in Publick begins commonly about three a clock in the Afternoon and continues till about four or five All the Wives of the Subjects of this Realm must yearly from the first to the fourth of January being the Seed-time break his Land to be sown for the space of about two hours going in length and one hour in breadth but the Men are then most of them in Arms and in their best
Company of fifty Soldiers that helpt him to harrase and spoil the Countrey Beyond the River Loze you pass to Lovato and Quintingo Lovato and Quintingo extending along the Sea-Coast and about thirty or forty miles into the Countrey as far as Sonho or Binda All these Dominions have in certain places their Boundaries and distinct Divisions strictly observed by the Sovasen or Lords The dividing of the Dominions which Limits for the most part are divers Mountains in the Kongoasch Tongue call'd Quibambis near which stand several Frontier Towns the usual Residences of the Sovasen by which means there seldom arise any differences among them concerning Bounds At the River Onza near the Sea-Coast stand three Villages Triangular-wise the first the South-side call'd Mongonendoin the second two miles more Inland Jagado and the third Lengo Not far distant from these appears Mussula or Mossola a Place of Trade frequented by the Hollanders The chief City bears the Name of Panga seated about five and twenty The Head City Panga or as some say six and thirty miles up into the Countrey six days Journey from Lovando St. Paulo in Angola and about the mid-way between the Dukedoms of Sonho and Pembo in the Mountains This Town takes up a great compass of Ground lying very straglingly built after the manner of Lovango and Cakongo and divided in the middle by two small Rivulets or Brooks This Dukedom hath the Command over many Villages Government and some pretence to the two Ondans lying to the Southward of Danda but it proves a bare Claim without any Possession This Lord of Bamba is very Puissant bearing the highest Command at the Congian Court being Captain General of all the Forces there yet holds the Place ad placitum Regis and is disposable by the Successor to whom he thinks fit The Inhabitants are Christians for the generality and keep among them for their Instruction and to perform sacred Offices divers Jesuits Mulatto's and Black Priests Songo The Teritory of Congo or Sonho the second Principality of Congo butts upon the River Zair and Lebunde on the South-side surrounded almost with a Wood call'd Findenguolla Some enlarge it from the River Ambois in seven Degrees and a half South Latitude to the red Mountains which border upon Lovango so that according to this last Description it conterminates in the North upon Ansiko in the South on the River Ambris and in the West upon the Sea This Territory comprehends many petty Lordships heretofore absolute but now made Tributaries to Congo The chief City Songo stands near a pretty large River A quarter of a mile distant forward comes the Village Pinde which the Duke hath lent the Portuguese for a Place to Trade in Sundo Sundo beginning about eight miles from St. Salvador the Metropolis of the whole Kingdom spreads it self beyond the Cataracts of Zair by both its Shores to Ansiko towards the North. On the East-side it runs to the place where Zair unites it self with Baranka and from thence to the Foot of the Crystal Mountains and in the South touches upon Pango The chief City also call'd Sundo the Residence of the Governor hath its Situation on the Borders of Pongo by the Water-falls of Zair The fourth Province stil'd Pango The Territory of Pango hath Sundo in the North Batta in the South Pombo the Dwelling-place of the King in the West and the Mountains of the Sun in the East The Head City seated on the Westerly Shore of the River Barbele was formerly call'd Panguelongos but at present Pango heretofore free but now acknowledging the King of Congo whose Protection they crav'd against the Incursions and Inroads of their Neighbors Batta The Territory of Batta formerly call'd Aghirimba to the North-East or rather full North of Pango about a hundred a Spanish Miles miles into the Countrey reaches Eastward above the River Barbele to the Mountains of the Sun and the Salt-Petre Hill and on the South dilates to the Burning Mountains by the Portuguese call'd Montes Quemados it 's eminentest City also Batta This Tract between Pango and Batta are fruitful and yield all sorts of Provision for the support of life All along the Way from St. Salvadore to Batta stand Huts the Dwelling-places of the Inhabitants About a hundred and fifty miles from Batta Easterly The Territory of Conde lieth the Territory of Conde or Pembo de Okango through which the strong-running and deep River Coango makes its way till meeting and intermingling with the larger Waters of Zair it loses both Name and Current This Countrey from the prevalency of an antient Custom always hath a Woman to Rule it who pays Tribute to Mani-Batta or The Prince of Batta who receives it in the Name of the King of Congo although he reap no benefit thereof To the East beyond the River Congo according to the relation of the Condians are found white People with long Hair but not altogether so white as the Europeans BANSA oste de Stadt SALVADOR Hoost-stadt van het Rijk CONGO BANSA or SASâ—â—DOR the Chief City of ye. Kingdom of CONGO The Lordship of Pembo stands as it were in the middle of the whole The Territory of Pembo encompassed by all the rest and contains the head City of the Kingdom formerly by the Blacks call'd Banza that is Head but at present by the Portuguese St. Salvadore and by Marmol Ambos Congo It stands about the middle of Congo on a very high Quarr-Mountain eight and thirty Dutch miles or as others Write fifty Italian miles from the Sea South-East from the Mouth of the River Zair and delightfully shaded with Palm Tamarinde Bakovens Kolas Lemons and Orange-Trees The top of the Mountain Otreiro yields a curious prospect of all the adjacent Places at great distance both to West and North without any interposing stop to the Eye This Town hath neither Inclosure nor Wall except a little on the South-side which the first King built and afterwards gave that part to the Portuguese to inhabit for their conveniency Here also his Royal Palace shews it self which he surrounded with Walls in such manner that between it and the Town remain'd a great Plain in the middle whereof they have erected a beautiful Church besides these Noble-mens Houses and others fill up the top of the Mountain for every Grandee settles his Dwelling as near the Court as he may be permitted and with his Retinue takes up as much Ground as an ordinary Town may be builded on The common Houses stand in good order and appear very uniform The King 's Court. most of them large well contriv'd and fenced about but generally Thatcht except a few belonging to the Portuguese The King's Palace is exceeding large surrounded with four Walls Houses whereof that towards the Portuguese part consists of Chalk and Stone but all the rest of Straw very neatly wrought the Lodgings Dining-Rooms Galleries and other
Cazado dangerous to Sailers being sometimes cover'd with Water The Air bears a good temper and the Earth though sandy towards the Sea yet affords all things necessary for the use of Man The Mountains rich not onely in Crystal but other Minerals Northerly it becomes more full of Trees to the heighth of two and twenty Degrees South Latitude from whence there drives into the Sea a hundred and fifty Miles from the Shore certain green Weeds call'd Saigossa and seems as a Mark to Sea-men whereby they know how near they are to the Main Land of Africa At a great distance also are seen many Mews or Sea-Pies with black Feathers at the end of their Wings which assure the Mariners by their appearance two or three together that they are infallibly near the African Continent The Government of this Jurisdiction rests in the hands of a King Government who as an absolute Monarch Commands all at his pleasure yet some Lords whose Commands lie by the Sea-shore pride themselves with the empty Title of Kings while they neither possess Wealth or Countreys whose Products are sufficient to make them known to Foreigners of the least esteem Kaffrarie or the Countrey of Kaffers otherwise call'd Hottentots KAffrarie The Countrey of the Kaffers or according to Marmol Quefrerie took Denomination from the Kaffers the Natives thereof which others name Hottentots by reason of their lameness and corruption of Speech without either Law or Religion Maginus spreads this Countrey along the Sea-Coast from the West-side of Cabo Negro lying in sixteen Degrees and fourteen Minutes to Cape of Good Hope or Cabo de bona Esperansa and from thence up Northward to the River Magnice otherwise call'd St. Esprit but with what ground of reason we must leave to de determin'd Sanutus begins Kaffrarie at the Mountains of the Moon near the Tropick of Capricorn in three and twenty Degrees and a half South Latitude so along the Western Coast to the Cape of Good Hope This beginning of Kaffrarie according to most Authors Davitii Lahasse Ethiopie p. 475. from that remarkable Boundary the Tropick of Capricorn hath been indisputably setled but they spread the end of it as we said to the Cape of Good Hope and Zanguebar Between which Northward along the Sea-Coast are none or very few distinct Kingdoms and therefore this being the outermost Southern Borders may not inconveniently be extended to Zanguebar so that the whole Tract lying Southward of Zanguebar and the Kingdom of Monomotapa are to be understood in the general Name of Kaffrarie So then according to this last limiting it hath on the East and South the Indian and in the West the Ethiopick-Sea which meet together to the Southward of the Cape of Good Hope and on the North at Mataman and Monopotapa This Countrey so Bounded lieth encompassed in the North with those high cold bushy and sharp Mountains of the Moon always cover'd with Snow nevertheless it hath about the Cape in some places several large and pleasant Valleys into which flow divers Rivulets from the Hills It is not divided into any particular or known Kingdoms yet inhabited by several People some Govern'd by Kings others by Generals and some are without any Government at all We will give you a glimpse of them in their Customs and Natures as far as any Discovery hath hitherto given us any information and that from the hands of such as for some time lived on the Spot The chiefest People hitherto discover'd in this Southerly part of Africa are the Gorachouqua's Goringhaiqua's Goringhaikona's Kochoqua's Great and Little Kariguriqua's Hosaa's Chaniouqua's Kobona's Sonqu's Namaqua's Heusaqua's Brigoudins and Hankumqua's the eight first neighbor the Cape and the farthest not above threescore miles from it The three first viz. Gorachouqua's and Goringhaiqua's have their Dwellings within four or five hours Journey of the Great Cape but the Gorinhaikona's or Water-men are within a quarter of an hours walk from thence GORINGHAICONAS THe Goringhaicona's or Water-men have a Governor call'd Demtaa who was once taken Prisoner by the Hollanders but was afterwards by carrying himself with Civility released and setled in his old Dominion Their best Seat contains scarce five Houses and not above fifty People with Women and Children living in a condition of Poverty below all the rest of the Hottentots GORACHOUQUAS THe Gorachouqua's are about three or four hundred fighting Men besides Women and Children and maintain themselves by Pasturage and Profit of good Cattel as Sheep and Cows Their Governor call'd Chora hath a Brother call'd Jakin both going in tallow'd Skins but they have great store of Cattel GORINHAIQUAS THe Goringhaiqua's or Cape-mans by reason that they always lived nearest to it are more than equal in People to those last mention'd for they can between both raise about a thousand fighting Men yet all their Towns and Villages make up but ninety five poor Huts cover'd with Mats These People obey a Governor whom they call Gogosoa who was in the Year Sixteen hundred sixty two according to the averment of such as had been there a hundred years of age and had two Sons the eldest nam'd Osinghiakanna and the other Otegnoa both which alway sought to over-Rule their Father but chiefly the eldest by inventing all means to make him away In the Year Sixteen hundred fifty nine The original of the War between the Gorinbaiqua's and the Notherlanders there grew between these People and the Hollanders a Dissention for the possession of the Countrey about the Cape where the Natives endeavor'd to turn them out alledging they had possessed it beyond all remembrance and with such malice did they manage it that they slew many of the Dutch when they saw opportunity at the same time robbing them also of Cattel which they drove away so swift that they could not be shot always chusing to Fight in stormy and rainy Weather as well knowing that then they could do but little Execution with their Arms. These upon information received by advice of one of their own People by them call'd Nomoa and by the Netherlanders Doman who went from thence to Battavie in one of the Companies Ships and stay'd there five or six years observing their actions with such inquisitive diligence that he remembred no small part thereof Doman being come again to the Cape in those Ships which were order'd for Holland kept a great while amongst them in Dutch Habit but at last betook himself to his old Companions informing and instructing them in all the actions and intentions of the Netherlanders as also the manner and use of their Arms. He together with another stout Soldier by the Hottentots call'd Garabinga were always their Captains and with great skill and conduct led on and brought off their followers always with success After the War had continued three Moneths A Skirmish between five Hottentots and five Netherlanders in August Sixteen hundred fifty and nine on a Morning went out five Hottentots one of
are divided into fifteen or sixteen Clans each about a quarter of an hours Journey asunder yet all comprehended within the Walls of four hundred and fifty Houses Every Division or Clan consisting either of thirty six and thirty forty or fifty Houses more or less all set round together and a little distance one from another They possess Flocks of goodly Cattel well near an hundred thousand and above two hundred thousand Sheep which have no Wooll but long curl'd Hair They are all under one Prince or King They are under one King entituled Coehque who dwells about fifty Miles from the Cape and for his better ease appoints under him a Deputy or Viceroy The Coehque who Reign'd in the Year Sixteen hundred sixty one was nam'd Oldasoa his Viceroy Gonnomoa and the Third Person in the Kingdom Coucosoa Gonnomoa was exceedingly black beyond all others of his own People a gross and heavy-bodied Man having three Wives and by them many Children whereas the King himself who deceas'd in the Year Sixteen hundred sixty one of a languishing and painful Disease never had more than one This Prince was a Person handsom-bodied well-set very courteous and much bewail'd by his Subjects He left behind him his onely Daughter nam'd Mamis handsom and very comely of feature but Camoisie-nos'd as all the Blacks in general are Great and Little CARIGURIQUAS or HOSAAS THese lie most in the Valleys Great and Little Cariguriqua's boasting of nothing but very fair Cattel whereof exceeding choice and careful because they have nothing else in the dry time of Summer to live upon If you go farther up into the Countrey you come to the Chainouquas Cabonas Sanquas Namaquas Heusaquaes and Hancumquas CHAINOUQUA'S THe Chainouquas at present live three Moneths Journey into the Countrey Chainouqua's with their Families Retinue Wife Children and Cattel according to the report of the other wild Natives very near the Cobonas being not above four hundred Men but rich in Cattel Their Prince They are under a Prince call'd Sousoa an old Man had two Wives but both dead and hath a Son nam'd Goeboe whose right Leg broken in pieces by an Elephant is wholly useless to him Upon every Remove he rides upon an Ox and must be lift up and down His Clothing is a fine Leopards Skin with the spotted side turn'd inwards and the ill-favour'd fleshy side well liquor'd with Grease according to the manner of the Countrey outwards CABONA'S THe Cabona's are a very black People Cabona's with Hair that hangs down their Backs to the Ground These are such inhumane Cannibals that if they can get any Men Cannibals they broyl them alive and eat them up They have some Cattel and plant Calbasses with which they sustain themselves They have by report of the Hottentots rare Portraitures which they find in the Mountains and other Rarities But by reason of their distance and barbarous qualities the Whites have never had any converse with them In the Year Sixteen hundred fifty nine one of the Chainouquas call'd Chaihantimo went into the Cabonas Countrey and with the help of the People took and brought thence one of their Women whom he made his Wife The Netherlanders stirred up with a desire to see this strange sort of People desired Chaihantimo that he would order this Woman to come to the Fort of Good Hope whereto upon promise of a Requital he consented and sent some of his People to fetch and tell her That her new-married Husband would desire her to come to a People call'd Dutchmen who wore a great many Clothes such as neither she nor any of her Nation had ever seen This Woman partly out of obedience to her Husband and partly for Novelty to see Strangers after two days preparation drest in her best Apparel came thither under the Conduct of thirty or forty Chainouquas for an Aid and Guard against the Cockoquas with whom the Chainouquas were at that time in War But after some days travelling she was set upon in a great Wood and kill'd and her People put to flight who hasted to the Cape to Chaihantimo to carry him News of this sad misfortune whereupon he immediately withdrew to his own Countrey to revenge himself by force of Arms for this Injury SONQUA'S THe Sonqua's live in a very high Mountain and though little in Stature Sonquas yet defend themselves by their Numbers wherein they exceed their Neighbors They have no Cattel but live by their Bowes and Arrows Maintain themselves by Hunting which they handle very expertly in shooting Badgers that shelter under the Rocks and in the heat of the day come forth and play rowling in the Sand and also by hunting other Beasts especially wild Horses and Mules The Horses have very plump and round Buttocks all over striped with Yellow Black Red and Sky-colour but the Mules are only strip'd with White and Chesnut-colour The Sonqua's in the Year Sixteen hundred sixty two brought one of the Skins to the Cape of Good Hope which the Netherlanders bought for Tobacco and having stuffed it with Hay hung it up in the first Court of the Fort to be seen by all that came thither in the Ships as a Rarity The Badgers Flesh affords them an acceptable Food Food for upon that and Roots they chiefly live They are great Robbers and Thieves stealing from their Neighbors all the Cattel they can lay hands on and driving the same into the Mountains hide themselves and Prey about without possibility of discovery Their Houses are onely interwoven Boughs Houses cover'd with Broom and those numerous by reason they never pull them down but still build up new They wear onely Lappets made of the Skins of Wild Beasts sew'd together Clothes The Women have against the heat and burning of the Sun-beams a Quitazel or Fan of Ostrich-Feathers made fast round about their Heads NAMAQUAS THe Namaqua's live about eighty or ninety Dutch Miles East-North-East from the Cape of Good Hope Namaqua's to whom in the year Sixteen hundred sixty one the Governor of the Fort sent thirteen Netherlanders to inquire if no Gold Netherlanders sent to the Namaqua's to find out gold or any other Rarities were to be had amongst them who upon their arrival were entertain'd with signs of great Friendship and presented with Sheep and as a further manifestation of kindness they were welcomed with rare Musick of about an hundred Musitians in Consort which stood all in a Ring every one with a Reed in his hand but of an unequal length in the middle of whom stood a Man that kept Time which yielded a pleasant Sound like our Trumpets After the ending of this Musick which continu'd two or three hours upon the intreaty of the King they went into his House and were treated with Milk and Mutton On the other side the Netherlanders presented the King with some Copper Beads Brandy and Tobacco which they accepted kindly
they lay him naked upon the earth and cruelly beat him with a Rope full of knots which punishment the Judges themselves are subject to and the greatest Lords and Magistrates besides the Confiscation of their Estates and Offices If the Judges have any difficult business whereof they can find no proof they give the suspected person the Bark of a Tree cut small in Water and if he can keep that potion without Vomiting they clear him otherwise they condemn him to death These People are for the most part Pagans they call their chiefest God Maziry that is The Creator of all things They shew great reverence to a certain Maid call'd Peru in whose honor they shut up their Daughters in Cloysters as Recluses Moreover Religion they set apart as Sacred some days of the Moon and the Birth of their King but the innumerable number of Erroneous Opinions darkens all the Splendor of their Belief which they should have to God the Creator of Heaven and Earth But the earnest endeavour of the Portuguese Jesuites hath converted many to Christianity and brought them to receive Baptism In the Year Fifteen hundred and sixty the King himself with his Mother and above three hundred Nobles and chiefest Lords of the Realm were Baptiz'd by the hands of the Jesuit call'd Gonzales Sylveyra but afterwards at the instigation of some Mahumetans he was slain by the King's command with the imputation of a Sorcerer but a little time discovering their malice they made satisfaction for his undeserv'd death with the loss of their own Heads The Kingdom of AGAG and DORO with the Territory of TOROKA or BUTUA AMongst the substitute Dominions of Monomotapa are Agag and Doro bordering in the East on the New-Land and in the West at the Kingdom of Takua Toroka or Torea by some call'd Butua or Buttua takes beginning according to Linschot and Pigafet at the Fish-Cape and so to the River Magnice or Sante Esprit having in the South the foot of the Mountains of the Moon and the aforemention'd Cape in the North the River Magnice and in the West the Stream of Bravagull The chiefest Cities are Zenebra and Fatuka In this Countrey far to the In-land on a Plain The building Simbaoe in the middle of many Iron-Mills stands a famous Structure call'd Simbaoe built square like a Castle with hew'n Stone of a wonderful bigness the Walls are more than five and twenty Foot broad but the heighth not answerable above the Gate appears an Inscription which cannot be read or understood nor could any that have seen it know what people us'd such Letters Near this place are more such Buildings call'd by the same name signifying a Court or Palace and for that all the places where the Emperor at any time makes his abode are call'd Simbaoe this Building is guest to be one of the King's Houses The Inhabitants report it a work of the Devil themselves onely Building with Wood and aver that for strength it exceeds the Fort of the Portuguese at the Sea-shore about a hundred and fifty miles from thence The Emperor keeps a Garrison in it as well for the safeguard of the place as of several women he maintains there A little way from the Sea-shore are many beautiful places richly Verdur'd with Grass and stockt with Cattel but destitute of Wood so that the Inhabitants use the dry'd Dung of Beasts for Fuel They have many rich Gold-Mines whereof Boro Gold Mines and Quitici are the names of two lying about a mile and a half from Sofala The Habit of the People is but mean Clothes being onely the rough Skins of Beasts The Wealth of the Countrey besides the beforemention'd Mines Riches consists in Elephants-Teeth whereof they sell infinite numbers and Salt which they send abroad into most parts of Africa to their no small advantage The City Fatuka boasts great abundance of Gold Silver and Pretious-Stones beyond all her neighbors They have a Prince of their own but a Vassal to the Emperor Government his name Buro The Countrey of INHAMBANE and INHAMIOR THis Kingdom lies a little within the Countrey under the Torrid Zone Jarrik lib. 5. c. 9. having for its Metropolis a City call'd Tonge The heat is so great that the people of Europe residing there for Trade are not able to endure it but are discommoded by several strange and troublesome diseases The Inhabitants generally keep to their ancient Idolatry though many by the diligence of the Portugal Jesuites have embrac'd the Christian Religion and in particular as we told you Gonzalves Silveyra in the year Fifteen hundred and sixty Baptiz'd the King and his whole Court The place where the King keeps his Court lieth about half a mile from the Town Sema the residence of many Portuguese The Kingdom of MONOE-MUGI or NIMEAMAYE THe great Kingdom of Monoe-Mugi The borders of the Kingdom of Monoe-Mugi Pigafet lib. 2. c. 9. Conge Jarrik lib. 3. c. 3. or Mohememugi by others call'd Nimeamaye scituate over against Mombaza Quiloa and Melinde hath for Northern borders Abyssinies or Prester-John's Countrey and the Kingdom of the great Makoko in the South Monomotapa and Mosambique in the East Mombaza and Quiloa in the West on the River Nyle on the North-side between that and Prester-John's Countrey lie some small Kingdoms which being weak of Forces sometimes pay Tribute to the King of Monoe-Mugi and sometimes to the Abyssines These Countreys abound with Gold Silver Copper and Elephants The Inhabitants said to be white Skin'd and of bigger stature than the Europeans go naked on the upper part of their bodies Cloathing but over their nether parts wear Silk or Cotton They use also for Ornament Chains or Bracelets of Chymical Stones which glister like Glass and are brought from Cambaye These Beads serve them also in stead of Money Gold being of no value with them This King holds an amicable correspondence with Quiloa Melinde and Mombaza by which means Silks Cotton-Stuffs the aforesaid Beads of Cambaye and many other Commodities are brought into the Countrey and barter'd for Gold Silver Copper and Ivory He liveth also in a League of Peace with the great Makoko whereby from hence some Black Merchants have Converse and Trading with the Portuguese that keep their Markets in the Kingdom of Fungeno as also in Pombo d' Okango At the end of this Kingdom on the East by information of some Black Merchants of the Kingdom of Nimeamaye given to several Portuguese lieth a great Lake out of which many Rivers by them unknown take their Original adding moreover that in this Lake are abundance of Islands inhabited by Blacks and that on the East-side of these Lakes Land may be seen where sometimes they hear the sound of Bells perhaps brought thither by the Abyssines and discern some Buildings which they suppose Churches from this East-side sometime in Boats there came Tauney-Men and by chance Blacks yet the sides of the Lake are possess'd by persons
time the Sun shines from the Vertical Point upon the Inhabitants Heads without making a Shadow either to the North or South which happens twice a year at Noon The reason of this double Winter seems to proceed from the violent attractions of Heat caus'd by the scorching beams of the Sun which so fill the Air with watry Exhalations that the Sun as clouded therewith shines not out and so those dusky Vapors dissolve themselves in great and continuing Rains the onely sign of Winter the over-heated Air hardly chill'd thereby The rainy Moneths continue from December to April when all the low Land lies under Water Our Summer-Moneths May June July and August make their Spring and with them Summer begins when the Sun first enters into the beginning of Capricorn and continues till it comes to the beginning of Aries that is in December January February and the beginning of March and then the Air is very moist and hot so that Foreigners keep themselves in places under ground yet oftentimes can neither escape great Sicknesses or Death whereas the Natives being of a cold and dry Constitution live in good health yet when the heat arrives at the heighth it makes the Inhabitants themselves so faint that they can scarce go and the Ground so hot that they must wear Shooes with double Soles and thick Corks to save their Feet from scorching The Sicknesses which proceed from the untemperate heat Unwholsomness of the Air. are burning and pestilential Fevers seizing Strangers in eight days time first by shivering and coldness afterwards with heat through all their Limbs for two hours together and with such violence that the infected Party oftentimes on the fourth or seventh or at longest on the fifteenth day dies but if he out-live that time he grows well again on a sudden and so may continue except he prejudice himself by gluttony or drinking for the best Medicine is a moderate Diet to eat little and fast much besides to purge the Body with Juice of Cassia Fistula and sometimes to breath a Vein and take away superfluous Blood The Sickness call'd Bitios de Ku ranges here also being cured with Juice of Lemons as before related The Pox is so customary to the Natives that they make nothing of it but suddenly and with great ease cure it by means of Quicksilver yet proves mortal to many Strangers who ought therefore to be very careful how they meddle with the black Women by reason of the inequality of their Constitutions The Dropsie is very frequent which they cure by applying outwardly the Oyl of Coco-Nuts and the Juice of several Herbs of which the Negro's have good knowledge Above a Century of years since the Kings of Portugal hearing of the fruitfulness of the Soil sent some over thither who died through the unwholsomness of the Air Again he sent others who went first into Guinee from thence to Angola and at last setled on this Island that they might as it were Pedetentim step by step be enabled to endure the evil temperature thereof Some have reported that John King of Portugal sold the Jews for Slaves upon their refusing to embrace the Christian Religion and Baptizing their Children sent them thither from whence the Islanders seem to be extracted No small number of sick and dead Men had the Netherlanders on this Island when in the Year Sixteen hundred forty one under the Command of Admiral Jol otherwise call'd Houtebeen they overcame this Island for there scarce remain'd twelve sound and healthful Men in a Company and Jol himself with most of the other Commanders died Nay the Distemper came at last with such wide paces amongst them that there scarce remain'd any to be upon the Watch or stand Sentinells and not Sea-men enough to Man two Ships wherefore they sent to Prince Maurice in Brasile for Soldiers Provisions and Wine for refreshment Most of them died of great pains in their Heads some of the Griping in the Guts in three or four days The causes whereof might be their too much eating of Black Sugar or the Milk of Coco-Nuts which occasions Loosness but indeed the principal cause was those malignant Fogs against which they had no shelter This venomous Air caus'd a greater Destruction amongst the People of the Admiral Peter Verdoes coming thither with his Fleet in the Year Sixteen hundred and ten in November when within fourteen days there died above a thousand of which the Admiral himself and the other Admiral Storm together with seventeen Sea-Commanders and all the Land-Officers except one Nay the Disease raged at length among them with so great fury that the Bellies of some being open'd their Cauls were turn'd to Water The Ground is tough The Soil and of a yellowish Russet Colour and by reason of the many Mists which fall every Night it grows soft like Wax and becomes fit to produce all sorts of Grain Fruits and Plants The goodness and fertility thereof appears by this That so soon as a plain Place is left untill'd or laid waste Trees grow upon it and shoot up to a great height in few days which the Blacks cut down and burn to plant the Sugar-Canes in their Ashes which grow every where in the Valleys but yield less Juyce than those in Brasile The Canes Planted in the fore-mention'd Ashes must have five Moneths time to ripen in For that which is Planted in January is Cut in June and that of February in July And in this manner they Cut and Plant all the Year through The full-grown Canes when cut are grownd small in Water-Mills which the Portuguese call Ingenhas or by the Labor of Slaves or Oxen in places where there are no Rivers Afterwards they put the Juyce into great Kettles and boyl it over the Fire to cleanse it and with the Refuse they feed the Hogs which eating nothing else grow exceeding fat and are esteem'd such wholesom and sweet Flesh that they Diet therewith the Sick to recover them to their Health Seven Ships Lading of Sugar this Island sends forth every Year that is Four for Portugal two for the Canary and Madera Islands and one for England And there might be a great deal more made and also whiter but they want Pots and other Necessaries to cleanse it and also Refiners to work it The Portuguese have sent for many Artists from the Maderas to make their Sugar whiter and harder but could never effect the same the Air making their Labor fruitless because it doth not suffer it to dry And therefore the Sugar-makers are necessitated to set the Loaves upon low Planks inclos'd round and to set them upon Boughs of thick dry Wood which being set on Fire make no Flame nor Smoak but at length glimmer like glowing Coals and so dry it as in Stoves Before the coming of the Portuguese there grew no Sugar-canes nor Ginger but they brought them thither and planted them In the Year Sixteen hundred forty five there stood on this Island four and
him good success the Blacks do him a kind of Homage lying down upon both Knees clapping their hands and kissing the King's Hand the Portuguese sit kneeling upon one Knee and so the Priests and Clergy by that humble posture acknowledging his Soveraignty After the eight days past the King appears in the Market and makes a Speech to the People expressing his readiness for the performing of that which was propounded to him with assurance to them that he will seek nothing more than the quiet and welfare of his Kingdoms and Subjects and the propagating of the Christian Faith The People of Congo take the Oath of Fidelity to their King like other Christians but forget it quickly Murdering him upon any sleight occasion either by Insurrections or Treason so that within these forty or fifty years they have had many Kings for if all things go not to their minds or if it Rains too much or too little or if any other accident happens the King bears the blame The Earl of Songo the most Potent in all Congo was subject to this King but considering the Woods of Findemguolla which surrounds his Countrey like a Bulwark he fortifi'd it and made it almost impregnable so casting off the Yoke he will not acknowledge the King of Congo for his Soveraign but onely as a Friend of Songo Formerly this Earl before the taking of the City Lovando St. Paulo by the Netherlanders in the Year Fifteen hundred forty and three by instigation of the Portuguese would have burnt their Ware-houses but that he was afterwards prevented and his anger aswaged This Province of Songo yields Copper There is Copper in Sougo much better than that of Congo and some Cotton but they Vend little of it In the Year sixteen hundred thirty six Wars between the King of Songo and the Earl of Souho the King of Congo Don Alvares the second of that Name for some cause given by the foremention'd Earl with a great Company of Men and the assistance of a Company of eighty Portuguese Soldiers of Lovando St. Paulo drew into the Field But the Songo's by a sudden Sallying out of the Wood The Overthrow of the King of Congo routed the King's Army and took him Prisoner so that for his release and restoration to his Kingdom he was forced to give to the Earl two Territories the one a Principality call'd Mokata a great Land of Tillage lying where the River Zair bordereth nearest to Songo Yet afterwards the Quarrel was renew'd and Forces on both sides drawn into the Field A second Overthrow and the Controversie coming to be decided by the Sword the King lost the Day and together with it many Slaves These two Victories exceedingly puffed up the Earl It was imputed to the King as a great miscarriage that this last he drew into the Field with a small Force whereas he hath innumerable People under his Command but this oversight he quickly amended and hath taken severe revenge of the Songo's for the Losses formerly received But this kept them not long quiet A new War for the old Earl being dead in the Year Sixteen hundred forty and one there arose a new and bloody War between the King and the Earl Don Daniel du Silva arising upon this ground When after the Decease of Don Michael who Rul'd about the Year Sixteen hundred and six his Son the foremention'd Don Daniel du Silva could not come to succeed because a Faction rais'd against him was too strong he fled to the Duke of Bamba in whose Court he remain'd a long time but at last by the help of his Confederates got the possession of his Inheritance and burning with revenge for his sufferings and disgrace he gave occasion of Quarrel by refusing to request of the King of Congo according to the old Custom the confirmation of his Possessions first accusing him as one that had a hand in his long Expulsion and therewithall adding that the Election of his Subjects did enough confirm him in his Government and therefore he needed no other The King of Congo enraged hereat and accounting it a great dis-reputation and diminution to his Royal Authority to be so Bearded as a manifestation of his high displeasure placed his Son the Prince Don Alphonso in the Principality of Makata formerly given as we have said to the Earl of Songo for releasing of the King Don Alvarez giving him in charge not onely to keep it but from thence to make War upon the Earl Hereupon Discontents daily growing on the King of Congo raised a great Army which he gave to Don Alphonso who therewith invaded Songo and using all the extremities of War both against his Countrey and Subjects But the Songo's a very Warlike People in the Year Sixteen hundred forty and five the nine and twentiteth of April in a Pitch'd Battel defeated and put to flight the King's Army and took the fore-mention'd Prince of Mokata together with many Grandees Prisoners and according to the Custom of the Countrey chopt off all their Heads onely he kept Alphonso Prisoner being his Cousin and would not suffer him to depart from him The King by this overthrow provoked more than ever to take revenge raised in the following Year so great a Force that he doubted not therewith to over-run the whole Earldom at once Of this Army consisting of almost all the Nobility together with three or four hundred Moulatto's the Duke of Bamba was made General and therewith drew near to the Borders of Songo but was unawares fall'n upon by an Ambuscade out of the Wood Emtinda Guola on the last of July and his Army not onely totally defeated A third Overthrow but the Duke himself necessitated to yield to the Earl some Places and Countreys The Duke of Bamba taken Prisoner before wrested from him for the release of Prince Alphonso his Son Who was no sooner come home in safety but the Congo's inclin'd to the old revenge and not being able to digest the disgrace began new Quarrels which quickly broke forth into a great flame During this War the King sent Ambassadors with Letters to Brazile to Grave Maurice Ambassadors sent both from Congo and Songo to Brazile who had the Government of that Countrey for the States of Holland together with many Slaves for a Present to the Council and two hundred more with a Gold Chain to Grave Maurice himself Not long after their arrival came thither also three Ambassadors from the Earl one of which was Shipt from thence to Holland to the States the two other required of Grave Maurice that he would give no Assistance to the King of Congo which in some manner he hearkned to and to that end wrote Letters to their Governors in Congo and Angola not to intermeddle in the Wars of these two Princes for that they were both in League with the Hollanders Afterwards the King and the Duke of Bamba the second time sent Ambassadors to Grave