258 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



Chinese. They are from the south coast of West Africa, 

 between south latitude 4° and 15° ; a district of country 

 that contains the kingdoms of Loango, Congo, Angola, 

 Matamba, and Buengula, which was discovered by the 

 Portuguese, in 1481, ever since which they have made 

 slaves and converts of the inhabitants, the greater por- 

 tion of whom, notwithstanding their contact with the 

 numerous Portuguese settlements in their country, and 

 the strenuous efforts of the missionaries for more than 

 three centuries, still remain sunk in the grossest bar- 

 barism and idolatry, going almost naked, living like 

 beasts, and worshiping, if worship it can be called, the 

 sun, moon, stars and hideous beasts and reptiles. Much 

 of the country, back from the coast, is desert and in- 

 habited by elephants, leopards, monkeys, monstrous ser- 

 pents, and terrible crocodiles. 



This country is sometimes called Lower Guinea, and 

 was formerly a great slave mart for Christians engaged 

 in the traffic, and is the coast from which the great trade 

 of the present day is still carried on — sometimes by citi- 

 zens of the United States. 



It is from this country that abominable, noisy domestic 

 fowl, known as the Guinea hen, was brought. It is a 

 country so infested with venomous serpents, some of 

 which are more than thirty feet in length, and reptiles, 

 and insects, that it is unfit for the residence of human 

 beings. The negroes from that coast, when brought here 

 and left in a state of slavery, are not found sighing to 

 return to their own native land. 



We are sometimes wont to complain of the little ant in 

 this country, while in Guinea they exist in such quanti- 

 ties that they drive the inhabitants from their huts, and 

 have been known to destroy the carcass of an ox in one 

 night, and often would destroy the debilitated sick, if not 

 guarded against. 



The Eboes and Mongullas are jet black, medium 

 height, chuckle-headed, thick lips, hearty eaters, inclined 

 to grow fat, seldom possessing any mechanical skill. 



