A TERRIBLE QUEEN 183 



clad in lion or leopard skins, ornate with plumes, 

 and armed with axe, sword, and bow, surrounded 

 by some fifty warriors, whom, on pain of death, 

 she insisted should dress as women and be called 

 her wives, and from whom unfaithfulness was 

 only tolerated if followed by the murder of their 

 children in such liaisons. Her every venture was 

 preceded by the sacrifice of man or babe, whom she 

 slew with her own hands, and her invasions were 

 terrible in their destruction, as they were skilfully 

 planned. When over sixty years old, advancing 

 age, or as some say the sight of a crucifix, caused 

 the Queen to revert to Christianity and friendship 

 with the Portuguese ; and she became as terrible 

 in her zeal for the faith as she had been in her 

 pagan practices and discipline, martyrizing un- 

 willing converts, and unchecked by the priests 

 in her inhumanities. She died in the faith in 

 1663, at the age of over eighty years ; and the 

 kingdom which she had wrested from the fiercest 

 of African tribes, and governed with iron will 

 and discipline, crumbled in the weak hands of her 

 successors to vassal states of Portugal. 



During this period the Jesuits had again 

 plotted against Portuguese power in Angola, 

 several of them having in consequence to be sent 

 back to Lisbon in disgrace. 



While under the suzerainty of Spain, Portugal 

 became involved in her wars with Holland. 

 Since the beginning of the seventeenth century 

 the Dutch had sent naval expeditions to the West 

 Coast of Africa, in order to obtain slaves for their 

 possessions in America. After several minor ex- 



