186 THROUGH ANGOLA 



the Gingas, came to a, head in an open rebellion 

 for more pay in 1091. The rebellion was only 

 suppressed after the leader had been shot and 

 many of the troops driven to the forests of the 

 interior/ 



The influx of Italian Capuchin priests to 

 Angola in the middle of the seventeenth century 

 especially affected the province of Sonho, which 

 became a stronghold of the Christian faith, and 

 the attack on these people by the Portuguese at 

 the instance and with the aid of the King of the 

 Congo and the Jaggas, was as unfortunate as it 

 was destructive ; for after a preliminary success, 

 the invaders were defeated and destroyed by the 

 ability and courage of the Sonho chief, who 

 taught his people to realize the feebleness of the 

 firearms of the period, and to despise the presents 

 which the Portuguese threw into the native ranks 

 to produce cupidity and confusion. One Portu- 

 guese survivor of the expedition, sent back 

 to Loanda with the ears of his dead comrades, 

 warned his countrymen, and saved the town and 

 fleet from destruction. 



At the instance of Rome, Merolla, the historian 

 of this campaign, actually preached against the 

 slave trade in Sonho between 1683 and 1G87, 

 but limited his prohibition to heretics like the 

 Dutch and English, and went so far as to ex- 

 communicate and punish those who disobeyed. 

 The earlier methods of conversion used by the 

 Catholic priests, such as baptism by the eating 

 of salt (a luxury in the country), the distribution 

 of crucifixes and medallions, and even the offer 



