INTRODUCTION. xi 



It is true, the first notice of this river is but vaguely given. 

 Diego Cam, in proceeding down the coast, observed a 

 strong current setting from the land, the waters of which 

 were discoloured, and when tasted, found to be fresh. These 

 circumstances led him to conclude, that he was not far 

 from the mouth of some mighty river, which conclusion 

 was soon confirmed by a nearer approach. He named it 

 the Congo, as that was the name of the country through 

 which it flowed, but he afterwards found that the natives 

 called it the Zaire ; two names which, since that time, 

 have been used indiscriminately by Europeans. It now 

 appears that Zaire is the general appellative for any great 

 river, like the Nile in North Africa, and the Ganges in 

 Hindostan, and that the native name of the individual 

 river in question is Moienzi enzaddi, or the river which ab- 

 sorbs all other rivers. 



All subsequent accounts agree in the magnitude and 

 velocity of this river. In the " Chronica da Companhia 

 de Jezus em Portugal," after noticing the Egyptian Nile, 

 and the common but erroneous notion of its proceeding 

 from the same lake with the Zaire, (namely Zembre, " the 

 mother of waters,") the latter is described as " so violent 

 and so powerful from the quantity of its water, and 

 the rapidity of its current, that it enters the sea on the 

 western side of Africa, forcing a broad and free passage (in 

 spite of the ocean) with so much violence, that for the space 

 of twenty leagues it preserves its fresh water unbroken by 

 the briny billows which encompass it on every side; as 

 if this noble river had determined to try its strength in 

 pitched battle with the ocean itself, and alone deny it the 

 tribute which all the other rivers in the world pay without 



