196 GAFTAIN TUCKEY'S NARRATIVE. 



penetrating with an}- number of men by land, along the 

 sides of the river, both from the nature of the country, and 

 impossibility of procuring provisions. 



On the 30th, I sent Lieutenant Hawkey to Voonda to 

 endeavour to hire canoes, to enable us to go up to the first 

 Sangalla, being determined to make an attempt by water, 

 though with little hopes of success. 



Wliere there are neither written annals, legends, nor an- 

 cient national songs, nor chronology beyond a month, the 

 history of a nation must be very vague and confined. The 

 only idea I have been able to obtain of the Congoese his- 

 tory, is, that Congo once formed a mighty empire, the chief 

 of which had three sons, between whom he divided his 

 dominions at his death, giving to one the upper part of the 

 river on both sides as far as Sangalla; to a second, the left 

 bank of the river (the Blandy N'Congo), and to the third, 

 the right bank, Banzey N'Yonga. 



The Congoese are evidently a mixed nation, having no 

 national physiognomy, and man}' of them perfectly south 

 European in their features. This, one would naturally 

 conjecture, arises from the Portuguese having mixed with 

 them ; and yet there are very few Mulattoes among them. 



The creeping plants serve for cordage; some of which 

 are not less then six inches in diameter. Fleas and bugs 



