• 422 THE QUEEN OF JINGA. Ciiap. XXI. 



and in the central part of the pillars stands the village, completely 

 environed by well-nigh inaccessible rocks. The pathways into 

 the village, might be defended by a small body of troops against 

 an army ; and this place was long the stronghold of the tribe 

 called Jinga, the original possessors of the country. 



We were shown a foot-print carved on one of these rocks. It is 

 spoken of as that of a famous queen, who reigned over all this 

 region. In looking at these rude attempts at commemoration, 

 one feels the value of letters. In the history of Angola, we find 

 that the famous Queen Donna Anna de Souza came from the 

 vicinity, as Ambassadress from her brother Gola Bandy, king of 

 the Jinga, to Loanda, in 1621, to sue for peace, and astonished the 

 governor by the readiness of her answers. The governor proposed, 

 as a condition of peace, the payment by the Jinga of an annual 

 tribute. " People talk of tribute after they have conquered, and 

 not before it : we come to talk of peace, not of subjection," was 

 the ready answer. The governor was as much nonplussed as 

 our Cape governors often are, when they tell the Canres "to 

 put it all down in writing, and they will then be able to answer 

 them." She remained some time in Loanda, gained all she 

 sought, and, after being taught by the missionaries, was baptized, 

 and returned to her own country with honour. She succeeded 

 to the kingdom on the death of her brother, whom it was supposed 

 she poisoned, but in a subsequent war with the Portuguese, she 

 lost nearly all her army in a great battle fought in 1627. She 

 returned to the church after a long period of apostacy, and died 

 in extreme old age ; and the Jinga still live as an independent 

 people to the north of this then ancient country. No African 

 tribe has ever been destroyed. 



In former times the Portuguese imagined that tins place was 

 particularly unhealthy, and banishment to the black rocks of 

 Pungo Andongo, was thought by their judges to be a much 

 severer sentence than transportation to any part of the coast ; but 

 this district is now well known to be the most healthy part of 

 Angola. The water is remarkably pure, the soil is light, and the 

 country open and undulating, with a general slope down towards 

 the river Coanza, a few miles distant. That river is the southern 

 boundary of the Portuguese, and beyond, to the S. and S. W., we 

 see the high mountains of the Libollo. On the S.E. we have also 



