62 RIO JANEIRO. 
information was known. The part of the continent which they are 
said to inhabit, is still unexplored ; the account which one of them 
gave Mr. Hale was, that he had been three days with his captors in 
canoes, from his native place, M'te, situated on the great river Muote, 
before reaching Loango, where he embarked. It is probable that 
M'te is in the interior, two or three hundred miles northeast of 
Loango, and that he was brought to the coast by the Zaire river ; 
but in this wild unexplored ground, all is yet conjecture. The next 
town or tribe to M'te he called Mudimbe. 
The extensive territory, bounded on the north by the river Coanza, 
in latitude 9° 20' S., on the west by the Atlantic, on the south by the 
Great Desert, which interposes between it and the country of the 
Hottentots, and reaching to an indefinite distance in the interior, is 
known under the name of Benguela, or as the natives pronounce it, 
Bengera. Over this extent of country, comprising at least half of 
Lower Guinea, the same general language is supposed to prevail, 
though subdivided into several dialects. 
The Benguela blacks have a much higher character as slaves than 
the other nations of Lower Guinea. They are next in estimation to 
the Minas, being steady, industrious, and intelligent. They make 
excellent husbandmen. They are generally of good height, with 
features having less of the negro stamp than those of the Congo ; the 
forehead tolerably high, the nose not much depressed, and the lips 
moderately full. 
The extent of the Congo territory is now comprised between the 
Zaire and Dande rivers, or about two hundred miles of sea coast. 
These limits define with sufficient accuracy the extent within which 
the Congo language prevails. 
The Congoes file their teeth after the fashion of the Angoyas. 
