DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE. 77 
ready been descried, and was soon after happily 
circumnavigated. 
Having in the manner already noticed acquired a 
footing in Congo, the Portuguese formed a series of 
establishments along the coast, and even up some 
of the rivers. The opening thus afforded was em- 
ployed by the court of Rome in sending out a suc- 
cession of missionaries, with a view of converting 
the natives to the Catholic faith. These emissa- 
ries being monks of the strictest order, and deeply 
imbued with all its superstitions, did not commu- 
nicate the best form of religion, nor in the most 
prudent and conciliatory manner. Neither, as tra- 
vellers, are they very enlightened and judicious in- 
formants. They penetrated, however, deep into 
Congo, and even into the regions behind, explored 
by no other European. Their long residence, also, 
and the nature of their intercourse, gave them a 
more intimate view of the domestic and moral ha- 
bitudes of the people, than can fall to the lot of an 
ordinary traveller. Our readers, therefore, may 
not find it uninteresting to follow them in their 
career through the remote and barbarous regions 
in the interior. 
In 1640,* the Pope, at the request, it is said, of 
king Alvaro VI. determined to send a body of Ca- 
puchin missionaries into Congo. Some difficulty 
was experienced in obtaining permission from the 
* Labat, Ethiopie Occidental, III. ch. 1, &c. 
