DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE. Si 
be baptized. As the fathers acquired a knowledge 
of the language, they discovered that the sole idea 
which the natives attached to the rite, was the 
eating of this small quantity of salt. Curia mun- 
gtffl, to eat salt, was, in their language, the term 
for being baptized ; nor did the efforts to change 
either their language or their ideas upon this 
subject prove very successful. 
From Congo- Batta the fathers went to a town 
called simply Batta, the residence of the duke, yet 
neither so large nor so wealthy as the one they had 
left. They were lodged without the city, in a cot- 
tage of shrubs and palm branches, which had been 
built expressly for their use. They had the satisfac- 
tion to find that it contained nothing which could 
wound the most rigid vow of poverty and austerity. 
Although, too, they were almost fainting with 
hunger, no provisions made their appearance. The 
duke's secretary, however, entered and welcomed 
them with the most ceremonious politeness. As 
he departed, the fathers ventured an inquiry, when 
& small supply of food might be expected ? The 
secretary assured them, that there was not the 
remotest intention of sending any thing of that 
description. In this country, it seems, it was con- 
sidered an indispensable mark of respect, when a 
stranger arrived, to refrain, for a whole day, from 
offering him even a drop of water. The mission^ 
vol. r. f 
