DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE. 125 
engagement, contrary to her own inclination. All 
arguments having failed, the missionary went next 
to the daughter, and roundly asked, if she was 
willing " that her mother should go to hell upon 
" her account. 5 ' The poor girl fell into a violent 
fit of trembling, and declared, that she would take 
the first opportunity of marrying, which she ac- 
cordingly did. But, in general, both parties were 
equally intractable, and the mothers, in particular, 
positively refused to take any concern in abridging 
the period of their daughters' trials. One of the 
missionaries, indeed, Father Benedict, applied him- 
self most diligently to the task of " reducing stray- 
" ed souls to matrimony.' * Accordingly, he suc- 
ceeded with no less than six hundred ; but it was 
" laborious work and he fell, in consequence, 
into an illness, which soon proved fatal. After so 
unfortunate an issue, no future missionary seems 
ever to have embarked in the cause with the same 
ardent and effectual zeal. 
After a considerable residence in Sogno, our au- 
thor made an excursion into the territory of Ca- 
congo, situated on the northern side of the Congo. 
This was an expedition attended with considerable 
danger, as the sovereign and chief men of that 
country still adhered to their ancient idolatry. 
One of the ancestors of the present king had fallen 
a sacrifice to an attempt to introduce the Christian 
religion into his dominions. It was only a very 
