I 
EMBASSY TO ]gENIN. 77 
out before them the map of Ptolemy, calculated 
that the reported distance ought to reach across 
the continent to the dominions of Prester John, 
and that this Ogane must consequently be Prester 
John.* This, however, did not lead to any new 
expedition of discovery into the interior, but only 
impelled the king to press the voyage by the Cape 
of Good Hope, which boundary of Africa had 
already 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 
P some of the rivers. The opening thus afforded 
was employed by the court of Rome in sending 
out a succession of missionaries, with a view of 
converting the natives to the Catholic faith. 
These emissaries being monks of the strictest 
order, and deeply imbued with all its supersti- 
tions, did not communicate the best form of reli- 
gion, nor in the most prudent and conciliatory 
manner — neither, as travellers, are they very en- 
lightened and judicious informants. They pene- 
* Major Rennell conceives the Ogane to be the sovereign 
of Gana, at one time the chief Mahometan state on the Niger. 
A late learned writer rather supposes him to be the Emperor 
of Abyssinia ; an opinion supported by pretty strong probabi- 
lities ; though the distance seems rather too great. 
