78 DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE. 
trated, however, deep into Congo, and even into 
the regions behind, explored by no other Euro- 
pean. Their long residence, also, and the nature 
of their intercourse, gave them a more intimate 
view of the domestic and moral habitudes 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 
court of Spain, which then reigned over Portugal, 
for the entrance of Italian missionaries into that 
region. At length, on the 20th January l645-> 
they set sail, nine in number, from the port of St 
Lucar ; and, after a tedious voyage, arrived at the 
mouth of the Congo. They were welcomed by 
the Count of Sogno, and, after a short stay, took 
their departure for San Salvador. The king re- 
ceived them in the most distinguished manner. 
A convent was built, every comfort provided, and 
the inhabitants came in crowds to be baptized. 
Almost every mission, at its first opening, went on 
in the most prosperous manner. So long as ope- 
* Labat, Ethiopie Occidentale, III. ch, 1, &c. 
