108 DISCOVERIES OF THE PORTUGUESE. 
and Denis Carli* of Piacenza, upon a mission to 
Congo. To qualify them for so arduous a situa- 
tion, they were invested with some extraordinary 
privileges, such as giving plenary indulgences, 
delivering a soul out of purgatory, wearing secu- 
lar clothes in case of necessity, and, we know not 
why, of reading prohibited books, except Machi- 
avel. Thus furnished, they set sail, and after 
touching at Brazil and the Cape, proceeded to 
Congo. The first port at which Carli, the nar- 
rator, landed, was Benguela, which he found in- 
habited by 300 Portuguese, and a great number 
of negroes. He describes it as the most un- 
healthy place he ever knew j he was even assur- 
ed, and fully believed, that an European who, 
without being seasoned, eat any of the native 
productions, died instantly. He peremptorily 
refused to dine with the governor, till he had re- 
ceived solemn assurances, that every thing at 
table should be European. The people, he says, 
look as if dug out of the grave ; they are also the 
wickedest and most deceitful of men ; which he 
accounts for, by their being chiefly convicts sent 
thither, as to a place of punishment. 
* The narrative was published by Carli in Italian. It was 
translated and published in Churchill's Collection, Vol. I. 
(London, 1704,) and has since been reprinted in the 16th 
volume of Pinkerton's Collection. 
