Chap, II through the great eft Part of the E A S T-I N D I E S. 
ties. All Crimes, even capital ones, may be commuted 
with Money, unlefs the fame be reiterated feveral times, 
by the fame Perfon. They have no other Cloathing but 
a Piece of Cloth, or an Ape’s Skin, wherewith they co- 
ver their privy Parts, all the reft of their Bodies being 
naked. For Ornament fake they wear Bracelets of Gold 
about their Arms and Legs, and twift their Hair and 
Beards with golden Chains. They conftantly rub their 
Bodies with Oil, or Fat, to make them fhine. Their 
Wars are no more than confufed Skirmiflies, without the 
leaft Order, or Difcipline. They make ufe of Darts, and 
fhort Lances ; and for their Defence, cover themfelves 
with the Skins of Tygers, Lions, or Leopards. Their 
Hidalgo’s, or chief Men, are attended by two Pages when 
they are going to the Wars, and one carries the Buckler, 
the other a Stool for his Mafter to reft himfelf upon, as 
Occafion ferves. They marry as many Wives as they are 
able to buy and maintain, the Purchale of a Wife being 
commonly ten Rials, which paid, the Marriage is con- 
fum mated without any further Ceremony, except that 
they get heartily drunk. The Dutch have erefted a Fort 
called Bourio , within four Leagues of Mina , befides which 
they have their Factories at Cara, Caramantin , and Aide a 
del Puerto, whence they return vaft Quantities of Gold 
yearly, having much undermined the Portugueze Traffick 
with the Ethiopians , by their mild Way of Dealing, and 
being contented with a much lefs Profit than the other. 
25. King John the lid of Portugal having refufed the 
Offer made him by Chrifiopher Columbus , of difcovering 
the Wejt-Indies, bent all his Thoughts upon the Conquefts 
of the Eaft ; for which Purpofe he fent Diego Can, and 
Juan Alonfo de Aver 0, into thofe Parts. The firft direct- 
ing his Courfe towards Mina, came to the Cape Lopez 
Gonfales , and having afterwards doubled the Cape of St. 
Catherine , entered the River Zaire , in y° S. of the Line 
into the Kingdom of Congo, this Kingdom extending from 
the Cape of St. Catherine to the South of the Cape de 
Ledo, is enclofed on the Weft Side by the Ethiopian Sea, 
to the South by the Mountains of the Moon, and the 
Capes, as it is to the Eaft by Mantabas , and borders to 
the North upon the Kingdom of Beny, reaching in Length 
from 20 0 30" to the 13° beyond the Line, and confequent- 
ly near 160 Leagues. It is divided into fix great Pro- 
vinces, viz. Bamba, Soango, Sunda, Pango , Botta , and 
Pamba. The Province of Bamba extends along the Sea- 
fhore betwixt the two Rivers of Ambrifi and Coanfo , its 
chief City bearing the fame Name of the Province, lying 
twenty Leagues from the Sea-fide, betwixt the Rivers of 
Lofa and Ambrifi. The Province of Soango is inclofed be- 
twixt the two Rivers of Zaire and Soango , reaching from 
the River Ambrifi to the Foot of the Mountains, which 
leparates it from the Kingdom of Soango. 
The Province of Sunda is only eight Leagues in Com- 
pafs, comprehending all the Country about the City of 
Congo, named St. Salvador by the Portugueze , to the River 
Zaire. Its Metropolis has given its Name to the Pro- 
vince. _ The Province of Pango, formerly under the Ju- 
rlfdifition of its own Kings, borders to the North upon 
the Bland of Sunda , and to the South upon that of Batta ; to 
the Weft it has the City of Congo, and on the Eaft-fide is 
furrounded by the Mbuntain of the Sun. The Province 
of Batta lies to the North-Eaft, betwixt that of Pango 
and the River Barbella, extending to the burnt Mountains. 
The Province of Pambo has for its Metropolis the City of 
Congo, which is built upon a Mountain, at leaft fifty 
Leagues from the Sea-fide. Another Mountain belong- 
ing to this Province, which is above fix Leagues in length, 
is W£ h Hocked with Villages, that its Inhabitants are 
computed to amount to near one hundred thouland Per- 
Jons. Duarte Lopez , who lived feveral Years in thofe 
Parts, declares, that the Climate here is as agreeable in 
Winter, as it is in Italy in October ; and that the greateft 
Inconveniency they are fubjeft to here, are the hot Rains 
which fall every Day two Hours before, and as many 
Hours in the Afternoon, during the Months of April , 
May, June, July, and Augujl, being their Winter, which 
begins the 15th of March , and ends the 15th of Septem- 
ber. The Days and Nights here are of a Length, both 
Winter and Summer. ' 
rk 
The River Zaire arifes out of the fame Lake whence 
the Nile derives its Rife : It is beyond all Queftion the 
largeft River in all Africa for being joined with the Rivers 
Vambo and Barbella, as it paffes through the Country, k 
is at the Mouth, where it difembogues into the Sea at leaft 
twenty-eight Leagues broad. The River Goauze is the 
common Boundary betwixt the two Kingdoms of Congo 
and Angola, and the River Lelonda abounds in Crocodiles 
and Sea-horfes. This Creature is of a dufkifh. Colour, with 
very little Hair, its Head is without Ears, broad Noftrils*, 
and in his Jaw two Teeth like the Tufks of a wild Boar 5 
its Hoof has the Shape of a three-leaved Grafs, it neighs 
like a Florfe, and will run a great Pace. The hot Rains 
which fall in the wet Seafon rendering the Grounds very 
fertile, they produce Herbs, Corn, and Fruit, in prodigi- 
ous Quantities. The Province of Pamba has divers Gold 
Mines. All the Forefts are full of Elephants of an extraor- 
dinary Size, the Teeth having been found to weigh two 
hundred Pound Weight. They produce alfo a peculiar 
Creature called Zebra, in Shape not unlike a Mule, but is 
capable of engendering : It is marked with three Lifts 
round the Back, reaching down to the Belly, of about three 
Fingers Breadth ; of which one is black, the other white, and 
the third yellow. This Beaft is famous for its marvellous 
Swiftnefs. They have alfo a kind of Oxen called Empa - 
lenges, butfomewhat lefs than ours. Wolves, Foxes, Wild- 
Buffaloes, Wild-Goats, Deer, and Rabbets, being never 
fought after here, they are feen in prodigious Quantities, 
the only thing they hunt being the Civet-Cat, by rea- 
fon of the great Advantages it affords to the Owners. They 
abound alfo with Birds, fuch as Pheafants, Partridges, 
Hens, Turkeys, Ducks, Geefe, Turtles, Pigeons, Hawks 
of all forts, and Eagles. Serpents they have of fifteen Foot 
long, which will (wallow a Sheep at once and fome am- 
phibious Creatures, the Fleffi of which is eaten by the In- 
habitants ; whereas fome others are fo venomous, that fuch 
as are bitten by them infallibly die within twenty-four 
Hours. 
The Mountains of Pemba are abundantly productive of 
Citrons, Oranges, Bananas, and divers other Fruits, as 
plentifully as in molt Parts of the Indies ; and the Vallies 
produce a kind of Wheat called Seuco, not much bigger 
than Muftard-feed, which make better Bread than any 
common Wheat, is referved for the Ufe of the better fort, 
the Poor being here fed with Rice, and Lurky Wheat. 
Ot Cocoa-Trees they have two forts •, fome are Date-Trees, 
the other produce Cocoas, and a certain Juice, which is 
accounted an extraordinary Clearer of the Reins, and con- 
fequentiy a fovereign Remedy againft the Gravel. Their 
Fruits, as well as Pulfe and Herbs, are, without Compa- 
rifon, more excellent here than in other Countries. Their 
Mountains, which for the moft part are covered with Fruit- 
trees, are green all the Year round ; and the Rocks pro- 
duce white Marble, Alabafter, Jafper, Porphiry, and 
fometimes Flyacinths. 
The Inhabitants are black ; but the Women are not f® 
dark as the Men •, they have neither fuch thick Lips, nor 
flat Nofes, as commonly the Negroes have, and their Hair 
curls naturally. Thole of Bombay are famous for their 
Strength. As every Man here is his own Architect: and 
Phyfician, fo their Houfes are fmall, low, and {lightly 
built-, they cure Fevers with Powder of Sandal Wood, and 
Head-ach by Bleeding ; and when they are to procure an 
Evacuation by purging, they do it with a certain Bark of 
a Tree beat to Powder ; they generally appear bare-headed, 
but fuch as do not, wear a kind of Hats made of the Barks 
of Trees, or Nut-fhells. Some have a Way of faftening 
with Pack-thread Plumes to their Hair, and both Sexes 
have Holes in their Ears, in which hang very weighty 
Rings of Gold fet with Stones. About their Arms and 
Legs they wear Rings, or rather Plates of Iron, Tin, or 
Brafs ; but the better fort are clad after the Portugueze Fa- 
fhion. They fleep and eat upon Matts fpread upon the 
Ground. Befides the vaft Wealth in Gold, Silver, Copper, 
Cryftal, Iron, and other Metals this Country produces ; a 
great Traffick is carried on here in Ivory, Civet, and 
Slaves, whom the Spaniards and Portugueze employ in 
their Mines and Sugar-Mills of Brafil. They ufe certain 
Shells* which they fifh out of the Sea near the Ifle of 
Lunda 
