422 
THE QUEEN OF JINGA. 
Chap. XXI. 
and in tlie central part of the pillars stands the village, completely 
environed by well-nigh inaccessible rocks. The pathways into 
the village, might be defended by a small body of troops against 
an army; and this place was long the stronghold of the tribe 
called Jinga, the original possessors of the country. 
We were shown a foot-print carved on one of these rocks. It is 
spoken of as that of a famous queen, who reigned over all this 
region. In looking at these rude attempts at commemoration, 
one feels the value of letters. In the history of Angola, we find i 
that the famous Queen Donna Anna de Souza came from the i 
vicinity, as Ambassadress from her brother Gola Bandy, king of 
the Jinga, to Loanda, in 1621, to sue for peace, and astonished the | 
governor by the readiness of her answers. The governor proposed, i 
as a condition of peace, the payment by the Jinga of an annual 
tribute. “ People talk of tribute after they have conquered, and 
not before it: we come to talk of peace, not of subjection,” was 
the ready answer. The governor was as much nonplussed as 
our Cape governors often are, when they teU the Caffres ‘^to 
put it aU down in writing, and they will then be able to answer 
them.” She remained some time in Loanda, gained aU she 
sought, and, after being taught by the missionaries, was baptized, 
and returned to her own country with honour. She succeeded 
to the kingdom on the death of her brother, whom it was supposed 
she poisoned, but in a subsequent war with the Portuguese, she 
lost nearly aU her army in a great battle fought in 1627. She 
retmmed to the church after a long period of apostacy, and died I 
in extreme old age; and the Jinga stfil live as an independent | 
people to the north of this their ancient country. No African i 
tribe has ever been destroyed. | 
In former times the Portuguese imagined that this place was j 
particularly unhealthy, and banishment to the black rocks of ! 
Pungo Andongo, was thought by theh judges to be a much i 
severer sentence than transportation to any part of the coast; but | 
this district is now well known to be the most healthy part of j 
Angola. The water is remarkably pure, the soil is light, and the | 
country open and undulating, with a general slope down towards j 
the river Coanza, a few miles distant. That river is the southern I 
boundary of the Portuguese, and beyond, to the S. and S.W., we 
see the high mountains of the Libollo. On the S.E. we have also i 
