in the Congo River . 
3 1 7 
old heathenism, and in 1814 we find the King of 
Congo, D. Garcia V., complaining to His Most 
Faithful Majesty that missioners were sadly wanted. 
Captain Tuckey’s '‘ Expedition” (a.d. 1816) well 
sets forth the spiritual destitution of the land. 
He tells us that three years before his arrival 
some missionaries had been murdered by the 
Sohnese; the only specimen he met was an 
ignorant half-caste with a diploma from the 
Capuchins of Loanda, and a wife plus five concu¬ 
bines. In 1863 I found that all traces of Chris¬ 
tianity had disappeared. 
These reverends—who were allowed to dispense 
with any “ irregularity ” except bigamy or wilful 
murder, and “ to read forbidden books except 
Machiavel,”—took the title of Nganga Mfumo 1 
—Lord Medicine-man. In the fulness of early 
zeal they built at S. Salvador the cathedral of 
Santa Cruz, a Jesuit College, a Capuchin convent, 
the residence of the father superior, maintained by 
the King of Portugal; a religious house for the 
Franciscans, an establishment for the Bishop and 
his Chapter, and half-a-dozen stone churches. All 
these edifices have long been in ruins. 
Father Cavazzi da Monte Cuccoli, Denis de 
Carli, and Merolla, themselves missioners, have 
left us ample accounts of the ecclesiastical rule 
1 In Carli Gramga and Fomet, evident cacography. 
