SIR CLEMENTS MARKHAM, K.C.B., F.R.S., _Pres. R.G.S._, PRESIDENT. THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY, VICE-PRESIDENT. REAR-ADMIRAL SIR WILLIAM WHARTON, K.C.B., VICE-PRESIDENT. COMMR. B. M. CHAMBERS, R.N. C. RAYMOND BEAZLEY, M.A. COLONEL G. EARL CHURCH. SIR W. MARTIN CONWAY. F. H. H. GUILLEMARD, M.A., M.D. EDWARD HEAWOOD, M.A. DUDLEY F. A. HERVEY, C.M.G. E. F. IM THURN, C.B., C.M.G. J. SCOTT KELTIE, LL.D. F. W. LUCAS. A. P. MAUDSLAY. E. J. PAYNE, M.A. HOWARD SAUNDERS. H. W. TRINDER. CHARLES WELCH, F.S.A. WILLIAM FOSTER, B.A., _Honorary Secretary_. CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION i BIBLIOGRAPHY xviii THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF ANDREW BATTELL OF LEIGH. I. Andrew Battell, his voyage to the River of Plate, who being taken on to the coast of Brazill was sent to Angola 1 II. His trading on the coast; offer to escape; imprisonment; exile; escape and new imprisonment; his sending to Elamba and Bahia das Vaccas; many strange occurrences 9 III. Discovery of the Gagas: their wars, man-eating; over-running countries. His trade with them, betraying, escape to them, and living with them; with many strange adventures. And also the rites and manner of life observed by the Iagges, or Gagas, which no Christian would ever know well but this author 19 IV. His return to the Portugals: invasions of diverse countries; abuses; flight from them, and living in the woods divers months; his strange boat and coming to Loango 36 V. Of the province of Engoy, and other regions of Loango; with the customs there observed by the King and people 42 VI. Of the provinces of Bongo, Calongo, Mayombe, Manikesocke, Motimbas; of the ape-monster Pongo; their Hunting, Idolatries, and divers other observations 52 VII. Of the Zebra and Hippopotamus; the Portuguese Wars in those parts; the Fishing, Grain, and other things remarkable 63 ON THE RELIGION AND THE CUSTOMS OF THE PEOPLES OF ANGOLA, CONGO, AND LOANGO, from _Purchas His Pilgrimage_, 1613 (1617) 71 APPENDICES. I. ANTHONY KNIVET IN KONGO AND ANGOLA 89 II. A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF KONGO TO THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 102 III. A LIST OF THE KINGS OF KONGO 136 IV. A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF ANGOLA TO THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 139 V. A LIST OF THE GOVERNORS OF ANGOLA 188 INDEX AND GLOSSARY 191 MAPS. A GENERAL MAP OF KONGO AND ANGOLA. AN ENLARGED MAP OF ANGOLA. [Illustration] INTRODUCTION. Four Englishmen are known to have visited Angola towards the close of the sixteenth century, namely, Thomas Turner, Andrew Towres, Anthony Knivet and Andrew Battell. All four were taken by the Portuguese out of English privateers in South-American waters, and spent years of captivity as prisoners of war; happy, no doubt, in having escaped the fate of many of their less fortunate companions, who atoned with their lives for the hazardous proceedings in which they had engaged. Thomas Turner,[1] although he furnished Samuel Purchas with a few notes on Brazil, never placed on record what happened to him whilst in Portuguese Africa. Towres was sent to prison at Rio de Janeiro for the heinous offence of eating meat on a Friday; he attempted an escape, was retaken, and condemned to spend the rest of his captivity in Angola. He died at Masanganu, as we learn from Knivet. Knivet himself has left us an account of his adventures in Angola and Kongo; but this account contains so many incredible statements that it was with some hesitation we admitted it into this volume, as by doing so we might be supposed to vouch for the writer’s veracity. Andrew Battell, fortunately, has left behind him a fairly circumstantial...