more respectable proportions. Much material of use for such a purpose has seen the light since the publication of J. J. Lopes de Lima’s historical sketches. Yet I am bound to confess that the result of all this tedious labour is disappointing. I may have been able to rectify a few dates and facts; but much remains to be done before we can claim to be in possession of a trustworthy history of that part of Africa. Possibly my little sketch may rouse a Portuguese into taking up the work of the late Luciano Cordeiro. Many documents not yet published should be discoverable in the archives of Portugal, Spain, and Luandu.8

The spelling of the proper names mentioned by Battell is retained, as a matter of course; but it is obvious that in the historical appendices the various ways in which native names are spelt had to be reduced to a common system. Much might be said in favour of accepting the Portuguese manner of spelling, but after due consideration I decided to adopt the system now generally followed (even by a few Portuguese writers), viz., that all vowels should be sounded as in Italian, and the consonants as in English, with the only exception that the letter g should always be hard. I therefore write Sonyo, instead of Sonho, Sogno, or Sonjo, as the name of that district is spelt according to the nationality of the writer. In transcribing the native names I have had the unstinted assistance, among others, of the Rev. Thomas Lewis, of the Baptist Missionary Society; yet I am fully aware that the spelling adopted for many names is at least doubtful, if not absolutely incorrect. This arises quite as much from a defective hearing on the part of my authorities, as from the illegibility of many early manuscripts or the carelessness of copyists. All such doubtful cases are dealt with in the Glossary and Index.

In conclusion, I feel bound to acknowledge with gratitude the kindly assistance rendered me by Mr. R. E. Dennett, who is spending a life-time in Luangu; Mr. R. C. Phillips, who is thoroughly acquainted with the Lower Kongo; the Rev. Thomas Lewis, of the Baptist Missionary Society; Captain Binger, of the French Foreign Office; and last, not least, our ever-obliging Secretary, Mr. William Foster.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

How cited:

Alguns Doc.—Alguns documentos do archivo nacional da Torre do Tombo ácerca das navegações e conquistas Portuguezas. Lisboa (Impr. nac.), 1892.

A Collection of documents, 1416-1554, edited by José Ramos-Coelho. See Index sub Angola, Kongo, Manicongo.

Paiva Manso.—Historia do Congo, obra posthuma do (Dr. Levy) Visconde de Paiva Manso. Lisboa (Typ. da Acad.), 1877.

A collection of documents, 1492-1722.

Boletim.—Boletim da Sociedade de Geographia de Lisboa.

The volume for 1883 contains documents now in the Bibliothéque Nationale (instructions given to B. Dias, 1559; Letters of F. Garcia Simões, F. Balthasar Barretta, and other Jesuits).

Memorias do Ultramar, Viagens explorações e conquistas do Portuguezes. Collecção de Documentos por Luciano Cordeira. Lisboa (Impr. nac.) 1881.

The following Parts have been published:—

Garcia Mendes.

(a) 1574-1620. Da Mina ao Cabo Negro segundo Garcia Mendes Castello Branco (the writer of these reports was one of the companions of Paulo Dias de Novaes).

Rebello de Aragão.

(b) 1593-1631. Terras e Minas Africanas segundo Balthazar Rebello de Aragão. (He went out to Africa in 1593).

Benguella e seu Sertão.

(c) 1617-1622. Benguella e seu sertão per um Anonymo. (The author of this account of the conquest of Benguella may possibly have been Manuel Cerveira Pereira).

Estabelecimentos.

(d) 1607. Estabelecimentos e Resgates Portuguezes na costa occidental de Africa por um Anonymo.

Escravos e Mimas.

(e) 1516-1619. Escravos e Minas de Africa segundo Diversos.

D. Lopez.—Relatione del Reame di Congo e delle circonvicine contrade tratta dalli Scritti e ragionamente di Odoardo Lopez, per Filippo Pigafetta. Roma, 1591.

This work has been translated into Latin, German, Dutch, French and English, but has not hitherto found a competent editor. I quote the English translation by Mrs. M. Hutchinson, published at London in 1881.

Duarte Lopez went out to Kongo in 1578; and the bulk of this volume is based upon information imparted to his editor when he was in Rome in 1591. Pigafetta has most unwisely expanded the information thus obtained into a description of the greater part of Africa.

Cavazzi.—Istorica descrizione de’ tre regni Congo, Matamba, e Angola, accuratamente compilata, dal P. Gio. Antonio Cavazzi da Montecuccolo. Bologna, 1687.

Cavazzi, a Capuchin, visited Kongo and Angola twice (1654-67, 1670-??) and died at Genoa in 1693. This bulky folio only deals with his first visit, and was edited by P. Fortunato Alamandini, of Bologna. Labat (“Relation historique de l’Éthiopie,” Paris, 1732) has given a useful version of it in French, which must, however, be used with some caution. It is by far the most important work we have at the hand of one of the early Catholic missionaries. W. D. Cooley’s observation (“Inner Africa Laid Open,” London, 1852, p. 3), that the works published up to the time of Cavazzi “would hardly furnish twenty pages of sound geographical intelligence,” can apply only to what they say of Inner Africa; whilst Lopez de Lima (“Ensaios,” p. xi) is hardly justified in calling Cavazzi a “fabulista,” unless that opprobrious term be confined to what the friar relates of the miracles wrought by himself and others.

Dapper.—Nauwkeurige beschrijving der Afrikaansche gewesten van Olf. Dapper. Amst., 1668.

I quote the German translation (“Beschreibung von Afrika,” Amst., 1670).

This is a very careful compilation; more especially interesting, as it contains information on the country collected during the Dutch occupation (1642-48), not to be found elsewhere.

Cadornega.—Historia das guerras de Angola (Historia General Angolana), por D. A. de Oliveira Cadornega, in 1680-82.

Cadornega, a native of Villa Viçosa, accompanied D. Pedro Cezar de Menezes to Angola in 1639, and died at Luandu in 1690. His work (in three volumes) only exists in MS. in the library of the Academy of Sciences, Lisbon, and in the Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris. I have not been able to consult it with the minuteness which it deserves. A rough copy of a