There is another Mokisso which is also in Kinga, and it is called Gomberi. It is the name of a woman, and is in a house where an old witch dwelleth, and she is called Ganga Gomberi, which is, the Priest of Gomberi. Here once a year is a feast made, and Ganga Gomberi speaketh under the ground.155 And this is a common thing every year. I have asked the negroes what it was, and they told me that it was a strong Mokisso that is come to abide with Checocke.
[Children are born White.]
The children in this country are born white, and change their colour in two days to a perfect black. As, for example, the Portugals, which dwell in the kingdom of Congo, have sometimes children by the negro women, and many times the fathers are deceived, thinking when the child is born it is theirs, and within two days it proveth the son or daughter of a negro; which the Portugals do greatly grieve at, for they rejoice when they have a mulato child, though it be a bastard.
[The Royal Princes.]
The town of Longo [Loango] standeth in the midst of four Lordships, and is governed by four Princes, which are the King’s sisters’ sons, for the King’s sons can never be kings. The first is Mani Cabango,156 the second Mani Salag, the third Mani Bock, the fourth Mani Cay. This Mani Cay is next to be king, and hath his train and court as a Prince. And when the King dieth he cometh presently into the seat of the King. Then, Mani Bock cometh to Cay, Mani Salag cometh to Bock, and Mani Cabango cometh to Salag. And then they provide another to go to Cabango, so there be four Princes that wait on the King when their turns come.
[The Kings Mother.]
The mother of these Princes is called Mani Lombo,157 and she is the highest and chief woman in all the land. She maketh choice of her husband, and when she is weary of him she putteth him away, and taketh another. Her children are greatly honoured, and whosoever passeth by them kneel down and clap their hands, which is the courtesy of the country.
These Lordships are champaign grounds, and full of corn and fruit.
[Palm Cloth.]158
The men in this kingdom make good store of palm-cloth of sundry sorts, very fine and curious. They are never idle: for they make fine caps of needlework as they go in the streets.
[The Royal Tombs.]
There is a place two leagues from the town of Longo, called Longeri,159 where all their kings be buried, and it is compassed round about with elephants’ teeth pitched in the ground, as it were a Pale, and it is ten roods in compass.
[Europeans Committed to the Sea.]
These people will suffer no white man to be buried in their land,160 and if any stranger or Portugal come thither to trade, and chance to die, he is carried in a boat two miles from the shore, and cast into the sea. There was once a Portugal gentleman, that came to trade with them, and had his house on shore. This gentleman died, and was buried some four months. That year it did not rain so soon as it was wont, which beginneth about December, so that they lacked rain for some two months. Then their mokisso told them that the Christian, which was buried, must be taken out of the earth, and cast into the sea; and within three days it rained, which made them have a great belief in the devil.
§ VI.
Of the Provinces of Bongo, Calongo, Mayombe, Manikesocke, Motimbas: of the ape-monster Pongo: their Hunting, Idolatries, and divers other observations.
[Bongo.]
To the eastward of Longeri is the Province of Bongo, and it bordereth on Mococke, [of which] the great Angeca161 is king. In this place is great store of iron, and palm-cloth, and elephants’ teeth, and great store of corn.
[Cango.]
To the north-east is the great province of Cango,162 and it is fourteen days journey from the town of Longo. This place is full of mountains and rocky ground, and full of woods, and hath great store of copper. The elephants in this place do excel, and there are so many that the people of Longo hath great store of elephants’ teeth, and bring them to the port of Longo.
[Calongo.]
To the northwards of Longo, three leagues, is the river Quelle:163 and on the north side is the province of Calongo [Chilunga]. This country is always tilled, and full of corn, and is all plain and champaign ground, and hath great store of honey. Here are two little villages that show at sea like two hummocks,164 which are the marks to show the port of Longo; and fifteen miles northward is the river Nombo,165 but it hath no depth for any bark to go in. This province, towards the east, bordereth upon Bongo; and towards the north upon Mayombe, which is nineteen leagues from Longo along the coast.
[Yumbe.]166
The province of Mayombe is all woods and groves, so overgrown that a man may travel twenty days in the shadow, without any sun or heat. Here is no kind of corn nor grain, so that the people liveth only upon plantains and roots of sundry other sorts, very good, and nuts; nor any kind of tame cattle, nor hens. But they have great store of elephants’ flesh, which they greatly esteem, and many kinds of wild beasts; and great store of fish. Here is a great sandy bay, two leagues to the southward of Cape Negro, which is the port of Mayombe. Sometimes the Portugals take logwood167 in this bay. Here is a great river called Banna.168 In the winter it hath no bar, because the general winds cause a great sea; but when the sun hath his south declination, then a boat may go in, for then it is smooth because of the rain. This river is very great, and hath many islands, and people dwelling in them. The woods are covered with baboons, monkeys, apes and parrots, that it will fear any man to travel in them alone. Here also are two kinds of monsters, which are common in these woods, and very dangerous.
[Gorillas and Chimpanzis.]169
The greatest of these two monsters is called Pongo [Mpungu] in their language, and the lesser is called Engeco. This Pongo is in all proportions like a man, but that he is more like a giant in stature than a man; for he is very tall, and hath a man’s face, hollow-eyed, with long hair upon his brows. His face and ears are without hair, and his hands also. His body is full of hair, but not very thick, and it is of a dunnish colour. He differeth not from a man but in his legs, for they have no calf. He goeth always upon his legs, and carryeth his hands clasped upon the nape of his neck when he goeth upon the ground. They sleep in the trees, and build shelters from the rain. They feed upon fruit they find in the woods and upon nuts, for they eat no kind of flesh. They cannot speak, and have no more understanding than a beast.
The people of the country, when they travel in the woods, make fires when they sleep in the night. And in the morning, when they are gone, the Pongoes will come and sit about the fire till it goeth out, for they have no understanding to lay the wood together. They go many together, and kill many negroes that travel in the woods. Many times they fall upon the elephants, which come to feed where they be, and so beat them with their clubbed fists and pieces of wood that they will run roaring away from them.
Those Pongoes are never taken alive, because they are so strong that ten men cannot