mouth of the river of Congo, and is only in lat. 6 deg. 15’ S. The high probability is, that the first cross erected by Diego Cam in this voyage, was at Cape Palmerinho, in lat. 9 deg. 15’ S. and the other may have been at Rocca Boa, in lat. 13 deg. 20’ S. Clarke[1] is disposed to extend the second cross to Cabo Negro, in lat. 16 deg.  S. Either influenced by his provisions running short, or desirous of forming a friendly, connection with the king of Congo, Diego measured back his way to the Congo river, where he was received in a most satisfactory manner by the sovereign of that country.  The reports of his subjects who had been in Portugal, and the liberal presents which they had brought to him from King John, had made a deep impression on the mind of this African monarch.  He made many inquiries respecting the Christian religion, and being highly gratified by its sublime and consolatory doctrines, perhaps influenced by the reports his subjects had brought him of its magnificent ceremonies, he appointed one of his principal noblemen, named Cacuta or Zazut, to accompany Diego Cam, as his ambassador to King John; anxiously requesting the king of Portugal to allow this nobleman and his attendants to be baptized, and that he would be pleased to send some ministers of his holy religion to convert him and his subjects from their idolatrous errors.  Diego Cam arrived safely in Portugal with Cacuta; who was soon afterwards baptized by the name of John Silva, the king and queen of Portugal doing him the honour of attending on him as sponsors at the holy font; and the splendid ceremonial was closed by the baptism of his sable attendants.

Some time previous to this event, Alphonso de Aviero carried an ambassador from the king of Benin to the king of Portugal, requesting that some missionaries might be sent for the conversion of his subjects; and, although the artful conduct of that African prince threw many difficulties in the way of this mission, many of the Negroes of that country were converted.  From the ambassador of Benin, the king of Portugal received information of a powerful monarch, named Organe, whose territories lay at the distance of 250 leagues beyond the kingdom of Benin, and who possessed a supremacy over all the adjacent states.  Assuming Cape Lopo Goncalves, in lat. 1 deg.  S. as the southern boundary of the kingdom of Benin, 250 Portuguese leagues would bring us to the kingdom of Benguela, or that of Jaa Caconda, about lat. 14 deg. or 15 deg.  S. Yet some persons have strangely supposed that this king Organe or Ogane was a corruption of Jan or Janhoi, the title given by the Christians of the east to the king of Abyssinia.  “But it is very difficult to account for this knowledge of Abyssinia in the kingdom of Benin, not only on account of the distance, but likewise because several of the most savage nations in the world, the Galla and Shangalla, occupy the intervening