The Strange Adventures of Andrew Battell Part 12

GARCIA III _nenganga mbemba_[377] his successor, whilst the opposition, at the old capital (S. Salvador), declared D. DANIEL DE GUZMAN, descendant of Mpanzu (Alvaro I), to be the rightful King. D. Daniel took the field against D. Garcia III, but, before he reached the residence of that King, he was overtaken by D. Pedro of Mbula; his army was dispersed, and himself beheaded. His children sought refuge with the Count of Sonyo, and by treachery they succeeded in getting D. Pedro into their power, and killed him. The people of Mbula thereupon raised his brother, D. JOO, to the throne, who survived until after 1710. S.

Salvador, after D. Daniel had deserted it, became the haunt of wild beasts.

Meanwhile D. RAFAEL, Marquis of Mpemba, who had been proclaimed King some time anterior to this, had been obliged to seek refuge among the Portuguese, and his reinstatement was one of the objects of the disastrous expedition of 1670,[378] by which it was sought to punish Count Estevo da Silva of Sonyo for his desecration of Christian churches and the ill-treatment of Portuguese traders: or, rather, his dealings with heretic compet.i.tors.

Joo Soares de Almeida, the commander of this expedition, had with him five hundred Portuguese, supported by a strong force of native allies, among whom was a Jaga Kalandula. He won a battle, in which Estevo was killed; but Pedro, the brother of the unfortunate Count, rallied the forces of Sonyo, unexpectedly fell upon the Portuguese near the Mbiriji (Ambriz), and scarcely a man among them escaped. Count Pedro then expelled the Italian Capuchins, who were supposed to be friendly to Portugal, and invited in their stead Belgian members of the same Order, who arrived in September, 1673, under the lead of P. Wouters. But, having been accused of stopping the rain, and having in reply excommunicated the Count, they were speedily expelled.[379] Peace between Sonyo and Portugal was only restored in 1690, when the former promised to abolish idolatry and to sell no slaves to heretics.

It was about this period (between 1669 and 1675) that Francisco do Murca, the captain-major of Dande, visited S. Salvador, and proceeded thence to Mbata and the Kw.a.n.gu, where he was told that this river flowed through the kingdom of the Makoko, and entered the sea at Mpinda, a fact long before known to the missionaries. These latter had not quite abandoned the Kongo, notwithstanding these troubles, and in 1668 the Capuchins still occupied their monasteries at the capital of Mbamba and at Mpembu;[380] whilst Girolamo Merolla (1682-88) and Antonio Zucch.e.l.li steadily laboured (1700-02) in Sonyo and Luangu.[381]

D. ANDRE succeeded D. Garcia, but died after a short reign. D. MANUEL _nzinga elenge_, a descendant of Mpanzu, was duly elected, but expelled by the sons of the late D. Garcia, who raised ALVARO IX to the throne in his stead. This prince was never recognised by the Count of Sonyo, who looked upon D. Manuel, who had sought refuge with him, as the legitimate King. He was reinstated by him for a time, but ultimately fell into the power of his enemies, and was beheaded.

Alvaro IX was succeeded in 1694 by his brother PEDRO IV _nsanu a mbemba_, also known as _agoa rosada_,[382] who once more returned to the ancient capital. He and D. Joo of Mbula were the only Kings alive in 1701, when the Capuchin Friar Francisco de Pavia, and his colleague Friar Joo Maria went throughout the kingdom of Kongo, preaching peace, and calling upon the leading men to recognise D. Pedro as their King; and thus put an end to quarrels which had distracted the country for an entire generation.

A RETROSPECT.

And if we ask to what extent, and in what manner, have the natives of Kongo been benefited by two centuries of contact with the civilisation of Europe, and of missionary effort, we feel bound to admit that they have not been benefited at all-either materially or morally. On the contrary. There were, no doubt, a few earnest men among the missionaries, and the Church of Rome deserves some credit for the zeal with which she addressed herself to the object of converting the natives. At the same time it cannot be denied that the instruments she employed, the methods she pursued, and the surrounding circ.u.mstances, were not favourable to success. And success there has been none-at least, none of an enduring nature-notwithstanding the boastful, if not absolutely mendacious, reports of her missionaries. The a.s.sertion that there was a time when the whole of Kongo had become Roman Catholic must raise a smile on the face of those who have attentively studied the missionary reports. There were eleven churches and a crowd of priests at the capital; but the outlying provinces were but poorly attended to. The number of missionaries, even including the native helpers, was never large enough to administer, even to a t.i.the of the population, those rites and sacraments, which the Roman Catholic Church professes to be of essential importance.[383]

I quite agree with the Rev. J. Leighton Wilson, when he says that the "great spiritual edifice" [raised by the missionaries] has not only "crumbled into the dust, but it has left the unfortunate inhabitants of that country in as deep ignorance and superst.i.tion, and perhaps in greater poverty and degradation, than they would have been if Roman Catholicism had never been proclaimed among them."[384] Father Jose Antonio de Souza, who resided at S. Salvador from 1881-87, and was subsequently created Bishop of Mozambique, virtually admits this, for he says: "Christianity did not penetrate deeply; it pa.s.sed over the country like a heavy rain, which scarcely wetted the surface of the land, and left the subsoil absolutely dry and sterile."[385] He adds significantly: "By the side of the missionary stood the slave-trader."

And surely it was the export slave trade, created by the cupidity of the Portuguese, but shared in by Dutch, French and English, which undermined the prosperity of the country, and decimated its population. And the missionaries never raised a protest against this traffic, although it was against the tenets of their Church,[386] for they profited by it.

The only thing which they did for the wretched slaves was to endeavour to secure, as far as possible, that they should not fall into the hands of heretics; so that at least their souls might be saved, whatever became of their bodies.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

APPENDIX III.

A LIST OF THE KINGS OF KONGO.

(NTOTELA NTINU MAKONGO.)

1. Ntinu mini a lukeni.

2. Nanga kia ntinu, his nephew or cousin.

3. - -

4. Nkuwu a ntinu, son of No. 1.

5. Joo I Nzinga a nkuwu, son of No. 4, baptised May 3rd, 1491, died 1509.

6. Mpanzu a nzinga (Mpanzu a kitima?), second son of No. 5, 1509.

7. Affonso I Mbemba a nzinga (Mbemba nelumbu), eldest son of No. 5, 1509-40.

8. Pedro I Nkanga a mbemba, son of No. 7, 1540-44.

9. Francisco Mpudi a nzinga, 1544-46.

10. Diogo Nk.u.mbi a mpudi, son of No. 9, 1546-61.

11. Affonso II Mpemba a nzinga, an illegitimate son of No. 10? 1561.

12. Bernardo I, (b.a.s.t.a.r.d) son of No. 10, 1561-67.

13. Henrique (Nerika) a mpudi, son of No. 9, 1567-68.

14. Alvaro I o Mpanzu, Mini a lukeni lua mbamba, stepson of No. 12, 1568-74.

15. Alvaro II Nempanzu a Mini, son of No. 14, 1574-1614.

16. Bernardo II Nenimi a mpanzu, son of No. 15, 1615.

17. Alvaro III Mbiki a mpanzu, Duke of Mbamba, son of No. 15, 1615 to May 26th, 1622.

18. Pedro II Affonso Nkanga a mbiki, son of Mbiki an tumbo, Duke of Nsundi, grandson of a daughter of No. 7, 1622 to April 13th, 1624.

19. Garcia I Mbemba a nkanga, Duke of Mbamba, son of No. 18, April 1624, to June 26th, 1626.

20. Ambrosio I, October 10th, 1626, to March, 1631.

21. Alvaro IV, son of No. 17, 1631 to February 25th, 1636.

22: Alvaro V, son of No. 21, 1636-38.

23. Alvaro VI, Duke of Mbamba, August, 1638, to February 22nd, 1641.

24. Garcia II o kimbaku, (Nkanga a lukeni), Marquis of Kiwa, 1641-63.

25. Antonio I Nevita a nkanga, mwana mulaza, son of No. 24, 1663-66.

26. Alvaro VII Nepanzu a masundu, 1666-67.

27. Pedro III Nsukia ntamba of Mbula, 1667-79.

28. Alvaro VIII, 1667-78.

29. Affonso III Affonso, 1667-69.

30. Garcia III Nenganga mbemba, 1669-78.

31. Rafael I, marquis of Mpemba, 1669-75.

32. Daniel de Guzman Nemiala nia gimbuilla (?), a descendant of No. 14, 1678-80.