The province of Chipama produces a fine salt, which is in great request. It is made from a briny water, obtained by digging pits in the earth, where the water has been evaporated : the salt is made into oblong square cakes like bricks, of about 5 or 6 inches in length; these the natives exchange with the Portuguese for meal, oil, and other commodities. Being a pleasant diuretic, it is not less valuable as a medicine than as a necessary preservative of food; so that the merchants carry it through the whole of Ethiopia, and sell it at a very high price.
The chief medium of exchange used hi this country is the shell of a sea cockle, named Zimbios Simbos, caught in great abundance on the shores of the island Loanda. It is used not only in this and the neighbour ing kingdoms, but is also the current money in the western part of Ethiopia. The kings of Portugal, having the sole property of the shells, derive the same advan tage from them that other princes do from the richest metals ; for with these despicable trifles they can pur chase from the natives whatever they please.
Some of the provinces are said to possess mines of lead, silver, and gold; these, however, with the excep tion of the silver-mine above mentioned, do not appear to have been wrought to any great advantage. Mines of iron, however, are found in many of the provinces ; in the province of Cabezzo there is a very valuable one in a mountain, hence called the Iron Mountain. Here the metal is dug in great abundance ; and the Portuguese have taught the natives to smelt and forge it into warlike -weapons, and various useful tools. The torrents also, which in the rainy seasons pour from the mountains, bring along with then) vast quantities of iron ore, which the inhabitants collect, by laying heaps of straw and similar substances across the stream ; and when they have extracted the metal, by the force of fire, they con vert it into excellent iron.
The natives of Angola are tall and strong ; but, like the rest of the Ethiopians, they are so very lazy and indolent, that, although their soil is admirably adapted for the rearing of cattle, and the production of grain, they allow both to be destroyed by the wild beasts with which their country abounds. The advantages which they enjoy from climate and soil, are thus neglected, except in some provinces, which arc very fertile and populous, and which, being free from beasts of prey, afford great herds of excellent cattle. What adds to the misfortune is, that as the natives want spirit and industry for cultivating the soil, so the lords and petty princes will rather permit it to lie uncultivated, than allow their subjects a greater portion of it than what is barely sufficient for the maintenance of their families. Indeed, in many of the provinces south of the Coanza, the inhabitants are still in a very savage state, involved in the utmost barbarity of manners, and sunk in the most deplorable idolatry. We are told that the people in some of these idolatrous provinces, still feed on human flesh, and even prefer it to any other ; so that a dead slave gives a higher price in a market than a living one.
These cannibals are in all probability descended from the barbarous race of the Giagas, by whom the greater part of the eastern and southern provinces were peopled. One most inhuman custom still prevails in this part of the kingdom, and that is the sacrificing a number of human victims at the burial of their dead, in testimony of the respect in which their memory is held ; the num ber of these unhappy victims is therefore always in pro portion to the rank and wealth of the deceased, and their bodies are afterwards piled up in a heap upon their tombs.
To counteract the direful influence of these and other idolatrous rites, and to soften that barbarity of manners which so generally prevailed, the Portuguese, when they established themselves in the country, were at great pains to introduce the invaluable blessings of Chris tianity. Having solicited the courts of Rome and Ma drid, for a great supply of missionaries, and priests, the prospect of so rich a harvest induced great numbers of all religious orders, but especially of the Jesuits, to volunteer as labourers in this extensive vineyard. Upon their arrival, they dispersed into the several provinces, and with such zeal, assiduity, and success, did they la bour in their Christian mission, that from the year 1580 to 1590, we are informed no less a number than 20,000 were converted, and publicly professed Christianity. Since that time, it is said, that the number of prose lytes has been constantly increasing ; that the kings of Portugal, as well as the popes, have continued to send from time to time fresh supplies of missionaries ; that many churches have been built in the several provinces subject to the Portuguese, and out of the public treasury; and that the governors of these provinces oblige every soya, or lord, under them, to have a chapel in his respec tive district, which must be provided with a chaplain, to baptize, and to say mass. From these laudable cau tions, great success might have been expected ; but when we consider the extent of those provinces, the distance betwixt the churches, and the difficulty of access from the want of roads; when we reflect on the natural indo lence and deep-rooted superstition of the natives, who are more disposed to consult their idolatrous priests and conjurors, always at hand, than to travel to a great dis tance to a place of public worship ; when we take into account the ardent desire of these priests, to counteract the pious and benevolent labours of the preachers of the gospel, and to rivet upon the hearts of the people the strict observance of those idolatrous rites in which they have been educated, and, in the maintenance of which their own personal emolument and authority con sist; we need not wonder if, notwithstanding the boast ed success of the Portuguese writers, Christianity has made but little progress in this extensive country; and if those who have openly embraced it have been actu ated less by a full conviction of its truth, than by a natu ral desire to comply with the wishes of the government under which they live.