No sooner was he seated on the throne, than he gra tified his resentment, by putting to death all the military officers and chief men in the kingdom, who had oppo sed his election, not sparing even his own relations. Among the rest, he murdered the son of his sister Zingha Bandi, who vowed vengeance against him for that atrocious deed. He next directed his hatred against his more formidable enemies, the Portuguese. Repo sing great confidence in the number of his troops, he rashly resolved to engage his enemies in the field, where they gained a complete victory over his wretched army, and compelled him to save himself by flight to a neighbouring desert. A new viceroy having soon af terwards arrived from Portugal, Ngola Bandi, with the most perfidious intentions, endeavoured to conciliate his favour, for the purpose of obtaining a peace. With the same view he applied to his enraged sister Zingha, whose resentment, for the murder of her son, he endea voured to pacify, and besought her to go on an embas sy to the viceroy, and conclude a peace with him upon any terms. Concealing the spirit of revenge which she still harboured against her brother, she acceded to his proposal, and set out at the head of a splendid embassy. By the viceroy, Don John, she was received with the honours due to her high rank, and provided with suit able accommodation; but, at the first audience, she was surprised to find him seated upon a superb chair of state, while for her, there was only a piece of tapestry, spread on the floor, with a velvet cushion, embroidered with gold. With great presence of mind, she concealed her displeasure ; and, beckoning to one of her attendants, she commanded her to lie down on the carpet upon her elbows and knees, while she used her back as a chair, during the whole time of the audience. Here she pled her brother's cause with an eloquence so persuasive, and conducted herself with a deportment so dignified, that she gained the admiration of the whole assembly. When it was proposed that her brother should acknow ledge himself a vassal of the king of Portugal, and pay him an annual tribute, she replied, with a dignified firmness, that such a condition might be fit for a con quered, but not for an independent monarch, who treat ed with them on equal terms, and only desired their friendship and alliance. This answer procured the ra tification of a treaty entirely to her wishes. At the con clusion of the audience, the viceroy remarked to her, when conducting her out of the hall, that the lady whom she had substituted in the place of a chair, still remain ed inthe same posture. She replied, that it was beneath the dignity of the ambassadress of a great monarch to sit twice upon the same chair, and that she had no far ther use for her services.
This princess was so much pleased with the polite and respectful attention paid to her at the Portuguese court, and so much delighted with the dress, arms, and discipline of the troops, that she was induced to remain there longer than she intended; during which time she condescended to be instructed in the Christian religion, and to be baptized; which took place in the year 1622, being the fortieth year of her age. Having returned to her brother, loaded with presents from the viceroy, he expressed his deep sense of his obligations for her services, and ratified the treaty, which he said met with his entire approbation. He even requested the viceroy to send some proper persons to instruct him in the Christian religion, which was readily complied with ; but, when his instructors afterwards desired that he should be baptized, he dismissed them haughtily, in op position to his sister's advice. He, however, consented
that his two other sisters should be instructed in Chris tianity, which was accordingly done, and they were pub licly baptized in the year 1625.
Regardless of true policy, as well as of good faith, this prince soon broke the treaty which he had conclu ded with the Portuguese, and renewed the war, in which he lost all his troops, and was forced to swim for his life to an island in the Coanza. There he died not long after, as was believed, in consequence of poison admi nistered to him by order of his sister Zingha.
This princess succeeded to the throne, and was no sooner seated on it, than she found means to get her nephew into her power, of whom, as being the lawful heir to the crown, she had much reason to be jealous : and the first act of her reign was to rid herself of her fears, by putting him to death with her own hand.
She next entered into a formidable league with the Dutch, who had formed a settlement upon the coast, together with the king of Congo, the Giagas, and other powers, against the Portuguese, who had now become so numerous and powerful as to be objects of envy and of dread, not only to her subjects, but also to the neigh bouring states. Thus powerfully supported, she, in the year 1641, surprised and attacked the Portuguese, and gained some advantages; while her allies, the Dutch, seized that favourable opportunity of reducing some of their provinces, and of making themselves masters of San Paulo de Loanda, the capital of their kingdom. That city was, however, recovered about seven years after, by the Portuguese, who had been reinforced by the arrival of a large body of troops from Portugal ; and the recovery of their lost provinces soon followed the surrender of the capital.
After expelling from the country their more formida ble enemies the Dutch, the Portuguese found little dif ficulty in subduing queen Zingha. The Congoese, and her other allies, having been defeated in several bloody engagements, she found herself reduced, by a series of misfortunes, to the last extremity ; and was even con strained to abandon her dominions, and to flee for safety into some of the eastern deserts, where the Portuguese thought it unnecessary to pursue her. After allowing her to meditate for some time on her desperate situa tion, they made to her proposals of peace, offering to re-establish her on her throne, provided she would ac knowledge herself a vassal, and pay tribute to the king of Portugal. That proposal she rejected with the same disdain as the former one, made to her when ambassa dress for her brother, declaring, that whatever her timid subjects might consent•to, it should never be said of her, that she had so meanly submitted to a foreign yoke. To moit'tify her haughty spirit, and to prevent her subjects from electing another king from among themselves, they selected a young man, who was related to her family, and on his head they placed the crown. But first they obliged him to profess himself a Chris, tian, and to be baptized by the name of John, which was. the name of the then reigning king of Portugal. But he soon died of grief, in consequence of the harsh treat ment he received from his new masters. Another was appointed to succeed him, who was more submissive, and enjoyed a long, and, in some respects, a happy reign, till it terminated by his death, in 1660.