These zealous fathers of the church, at the head of whom was father Antony, who had become a great fa vourite with the queen, availed themselves of the re morse which she had of late discovered, and obtained, by artifice, what could not be gained from her by force of arms. In short, by a hypocritical pretence of serving the cause of their divine Master, and of securing the salvation of Zingha, which, they told her, was impossi ble, while she continued without the pale of the Romish church, they at last obtained a promise from her, to re nounce her idolatry and return to Christianity, after she had reigned queen of the Giagas, and chief of that bar barous sect, almost SO years ; and that important resolu tion she intimated to her army in a speech, drawn up with ber usual art and ability, in the year 1655. Al though she was by no means certain of the success of this address, and was extremely anxious as to the con sequences, her fears were soon dispelled by the loud acclamations of her army, which she. regarded as a happy omen of their speedy conversion. Site instantly communicated these joyful tidings to the viceroy, who, from her former artful behaviour, had good reason to suspect her sincerity ; but, concealing his suspicions, he assured her, that, if she continued stcdfast in the faith, she might rely upon the inviolable friendship of the king of Portugal. But, as the quiet possession of her domi nions was the grand object of the Portuguese govern ment, he continued to avail himself of the powerful in fluence of father Antony, to persuade her to renounce a temporal kingdom for the sake of an eternal one. By his pious arguments, we are told, but probably still more, from the apparent impossibility of recovering her lost territory, she was prevailed upon to sign a truce with the Portuguese, as the preliminary of a peace. She then became apparently reconciled to them, and professed great zeal for the interest of the church, which conversion, the holy father took all possible pains to en courage and confirm. In testimony of the sincerity of her faith, she caused a church to be built in her capital, which she dedicated to the blessed virgin. This cere mony being performed with the most pompous solemni ty, great multitudes, in imitation of the queen's exam ple, went to it to be instructed and baptized. She then published several edicts in favour of the new converts, and against the idolatrous rites of the Giagas ; and, in order to discourage polygamy, which universally pre vailed, and to encourage her subjects to matrimony, she entered into the married life, in the 75th year of her age. She afterwards concluded a peace with the Portu guese, the principal articles of which were, that the river Lucalla should henceforth form the boundary be twixt her kingdom of Metamba and theirs of Angola, and that she should not be bound to pay any tribute. This treaty was ratified by her and the viceroy, in April 1657, and, in the same year, obtained the sanction of the king of Portugal.
Nothing was now wanting, but a fresh supply of mis sionaries, to obtain which, Zingha sent an embassy to Rome, to do homage to his holiness, and inform him of her great desire to establish the Christian religion in all parts of her dominions. When she received the pope's answer, in 166'2, she resolved that it should be read in her new church, after divine service, in the presence of herself and her whole court. She repaired to church in great state, carrying the pope's letter, in a golden purse, suspended from her neck. Mass being ended, father Antony, at the queen's desire, read the letter at the altar, in the Portuguese language, and the secretary gave an interpretation of it to the people in their native tongue. The queen, out of respect to his holiness, stood while his letter was read, and then went to the altar, where, on her knees, she received it from the father, and having kissed it, and sworn again over the gospel, to continue obedient to the holy see, she replaced the letter in the golden purse, and returned to the palace, amidst the shouts of thousands of her subjects. The
ceremony concluded with a magnificent entertainment to the Portuguese and her court ; on which occasion, in compliment to her guests, she condescended to eat, and to be served after the European manner, being seated on a superb chair, at a table covered with the finest linen, and ornamented with the richest silver-plate.
This was the last memorable act of her reign; for, in the subsequent year, a violent inflammation in her throat, which fell upon her lungs, put a period to her vigorous and active lite, on the 17th of December, 1663, in .the 82d year of her age.
She was succeeded in her Metambic crown by her sister Barbara, whose zeal for the propagation of the gospel was not inferior to Zingha's, but she was desti tute of her martial and intrepid spirit. Raised to the throne in the decline of life, and when almost blind, she was incapable of giving the necessary attention, either to the Interests of religion, or of the state ; and she was married to a husband, who, though indebted to her for hi. advancement, treated her with contempt and cruel ty. This man, who was the son of a slave, had been honoured with the friendship of the late queen Zingha, from whom he received his name Mona Zingha ; and who, after her advancement to the throne, promoted him to the high rank of chief general. Relying on the ascen dancy he had gained over his sovereign, he had the con fidence to demand her sister in marriage, to which she, dreading the consequences of a refusal, was induced to give her consent ; but so barbarous was his conduct as a husband, that the exasperated queen Zingha was re strained only by the intercession of father Antony, from causing him to be put to death. Devoted to all the ido latrous rites of the Giagas, he requited that act of cle mency in the father, by forming the horrid resolution, after Barbara was seated on the throne, of murdering all the Capuchins and Europeans in the kingdom, and even the queen herself, rather than suffer her to continue longer under the influence of these Bo:nisi' priests. His designs, however, were discovered, and completely frustrated, by the activity and address of father Antony ; and when he wished to retire to a neighbouring pro vince, upon the pretence of recovering his health, he received an order from the council, prohibiting him from leaving the kingdom of Metamba.
It was not long, however, before the queen appointed him to the command of an army, which was sent to sup press a revolt on the frontiers. Having returned victo rious, he had the audacity to propose to his troops the revival of the Giagan rites, by the sacrifice of all his prisoners to the manes of their late queen Zingha. The queen and council having caused inquiry to be made into the truth of that report, he dispatched a messenger to inform them, that his reason for bringing so many prisoners with him was, that the nation might be able to pay their debt to the Portuguese, to whom they still owed a great number of slaves : and he accompanied his solemn denial of the accusation with rich presents to the council, and particularly with a quantity of Euro pean wine ; and these had the desired effect of prevent ing any further investigation of the matter. He did not neglect to send some of this wine to father Antony, whom he knew to be his chief enemy at court; and, the better to disguise his treachery, he informed him, that the small quantity sent was intended for the sacred pur pose of mass, and that, were it acceptable, a larger supply should soon follow. The unsuspicious father, having tasted the present, was instantly seized with all those violent pains which are the effects of poison. By the help of strong antidotes, which were immediately admi nistered, he recovered, but was left so weak as to be unable longer to discharge the duties of his office, and reluctantly left his Christian mission, and retired to Loanda.