The religion of Congo was, and still is, in many parts of the country, a compound of the most degrading ido latry and superstition, joined with a complication of absurd and detestable rites, which have been invented by their gangas or priests, for the purpose of keeping the people in a state of the most abject subjection to their spiritual tyranny. There is acknowledged, in deed, one supreme being, called Nzambiamponga, be lived to be all-powerful, and to whom is ascribed the creation of the country ; but it is nuclei stood that the care and government of all sublunary things has been committed by him to a great variety of subordinate deities, who severally preside over their particular de partments in nature. In conformity with such views, is the prodigious multiplication that is observed here of deities, idols, and altars, as also of gangas or priests, and of religious ceremonies. The forms under which those inferior deities arc represented, vary with the in clination of the worshippers, and consists sometimes in resemblances of different living creatures, sometimes in representations of trees or plants of various kinds, and they sometimes assume the aspect of statues and images, often carved or painted with very considerable skill. The worship that is paid to these imaginary deities is ex pressed in genuflexions, fumigations, and such other un availing services, with which the priests have influence and authority enough to join the making of offerings, nominally too in honour of the gods, but really and substantially calculated to benefit, nay even to enrich, those sacred persons themselves. Owing to this influ ence of the priesthood, not only hove the endeavours of the kings of Congo for extirpating idolatry from their dominions been hitherto unsuccessful, but so much arc both the most barbarous and the most refined classes of the people of this country, in all their transactions, un der the impression of religious regards, that if a house is to be built or occupied, if the harvest is to be cut down, or any thing else, even of the most trifling nature, is to be undertaken, the favour of some deity or deities must ever be gained, through the instrumentality of their servants the gangas. Except in the case of the stated festivals of the new moons, it is the privilege, besides, of this body, to ascertain and fix the seasons generally of all religious observances, as well as the particular rites, sacrifices, and offerings, NN ith which they are re spectively to be accompanied ; and, indeed, such is the opinion entertained of the highest dignity belonging to this order, that to the chalome, or chalombe, the person invested with it, the degree of reverence that is paid is such as borders on that which is thought due even to the gods themselves. The form of Christianity that was introduced into this country by the Portuguese preachers, after a footing had heen obtained in it by that people, was, of course, that of the church of Rome. Even under that form, however, so much has it in later times been neglected, that little really now remains here of that religion except the bare name of Christian.
Concerning dying persons, the idea that is entertained among the Congoese is, that they are just passing from a wretched life into a state of tranquillity and happiness. Hence it is conceived that the best service that can be done to persons in such circumstances, is to accelerate their deliverance ; a notion which, among the vulgar, leads sometimes to the barbarous practice of stopping their breath, or beating upon their breasts with violence, that they may the sooner enter into a state of felicity. In the inferior ranks of life, those who mourn for persons deceased shave their whole heads, and anoint themselves with oil, upon which they rub a quantity of earth, dust, and dried leaves, which give them a shocking appear ance. Those of better condition shave only the upper part of their heads, which they bind with a list of cloth, linen, or leather, and confine themselves to the house for eight whole days. To shed tears on such an occa sion is considered as a great crime, and is liable to punishment, even if the culprit should be the king. Upon the death of the monarch, persons kept in pay for the purpose go to all the public places in the cities, to ac quaint the people of the fact, by the mournful sound of their ivory cornets. Before the introduction of Chris tianity into the country, the funeral obsequies of such a personage were celebrated by various kinds of sacrifices and superstitious ceremonies, accompanied with music, howling, dancing, and feasting. These were continued for a week, and were resumed yearly on the anniversary of the king's demise. It was customary also to bury alive a certain number, not exceeding twelve, of the fa vourite concubines of the. prince,'or or the young ladies belonging to his court. In some of these respects an advantageous change has taken place in consequence of that event, though the effect has not been so complete as to put an end to the drunken revels which had been customary on such occasions.
The manner of interment for the princes and nobles, is to deposit the dead body in wainscotted vaults, hung with black ; two of the old domestics of the parties de ceased being destined alternately to guard the entrance, and to give them the benefit of their prayers. Other prayers are in like manner to be offered up on thc anni versary of the decease, and on All-souls-day, at which times the graves are opened, and the hangings exchan ged for new ones.
Amongst the Giagas, the most barbarous people of this kingdom, it is the custom to dance in a frantic man ner about the graves of persons deceased, and to bring them food, drink, and other conveniences. The dan ces that are performed at the funerals of their great men last for eight days, without intermission, upon which occasion there is always sacrificed a number of human victims.
The traffic of the Congoese with the Europeans con sisted, for a long period, chiefly in slaves, of whom to the amount of 15 or 16,000 annually used to be carried off the country. In return, there were brought into it various products of Brasil, consisting of grains, fruits, plants, and the like, as also several articles of European manufacture, calculated to supply the necessities, to please the taste, or gratify the luxurious inclinations of the natives and unenlightened inhabitants. Among these are enumerated Turkey carpets, English cloth and the like, copper and brass vessels, ornaments and trinkets of various kinds, tobacco and spirituous liquors, light stuffs for clothing, and a great variety of tools and utensils.
The imperfect state of improvement in this country, is manifest alike in its general aspect, in the character of its manufactures, and in the nature of the accom modations to be obtained in it. The roads here are bad, and infested with banditti, and a variety of per nicious animals. Nothing almost in any of the de partments of art is such as it might naturally be ex pected to be found among a people who had advanced far in the progress of civilization. Their houses are low ill-built huts, thatched with straw or fern, without windows, and which are not to be entered into even by the door, without stooping ; they are besides so slight ly built as to be liable to be blown away by a gust of wind. The furniture consists chiefly of a few ill-con trived instruments of agriculture, a hatchet, a cutlass, with the utensils for preparing or containing their pro visions. The Congoesc have amongst them a variety of rude musical instruments, such as those which they distinguish by the names of the usambi and the marim ba, which are a very imperfect kind of stringed instru ments; their ingambos or ingombos, a sort of drum made of the long hollow trunk of a tree, with a single skin stretched over one end of it, and which is beaten with the fists, or by sticks of heavy wood, while the other end of the instrument is left open, and the longa, which consists of one or two small belts. Their dancing has been characterised as merely a promiscuous collec tion of men and women, all striving who shall show the greatest agility and variety in their gambols, contortions, and indecent postures.
Before the arrival of the Portuguese in Congo, its inhabitants were so totally unacquainted with letters that its prior history may be considered as p.•rfectly fa bulous. The tradition is, that its first prince was Lu guen, the son of a neighbouring sovereign, who gra dually united under his dominion the whole , " the ter ritory between the mouth of the Zair and i e city of St Salvador, and whose legitimate successors Jvc ever since maintained themselves in possession of 1.• throne. This country was discovered by the Portuguese under the reign of John II. who employed Diego Cam, a per son of enterprise and a famous navigator, in an expcdi tion for extending the knowledge of the coasts of Ethi opia. The period when this took place was the year 1434. While engaged in this undertaking, Cam was accidentally carried into the Congocsc country, and having been well received by the natives, was able to prevail on four of them to accompany him to Europe. Charm ed with the accounts which they communicated to him respecting it, the king ordered Cam to return thither as speedily as possible, furnishing him with valuable presents for the sovereign and the court. He directed that this prince should be exhorted to become a convert to the worship of the only true God, and to permit the Christian religion to be propagated through his domi nions. Cam, accordingly, having arived again at Congo in the year 1485, was still very favourably received there, and an alliance having been established between the two crowns of Portugal and Congo, it has still continued to subsist, and was followed by at least a partial conversion of the country to the Christian faith. See Dapper's Hist. d'ilfrique ; Mod. Univer. Hist. vol. xiii. Penchet's Dic tionnaire de la geo,srralthie commerfante ; Bibliotheque universelle de Voyages, E(c. (k)