Book II Chapter 3

[32] King Ngolabande died,[1] & his Sister set herself up as Queen of the Kingdom with the encouragement of some of the Court, caused the death of her nephew, the true heir to the Kingdom, & others of Royal blood, to assure power of governing for herself, & to be revenged on the Portuguese behaved according to the inhuman & barbarous Giaga laws. Chap. III [added later: and how she conquered the KIngdom of Matamba].

So while the King remained in his new Court working out how he could be revenged on the Portuguese, he realised that he had only an ardent wish but that he did lack resources to carry out his will, & one & the other held [...] of him to see their principal enemy, he was overcome by great melancholy, & [...] he grew ill, and there was no lack of doctors nor of medicines of the black people's kind to nurse him, but no human remedy helped him, for he was burning with anger & indignation owing to seeing himself persecuted by the Portuguese. Some say that he took poison in order to free himself from himself; others affirm that the haughty Ginga helped him to die with the aid of a poisoned drink, which we can well believe from the course of her life, & her proud ambition to rule & command, & also from her many acts of cruelty to those of her own Blood. He was finally compelled to follow the same path as his Ancestors, & pay to death the traveller's tribute. Then he went to be eternally punished with them, not through lack of remedies which would have been his salvation, because he had already been sent the necessary remedy by the Priest from whom he was not willing to receive the sacred ablution, confining himself to the name of Fulla ya nzambi,[2] meaning Fran.? of God; because he had no excuse for not being saved, he received the punishment due to his ingratitude, which comes to many who, knowing of divine grace, are too ungrateful to receive it. He was buried in the same Island on the right hand side of the Current of water, and did not lack the sacrifices due to him according to the custom of his Ancestors, & this was the payment [...]

Picture of man with knife sneaking up on three people lying on mat with legend: 1. Look, and observe the actions of those Sleeping, the Queen, 2. Willingly or unwillingly they are punished with the pain of death

Picture of priests

Picture of procession of serving women, with Marimbero

Picture of Tembo Andumba pounding child

Picture of Queen as a Giaga with arrow (Ginga with bow and arrow)

Picture of queen ordering woman's breast cut off

[33] The Prize for his inconstancy which he received in the year MDCXXVII.[3]

When King Ngolabande was dead, Princess Ginga managed to place herself on the Royal throne, & she achieved it with the encouragement of some of the Court who liked vice better than virtue, & acquired the name of Angola quiluangi meaning Queen of Angola. Her chief Concubine was also allowed the title of King; he was called Chiay tuxi[4] and was much loved by her. Her brother had left a son, who was heir to the Kingdom because he was the son of his chief wife, which among the Ethiopians makes him the legitimate heir. He had recommended him to his great Friend Giaga Casa,[5] not only so that he should learn the practice of arms, but also so that he should be free from the anger & indignation of his sister Ginga, which she felt towards him because of the death he had brought on her son; but who can flee from an angry woman?

When, therefore, Ginga found herself on the Royal throne, served & obeyed by all, in order to consolidate her power and avoid being deposed as an illegitimate Queen, & also to be revenged for the death of her son, she sent with feigned cordiality for her nephew, asking him to come and rule as he had the right to do so, and if she had usurped his powers she had only done so to calm the tumults which usually occur in such circumstances.[6] But the Giaga, who well knew Ginga's cunning, did not wish to send him; when she saw that her previous wiles had not been effective, she invented another, a snare of the devil, and sent a Message to the Giaga that she loved him & was so much in his power that she could not live without his presence & its enjoyment, & wanted to marry him. The Giaga thought nothing of this show of excessive love; she determined to captivate him by her presence, & to achieve her evil end she sent another Message that the fire of her love was such that she could not wait, and must go to him in person. So she arrived in the Giaga's army although he had been warned by his own guess the devil [34] did not allow him to discover Ginga's intentions, either because it was impossible, or because there were great rewards to be gained by hiding them; however, blessed God, without whom nothing can be done, allowed this. She was received with festivity & joy, & with womanly wiles persuaded him to take her as a concubine according to the heathen custom. [marginal note: Troylus for the same reason killed his brother. Vimerano Vueterico killed Levva to usurp his command and Aurelius for the same reason killed Troylus just as he had killed his brother Vimerano also ordered his eyes to be torn out.] When the wedding was celebrated, & the newly married pair's love was at its peak of happiness, she invited the bridegroom to her Court, and he did not refuse her invitation but went to her Court where they had many festivities, & after a few days she sent for her nephew, who, having no suspicions of his Aunt and being deceived by seeing her joined to the Giaga, went; & she received him with a serene countenance, & had him ceremonially dressed; but this was only an outward show of love, as she still had a Heart full of anger and like another Zundo Riangola ordered him to be killed & thrown into the river. When the bridegroom saw his wife's betrayal he left in sorrow, seeing that she had only joined herself to him in order to kill her nephew, and she felt it little, because she had a whole mass of Concubines at her command.[7] She felt great consolation because she had avenged the death of her son with that of her nephew, & had secured power to rule for herself; but do not think, dear readers, that this was the end of the Queen's hate & anger towards the relations who might interfere with her rule, because in pursuit of her Cynical will to evil she continued to kill all those of Royal blood with an iron heart & harpy-like anger, particularly the males, like the wicked Athaliah, but without sparing either Sex of age, but giving to everyone an equal death, & only spared the life of her two sisters mentioned above, whom she lost in a war in the year MDCXXXX, and who were captured a second time by the Portuguese.

I Those who reign must not trust friends of relations, Brothers-in-law or even brothers & sisters, because on a point of honour & command Pompey arose against his father-in-law Julius Caesar, Absalom against his own parents, & the King of Anamite people against his brother, Romulus & Remus also, & many others whom I pass over in order not to weary? the reader to no purpose. When Ginga saw that there was nothing to hinder [35] her pride and ambition to rule & command, she resolved to show what has often been observed, that honours change behaviour, and it would be well if it were for the better; but this woman, forgetful of her sacred baptismal ablution, took new laws, Rites & customs to revenge herself on her enemies, particularly the Portuguese, and to this end sent to various places not for Priests of the true God so that they might instruct & teach her about the Catholic Religion, & obtain pardon for her sins by this means, but for ministers of Avernus that they might instruct and teach her about the laws, Rites & customs of the Giaga people.[8] It was not long before the ministers of the devil appeared from various places, particularly the quilombo of Giaga Casa & Caenda with their devilish Relics, & orders were given in her council not only to accept, but faithfully to observe & follow, what they taught, because she was going to gather people together & form and army, & be revenged on her enemies & the deaths of her Ancestors. This resolution pleased everyone, the orders were carried out at once, & she subjected herself to the ministers of Avernus & their doctrine.

To begin this new state of affairs she needed a son sprung from her own belly, like the Reformer of the Giaghi who pounded her own child in a mortar (as has been told in treating of the Giaghi). Our Ginga lacked this, because the only son she had borne was killed by the orders of the King her brother; so she could not carry out this task to perfection, but she did not grow less dismayed for that, nor did she lose Heart, nor wish the work to be imperfect; but she took the child of another woman from her loins & adopted it in order to do what was required b the new system & order. so she took this small child, placed him inside a mortar which in their language the call quino, & began to pound his tender flesh violently without hesitating at all or showing any compassion, for she had lost the honourable epithet of compassionate, and having pounded him well with hard blows she had him put into [36] a Cauldron to cook on the fire, & then made him into oil which they call majij ya Samba, meaning great & sacred oil, with which she anointed herself & her Vassals, & used it in the future before going into the Field of battle, & in the festivities which she celebrated according to the Giaga custom, & in short she learned that art which is frightening & alarming to men & beasts, & from being a pupil became an accomplished teacher of all the laws, rites, customs & observations of the barbarous & inhuman Giaghi who felt no anguish or suffering at her teaching, but much joy & delight in hearing & seeing her turn from a pupil into a teacher, & instruct others. Tell me, o cruel harpy, is it not normal for the Craftsman to love his work, & love it more when he is loved by it? Is not the son the work of the species, so why not love him? The Father confers three benefits on his son by begetting him, firstly he is the cause of his existence, secondly by nourishing him he is the cause of his growing, & thirdly by instructing him he is the cause of his learning. so if he has not begotten him, but only adopted him so that he might be, why then not feed him so that he may grow & teach him that he may learn, but only kill him so barbarously? You should have persecuted his mother for the sin she had committed, when giving birth the individual loses and what has been born, & remains alive, taught & fed by mother nature so that he grows & learns [marginal note: Now consider, Dear readers, how much love the Irrational beings bear their children; admire the way the Lioness defends her young, observe attentively how the hare fights for its leveret, watch how the Hen hides her chickens under her Wings so that they may not be taken from her by the obibio?, and so what will God think of these Ethiopian women? From S. Aecq. in Exari. lib 5. c. 108 vol. 1.[9] Fathers and mothers may learn from the ravens and animals of the woods what they should do with their children. The woman who does not love and bring up her child in not Snre. and must not be called so, as faverino the Philosopher said, lib. 12 c. i. nost. Attica.[10] It is not the act of a true mother to give birth to children and suddenly abandon them, and throw them from herself, but what would this philosopher have said if he had seen Queen Ginga executing these barbarous deeds? He would undoubtedly have exclaimed "O Deed outside the order of Nature."] With this inhuman action she acquired the name of Angola Ginga gombe Aenga,[11] meaning great Lady, Queen of Arms, & great warrior.

She was given the moquoquo, a military instrument of the black Ethiopian people called longa by the Giaghi, which is like a bell upside down, & they use them in war both advancing and retreating, & it is understood by all; they strike it with a piece of wood which is one palm in length thin where it is held in the hand, & bigger at the end with which it touches the instrument, & without this warlike sound the laws, rites & customs cannot be truly practised, & one cannot call oneself a true Giaga, & be a legitimate Lord.[12]

[37] When Queen Ginga had everything she required, she caused the warlike instrument to be played, gathered the people together, & formed an army entirely from malefactors & thieves who were careless both of their lives and those of others, who had come at the report of her barbarous acts, by which she had shown herself, in manifesting publicly her evil will, an enemy not only of God whom she had repudiated, but also of the human race, & a destroyer of human beings: now I say, o newly enrolled warrior under the dreadful & woeful Giaga standard, what do you claim & what do you expect? do you not know that one should enrol under a military standard for three reasons only, that is expecting a reward, paying a debt of gratitude & discharging an obligation. And what reward do you expect for the life of a Giaga? & what debt of gratitude can you pay to one who always did you evil? & what legal obligation forces you to pay a debt you did not incur? You can only answer that the new life, laws, rites & customs mean you must be recognized not as a pupil but as a teacher, guide & standard of barbarity & cruelty, & oblige all others to follow you without hope of reward, debt of gratitude or obligation, except for following your will which is bent towards evil like the shadow to the body & the wave to the wind, & cause yourself to be known as a cruel harpy towards human beings, & a persecutor & destroyer of them, as if they were not of your own kind.

When the Portuguese saw the great damage they had suffered from this cruel harpy, & the way all the black people followed her and looked at her as their natural Lady & honoured & revered her as a demi-goddess, from fear of greater damage they determined to chase her from court, and to this end made preparations for war with light boats to be launched into the Coanza river, & assault the Islands in the middle of it.[13] So they left Loanda, & went towards them, arriving at the Island called Vcole, which was the biggest and best fortified & garrisoned? of all; they did battle there, & had a glorious [38] victory, though not without the loss of lives, as usually happens on these occasions. They went on to another island called quitachi, where the same happened, & following the course of the river in their warfare they reached the new court called Dangij, meaning root. They formed their Camp in the part of the Bondo[14] directly opposite that Island & while they were making preparations, & acquiring provisions in the neighbouring lands, the Queen gave orders to assail the Portuguese Camp, & wounded 300 & 300,? but she too had her hands? full. Finally they made an advance with their boats, & fought with Lusitanian determination having no doubt about who should be victorious, owing to the situation of the island, strengthened by the rocks surrounding it under water; when the Queen saw she had lost many people, & that the naked black men were hit more often than the white ones, although she had captured some of the Portuguese, & being afraid that the next day would bring them victory, sent a feigned Embassy that, on the day after, she would surrender herself as a Vassal when she had spoken with her counsellors. The Queen was greatly comforted by this Embassy, which promised peace with her enemies, & that she would be received by their King with good grace, & gave orders to lay down Arms; all were waiting attentively to see what would be the end of the tragedy, which was as follows: seeing the resolution of the Portuguese, she made a sacrifice to the dead King her brother, from whom she had an answer through the Singhilla that to become a vassal of the Portuguese was to lose freedom, & become slaves instead of Lords, & that it was better to retain one's liberty by flight. When the Queen and her counsellors had heard the speech of the Singhilla, to show her gratitude for his advice she ordered fourteen of the most beautiful young girls of her Court to be strangled, as a sacrifice to her dead brother; she caused them to be gathered together at his tomb, & with her servants crossed the river by night, & fled to the Province of Oacco. When the time had passed when she should have sent word to the Camp, as they saw no signal from the Island they sent some boats from which they disembarked without any opposition, & found only the fourteen dead girls without any sign of iron or rope. When the Portuguese saw they had been deceived by the Queen,[15]? (p. [39] appears to be missing)

She continued to govern for a time with her above-mentioned concubine, & because she loved him greatly [40] she allowed him to be called by the name of King, but not long afterwards he was compelled by death to pay the tribute which every traveller must; he was given an honourable burial & according to the barbarous heathen custom he did not lack the required sacrificial victims to serve him in the next life & assist him in the dark tomb, & he was recognised even by the greatest people at Court as the Concubine of their Queen.

Then she took another called ngola Tombo,[16] whom she also honoured with the name of King, and he too followed in the footsteps of the last & paid tribute to death, & although she had a chain of Concubines she wanted yet another, but did not wish to honour him with the title of King, but was so haughty & ambitious that she even deprived him of his natural title of man, & the clothing befitting a man, & had him called with a woman's name & dressed as a woman, & wished to be called by the name of King herself, not Queen. She caused all her Concubines to be dressed in the same way, and not only to frequent her waiting-women, but also to sleep in the same room, without immodestly touching them with hand or foot, on pain of rigorous punishment, & when they complained & asked to be removed from the neighbourhood of temptation, she answered "This is what I wish, & it is for you to pay attention."[17] Nor did these barbarous acts (dear reader) last only a short time, but she continued in this way for many years until the year MDCLVI when she abandoned the Giaga life and returned to blessed God,[18] & was joined in matrimony according to the precepts of Holy Mother Church, & ceased to call herself King, but called herself Queen & her husband King according to justice which gives to what is due to each one,? although she reserved for herself the absolute dominion both of her House and her Kingdom.

Dear readers, there are many who cease to do evil through lack of power, & others through lack of will, many abstain because of their consciences, & others through shame, some restrain themselves owing to an outcry, & others through fear; but if? our Ginga ceased to do evil it was not through lack of will, nor from shame, nor from conscience, still less from fear, or as a result of any outcry, but continued to make [41] progress in barbarity & cruelty, & to make herself formidable to all.

Having become a Giaga she continued to make war on friends & enemies, & to live not by the sweat of her brow, but that of others, as if she had been born & brought up among the children of the first fratricide who invented so many sins. She even began to entomb dead human beings in her own belly and that of her followers, & to quench her hart-like thirst with their blood, & became worse than a Hyrcanian tigress & furious harpy.

When the Portuguese saw that Queen Ginga had become their declared mortal enemy they, to her shame, made a new King, commonly called Angola Arij,[19] of Royal extraction, with whom she was perpetually at war, as also with those who followed him, & refused her obedience. On others too she avenged her old aversion, & it became a great tragi-comedy, with victory one day & defeat the next; here she was destroyed & there she was in the field with more people, to whom she made gifts & promises, & she was everyone's enemy; when one foe fled there were ten more coming, because where theft is common thieves are plentiful. Such was our Ginga's army, all enemies of the human race, & she was Queen & Captain of them all, seeming to have turned from a woman into a man, having lost the nature of a woman, and being unable to become another person, changed her actions at least, and by her new life, and the Giaga law, rites & customs she had adopted, showed that she had changed her deeds & her will if not her body, and if before she had shown an evil inclination, now she had grown worse, & bent to & embraced evil. The culmination of her barbarity was that she not only abhorred childbirth which is common to all women, but killed all small children without sparing any.

When Queen Ginga thought about the past wars with the Portuguese, the defeats & ruin she had suffered, & that she had been left with only the Islands of the Coanza river & knew that she had not sufficient forces to regain what she had lost and be revenged on the Portuguese, [42] she turned her desires, plans & forces towards the acquisition of a new Kingdom, & was ready to put her plan into execution. Having practised the wicked law of sambare & made the required Sacrifices & preparations according to the Giaga rites she had adopted, and invoked the Beelzebubs of Hell, this furious harpy & mistress of all evil set out from her Court on the Coanza river, & went with all her forces of war to acquire the new Kingdom of Matamba, adjoining the lost one, & suddenly came face to face not with her enemies but with its inhabitants, who although they submitted in order to protect themselves were forced to leave their pastoral habitations & flee to save themselves in freedom, but not before many of them had been killed & imprisoned, & according to barbarous custom eaten. She showed barbarity & cruelty towards these poor people, and swollen with pride in her success & stained with human blood, she proceeded to acquire the Kingdom, & as the fame of her courage & barbarous anger grew, she aspired to no less than the total destruction of the Kingdom & its inhabitants, of which the beginning had been auspicious, which promised good progress to a successful conclusion; so at the fame of her barbarous acts all the bloodthirsty, discontented & thieving people came running to her and formed a powerful army, with which she pursued the plan she had begun and reached Cabazzo, Court[20] of the Queen of Matamba, called Muongo Matamba, who ruled the Kingdom after the death of King Matamba Cambolo her Father,[21] & the place was called Mocaria Camatamba.[22] When the barbarous Ginga had reached this place she fought most cruelly against the Queen & her Vassals, who seeing her barbarous fury abandoned their Lady & fled, & the few who had remained with her were captured by Ginga together with their Lady & Queen and a daughter of hers called by the same name as her mother. She treated the prisoners of war with great cruelty, & ordered the Queen to be cruelly branded with an iron, which displeased her followers very much, & wishing to mitigate the severity of what she had done she left her in command of part of the Kingdom, & called her by the name of sister; but she, seeing herself [43] the slave of a Queen, & reduced to obeying instead of commanding, & losing the precious joy of freedom, was overcome by melancholy and passed from this mortal life to another full of woe & fire which will never be quenched. She was buried in her Court, & the tomb of her Ancestors, & mourned as was fitting; her daughter who still lives at the age of sixty was baptised,[23] & married a servant of her mother. The Queen has given her many slaves for her service with absolute command over them, a favour not ordinarily granted, unless it is for ordinary everyday service; but everyone can see what a poor consolation it is for seeing herself a slave in her own house, the Patrimony of her Ancestors, seeing many of her people eaten and others sold, without the power to help them, and with the additional sorrow of seeing herself exposed to the danger of following them; O miserable human condition, & unhappy people of this black Ethiopia!

So when this hind who was thirsty for human blood had absolute but tyrannical sway over the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Matamba, with her usual pride & ambition, having settled the affairs of the Kingdom, she planned to inflict damage on the Portuguese, & be revenged on them in part for her past defeats, as she thought she had sufficient forces; she set out towards their Garrisons? with great Spirit & will for vengeance, but the opposite took place, just as it does to someone who tries to show one foot with two shoes, & cover his head with two hats, because when she proudly went into battle against the Portuguese she was defeated many times with heavy losses,[24] and Giaga Cassange advanced on the inhabitants of Matamba[25] & slaughtered them most cruelly, killing some and taking others prisoner, and returned victorious to his quilombo; the Queen, not victorious but defeated, returned to hers, & thinking to find the corn as she had left it, found it cut down by the inhuman Giaga Cassange, who had only left a few ears by accident which they tried to STET?; & they acquired new forces by means of the barbarous raids which she ordered to be make in various regions, both among her Friends and her enemies, for all were equal to her. Such was the fame of her barbarous & inhuman acts that [44] when they were told they were not believed; they were heard by the Governor who had arrived at that time in Loanda to govern that place & the Kingdom.[26] He determined to send an Ambassador to Giaga Cassange & Queen Ginga to see if she might abandon that inhuman way of life, & also to negotiate on behalf of his King. For this office he elected a Captain called Caspar Borges[27] & for the spiritual office Signore Don Antonio Coeglio, a priest of good understanding,[28] & very zealous in saving souls. They set out from Loanda & journeyed towards the Province of Gangella in which was the Giaga with his army, and they were courteously received by him. After a few days the Captain explained his Embassy, presented his letters, & dealt with the negotiation entrusted to him, & awaited an answer. The zealous Priest also explained his mission, with great zeal for saving souls, & he too awaited an answer from the Giaga.

He esteemed the Ambassador's message excessively because it was of human interest to him, & gave him a favourable answer in a very short time; but the opposite happened with the second message because of an incident which occurred, when a woman fell down from a great height, & such was the shock of her fall on a hard surface that the poor woman was brought to her death. The zealous Priest ran to the Giaga for permission to have her baptised because she was about to die; but the barbarian did not wish it, & said that that woman was not entitled to follow any path but that of her Ancestors, U& that this was his response to the Priest's Embassy; that neither he nor his followers were to observe or follow any path but that laid down by their Ancestors, & taught them by their Priests. Because of this the zealous Priest was left greatly distressed, although he did not lose hope of triumphing over his enemy in time; he tried as hard as he could with the Giaga but all in vain because he kept his cynical will to evil so tat the Priest lost all hope of being able to save that Soul.

Having been sent off by the Giaga they set out towards Queen Ginga's quilombo which was in the same Kingdom in the Province of Vmba,[29] and arrived at that Court to [45] complete their negotiations. The zealous Priest was asking himself, "If I have not succeeded with Giaga Cassange I shall at least do so with Queen Ginga who, having already been baptised, will be easy to move to compassion for the salvation of herself & her Vassals such as Giaga Cassange did not have; she will not be able to avoid repaying blessed God for the benefits she has received, & if she does not repay him she will at least feel herself obliged to do so, & even if she hides it she will not fail to know, & if she still denies it she will still remember, but if she appears to be completely forgetful she will never remember to please the supreme giver." They were courteously received by the Queen, & richly entertained, the priest was much consoled by this welcome & he had great hopes built on it. The day came for them to explain their Mission, and each explained his own. The Captain received a favourable response in very good time; but the priest & his zealous Mission were unable to make an entry into the iron heart of the Queen, who did not want to repay Blessed God for the benefits she had received, she hid it but did not fail to be aware, denied it, but remembered what she had received, and did not forget because she fortified herself by making the sign of the Holy Cross, but left gratification of God to another time. The good priest's exhortations were not enough to separate her from the inhuman Giaga life she had been leading for so many years; seeing at last that all his labour was in vain, he asked to be allowed to baptise a few children who were prisoners of war, & a few of the white people's slaves, but she would not consent, nor did she wish to do so, giving as an excuse that consenting would have detracted from her fame as a true female Giaga, & contravened her laws. The Ambassador set out for Loanda, having accomplished his mission, & the zealous priest was ready to accompany him on his return journey, but suddenly the Queen was smitten by a serious illness, & this was the reason the Ambassador set out alone. The Priest remained to see if this occasion could bear any spiritual fruit. Infirmity forced the Queen to confess herself indebted to God for the benefits received from creation, redemption, & holy [46] Baptismal ablution, & show repentance for the small amount of gratification she had given him & make large promises, as it is usual among the afflicted to promise much & then betray the obligation, & these promises are like vows made by sailors which only last as long as the fury of the storm; when that abates so does their obligation, & so were the promises of Queen Ginga who when she was cured did not keep her promise, & betrayed her obligation. When the priest saw her obstinate will, after six months he left the Queen's Court for Loanda, and in that time was taken by the Dutch, who held him captive for seven years in succession as will be seen in the next Chapter.

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[1]. He died sometime in January-April 1624. Fernao de Sousa, a contemporary, mentioned only his suicide in his own memoires, but put the story of possible poisoning by Njinga in his reports to Lisbon, perhaps to justify his campaigns against her, Heintze, "Ende", pp. 219-20.

[2]. Fulla ya Nzambi = Mfula ya Nzambi

[3]. See note 88, above, his death was in 1624, not 1627.

[4]. Chiay tuxi = Kia ituxi, no contemporary documents mention this husband whom she had as king.

[5]. This alliance between rulers of Ndongo and the Imbangala of Kasa was a recent development at the time, as "Casa Cangola" served in the Portuguese army that sacked Kabasa in 1617, but he was reported in 1619 to have rebelled and gone to Ndongo, Heintze, "Ende", pp.202-203, 222.

[6]. Contemporary sources do not mention this arrangement, but simply stress her siezure of power. On the other hand, they were from Portuguese officials anxious to satisfy Lisbon's desires for respecting the legitmate rulers and to justify their making war on her as an usuper. It is noteworthy in this regard that during much of this time she signed her name as "Senhora" (Lady) and not "Rainha} (Queen), a titile which she only took up in a letter to Bento Banha Cordoso, 3 March 1626 (published in Heintze, "Ende", pp. 268-9), ibid, p. 222.

[7]. While contemporary sources mention her continued alliance with various Imbangala groups and the murder of her nephew, these details can only be found in the later sources from Njinga's testimony (and perhaps that of others in her court) recorded here by Cavazzi, and also in da Gaeta, Maravigliosa Conversione, pp. 203-205; see the discussion in Heintze, "Ende", p.222.

[8]. Njinga was still calling herself a Christian in her letter to Bento Banha Cordoso, 3 March 1626 (Heintze, "Ende", p. 268), while in 1629 it was reported to Fernao de Sousa that the Jaga Kasanje had falled out with her because she wanted to dominate him as she had Kasa, and yet she did not have a "lunga" (an emblem of the Imbangala, see above, Book 1, p. 22 and note 61). Perhaps she became an Imbangala herself in the period shortly after this, Heintze, "Ende", p. 258.

[9]. Faverino

[10]. Faverino

[11]. Angola Ginga gombe Aenga = Ngola Njinga Ngombe e Nga

[12]. See note 95.

[13]. The Portuguese attacks on the islands of Kindonga began early in 1626, which would make this conversion to Imbangala rites, which I have suggested took place in 1630 or so, out of place, Heintze, "Ende", pp. 227-9.

[14]. Bondo = Mbondo, the territory perched on the western edge of the escarpment that marks the Baiza de Cassange in modern Angola, see Miller, Kings and Kinsmen, p.

[15]. Njinga fled the islands on 12 July 1626, Heintze, "Ende", p. 242.

[16]. See p. 33 and note 91 above. Ngola tombo = Ngola Ntombo, not mentioned in any other source, see p. 124 below as well. The third husband seems to have been named Sambegilla (note ).

[17]. Contemporary sources confirm Njinga's dressing of her "concubines" in female clothing, see the Dutch report of the 1640's on which Olifert Dapper, Naukeurige beschrijvinge der Afrikaensche gewesten (Amsterdam, 2nd ed. 1676) p. 237. is based, also da Gaeta, Maravigliosa Conversione, pp.

[18]. See note 108.

[19]. The Portuguese arranged to have Hari a Kilwanji made king of Ndongo in March 1626 against Njinga's protest. Heintze, "Ende", pp. 239-40. He died of smallpox in the assault on Kindonga and was replaced by his half-brother Ngola a Hari (Angola Arij) on 12 October 1626, ibid, pp. 242-3.

[20]. The town was apparently the same one sacked by Portuguese troops in 1621, Brasio, Montumenta 6: 568 (letter of 16 March 1621) A detailed account of the campaign based on documents of its commander but with a defective chronology is in Cadornega, Historia 1: 94-5.

[21]. Cadornega's documents mentioned a queen ruling in 1621 named Mulundu a Cambolo, Historia 1: 94.

[22]. Mocaria Camatamba = Mukaria Ka Matamba.

[23]. This daughter was probably baptised in 1657; Cavazzi remarked in Istorica Descrizione, Book 5, no. having met her in 1667 when she was in her sixties, see also Book 1, notes 23 and 25; Cadornega, Historia 1: 414.

[24]. This passage seems to refer to Njinga's attack on the Portuguese positions after 1641 in alliance with the Dutch. Cadornega, Historia 1: 228-527.

[25]. Kasanje made an attack on Matamba on the urging of the Portuguese ambassador, Joao Pinheiro, in 1645 or 1646, although the Portuguese were not particularly satisfied with its effect of relieving Njinga's pressure on them, Cadornega, Historia 1: 429.

[26]. This mission seems to have taken place in 1639 shortly after Pedro Cezar de Meneses arrived in Angola, in response to his writing her concerning the return of runaway slaves and her embassy to Luanda, Cadornega, Historia 1: 209.

[27]. Gaspar Borges de Madireira, a resident in Angola and friend of the Jesuits. This mission was probably made in 1639 and lasted for about six months, Cadornega, Historia 1: 210, 2: 221. [28]. Antonio Coelho, a Portuguese secular priest, see Cadornega, Historia 2: 497, note 32. [29]. On the location of Umba, see Istorica Descrozione, Book 5, no. 113.