a kingdom of Africa, bounded on the west by the river Umbre which runs into the Zaire, the kingdom of Wangua, and the Amboes who border on Loango; on the north, by some deserts of Nubia; and on the south, by Songo and Sonda, provinces of Congo. Here are great numbers of wild beasts, as lions, rhinoceroses, &c., and many copper mines. The king of Ansiko, or the great Macoco, commands 13 kingdoms, and is esteemed the most powerful monarch in Africa. The inhabitants of Angola have a tradition, that this is the proper country of the Giagas, who came originally from Sierra Leon, and overran, like a torrent, the whole coast as far as Benguela; that, being weakened by numerous battles, and unable to force the defiles in order to return to Sierra Leon, they arrived on the borders of Monomotapa, where being defeated, they were forced to remain in the provinces of Ansiko. Be this as it will, the Ansikans yield not in the least to the Giagas in fierceness and barbarity. They are so accustomed to the eating of human flesh, that it is asserted they have markets where it is publicly sold, and that there are no other graves for the dead than the bellies of the living. They try the courage of their prisoners of war by shooting at them as at marks, directing their arrows above or around their heads; and whoever discovers the least signs of fear, is immediately devoured without remedy. Those who appear intrepid and resolute, have their noses and ears bored, and two fore teeth of the upper jaw drawn. They are then improved in barbarity, by accustoming them to the most horrid cruelties.

The Ansikans are neat, well proportioned, and strong; wandering about from place to place, without either sowing or reaping. They are dreaded for their extreme brutality, and never traded with by the Europeans. Their language is barbarous, and difficult to be learned, even by the inhabitants of Congo. The most distinguished among them wear red and black caps of Portuguese velvet; the lower ranks go naked from the waist upwards; and, to preserve their health, anoint their bodies with a composition of pounded white sandal wood and palm oil. Their arms are battle axes, and small but very strong bows, adorned with serpents skins. Their strings are made of supple and tender shoots of trees, that will not break, and their arrows of hard and light wood. These people, who kill birds flying, shoot with such surprising swiftness, that they can discharge 28 arrows from the bow before the first falls to the ground. With equal dexterity they manage their battle axes; one end of which is sharpened and cuts like a wedge, and the other flattened like a mallet, with a handle set between, about half the length of the iron, rounded at the end like an apple, and covered with the skin of a serpent.—The current money in this country is the zimbis or shell, which is fished for, and passes among several African nations.—They worship the sun as their chief deity; whom they represent by the figure of a man, and the moon by that of a woman. They have also an infinite number of inferior deities, each individual having a particular idol whom he addresses on certain occasions.