country in the S.W. of Africa, stretching along the coasts of the Atlantic, between the equator and the River Zaire, bounded on the N. by Mayombo, and on the S. by Congo. Loango, the chief town, is in S. Lat. 4° 39', E. Long. 12° 17'. Along the coasts the country is flat, and of great fertility. In some places it is said to yield three harvests in the year. Little is known of the interior, but many of the mountain ranges are said to be very fertile. The lakes and rivers are richly stocked with fish; the forests abound with game; and, in some places, panthers, leopards, elephants, apes, and antelopes are to be found; but horses and cows do not thrive. The only minerals of importance are iron and copper. Palm trees, sugar-cane, maize, pulse, yams, and potatoes are the principal vegetable productions. In some places the climate is good, in others it is said to be very unhealthy; there is, on the whole, little rain, but dew falls in large quantities. The power of the king is of the most absolute description. His majesty resides in Loango, the capital; and although there are many chiefs in the country who have considerable influence, he is regarded as the supreme authority. The revenue is principally derived from the sale of slaves.

Lobo, Jerome, a Jesuit missionary, was born in Lisbon in 1593, and entered the Order of Jesus at the age of sixteen. In 1621 he was ordered to resign the chair which he occupied in the College of Coimbra, and to repair as a missionary to India. After much delay, caused by adverse weather, he set sail in 1622, and arrived in the same year at Goa. With the intent of proceeding to Abyssinia as a missionary, he left India in 1624; but after disembarking on the coast of Mombas, and attempting to reach his destination by land, was forced to return. Repeating the attempt in the ensuing year, in concert with Mendez, the newly-appointed Patriarch of Ethiopia, and eight missionaries, Lobo landed on the coast of the Red Sea, and settled down in Abyssinia as superintendent of the missions in the state of Tigre. Here he remained for some years, until death deprived the Catholics of their protector, the Emperor Segued. Forced by persecution to leave the kingdom, in 1634 Lobo fell, along with his companions, into the hands of the Turks at Massowah, and was sent by them to India, to procure a ransom for his imprisoned fellow-missionaries. This object he gained, and at the same time endeavoured, though without avail, to persuade the Portuguese viceroy to send an armament against Abyssinia. Intent upon accomplishing this cherished project he embarked for Portugal, and after he had been shipwrecked on the coast of Natal, and captured by pirates, arrived at Lisbon. Neither at this city, however, nor at Madrid and Paris, was any countenance given to Lobo's plan for Christianizing Abyssinia by the aid of arms. He accordingly returned to India in 1640, and was elected rector, and afterwards provincial of the Jesuits at Goa. Returning to his native city in 1656, he continued there till his death in 1678. His History of Ethiopia, published in 1659, was translated from the MS. into French by the Abbé Legrande, Paris, 1728. Added to it was a supplement containing a history of the missions and expeditions to Abyssinia after Lobo's time, and several dissertations on the history and customs of that country. An English translation of Legrande's edition was published by Dr Johnson in 1735, and reprinted in 1789.