useful, but absolutely essential, since without it the earth would be
deprived of those influences, by which alone it was enabled to
minister to the wants of man. The people accordingly viewed, with the
deepest alarm, any idea of giving offence to beings, whose wrath
might be displayed in devoting the land to utter sterility.

We cannot trace any record, stating the period or the manner in which
the Portuguese and their officious missionaries were expelled from
Congo; it is, however, supposed that they at length carried their
religious innovations to such a length, as to draw down upon them the
vengeance of the people, and that some bold and decisive steps were
taken to liberate the country from its usurpers. It is, however,
certain, that Capt. Tucky, in his late expedition, did not find a
single trace of either the Portuguese or their missionaries on the
banks of the Zaire.

The traveller has ever found much greater difficulty in making
discoveries in Mahometan than in Gentoo or Pagan countries, and from
this cause the great continent of Africa is much less known to
Europeans than it was in ancient times. Until the present age, and a
very recent part of it, our knowledge of that immense portion of the
globe extended but very little way from the coast, and its
enterprises have made great advances to a knowledge of that interior
before unexplored. The design of examining on land Africa, to find
out the manners, habits, and institutions of its men, the state of
the country, its commercial capabilities in themselves, and relative
to this country, formed the African Association. From the liberal
sentiments, knowledge, and comprehensive views of that society, were
the courage and enterprise of adventurers stimulated to particular
undertakings of discovery.