An Attempt to Cross Africa.
Before proceeding with our account, there remains to be noticed a serious attempt to cross the whole of Africa from the west coast to “Manomotapa,” on the Zambezi, which was made by Balthasar Rebello de Aragão, by order of D. Manuel Pereira Forjaz. Rebello de Aragão himself furnishes a very short account of this expedition,450 from which we learn that he discovered copper and iron, and was told that there was also silver. The natives bred cattle and cultivated the land, and they told him of a lake, in lat. 16° S., giving rise to many rivers, including the Nile. Unfortunately, when he had advanced one hundred and forty leagues from the sea, and eighty beyond the place he started from (Kambambe?), he was summoned back, as the fort just named was threatened by King Ngola.451