[ A Second Voyage to Benguella. ]
In our second voyage, turning up along the coast, we came to the Morro, or cliff of Benguelle,65 which standeth in twelve degrees of southerly latitude. Here we saw a mighty camp on the south side of the river Cova.66 And being desirous to know what they were, we went on shore with our boat; and presently there came a troop of five hundred men to the waterside. We asked them who they were. Then they told us that they were the Gagas, or Gindes, that came from Sierra de lion [Serra Leôa],67 and passed through the city of Congo, and so travelled to the eastward of the great city of Angola, which is called Dongo.68 The great Gaga, which is their general, came down to the waterside to see us, for he had never seen white men before. He asked wherefore we came. We told him that we came to trade upon the coast. Then he bade us welcome, and called us on shore with our commodities. We laded our ship with slaves in seven days, and bought them so cheap that many did not cost one real, which were worth in the city [of Loanda] twelve milreis.
[In a marginal note, Purchas adds:—
“He, in discourse with me, called them Iagges, and their chief the great Iagge. I think he writ them Gagas for Giagas, by false spelling.”]