It was Diego Cam, an intrepid Portuguese navigator, who, in 1484, voyaging towards the mythical East Indies, discovered the Congo. In the name of his sovereign, King Juan II., he took possession of the country, though it does not appear that he proceeded far into the interior. From _n’zadi_, the native name for river, the Portuguese formed the word Zaire, and it is by this name that the river was long called. It so appears in the map of Martin of Bohemia, who accompanied the expedition. The globe prepared by this German cosmographer is still to be seen in the museum of Nuremberg. It was not until two centuries later that the river was called Rio de Congo. [Illustration: Ss. “Leopoldville” Bound for Boma.] On the south promontory of the Delta the Portuguese erected a pillar to commemorate their discovery. This promontory is still known as the Padrão Foreland. It is certain that these Portuguese, who were missionaries before they were explorers, remained a considerable time in the Delta; for they converted the King of Ekongo, as the country was then called, to Christianity. It was to this king that the sovereigns of Angolo traced descent, and it is significant that their blue banner with the golden star is to-day the flag of the Congo Free State. About seven years after the first expedition a second was sent out from Portugal, and the ruins of the trading posts then established, called San Antonio and Salvador, are still to be seen. The old Kingdom of Ekongo continued a hundred miles into the interior. It was bounded on the north by N’zadi, the modern Congo, and on the south by the river Coanza. The accounts of the early traders, some of which are still preserved in the State archives of Portugal, abound in fanciful descriptions. To the mediæval mind the forest was peopled with mythical monsters. It was probably for this reason that the superstitious Portuguese kept so near the coast. In 1534 San Salvador, which until the arrival of the Portuguese was known as Ambassa, became the seat of a bishopric. Here a cathedral was erected, but later the see was transferred to St. Paul de Loanda, which thus became the capital of the Portuguese authority. In 1784, to maintain their occupation of the Congo, the Portuguese built a fort at Kabinda, about thirty miles north of the mouth of the river. Several slave stations also were established in the interior. From this position they were soon driven by the French, though the latter made no attempt to found a colony. In 1816 the British Government despatched an expedition to the Congo. James Kingston Tuckey, the leader, explored the river from its mouth to a distance of 170 miles into the interior. In his description of the country Tuckey speaks of the numerous slave stations along the banks. At this period two thousand slaves were exported annually. Fifty years later this number had increased to over one hundred thousand!