This paper reviews Andrew Battell’s primary source material for the Jaga (Imbangala) of Angola as printed by Samuel Purchas from 1613 to 1625 in Purchas, his pilgrimage and Purchas, his Pilgrimes. It argues that Purchas most often altered Battell’s data in response to rivalries and Reformation politics in England rather than on new information from Battell. A broad, comparative reading of Purchas’s materials and statistical analysis of his editorial practices demonstrates that Purchas exerted more effort to counter data based on hearsay in the popular Relation of Pigafetta and Lopes than on carefully recording eyewitness data from Andrew Battell.