May 28th. We departed from Koomboo, and slept at a Foulah town about seven miles to the westward; from which on the day following, having crossed a considerable branch of the Gambia, called Neola Koba, we reached a well inhabited part of the country. Here are several towns within sight of each other, collectively called Tenda, but each is distinguished also by its particular name. We lodged at one of them called Koba Tenda, where we remained the day following, in order to procure provisions for our support in crossing the Simbani woods. On the 30th we reached Jallacotta; a considerable town, but much infested by Foulah banditti, who come through the woods from Bondou, and steal every thing they can lay their hands on. A few days before our arrival, they had stolen twenty head of cattle, and on the day following made a second attempt; but were beaten off, and one of them taken prisoner. Here, one of the slaves belonging to the coffle, who had travelled with great difficulty for the last three days, was found unable to proceed any farther: his master (a singing man) proposed therefore to exchange him for a young slave girl, belonging to one of the townspeople. The poor girl was ignorant of her fate, until the bundles were all tied up in the morning, and the coffle ready to depart; when, coming with some other young women to see the coffle set out, her master took her by the hand, and delivered her to the singing man. Never was a face of serenity more suddenly changed into one of the deepest distress: the terror she manifested on having the load put upon her head, and the rope fastened round her neck, and the sorrow with which she bade adieu to her companions, were truly affecting. About nine o’clock, we crossed a large plain covered with ciboa trees (a species of palm), and came to the river Nerico, a branch of the Gambia. This was but a small river at this time, but in the rainy season it is often dangerous to travellers. As soon as we had crossed this river, the singing men began to vociferate a particular song, expressive of their joy at having got safe into the west country, or, as they expressed it, the land of the setting sun. The country was found to be very level, and the soil a mixture of clay and sand. In the afternoon it rained hard, and we had recourse to the common Negro umbrella, a large ciboa leaf, which, being placed upon the head, completely defends the whole body from the rain. We lodged for the night under the shade of a large tabba tree, near the ruins of a village. On the morning following, we crossed a stream called Noulico, and about two o’clock, to my infinite joy, I saw myself once more on the banks of the Gambia, which at this place being deep and smooth, is navigable; but the people told me that a little lower down, the stream is so shallow that the coffles frequently cross it on foot. On the south side of the river opposite to this place, is a large plain of clayey ground, called Toombi Toorila. It is a sort of morass, in which people are frequently lost, it being more than a day’s journey across it. In the afternoon we met a man and two women, with bundles of cotton cloth upon their heads. They were going, they said, for Dentila, to purchase iron, there being a great scarcity of that article on the Gambia. A little before it was dark, we arrived at a village in the kingdom of Woolli, called Seesukunda. Near this village there are great plenty of nitta trees, and the slaves in passing along had collected large bunches of the fruit; but such was the superstition of the inhabitants, that they would not permit any of the fruit to be brought into the village. They had been told, they said, that some catastrophe would happen to the place, when people lived upon nittas, and neglected to cultivate corn.

June 2d. We departed from Seesukunda, and passed a number of villages, at none of which was the coffle permitted to stop, although we were all very much fatigued: it was four o’clock in the afternoon before we reached Baraconda, where we rested one day. Departing from Baraconda on the morning of the 4th, we reached in a few hours Medina, the Capital of the King of Woolli’s dominions, from whom the reader may recollect I received an hospitable reception in the beginning of December, 1795, in my journey eastward.[25] I immediately inquired concerning the health of my good old benefactor, and learnt with great concern that he was dangerously ill. As Karfa would not allow the coffle to stop, I could not present my respects to the king in person; but I sent him word, by the officer to whom we paid customs, that his prayers for my safety had not been unavailing. We continued our route until sunset, when we lodged at a small village a little to the westward of Kootakunda, and on the day following arrived at Jindey; where, eighteen months before, I had parted from my friend Dr. Laidley; an interval, during which I had not beheld the face of a Christian nor once heard the delightful sound of my native language.

Being now arrived within a short distance of Pisania, from whence my journey originally commenced, and learning that my friend Karfa was not likely to meet with an immediate opportunity of selling his slaves on the Gambia; it occurred to me to suggest to him, that he would find it for his interest to leave them at Jindey, until a market should offer. Karfa agreed with me in this opinion; and hired, from the chief man of the town, huts for their accommodation, and a piece of land on which to employ them, in raising corn, and other provisions for their maintenance. With regard to himself, he declared that he would not quit me until my departure from Africa. We set out accordingly, Karfa, myself, and one of the Foulahs belonging to the coffle, early on the morning of the 9th; but although I was now approaching the end of my tedious and toilsome journey; and expected, in another day, to meet with countrymen and friends, I could not part, for the last time, with my unfortunate fellow-travellers, doomed, as I knew most of them to be, to a life of captivity and slavery in a foreign land, without great emotion. During a wearisome peregrination of more than five hundred British miles, exposed to the burning rays of a tropical sun, these poor slaves, amidst their own infinitely greater sufferings, would commiserate mine; and frequently, of their own accord, bring water to quench my thirst, and at night collect branches and leaves to prepare me a bed in the Wilderness. We parted with reciprocal expressions of regret and benediction. My good wishes and prayers were all I could bestow upon them; and it afforded me some consolation to be told, that they were sensible I had no more to give.

My anxiety to get forward admitting of no delay on the road, we reached Tendacunda in the evening, and were hospitably received at the house of an aged black female called Seniora Camilla, a person who had resided many years at the English factory, and spoke our language. I was known to her before I had left the Gambia, at the outset of my journey; but my dress and figure were now so different from the usual appearance of an European, that she was very excusable in mistaking me for a Moor. When I told her my name and country, she surveyed me with great astonishment, and seemed unwilling to give credit to the testimony of her senses. She assured me that none of the traders on the Gambia, ever expected to see me again; having been informed long ago, that the Moors of Ludamar had murdered me, as they had murdered Major Houghton. I inquired for my two attendants, Johnson and Demba, and learnt, with great sorrow, that neither of them was returned. Karfa, who had never before heard people converse in English, listened to us with great attention. Every thing he saw seemed wonderful. The furniture of the house, the chairs, &c. and particularly beds with curtains, were objects of his great admiration; and he asked me a thousand questions concerning the utility and necessity of different articles; to some of which I found it difficult to give satisfactory answers.

On the morning of the 10th, Mr. Robert Ainsley, having learnt that I was at Tendacunda, came to meet me, and politely offered me the use of his horse. He informed me that Dr. Laidley had removed all his property to a place called Kaye, a little farther down the river, and that he was then gone to Doomasansa with his vessel, to purchase rice; but would return in a day or two. He therefore invited me to stay with him at Pisania, until the Doctor’s return. I accepted the invitation, and being accompanied by my friend Karfa, reached Pisania about ten o’clock. Mr. Ainsley’s schooner was lying at anchor before the place. This was the most surprising object which Karfa had yet seen. He could not easily comprehend the use of the masts, sails, and rigging; nor did he conceive that it was possible, by any sort of contrivance, to make so large a body move forwards by the common force of the wind. The manner of fastening together the different planks which composed the vessel, and filling up the seams so as to exclude the water, was perfectly new to him; and I found that the schooner with her cable and anchor, kept Karfa in deep meditation the greater part of the day.

About noon on the 12th, Dr. Laidley returned from Doomasansa, and received me with great joy and satisfaction, as one risen from the dead. Finding that the wearing apparel which I had left under his care was not sold or sent to England, I lost no time in resuming the English dress; and disrobing my chin of its venerable incumbrance. Karfa surveyed me in my British apparel with great delight; but regretted exceedingly that I had taken off my beard; the loss of which, he said, had converted me from a man into a boy. Doctor Laidley readily undertook to discharge all the pecuniary engagements which I had entered into since my departure from the Gambia, and took my draft upon the Association for the amount. My agreement with Karfa (as I have already related), was to pay him the value of one prime slave; for which I had given him my bill upon Dr. Laidley, before we departed from Kamalia: for, in case of my death on the road, I was unwilling that my benefactor should be a loser. But this good creature had continued to manifest towards me so much kindness, that I thought I made him but an inadequate recompence, when I told him that he was now to receive double the sum I had originally promised; and Dr. Laidley assured him that he was ready to deliver the goods to that amount, whenever he thought proper to send for them. Karfa was overpowered by this unexpected token of my gratitude, and still more so, when he heard that I intended to send a handsome present to the good old schoolmaster, Fankooma, at Malacotta. He promised to carry up the goods along with his own, and Dr. Laidley assured him, that he would exert himself in assisting him to dispose of his slaves to the best advantage, the moment a slave vessel should arrive. These, and other instances of attention and kindness shewn him by Dr. Laidley, were not lost upon Karfa. He would often say to me, “my journey has indeed been prosperous!” But, observing the improved state of our manufactures, and our manifest superiority in the arts of civilized life, he would sometimes appear pensive, and exclaim with an involuntary sigh, fato fing inta feng, “black men are nothing.” At other times, he would ask me with great seriousness, what could possibly have induced me, who was no trader, to think of exploring so miserable a country as Africa? He meant by this to signify that, after what I must have witnessed in my own country, nothing in Africa could in his opinion deserve a moment’s attention. I have preserved these little traits of character in this worthy Negro, not only from regard to the man, but also because they appear to me to demonstrate that he possessed a mind above his condition: and to such of my readers as love to contemplate human nature in all its varieties, and to trace its progress from rudeness to refinement, I hope the account I have given of this poor African will not be unacceptable.

No European vessel had arrived at Gambia for many months previous to my return from the interior; and as the rainy season was now setting in, I persuaded Karfa to return to his people at Jindey. He parted with me on the 14th with great tenderness; but as I had little hopes of being able to quit Africa for the remainder of the year, I told him, as the fact was, that I expected to see him again before my departure. In this, however, I was luckily disappointed; and my narrative now hastens to its conclusion; for on the 15th, the ship Charles-Town, an American vessel, commanded by Mr. Charles Harris, entered the river. She came for slaves, intending to touch at Goree to fill up; and to proceed from thence to South Carolina. As the European merchants on the Gambia, had at this time a great many slaves on hand, they agreed with the Captain to purchase the whole of his cargo, consisting chiefly of rum and tobacco, and deliver him slaves to the amount, in the course of two days. This afforded me such an opportunity of returning (though by a circuitous route) to my native country, as I thought was not to be neglected. I therefore immediately engaged my passage in this vessel for America; and having taken leave of Dr. Laidley, to whose kindness I was so largely indebted, and my other friends on the river, I embarked at Kaye on the 17th day of June.

Our passage down the river was tedious and fatiguing; and the weather was so hot, moist, and unhealthy, that before our arrival at Goree, four of the seamen, the surgeon, and three of the slaves had died of fevers. At Goree we were detained for want of provisions, until the beginning of October.

The number of slaves received on board this vessel, both on the Gambia, and at Goree, was one hundred and thirty; of whom about twenty-five had been, I suppose, of free condition in Africa; as most of those, being Bushreens, could write a little Arabic. Nine of them had become captives in the religious war between Abdulkader and Damel, mentioned in the latter part of the preceding Chapter. Two of the others had seen me as I passed through Bondou, and many of them had heard of me in the interior countries. My conversation with them, in their native language, gave them great comfort; and as the surgeon was dead, I consented to act in a medical capacity in his room for the remainder of the voyage. They had in truth need of every consolation in my power to bestow; not that I observed any wanton acts of cruelty practised either by the master, or the seamen, towards them; but the mode of confining and securing Negroes in the American slave ships, (owing chiefly to the weakness of their crews,) being abundantly more rigid and severe than in British vessels employed in the same traffic, made these poor creatures to suffer greatly, and a general sickness prevailed amongst them. Besides the three who died on the Gambia, and six or eight while we remained at Goree, eleven perished at sea, and many of the survivors were reduced to a very weak and emaciated condition.

In the midst of these distresses, the vessel, after having been three weeks at sea, became so extremely leaky, as to require constant exertion at the pumps. It was found necessary, therefore, to take some of the ablest of the Negro men out of irons, and employ them in this labour; in which they were often worked beyond their strength. This produced a complication of miseries not easily to be described. We were, however, relieved much sooner than I expected; for the leak continuing to gain upon us, notwithstanding our utmost exertions to clear the vessel, the seamen insisted on bearing away for the West Indies, as affording the only chance of saving our lives. Accordingly, after some objections on the part of the master, we directed our course for Antigua, and fortunately made that island in about thirty-five days after our departure from Goree. Yet even at this juncture we narrowly escaped destruction; for on approaching the north-west side of the island, we struck on the Diamond Rock, and got into St. John’s harbour with great difficulty. The vessel was afterwards condemned as unfit for sea, and the slaves, as I have heard, were ordered to be sold for the benefit of the owners.

At this island I remained ten days; when the Chesterfield Packet, homeward bound from the Leeward Islands, touching at St. John’s for the Antigua mail, I took my passage in that vessel. We sailed on the 24th of November; and, after a short but tempestuous voyage, arrived at Falmouth on the 22d of December: from whence I immediately set out for London; having been absent from England two years and seven months.

THE END.

A VOCABULARY
OF THE
MANDINGO LANGUAGE.

• Above, santo.
• Absent, inteegee; (literally, “not here.”)
• Abuse, v. anenni.
• Add, akeejee.
• Afraid, silantee.
• Afternoon, oora.
• Air, fonio.
• Alike, beakillin.
• Alive, a beegee, (is here.)
• All, bea.
• Always, toomotoma.
• And, ning.
• Angry, jusu bota; (literally, “the heart comes out.”)
• Angel, melika.
• Arm, boulla; (the same for hand.)
• Arrived, footăta.
• Arrow, binni.
• Ascend, silli.
• Asleep, sinouta.
• Assist, maquoi.
• Axe, terang.
• Back, ko.
• Bad, jou.
• Bag, bota.
• Barter, v. fallan.
• Bastard, janka ding; (literally, “nobody’s child.”)
• Beads, connoo.
• Beard, bora.
• Beat, v. agossi.
• Bees, leekissi.
• Bed, larong.
• Beer, dolo; (the same for strong liquor of any kind.)
• Before, neata; (“within sight.”)
• Behind, kofi.
• Belly, konno.
• Big, awarata.
• Bind or tie, aseeti.
• Bird, cono.
• Bite, v. keeng.
• Black, fing.
• Blood, jollie.
• Blue, fingma; (blackish.)
• Boil, v. fagee.
• Bone, cooloo.
• Book, kittāba.
• Borrow, la.
• Bottom, joo.
• Bow, kalla.
• Boy, kea ding; (literally, “male child”.)
• Brave, fattee.
• Bread, munko.
• Break, v. affāra; (the same word signifies “to kill” or “to destroy.”)
• Breasts, sonjoo.
• Bring, insambo.
• Brother, ba-ding-kea; (literally “mother’s male child.”)
• Burn, v. agēni.
• Buy (or sell), saun.
• Call, v. akilli.
• Carry, asāmbo.
• Cat, neancon.
• Catch, v. amuta.
• Chest or coffer, koonio.
• Child, ding; (if very young, dingding)
• Cloth, fauno.
• Cold, ninno.
• Come, na.
• Coming abenāli.
• Completely, betiki.
• Cook, v. tabbee.
• Corn, neo.
• Country, doo.
• Cow, nessee moosa.
• Crowd, n. setima.
• Cry, v. akumbo.
• Cunning, n. a. kissee.
• Cut, v. tegi.
• Danger, torro.
• Dark, dibbie.
• Daughter, ding moosa; (literally “female child.”)
• Day, teelee.
• Dead, asāta.
• Deep, adoonta.
• Desist, attoo.
• Dew, combi.
• Die, v. sa.
• Dirt, no.
• Disease, jankra.
• Dispute, degama.
• Dog, woola.
• Door, da; (this is a word of very extensive use, being applied to whatever opens and shuts.)
• Down, ad. dooma.
• Dream, v. sibota.
• Dream, n. s. sibo.
• Drink, v. ameen.
• Dry, (arid) ajāta.
• Ear, toola.
• Earth, (soil) banko.
• Earth, (globe) banko kang.
• East, teelee bo; (“sunrise.”)
• Eat, adummo.
• Elephant, samma.
• Empty, fing tigee; (“nothing here.”)
• Enough, keyento.
• Entertain, (a guest) fanda.
• Expert, cumering; (“active, clever, &c.”)
• Eye, nea.
• Face, (the same as for the eye.)
• Fall, v. bui.
• Far off, jangfata.
• Fast, v. soong.
• Fat, keng.
• Father, fa.
• Fear, v. seelan.
• Feather, tee; (it signifies also hair and wool.)
• Female, moosa.
• Fever, candea.
• Few, do.
• Fight v. akilli.
• Fill, afundi.
• Finger, boulla konding.
• Fire, deemba.
• Fish, yeo.
• Flesh, sooboo.
• Food, kinnee.
• Fool, fooring.
• Foot, sing; (signifies also “the leg.”)
• Forget, neānata.
• Free, horea.
• Fresh, kinde (signifies also, healthy).
• Friend, barrio.
• Fruit, eree ding; (“child of the tree.”)
• Full, affāta.
• Give, insong.
• Glad, lāta.
• Go, v. ta.
• God, alla.
• Gold, sanoo.
• Good, bettie.
• Great, baa.
• Grass, bing.
• Gray, aqueta.
• Guard, v. tenkoong.
• Half, tella.
• Handsome, aniniāta.
• Hang up, deng.
• Hate, v. akoong.
• He, etti.
• Head, koon.
• Hear, moi.
• Heart, jusu.
• Heaven, santo; (the Mahomedan Negroes commonly say, il jinna.)
• Heavy, acooliata.
• Hell, johaniba.
• Hen, soosee moosa.
• Herb, jambo.
• Here, jang.
• Hide, n. goolo.
• Hill, konko.
• Hog, lea.
• Hole, dinka.
• Honey, lee.
• Horn, bini.
• Horse, soo.
• Hot, candiāta.
• House, boong.
• Hungry, konkola.
• I, inta.
• Idle, nare.
• Increase, aboonia.
• Industrious, sayāta.
• Interpret, konno sor; (literally, to pierce the belly.)
• Iron, nega.
• Island, jouio.
• Jump, v. soun.
• Kill, affāra.
• King, mansa.
• Knife, mooro.
• Know, alla.
• Lamp, fitina.
• Laugh, v. jilli.
• Lend, infoo.
• Lie (down), v. la jang.
• Lie (falsity) fonio.
• Lift, achicka.
• Lightning, sanfata.
• Lion, jatta; (in the interior countries, wara.)
• Little, miessa.
• Long, jang.
• Look, v. affille.
• Lose, afeele.
• Lost, affeeleeta.
• Love, v. konie.
• Make, v. dada.
• Male, kea.
• Man (homo) mo.
• Man (vir) fato.
• Many, sitimata.
• Market, loe.
• Master, marree.
• Mat, basso.
• Meet, v. beng.
• Middle, taima.
• Milk, nunno.
• Milk, v. beetee.
• Mine, pr. talem.
• Money, naphula; (it signifies also merchandize, or any effects of value.)
• Month, korro; (the same word signifies the moon.)
• Morning, somo.
• Mother, ba.
• Mouth, da.
• Narrative, dentigi.
• Name, atto.
• Near (nigh), mun jang; (not far.)
• Neck, kang.
• Never, abada.
• Night, sooton.
• No, inta; (literally, is not.)
• Noon, teelee kooniata; (literally, the sun over head.)
• North, saheel.
• Nose, noong.
• Now, seng.
• Oil, toulou.
• Obtain, sutto.
• Old, accottata.
• Only, kinsing.
• Open, v. yelli.
• Out of, banta.
• Pain, deeming.
• Paper, coitoo.
• Pass, v. tambi.
• Past, atambita; (gone by.)
• Pay, v. jo.
• Pen, kalla.
• People, molo.
• Pierce, sor.
• Pity, v. dimi.
• Pleasure, di.
• Pleasant, adiāta.
• Plenty, asiāta.
• Poor, doiāta.
• Present (gift), boonia.
• Promise, v. moindee.
• Proud, telingabalia; (literally, strait bodied.)
• Pull, asabba.
• Push, āneury.
• Put down, alondi.
• Quarrel, quiāta.
• Quick, catăba.
• Quiet, dea.
• Quiver, n. s. toong.
• Rain, sangee; (literally, water from above.)
• Rat, nīnee.
• Read, akarra.
• Red, woolima.
• Release, affering; (untie.)
• Rest, lo.
• Restore, serrat.
• Return, v. n. ascita.
• Ripe, mota.
• Rise, v. wooli.
• River, ba; (the same as for mother.)
• Road, seelo.
• Rob, boitāca.
• Rock, kooro.
• Rope, julie.
• Rotten, accorata.
• Row, v. ajah.
• Run, boorie.
• Sad, doi.
• Safe, torro inteege; (literally, no danger.)
• Salt, ko.
• Sand, kini kini.
• Sandals, samata.
• Say, affo.
• Sea, babagee.
• Seat, serong.
• See, eāgee.
• Send, kee.
• Separate, atulla.
• Shake, jiggi jiggi.
• Shame, māla.
• Shew, aita.
• Ship, caloon.
• Short, sutta.
• Shut, tou.
• Sick, mun kinde.
• Side, carra.
• Silent, dering.
• Silver, cody.
• Sing, jilli; (the same to dance.)
• Sister, ba ding moosa; (mother’s female child.)
• Sit, see.
• Sky, sang.
• Slave, jong.
• Sleep, v. sinoo.
• Smell, v. soomboola.
• Smoke, seisee.
• Snake, sau.
• Something, fenke.
• Son, ding kea; (male child.)
• Soon, sang sang; (now now.)
• Sour, accoomiata.
• South, boulla ba; (literally, the right hand.)
• Speak, akummo.
• Spear, tamba.
• Spin, v. a. worondi.
• Spoon, dosa.
• Star, lolo.
• Steal, soonia.
• Stink, v. n. kassa.
• Stone, birro
• Stop, munia.
• Stranger, leuntōng.
• Strike, abooti.
• Sun, teelee.
• Swear, kolli.
• Sweet, teemiāta.
• Swell, foonoo.
• Swim, noo.
• Sword, fong.
• Tail, finnio.
• Thief, soon.
• Thin, feata; (slender.)
• Think, meira.
• Thirst, mindo.
• Thread, bori.
• Throw, fy.
• Thunder, sangfata. (In contradistinction to lightning, it is Kallam Alla (Arab.) “the voice of God.”)
• Tie, v. asseetee.
• To-day, bee.
• To-morrow, sinny.
• Tongue, ning.
• Touch, v. ma.
• Town, kunda.
• Trade, v. feeree.
• Tree, eree.
• True, tonia.
• Trust, v. la.
• Turn, aelima.
• Understand, moi.
• Until, hāning.
• Walk, tāma.
• War, killi.
• Wash, v. coo.
• Water, gee.
• Weary, umbatata.
• Weep, akussi.
• Weigh, simang.
• Well, n. a. awa.
• Well, n. s. cullong.
• West, teelee gee.
• Wet, sinunta.
• What, mun.
• Where, minto.
• White, qui.
• Who, jema.
• Why, munkang.
• Wind, n. funnio.
• Wolf, soolo.
• Woman, moosa.
• Wilderness, woolla.
• Yes, awa.
• Yesterday, koona.
• You, eeta, when simply pronounced; when joined to any other word, it is ee.
• Young, juna.

APPENDIX.

GEOGRAPHICAL ILLUSTRATIONS.

The late journey of Mr. Park, into the interior of Western Africa, has brought to our knowledge more important facts respecting its Geography (both moral and physical), than have been collected by any former traveller. By pointing out to us the positions of the sources of the great rivers Senegal, Gambia, and Niger,[26] we are instructed where to look for the elevated parts of the country; and even for the most elevated point in the western quarter of Africa, by the place from whence the Niger and Gambia turn in opposite directions to the east and west. We are taught, moreover, the common boundary of the desert and fruitful parts of the country, and of the Moors and Negroes; which latter is the more interesting, as it may be termed a boundary in moral geography; from the opposite qualities of mind, as well as of body, of the Moors and Negroes: for that physical geography gives rise to habits, which often determine national character, must be allowed by every person, who is a diligent observer of mankind.

It must be acknowledged, that the absolute extent of Mr. Park’s progress in Africa, compared with the amazing size of that continent, appears but small, although it be nearly 1100 British miles in a direct line, reckoned from its western extremity, Cape Verd. But considered in itself, it is no inconsiderable line of travel; being more extensive than the usual southern tour of Europe.

But moreover, it affords a triumph to the learned, in that it confirms some points of fact, both of geography and natural history, which have appeared in ancient authors, but to which our own want of knowledge has denied credit. I allude more particularly to the course of the Niger, and the history of the Lotophagi. That the Greeks and Romans, who had formed great establishments in Africa, and the latter in particular, who had penetrated to the Niger[27] should have had better opportunities of knowing the interior part of the country, than we, who live at a distance from it, and possess only a few scattered factories near the sea coast, is not to be wondered at: but the proof of such facts should teach us to be less hasty in decrying the authority of ancient authors; since the fault may arise from a want of comprehension on our parts, or from an assumption of false principles on theirs.

Few geographical facts have been more questioned in modern times, than the course of the great inland river of Africa, generally understood by the name of Niger; some describing it to run to the west, others to the east; but of these opinions, I believe the former has been espoused by the most numerous party, by far.[28] Although Mr. Park’s authority, founded on ocular demonstration, sets this question for ever at rest, by determining the course of the river to be from west to east, as Major Houghton’s information had previously induced a belief of, yet it may not be amiss to trace the history of the opinions, concerning the course of this celebrated river, from the earliest date of profane history.

Herodotus,[29] more than twenty-two centuries ago, describes, from the information of the Africans, a great river of Africa, far removed to the south of the Great Desert, and abounding with crocodiles. That it flowed from west to east, dividing Africa, in like manner as the Danube does Europe. That the people from the borders of the Mediterranean, who made the discovery, were carried to a great city on the banks of the river in question; and that the people of this quarter were black; that is, much blacker than their visitors. Our author, indeed, took this river to be the remote branch of the Egyptian Nile, and reasons on the circumstance, accordingly: but even this argument serves to express in a more forcible manner, the supposed direction of its course.

Pliny also believed that the Nile came from the west; but he is far from identifying it with the Niger, which he describes as a distinct river. But we have at least his negative opinion respecting its western course; for he speaks of the Bambotus river as running into the Western ocean; meaning to express by it either the Gambia or Senegal river, and not the Niger.[30]

Ptolemy is positive in describing the Niger as a separate stream from the Senegal and Gambia, which two rivers are designed by him under the names of Daradus and Stachir; and they are by no means ill expressed; falling into the sea on different sides of the Arsinarium promontory, or Cape Verd.[31] The Niger of Ptolemy is made to extend from west to east, over half the breadth of Africa, between the Atlantic ocean, and the course of the Nile.

These may suffice for the ancient authorities, which in very early times fixed the course of the Niger in the systems of geography, to be from west to east. Who it was that first led the way, in the opposite opinion, I know not; but we find Edrisi, in the twelfth century, not only conducting the Nile of the Negroes, or Niger, westward, and into the Atlantic, but also deriving it from the Egyptian Nile; which is diametrically opposite to the opinion of Herodotus.

Such an opinion marks the very imperfect state of his knowledge of African geography; and should induce a degree of caution in receiving other opinions of the same author, where they rest absolutely on his own authority. It is very probable that the waters which collect on the west of Nubia, may run to the west, and be lost in lakes: and it is possible, though very improbable, that a branch of the Nile may take the same course: but fortified by the present state of our knowledge, we may certainly pronounce the general scope of the intelligence communicated by Edrisi, respecting the course of the Niger, to be erroneous.

I conceive, however, that his error may easily be accounted for, in this way. He was probably told, that the waters on the west of Nubia, &c. ran to the westward. He also knew that a great river (the Senegal) discharged itself into the Atlantic, nearly in the same parallel; and moreover, that a great river, whose line of direction lay between the east and west, and between Nubia and the just mentioned embouchure, watered a very extensive tract, in the midland part of Africa. Now, what so natural (admitting the fact of the western waters from Nubia, and which I trust, I shall go near to prove in the sequel) as to suppose, when he had found a head, and a tail of a great river, together with a long extent of course of a river between them, that they were parts of each other? It must also be taken into the account, that he supposed the continent of Africa to be about 1000 miles narrower than it really is, in the line between Nubia and the mouth of the Senegal.

Abulfeda followed Edrisi in the same opinion, respecting the Niger; which he calls a twin river with that of Egypt. He also calls it the Nile of Gana. Abulfeda also knew, and has described, the general form of the continent of Africa: and, of course knew that it was surrounded by the sea.[32] But his descriptions are limited to the north and north-east parts. He wrote in the fourteenth century.

It was Edrisi, probably, who influenced and determined the opinions of the moderns, respecting this question. An author, long supposed to be of the same region with that which he describes,[33] and who had entered more into the detail of the African geography, than any other, would, according to the usual mode of decision, on such pretensions, be preferred to those who went before him, and had treated the subject in a more general way. Mankind had no criterion by which to judge of the truth.

Since then the Arabian geographer, who had written the most extensively on the subject, had conducted the Niger into the Atlantic, we cannot wonder that the early Portuguese discoverers, who doubtless learnt from the Arabian authors the particulars of African geography, should adopt the same idea; and that they should regard the Senegal river as the Niger; as we find it, in the histories of their discoveries in the fifteenth century. The Portuguese, who at this period took the lead, in matters of navigation and discovery, might well be expected to set the fashion, in what related to African geography. So that in despite of Ptolemy, and of the ancients in general, the great inland river of Africa was described to run to the west; and to form the head of the Senegal river. Nay more, it was at last supposed to be the parent stock of all the great western rivers of Africa.

Sanuto, whose Geography of Africa, is dated 1588, describes one branch of the Niger to be the Rio Grande, the other the river of Sestos; regarding the Senegal as a different river.

M. Delisle’s map of Africa (1707) gives the Niger a direct course through Africa, from Bornou, in the east, and terminating in the river of Senegal on the west. But in his maps of 1722 and 1727, this was corrected: the source of the Senegal was placed at a shallow lake named Maberia, between the 14th and 15th degrees of longitude east of Cape Verd; and in latitude 12°; whilst the river of Tombuctoo, named Guien, was described to issue from another lake, in the same neighbourhood, and to flow towards Bornou, where it terminated in a third lake.

The cause of this change, may be easily traced, in the intelligence collected by the French traders and settlers in Gallam:[34] the substance of which is to be found in Labat’s collection, published in 1728; although the detail differs in some points. He says, Vol. ii. p. 161, et seq. that the Mandinga merchants report that the Niger (by which he always means the Senegal river) springs from the lake Maberia, whose situation could not be ascertained. That the Gambia river was a branch of the Niger; separating from it at Baracota (a position also unknown) and that it passed through a marshy lake, in its way to Baraconda; where the English and Portuguese had settlements. That the Niger, at a point below Baracota, sent forth another branch, namely the Falemé river; which encompassed the country of Bambouk, and afterwards joined the Niger in the country of Gallam. And finally, that the same Niger, by its separation into two branches, formed a very considerable island above Kasson. It may be remarked, that a belief of these circumstances, manifests a gross state of ignorance respecting the interior of the country; since such derivations from rivers, are found only in alluvial tracts: and it happens, that scarcely any levels vary more than those, through which the rivers in question pass; as will appear in the sequel.

They likewise report (p. 163) that on the east of the lake Maberia lies the kingdom of Guinbala; within which, is the river of Guien, which passes near the city of Tombuctoo. Again (Vol. iii. p. 361 to 364) it is said that Tombuctoo is not situated on the bank of the Niger, but at about 6 leagues inland from it: and that in passing to it, from Gallam (which is reported to be a journey of thirty-two days only), they go through Timbi, five journies short of Tombuctoo; where they leave the bank of the river, to avoid too great a detour.

Labat does not state in positive terms that the Niger or river of Senegal affords a continuous navigation, from the falls of Govinea (above Gallam) to Tombuctoo: but that he believed it, is strongly implied, by what appears afterwards, in p. 367, 368; that is, a project of a trade to Tombuctoo; “by keeping an establishment of vessels above the falls; which vessels might ascend the Niger to a point opposite to Tombuctoo, thereby saving the great expence and fatigue of a land journey.”

Here then, we trace the idea of the lake of Maberia, the supposed head of the Niger; and the river of Tombuctoo, under the name of Guien; and moreover, (although these are not expressly said to communicate) a continued navigation from Gallam to Tombuctoo. But it must surely have struck those on the spot, to inquire whether any boats ever descended from Tombuctoo to the falls of Govinea?

It is certain that Delisle, (as well as D’Anville, whose general ideas are much the same, in this particular[35]) regards the river Guien, as having no communication with the lake Maberia, but makes it flow from a different lake, at no great distance to the northward: so that these geographers so far understood the matter right; and denied the practicability of a continuous navigation to Tombuctoo: but then, they erred very greatly in placing the head of the Senegal, either so remotely, or in the eastern quarter; since it rises in the south-east.

We must regard the geography of M. D’Anville, as the most perfect of all, previous to the inquiries made by the African Association. The researches made under the direction of this Association, have already established on record, from the reports of Major Houghton, and of Mr. Magra, although in a vague way, the general position of the sources of the Joliba, or Niger, in or near the country of Manding; as well as its easterly or north-easterly course, towards Tombuctoo; the position of Bammakoo, situated near the highest navigable point of its course; of Sego, and Jenné, along its banks; the separation of its waters, into two channels, in the quarter of Tombuctoo; together with a vague idea of the position of that city itself. It will be shewn, in the sequel, that Mr. Park’s observations do not contradict, but establish these positions; drawing them out of the obscurity in which, by the very nature of the information, they were necessarily involved; and fixing, in some degree of just relative position and proportion, those particulars which before remained at large, considered in a geographical sense.

Concerning the errors of former geographers, they are more easily detected than the causes of them. They must, however, be ascribed, partly to the ignorance of the African merchants; but, in all probability, in a much greater part, to the want of understanding each other’s language; a defect that has led to many errors, that are oftentimes charged to the account of wilful falsehood, or, at least, to an indifference to the cause of truth.

I can easily conceive that the caravan merchants, in passing from Tombuctoo to Gallam (or the contrary), might have deceived themselves into a belief, that the principal rivers which they had either crossed or skirted in their way, might communicate with each other: for it appears clearly, by Mr. Park’s observations, that the eastern branch of the Senegal, and the western branch of the Joliba, approach very near to each other, in the early part of their courses; so that, during the whole journey, the merchants might never be farther distant from a river to the southward of them, than a few journies.

As to the story, so long credited, of the Niger being the parent river, from whence all the western rivers were derived, we may remark, that ignorance, in every country through which large rivers take their course, is very ready to derive them all from one source; and that source very probably, a lake. Within our own times, the Burrampooter and Ava rivers were thus described in the maps. Pliny reports, that the Euphrates and Tigris are united in Armenia, by the medium of a lake:[36] and Edrisi, as we have seen, derived the Nile and Niger, from one and the same lake.[37]

It will appear that the lake Maberia, taken by D’Anville and Delisle for the head of the Senegal river, or that which runs to the west, is meant for no other than the lake of Dibbie, formed by the river Joliba, or that which runs to the east, and which Mr. Park’s inquiries have brought to our knowledge. Again, we recognize the river Guien, or Guin, of Labat, of D’Anville, and of Delisle, in the northern branch of the same Joliba, issuing out of the lake Dibbie; and which, together with the southern branch from the same lake, forms an island, reported to be 90 or 100 miles in length, named Jinbala by Mr. Park. There is a town on the side of the northern branch, also named Jinbala; but whether the island may take its name from this town, or from the river, whose proper name, from about this point, seems to be Guin, or Jin, I know not. M. D’Anville has described, in this position, the country of Guinbala, subject to Tonka Quata: the same who is said by Labat to be sovereign of the country which contains the lake of Maberia, and the river of Guien.[38]

Here, then, we have an explication of the error of those, who, from the supposed information of the Mandinga merchants, supposed the lake Maberia (answering to the Dibbie of Park), to form the source of the Senegal river; and who took the river of Guin, or Jinbala, for a distinct river, instead of a branch, issuing from that lake. The Mandingas might very truly have informed the French settlers, that the lake Maberia, and the rivers Joliba and Guin would convey them to Tombuctoo; but did they say also, that the river of Senegal would convey them to the lake Maberia? The French merchants, perhaps, taking for granted that the navigation was continuous, might never inquire whether their informants were speaking of one or of two rivers: and the others might at the same time be speaking of two distinct rivers, and be ignorant of the prepossessions of their inquirers!

It may be added, that, whether from the difficulties that grew out of the subject, when the geographical documents came to be analyzed, or whether it was from actual information, both Delisle and D’Anville describe two lakes, near each other; one at the supposed head of the Senegal river, the other at that of the Tombuctoo river. I think it most probable, that it was occasioned by the want of their being made to comprehend, that the waters ran eastward to, and not westward from the lake Maberia; so that when they were told that the Tombuctoo river issued from a lake, they concluded it must be a different one from that at the head of the Senegal. Certain it is, however, that these geographers believed, that the waters ran to the west, from this lake.

I have now brought to a conclusion, what was meant to be said on the subject of the descriptions, and mistakes, of former geographers; in the course of which it may be observed, that a period of twenty-two centuries has brought matters round again to the same point. And having thus cleared the ground, I next proceed to the more important part of the subject, the proper discoveries of Mr. Park.