with other authorities, in his descriptions of the population
and local circumstances of Tombuctoo, there is at least one
asserted fact in this part of his Narrative, which appears
to be peculiarly his own; the existence, we mean, of a
considerable navigable river close to the city. To the truth
of this fact Adams’s credit is completely pledged. On
many other subjects, it is possible that his Narrative might
be considerably at variance with the truth, by a mere defect
of memory or observation, and without justifying any
imputations on his veracity; but it is evident that no such
latitude can be allowed to him on the present occasion;
and that his statement respecting the La Mar Zarah, if
not in substance true, must be knowingly and wilfully
false.
Those of our readers who have attended to the progress
of African discovery, will recollect that Tombuctoo, although
it is placed by the concurring testimony of several authorities,
in the immediate vicinity o f the Niger, is nevertheless
represented to lie at a certain distance from the river,
not greater than a day’s journey according to the highest
statement, nor less according to the lowest, than twelve
miles. To these statements, which may be presumed to
approach very nearly to the truth, may be added, on pretty
much the same authorities, that the town of Kabra on the
CONCLUDING REMARKS. 185
Niger is the shipping port of Tombuctoo, lying at the
aforesaid distance of twelve miles, or of a day’s journey,
from the city. And neither Park, nor any other written
authority (including the English translation of Leo, of
which we shall say more hereafter) make any express
mention of a communication by water with the city of
Tombuctoo itself.
Adams, however, as has been already observed, cannot
have been mistaken in so important a fact as that which
he has here stated. He never discovered the least hesitation
in his repeated assertions of the proximity of the river
to the town, or of his subsequent journey, for ten days, along
its banks; and we cannot entertain the smallest doubt
that the river exists precisely as he has described it. We
shall presently shew to what extent the probability of this
fact is Countenanced by other considerations: and in the
mean time, the two following alternatives present themselves,
respecting the probable course of the river beyond the
south-western point, to which Adams’s observation of it
extended;— either, that it turns immediately, at a considerable
angle, to the southward, and falls into the Niger in
the neighbourhood of Kabra;— or, that continuing its
south-westerly course from Tombuctoo, it empties itself
into the lake Dibbie, possibly at the northern inlet which
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