que les barques de Genné ont monté la rivière bien avant,
ils trouvent la chûte de Sootasoo ; où ils s’arrêtent, et ne
peuvent plus passer. Là ils déchargent leur sel et leurs
marchandises, et les portent à l’autre côté de la chûte à dos
d’ânes, et sur leurs têtes. Là ils trouvent les grandes
pirogues des Negres, qu’ils fraitent, et montent la rivière
avec ces piroguesjusqu’à chez les Mandings, qui s’appellent
Malins, qui sont proche du roche Gouvina.”
The gentleman, for whom these particulars were collected,
states, that he has always had- the greatest confidence
in their correctness ; not only on account of the
character and talents of the person employed, but also from
the means which he had, during a residence of three or
four years at Senegal, to verify all the most material points
in them, upon the information of others ; which he lost no
opportunity of obtaining. In his account of the position
of Genné, the junction of the two rivers near to it, the
course of one of these rivers from Betoo or Badoo, and the
course of the Niger itself, at that time (1764) generally supposed
to he from east to west ; the Arabic interpreter has been
proved, by the information obtained through Mr. Park, to
be correct; and his representation of the trade upon the
Niger is accurately confirmed by Mr. Park, in his conversation
with the ambassadors of the King of Bambarra ;*
except that he carries it beyond Mr. Park’s report.
* “ We sell them (the articles brought by the Moors) to the Moors ; the
“ Moors bring them to Tombuctoo, where they sell them at a higher rate. The
“ people of Tombuctoo sell them to the people of Jinnie at a still higher price ;
{C and the people of Jinnie sell them to you.” Park’s Last Mission, 4to. p. 268.
I f the interpreter’s report be correct, it would seem that
the Niger is navigable to a much greater distance westward,
than it is represented to be in any of the existing maps of
that part of Africa ; nor does there appear to be any
authority to oppose to this theory, except the information
which Major Rennell states Mr. Park to have received,
when at Kamalia, on his return from his first journey;
that the source of the Niger was at a bearing of south, a
very little west, seven journies distant, for which Mr. Park
calculated one hundred and eight geographical miles.* The
name of the place was said to be Sankari, which the Major
supposes to correspond with the Song of D’Anville. But
this account is too vague to be implicitly relied upon, in a
country, where men travel, as Mr. Park observes, j~ only for
the acquirement of wealth; and pay but little attention to
the course of rivers, or the geography of countries. In
other respects, the idea that the Niger is navigable to a
considerable distance above Bammakoo, instead of being
contradicted, is much supported by all the information
which is to be collected from Mr. Park’s Journeys, and
particularly his Last Mission; though to a person looking
only at the Map attached to his Notes, the fact would
appear to be otherwise.
The Arabic interpreter speaks of a trade and extensive
navigation above the falls of Sootasoo, which must be to the
westward; as he states it to extend into the country of a
Mandingo nation called Malinsf whose territories approach
* Appendix, First Journey, page xliv. *|* Idem, page 214.
I We have no account of the people here spoken of under the name of