to the ignorance o f the A fr ican merchants; but, in all prob ability, in a much greater part, to the want o f understanding each other’ s lan gu a g e ; a defect that has led to many errors, that are oftentimes charged to the accoun t o f w ilfu l falsehood, o r, at least, to an indifference to :the cause o f truth. I can easily conceive that the -caravan merchants, in passing from T om - buc to o to Gallam (or the contrary), might have deceived themselves into a belief, that the principal rivers which th e y -had either crossed or skirted -in their wa y, might communicate with each o th e r : for it appears clearly, b y M r . P a rk ’s observations, that the eastern branch o f the Senegal, and the western branch o f the Jo lib a , approach v e r y near to each other, in the early part o f their c o u r s e s ; so that, durin g the whole jo u rn e y , the merchants might ne ve r b e farther distant from a river to the southward o f them, than a ’few jo u rn ie s . A s to the story, so lon g credited, o f the N ig e r being the parent river, from whence all the western rivers were derived, we may remark, that ig norance, in ev e ry country through which large rivers take their course, is v e ry ready to derive them a ll from one source -, and that source v e ry probab ly , a lake-. W ithin our own times, -the Burrampooter and A v d rivers were thus described in the maps, ¡Pliny reports, that the Euphrates and T ig r is are united in Armenia, ¡by the medium o f a la k e : * and Ed r is i, as we. h av e seen, d e r iv ed the N ile and N ig e r , from one and the same la k e .t I t will appear that the lake, M ab e r ia , taken b y D ’A nviUe and D e lis le fo r the head o f the Senegal .river, o r that wh ich runs to ¡the west, is meant for no other than the lake c f D ib b ie , farmed b y the riv er J o lib a , or that which runs to the east-, and which M r . P a rk ’s inquiries hav e brought to ou r kn owled g e . A g a in , we re co gn ize the river G u ien , o r G u in , o f Lab a t, o f D ’A n v ille , and o f Delisle, in the northern branch o f the same Jo liba , * Pliny, lib. vi. c. 27. f Thomson believed it. After speaking o f the Nile, he says,— His brother Niger too, and all the floods In which the full-form’d maids of Afric lave Their jetty limbs. Summer, f lu . issuing o u t o f the Jake D ib b le ; and which; together- with th e 'so u th e rn branch from the same lake, forms an island, reported to b e g o o r 100 miles in’ length, named J inbala b y . M r . P a rk : T h e re is a town, on the, side o fithe northern branch, also named Jip b ala ; but! whether the island! mhy take! its name from this town, o r 'from th e ’riker, whose1 proper name,1from about this point, seems to be Gh«'«, or (/frit, I!know, not.- M . D ’Anvilleihas-descfibed, in this position, the country, o f f iu in b a la , subject to T o n k a Q u a ta : the same who is said b y L a b a t to be . sovereign o f the country which contains the lake o f Maberia, and the riv e r o f G u ien .* H e re , then, we have an explication o f the erro r o f those, who, from the supposed information o f the Mandinga merchants, supposed the la k e M a beria (answering to the D ib b ie o f Pa rk ), to form the source o f the Senegal r iv e r ; and who to o k the riv e r o f G u in , or Jinbala, fo r a distinct r iv e r, instead o f a branch, issuing from that lake . T h e Mandingas might v e ry truly have informed the French settlers, that the lake Mab e r ia , and the rivers J o lib a and G u in w ould conv ey them to T om b u c to o ; but did they say also, that the river o f Senegal would conv ey them to the lake Maberia ? T h e French merchants, perhaps, taking fo r granted that the navigation was continuous, might neve r inquire whether their informants were speaking o f one o r o f two r iv e r s : and the others might at the same time be speaking o f two distinct rivers, and be ignorant o f the prepossessions o f their inquirers 1 I t may be added, that, whether from the difficulties that grew o u t o f the subject, when the geographical documents came to be an a ly zed, o r whether it was from actual information, both D e lis le and D ’A n v ille describe two lakes, near each o th e r ; one at the supposed head o f the Senegal river, the other at that o f the T om b u c to o river. I think it most prob able, that it was occasioned by the want o f their b e in g made to comprehend, that the waters ran eastward to, and not westward fr om the lake M a b e r ia ; so that when they were to ld that the T om b u c to o riv er issued from a lake, they concluded it must b e a different one from that at the head o f the Senegal. * Labat, Vol. ii. p. 161. 163. and iii. p. 361. b 2
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