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Certain it is, h ow e v e r , that these geographers believed, that the waters ran to the west, from thi > lake. I have now brought to a conclusion, what was meant to be said on the su b je c t o f the descriptions, and mistakes, o f former geographers; in the co u rse o f which it may be observ ed, that a period o f twenty-two centuries has brought matters round again to the same p oint. A n d h av in g thus cleared the ground, I n ext p ro c e ed to the more important part o f the subje c t , the p rop er dis co v e r ie s o f M r . P a rk. CHAPTER II. Concerning the Geographical Discoverie s o f M r . P a rk . Since the scope and design o f M r . P a rk ’s routes have b een already set forth in the b eginning o f the present work, it would b e useless to say more o n that h e a d ; and as the particular map o f his progress will explain the relative circumstances o f the G eo g rap h y , nothing more will be necessary, than to call the attention o f the reader to such particulars as may not readily o c cu r to him on inspection o f the M a p ; o r which, from their nature, canno t well be inserted in it. T h e discoveries o f this gentleman (as has been said b efore), g iv e a new face to the physical geography o f W e ste rn A fr ica . T h e y prov e, b y the courses o f the great rivers, and from other notices, that a belt o f mountains, which extends from west to east, o c cu p ie s the parallels between t o and 1 1 degrees o f north latitude, and at least between the ad and 10th degrees o f west longitude (from G re enw ich ) . T h is belt, m o reov er, other authorities extend some degrees still farther to the west and south, in different branches, and apparendy o f less height. O n e o f these, follows the upper part o f the G am b ia r iv e r ; another the R io G ran de , to a low point o f its c o u r s e ; and a third appears to shut up the western coast o f G u in e a .* A c co rdin gly , this chain approaches much nearer to the equatorial parts o f A fr ic a , than was before supp o sed; an d thus w e are enabled to understand fu lly what A b u l f e d a t meant, when he said, that after the continent o f A fr ica has extended southward J from the Strait o f Gibraltar, to the neigh- * Meaning Serra Leona, ice. &c. + Prolegomena. t Abulfeda in effect, literally meant southward j for, like Ptolemy, and Strabo, he had no idea that the coast of Africa ¿projected to the westward, beyond the Straits, but rather supposed it to trend to the eastward o f south.


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