rainy season ; when, lik e all the other tropical rivers, its bed is filled, and v e r y commonly will not contain the additional waters. M r . Pa rk observed b y the mark o f the highest point o f swelling o f the riv e r Kobo ro (o r eastern branch o f the Senegal), that it had been twenty feet higher than when he crossed it, in the line o f the southern route. T h e main branch o f this river, the B a r fin g , o r B la c k R iv e r , was not fo rdable, and was crossed o ver a temp ora ry bridge o f a v e r y singular construction. A lligators, o r crocodiles, are fo u n d in all these branches, at the height at which Mr. Pa rk passed them. T h é Falemé river has also a remote so u rce , and drains a great extent o f country. C on ce rn in g the G am b ia Mr. P a rk had fewer noticès. I t is remarkable that the position pointed out to him for the source o f this r iv e r, agrees v e ry nearly with that found in D r . W ads trom ’s map ; from notices collected from another quarter. T h is is v e r y satisfactory. I learn also from D r . A fz e liu s that the distance across, between the approximating parts o f the courses o f the Gambia and R io Grande, is four journies. M r . P a rk crossed in his way, s ix different streams that fall into the 'G ambia from the north-east. Amon gs t these thè p rincipal one is the Ne r ico , which flows from the quarter o f Bon d o u ; and is reckoned the eastern b o un dary o f a tract which the A fr ican s o f this region style the Co u n try o f the W e s t , expressed b y that o f the setting sun. T h is tract is on a low e r level than that to the east; is flat, and the soil composed o f c la y and sand. I t appears that the whole tract through which M r . P a rk returned is co v e red with wood, cleared on ly in certain inhabited spots ( N umidian fa s h io n ) : o f which, the grea t tra c t/n am ed the J a llon k a W ilde rn e ss , is composed o f primeval forests.* T h e Bamb ara and Ka ar ta countries are also ex ceedin gly w o o d y , but less so than the other t r a c t; and the woods are o f an inferior growth. A c co rd in g to the ideas co llected from M r . P a rk ’s observations, the * Thomson seems to have understood this, when he says, beneath primeval trees, that cast ’ Their ample shade o’er N i g e r ’ s yellow stream. Summer, V. 705. general lev e ls o f the countries, near the sources o f the great rivers are thus distributed. Between the countries o f Bondou and N e o la on the west, Bamb ara and Kaarta on the east, the country forms a v e ry elevated level, falling rapidly to the eastward; but only by degrees, to the westward: and narrowing jn breadth, from 330 miles in the south (in the line between Bambara and N e o la ) to the narrow space o f 60 o r 70 in the north, between Ka arta and K a ja a g a ; and p rob ab ly diminishing to nothing, as it advances into the Great Desert-, thus fo rm in g .a great triangular space, whose v ertex is o n the north o f the little kingdom o f Kassoh, T h is vast upland tract is divided into other degrees o f le v e l, o f which the highest comprizes, the eastern and largest part o f the whole. T h e eastern boundary o f this particular le v e l, is, o f course, that o f the upper, le v e l, generally, in the part where it o v e r lo o ks Ka arta and Bambara : and its termination, in the opposite quarter, :is at a g r ea t descent, west o f. the p rincip al.bt?nch o f the ¿Senegal r iv e r , in W o r a d o o ; from which p lac e, the edge o f it may b e co n c e iv ed to run northward, to jo in another .descent o f the same kind, which fo rm s th e falls o f Govinea, o v e r which the great b o d y o f the Senegal .river is precipitated, from this upper le v e l, to the intermediate one, ;i:'The upper le v e l contains the political divisions o f Man din g, Jallonkadu, Itooladu, Kasson, G ad o u , and some other smaller states. A n d the second, o r intermediate lev e l, contains B am b qu k , K o n k a d o o , Satadoo, D en tila , and some o th e rs ; and is. bounded on th e south-west, b y the great slope of. country at Kirwanney, where the waters first begin to flow towards the west. O n the north-west it is bounded b y the great descent which forms thpsecond o r lower fall o f the Senegal r iv e r , named F ’low . T h is fall is about 30 miles below G o v in e a , 48 ab o v e F o r t St. J o s e p h : and here the r iv e r be in g arriv ed at the lowest le v e l o f the country, continues navigable yyith little in ter ruption to the sea.* T h e Faleme .r ive r o f cuur.se, must run on a far low e r le v e l than the other heads o f the Senegal r iv e r . T h e Gambia has a small impediment to its nav iga tion at Baraconda, in the country o f W o o l i ; but although this is usually termed a fa l l , M r . Pa rk • Labat, Vol. ii. p. 172. See his description of the navigation.
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