is with the stream o f the N ig e r :* and i f this be true, it ought unquestionably to have the same direction all the way from Houssa.. T o these notices, o f which the most full and positive, is that o f an intelligent person who had visited the sp o t; are to be opposed the reports o f Edrisi and A b u lfed a , who wrote at a distance, and from the information o f others. A s to L e o , although his declaration is in favour o f the tw o A rab ian geographers, y e t his authority loses all its weight, b y his saying that the riv er runs to the ■west, by Tombuctoo; a fact which, I presume, no one will be h ardy enough to contend for. A n d it will be found, that his descriptions d o most completely do away his declaration : so that his testimony is turned against hims e lf by the v e r y context. F o r alter saying that it runs towards the kingdoms o f Ginea and Melli,- he says also that they lie to the west, in respect o f T om bu c to o . N ow the contrary has already been made apparent, in page lx v , et s eq .; so that in fact, L e o ’s descriptions g o rather to prove; that the course o f the N ig e r is to the east, than to the west, B u t after all, his descriptions are the result o f hearsay, rather than o f o b s e rv a tion : and it is p lain that his id ea o f the course o f the N ig e r , was regulated b y the supposed situation o f the countries it ran through. N o r had he in his mind the C o a s t o f Guinea; according-to o u r acceptation o f the term, when he spoke o f the country o f G in e a : for in his description o f N ig r itia he says, that the sen on the south, was unknown t to him. T h u s the testimonies appear to be clearly in favour o f an easterly course o f the N ig e r from Hou ssa to W an g a ra . I next p ro ce ed to the question respecting its termination. 3 . Concerning the Termination o f the N ig e r . M r . B e a u fo y ’s M o o r farther says, that “ below G bin ea, is the sea, into which the riv er o f T om b u c to o disembogues itself.” T h is may therefore be considered as the p r evailin g idea a t H o u s sa and T om b u c to o , at which places * .Sionita, p. 12, translates the passage thus: “ Via cursum Nili comitantc.'* And Hartmann, p. 51, “ Nilum sequere.” D’Herbelot understood the same thing; article Vankara. + Leo, p. 2, he had resided, altogether, about 12 y ea rs . B y the wo rd sea, it is well known, the A ra b s mean to express a lake a ls o ; (and ev en sometimes a riv e r .) Edrisi and others describe la rg e lakes in G h an a and W an g a ra .* A n d when L e o says that the N ig e r falls into the sea wh ich borders on Ginea,. it is not improbable that the lakes o f G hana and W an g a ra are m e a n t ; and that he was under the same mistake here, in supposing Ginea to be in the neighbourhood o f the sea, as in what relates to the position o f G in ea . itse lf In other words, that hearing from the natives, that the N ig e r expanded itse lf into lakes below Ghana (o r G in ea ), he supposed' the western ocean to b e meant. F o r it appears ,(p. 2.) that he bad heard, that the N ig e r had its source in the mountains on the west, and running thence to the east> e x panded itself finally into a vast la k e : b u t misled b y the supposed situation o f Ginea and M e lli, he disregarded the information. * H e also describes G in ea to be a co u n try annually o verflowed b y the waters o f the N ig e r , b u t omits to say the same o f W a n g a ra , to which the description more p articularly applies. I t may b e , that as W an g a ra in more early times formed a part o f the empire o f G hana (o r Qinea ), his ideas might have been co lle cted from some history o f those times. I therefore consider his description o f G in e a (p. 248), to include both G hana and W an g a ra . Edrisi describes three large fr e s h water lakes in W an g a ra , and one in G h a n a .t T h e description o f W a n g a ra appears to b e that o f an a llu v ia l coun try , en vironed and intersected b y the branches o f the N ig e r , and annually overflow ed in A u g u s t. Perhaps A u g u s t was the time o f the highest flo o d ; fo r L e o says that G in e a (apply this to W ang ara , also) is o verflow ed in J u ly , A u g u s t, and September ; which is indeed the season o f swelling o f the rivers o f the tropical regions, generally. J F rom this-,description may b e inferred the v e ry low leve l o f the countries o f G hana and W a n g a ra ; which le v e l o r hollow forms a receptacle for the surplus waters o f the N ig e r , co lle c ted during the rainy season and whose • Edrisi, p. 10, 12, 13. f See Edrisi, p. 10, u , I2> 3. . X lb . p.. i t , et seq.. Hartmann, p. 47, et seq. § And that probably, not only for the western waters, alone, but for th e eastern also* k 2
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