permanent lakes , apparently form receptacles fo r its waters, during the dry season also. T h e country o f W a n g a ra alone, is said b y Ed risi and Ib n A 1 W a rd i to have an extent o f 300 miles b y 1 5 0 ( 1 . e. A rab ic miles, o f 5 to a degree) ; and Edrisi’s statement o f the distances through it, proves that its length lies in the same direction with the course o f the N ig e r ; that is, from west to east.* N ow I h a v e no kind o f difficulty in supposing that any river may be evaporated, p rovided it is spread o u t to a sufficient ex ten t o f surfa c e : and it may be that the le v e l, o r hollow, o f W an g a ra and part o f Ghana, may present an extent o f surface sufficient to produce this e f fe c t .t A n d hen ce these countries must be regarded as the sink o f No r th A fr ica , at all seasons. N o doubt the inhabitants are amply repaid b y the fertility produced b y the deposition o f the waters : but besides this, in the southern quarter o f W an g a ra , they co lle ct an in c redib le quantity o f go ld sand, after the waters are gone o ff, which is ca re fu lly sought after, as soon as the rivers regain their beds. J I t may be proper to observe, that, according to the estimation which we ou gh t to make, o f the quantity o f water collected into the N ig e r , it ought not to bear a proportion to that, collected into the great tropical rivers o f A s ia ; since it receives no branches, hut on one side. O f course, it does n o t drain so grea t a surface o f country, as those which re c e iv e them on both sides. M o re o v e r it drains only the tract situated to leeward o f the grea t chain o f mountains, which opposes the main body o f the c lo u d s ; so tha t more water is discharged b y the south, b y the rivers o f the C o a s t o f Gu in ea , than b y the inland r iv e r s ; o r b y those o f Senegal and G am b ia . * Refer to Edrisi, p. 12, and S3 ; and to page lx above. f There are many instances o f this kind.' in particular the Uindmcnd or Hcermund, a very considerable river of Bigistan, terminates in the lake c f Zurrah (A r i j Pains). The lake is about 100 miles long, and 20 broad, at thé widest parf; and is said to be fresh. The country it flows through, has all the. .characteristics o f the alluvial tracts, at the mouths o f great rivers ; as Egypt, Bengal, &c. and is environed by mountains. This was the celebrated tract which is said to have formed the appanage o f Hustum ; and whose inhabitants, from the relief they afforded to C y ru s , were named Euergette by Alexander. t Edrisi, p. 12. D ’Herbelot, article Vankara, B en A l i reported to M r . Bea u fo y , that “ it was b e lie v ed , that the T om - buctoo river terminated in a lake in the D e se r t.” O n the whole, it can sca rcely be doubted that the J o lib a o r N ig e r terminates in lakes , in the eastern quarter o f A f r i c a ; and those lakes seem to be situated in W ang a ra and Ghana. T h a t it does not fo rm the upper part o f the Eg yptian N ile , may b e co llected from two circumstances: firs t,th e great difference o f leve l that must necessarily exist, between the Nige r and the N ile , admitting that the N ig e r reached the co u n t ry o f A b y s s in ia . F o r b y that time, it w ould have run at least 2300 G . miles, in a direct lin e ; and near 2000, after it had descended to the level o f Sahara, o r G r e a t Desert. A n d the N ile , at the point where the W h ite r iv e r (which, alone can be taken fo r the N ig e r , i f the idea o f a ju n c t io n b e admitted) falls in, has more than a thousand such miles to run, before it reaches the s e a ; and has m oreov e r two o r more cataracts to descend, in its w a y . Be s id e s , Aby s sin ia is positiv e ly a very elevated tract. Mr. B ru c e , (V o l. iii. p. 64 a-) inferred from his barometer, tha t the le v e l o f the source o f the N ile , in G q jam , was more than two miles ab ov e the level o f the s e a : and this is repeated in pages 6 52 , and 7 1 2 ; where he says f ‘ fu lly ” two miles. A g a in , in p. 7 1 9 , he says, that ik e f la t co u n try o f Sennar is more than a mile low e r than the high country o f A bys sinia, from whence (says h e) the N ile runs with “ lit tle descent" into E g yp t. H en c e , the country o f Sennar, and the mouth o f the W h ite river, o f course, may b e reckoned about a mile, ab ov e the le v e k o f the sea. I t may h owe v e r be asked, how this agrees with the idea o f an easy d e s c en t? * T h e second circumstance is, that the N ig e r throughout the tract o f N ig r i- tia, in common with all the rivers o f that reg ion , swells with the p e riodica l rains, and is at its highest p itch , when the N ile is un der the lik e circumstances in E g yp t . N ow , considering how lon g a time it would require, fo r the waters o f N ig ritia to reach E g y p t , the efFect ought surely to be, that in- • Mr. Bruce mentions eight cataracts o f the N ile ; of which, two only are below Sennar. (Vol. iii. p. 644, et seq.) M. D’Anville marks three within the same space. The principal cataracts are those formed by the abrupt descent from the upper level o f Gojam, to the intermediate one of Sennar j one o f them being 280 feet. (See page 647.)
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