DISCOVERIES AND CONJECTURES CONCERNING
On the eaftem fide jVJrv Browne’ë intelligence extehds to long;
*7? 5 fo th a t there iis a deficiency o f thirteen degrees or 780 g. miles ;
but this fpace unfortunately: cotnprifes the moft interefting portion of
northern Afriea, and efpecial]y the termination o f the Nigir : and to the
N. W . .of Darfur the deficiency becomes more extenfive. T o the S. o f
Gobbé, at the diftance o f twenty-three days, are noted copper mines ;
beyond w h ic h ,. at • the diftance offieven days and a half, is the Bahr el
Abiad. Mr. Browne’s map ig unfortunately laid down with little care,
and the .river is placed 'too near the mines. T o the W. is the river o f
K u lk , the banks o f which according to Mr. Browne’s information
abound with pimento trees, and the ferry-boats ar.e partly managed by
poles, partly by a double o*i;.\- The trees are fo vigorous, froga.the
tity Of water and deep, play, that canoes are hollowed fo large as to con-:
tain ten perfons. T h e natives o f Kulla are partly negroes, and partly o f a
red or copper colour ; and the country is chiefly frequented by Jelabs o r
traders from Bergoo and- Fur, in order to procure flaves, the moft trivial
offence being here punilhed by felling th e perfon to foreignmerchants.
On the W.j o f Bornou Mr. Browne heard o f A fnou, which is a negro
word for Soudan o r N igritia in gênerai, but is particularized as a country
abundant in filver ; and there is a remote part q f :the pagan country,
called Gnum-gnum, where the people eat their captives taken in war ;
but this can fcarcely be the Manianâ o f Park, and it is probable that the
mountaineers in - the S. retain, as ufual, the moft ancient and,%ocious:
manners. Mr. Browne did not hear o f Wangara ; but Zampharà-, not
fai from Bornou, was mentioned by his informers, commonly Jelabs or
travelling merchants.
T h u s far the rays o f modern intelligence throw a faint ; light upon
northern Africa ; and beyond all is theory and conjeélure. But amidft
this uncertainty thère are twd foùrces o f information which deferve
preference, till more precife knowledge cap be obtained. Thefe are
Ptolemy, who wrote in Egypt, before the negroes were envenomed
with Mahometan fanaticifm; and after the Roman arms had penetrated
to the N ig ir: and the Arabian authors, who, by the progrefs o f Maho-
1 Browne, p. 308.
metanifin,
metanifm, had the beft Uhtelligensd vcóncerning this continent. Yet BrowheY
upon the whole Ptolemy’s»information and exadtnèfs will obtain a de- J°URNElf;
cided preference over the* fabulous turn and gföfs inaccuracies of the
Arabian geographers^ and it has already been remarked that the recent
ilfcöYériës,both in the eaft and tfeft/fcend to-confirm Ptölepij’s defcrip-
tionj. or rather the- general afpe®.;of the map* conftrudted upon it by
Agathademon.
The moft remarkable error, Or inacburacy^-ip Ptbl^jh^’s.jmaplis that - Ptolemy,
hé certainly egfejfcefves-.the Nigirtoï rife in the*mountaihrof Thala; *orf£
-whatt amounts to the fame, hetfiippolesthat the r.^gr§terip.inajed in a-
lake in the W. which he calls Nigritia Palus j, i|:-jw?a§vp|earlyrthe'
opinion of this great geographer • that 'the»Ni§h .ran frqta^Ei to W. in
which, he'feèms to have bepn mifl^lhy pqnfpundiiïg iü with -,the Giy.*
The, laft fiver .he cleanly dedupes, from- mountains, jhr$kfe’ E. fo as t o
correfpond with the Bahr Kulla, though he be- a ftranger tp its;remote
fource.. This riv^r is another grand! feature] eff^Éièafiy^'s defcription,
which has efcaped modern geographers, though D’Anvil 1^1749, -had
inferted it with his ufual knowledge and induftry. This rcyef ‘i^'rcpre-j
fcnted by Ptolemy as receiving two tributaiy ftreams from- two'fallcs^,aticf ’
among other cities! on its banks is a metropolis called "©mTjfais'~upoh .the15
Nigir there is another ftyled the Nigira. The termination of tfie Gir
is not a little obfcure, but it feems to be delineated as paffingk under .a,
chainof hills, on the N. of the Lyhia Palus, car central lake Anf<aJ
and aftemards joining the Nigir in itsticourle to the ,W. j-O th e r cit-,
cumftances of Ptolemy’s map will remain obfeure till further -difcoveriM!
His Panagra, between the Gir and the Nigir, maybe the Wangam.pf,
the Arabs; and his mountains of, Caphas, Thala, and Aranga, feém to
* In his deferipfion of thg IsKgjiY 4ie confitiers it as joising^ Mount Mandrils, (at the bottfem of
which is thé NigrkisV with Mount Thala in the centre of Africa, and fays ndöflng o f its on^Tifï
By a ftrikihg fihgülality he deferibes all the rivers that join it 'as beihgf>dëfle&iM|$or digreffive i
ftreams, (ektptttj) from the Nigir, , -
+ Claudian, a native:öf Egypt, thus mentions, the.Gir.
iJefpeiaduni Triton; et Git tiptiffimus amnis
jEthiopum, fimili mentitus gurgite Nilum.
De laud. Stil. i. 351.
belong