1. An immense supply of the finest wheat, and other grain, that the
world produces.
2. We should be able to open a direct communication with the
interior regions of Africa,--which have baffled the enterprise of
ancient and modern Europe: the fertile and populous districts which
lie contiguous to the Nile of Sudan, throughout the whole of the
interior of Africa, would become, in a few years, as closely
connected to us, by a mutual exchange of benefits, as our own
colonies; and such a stimulus would be imparted to British
enterprise and industry, as would secure to us such stores of gold
as would equal the riches of Solomon, and immortalize the prince
who should cherish this great commerce to its maturity.
VASCO DE GAMA.
464
(TO THE EDITOR OF THE EUROPEAN MAGAZINE.)
Liverpool,
Dec. 17. 1818.
Sir,
In "_The Portfolio_," a Monthly Miscellany for May, 1817, published
at Philadelphia, there is rather an interesting review of Ali Bey's
travels. The writer says, "Ali Bey has rectified various errors in
the common maps of Marocco. The river Luccos, for instance, flows
to the South, and not to the North of Alcasser; and the city of
Fas, according to Ali Bey, is situated in 34° 6' north latitude,
and not as laid down in the Maps of Arrowsmith, Rennell, Delille,
Golberri, &c."--If, however, he had given himself the trouble to
consult the map of West Barbary, in Jackson's Account of Marocco,
&c. &c. (which is by far the most accurate extant, and whose
geographical orthography has been adopted in all the best modern
English maps,) he would have seen that Fas is in 34° north
latitude; that the river Elkos, or Luccos, is described in that
map, (which was published several years before Ali Bey's travels,)
as running south of Alcasser.
In describing the funeral cry at Marocco, the editor, or reviewer,
impresses his reader with an idea that this funeral cry is that of
the Moors, whereas it is no such thing: it is the practice of the
Jews only in West Barbary to cry "Ah! Ah!" and lacerate their faces
465 with their finger nails; after which they wash, drink brandy, and
enjoy themselves.
The large sea in the interior of Africa, described by Ali Bey to be
without any communication with the Ocean, had been described
(_years before Ali Bey's travels were published_) by Jackson, in
his Account of Marocco, &c. &c. third edition, p. 309, and called
first by him _Bahar Sudan_, and represented as a sea having decked
vessels on it. Mr. Park, in his Second Journey, calls this sea the
Bahar Seafina, without, however, informing the public, or knowing,
that the Bahar Sefeena is an Arabic expression implying a sea of
ships, or a sea where ships are found; and the situation he places
it in coincides exactly with Jackson's prior description. There are
thus three concurrent testimonies of the situation of the Bahar
Sudan, or Sea of Sudan, _first noticed by Jackson_, and since
confirmed by Ali Bey and Park.[274]