eastern and a western branch. The latter rises about 80 miles south-east
of Timbo, in the woods between Kouranko and Soliman. This spot is in
about 9° north latitude, and 10° west longitude. The distance from the
source of the Senegal is about 110 miles, and from Sierra Leone not
above 150 miles. The mountains hereabouts are said to be very high, and
are also said to be perpetually covered with snow. From its source the
stream flows north-east. In Balia, above Bourré, a frontier town of
Kankan, and celebrated for the abundance and superior fineness of its
gold, the river first becomes navigable. Here the merchants from Foota
Diallon embark in their journey to Sego and Timbuctoo, which occupies
them four months. At Tankarari, below Bourré, the river is already “two
gun-shots broad.” Kankan is 15 days’ journey west from Maniana, the
capital of which is called Tokoro. (_Mollien_, p. 301-303, and others.)
Continuing its course north-east, this branch, in about 11° north
latitude and 6° 45′ west longitude, joins a mightier stream flowing from
the east. This branch, there is good grounds to believe, rises in the
snowy mountains eastward of Kong. Taking a circular course, it flows
southward beyond the parallel of 9° north latitude, from whence it runs
first west and then north-west and north, till its junction with the
western branch. Nineteen days’ journey (190 miles,) north north-west of
Coomassie, where it is crossed by travellers from Ashantee, in the route
by Kong to Jinnë, it is said to be half-a mile broad, and _running
westward_. It is called by the natives “Coomba,” and by the Moors
“Zamma.” (_Bowditch_, p. 182.) The French maps, constructed in 1756, by
Robert de Vagondy for the King of France, lay down this branch tolerably
accurate. In the parallels and parts mentioned are the sources of the
Niger eastward of Kong, viz. in 10° north latitude, and from 1½° to 2¼°
west longitude. The mountains must be of a stupendous height, for the
natives state that the cold is very severe in Oalla to the north-west of
Inta, and the hills in those parts covered with snow. (_Robertson’s
Notes_, p. 182.) After this junction, the Joliba continues to flow
north-east, either through or along by the frontiers of Mandingo, and
must be a powerful stream. A native of Mandingo told Tuckey, that his
country “lay on a river _as broad as the Zaire_, (half a British mile,)
but full of rocks.” (_Tuckey_, p. 141.) Travellers from Kong to the Rio
Pongos state, that in their journey west they pass one very large river,
which can be no other but the Niger in this part of his course.
(_Bowditch_, p. 210.) At Tembo, Messrs. Watt and Winterbotham were
informed that thirty days’ journey from thence, in _the route to Sego_,
the “road lay along a great water, _across which the eye could not
reach_, and which was sweet and good to the taste.” It is by no means
improbable that this _great water_ is a lake formed by the Niger at the
confluence of the two branches. The features of the country render such
a thing very probable. The mountains on either hand are of a stupendous
height. To the westward Mollien found the east wind, from having swept
over them, excessively cold and piercing, (page 292.) These are features
altogether new and unexpected in the geography of tropical Africa.
Amidst such mountains the rivers must soon become very large, such as we
find amidst the Andes of South America, where the Beni, after a course
of only 300 miles, is found to be two miles broad.
While preparing these sheets for the press, chance threw in my way a
copy of the third part of the Geography of Joannis Bleau, printed at
Amsterdam in 1662. In the general map of Africa, he lays down a large
lake in north latitude 10°, and east longitude 10° from Ferro, which
corresponds very nearly with the place we have been considering. From
this lake (situated north-east from Sierra Leone) issues the river
Guinola, (perhaps Guinbala, another name for the Joliba,) which flows
first in a north-west, and afterwards in a northerly direction, and then
north-easterly, till it approaches near the Niger, from which river a
branch descending joins the latter, and from the united streams are
formed the rivers Senegal, Gambia, and Rio Grande. The latter features
we know to be incorrect, though it was believed to be the true
delineation in those days; but the lake and circular course of the
Guinola to the north are curious features. These were no doubt founded
upon positive information, but made to bend to the theory then in vogue.
Mandingo, he states, lay between 9° and 11° north latitude, which agrees
very well with modern information. The capital city, Sango, was 100
leagues from Cape Palmas; and, he adds, “Multorum in Mandingæ regione
fluminum ortus existet, quæ varias ingressa vias, tandem Gambeæ amni
miscentur.” (P. 122.)
The Stachirus of Ptolemy is generally supposed to be the Gambia, or more
probably the Rio Grande. According to this authority, the Stachirus in
11° north latitude, and 17° west longitude from Ferro, makes the lake
Clonia. The reader, by turning to the map, will perceive this position
given; for the lake Clonia corresponds with the junction of the two
rivers, and the lake which, in all probability, is there to be found at
this day. Ptolemy has mistaken this branch of the Niger, which he
certainly had heard of, for the Stachirus, the sources of which he
accordingly carried too far to the eastward; nor was his error to be
wondered at, when we find geographers so near our own day continuing the
same error. The extended course of the Stachirus of Ptolemy has only to
be bent northward in these parallels and meridians to direct its waters
to the Niger; and we then have from Ptolemy the upper course and eastern
branch of this important stream. These are very curious and important
circumstances. The west coast of Africa is laid down by that early
geographer several degrees too much east of Ferro, which occasions the
great contraction of all the western parts and rivers, and the
consequent errors in his longitudes in all the upper course of the
Niger, and about the sources of the Senegal, Gambia, &c. The great
southern branch of the Niger he has, in error, evidently joined to these
latter streams. The Arabian geographers also had no idea of the extent
of Africa to the south-west; but conceived that the continent stretched
due south, or rather to the eastward of south from the Straits of
Gibraltar. Hence the confusion into which they were led regarding the
remote parts of western Africa.
Continuing its course north-east along the eastern base of those hills
which separate its waters from those of the Ba Fing, and having passed
Kankary (perhaps the Kankan of Mollien) and Kaniaba, the Niger reaches
Bammakoo, situate in 12° 48′ north latitude, and 3° 40′ west longitude.
Here Park first fell in with it in his second journey; and he says, that
at this place it was larger than either the Senegal or the Gambia, near
the sea. The breadth of the stream is one mile. It was then in flood,
but _did not overflow its banks_. Thus, though the depth was no doubt
greatly increased, the breadth could not be increased in proportion. A
short distance below Bammakoo, the river passes over several rapids,
which fill its bed during 30 miles of its course. Here the stream is two
miles broad. These rapids are occasioned by a chain of hills extending
south-eastwards of Kong. Three of these rapids are more formidable than
the remainder. The velocity of the water, said Park, when descending the
stream at this place, was such “_as to make me sigh_.” Notwithstanding
this, the river can still be navigated past these ledges of rocks; for
Park informs us, that the King of Bambarra’s, and other canoes, pass
this place in their voyage up the river, with slaves to the great slave
markets of Kaniaba and Kankary. The magnitude of the Niger at Bammakoo
shews, not only that its sources must be more remote than they have
hitherto been supposed, but that it must collect its tributes from a
much more extended range of country than the mere extension of one
branch to the south-west. The Ba Nimma and Ba Maniana, united, and after
a course of perhaps 300 miles, are only half as large as the Niger. The
Senegal, at its mouth, and after a course of 1000 miles, is not so large
as the Niger at Bammakoo. These rivers afford us a scale to determine,
that the sources of the Niger must be far removed from Bammakoo, (much
further than 2° of latitude, the distance hitherto allowed,) and that
its waters must be collected from a wide range of country, extending to
the south-west, south, and eastward.
From Bammakoo the Niger bends his course in an east-north-east
direction, flowing in a clear navigable stream. High land extends to the
north below Bammakoo. In the above direction the Niger passes Yamina,
Sego, Sansanding, and Silla, all situate in the kingdom of Bambarra.
Bending its course more to the north-east, the Niger approaches Jinnë,
and soon after lake Dibbie, or the dark lake, called also Bahar
Dehebbie, the sea of water abounding in gold; Bahar Tibber, the sea of
gold dust; and Bahar Tee-eb, the fresh water sea; without doubt, the
_Negrites Palus_ of Ptolemy. This lake extends from south-west to north-
east, and is described to be of great magnitude. Canoes, in passing it,
lose sight of land for a whole day. From Scot’s account its breadth may
be about 60 miles, and depth 20 fathoms. (_Edin. Phil. Journ._ No. 7.)
Either near the lake, or running directly into the lake, the Niger
receives from the south the Ba Nimma and Ba Maniana, in an united stream
about half as large as the Niger. The Ba Nimma rises south of Marraboo,
and comes from the neighbourhood of what is properly called Kong. Its
course will be about 300 miles. The Ba Maniana rises more to the
eastward, and has a shorter course.
About the entrance into lake Dehebbie, the Niger, we may almost
certainly state, receives a very considerable branch from the north-
west. According to Sidi Hamed, at Wablet, (Walet,) a town situate a
little to the south of the desert, and about 240 miles west of
Timbuctoo, there passes a river which flows eastward. Its breadth at
that town was about 250 yards. It was called by the Negroes “_Gozen
Zair_,” but by the Moors “_el Wad Tenij_.” The mountains, to the south-
west of Wablet, were represented by Sidi Hamed to be “at a great
distance,” and as high as Mount Atlas, near Suse, or 12,000 feet above
the level of the sea, but not caped with snow. Amongst these the river
no doubt has its rise. In the course of this river,—and that there is
such a river Sidi Hamed could not be mistaken, because he travelled, in
his route to Timbuctoo, during the space of four days along its banks,
and through a country so hilly and woody that his party were forced to
turn off directly north to the confines of the desert, in order to
travel with greater freedom. In his route from Benown and Jarras to
Sego, Mr. Park passed no river running west; but, as he proceeded south-
east, he passed numerous small streams, all bending their course north-
east. These, to the eastward, must join the river mentioned by Sidi
Hamed in its course to the east; and the united streams, forming a large
river, must join the Niger. And, if the accounts given by Scot are
correct, as there seems no just grounds to doubt, that in his course
across the desert to lake Dehebbie he crossed no river, then the “Gozen
Zair” of Sidi Hamed must join the Niger south-west of Scot’s route to
the lake, and consequently about the confluence of the Niger with the
lake. The stream from Wablet to this point would have a course exceeding
240 geographic miles in length. It is very remarkable, that Ptolemy
brings the chief stream of the Niger in this very direction, and in this
manner, to the Palus Negrites. From this lake Mount Mandrus lay north-
west. It appears also extremely probable, that the river in question was
the Nile of Batouta, and that the Joliba was his river Sansera. From the
direction in which he travelled, the Gozen Zair must have been the first
he met with after leaving the desert. In this point of view also, the
Joliba would be the river, along which, according to Leo, the kingdom of
Melli extended 300 miles. On these important subjects, however, I would
not wish to give a decided opinion. One way or the other, it makes no
material error in the grand geographical features of interior Africa,
which it is my object to delineate. It is a curious circumstance, and
deserves to be noticed, that D’Anville, in his early maps, lays down a
river issuing from lake Maberia, or Dibbie, and flowing in the above
direction to join the Senegal. The course he has evidently mistaken from
the usual misapprehension of Arabian information. Few people had better
information than he had; and he, no doubt, had received positive
information that there was a river in those parts.
Issuing from the lake Dehebbie, (the position of which will afterwards
be more particularly noticed,) the Niger keeps a northerly course, and
soon after receives from the south the Ba Moriaca, which is certainly a
considerable river. The junction, in all probability, takes place at no
great distance from the north-east corner of the lake, on the south-east
side of which is a chain of hills. The junction of the Ba Moriaca is a
very remarkable feature in the delineation of Ptolemy; and his
description corresponds in a surprising manner with modern accounts. “On
the south,” says he, “the Niger receives one branch above (_supra_)
Daradum, _nigh to the two positions_, 21° east longitude, 17° north
latitude, and 21° west longitude, 13° 30′ north latitude (_Tab. Quart.
Af._ cap. 6.) Here not only the junction of the Ba Moriaca, but also the
junction of the Ba Nimma, Maniana, and Joliba (if it is true that all
these are united before entering the lake) on the south, and also the
great northern bearing of the course of the river at this place is very
plainly marked. The junction of both being laid down in the same
meridian, but nigh to two places, distant 3° 30′ latitude from each
other, shews this in a very striking manner. His longitude of 21° east
also corresponds, when corrected, nearly with the meridian of Greenwich.
All the parts we have here considered are represented as being very
widely and deeply flooded by the Niger during the rains. From the
junction of so many rivers, it is obvious that such must be the case.
Still keeping his north-east course, the Niger passes Rakbara, and soon
after it turns suddenly east, and, in this direction, approaches Kabra,
the port of the celebrated city of Timbuctoo. The great curve which the
Niger makes in its course from Jinnë to Kabra is well known. It is
called “_el Kosie Neel_,” the arch or curve of the Nile. (_Jackson’s
Shabeeny_, p. 439.) That such is the case, is also very obvious from the
time occupied in travelling betwixt these places, according as the
journey is performed on land or by water. By the latter, it is a voyage
of 20 days, but by the former only a journey of 12 days. (_Bowditch_, p.
193.)
In the present maps, the position of both Lake Dehebbie and the city of
Timbuctoo seem evidently to be placed too far west. Bammakoo, we have
seen, stands in 3° 40′ west longitude. From thence, or Marraboo, which
is a little lower down, Park was altogether 62 hours in passing down the
stream from the latter place to Sansanding. During this period the river
was in flood, and the force of the current carried the canoe downwards
at the rate of fully five miles per hour. This would give a distance of
320 miles. Throwing off 120 for the windings of the stream, leaves 200
made good in horizontal distance to Sansanding. From this place to Lake
Dehebbie is a voyage of six days by water, when the river is low, which,
taking at only 100 miles made good for horizontal distance, would place
the Lake in the meridian of 1° 20′ east longitude. Jinnë is two days
sail above the lake: from the former, through the Lake to Timbuctoo, is
20 days passage, which, at the most moderate computation, taking into
consideration the difference of latitude, would place Timbuctoo in 3°
east longitude, and 16° 30′ north latitude, if not still farther east.
Below Lake Dehebbie, or Dibbie, is the kingdom of Jinbala, said to be an
island by some authorities; but this is probably wrong. The Arabs use
the words isle and peninsula as synonymous terms, and call the land
between the junction of streams, or the separation of their branches,
islands. Of this numerous instances might be given. Besides, Bowditch
(p. 193,) states pointedly, and upon good authority, that Jinbala was
not an island, but a town on the northern bank of the river. All this
country is greatly flooded during the inundation. This may probably be
heightened by the junction of the Ba Moriaca with the Niger, and which
stream joining, as it probably does do, the Joliba soon after the latter
leaves the Lake, might, in the Arabic idiom, occasion the appellation of
island to be applied to the country between the two rivers and above
their junction.
Timbuctoo, the great emporium of the trade of Central Africa, is 12
Arabic (14½ British) miles from the Niger. Descending from the north-
east, a great river passes very near the city, and joins the Niger at
Kabra. This is a remarkable feature in the geography of Ptolemy, which
seems borne out by modern accounts. We have already shewn that the
“_Negira metropolis_” of that geographer stood where Timbuctoo now
stands. Though the existence of this river is doubted by some, still the
authorities which mention it are so explicit, that there seems no
sufficient reason for disbelieving them. Leo Africanus states, that
Timbuctoo was situated near “a branch of the Niger.” Batouta, as we have
seen, in his journey homeward, crossed a river near the confines of the
Desert, and north-east of Timbuctoo, called “Bahar-el-Ahmar,” the very
name by which the river in question is known at Timbuctoo. D’Anville
lays down a river passing Timbuctoo, and descending from the north-east.
Adams says it was called La Mar Zarah, which Burkhardt and others
rightly conjecture is a corruption of the Arabic words “Bahar-el-Ahmar
el Zahaara,” or _the Red River of the Desert_. The river, according to
Adams, approaches within a short distance of the city on its south-east
side, and is about three quarters of a mile wide. When low, the water is
brackish. Sidi Hamed says, that one hour’s ride on a camel south of the
city, brought the traveller to the great river, and after two hours’
ride, that they came to the great river Zolibib, or Niger. Two miles
south of Timbuctoo, the Bahar-el-Ahmar passes between two mountains, and
is contracted to half a mile in breadth. (_Adams_.) The water is said to
be of a very red colour—hence the name. _Bowditch_, p. 194, says, he was
informed that during the rainy season this stream overflowed its banks
so as to force the inhabitants to retire from the suburbs to the centre
of the city. Leo also says, that during the inundation the waters of the
rivers were conveyed in canals to water the country.
On this river travellers embark to go to Houssa, a distance of about 20
days’ passage according to Bowditch, (p. 196.) On the third day after
leaving Timbuctoo, you come, says Shabeeny, to Mushgreelia, where there
is a ferry, and where the traveller embarks if he goes by water, or
crosses the stream if he goes by land. “If you go this way,” says
Shabeeny, “you _must cross the river before you reach Houssa_. (p. 38,
_Jackson’s Shabeeny_.”) This would indicate that Timbuctoo lay on the
west side of the river. Bowditch (p. 196,) gives the same account of the
distance to the town where the traveller embarks on the river, and he
supposes Houssa to be east north-east of Timbuctoo. It is obvious that
both him and Shabeeny speak of a different river from the Niger, which
cannot be crossed in going from Timbuctoo to Houssa, which latter, all
accounts agree, is on the north side of the Niger, and distant from it.
Between Timbuctoo and Houssa, according to Shabeeny, there is a great
trade carried on by means of this river. “There are more boats on it
between Mushgreelia and Houssa,” says he, “than between Rosetta and
Cairo. The boats are like those of Tetuan and Tangier, but larger. Its
waters are very red and (_hellue_) sweet, or pure. Ferry-boats are
numerous on it. The water in the wells near it are best after the river
has overflowed. Houssa is a journey of a day and a half from the south
bank of the river.” (P. 38, 39.) The wells in the neighbourhood being
sweetest after the commencement of the inundation, is a proof that the
stream flows near the confines of the Desert. Adams travelled during ten
days, at the rate of 18 miles per day, upwards by the side of this river
in a north-east direction before his party struck off north-west to
reach Taudeny. Sidi Hamed says, that for 20 days’ journey north north-
east from Timbuctoo, the country is mountainous, populous, and well
cultivated, and that he passed numerous small streams in that space
flowing south and west to the great river. Ritchie was informed by a
schoolmaster at Tripoli, who had been at Timbuctoo, that the country,
during the space of 15 days’ journey north of that city, abounded with
provisions and water, and that the Oases of Tuat, 45 days’ journey north
north-east of Timbuctoo, was very fruitful, and abounding in grain and
water. (_Quarterly Rev._ May, 1820.)
In such a country, it is evident that rivers may and must be formed. It
would be a very remarkable circumstance if all the authorities quoted
should have been mistaken in this particular. The gentleman who found
out and examined Adams in London, assured the writer of this, that Adams
was very particular about his bearings, and his reasons for being so
were, that, expecting to effect his escape, and anxious to return home,
he was very careful to observe the direction in which he travelled.
Adams, in his account of Timbuctoo, mentioned that cocoa-nuts were found
there. This made his narrative to be doubted. Leo Africanus, however,
mentions that cocoa-nuts grew in the neighbourhood. The brackish sandy
soil, near the Desert, is a country where we may expect such fruit to be
produced. Whether the river in question is the same as that which passes
Agadez or not, it is difficult to determine. It is evident that it comes
from the point of the compass where the mountains Usurgala of Ptolemy
lay. Bowditch was told that this river ran north-east from
Timbuctoo—separating soon after, one branch ran eastward and one
northward, the latter, first to Yahoudee, a place of great trade, and
from thence to another river called Hotaiba, and which river ran towards
Tunis. (_Bowditch_, p. 187.) It is curious, that in the map by
Ortellius, in 1570, he has a city named Yghidi, laid down upon the edge
of a lake, in 20° 30′ north latitude, and 32° east longitude, from
Ferro. It is evidently the Yahoudee of Bowditch, who, in the route from
Timbuctoo to Fezzan, also mentions, as the seventh station on the road,
a place called _Hotailee_, named perhaps from the river, or rather the
river named from the town. In this account, the geographical line of the
bed of the river is evidently put for the direction in which it flows, a
circumstance quite common in the narratives given by Moorish and Arabian
merchants. Separate streams are also here taken as one, a circumstance
which frequently occurs in the accounts obtained from similar sources.
No river runs towards Tunis; but a stream descends from the mountains of
Eyrè southwards towards Agadez.
The river in question, or the Bahar-el-Ahmar, in all probability
descends past the neighbourhood of Tuggurt, from the eastern boundaries
of the Oases of Tuat, from whence it may receive a supply of water. That
country is represented as well watered, and a stream is found at
Tuggurt, which may be the Bahar-el-Ahmar, or connected with it. Shabeeny
says the river near Houssa is much narrower than the river at Jinnë. It
is sometimes broader than the Thames at London, and sometimes narrower;
it does not very deeply overflow its banks.