work on Africa, entitled, "Historical Account of Discoveries and Travels in Africa. By the late John Leyden, M. D.; enlarged and completed to the present time, with illustrations of its Geography, and Natural History, as well as the moral and social condition of its inhabitants, By Hugh Murray, F. R. S. E. 2 vols. octavo." This work, from its title, ought to contain all that is now known with certainty respecting Africa, and no doubt affords an extensive and valuable collection of facts in regard to that immense continent. In the review of the work I have not perceived that any considerable attention has been given to the relations of the ancients. Though not acquainted with the real termination of the Niger, the geographers of Greece and Rome did evidently possess more detailed, and, in many respects, more correct knowledge of interior Africa, than the authors of modern times, until very recently. The following translation from Mentelle's Geography, Paris, 1816, will exhibit some very remarkable facts upon this subject, drawn principally from the Greek au thors.. "Arabian and Hebrew etymologies might throw a strong light upon the geography of ancient Africa. We need only glance over the pages of Ptolemy and Pliny, to see the frequent recurrence of the words, or syllables, beth, or bath, a Hebrew word signifying house, bahr, an Arab word for a river, and many others. The Berberé or Barbary language, probably of African origin, has a strong affinity with the Arab; the word dar, or kingdom, occurs frequently in Ptolemy and Pliny. "From the foregoing remarks, the Arab language must have been imported into Africa in times of remote antiquity. The Arabs, and their cousin-germans, the Persians and the Medes, have probably traversed Africa, from time immemorial, where the race of Ham, in small numbers, had to contend against ferocious beasts and the rigors of the climate. When the Mahometan fanatacism carried new Arab colonies into the interior, their authors possessed the greatest facilities in procuring information respecting the country. "As I do not understand the Arab language I will confine myself to exhibiting, in few words, how much the geography of Africa owes to the authors of that nation. "The most celebrated of these authors is Edrisi; he wrote in Sicily in the eleventh century, and his minute details in describing eastern Africa, procured him the title of the Nubian geographer. It is not a strange error, as has been magisterially pronounced by Mr. Pinkerton," that the towns mentioned by this author, who "wrote six centuries and a half ago, should be inserted in our modern maps, whilst, at present, there does not probably remain one in existence. "D'Anville knew, as well as the English writers, the force of the above reflection, but this geographer had, no doubt, remarked, that the African names, used by Pliny and Ptolemy, were in great part Arab, even beyond the limits of the Carthaginian colonies; and this circumstance concurred with many others to cause him to regard a part of the people of northern Africa as ancient Asiatic colonies; and thus, by a necessary consequence, many of the names, originating in a language so long established, ought to survive every political change. This is the best reason that could have determined D'Anville to preserve in his maps the towns, or rather the nations of Edrisi. "Mr. Pinkerton judges Edrisi in these words: 'It appears, by an attentive perusal of Edrisi, that his Nile of the Negroes, which, he says, has a western course, has been by him mistaken for the countries indicated by Edrisi, and the Niger, and that he was actually un- "We do not believe that we can, with Leo, the African, as situated along the "It is reasonable to consider Gana as the seat of this pontiff monarch. The cross proves nothing; this mystical sign it not unknown to the Pagan religions, as Duputs has demonstrated. Gana is situated to the north east of Benin, and, it is probable, that the branches of the Kong mountains turn by an eastern curve towards the former place. "Whatever explanation we choose to give to this curious passage of Barros, it is singular that we find in Ptolemy, a town called Ta-Gana, in the same position on the Niger. Ta is only a Greek article which precedes the name of many towns, in the nominative case, plural number, neuter gender. "Orosius, and Æthicus, speak also of a nation denominated Gan-Gines, in inte rior Lybia. The latter name recalls at once that of Gana, and that of Guin, that of Ghennéoa, and of Ghinny, placed by Edrisi on the Niger, and which may be the Jenné of Mungo Park." Mentelle XVI. 235-239. The Niger may be considered as the discovery of the Nassomonians, mentioned by Herodotus, as their relation contained the first intelligence conveyed to the people of Europe of the existence of that stream. It is worthy of remark that the account of the adventures of these men, as preserved by the Father of His tory, informs us that they were made captives by the blacks, and carried into the interior of the continent. This is precisely what would happen at present under similar circumstances. From all we have learned of the recent moral state of the people of Africa, society has experienced but little change in the last 2500 years. In the New-York Library is a copy of a Geography, in French, published in 1607, in which is inserted an elegant map of Africa. Upon this map the Niger is drawn in its true relative position, and is represented as receiving from the north east the waters of the Wad el Gazel, and the Miselad; but the main stream is conducted west into what are now called the Gambia and Senegal, all of which are united by interlocutory streams. This map is evidently founded upon the authority of Edrisi, and what is very remarkable, there are two countries placed upon it called Cassena and Gangara, occupy ing nearly the same relative situation with the Gana and Wangara of our more modern maps. In the controversy upon the authenticity of Riley's report of Sidi Hamet's relation, or rather upon the veracity and correctness of the latter, it has not been observed hitherto, that Ganó, Gana, Ghinny, Guiné, Ogané, Cassena, Cassina, Kassina, and Wassanah, as well as the Ta-Gana of Ptolemy, are all names of the same kingdom or city. The observations I have quoted from Mentelle, almost demonstrate the unity of all the above names, except that of Wassanah, which was unknown to that author. The terminations, or rather radicals, ina, and, ano, iné, or anah, only differing from each other by the variation of vowel sounds, enter into the composition of all the foregoing nouns, even that of Gangara, or Wangara. It may be farther remarked, that the same substitution of one consonant for another, which changes, Gangara into Wangara, also changes Cassena into Wassena. By a singular combination of facts, that could never be the fruit of invention, only one village is mentioned by Sidi Hamet, between Tombuctou and Wassanah, and its name is Bin bina. Binbinah is above Cassenah, or Wassanah, and Wangara below. It will probably be found, when the etymologies of these names are known, that the prefixes and suffixes to the radical names, are expressive of their relative situation, or some other distinctive circumstance. Itineraries, especially where régular journals are not kept, must give uncer tain data respecting course and distance, but are as much entitled to credit as any other species of information, as far as the mere existence of places is concerned. Whether Wassanah is wrongly or correctly placed upon our maps, may be controverted, but the existence of a city of some magnitude, and bearing that name, which stands upon the left bank of the Niger, is proved by independent, and yet corresponding testimony. There is a simplicity in Sidi Hamet relation that speaks strongly in favour of its accuracy. It is demonstrable that this sensible, but uneducated Moor, knew nothing of the powerful aid his narration could receive from the science of ancient and modern times. Of Ptolemy or Edrisi, it is probable he knew nothing. Combining the various known facts, collected by ancient and modern authors, by Herodotus, Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy, Edrisi, Abulfeda, Leo the African, D'Anville, and the crowd of respectable witnesses that have appeared in the last half century, and who have given their testimony to the world on the subject, the geography of central Africa now presents the following aspect. A chain of mountains commencing near the Atlantic Ocean about N. lat. 10o, and gradually rising as it advances eastward, gives rise in 7° west from London, by its lateral ridges, to three large rivers, the Gambia, Senegal, and Niger; the two former flowing west into the Atlantic Ocean, and the latter east towards the central parts of the continent. The mountains are, by us, denominated Kong, and, as far as correctly known, continue their original direction to the eastward. North of the Kong mountains, extends an immense valley lying parallel to the chain, the repository of whose waters is the Niger, Joliba, or Zolibib river. In the early part of its course, from N. lat. 12° and W. long. to Tombuctou, in N. lat. 16o 30', and E. long. 1° 30' from London, the Niger pursues a course considerably north of east. Below Tombuctou, the Niger assumes an eastern course, but gradually to the south, and after running through an entire length of about 30° of longitude, is left undefined in the alluvial lands of Wangara. The north side of the valley of the Niger is terminated by the dreary and elevated Sahara, or Desert; upon the south, this valley has a slope of about three hundred and eighty miles, between the main stream of the Niger and the mountains of Kong. How many, or of what magnitude, are the tributary streams that flow from either the mountains or desert, remains undetermined. The country marked in our maps by the name of Wangara appears to be the centre of a very wide basin. East of Wangara, and west of the Bahr el Abiadh, or main stream of the Nile, extends another slope nearly at right angles to that of the Niger. Upon the eastern valley is found two rivers, flowing in nearly opposite directions towards each other; the Kuku, or Wad el Gazel, rises in Bournou, and flows to the south; the Miselad, rising in the same mountains with the Bahr el Abiadh, flows to the north, or north west. These two rivers unite in a lake, or overflowed country, called Fitre, out of which is discharged a supposed river, which, pursuing a southwest direction, joins the Niger in the alluvial lands of Wangara. I trust that the evidence presented in this communication ought to remove all doubts respecting the existence of Wassanah, and, of course, establish the credit of Sidi Hamet's account of the final issue of the congregated waters of the Niger, Kuku, and Miselad. Happily, in America, numerous instances occur of the coincidence of natural phenomena between the rivers of the two continents. The doubts of Mr. Pinkerton respecting the improbability of rivers passing mountain chains, evinced great ignorance of the geography of America; and where the assumed fact is erroneous, the induction must be erroneous also. Any person of ordinary information upon the topography of America, would have known the passage of the Hudson through the High, lands; the Delaware and Susquehannah piercing the Alleghany in numerous places; of the Potomac through the Blue Ridge; and of the stupendous gorge of Tecondama, where the Magdaline river forces its way through the Andes. In addition to the proof afforded by the American rivers, of the frequency of their passage through mountains, they also present several instances of remarkable resemblance, in general course, to that of the Niger. The Ohio, and its confluents from the northeast; the Mississippi, and its tributary waters from the north west, and the Missouri, from the west, all uniting within a short distance, and discharging their united-streams to the south, by the main volume of the Mississippi, all exhibit a picture so similar to the Niger, Kuku, Miselad, and the Gozen Zaire, that its striking similarity must excite admiration even in a mind accustomed to compare the great objects in nature. The Columbia is composed of two principal streams, which flow towards each other in very nearly opposite directions, and receiving some large additions from the east, the whole mass pierces two mountain chains and by a western course, nearly at right angles to its principal components, reaches the Pacific Ocean. It is needless, however, to multiply examples to prove the probability of the Niger passing the Kong mountains, as the fact must be admitted, if the truth of Sidi Hamet's relation respecting Wassanah is established ; and the mass of direct and correlative testimony in its support renders reasonable doubt scarcely possible. The identity of the Kong chain with that of the Dgebil Kumri, has been questioned; it may be sufficient in this place to observe, that wherever the continent of Africa has been reached by civilized man, between nine and twelve degrees of north latitude, very high mountains have been encountered. A principal chain is found south of Abyssinia, with lateral ridges proceeding from it obliquely; the same phenomenon is encountered near the sources of the Gambia, Senegal, and Niger. It is then a fair induction that Cape Verd, and Cape Garda Fui, are the two extremities of a chain of mountains traversing Africa from east to west, or, in an inverted direction to that of the Andes of South America. Where the waters of the great central valley unite, north of the Kong, is an inundated country, similar to the estuary of most large rivers. On the map of that part of Africa, published in Riley's Narrative, but projected by your late son, Mr. J. H. Eddy, the respective positions of the rivers do not materially differ from those laid down by D'Anville and Arrowsmith; but the names and situations of places, upon the former map, are indicative of extended information gained since the works of D'Anville, particularly, were published. In all the maps of Africa the country of Wangara is marked as abounding in lakes and interlocking streams, the usual appendages of an annually inundated region. It is impossible to glance upon this part of the map of Africa without, at once, perceiving the true cause of the long controversy respecting the course of the Niger. Each author described the river from what he considered the most authentic source of information. I have already observed, the first knowledge given to civilized Europe of the existence of the Niger, was the relation of the Nassomonians, published by Herodotus. It was the Joliba, or western Niger, here spoken of; its course assumed truly from west to east. All the other Greek and Roman geographers, to Ptolemy inclusive, gave to the Niger its real course. Edrisi, an Arabian author, about 1170 of the vulgar era, first contended that the Niger flowed to the west; and he, from his respectability, was followed by many others who adopted the same opinion. The data upon which the system of Edrisi was founded, were, in most part, correct; the error lay in mistaking one river for another. Edrisi understood by his Niger, the stream now called Miselad, or some other river, flowing westward from the Egyptian Nile, towards the real Niger of Herodotus, Ptolemy, and D'Anville. As far as correct information is received, the veracity of Edrisi is established, and I am much mistaken if subsequent discovery does not more strongly confirm his accuracy. It is now proved, beyond doubt, by Mr. Browne's tour in the regions west of the Bahr el Abiadh, that in the meridian of 25° E. of London, through more than twelve degrees of latitude, the water all flows westward. It was the latter country, and not that drained by the Joliba, or real Niger, that was meant by Edrisi; his want of more extended information explains his mistake. Abulfeda wrote about 1340, and being an Arabian, he adopted the information given by the authors of his nation. His residence, being sultan of Hamath in Syria, necessarily gave him more intimate acquaintance with eastern than western Africa. Adopting the system of Edrisi, Abulfeda also gives the Niger a course to the west. It was indeed, not until very lately, that the real geography of the basin of the Niger was understood; and when its general features were assented to as physical truths, their curious phenomena |
