2S6 Fmfical' and' Political Geolt'a^hf of North j^rim^ <i 



duftive in gold *, muft by tts.fituation lie diredly oppofite to the gold coaft : for it lies im- 

 mediately to the ea(t of Kong (the Gonjah of Mr. Beaufoy and the Conche of D'Anville +.J 

 The people of Fezzan trade to Kong. 



. The trianguUr hilly tradt above commemorated, (p. 71 of the " Illuftrations") which 

 proje£b northward from the higheft part of the belt, and contains Handing, Bamhouk, &c. 

 is alfo abundant in gold; particnlarly in the quarter towards Bambouk, where it is found in 

 mines -, and that chiefly in the middle level \. (See alfo p. 71.) 



Wangara appears to have been in its time nearly as rich as Manding in this metal. The 

 Arabs name it Bclad al Tebr, or the country of gold \\. Edrifi, Ibn Al Wardi, and Leo, bear 

 teftimony to its riches. They fay that the gold is found in the fands after the periodical 

 inundation of the Niger (which is generally over the country) is abated §. Leo alone ** 

 fays, that the gold is found in the fouthern quarter of the kingdom ; which appears very 

 probable, as the mountains lie on that fide : fo that it may be concluded, that the gold fand 

 has not been brought there by the Niger, but by fmaller rivers that defcend immediately 

 from thefe mountains. That a part of Wangara is bounded by mountains, we learn from 

 Edrifi : for the lake on which Reghebil ftands has mountains hanging over its fouthern 

 ihore tt- 



It is fuppofed that moft of the countries bordering on thefe mountains fhare in the riches, 

 contained within them, by means of the rivulets {J. But conlldering how amazingly pro- 

 ductive in gold the fkeams of this region are, it is wonderful that Pliny fhould not mention 

 the Niger, as one of the rivers that rolls down golden fands- : for although he fpeaks of the 

 Tagus and others in different quarters, no African river is mentioned |||]. And yet Herodotus 

 knew that the Carthaginians bartered their goods for gold, with the Africans on the fea 

 coaft beyond the pillars of Hercules ; which was contrived without the parties feeing each 

 other §§. 



The common boundary of the Moors and Negroes in Africa forms a fhriking feature, as. 

 well in the moral as the political and phyfical geography of this continent. The Moors de- 

 fcendants of Arabs, intermixed with the various colonifts of Africa from the earliefi: to the.; 



cheaper at Tombuftoo,. which is about the centre of the kowry country ; dearer towards Mandiag, which is . 

 the weftern extremity of it. Hence they are probably cair.ed in the firft inftance to Tombuftoo, the gold 

 market; and thence diflributed to the eaft and weft. Their circulation feems to be confined between Bornou 

 and Manding. In Bornou they have a coinage of bafe metal. 



* African Aflbc. Q^p, 176. O. p. 264, 



f Mr. Park fays, that Kong fignifies mountain ia the Mandinga language; which language is in ufc fronv 

 the frontier of Bainbarato the weftern fea, 

 J Labat, vol. iv. ch. 2. 

 11 Bakui, and Herbelot; article Vankara. 

 ^See Edrifi in particular, pages n and 12. 



''■* Page 254. f f Edrifi, page 11. 



JJ Mr. Bruce, vol. iii. p, 647, fays the fameof the mountains of Dyte and Tegla, which are a continuation ol 

 the great, belt, towards .^bylfmia. 



nil Pliny, lib.,xxxii(. c, 4, §§ Melpomene, c. 196. 



Dr. Shaw (p. 302J fpeaks of the fame mode of traffic at- prefent between the Moors and Negroes ; whence 

 the place of traffic ought to be very far removed from the Mediterranean. There is a Similar ftory related by 

 Cadsmofta of the exchange of &It for gold in Melli ; and by Dr. Wadftrom on the windward coall of Guinea. 



lateft 



