182 Scientific Reviews. 



two on this subject had been added to Dr. Hooker's work, so as to 

 have entirely superseded Mr. Lindley's,) and the "British Flora," 

 a young botanist can find no difficulty in making himself intimate- 

 ly acquainted with all the native plants in Great Britain. 



Journal d'un Voyage, S^c. Journal of a Journey to Timbuctoo and 

 to Jenne, in Central Africa. By Rene Caille. 3 vols. 8vo. 

 and Atlas. With a Map and Geographical Remarks by Mr. 



JOMARD. 



This is an account of a successful journey to Timbuctoo, a city 

 of Central Africa, which appears to be surrounded by a fiery and 

 pestilential atmosphere ; for history has recorded the attempts to 

 reach it, successful and unsuccessful, of twenty-five of our coun* 

 trymen, fourteen Frenchmen, two Americans, and one German, of 

 which a very small number, from the days of Houghton, have not 

 fallen victims to their heroic devotion. Timbuctoo has, however, 

 been visited as far back as in the 16th century by Leon the Afri- 

 can, subsequently by Paul Imbert, who accompanied a Portuguese 

 renegade, by the celebrated Robert Adams, by Major Laing, and 

 lastly by the author of the narrative before us. 



There are some who may think that we have been a long time 

 in giving any opinion or detailed account of Caille's journey ; but 

 we were anxious to be satisfactory in our information, and, at the 

 same time, to avoid the rash conclusions to which others had hasti- 

 ly arrived. 



It was necessary for this purpose to institute tedious comparisons 

 between the reports of the author and the information transmitted 

 to us by others ; and in such a proceeding it is upon the most tri- 

 vial details that we must often seek for discrepancies or analogies 

 that may lead us to form a correct judgment. In the present case, 

 the nature of the evidence offered many insurmountable difficulties, 

 often resting on the oral traditions of ignorant people, or accompa- 

 nied with details with so little connection, that it becomes an Her- 

 culean task to unravel the truth. 



If, for example, we take the report of Leon the African, the 

 river passing at Timbuctoo runs to the west. " We navigated," 

 says he, " coming from the kingdom of Tombuto, to the orient, 

 and following the course of the stream towards the kingdom of 

 Ghinea and the kingdom of Melli, which are both to the west of 

 Tombuto." This assertion is not confirmed by the French travel- 

 ler. Even should we suppose that one of the two branches which 

 he saw before the city was an affluent and not a branch, and that 

 he had not perceived it, (which would be very extraordinary,) this 

 statement could not be made to agree with his, as the inhabitants 

 informed him that this branch joins the main stream at a short 

 distance from the city. 



The account given by Robert Adams has also few coincidences 



