45 



Tripoli, must gratify every one as assurance of the safety and success 

 of the most indefatigable and successful African traveller the world 

 ever saw. 



To enumerate the peculiarities of the countries visited by those 

 enterprising men, many of them territories hitherto untrodden by 

 European feet, is not my purpose. But I deem it necessary to notice 

 here an extract from Dr. Earth's journal, made on his route from 

 Kuka to Yola, between May and July, 1851, in order to explain to you 

 the cause of the expedition which has lately ascended the Niger, 

 Tshadda, and Binue, and in which I picked up the few points I am 

 about to introduce to your notice to-night. Dr. Barth writes : — " The 

 most important day, however, in all my African journeys was the 18th 

 of June, when we reached the river Binue at a point called Taepe, 

 where it is joined by the river Faro, (in lat. 9° 2' N., and Ion. 14° E., 

 235 geographical mUes to the south of Kuka, and 415 geogi'aphical 

 miles, in a direct line, east by north from the confluence of the 

 Tshadda with the Kwarra). Since leaving Europe I had not seen so 

 large and imposing a river. The Binue, or " Mother of Waters," which 

 is by far the larger of the two, is half-a-mile broad, and 9J feet 

 deep in the channel where we crossed it. On our return, eleven days 

 later, it had risen a foot and a-half. The Faro is five-twelfths of a mile 

 broad, and three feet deep, which increased to seven and a-quarter by 

 our return. Both rivers have a very strong current, and run to the 

 west into the Kwarra. We crossed the Binue in boats made out of 

 single trees, twenty-five to thirty-five feet long, and one to one-and-a- 

 half feet broad, and forded the Faro, which latter was not accomplished 

 without difficulty, on account of the strong current. The Binue is 

 said to rise nine days' journey from Yola, in a south-easterly direction, 

 and the Faro seven days' distant, in a rock called Labul. During the 

 rainy season the country is inundated to a great extent by the two 

 rivers, which rise to their highest level towards the end of July, and 

 remain at that level for forty days, namely, till the first days of Sep- 

 tember, when the waters begin to fall. Both rivers are full of 

 crocodiles, and the Binue is said to carry gold. After having crossed 

 the rivers with some difficulty to the camels, we passed at first through 

 some swampy ground, then through a very fine country thickly 

 inhabited, and reached Yola, the capital of Adamawa, the 22nd of June." 



Up to this period two geographical questions of importance were 

 solved by Dr. liartli's discoveries, namely, the non-existence of a great 

 longitudinal mountain chain, which was supposed to stretch across 

 Central Africa in the region traversed by him ; and the non-connexion 



