1829.] f 181 ] - 



COURSE AND PROBABLK TERMINATION OF THE NIGER.* 



Were Ave asked, which of the long-sought discoveries, that of the 

 longitude, or that of the termination of the Niger, we regarded as the 

 least problematical, our reply would be in favour of the former. Indeed, 

 Avhen we reflect upon the fruitless efforts which have been so often made 

 by daring and enterprising spirits to solve this great geographical problem, 

 and on the mystery in which, for upwards of 2300 years, it has been in- 

 volved, and which has rather increased than diminished, we cannot divest 

 ourselves of the impression that the solution of this perplexing question has, 

 for some wise purpose, been denied to the investigations of man. The 

 more we extend our researches relative to the subject, and examine the 

 various records, remote and recent, connected with the history, geography, 

 and topography of Central Africa, the more intricate the question becomes, 

 and the less disposed are we to hazard even a conjectural conclusion. 

 The conflicting testimonies of ancient and modern discoverers — the dis- 

 puted position of places — the extraordinary differences in the " laid- 

 down" latitudes, to say nothing of the longitudes of every authority from 

 the time of Ptolemy to the days of Denham, are not calculated to lessen 

 the difficulties with which this interminable subject of speculative science 

 is beset. Nor do we see why the endeavours of African travellers, or of 

 those still wiser theorists, the drawing-room discoverers, should be solely 

 directed to o)ie source and one termination to the meanderings of this 

 extensive stream. 



Sir Rufane Donkin, in his Dissertation on the Course of the Niger, 

 appears to be of a different opinion, and says that he began to suspect 

 that the difficulties which had embarrassed this subject, lay ratlier in 

 words than in things, and that a little verbal criticism might do much 

 towards clearing away the preliminary difficulties which had hitherto 

 blocked up the approach to the question. When we consider the cala- 

 mities, and sufferings, and loss of valuable lives which have accrued 

 in the pursuit of this inquiry, we are tempted to exclaim, " Would that 

 words liad been the only impediment in the approach of the question ;" 

 or, tliat we could not, with Shakspeare, ask, 



" Wliy shouki calamity be full of words ?" 



Our author felt also tlie necessity of defining and agreeing on the 

 exact terms of the problem to be solved. The desideratum, therefore, 

 appeared to be the finding of " a large river in Central Africa, which 

 Ptolemy and other ancient writers called the Niger, and which we still 

 call so ; which river shall either flow into the Atlantic, or into some great 

 central lake or marsh, or lose itself in central sands, or unite itself with 

 the Egyptian Nile, or empty itself by some other channel into the 

 Mediterranean Sea. These," continues the General, " appear to be all the 

 modes by which a great river, known to exist in Central Africa, but 

 whose termination is unknown, can be disposed of." In investigating the 

 subject, it appeared that " the failure in settling the question arose from 

 a verl)al or grammatical error, in .stating the object of the search to be 

 the Niger, or rather the Nile, (for by the name of Nile the great rivers of 

 Central Africa have been generally known to ancient and Arabian writers,) 



• A DiKscrtafion on the Course and l'robal)lc Termination of tfie Niger. By Licut.> 

 •^•cncral .Sir Rufane Donkin, O.C.II., K.C.l?., and F.K.S. 



