Niqer in the Bight of Biafra. 1 49 



wrecked. At this point the Niger, or the Kowara or Quarra, 

 as it is there called, is within less than 4° of the Bight of Benin, 

 in the Gulf of Guinea, but no correct information could be ob- 

 tained respecting its future course. According to information 

 given to Major Denham it then took a direct easterly course to- 

 wards the Nile, and the very same direction is assigned to it in 

 Sultan Bello's Map of Central Africa. An able writer in the 

 Quarterly Review supported this view of the subject with 

 great ingenuity. According to the hypotheses of Major Laing, 

 and from information communicated by the Sheikh of Gadamis, 

 the Niger went westzcard, passing through the mountains of 

 the Moon, and terminating in the River Volta, in the Bight 

 of Benin, in north lat. 5^° and east long. l.° Captain Clapper- 

 ton was led to give it a course straight south from Youri, and 

 terminating in the Bight of Benin, to the east of Lagos, in 

 north lat. 6|° and east long. 4* ; while according to the hypo- 

 thesis of Reichard, a German geographer, it went a little far- 

 ther to the east, terminating in the Bight of Benin, and forming 

 the great River of Formosa irf Benin, in north lat. 4°, and east 

 long. 51 2 °. Other travellers, such as Mungo Park and Cap- 

 tain Maxwell, identified it with the Congo or Zaire. 



Of all these hypotheses that of Reichard is the nearest to the 

 truth, as it has been found to terminate in the Nun or Brasse 

 River, in the Bight of Biafra, in north lat. 4^° and east long. 9°, 

 just at the great angular point of the- African continent, a little 

 to the north of the Island of Fernando Po. 



This great discovery was made by the two Landers, one of 

 whom accompanied Captain Clapperton, and attended that ad- 

 venturous traveller on his deathbed at Sockatoo- In 1830, 

 Mr Landers, accompanied by his brother, sailed to Africa, 

 and succeeded in tracing the Niger to the sea. The following 

 account of the discovery was communicated to the Editor of 

 the Literary Gazette by Mr Fisher. 



" His Majesty 's Ship At hull, at sea, 

 Bight of Biafra, Feb- i>, 1831. 

 " DEAB SlB, — I take the opportunity of writing you a few 

 lines by a vessel that we have just now met 011 her way to 

 England. My object in writing in this hasty manner is toac- 



