INTRODUCTION. xv 



magnitude, therefore, no objection could be urged to its 



identity with the Niger. 



• Many other objections, however, were started against 



this hypothesis, and in particular the three following, 



namely, 



1. The obstruction of the Kong mountains, which, uni- 

 ting with the Gibbel Komri, are supposed to extend in one 

 unbroken chain across the continent. 2. The great length of 

 its course, which would exceed 4000 miles ; whereas the 

 course of the Amazons, the greatest river in the v/orld, is 

 only about 3500 miles. 3. The absence of all traces of 

 the Mahommedan doctrines or institutions, and of the 

 Arabic language, on the coast where the Zaire empties 

 itself into the sea. 



The first objection is wholly gratuitous, as the existence 

 of this chain of mountains has not been ascertained, nor 

 is it easy to conjecture on what grounds it has been ima- 

 gined. Park saw to the southward of his route, at no 

 great distance from the sea coast, the peak of the cluster 

 of mountains called the Kong, out of which the Niger, the 

 Senegal, and the Gambia, take their rise. The Mountains 

 of the ]\Ioon have been placed towards the central parts 

 of Africa; but if Bruce visited that branch of the Nile, 

 which is said to rise out of these mountains, (which is more 

 than doubtful,) they are actually not further removed from 

 the eastern, than those of the Kong are from the western 

 coast. But by what authority they are united, and 

 stretched completely across the continent, like a string of 

 beads, it Avould be difficult we believe for our modem ge- 

 graphers to point out. There is evidence however to the 

 contrary. All the Haoussa traders who have been ques- 



