FRENCH DISCOVERIES. B? 



obliged to stop short even of Tenda, and consequently of the 

 point to which Jobson had formerly attained. 



The commander, on his return, after making every allov^r- 

 ance for the inauspicious season and circumstances, could 

 not forbear expressing deep disappointment in regard to the 

 expectations with which he had ascended the Gambia. He 

 saw no appearance of that mighty channel which was to 

 lead into the remote interior of Africa, and through so many 

 great kingdoms. He declared his conviction that " its ori- 

 ginal or head is nothing near so far in the country as by the 

 geographers has been represented." It did not of course 

 appear to him to answer in any respect the descriptions 

 given of the Niger, — it nowhere bore that name — it did not 

 come out of any lake that he could hear of — it had no 

 communication with the Senegal or any other great river. 

 The natives reported that at twelve days' journey above 

 Barraconda it dwindled into a rivulet, and " fowls walked 

 over i(." These statements were received most reluctantly 

 and skeptically by Moore, now the company's factor on the 

 Gambia, and a man of spirit and intelligence. He had even 

 acquired some learning on the subject, and endeavoured to 

 overwhelm Stibbs with quotations from Herodotus, Leo, 

 Edrisi, and other high authorities. The mariner, though 

 quite unable to cope with him in this field of discussion, did 

 not the less steadily assert the plain facts which he had seen 

 with his evni eyes ; and a degree of discouragement was 

 felt, which prevented any other exploratory voyage from 

 being undertaken for a considerable time into that part of 

 the African continent. 



CHAPTER VI. 



French Discoveries. 



France did not embark so early as some of the other 

 powers in African discovery. Louis XIV., aided by his 

 minister Colbert, was the first prince who studied to raise 

 his kingdom to a high rank as a commercial and maritime 



