80 HOUGHTON. 



declined to grant them a safe-conduct through his territo- 

 ries. Mr. Lucas was therefore obliged to return to Tripoli, 

 ■without being able to penetrate farther into the continent. 

 He learned, however, from Imhammed, one of the Shereefs, 

 who had been an extensive traveller, a variety of particu- 

 lars respecting the interior regions. The society had at 

 the same time made very particular inquiries of Ben Ali, a 

 Morocco caravan trader, who happened to be in London. 

 From these two sources Mr. Beaufoy was enabled to drav\r 

 up a view of Central Africa ; very imperfect indeed, yet su- 

 perior to any that had ever before appeared. 



According to the statements thus obtained, Bomou and 

 Kashna were the most powerful states in that part of the 

 continent, and formed even empires holding sway over a 

 number of tributary kingdoms ; — a statement at that time 

 correct, though aftairs have since greatly changed. The 

 Kashna caravan often crossed the Niger, and went onwards 

 to great kingdoms beyond the Gold Coast, Gongah or 

 Kong, Asiente or Ashantee, Yarba or Yarriba, through 

 which last Clapperton recently travelled. Several exten- 

 sive routes across the Desert were also delineated. In re- 

 gard to the Niger, the report of Imhammed revived the 

 error which represented that river as flowing westward to- 

 wards the Atlantic. The reason on which this opinion 

 was founded will appear when we observe, that it was in 

 Kashna that Ben Ali considered himself as having crossed 

 that river. His Niger, then, was the Quarrama or river of 

 Zirmie, which flows westward through Kashna and Sac- 

 katoo, and is only a tributary to the Quorra or great river, 

 which we call the Niger. He describes the stream as very 

 broad and rapid, probably from having seen it during the 

 rainy season, when all the tropical rivers that are of any 

 magnitude assume an imposing appearance. 



Mr. Lucas made no farther effort to penetrate into Africa. 

 The next expedition was made by a new agent, and from 

 a different quarter. Major Houghton, who had resided for 

 some time as consul at Morocco, and afterward in a mili- 

 tary capacity at Goree, undertook the attempt to reach the 

 Niger by the route of the Gambia, not, like Jobson and 

 Stibbs, ascending its stream in boats, but travelling singly 

 and by land. He seems to have been endowed with a gay, 

 active, and sanguine ^irit, fitted to carry him through the 



