194 CAILLIE. 



On the 23d March, M. Cailli6 left Jenne, near which he 

 embarked on the Joliba, which was there half a mile broad, 

 in a vessel of sixty tons burden, but of very slight construc- 

 tion, and bound together with cords. Such barks, impelled 

 without sails, and deeply laden, cannot proceed with safety 

 when the waters are agitated by a brisk gale ; therefore 

 much time is consumed in the voyage. The traveller 

 passed first through the country of Banan, which presented 

 a surface flat and monotonous, but abounding in flocks and 

 herds. On the 2d April, the river opened into the great 

 lake Dibbie, here called Debo, in sailing across which, not- 

 withstanding its magnitude, land was lost sight of in no di- 

 rection except the west, where the water appeared to extend 

 indefinitely like an ocean. Three islands, observed at dif- 

 ferent points, were, not very happily, named St. Charles, 

 Maria Theresa, and Henri, after three individuals who, the 

 author little suspected, would so soon be exiled from 

 France. 



After quitting this lake, the Niger flowed through a 

 country thinly occupied by Foulah shepherds, and by some 

 tents of the rude Tuaricks. On the 19th April, he arrived 

 at Cabra, the port of Timbuctoo, consisting of a long row 

 of houses composed of earth and straw, extending about half 

 a mile on the bank of the river. The inhabitants, estimated 

 at about 1200, are entirely employed in lading and xinlading 

 the numerous barks which touch at the quay. 



In the evening of the 20th April, Cailli^, with some com- 

 panions, rode from Cabra, and entered Timbuctoo, which he 

 calls Temboctou. He describes himself as struck with an ex- 

 traordinary and joyful emotion at the view of this mysterious 

 city, so long the object of curiosity to the civilized nations of 

 ^Europe. The scene, however, presented Uttle of that gran- 

 deur and wealth with which the name has been associated. 

 It comprised only a heap of ill-built earthen houses, all 

 around which were spread immense plains of moving sand 

 of a yellowish-white colour, and parched in the extreme. 

 *' The horizon is of a pale red, — all is gloomy in nature, — 

 the deepest silence reigns, — not the song of a single bird is 

 heard ;" yet there was something imposing in the view of a 

 great city, thus raised amid sands and deserts by the mere 

 power of commerce. 



Although M. Cailli^ resided above a fortnight in Tim 



