THE WARREE BRANCH. 89 



moonlight night until that time. At six in the 

 morning we were again under weigh, and at nine 

 A. M. passed a magnificent branch about 700 

 yards wide, running off to the south-west. On 

 crossing the mouth of it we found a depth of six, 

 seven, and eight fathoms. I conclude this to 

 be the main branch of the Niger, and that the 

 mouth of it is that known in the maps as the 

 Rio Forcados or Warree, which falls into the 

 Bight of Benin in latitude 5° 28' N. The cur- 

 rent is stronger in it and it is a deeper river 

 than the Nun branch, up which we had passed. 

 If this opinion be correct, a vessel ascending this 

 branch from the sea will save a considerable dis- 

 tance, and avoid the Brass country entirely. 



On passing this branch the river immediately 

 increased its breadth to one thousand yards, the 

 reaches became longer, the banks higher, and 

 the bush that crowned them was more frequently 

 interspersed with plantations of bananas, plan- 

 tains, and yams. It afforded me much satisfac- 

 tion to find that my crew continued healthy, — 

 the boy who had had a slight fit of ague was quite 

 recovered ; and whether it was the change of 

 scene or not, since we had entered the river the 

 whole crew had gradually recovered their health 



