440 SKETCH OP AFRICAN DISCOVERT. 



a thousand miles in an easterly direction, and terminated 

 in a lake or swamp; others supported the opinion that its 

 waters were lost in the arid sands of the Desert; while the 

 Congo was said by many to be its outlet. Major Laing, by 

 ascertaining the source of the Niger to be not more than 

 sixteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, proved that 

 it could not flow into the Nile; and Denham and Clappei- 

 ton demonstrated that it did not, as had been supposed, 

 discharge itself into the Lake of Bornou. 



Eichard and John Lander, in 1830, under the auspices 

 of the British Government, solved the long-disputed problem 

 of the course of the Niger by sailing down on its waters 

 from Boussa to the ocean, where it was found to terminate 

 in what was called the Nun, or First Brass Biver, from the 

 negro town of Brass situated on its banks. 



An expedition under the auspices of the British Govern- 

 ment, and headed by Dr. Henry Barth, attended by Dr. 

 Overberg and Mr. James Bichardson, was sent out in 1849 

 to prosecute discoveries in Northern Central Africa. Theii 

 travels and researches into the history and present state of 

 the interior tribes were continued till 1855, and their results 

 have recently been published by Dr. Barth. Dr. Overberg 

 died in 1854, and was buried on the shores of Lake Tchad 

 or Tsad. Mr. Bichardson also fell a victim to the climate 

 before the close of the expedition. 



Dr. Barth visited the countries of Bornou, Kanem, Man- 

 dara, Bagirmi, and others previously explored by Denham 

 and Clapperton, and carried his researches much farther, 

 reaching the eighth degree of north latitude. His volumes 

 contain much curious and minute information. 



As Dr. Livingstone's researches reach only the eighth 

 degree of north latitude, there still remains an immense 

 region of Interior Africa, sixteen degrees broad, open to 

 future explorers. 



THE END. 



