Chap. LTX. 
REACH THE NIGER. 
241 
of this noble spectacle, I reached the place of embark- 
ation, opposite the town of Say. 
In a noble unbroken stream, though here, where it 
has become contracted, only about 700 yards broad, 
hemmed in on this side by a rocky bank of from 
twenty to thirty feet in elevation, the great river of 
Western Africa (whose name, under whatever form it 
may appear, whether Dhiiiliba, Mayo, Eghirreu, I'sa, 
Kwara, or Baki-n-ruwa, means nothing but " the 
river," and which therefore may well continue to be 
called the Niger) was gliding along, in a N.N.E. 
and S.S.W. direction, with a moderate current of 
about three miles an hour. On the flatter shore op- 
posite, a large town was spreading out, the low 
rampart and huts of which were picturesquely over- 
topped by numbers of slender dum palms. 
This is the river-town, or " ford," the name Say 
meaning, in this eastern dialect, " the river." The 
Fiilbe call it Ghutil, which name may originally have 
been applied to the ford at the island of Oitilli. The 
banks at present were not high ; but the river, as it 
rises, approaches the very border of the rocky slope. 
I had sent a messenger in advance, the preceding 
day, in order to have some large boats ready for me 
to cross the river. But no boat having arrived, I had 
plenty of leisure for contemplating the river scenery, 
which is represented in the plate opposite. There 
were a good number of passengers, Fiilbe and Son- 
ghay, with asses and pack-oxen, and there were some 
smaller boats in readiness suitable to their wants ; but 
VOL. IV. R 
