Chap. LXVIII. DESCRIPTION OF TIMBUKTU. 
479 
laying down of it from my materials, lies in 17° 37' N. 
and 3° 5' W. of Greenwich. Situated only a few feet 
above the average level of the river, and at a distance 
of about six miles from the principal branch, it at 
present forms a sort of triangle, the base of which 
points towards the river, whilst the projecting angle 
is directed towards the north, having for its centre 
the mosque of Sankore. But, during the zenith of its 
power, the town extended a thousand yards further 
north, and included the tomb of the faki Mahmiid, 
which, according to some of my informants, was then 
situated in the midst of the town. 
The circumference of the city at the present time 
I reckon at a little more than two miles and a half ; 
but it may approach closely to three miles, taking 
into account some of the projecting angles. Al- 
though of only small size, Timbuktu may well be 
called a city — medina — in comparison with the 
frail dwelling-places all over Negroland. At pre- 
sent it is not walled. Its former wall, which seems 
never to have been of great magnitude, and was 
rather more of the nature of a rampart, was destroyed 
by the Fiilbe on their first entering the place in the 
beginning of the year 1826. The town is laid 
out partly in rectangular, partly in winding, streets, 
or, as they are called here, " tijeraten," which are not 
paved, but for the greater part consist of hard sand 
and gravel, and some of them have a sort of gutter in 
the middle. Besides the large and the small market 
there are few open areas, except a small square in 
