INTERIOR OF AFRICA. 2I3 
satisfaction, that my honourable employers have been pleas- 
ed, since my return, to express their full approbation of my 
conduct. 
Having thus brought my mind, after much doubt and per- 
plexity, to a determination to return westward; I thought it 
incumbent on me, before I left Silla, to collect from the 
Moorish and Negro traders, all the information I could, con- 
cerning the further course of the Niger eastward ; and the 
situation and extent of the kingdoms in its vicinage; and the 
following few notices I received from such various quarters, 
as induce me to think they are authentic. 
Two short days' journey to the eastward of Silla, is the town 
of Jenne, which is situated on a small island in the river; and 
is said to contain a greater number of inhabitants than Sego 
itself, or any other town in Bambarra. At the distance of two 
days more, the river spreads into a considerable lake, called 
Dibbie (or the dark lake), concerning the extent of which, all 
the information I could obtain was, that in crossing it, from 
west to east, the canoes lose sight of land one whole day. 
From this lake, the water issues in many different streams, 
which terminate in two large branches, one- whereof flows 
towards the north-east, and the other to the east ; but these 
branches join at Kabra, which is one day's journey to the 
southward of Tombuctoo, and is the port or shipping-place of 
that city. The tract of land which the two streams encircle, is 
called Jinbala, and is inhabited by Negroes; and the whole 
distance, by land, from Jenn6 to Tombuctoo, is twelve days' 
journey. 
