APPENDIX, 
Ixxv 
he had resided, altogether, about 12 years. By the word sea, it is well 
known, the Arabs mean to express a lake also ; (and even sometimes a river.) 
Edrisi and others describe large lakes in Ghana and Wangara.* And 
when Leo says that the Niger falls into the sea which borders on Gine a, it 
is not improbable that the lakes of Ghana and Wangara are meant ; and that 
he was under the same mistake here, in supposing Ginea to be in the neigh- 
bourhood of the sea, as in what relates to the position of Ginea itself. In 
other words, that hearing from the natives, that the Niger expanded itself 
into lakes below Ghana (or Ginea), he supposed the western ocean to be 
meant. For it appears (p. 2.) that he had heard, that the Niger had its 
source in the mountains on the west, and running thence to the east, ex- 
panded itself finally into a vast lake : but misled by the supposed situation 
of Ginea and Melli, he disregarded the information. 
He also describes Ginea to be a country annually overflowed by the 
waters of the Niger, but omits to say the same of Wangara, to which 
the description more particularly applies. It may be, that as Wangara in 
more early times formed a part of the empire of Ghana (or Ginea), his ideas 
might have been collected from some history of those times. I therefore 
consider his description of Ginea (p. 248}, to include both Ghana and 
Wangara. 
Edrisi describes three large fresh water lakes in Wangara, and one in 
Ghana, t The description of Wangara appears to be that of an alluvial 
Country, environed and intersected by the branches of the Niger, and an-, 
nually overflowed in August. Perhaps August was the time of the highest 
flood : for Leo says that Ginea (apply this to Wangara, also) is overflowed 
in July, August, and September; which is indeed the season of swelling of 
the rivers of the tropical regions, generally. 
From this description may be inferred the very low level of the countries 
of Ghana and Wangara ; which level or hollow forms a receptacle for the 
surplus waters of the Niger, collected during the rainy season : ^ and whose 
• Edrisi, p. 10, 12, 13. f See Edrisi, p. 10, 11, 12, 13. 
t lb. p. 1 1, et seq. Hartmann, p. 47, et seq. 
§ And that probably, not only for the western waters, alone, but for the eastern also. 
k 2 
