VI 
APPENDIX. 
deriving it from the Egyptian Nile ; which is diametrically opposite to the 
opinion of Herodotus. 
Such an opinion marks the very imperfect state of his knowledge of African 
Geography; and should induce a degree of caution in receiving other opi- 
nions of the same author, where they rest absolutely on his own authority. 
It is very probable that the waters which collect on the west of Nubia, may 
run to the west, and be lost in lakes : and it is possible, though very impro- 
bable, that a branch of the Nile may take the same course : but fortified by 
die present state of our knowledge, we may certainly pronounce the general 
scope of the intelligence communicated by Edrisi, respecting the course of 
the Niger, to be erroneous. 
I conceive, however, that his error may easily be accounted for, in this 
way. He was probably told, that the waters on the west of Nubia, &c. ran 
to the westward. He also knew that a great river (the Senegal) discharged 
itself into the Atlantic, nearly in the same parallel; and moreover, that a 
great river, whose line of direction lay between the east and west, and between 
Nubia and the just mentioned embouchure, watered a very extensive tract, 
in the midland part of Africa. Now, what so natural (admitting the fact of 
the western waters from Nubia, and which I trust, I shall go near to prove 
in the sequel) as to suppose, when he had found a head, and a tail of a great 
river, together with a long extent of course of a river between them, that 
they were parts of each other ? It must also be taken into the account, that 
he supposed the continent of Africa to be about 1000 miles narrower than 
it really is, in the line between Nubia and the mouth of the Senegal. 
Abulfeda followed Edrisi in the same opinion, respecting the Niger; 
which he calls a twin river with that of Egypt. He also calls it the Nile of 
Gana. Abulfeda also knew, and has described, the general form of the con- 
tinent of Africa : and, of course knew that it was surrounded by the sea.* 
But his descriptions are limited to the north and north-east parts. He wrote 
in the fourteenth century. 
It was Edrisi, probably, who influenced and determined the opinions of 
the moderns, respecting this question. An author, long supposed to be of the 
* This was previous to the Portuguese discoveries. 
