1xxiv 
APPENDIX. 
is with the stream of the Niger :* and if this be true, it ought unquestionably 
to have the same direction all the way from Houssa. 
To these notices, of which the most full and positive, is that of an intelligent 
person who had visited the spot; are to be opposed the reports of Ldrisi and 
Abulfeda, who wrote at a distance, and from the information of others. As to 
Leo, although his declaration is in favour of the two Arabian geographers, 
yet his authority loses all its weight, by his saying that the river runs to the 
west, by Tombuctoo ; a fact which, I presume, no one will be hardy enough 
to contend for. And it will be found, that his descriptions do most com- 
pletely do away his declaration : so that his testimony is turned against him- 
self by the very context. For after saying that it runs towards the kingdoms 
of Ginea and Melli, he says also that they lie to the west, in respect of Tom- 
buctoo. Now the contrary has already been made apparent, in page lxv, et 
seq.; so that in fact, Leo's descriptions go rather to prove, that the course 
of the Niger is to the east, than to the west. But after all, his descriptions 
are the result of hearsay, rather than of observation: and it is plain that his 
idea of the course of the Niger, was regulated by the supposed situation o£ 
the countries it ran through. Nor had he in his mind the Coast of Guinea } 
according to our acceptation of the term, when he spoke of the country of 
Ginea : for in his description of Nigritia he says, that the sea on the soath t 
was unknown t to him. Thus the testimonies appear to be clearly in favour 
of an easterly course of the Niger from Houssa to Wangara. 1 next pro- 
ceed to the question respecting its termination.. 
3. Concerning the Termination of the Niger. 
Mr. Beaufoy's Moor farther says, that " below Ghinea, is the sea, into- 
which the river of Tombuctoo disembogues itself." This may therefore be 
considered as the prevailing idea at Houssa and Tombuctoo, at which places 
* Sionira, p. 12, translates the passage thus: " Via cursum Nili comitante" And 
Hartmann, p. 51, " Nilum sequere." 
D'Herbelot understood the same thing ; article Vanhara, f Leo, p. 2. 
