APPENDIX. 
Ixxxv 
That the Desert has a dip towards the east, as well as the south, seems to be 
proved by the course of the Niger, also. Moreover, the highest points of 
North Africa, that is to say, the mountains of Mandinga and Atlas, are si- 
tuated very far to the west. 
The Desert, for the most part, abounds with salt. But we hear of salt 
mines only, in the part contiguous to Nigritia, from whence salt is drawn 
for the use of those countries, as well as of the Moorish states adjoining; 
there being no salt in the Negro countries south of the Niger.* There are 
salt lakes also, in the eastern part of the Desert. 
The great ridge of mountains, and its branches, are very productive in 
gold; but more particularly in the quarters opposite to Manding and Bam- 
bouk on the west, and Wangara, on the east. It may perhaps admit of a 
doubt, whether the gold is brought down at the present time, by the nume- 
rous fountains that form the heads of the Niger and Senegal rivers ; or 
whether it has been deposited in the lower parts of their beds, at an earlier 
period of the world; and that the search, instead of being facilitated by the 
periodical floods, is, on the contrary, only to be pursued with effect, when 
the waters are low. 
Tombuctoo is reckoned the mart of the Mandinga gold, from whence it is 
distributed over the northern quarters of Africa, by the merchants of Tunis, 
Tripoly, Fezzan, and Morocco; all of whom resort to Tombuctoo. Most 
of it, no doubt, afterwards finds its way into Europe. It may be remarked, 
also, that the Gold Coast of Guinea (so called, doubtless, from its being the 
place of traffic for gold dust), is situated nearly opposite to Manding: but 
whether the gold brought thither, has been washed out of the mountains, by 
the northern or southern streams, I know not : it may be by both ; for a 
part of the gold of Wangara is brought for sale to the southern coast.t 
* This quality of the African Desert was familiarly known to Herodotus (Melpom. c, 
lii, et seq.) He knew also that there was salt in abundance in the northern parts. But 
as it would appear that the inhabitants in that quarter can furnish themselves with salt of 
a better quality from the sea, the mines are not wrought. 
f Some writers have said, that there are gold mines in the neighbourrhood of Mina, on 
