cxvi 
APPENDIX. No. IV. 
suggestions of Mr. Maxwell, an experienced African trader, who appears 
from his letters to have been a man of observation and intelligence. The 
principal arguments in support of the opinion are shortly and clearly given in 
the memoir addressed by Park to Lord Camden ; but the subject will receive 
additional elucidation from Mr. Maxwell's own statement, and especially 
from his striking description of the river Congo, the vast magnitude of which 
is little known, and has not sufficiently attracted the attention of geographical 
writers. The following passage is extracted from a letter, dated Prior's Lynn, 
near Longtown, July 20, 1804, addressed by Mr. Maxwell to William Keir, 
of Milnholm, Esq., a friend of Park, to whom ([le letter was communicated 
'>y Mr. Maxwell's desire. 
" Before ever the Niger came to be the topic of conversation, it struck me, 
that the Congo drew its source far to tlie northward, from the floods com- 
mencing long before any rains take place south of the equator; since it 
begins to swell perceptibly about the latter end of October, and no heavy 
rains set in before December : and about the end of January the river must 
" be supposed at its highest. At no time, however, can the rains to the south- 
" ward of the Line be compared willi those in the Bight of Guinea, where 
" ships are obliged to have a house erected over them during these months. 
" But, whether the Congo be the outlet of the Niger or not, it certainly 
offers the best opening for exploring the interior of Africa of any scheme 
" that has ever yet been attempted ; and the ease and safely with which it 
" might be conducted, needs no comment. However, if the Niger has a 
" sensible outlet, I have no doubt of its proving the Congo, knowing all the 
" rivers between Cape Palmas and Cape Lopes to be inadequate to the pur- 
" pose; nor need the immense course of such a river surprise us, when we 
" know that the river St, Lawrence, contemptible in size when compared 
" with the Congo, encompasses the whole of North America, issuing through 
" a chain of lakes. But instead of seven or eight lakes, the Congo may be 
" supposed to pass through seventeen or eighteen ; which will solve any 
" difficulty as to the floods of the Niger not immediately affecting the Congo. 
" I believe that our information of the Niger losing itself in the Desert rests 
" wholly upon the authority of the Romans, a people whose pursuits never 
" led them to trace the course of rivers with a view to traffic or civilization. 
" If we may cretlit the accounts of travellers in crossing the deserts, we find 
that, where-ever they get water for refreshment, there are invariably verdure 
and palm trees; and these spots in the desert of Lybia were termed by 
