cxxii 
APPENDIX. No. IV. 
Both of the two rivers, finclosing the great alluvial tract which has been 
described (the Rio del Rey and the Formoso), are stated to be of considerable 
size, being each of them seven or eight miles broad at the mouth ; and the 
supposed Delta, estimated by the line of coast, is much larger than that of 
the Ganges : consequently, the two streams, if united, must form a river of 
prodigious magnitude. But neither of the rivers has ever yet been explored; 
nor has the interior of the country, to any distance from tlie coast, been accu- 
rately described by any European traveller. Hence, the question whether 
the two rivers are ever really united, and whether the tract in question is a 
complete Delta or not, still remains to be ascertained. With regard also to 
the course, or even the existence, of the "great river to which [this Delta is 
said to belong, and which M. Reichard supposes to come from the north- 
east of Africa, there is no tradition nor any vestige among travellers or geogra- 
phical writers; the whole is purely conjectural. But the supposition, so far 
at least as relates to the alluvial origin of the tract in question and the junc- 
tion of the (wo rivers, has great appearance of probability. 
On comparing Mr. Maxwell's hypothesis respecting the Niger with that of 
M. Reichard, whch we are now considering, the latter may be said to have 
gained something in point of probability, by diminishing the distance which 
the Niger has to flow in order to reach the Allantic. But the length of its 
course, even when thus reduced, is still a considerable difficulty, and a great 
incumbrance on the hypothesis. The objection arising from the Niger's being 
conceived to penetrate the Kong Mountains, seems to be nearly of equal 
weight in both cases, on the supposition that this vast chain of mountains is 
of the extent generally imagined; which there appears to be no reason to 
doubt. 
It may be mentioned as an objection to both of these hypotheses, that no 
traces whatever of the Mahometan doctrines or institutions are now to be 
found on either of the coasts where the Niger is supposed to terminate. In 
no part of the world has the spirit of enterprise and proselytism, which pro- 
perly belongs to the Mahometan character, been more strikingly displayed 
than in the extensive regions of North Africa. Its effects are every where 
conspicuous, not only in the religious belief of the greater part of the inhabi- 
tants ; but even wheie Mahometism is not actually established, in their man- 
ners, and customs, and in the predominance of the Arabic language, wliich is 
almost every where grafted upon the native African dialects. These circum- 
stances, however, are peculiar to North Africa ; nothing of a similar kind 
