IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 243 
one is acquainted ; but of the most essential points of 
which all are equally ignorant, namely the navigation of 
the river above and below Timbuctoo, and all those obser- 
vations that were undoubtedly made and written by the 
celebrated traveller on papers, that there is yet some hope 
of discovering. 
Chronological order obliges me to pass from such a 
man as Mungo Park to the American sailor Robert Adams.* 
Notwithstanding the efforts of M. Dupuis, editor of 
Adams's narrative, and the real merit of the notes ap- 
pended to it by that learned writer, the general opinion 
of geographers is opposed to the authenticity of these tra- 
vels ; and it is a remarkable fact, that it is least credited 
in his own country. Critical observations on this subject 
have appeared in the North American Review, from which 
we are compelled to conclude that the original declaration 
made at Cadiz by Adams before the American consul, 
totally differs from his recital, made in London, to M. 
Dupuis. I am far from believing in the reality of Adams's 
travels in all their circumstances as described ; but a com 
parison of them with those of M. Caillie belongs to my 
subject. Robert Adams was wrecked on the coast of Cape 
Blanco, and was carried to Timbuctoo, where he says he 
remained five months. f He afterwards returned through 
Toudeyni, Oulad-Deleym, el-Thabla, Ouad-Noun, Mo- 
gador, Fez, Mequinaz, and Tangier. Even in his descrip- 
* Otherwise Benjamin Rose. 
f Nouveau Voyage dans VInferieur de VAfriquc, fait en 1820, etc. 
translated from the English by the Chevalier de Frasans, Paris, 1817. 
R 2 
