'^O'l REMARKS ON TRAVELS 
or less laden, or only of pedestrians ; together with our 
ignorance as to the number and situation of the forced 
halts which they make in the desert, either on account of 
wells, or of those unforeseen accidents which will happen 
in these terrible peregrinations ;^ in the midst, I say, of 
so many causes of hesitation, which ought to warn geo- 
graphers against the employment of the vague itineraries 
of the Arabs and the Moors, could 1 grant less confidence 
to the route of M. C^illie than to the marches of the Afri- 
cans ? 
These routes are constantly divided by hours : the 
rests are noted with exactness, and they are never un- 
decided with respect to the length of tlie marches : it only 
remains then to estimate the pace, and we are enlightened 
on this latter subject by the composition of the caravan. 
For these reasons, and others still which it would occupy 
too much time to explain ; I have not thought it right to 
take preceding itineraries into account in combining the 
elementary facts necessary for ascertaining the position of 
Timbuctoo. 
I should, however, have still remained in doubt, and 
have abstained from offering an opinion had there not been 
other new data susceptible of comparison with the itine- 
rary of M. Cailli^ ; I mean the measure of the meridian 
* I say nothing of the false information, which the natives, and 
especially the Moors, have wilfully given to Europeans, to keep them 
away from the centre of Africa ; some out of fanaticism, others for fear of 
losing the advantages of commerce. 
