328 REMARKS ON TRAVELS 
inhabitants who in three different places have been asked 
the name of the river, not understanding the question, have 
answered by the word river. Already had this confusion 
taken place a hundred times with the words ba, bahr, and 
7iil, which also mean river, runiiing ivater, great luater. 
There is on the road from Time to Djenne a village named 
Couara, and near it a river of moderate breadth, called 
Coraba (or according to my idea Couara-ba,*.) It is easy 
to perceive from the face of the country, that it is a tribu- 
tary of the DhioUba, which was also reported to M. 
Caillie ; here then is another river of the same name, or 
rather another general denomination which confirms the 
import of the word Couara, already observed by travel- 
lers. 
I have noticed that the Arabic, kha is used every 
where, even in the_ countries where the Arabic language 
and Islamism do not prevail: the traveller had expressed it 
by a blank ; 1 have written it kh according to the general 
custom. The slightly lisping sound ^ is used in many 
central districts, as is a liquid sound, common also in Se- 
negambia, and which may be written ghi or dhi. The 
name of the town of Jenne has been written Djenne, be- 
cause the Arabs of the present day write ^x?* or IJL:^; but M . 
Caillie remarked that the natives pronounce dhi I am 
therefore inclined to prefer Dhienne.f 
* Couaraba, or River-River ; thus the Africans call the Nile 
Ba-ba. 
t See below § V. 
