370 REMARKS ON 
Now, from Timbuctoo to the mouth of the river of 
Benin, following the course of the waters (as it is traced 
by the partisans of this opinion), the distance is not less 
than four hundred and sixty leagues. Thus, in the second 
part of its course, the river would have a total declivity of 
^30 metres, or 0,51 metre to a league. It is known that the 
Seine has an inclination of 0,72 metre to a league ; the 
Mississipi, 0,84 metre ; the Rio-Apure, 0,92 metre, &c. 
but others have a much less fall, such as the Wolga, the 
Missouri, the Senegal, &c., which have one of 0,50 
only ;* so that, strictly speaking, the above inclination is 
sufficient. 
According to a fourth opinion, the river, on reaching 
the Kong mountains, makes an elbow to the left and runs 
eastward, by Djacoba and Adamowa to Chary, and thence 
to lake Tchad into which it discharges itself. It is here 
that the objection of the want of sufficient inclination ap- 
plies : how can it be admitted, that the river, after passing 
Funda, where it would scarcely have an elevation of fifty 
metrest above the sea, (supposing it to be the river of 
many extraordinary qualities, without offering a tribute of regret to 
his memory ? His loss has deprived science of more than one dis- 
covery : all, hov^ever, has not perished with him ; the account of his 
travels has been preserved ; and it is to be hoped that it will 
speedily be published, with his maps and drawings, 
* See Memoire sur la Communication du Nil des Noirs avec le 
Nil d'Egypte, p. 9. 
t Funda appears to be less than a hundred leagues from the sea^ 
measuring the distance by the current. 
