REPORT ON CAILLIE'S TRAVELS. 459 
for which the Society offered a special prize, exacted, it 
is true, astronomical observations ; but it is questionable, 
whether any one penetrating for the first time into this 
country, even if provided with the necessary instruments, 
could possibly fulfil conditions so difficult and dangerous. 
Who is there but is acquainted with the savage jealousy 
which the Moors and all those in possession of the com- 
merce of this part of Africa, have from the earliest ages 
conceived against Europeans ; the resistance experienced 
by Belzoni, when he attempted to pursue this direction ; 
the tragic end of Antonio Piloti, and the sad termination of 
Major Laing's enterprise ? 
A. Caillie penetrated as far as Timbuctoo ; he went 
thither by way of Senegambia, as required by the Society. 
If he has not executed all that it was desirable to have 
accomplished, he has, on the other hand, made many new 
and valuable observations, which were not required, upon 
Fouta-Dhialon, the eastern districts, and the upper part of 
the course of the Dhioliba ; he navigated the river for a 
month; gleaned intelligence respecting the mines of 
Bourre, and made other researches that were not required ; 
all which constitutes a sort of equivalent. The discovery 
of these countries, and the description given of the regions 
of Baleya, Kankan, and Ouassoulo, are so great an ac- 
quisition to geography, that, had he even failed to reach 
Timbuctoo, he would have deserved a signal recompense. 
He has the additional merit of having collected a vocabu- 
lary of the Man dingo language, and another of the Kissour, 
spoken at Timbuctoo concurrently with the Moorish, as 
