236 DISCOVERIES OF THE ENGLISH. 
ployed with any degree of that diligence, of which 
he boasts so much, must have carried him much 
beyond the limit of Jobson, who spent only twelve 
days in sailing upwards from that previous boun- 
dary of European knowledge. 
From the voyages now narrated, a long period 
elapsed, without any farther effort to penetrate, by 
this channel ? into the heart of Africa. About the 
year 1723, however, the spirit of discovery revived. 
The Duke of Chandos, then Director of the Royal 
African Company, finding that, as usual in such 
establishments, the profits fell considerably short 
of the expenditure, conceived the hope of retriev- 
ing its affairs, by the discovery of new and lucra- 
tive branches of commerce. With this view, Cap- 
tain Bartholomew Stibbs was dispatched, with or- . 
ders to navigate the Gambia as high as possible, 
and to investigate, if gold was really to be found 
there in such abundance as had been often re- 
ported. Stibbs arrived at James Fort on the 7th 
October ; he found that Mr Glynn, whom 
he expected to find governor, had been dead for 
six months, and was succeeded by another of the 
name of Willy. To him our traveller immediate- 
ly wrote, requesting that he would use all pos- 
sible diligence in hiring canoes suited ta the navi- 
gation of the river. Mr Willy replied very coolly, 
tjhat there were no canoes to be had ; and Stibbs 
