RELATING TO AFRICA. 
381. 
prised the modern Nigritia ; that the Niger was 
the great river so well known in Europe under this 
name, though it is not so designated in any part of 
Africa ; and that the Gir is the river of Bornou. 
M. Gosselin,* however, and some other French geo- 
graphers, have recently maintained that the tract of 
Nigritia was wholly unknown to Ptolemy ; that the 
countries and rivers of his Libya Interior were 
merely those of the tract lying to the south of At- 
las, known by the name of the Bled-el-Jereede. 
Paradoxical as this opinion may at first sight appear, 
I do not apprehend that it can be wholly rejected. 
The Gir, in particular, has so many points of re- 
lation with the combined streams of the Adjidi and 
Blanco, that it seems impossible not to recognise 
some measure of identity. 1. The Gir rises on the 
opposite side of the same chain of mountains which 
gives rise to the Bagrada, the modern Mejerdah ; 
so does the Adjidi - ? but the rivers of Interior Afri- 
ca are at an immense distance. 2. If the rivers 
of Interior Libya be not the rivers of the Bled-el- 
Jereede, then these last rivers must have been 
wholly unknown to Ptolemy, which is very im- 
probable. 3« The two northern branches of the 
Gir bear a strong resemblance to the combined 
streams of the Adjidi and Blanco. We may add, 
that the name Gir is native in this part of Africa, 
and is applied to a river of Sigilmessa j also that 
* Geographie des Andjpns, Vol. IV. 
