CHAPTER II. 
HISTORICAL VIEW OF THEORIES RESPECTING THE 
COURSE AND TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 
Herodotus. — Strabo, Pliny, and Mela* — The Arabians. — 
Leo and the Portuguese. — Delisle and D'Anville. — Moore. 
— Major Bennell.>—Reichard.—^The Congo Hypothesis. — 
Another. — The Mar Zarah. 
The course and termination of this celebrated 
stream is now the most interesting problem which 
remains to be solved, not only in Africa, but in 
any other portion of the globe. Hoping still, not- 
withstanding one failure, that this great discovery 
may not be far distant, it is not proposed to enter 
into the elaborate illustration of any one view of the 
subject : — but rather to exhibit the succession of 
reports and opinions, which, from the earliest ages, 
has prevailed among curious inquirers relative to 
the course of these celebrated waters. Whatever 
may be the present opinion of the reader, or the 
final result of the inquiry, this will, it is conceiv- 
ed, form an interesting chapter in the history of 
human speculation. 
