412 THEORIES RESPECTING THE NIGER. 
that Wangara was the Delta of the Niger ; that 
its waters, spread out by the separation of its 
branches, by inundation, and by the formation of 
lakes, might, under the burning rays of a tropical 
sun, be completely evaporated* 
This view of the subject, supported by the learn- 
ing and ingenuity of Major Rennell, became, for 
a long time, the orthodox creed with regard to 
Africa. M. Reichard, of Weimar, advanced an- 
other hypothesis ; according to which, the stream 
passed through Wangara, and directing its course 
to the south-west, poured itself into the Gulf of 
Benin, by a succession of large estuaries, of which 
the mouths only are known to us. This can rank 
only as a mere conjecture, which it may be diffi- 
cult to disprove, but which is supported by no evi- 
dence. The author, indeed, endeavours to shew, 
by a comparative calculation of the waters poured 
into Wangara, and of the extent of its lakes, that 
the former cannot be disposed of by mere evapora- 
tion from the latter. Without considering all the 
circumstances which must render such an estimate 
precarious, we may observe, that he brings into 
Wangara the great western rivers of the Misselad 
and Wed-el-Gazel, not only without any proof, 
but contrary to all the evidence that exists. His 
calculation from the lakes of Wangara, too, is 
built entirely upon the space which they occupy 
in modern maps. But there is nothing in the 
Arabian writers (our only authority) which can 
