COMMUNICATIONS. 
8i 
brance of whathe faw is impaired by the lapfe of near twenty 
years ; yet, (as will be feen in the following pages) the general 
conformity of his defcription of Bornou to that which the She- 
reef has given, has an obvious tendency to ilrengthen the credit 
of the latter. 
This fliort account of the nature of the only external evidence 
that has yet been obtained in fupport of the following Narrative 
fee me d to be due from the Committee ; but in v/hat degree that 
evidence is impreffive of belief, or what internal marks of au- 
thenticity the Work itfelf may afford, the judgment of others 
muft decide ; for on thefe points, it is evident that each indivi- 
dual muft determine for himfelf. In forming his opinion, how- 
ever, it is requihte he fliould know, that while the mofi: anxious 
attention has been given to the faithful prefervation of the fenfe 
of the Original, an entire change has been made in its language 
and arrangement ; a change which, the obvious advantage of 
methodizing converfations, as defultory as they v/ere numerous, 
of feparating the blended accounts of unconnefted objefts, and 
of uniting a variety of broken and detached defcription s of the 
fame thing, has unavoidably occalioned. 
M CHAPTER 
