HOUGHTON. 
339 
were forwarded to the African Association. From 
these, he appears to have entertained the most 
sanguine expectations of success. In his letter 
from Medina, of the 6th of May 1791, he says, 
I have obtained the best intelligence of the 
places I design visiting, from a Shereef here, 
" who lives at Tombuctoo, and who hickily knew 
" me when I was British consul to the Emperor 
of Marocco, in 177^» I fii^d, that in the river 
I am going to explore, they have decked vessels 
with masts, with which they carry on trade 
" from Tombuctoo eastward to the centre of 
" Africa. I mean to embark in one of them 
*' from Genne, in Bambara, to Tombuctoo.'* 
The information concerning the magnitude of the 
vessels by which the Niger is navigated in the 
vicinity of Tombuctoo and Houssa, depends upon 
different authorities, and is as old as the beginning 
of the last century. Brue, as we had formerly 
occasion to notice, was informed by the Mandingo 
merchants at Gallam, that, some leagues from 
Tombuctoo, the Niger was navigated by masted 
barks." From various testimonies, Dr Laidley 
of Pisania was induced to believe, that ships of 
100 tons burden frequented Houssa ; and Mr 
Park, before his departure from the Gambia, was 
informed by a priest, who had visited Tombuctoo, 
that the canoes upon the Niger were large, and 
not made of one tree, but of various planks 
