SIDI HAMET. 
&c. ; he said it was a great way, and would 
^' take him three moons to get there, and he 
should be gone twenty moons before he could 
" get back by land, but should be very rich." — 
" We saw a great many of these people who had 
" been down the river to see the great water, 
" with slaves and teeth, and came back again : 
" they said, the pale people hved in great boats, 
" and had guns as big as their bodies, that made 
" a noise like thunder, and would kill all the 
people in a hundred negro boats, if they went 
" too near them." 
During Sidi Hamet's stay, which was in March 
and April, it rained almost daily. He returned 
by the same route to Tombuctoo. 
This narrative, if authentic, is certainly of very 
great importance. It affords, for the first time, 
a positive testimony in favour of the Congo hy- 
pothesis, and exhibits peculiarities of physical 
structure, which remove some of the most for^ 
midable objections to it.* It displays also a de-^ 
gree of populousness, and some features of civi- 
lization, surpassing what have hitherto been ob? 
served in any of the native states of Africa. We 
may instance the building of large walls, and 
houses of stone, and the taming of the elephant. 
* See some further remarks on this subject, Book III. end 
of Chap. H, 
