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our conversation fall on the interior part of Africa, and 
I gathered from these conversations the following re- 
sults, viz. 
" Tombut is a large town, very trading, and inhabi- 
ted by Moors and Negroes. 
" The reigning family at Tombut is descended from 
an emperor of Morocco, who had made an excursion 
into that country; and whose name is very much respect- 
ed there. 
" Buhlal enjoyed far more liberty at Tombut than 
at Morocco. He kept a great number of negro women, 
whom he took, turned off, or exchanged to his liking 
and whims; his constitution had suffered somewhat, and 
he had now and then caught several diseases. 
" Tombut is at the same distance from the JSile-Ahid 
(or the Nile of the Negroes or Niger) as Fez is from 
Wad Sebu; that is to say, about three English miles. 
" This river flows towards the east. 
" The Nile-Abid is very large; every year in the 
rainy season it passes over its bed, and inundates the 
country like the hile in Egypt, and appears then like 
an arm of the sea. 
" The negroes navigate this river in barks of a very 
singular construction; they are made without {he aid of 
any nail, and only joined with small cords of the palm- 
tree. 
" Each of these barks is capable of transporting the 
weight of five hundred burthens of a camel, either in 
salt, corn, or other provisions. 
"These barks are steered without sails and without 
oars. In order to keep them a-going, several men, pro- 
portionate in number to the size of the bark, sit down 
