249 
on the two sides of the forepart, and putting a long 
pole to the ground of the river in order to push off in one 
jerk, make the bark advance. This manner of naviga- 
ting being still in the state of its first childhood, obliges 
them to keep close to the shore. 
" The Nile- Abid takes its direction towards the in- 
terior part of Africa, where it forms a vast sea which 
HAS NO COMMUNICATION WITH OTHER SEAS. In 
this sea the barks of the negroes navigate forty- 
eight DAYS FROM ONE SHORE TO THE OTHER, and 
always without being able to perceive the 
OPPOSITE COAST. 
" The most common objects of trade in this sea are 
salt and corn, as the interior part contains some very 
populous countries which are deficient in these articles. 
" It is said that this sea is in connexion with the Nile 
of Egypt; but nothing positive can be ascertained in fa- 
vour of this supposition. 
" It is also said, that Houssa to the east of Tombut, 
is a very large, populous, and civilized city." 
Buhlal, in giving me the above information, spoke 
Arabic to me, and always made use of the word Bahar. 
I asked him to explain to me the sense in which he was 
taking this word. He told me several times that he 
meant a sea of several days voyage across, either in its 
length qr its breadth, and resembling that on which we 
then were navigating (this was the Mediterranean). 
This information removes all doubts on the existence 
of an interior or African Caspian sea, which Buhlal was 
always calling Bahar Sudan or Nigritian sea; and this 
fact the reader will remark corresponds with the rea- 
soning which I had made on physical calculations. If 
VOL. i. i i 
