422 
MISSION TO ASHANTEE, 
CHAPTER XIIL 
Sketch of Gaboon, and its Interior. 
The River Gabon, or Gaboon, as the English pronounce it. is 
placed by some, N. 30', E. 8° 42', by others, on the equator and 
E. 9° 23' : the former longitude is certainly the more correct ; 
judging from three reckonings of the vessel in which I visited it; 
unfortunately, 1 had not the requisites for an observation. The 
former latitude also, is, doubtless, the correct one of Cape Clara; 
for an observation, taken as we w^ere beating in by Round Corner, 
gave 23' N. ; and another, taken about 35 miles up the river, 15' 
N. From Cape Clara (which is not ' very high land,') to Sandy 
point, being an obhque line, may be about 25 miles, but the di- 
rect width of the mouth of the river, cannot be more than 18. 
From 22 to 25 miles up the river, lay Parrot and Konig islands, 
called by the natives Embenee and Dambee; the former (on which 
ships have been hauled to careen) 1^ miles in circumference and 
uninhabited, the latter considerably larger, and having a village 
on the hill. The natives mentioned the ruins of a Portuguese fort 
there. Konig island is not more than a mile from Rodney's or 
Oweendo point, where there is a large bight; which, with the 
one opposite, within Eghirrighee point, makes the width of the 
river nearly thirty miles in this part. From these points it seems 
to form an inner basin, the greatest width of which, just above 
Goorabena creek, is about twelve miles, judging from shots ; for 
