^40 Major RennelPs Ohserxmtions on the Geography 
the river would be dispersed, and, therefore, it is difficult to 
account for the constant position of the vessel. Possibly there 
might be a light air of wind, but it escaped his notice. There 
could be no counter current in the middle of so wide a lake. 
With respect to the report of the boatmen on the lake, — if they 
could have been supposed to possess any proper knowledge of 
the future course of the Niger, it would have been worth the 
the attending to. But having the Shilali for their vernacular 
language, they doubtless came from the northern quarter of 
Africa, and were not likely to have any knowledge of the sub- 
ject, but from report. The opinion of the North Africans has, 
in all ages, been in favour of its communication with the Egyp- 
tian Nile, which probably arises from an idea that it must ne- 
cessarily reach the sea somewhere. At the same time, it may 
be remarked, that, in the inland parts of Barhary^ there are 
not less than five considerable streams between Morocco and 
Tunis, which run inland towards the Sahara^ and forming 
small lakes on its border, are either evaporated or swallowed up 
by the sands. 
In respect of the quality of the soil in the central part of the 
Sahara, in the line of the before-mentioned route, it may be 
observed, that in the maps there are two tracts of land in the 
nature of islands or oases^ or, at least, marked as being different 
from the sandy tract. They are named Gualata and Taudeny. It 
may well be, that these are parts of the tract described by Scott 
as being free from sand, and although described to be in a posi- 
tion wide of the route, northward, yet either they may be far- 
ther to the south, or the direction of Mr Scott’s route may 
have been more northerly. As he set out in June, when the 
sun’s northern declination was very great, he may not have al- 
lowed for it sufficiently in his estimation of the eastern and 
western points of the heavens. The watered valley in which 
they sojourned so long, falls very near the western part of 
Gualata. 
It appears that they returned nearly in the line on which 
they advanced, until they came near this valley, which was 
about three-fourths of the whole way. But then they evident- 
ly deviated ; because they traversed the sandy tract in seven 
days, which took them eleven in their way out, and also came 
