A F R 
.fometimes not exceeding five leagues, feldom'fifty. 3. Its 
coaft for the length of about 2000 miles lies oppofite to 
America at the diltance of from 500 to 700 leagues, inclu¬ 
ding the ifiands: whereas America, unlefs where it may 
be a terra incognita, is no where nearer Europe than 1000 
leagues; and'Afia, than 2500. It is, however, the mis¬ 
fortune of Africa, that, though it has 10,000 miles of. 
fea-coaft, with noble, large, deep, rivers, it fltould be in¬ 
habited by barbarous or lavage nations. At the. mouths 
of many of its river? are the mod excellent harbours, 
deep, fafe, calm, and sheltered from the wind, and capa¬ 
ble of being made perfectly fecure by fortifications; but 
quite deftitute of flapping, trade, and merchants, even 
where there is plenty of merchandife. In fliort, Africa,- 
though a full quarter of the globe, ftored with an inex- 
haufiible treafure, and Capable, under proper improve¬ 
ments, of producing fo many things delightful, as well 
convenient, within itfelf, feems to be almoft entirely ne¬ 
glected, not only by the natives, who are quite unfolici- 
tous of reaping the benefits which nature has provided 
for them, but alfo by the more civilized Europeans who 
are fettled in it, particularly the Portuguefe. 
As the equator divides this continent almoft in the mid¬ 
dle, the far greateft part of it is within the tropics ; and 
of confequence the heat in fome places is almoft infup- 
portable by Europeans, it being there greatly increafed by 
vaft deferts of burning fand. 
It cannot be doubted, however, that, were the country 
Well cultivated, it would be extreiriely fertile ; and would 
produce, in great abundance, not only the neceffaries, but 
alfo the luxuries, of life. It has been affected, that the- 
fugars of Barbadoes and Jamaica, as alfo tire ginger, rice, 
cotton, pepper, pimento, cocoa, indigo, See. of thefe 
ifiands, would thrive in Africa to as much perfection as 
where they are now produced. Nor can it be doubted, 
that the Eaft-Indian fpices, the tea of China and Japan, 
the coffee of Mocha, &c. would all thrive in fome parts 
of the African coaft; as this continent has the advantage 
of feeling no cold, the climate being either very warm or 
very temperate. 
From what has been faid, the reader cannot expeCt to 
find here a variety of climates. In many parts of Africa 
fnow never falls in the plains, and it feldom lies but on the 
tops of the high mountains. The natives, in thefe fcorch- 
ing regions, would as foon expeCt that marble fhould melt 
and flow in liquid ftreams, as that water, by freezing, 
fhould lofe its fluidity, be arrefted by the cold, and, cea- 
fing to flow, become like the folid rock. 
“ That the geography of Africa (obferves Major Ren- 
nellj has made a flower progrefs towards improvement 
than that of every other part of the world, during the 
laft and the prefent century, is to be attributed more to 
natural caufes than to an abfohite want of .attention on 
on the part of geography. Formed by the Creator with 
•a contour and furface totally unlike the other continents, 
its interior parts elude all nautic refearch; whilft the wars 
and commerce in which Europeans have taken part, have 
been confined to very circumfcribed parts of its borders. 
To the lovers of adventure and novelty, Africa difplays 
a mod ample field; but the qualification of local manners, 
and in Tome degree of habits, mud in this cafe be fuper- 
added to that of language; and this unqueftionably ren¬ 
ders the undertaking more arduous than.that of an ordi¬ 
nary tour. 
“ Africa Hands alone in a geographical view. Pene¬ 
trated by no inland leas, like the Mediterranean, Baltic, 
or Hudfon’s Bay; nor overfpread with extenfive-lakes, 
like thofe of North America; nor having, in common 
with the other continents, rivers running from the centre 
to the extremities ; but, on the contrary, its regions fepa- 
rated from each other by the lead: practicable of all boun¬ 
daries, and deferts of fuch formidable extent, as to threaten 
thofe who travCi-fe them with the mod horrible- of all 
deaths, that arifing from third:! Placed in fuch circum- 
ftances, can wc be furprilcd either at our ignorance- of its 
Vol. I. No. 12- 
A F R i.§5 
interior part, prof the tardy progrefs of civilization in 
it? Poflibly the-difficulty of conveying merchandife to 
the eoafts, under the above circumftances, may have given? 
rife to the traffic-in men, a commodity that can tranfport. 
itfelf! But, laying this out of. the queftion, as an abftraCt, 
fpeculation, there can be little.doubt but that the progrefs 
of civilizatiorxamongft the' Africans has been as flow as, 
can be conceived in any fituation: and it has alfo happen¬ 
ed, that the deftined inftrumentsof their civilization have 
remained in a proportionable degree of ignorance con¬ 
cerning the nature of the country. 
“ Nothing can evince the low ftate of the African geo¬ 
graphy, more than M.. d’Anville’? having had recourse to 
the works of Ptolemy and Edrifi, to compofe the interior 
part of his map of Africa! (1749). It is well known that 
thofe authors wrote in the fecond and in the twelfth cen¬ 
turies of our sera. Mod of the pofitions in the inland 
part of the- great body of Africa are derived.from Edrifi; 
and it is wonderful how nearlyTome of the pofitions agree, 
with thofe furniftied by the lateft obferVatiohs. Such was 
the tranfeendent judgment of D’Anville, .in combining- 
the fcanty notices that are furniftied by the Nubian geo¬ 
grapher! 
- “ But the public are not to expeft, even under an impro¬ 
ved fyfteht of African geography,. that the interior part 
of that continent will exhibit an a-fpeft fimilar to the 
others; rich in variety; each region affumjng adiftindt 
character. Oh the contrary, fit, will'be meagre and vacant 
in the extreme. The dreary’expanfes of defert which of¬ 
ten Turround the-habitable fpots, forbid the appearance 
of the.ulual proportion of towns; and the paucity of ri¬ 
vers, added to their being either abforbed or evaporated*, 
inftead of being conducted.in flowing lines tp the ocean* 
will give a Angular caft to its hydrography.; the direction 
of their courfes being, moreover, equivocal, through the 
want of that information which a Communication with the 
fea ufually affords at a glance. 
■ “ The focietv for promoting the difeoyery of the inte¬ 
rior parts of Africa has been fortunate in colledfing much 
geographical information in fo early a ftage of the, African 
refearches; and there is little doubt but that, in a few 
years, all the great features of this continent (within the 
reach of their enquiries) may be known and deferibed. 
But, to accomplish this, it will be neceflar.y that intelli¬ 
gent Europeans fhould trace fome of the principal routes } 
as well to apportion the diftances, as to eftablilh fome kind 
of criterion for the parole information derived from the 
natives. As yet, in the wide extent of near thirty degrees 
on a’meridian, between Benin and Tripoli, not one celef- 
tial obfervation has been taken to determine the latitude.” 
Whatever may be the cafe with the internal parts of 
Africa, it is certain that its eoafts are well watered with 
many very confiderable rivers. The Nile and the Niger 
may- be reckoned among the largeft in any part of the 1 
world, America excepted. The firft difeharges itfelf in¬ 
to the Mediterranean, after a prodigious courfe .from its 
fo.arce in Abylfinia. See NiLE. ; —The Niger is faid to fall 
in'to the Atlantic or Weftern Ocean- at Senegal, after a 
courfe of 2800 miles. But this is extremely .difficult, if 
not impoflible, to afeertain; for, according to Mr. Lucas’s 
communications to the African Aflbciation, both the rife 
and termination of the Niger are unknown, but the courfe 
is from eaft to weft. So great is its rapidity, that no vefiel 
can afeend its ftream: and fuch is the want of fkill, or fuch 
the abfence of commercial inducements among the nations 
who inhabit its borders, that even with the current neither 
veflels nor boats are feen to navigate. In one place, in¬ 
deed, the traveller finds accommodations for the paflage 
of himfelf and of his goods; but even there; though the 
ferrymen, by the indulgence of the fultan of.’ Caffina, are 
exempted from all taxes, the boat whicli conveys.the mer- 
chandife is nothing more than an ill-conftrufted raft, for 
■the planks are faftened to the timbers with ropes, and the 
interfticcs.are clofed, both within and without, by aplafter 
of tough.clay,-of which a large provifton is always car- 
3 B "ried 
