Notes on the Congo River . 163 
but of the Zaire. 1 A little of this peculiar and 
precious commodity is produced by Old Calabar, 
east of the Nigerian delta, and southwards it 
becomes common. 
Pliny (v. 1) places his Gir (which some edi¬ 
tions read “ Niger”) “ some distance” beyond the 
snowy Atlas. Ptolemy (iv. 6) tells us “in Medi- 
terranea verb fluunt amnes maximi, nempe Gir 
conjungens Usargalam montem et vallem Gara- 
manticam, a quo divertens amnis continet secun¬ 
dum situm (east longitude) 42 0 (north latitude)— 
16 0 .” Again : “Et Nigir fluvius jungens et ipse 
Mandrum ” (Mandara, south of Lake Chad ?) “ et 
Thala montes ” (the range near the western coast 
on the parallel of Cabo Blanco ?). “ Facit autem 
et hie Nigritem Paludem ” (Lake Dibbie or 
Debu, north-east of Sego and Sansanding ?) 
cujus situs i5°-i8°.” 
Here the Gir, Ger, Gar, or Geir is clearly laid 
down as a Mediterranean stream, whilst “ Niger” 
gave rise to the confusion of the Senegal with the 
true Niger. The name has greatly exercised 
commentators’ ingenuity. D’Anville believes the 
Niger and the Gir to end in the same quarter of 
Africa, and the latter to be entirely unknown. 
Gosselin, agreeing with Pliny, whose Ger is the 
1 Chap. xvii. of the Rev. Mr. Waddell’s “ Twenty-nine Years 
in the West Indies and Central Africa.” 
