NIGER, or, more properly, Quorra, a great river of Central Africa, the course and termination of which, for upwards of forty years, excited an interest beyond any other question connected with the geography of the globe, excepting perhaps that of the north-west passage. This arose not only from the importance which naturally belongs to the solution of any great geographical problem, but from the various and conflicting theories which had been formed relative to the Niger. The points which so long remained undecided were, whether the large interior river of Africa, first mentioned by Herodotus, and afterwards by Pliny, Ptolemy, Leo Africanus, and others, could be identified with that which we now call the Quorra or the Joliba, which latter is its name during the earlier part of its course; and whether this river lost itself in the great Lake Tshad, Tshadda, or Shary, or terminated in the Atlantic Ocean. These were the main questions which were agitated by geographers; but there were others which occupied no inconsiderable degree of attention, such as, whether it carried its waters under ground through the Great Desert, into the Gulf of Syrtis, or whether it flowed in an easterly direction, and formed a branch of the Nile. But every difficulty has at length been cleared away by the enterprise and perseverance of Britons, and we can now trace the entire line of this great river. To the first question, whether the Quorra be the Niger, meaning by that the river so named in the works of ancient geographers and historians, a negative answer has been very generally given; and with regard to the termination of the Quorra, it has been found to flow into the Atlantic through a number of mouths situated in a delta, at the head of the great gulf of the western coast of Africa. The discovery of the termination of the river which has been so long and so improperly called the Niger, was made by Mr Richard Lander, a very humble but intelligent individual, who, without having any prejudices to gratify, or theory to support, set about the task in a straightforward manner, and accomplished, not without difficulty and danger, an undertaking in which all former travellers had failed, from having fallen victims either to the insalubrity of the climate or the more fatal barbarity of the natives. But before tracing Lander’s voyage along the Quorra, it may be necessary to give a short account of what was previously known respecting that river.^[1. It is singular enough, that two persons in the humble sphere of the brothers Lander should have succeeded in resolving the great problem of African geography, after so many able, accomplished, and adventurous men had failed, or perished in the attempt. Their good fortune entitles them to the distinction of a biographical notice. Richard Lander was born at Truro, in Wales, on the 8th of February 1804. His parents were in humble circumstances, and his education was accordingly of the most ordinary description. He had an early propensity to wandering. “My rambling inclinations,” says he, “began to display themselves in early youth. I was never easy a great while together in one place, and used to be delighted to play truant, and stroll from town to town, and from village to village, whenever I could steal an opportunity; as well as to mix in the society of boys possessing restless habits and inclinations similar to my own. I used also to listen with unmixed attention to old women’s tales about the ceremonies and manners of the nations of distant regions of the earth.” Domestic calamities compelled him to quit his paternal abode when he was only nine years of age, and at the early age of eleven he accompanied a mercantile gentleman to the West Indies. He was absent three years, and returned to his native country in 1818, where he entered into the service of several individuals, one of whom he accompanied to France and other countries on the Continent. An opportunity having again occurred of visiting distant regions, he traversed the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, as servant to Major Colebrooke, one of his majesty’s commissioners of inquiry into the state of the British colonies. On his return to England in 1824, he accepted a situation in the establishment of a kinsman of the Duke of Northumberland, “where,” says he, “my time passed away pleasantly and thoughtlessly enough, till the return of Captain Clapperton and Major Denham from the interior of Africa in the following year again roused my rambling propensities.” Having heard that it was the intention of the British government to send out another expedition for the purpose of exploring the yet undiscovered parts of Central Africa, he waited upon Captain Clapperton, and was engaged by that enterprising traveller as his confidential servant. The results of this expedition are well known. After the death of Clapperton, on the IQth of April 1827, Lander sought every opportunity of conveying himself home, which, however, he did not accomplish in less than a twelvemonth, having had to make his way defenceless and alone from Saccatoo, in Houssa, to Badagry, on the western coast of Africa, a long, difficult, and dangerous journey. At length he arrived safely at Portsmouth, on the 30th of April 1828, bringing with him Captain Clapperton’s journal, as well as a great deal of valuable information of his own. Being unable, from ill health, to superintend the printing of his journal, it was published in the first instance in a rough unfinished form; but it was subsequently revised and given to the world in two volumes octavo. Meanwhile the British government had engaged him to proceed to Fundah, and trace the river Quorra from that place to the sea. It was in this second expedition that he secured to his name the distinguished place which it must ever hold in the history of African discovery. Accompanied by his brother John, who undertook the expedition rvithout any promise of reward, Richard Lander embarked at Portsmouth on the 9th of January 1830, and arrived at Cape Coast Castle on the 22d of the following month. On the 22d of March the travellers landed at Badagry, where they were detained nine days by the mercenary chief of the place. At length they set out on their toilsome journey; and, after undergoing a variety of privations and sufferings, they, on the 17th of June, reached Boossa, on the western bank of the Quorra, which place no European had before visited except the unfortunate Park, and Captain Clapperton when he was accompanied by Lander. FromJ3oossa the Landers proceeded up the river about one hundred miles to Vaoori, the ex treme point of the expedition, where they arrived on the 27th of June. The descent of the river commenced on the 2d of August, and the results of the expedition are related in the text· In their voyage downwards to the sea, their adventures were sometimes of an amusing, sometimes of an alarming character. As they proceeded, however, their difficulties and dangers increased; but these were met with the most manly and determined resolution. At Kirree they were plundered, and nearly lost their lives. On their arrival at Eboe, they were made prisoners by the king of the place, who would not consent to their liberation except on the condition of receiving a large ransom. For this sum they gave a bill on the captain of a Liverpool trader, which they ascertained was lying in the river Nun, one of the mouths of the Quorra. An obligation of a similar nature was exacted from them by the king of Brasstòwn, and John Lander was retained as a hostage; but he contrived to persuade the natives to allow him to proceed. The captain of the Liverpool trader treated them in a most brutal manner, and refused to make any advance whatever, although he was assured of repayment by the British government. Their bills were consequently protested, but the demand was afterwards ordered to be paid by government. On the 20th of January 1831 the travellers proceeded from Fernando Po to Rio de Janeiro, whence they set sail for England, where they arrived on the 9th of June. The safe return of the brothers Lander, and the triumphant discovery which they had made, was the subject of warm and general congratulation. The Royal Geographical Society awarded Richard Lander a premium of fifty guineas, and for the journal of the brothers one thousand guineas was given by a London bookseller. In the disaster which befell them at Kirree, portions of the journals of both brothers were lost; but fortunately that part of each journal which was saved supplied what had been lost of the other, and a connected narrative was published in three volumes, entitled “Journal of an Expedition to explore the course and termination of the Niger, by Richard and John Lander.” The domestic disposition of John Lander induced him to settle permanently at home; but Richard’s love of hazardous enterprise had not yet been gratified. An expedition for the purpose of ascending the Quorra having been fitted out by some merchants of Liverpool, he was requested to undertake the direction of it, and he accepted the offer. The results of this expedition, which has been mentioned in the text, were quite unsatisfactory to the projectors, and most fatal to those who undertook it, very few Europeans having survived it. Amongst the victims was Richard Lander. The expedition which entered the river consisted of two steam-vessels, in one of which he ascended the Quorra to the junction of the Tshadda or Shary, where he left the vessel, and returned to Fernando Po, for the purpose of obtaining some medicines and other necessaries. After rejoining his companions, he penetrated up the Tshadda to a considerable distance; but want of provisions compelled him to relinquish any attempt to penetrate to the sources of this river. He proceeded up the Quorra as far as Rabba, where he prosecuted an advantageous trade with the inhabitants. For the purpose of obtaining a particular species of goods for the markets in the interior, he once more descended the river to Fernando Po, from which place his last letter to his friends in England, written in high spirits, was dated. He mentioned that he was then “on his way to the interior for the third and lent time." It was the last time. The party, which ascended the Quorra in two canoes, was attacked by the natives at a part of the river about seventy miles inland. Several were killed and a number wounded; amongst the latter was Richard Lander, who appears to have behaved on the occasion with the greatest bravery and self-possession. Whilst cheering his comrades, and inspiring them by his heroic example, he received a musket-ball in the hip, which made him stagger; but he continued to direct the movements of his party until the canoes were out of reach of the enemy’s shot, when he sunk down exhausted from loss of blood. Having succeeded in escaping down the river to Fernando Po, every possible attention was paid to his wound, and symptoms became at last so favourable, that no doubts were entertained of Lander’s recovery. But on the 6th of February 1834 mortification ensued, and so rapid was the prostration of the sufferer, that he died soon after midnight. Thus perished, in the thirty-first year of his age, Richard Lander, the humblest, but in one respect the most fortunate, of all those whose names are associated with the subject of African discovery, and who have fallen victims to their zeal in that exciting but fatal pursuit. His widow received a pension from William IV., and his daughter a handsome donation. ]

Herodotus, in his geographical notice of Africa, informs us, that some young persons belonging to a people who dwelt in the north of Africa, on the borders of the Mediterranean, travelled in a westerly direction from a part of Egypt, until[7:16:219] they came to a large river full of crocodiles, and flowing towards the rising sun; and that they were conducted by the natives to a considerable city situated on its banks. The fact of the Nile flowing from the west in an early part of its course, led the Father of History to conclude that this river was a distant branch or source of the Nile. Thus originated the first error regarding the Niger, and the weight which was attached to the opinions of Herodotus (scarcely less than belonged to those of Aristotle in a still more important branch of human knowledge) continued for ages to involve the subject in the greatest obscurity. The successive facts discovered relative to the hydrography of Africa were bent and twisted to answer the conditions of a vague hypothesis, for the truth of which there was no proof, and only the authority of a name. Notice is taken of the Niger by Strabo, but Pliny treats largely of this river, conducting it in an easterly direction, through sandy deserts, to the Nile of Egypt, and thus coinciding in opinion with Herodotus. Mela, another geographer, had the candour to confess, that when the Niger reached the middle of the continent, no one knew what became of it. Ptolemy was the first who demolished the notion that the Nile and the Niger are the same; but his account of the Niger is vague, and somewhat unintelligible. He adhered to the former opinion regarding its general direction, and considered as one river streams that were entirely distinct. But to return to Herodotus. The difficulty has been to identify the track of the travellers which he mentions, and their account of what they saw, with what is now known of the river lately discovered, and the part of Africa in which it is situated. Without going into the details of this subject, we may briefly state how the facts stand. Herodotus distinctly mentions, that the Nasamonian youth travelled directly westward; and if so, they certainly could never have reached the Joliba or Quorra. But others assert, that as the ancients were not very accurate with regard to their bearings, the words of Herodotus are not to be interpreted strictly; and consequently, if we allow that they proceeded, not directly westward, but a little to the south, the travellers might have arrived at the river. The city to which they were conducted has been surmised to have been no other than Timbuctoo itself.^[2. Such is the view taken of this disputed point by Lieutenant-Colonel Leake, in the second volume of the Journal of the Geographical Society. But a writer in the Quarterly Review, whose opinion is entitled to the greatest deference, takes an opposite view, asserting that Herodotus “knew of no such river, nor even mentioned the name.” (Quarterly Review, No. xci. p. 80.) ] But it is clear, that if we allow of such latitude of meaning to the terms employed by the ancients, either in geography or any other science, there will be no end to conjecture regarding what they did or what they did not know. If Herodotus is to be taken as authority at all, we must accept of him without any emendation whatever, just as he stands; and if so, we must certainly come to the conclusion, that the Joliba or Quorra is not the great river to which he alludes. It may have been one of the many streams flowing in an easterly direction in that part of Africa which was called Segelmessa; and what seems to confirm this conjecture is, that Pliny evidently points to one of these. The celebrated Arabian geographers Abulfeda and Edrisi, and Leo Africanus, a native of Spain, all assigned to the Niger of Ptolemy a westerly course; and the two former gave it a source identical with that of the Nile, but Leo supposed it to take its rise in a lake situated to the south of Bornou, whence it was believed to flow westward to the Atlantic Ocean. The early European navigators, in their discoveries on the western coast of Africa, found successively the estuaries of the Senegal, Gambia, and Rio Grande, and believed them to be the mouths of the Niger, which was described as traversing nearly the entire breadth of Africa. In course of time they were tempted to explore the Senegal and Gambia, for the purpose of reaching [7:16:220]the far-famed city of Timbuctoo, the immense wealth of which excited their cupidity. They traced these rivers so near to their sources as to decrease almost to rivulets, yet still they found themselves very far from the object of their wishes, and the vast central plain through which the Niger was understood to flow. In the meanwhile the French geographers De Lisle and D’Anville devoted their attention to Africa. De Lisle, in a map published in 1714, gave the sources both of the Niger and Senegal, the former being made to flow eastward and the latter westward, which was an approximation to the truth. D’Anville followed up this view in his map of Africa, published in 1749; and thus far a correct knowledge of the source and direction of the Niger was obtained, by its being separated in the east from the Nile, and in the west from the Senegal, and by having an easterly course at first assigned to it.

These views, however, appear to have been lost sight of, and the belief that the Niger followed a westerly course was generally entertained. But the formation of the African Association in England marks the commencement of a new era in the history of African geography. The first and principal object which occupied the attention of this body was the course and termination of the Niger; and a reward was held out to the person, whoever he might be, that should succeed in determining them. We pass over the names of Ledyard and Lucas, the former having died at Cairo before accomplishing any thing, and the latter having only gathered some information from the Arabs, which tended rather to perplex than elucidate the subject. The honour of determining the course of the Niger was reserved for the celebrated Mr Mungo Park, a native of Scotland, who, in the year 1795, offered to the Association his services, which were accepted. In his first journey, Mr Park explored the course of the Niger from Bammakoo to Silla, the former being, according to his account, about ten days’ journey distant from its source, and the latter two hundred miles from Timbuctoo. In his second journey, undertaken at the instance of the British government, he traced the Niger as far as Boossa, where he unfortunately perished in the river, as was afterwards satisfactorily ascertained by Clapperton and Lander. After that of Park, the names of Laing, De Caille, Clapperton, and Lander, who all ascertained important facts regarding the Quorra, occur in connection with the discovery of its termination. Clapperton crossed the river at the point where Park perished, and soon afterwards died himself at Saccatoo. But Richard Lander, his faithful servant, on his return to England, volunteered to navigate the river from Boossa to its termination; his offer was accepted by the British government, and in a few months this enterprising individual accomplished the work of ages, having entered the Atlantic by the River Nun, one of the branches by which this great river discharges itself into the sea.

The source of the Quorra or Joliba, although not yet actually explored, has been ascertained by Laing to be situated in the high country of Kissi, about two hundred miles north-east by east of Sierra Leone. The branch of it which is best known is said to originate in the eastern side of Mount Loma, one of the range called the Mountains of Kong, and which appears to be a continuation of the Gibel el Kumri, or Mountains of the Moon, in latitude 9. 15. north, and longitude 9. 36. west. From Loma, this stream, under the name of Joliba, bends its course northeast through Foota Jallo and Kankan, to Couroussa, a town situated about eighty miles east from Timboo, where De Caille, travelling eastward, crossed it, and found it, before the inundation commenced, to be 900 French feet in breadth, and nine feet in depth, with a current of two miles and a half per hour. From its great size here, only one hundred miles from its reputed source, it must have received the waters of some tributary streams; indeed, before reaching Bammakoo, it receives the Tankisso and Sarano, both of which are large rivers, one of them, flowing from Sankari in Manding, having been mistaken by Park for the Joliba itself. At Bammakoo it commences its course over the plain of Bambarra, flowing still in an easterly direction, by Yamina, Sansanding, and Sego, the capital, where it forms a noble stream, equal to the Thames at Westminster. It pursues the same course till it reaches Jinne, when it takes a bend nearly due north, in which direction it flows till it reaches Lake Dibbie, when it reverts to its easterly bearing, and continues to run in that direction till it reaches Timbuctoo. De Caille navigated the river from Jinne to Timbuctoo, and represents the banks between these places as low and marshy. Lake Dibbie is of very considerable magnitude, and stretches from east to west instead of from north to south. Below this the river was found very deep, and from half a mile to a mile in breadth, with a considerable current. Near Kabra, the port of Timbuctoo, the Joliba separates into two branches, the larger, which is about three fourths of a mile broad, bending its course east-south-east, and the smaller, about a hundred feet broad, but very deep, taking its course east by north to Kabra. The celebrated city of Timbuctoo is about eight miles north from Kabra, and, from the most accurate information which has as yet been obtained, stands in latitude 17. 30. north, and longitude 2. 30. east. From Kabra the smaller branch of the Joliba turns south-east, and joins the parent stream to the eastward, from which point there is reason to believe, although its course has not been delineated, that the Joliba flows in the general direction of its course south-east till it reaches Yaoori. From Timbuctoo to Yaoori, however, very little is known of this great river; but the fact that Park sailed down from the one place to the other fully establishes the continuity. From Yaoori to the sea it was navigated by the Landers, and was found to flow at first nearly due south, then to take a rapid bend to the east, and afterwards gradually to return and take a south-south-westerly direction to the Atlantic Ocean. Of these fortunate discoverers we shall now proceed to give some account.^[3. When the articles Africa, Benin, and some others connected with the geography of this quarter of the globe, passed through the press, the result of the Landers’ expedition was not known; so that a more ample narrative of their discoveries is necessary in this place, to supply any deficiency which may be found in our geography of Africa. ]

Boossa, the first city in the vicinity of the Quorra, at which the Landers arrived, is situated on its right bank, about a mile from the river, in latitude 10. 14. north, and longitude 6. 11. east. Black rocks were seen to rise abruptly from the centre of the stream; its surface was agitated by whirlpools; and in the dry season its largest branch was not more than a stone’s throw across. The travellers proceeded in a canoe from Boossa to Yaoori, between which places the river was found divided into many channels, by rocks, sand-banks, and low islands, covered with tall rank grass; and some of the channels were so shallow that their canoe was constantly grounding. They were told at Yaoori, however, that above that place, and below Boossa, the navigation was not interrupted either by rocks or sandbanks; and that after the malea or wet season, which sets in with fourteen days of incessant rain, canoes of all kinds pass to and fro between Yaoori, Nouff’e, Boossa, and Fundah. Yaoori is a large flourishing kingdom, ruled by a hereditary sovereign, who exercises absolute despotism. The capital city, which bears the same name, is of great extent, being between twenty and thirty miles in circuit, and very populous[7:16:221]; but, from the low nature of the banks of the river, it was found very swampy. Returning to Boossa, and sailing downwards, the Quorra was found completely navigable to a finely-wooded island called Patashie; but from thence to Lever or Layaba, a distance of about twenty miles, the channel is so full of rocks and sand-banks, as to render the passage very difficult. From Lever all the way down to the ocean, the Quorra is a broad and noble stream, varying from one to six, but being most commonly between two and three miles in breadth. The banks in some places were flat and marshy, but elsewhere presented the most pleasing aspect. They are described as “embellished with mighty trees and elegant shrubs, which were clad in thick and luxuriant foliage, some of lively green, others of darker hues; and little birds were singing merrily among the branches. Magnificent festoons of creeping plants, always green, hung from the tops of the tallest trees, and, drooping to the water’s edge, were pleasing and grateful to the eye.” Further down, the river is bordered by lofty mountains, seemingly forming part of the great chain which crosses Africa in this latitude, but which has not been sufficient to arrest the course of this mighty stream. These eminences are described as gloomy and romantic, fringed with stunted shrubs, which overhang immense precipices; and their recesses are tenanted only by wild beasts and birds of prey. Even in the mid-channel, a rocky islet called Mount Kesa rises to the height of 300 feet; and its steep sides, fringed with magnificent trees, present a majestic appearance. The island Zagoshie is one of the most remarkable spots in all Africa. It is about fifteen miles in length and three in breadth, in the midst of the Quorra, the broad channel of which on either side separates it from the continent. The surface is very low, and muddy, yet throughout well cultivated, and extremely productive. The manufactures of this place are highly valued, and superior to any in the kingdom of Nouffe or Tappa, to which it belongs. The largest and most flourishing city of this domain is Rabba, situated about two miles from Zagoshie, in latitude 9. 14., and between five and six hundred miles from the sea. The surrounding country abounds in the most valuable grains, in horned cattle of remarkable size, and in horses much admired for their strength and beauty.

Below Zagoshie and Rabba the Quorra flows almost due east for upwards of a hundred and twenty miles, presenting throughout a magnificent body of water, at one place nearly eight miles broad. The shores are generally well cultivated and inhabited; and at one point two very large cities appeared on the opposite banks. Towards the end of this reach the Quorra is joined by a large stream from the north-east, called the Coodonia. About twenty miles lower is Egga, a very large town built close to the river, in a situation low, and liable to inundation. The inhabitants trade both up and down the river; and here were found Portuguese cloths, brought from Benin. Egga is the boundary town of Nouffe, and closes on the south that range of flourishing and comparatively well-governed countries which here extend along both banks of the Quorra. The river now flows east-south-east along a fine country, covered with numerous villages, the principal being Kacunda, which consists of three large villages, all under the absolute sway of a single chief. The river then takes a direction nearly due south, and, at the distance of three or four days’journey below Egga, is joined by another river nearly as large as itself, falling in from the north-eastward. This is the Tshadda, Shar, or Shary; and Lander was informed that Fundah, of which Clapperton heard so much when at Saccatoo, was at the distance of three days’ journey on the banks of this river, and not, as had been supposed, on those of the Quorra. This fact was verified some years afterwards by Mr Laird,^[4. See Narrative of an Expedition into the Interior of Africa, by the River Niger, in the steam-vessels Quorra and Alburkah, in 1832-33-34, by Macgregor Laird and R. A. K. Oldfield, surviving officers of the expedition, London, 1837, in two vols. 8vo. With regard to the source of the Tshadda our information is meagre and inconclusive. Mr Laird made many inquiries respecting it, and the invariable answer was, that it came from the great Lake Tshad or Tchad. One person, indeed, a native of Kooka, offered to take him up there in twelve days, without changing the canoe. The confidence of this assertion is very much like that of a person who had already performed the voyage; but, from the mendacious propensities of the natives, Mr Laird is not inclined to admit the correctness of this account, and thinks that the river has its rise in another and very different quarter. Fortunately he assigns his reasons for drawing this conclusion, by which we are enabled to form an independent judgment on the point. “The water of the Shary,” says he, “is colder than that of the Niger. The rise of the river commences sooner and more suddenly than the Niger. There is little trade upon the Shary in comparison with the Niger, which, if it communicated with the Sea of Soudan, would naturally be immense. From the three first reasons, I should think that its rise is in a mountainous country, and that that country lies very near the equator.” With∙all deference to this judicious traveller, we think that at least two of his reasons for differing from the popular opinion go directly to confirm it. In the first place, the water of the Shary being colder than that of the Quorra, is just what would happen if the source of the river were a large reservoir of water, such as we know the Lake Tshad to be. A great body of water, as is well known, is kept permanently colder than a small one under the same circumstances; the stream issuing from the former, therefore, and flowing only 500 miles (which is probably more than the limit that ought to be assigned to the course of the Shary, supposing it to originate in Lake Tshad), will beyond all doubt be colder than one which has traversed nearly 3000 miles in a tropical climate, becoming swelled during its long course only by a great number of small tributaries, and, from its shallow depth when compared to a large inland sea, having its temperature raised considerably higher by the influence of the solar beams. Secondly, the rise of the river taking place sooner than is the case with the Niger, and also more suddenly, clearly proves, that at the commencement of the wet season it receives all at once a great accession to its waters, which would be the case if itflowed from a large lake into which a number of large rivers, having short courses, discharged their waters simultaneously; and, according to the best authorities, Lake Tshad is the basin into which a great number of streams from the surrounding country are poured, these, when compared with the Quorra, or even with the Shary, having but short courses. The river Quorra, on the contrary, becomes augmented in size by a multitude of smaller streams which enter it at different intervals during a course'of nearly 300Ò miles; consequently they must affect the main stream, at its confluence with the Shary, slowly and gradually, not all at once. Besides, it appears from the facts of the case, that before the tributaries which join it previously to its reaching Timbuctoo have taken effect at the point referred to, a considerable portion of what may be called the overplus waters received during the rainy season, and joining the Quorra below Timbuctoo. has already partially augmented the parent stream at its junction with the Shary, and passed on to the Atlantic. The two reasons which Mr Laird brings forward as opposed to the opinion of the Shary being a river flowing from Lake Tshad, seem to us therefore to be remarkably favourable to such an hypothesis. Indeed, in the absence of direct evidence to the contrary, we are strongly inclined to think that this is the fact. With regard to Mr Laird’s third reason, that the trade on the Shary is smaller than it would be if it communicated with Lake Tshad, nothing satisfactory can be advanced until we know more of the countries in the interior. Lander was informed that the Tshadda or Shary flowed through large and fruitful kingdoms, and that an extensive commerce and active navigation were carried on by means of it. We can see nothing in its mere trade to make either for or against its originating in a great lake, providing it be navigable to a great distance into the interior of a populous country; and this is certainly the case. ] who, in his voyage up the Quorra, ascended the river Tshadda (uniformly designated Shary in his work) for six or seven days, when he entered a creek, from the extremity of which a land journey of about ten miles conducted him to Fundah, a large and populous town. Below the confluence of the rivers Quorra and Tshadda the course of the river is south-south-west, and [7:16:222]its width, as usual, varies from two to five or six miles. Opposite to Bocqua, a considerable town situated below the junction of the Tshadda, is the common path to the city ofFundah;and here both banks of the river continue hilly and well wooded, and are thickly studded with towns and villages. Of this town Mr Laird observes, « Bocqua, or Hickory, as the natives call it, is the centre of this trade (in slaves, cloth, and ivory), and a fair of three days’ duration is held there every ten days, attended by Eboe, and Attah, and even Bonny traders from the south, and those from Egga, Outturn-Curaffe, and Fundah on the north [north-east ?], besides great numbers from the interior country on both banks of the river. The traders from the upper country bring cloths of native manufacture, beads, ivory, rice, straw-hats, and slaves, all of which they sell for cowries, and buy European goods, chiefly Portuguese and Spanish. About twenty-five large canoes passed us every ten days, on their way to this market, each containing from forty to sixty people. The trade is carried on by money, not by barter; cowries are the circulating medium, and their sterling value on an average may be taken at one shilling per thousand.” Still farther down is the town of Attah or Iddoh, picturesquely situated on a hill overhanging the river, in some places with cliffs 300 feet in height. Standing above the alluvial soil at the entrance of the valley of the Quorra, and thus removed from damp, it is healthy, and, according to Mr Laird, commands at present the whole trade of the interior. The same traveller informs us, that above this town the river forces its way through a chain of mountains which he calls Kong, being in all likelihood a part of the range already mentioned as traversing this part of Africa. They seemed to be of nearly equal height, apparently from 2500 to 3000 feet above the level of the river, and had all flat summits. They are probably composed of sandstone resting upon granite, of which latter rock large masses were found in the vicinity of the river. About forty-five miles below the junction of the Tshadda with the Quorra, and on the left bank of the latter river, stands the town of Abbazacca; and still farther down Damuggoo, at which place Lander found that the Quorra fell two feet in as many days, yet still overflowed the town. European goods here made their appearance in considerable abundance, consisting of powder, muskets, soap, Manchester cottons, and other manufactures, together with large quantities of diluted rum, in all which articles the natives trade to Bocqua, where they receive in exchange ivory and slaves, which, again, are sold to European traders. Some ten or fifteen miles below Damuggoo a stream flows in from the eastward; but this, Lander thinks, is a branch previously separated from the main stream, and on his map it is made to enclose the large towns of Abbazacca and Damuggoo, together with a number of villages. At the reunion of this stream with the Quorra stands Kirree, a large market-town, at which place the great delta of the Quorra may be said to commence, extending south-westerly to the mouth of the river Benin, and south-south-east to that of Old Calabar. At Kirree a great branch was seen to go off to Benin; but it is not till the traveller reaches Eboe, a large town seventy miles farther down the river, that it begins to separate into those numerous channels which intersect the country in every direction, and enter the Atlantic by so many estuaries. At a little distance above Eboe a large branch runs to the westward, terminating also, it is said, at Benin, but more probably in one of the numerous rivers to the south-southeast of that estuary. Another large branch goes off at the same place, flowing to the south-east, apparently towards Old Calabar and the Rio del Rey, two large estuaries. At the point where these two arms of the Quorra strike off, the river spreads out into a vast lake, which is said to receive a number of small rivers.

In sailing down from Kirree to Eboe, the Landers found a complete change from the beautiful and smiling aspect which nature had presented on the upper banks of the stream. The country became almost throughout an alluvial swamp, covered with vast entangled forests, which concealed the villages. Grain and cattle had disappeared from the fields, and the sole subsistence of the inhabitants was derived from the produce of the trees, from roots, the banana, the plantain, the yam, and from the fish caught in the river. The Quorra abounds in fish, and the inhabitants of the banks are expert and persevering fishermen. They make immense nets of grass, which they use as seines with great dexterity. The palm-tree, also, is not only an extensive article of trade, but affords a refreshing juice. Eboe is situated on the side of a creek running parallel with the Quorra, and in the flooded season communicating with it at both extremities. It may contain about six thousand inhabitants, who are the most enterprising and industrious traders on the river. The town itself, with the immediate vicinity, is unhealthy, owing to the swampy nature of the ground. The staple trade of Eboe consists of slaves and palm-oil, the latter being produced in immense quantities; and yet so plentiful are the trees which yield it, that, Mr Laird says, not the twentieth part of the natural produce is collected. But as long as the slave-trade exists, it is vain to look for the development of industry and commerce in these countries. Is it likely that the nativeswill explore the palm forests whilst the atrocious practice of kidnapping them on every convenient occasion is carried on by Europeans and Americans? Industry, however, would soon follow security, and the trade in palm-oil might be rendered exceedingly valuable to Europe. Below Eboe, the branches thrown off by the Quorra on both sides are large and numerous, and that which forms the Bonny may perhaps claim to be considered as the main stream. The Brass River, however, flowing in a direction nearly south-west from Eboe, and entering the Atlantic at Cape Formosa, was that by which the Landers reached the sea. The next points to be considered are, the extent of the Quorra, its tributaries, and the size and character of its delta.

“If we measure two distances,” says an able writer on this subject,^[5. Edinburgh Review, No. cx. p. 415. ] “one from the source to Timbuctoo, and the other from that city to the sea, we shall have nearly 2000 miles, which may be considered as the direct course; and the various windings must raise the whole line of the stream to upwards of 3000 miles. For several hundred miles of its lower course it forms a broad and magnificent expanse, resembling an inland sea. The Niger must, after all, yield very considerably to the Missouri and Orellana, those stupendous rivers of the new world; but it appears as great as any of those which water the old continents. There can rank with it only the Nile and the Yang-tse-kiang, or Great River of China. But the upper course of neither is yet very fully ascertained; and the Nile can compete only in length of course, not in the magnitude of its stream, or the fertility of the regions which it waters. There is one feature in which the Niger may defy competition with any river, either of the old or new world. This is in the grandeur of its delta. Along the whole coast, from the river of Formosa or Benin, to that of Old Calabar, about three hundred miles in length, there open into the Atlantic its successive estuaries, which navigators have scarcely been able to number. Taking this coast as the base of the triangle or delta, and its vertex at Kirree, about a hundred and seventy miles inland, where the Formosa branch separates, we have a space of upwards of 25,000 square miles, [7:16:223]equal to the half of England. Had this delta, like that of the Nile, been subject only to temporary inundations, leaving behind a layer of fertilizing slime, it would have formed i the most fruitful region on the earth, and might have been almost the granary of a continent. But unfortunately the Niger rolls down its waters in such excessive abundance, as to convert the whole into a huge and dreary swamp, covered with dense forests of mangrove and other trees of spreading and luxuriant foliage. The equatorial sun, with its fiercest rays, cannot penetrate these dark recesses; it only exhales from them pestilential vapours, which render this coast the theatre of more fatal epidemic diseases than any other, even of Western Africa. That human industry will one day level these forests, drain these swamps, and cover this soil with luxuriant harvests, we may confidently anticipate; but many ages must probably elapse before man, in Africa, can achieve such a victory over nature.”

These broad estuaries of the Quorra communicate with each other by creeks, and, frequently overflowing their banks, render the shore a vast alluvial wooded morass for more than twenty miles inland. The natives, having thus far extended water communications, are the most active traders anywhere in Africa; but, excepting slaves, the commodities in which they deal are now entirely changed. Gold has given place to ivory, which is collected in considerable quantities; but palm-oil is the great staple of the eastern districts. A vast quantity of salt is made at the mouths of the rivers, both for consumption at the spot and in the interior. The first leading feature is the river Formosa, which is two miles wide at its mouth; and on a creek tributary to it stands the capital of Benin. The surrounding territory is well cultivated, although not so completely cleared of wood as it might be. Jatto, about fifty miles below, is the port of Benin, and is accessible to vessels of sixty tons. The trade on this river has greatly declined from what it once was. Warré or Owarri is another state and city, situated on another creek, communicating with the Formosa on its opposite side. It consists of a somewhat elevated and beautiful island, surrounded by vast woods and swamps. After doubling Cape Formosa, and passing several estuaries, we come to that of the Brass River, called by the Portuguese the river of Nun. This, though not the largest estuary of the Quorra, is most directly in the line of the main stream, and being that by which Lander entered the Atlantic, it at present enjoys the reputation of being the principal channel. It is divided into two branches; but the navigation is greatly impeded, and the trade limited by a dangerous bar at its mouth. Brass Town is not built on either of the great branches, but on one of the numerous creeks connected with both, and in a country overgrown with impenetrable thickets of mangrove. It is a poor place, divided by a lagoon into two parts, each of which contains about a thousand inhabitants. Bonny River forms the next important estuary, having on its opposite sides the towns of Bonny and New Calabar, which, being only a few miles up, are situated in the midst of the morassses which overspread all this country. The people support themselves by the manufacture of salt, and they likewise trade in slaves and palm-oil. To the eastward of Bonny is the estuary of Old Calabar River, the broadest of all, and navigable for large vessels sixty miles up to Ephraim Town, which is governed by a chief who assumes the title of duke. It carries on a considerable trade, and contains about four thousand inhabitants. To this river succeeds that of Rio del Rey, and then the Rio Cameroons. The country yields a good deal of ivory and palm-oil. The continuity of the vast wooded flat which extends along the coast for more than two hundred miles is now broken by some very lofty mountains, the principal of which is supposed to reach the height of 13,000 feet. 0

We have seen that, besides its own ample stream, the Quorra has a number of tributaries. Not far above the point where the delta commences, the Tshadda enters, being nearly equal in magnitude to the Quorra itself. A little higher up the Coodonia enters; it is a smaller river, but still of great importance in a commercial point of view, as Lander had seen it flowing through a very fertile and highly cultivated country. Considerably higher up is the Cubbie, a large stream from the country and city of that name; and higher up still is the Quarrama, which passes by Zirmie and Saccatoo. Between this point and Timbuctoo we are ignorant of how many or what streams join the Quorra, nor is the tributary which passes that city of any great importance. But, at the eastern boundary of Bambarra, Mr Park describes the influx from the south of two great streams, the Maniand and Nimma; and it seems very doubtful if De Caille was not mistaken in supposing the latter to be a mere branch of the Quorra. The higher tributaries descending from the mountains swell the stream, without themselves affording any important navigation.

An interesting question, and one which has occupied a considerable degree of attention, here presents itself, namely, what prospect does this great interior communication open to British commerce? Our intercourse with this part of Africa has hitherto been almost exclusively with the coast, which is comparatively unproductive, whilst its inhabitants are idle and miserable. Inland, however, we find the people improve, and the country become fertile to luxuriance, and gradually more healthy. The territories rendered accessible by the Quorra and its tributaries are undoubtedly the most productive and industrious in all Africa; and their population, notwithstanding the difficulty of forming any precise estimate, can scarcely be rated at less than about twenty-five millions. Considerable results might reasonably be anticipated, from British enterprise having found access to such a region. But there are two great drawbacks to active intercourse with the interior of Africa; the insalubrity of the climate, and the inhuman traffic in slaves, which last is a thousand times more destructive to trade than all the forms which disease ever assumed. If this were removed and the cónfidence of the natives restored, our commerce with Africa by means of the Quorra might be greatly increased. In the mean time, the late failure of Macgregor Laird and Oldfield will probably for a time damp the ardour of enterprise, and our commercial relations with this quarter of Africa may remain, for years to come, on nearly the same footing as before. (r. r. r.)