Chapter I (3)

[Footnote 18: “In the province of St. Jago, in Chili, there is a plant of this class and order (Didynamiæ gymnosperma) supposed to be a species of wild basil (Ocimum salinum), resembling the common basil so much as to be hardly distinguished from it, except that the flower stem is round and jointed, and its scent and taste not like the basil, but rather like the sea flag, or some marine plant. It is an annual, shooting forth in the spring, and continuing till the commencement of winter: every morning it is covered with hard and shining saline globules, resembling dew, which the countrymen shake off the leaves to serve them as common salt, and in some respects is thought to be of a superior quality. Every plant produces daily about half an ounce of this salt; but Molina, a scientific naturalist, to whom we are indebted for this information, says, that it is extremely difficult to account for this phenomenon, as the situation where he found these plants was in the most fertile part of the kingdom, and at a distance from the sea of more than seventy miles. When we see some plants secrete flint, separate and distinct from their fibres, as well as combined with their organic structure; and when we also know that plants secrete alkali, in every situation, I cannot perceive why Molina should consider the contiguity of the sea to be essential to the production of a neutral salt in the Ocimum salinum.” Linnæan System, London, 1816, vol. ii. p. 303.

Riley, whose narrative has recently appeared, saw in the desert, “A dwarf thorn bush from two to five feet high with succulent leaves strongly impregnated with salt.”]

[Footnote 19: In the Dutch copies of the old Portuguese charts, Xabunda (perhaps Banda) is placed as the capital of Ashantee, and two or three large Portuguese towns, one St. Lawrence, with several convents and crosses between it and the Coast.]

[Footnote 20: Gago oppidum amplissimum nullis quoque cingitur muris, distat a Tumbuto meridiem versus quadringentes fere passuum millibus, inclinatusque fere ad Euroaustrum. Leo Af.]

[Footnote 21: “To what degree the natives of Silla would have contradicted each other in their accounts of Tombuctoo, Park’s short stay there could not have allowed him time to ascertain, even if his knowledge of their language had enabled him to understand their accounts as well as he did those of the slatees on the Gambia.

“Several instances of the contradictory testimony of the Negroes occur in Park’s travels, Jennië, for instance, is stated in his first Mission to be situated on the Niger, but on his second journey he renounces that opinion, on the apparently good authority of an old Somonie (canoe man) who had been seven times at Tombuctoo.” Adams’s Editor.]

[Footnote 22: Mr. Hutchison writes, that from Inta to Jennë is said to be 41 journies. This Gentleman, the Resident at Coomassie, merely accompanied the Mission to act in that capacity in case the object could be accomplished, and was not instructed to report: the officer conducting the Mission being responsible to the extent of his industry, and the opportunities, for the various desiderata, excepting the Botanical and Medical, which were expected from the Surgeon, Mr. Tedlie. Mr. Hutchison’s time was much employed in making duplicates and copies of the frequent and voluminous dispatches to head quarters. The Moors disliking even a second European to be present at their geographical communications, Mr. Hutchison, through his obliging disposition, which accommodated itself to every thing auxiliary to the pursuits of the Mission, rendered me a great service, and quieted the uneasiness of the Moors by keeping watch, and diverting the various Ashantee visitors who would have intruded, with great patience and address. There was no time even for a communication of the data I had collected before the Mission left Coomassie, for we may be said to have lived in public the latter part of the four months, and Mr. Hutchison’s genius inclining more to the cultivation of the Ashantee and Arabic languages, which I had no doubt would yield to his great industry, I did not intrude less congenial pursuits on his attention, (the desiderata having been amply realized,) but merely requested he would let me know what any intelligent Moor, arriving after my departure, might say of the Interior, and, if possible, procure a chart from him, especially if he was not a native of Houssa or Bornoo, which two of the Moors who had drawn for me were. After I had finished my Geographical Report, Mr. Hutchison sent, with some other interesting particulars, added as notes with his initials, a chart drawn by a Jennë Moor just arrived, confirming all I had collected in the most satisfactory manner. The names of the countries from the source of the Niger to Egypt were written in Arabic, with Mr. Hutchison’s expression of the pronunciation in English opposite. I particularly recollect that his ear differed somewhat from mine, which accounts for the trifling differences in our spelling. I shewed Mr. Hutchison my charts as curiosities, but he took no minutes of the names, uninteresting from his never having had an opportunity of reading Major Rennell’s Dissertations, which would alone make them so to any one. He gives a better proof of this, than my own impression, by the following extract from his letter to me, accompanying the chart: “The Bornoo you used to talk about, you will find the same as the lake Chaudi, or Al Bahare Noohoo, or else you know a country I I do not recollect hearing of;” but, in the postscript, he writes, “On looking over my memoranda, I find Bornoo is the principal monarchy the Arabs alone stand in awe of, and one of the four kingdoms best known on the Quolla.” Mr. Hutchison _unconsciously_ confirming what I had learned, is even more satisfactory than if I had left him any basis for his enquiries; indeed, his own object, the acquirement of the language, was too important to be interrupted unnecessarily. Before I attach any quotation from this Gentleman’s letters, I must acknowledge the assistance I had previously derived from his spirited zeal as an officer, as well as that which has since resulted from his interest in intellectual pursuits.]

[Footnote 23: The Moors particularly mentioned buying their writing paper there. One told me that the Joliba ran to a river called Hotaiba after it passed Yahoodee, which river ran towards Toonis. Several talked of vessels coming to Yahoodee, navigated by white men, but whence I could not learn, and Brahima had never visited it, though such reports were familiar to him.]

[Footnote 24: The rivers Arauca and Capanaparo in Cumana form bifurcations similar to those of the Niger. The Arauca divides itself into two rivers, the northern one, the Arauquito, runs through the lake Cabullarito into the Orinoco, and the southern retaining the name of Arauca, also flows to the Orinoco. The Capanaparo falls into the Orinoco in two streams, the northern retaining the original name, and the southern acquiring that of Mina. See Humboldt’s map of the eastern part of the province of Verina.]

[Footnote 25: See note, p. 189.]

[Footnote 26: “No one who compares the maps of De Lisle and D’Anville with the materials then published, can doubt the excellent means of information with which they must have been supplied both by government, and by private individuals.” Murray.

We find a remarkable instance of De Lisle’s accuracy in Major Rennell’s construction of the geography of Mr. Horneman’s expedition. “Mr. Horneman was informed that there are 101 inhabited places in Fezzan.” It is remarkable that this is precisely the number stated in M. Delisle’s map of Africa, drawn in 1707; and, according to Mr. Beaufoy’s informant, there are nearly 100.

I have since found an older authority for the name _Gambaroo_, and which also shews that the name _Quolla_ and its connection with the Gambaroo, have not been wholly unknown hitherto. It is in the L’Afrique de Marmol, livre viii. chap. 3. “C’est une chose estrange que ce fleuve venant de si loin, car Ptolomée le fait venir du lac _Quélonide_, et de celui de Nuba, il n’entraine pas tant d’eaux par ce costé-là, et la marée ne monte pas si avant, _que par l’autre bras que l’on appelle Gamber_.” One may almost fancy Quolla and Quellonide to have been derived from the Chalonides of Ptolemy.]

[Footnote 27: “The fact of a large lake like the Dibbie, discharging its waters by two streams flowing from distant parts of the lake, and re- uniting after a separate course of a hundred miles in length, has always appeared to us extremely apocryphal, at least we believe that the geography of the world does not afford a parallel case.” Adams’s Editor.]

[Footnote 28: “According to these statements of the Moorish traders, Adams would seem to have mistaken the course of the stream at Tombuctoo. In fact, I do not recollect that he told me at Mogadore that it flowed in a westerly direction: but, I think, I am correct in saying, that he discovered some uncertainty in speaking upon this subject, (and almost upon this subject alone) observing, in answer to my inquiries, that he had not taken very particular notice, and that the river was steady, without any appearance of a strong current.” Dupuis on Adams.

Adams’s name, La-mar-Zarah (for of course he did not attach _La_ mar to indicate water, but pronounced La-mar-Zarah, as an integral name) seems accounted for by his confounding or connecting the Arabic name of the river, _Lahamar_, with the Negro name _Yça_ (for we find these names in Marmol, tom. 3. liv. 8.) making _Lahamar-yça_, La-mar-Zarah.]

[Footnote 29: Les Sénégurs le nomment Sénédec, les Jalofes Dengueh, les Turcorons qui sont plus au-dedans du pays Maye, les Saragoles qui sont plus haut Colle, et en un contrée plus vers l’orient Zimbale: au royaume de Tombut on le nomme Yça. Marmol, tom. 3, livre 8. The name Zimbale must be derived from Jimballa, by which country the river passes; it occurs in the route from Shégo to Timbuctoo. P. 194.]

[Footnote 30: Kulla, in the Mallowa, if not in the Kassina language, means _child_; perhaps, allegory being the character of African language, the southern river may be called Quolla or Kulla, from being a _branch_ only of the great river which forms it and the Gambaroo.]

[Footnote 31: See the account of the large interior river known at Gaboon, under the name of _Wole_ or _Wolela_.]

[Footnote 32: “There is one thing that disagrees with Mr. Park’s account, they call the Niger Quolla at Jennë, Sansanding, &c. &c. and describe the Jolliba as falling into the Quolla east of Timbuctoo.” W. H.

The Moors invariably reported to me that it ran from it. Mr. H. might perhaps have misunderstood the Jennë Moor, whose single authority cannot be opposed to the concurrence of several.]

[Footnote 33: Illorum verò qui per interiorem Æthiopiam fluant, quique fontes et ostia in continente habent maximi sunt Gir et Nigir. (Lib. 2. E. 1. De maximis _fluminibus_.)]

[Footnote 34: The Jennë Moor does not appear to have been so particularly acquainted with the source of the Niger. He has drawn two hills, from one of which springs a large river he could not name, running westward, the other is the source of the Quolla, and Mr. Hutchison has written its name Bieteerilmiloo. Between this source and Mala, the King of which he describes as a great monarch, he mentions no towns or kingdoms. This Mala is the Malay of the Moorish charts I procured, between the source and which five places or countries were written. Mr. Hutchison writes the course thus, without time or distance, Mala, Bambarra, Shego, Sansanding, Jena, Mashina, Dahleä (a small croom on the lake Dibber,) Kabarra: he adds, cannibals are close to the Joliba, and 30 journies from Timbuctoo, they eat their prisoners: the dead of their own people are put in the Joliba, in wooden coffins.]

[Footnote 35: The following sentence in the description of Leo, conveys an idea of the decline or decay of the city. “Cujus domus omnes in tuguriola cretacea stramineis tectis _sunt mutatæ_.” Yet immediately after we receive the contrary impression on reading “Visitur tamen elegantissimum quoddam templum cujus murus ex lapidibus atque calce vivo est fabricatus: deinde et palacium quoddam regium quodam Granato viro artificissimo conditum. Frequentissimæ hic sunt artificum mercatorum præcipuè autem telæ atque gossypii textorum officinæ; huc mercatores Barbari pannum ex Europa adferunt.” In the Description de l’Afrique en Flamand, published about a century and a half afterwards, the author seems to be aware of the advanced decline or decay of Timbuctoo. “Les maisons étoient autrefois fort sumptueuses, mais elles ne sont maintenant que de bois enduites de terre grasse et couvertes de paille.”]

[Footnote 36: “All the country from where the Joliba discharges itself into the Quolla is subject to the Sultan Malisimiel. What makes the Sultan of Timbuctoo so much talked of, is his being near the water side; but his master, the Sultan of Malisimiel considers him merely as a deputy or governor. The four greatest monarchs known on the banks of the Quolla, are Baharnoo, Santambool, Malisimiel, and Malla.” W. H. Malla is Mallowa.]

[Footnote 37: “The Chaymas substitute _r_ for _l_, a substitution that arises from a defect of pronunciation, common in every zone. The substitution of _r_ for _l_ characterizes, for example, the Bashmouric dialect of the Coptic language. It is thus that the Caribbees of the Oroonoko have been transformed into Galibi, in French Guiana, by confounding _r_ with _l_, and softening the _c_. The Tamanach has made choraro (solalo) of the Spanish word soldado.” Humboldt’s personal narrative, book iii. chap. 9.]

[Footnote 38: The position of Mellè is further confirmed in Dapper “Le Roi de _Tombut_ prend le nom d’Empereur de _Melli_.” This title seems to have been transferred to the King of Houssa from the decline of Timbuctoo, to which the aggrandisement of the former city is to be attributed.]

[Footnote 39: The King residing in Houssa is the King of Malla; he has seven tributary Kings. W. H.]

[Footnote 40: I did not hear of the Gotoijegee, Carmasse, or Gourmon of Amadi Fatouma; it is clear that he was not very correct in names. I never once heard Silla called Sellee, Dibbie, Sibbie, or Kabra, Rakbarra.]

[Footnote 41: The Jennë Moor notices between Kabarra and Cabi, Gauw (a great kingdom) Quoülla, Askeä, Zabirma. Ptolemy has a city called Geua on the Gir.]

[Footnote 42: The Jennë Moor told Mr. Hutchison, “the Quolla was the largest river in the world, and about 5 miles wide, having a very rocky channel, the banks on both sides very high, and rugged: in many parts canoes often take a day to cross, from the dangerous whirlpools, and sudden squalls; at other places the stream runs with great rapidity. The houses in its environs are either terraced or shingled, as thatch cannot resist the frequent high winds.”]

[Footnote 43: The Jennë Moor has placed Gangë as an island in the Quolla just below Bousa. This must be the Gongoo of Imhammed, and Ben Ali, south of Cassina. Mr. Lucas writes “the width of the Niger is such, that even at the island of Gongoo, where the ferrymen reside, the sound of the loudest voice from the northern shore is scarcely heard.”]

[Footnote 44: The Jennë Moor traces the course from Yaoora, thus: Boussa, Gangë, Wawa, Noofa, Quollaliffa, Atagara; the only difference being the position of the latter place, possibly an error of mine, as the name Atagara was not noticed in the charts I made the Moors draw, but only in the more particular enumerations of the countries the Quolla passed; the names of which I minuted from their utterance, and afterwards attached their remarks as interpreted to me.]

[Footnote 45: The Jennë Moor calls this Quolla liffa. Mr. Hutchison, who has a servant, a native of it, describes it as a very powerful kingdom, as the Shereef Brahima described it to me, and as was the impression of Mr. Dupuis. Mr. H. adds, on Negro and Moorish authority, “it is to the King of Quallowliffa that the country in which Canna, Dall, and Yum Yum, where cannibals are, is subject.” Mr. Horneman mentions Yem Yems cannibals south of Kano 10 days; and the account is further confirmed in my subsequent geographical sketch of the interior of Gaboon. Mr. Horneman’s information that the Niger flowed towards the Egyptian Nile through the land of the Heathens, which Mr. Park quoted as an argument for the Congo hypothesis, doubtless referred to these cannibals.]

[Footnote 46: “At times the water of this lake is hot, and it boils and bubbles with a great noise, often overflowing the surrounding country. The bones of fish thrown up by the volcano are so numerous, that the Arabs mix them in the swish of their houses. There are a great many islets in the lake, which is so extensive, that they cannot see the end. Between it and the Quolla rises a very high hill, from the top of which is an extensive view; it is a day’s journey from the water on either side. The Arabs eat black rice, corn, and sweet beans, called Tummer.” W. H.]

[Footnote 47: The Jennë Moor has also placed it E. of Foor. Mr. Hutchison writes the course, after him, from Atagara, thus: “Maffagoodoo, Sharee, Lake Chadee, Phorr (beginning of Arabs) “Wadie.” Mr. Horneman writes “A great part of the people of Wadey, together with their King, are Arabs.”]

[Footnote 48: Mr. Hutchison has written it Sooänar.]

[Footnote 49: “Cairo is still called, in the figurative language of the East, Misr, without an equal; Misr, the mistress of the world.” Quarterly Review. Mr. Hutchison writes, that the Moors told him it was so called after Misraim, who settled there.]

[Footnote 50: The following, in the left hand column, are the places or countries as written by Mr. Hutchison, after the Jennë Moor, agreeing with those the Moors reported to me.

Shuewa Shewa Abenassa.

Swiss Sooess.

Zall Zaloo.

Machazoogee Machawazoo.

Tabarbass, cultivation, volcano from
the Quolla two days, two days to the top, Tabarrabass.

Askanderee Askandaraia or Sakunderree.

The latter place is Alexandria. The Moors called the Mediterranean Sea to me by two names, Baharlë Malee, and Sabbaha Bahoori. Mr. Hutchison writes it Baramela or Bahermale, and adds, “Seven rivers from Africa turn their course to it, but only two reach the shores, of which the Nile is one. The rush of the waters of the Nile when they meet the sea, is so great, that the waves are driven into the air with great force, and retire like waves against a rock. The Red Sea, they say, assumes various colours at different periods from seven streams pouring their course into it, salt water and fresh, red, blue, yellow, &c.”]

[Footnote 51: “Half of the inhabitants of Massar are white, and half black; they have a Fort and Governor.” W. H.]

[Footnote 52: Stambool is the Arabic pronunciation of the familiar or vulgar name of Constantinople, the etymology of which is ιϛαμαι πολιν.]

[Footnote 53: Mr. Hutchison writes, “Wangara is the name of a region comprehending Mosee Kong, and other neighbouring countries south of the Niger (if not some to the north of it) but Oongooroo is the name of the country laying between Cassina and Bornoo.)” Mr. Park has _Wangeera_ in the route from Sego to the coast of Guinea.]

[Footnote 54: “The dress of the people of Fullan (a country to the west of Kassina) resembles the cloth of which the plaids of the Scotch Highlanders are made.” Ben Ali.]

[Footnote 55: Mr. Hutchison sends me this route, as given him by the Jennë Moor, thus, (supposing me not to have heard of Yariba) “from Goodaberry, over Lasa small water to Quolla, at Boussa; few hours walk to Yaraba; 28 days from Dahomey:” he adds, “recollect that the King of Dahomey is tributary to the King of Yaraba, who is the same in that quarter, as the King of Ashantee is here.”]

[Footnote 56: The Jennë Moor gave this route thus: Wawa to Kiama, a great kingdom, 3 days; close to the eastward a desert; 1 day Garagroogee; 1 day Wala; 1 day Goodaberry.]

[Footnote 57: “Guber est à cent lieuës de Gago vers l’Orient, et en est separé par un desert inhabitable à quatorze ou quinze lieuës du Niger. Cette contrée est entre de hautes montagnes, et toute pleine de villages; celui où le Prince tient sa Cour a quelque mille maisons.” Dapper.]

[Footnote 58: I shall adjoin an outline of the great river in one of the maps of Dapper’s Description de l’Afrique, traduit du Flamand, because the book is very scarce, and I do not remember to have seen the Niger, the Gir, or the Congo so laid down in any other.]

[Footnote 59: The removal of Cano from the banks of the Niger agreeable with every report I received, is supported by Dapper. “A cent soixante et dix lieuës d’Agadez et à deux cent du Niger on trouve ce royaume (Guber), au milieu du quel est la ville de Cano fermée de murailles de bois et de pierre, et qui a des maisons bâties de même.”]

[Footnote 60: “The Mahometans of Senaar number Bornoo amongst the four most powerful monarchies of the world; the other three are Turkey, Persia, and Abyssinia: the sovereign of Bornoo is more powerful than the Emperor of Morocco.” Lucas.]

[Footnote 61: Ce royame, qu’on croit avoir été la demeure des Garamantes, est une vaste Province au levant de Gangara, qui s’étend vers l’Orient l’espace de cent soixante dix lieuës et est éloignée du Niger de cinquante.]

[Footnote 62: Mr. Hutchison heard of another river near Bornoo called Koomoodoo gaiguina: he could not hear of the Wad el Gazel.]

[Footnote 63: I observe, in a modern publication, Dr. Isert’s described as a second visit to Africa, under the auspices of the Danish government, encouraged by his reports to attempt colonization in Aquapim, and that he died from anxiety and exertion. This was not the case, it was his first and only visit, the Danes never attempted colonization, and he embarked for the West Indies as I have before stated. Having read the above, however, I wrote to Dr. Reynhaut, who translated some passages from the Dutch into Latin for me, and the following is an extract from his letter in reply. “Quod attinet Iserti in Africam reditum, ibique ejus obitum, ficta hæc est fama. Verum est juxta Quitam post victoriam in Augnaeos populos reportatam, Danos arcem condidisse, cui nomen insigniverunt Prinzenstein; sed nullæ culturæ incubuerunt, nec colonias struxerunt, nec minus falsum est umquam Isertum in Africæ littoræ inferiora regis jussu rediisse, colonias extruendi gratia, nam præter opus Botanicum quod Floræ Guinensis titulo occurrit, nullum aliud de illo scriptum existit.”]

[Footnote 64: Since I have been at sea I have drawn the maritime part of my map again, and laid down the Forts and other points according to the observations quoted in Norrie, (4th edition, 1816,) which agree so very nearly with those of the Commissioners in the two instances cited, that I conclude he has been allowed to copy the whole series from their papers, which I believe have never been published. Even in Dr. Mackay’s valuable publication, Cape Coast Castle is laid 1° 23′ too much to the eastward. I presume too that the observations made by H.M.S. Amelia, are part of those quoted by Norrie, although the Argo’s observations of the longitude of Quitta and Whydah are not confirmed. I observe a small error which makes 1′ 28″ N. and 7′ 24″ E. the difference between Kormantine and Annamaboe, the former is only 5 miles eastward of the latter.]