dition westward to Timbuktu on the western branch of the Niger, and his return to Europe. He started from Kukawa on Lake Tsad, November, 1852, and reached Timbuktu, sixteen or seventeen degrees west, in September, 1853, after enduring great fatigue, bearing many deprivations, and encountering from the suspicions and hostilities of the contending tribes, many dangers. The country is peopled throughout the line of his journey by negroes and Arabs, and presents many scenes of great beauty. We give a few extracts descriptive of the region through which he passed, the products of the soil, and the manners of the inhabit

ants:

"The whole country round about Dirche is rocky, with only a slight covering of fertile soil, so that nothing but Indian millet is cultivated, which thrives very well in rocky ground. But the country was adorned with a tolerable variety of trees, such as monkey-bread trees, the drowa, the kadina, and the merke. While crossing a rocky ridge, we were joined by a large troop of people, bearing large loads of cotton on their heads, which they were carrying to the market of Badaráwa. This cotton was distinguished for its snow-white color, and seemed to be of very good quality.

"Beyond the rock ridge the country becomes more open, and rich in trees and cultivated fields.

"We soon reached the town of Badaráwa, which, like most towns of the region, is surrounded on all sides with a dense border of timber, affording to the archers, who form the strength of the natives, great advantage in a defence, and making an attack in the present method of war in this country, very difficult. In the midst of this dense body of trees, there was a very considerable market, attended by nearly 10,000 people, and well supplied with cotton, which seems to be the staple commodity; white Indian millet (sorghum) also was in abundance. A great number of cattle were slaughtered in the market, and the meat retailed in small quantities. There was also a good supply of fresh butter formed in large lumps, cleanly prepared and swimming in water. Nor was there any scarcity of onions."-Pp. 99, 100.

The following is his account of Sokota, the town in which Capt. Clapperton died :

"It was the great market day, which was of some importance to me, as I was obliged to buy a good many things. Even in

the present reduced condition of the place, the market presented a very interesting sight, the numerous groups of people, buyers as well as sellers, and the animals of various descriptions being picturesquely scattered over the rocky slope. The market was tolerably well attended, and well supplied, there being about thirty horses, three hundred head of cattle for slaughter, fifty oxen of burden, and a great quantity of leather manufactures, especially bags, cushions, and other articles, the leather being dressed so as to be very soft and beautiful. There were more than a hundred bridles for sale, and of a style of workmanship much celebrated throughout negroland. A large quantity of iron was also on sale. A good many slaves were exhibited and fetched a high price, a lad of very indifferent appearance being sold for 33,000 shells."-Pp. 131, 132.

From Sokota he proceeded to Gando, the capital of a large kingdom on the Niger. This rich and populous region is the scene of continual conflict between hostile tribes, and its towns and hamlets are often destroyed by marauding parties.

"The whole of this district had attained a high degree of power and prosperity under the dominion of the Kanta, and had only recently begun, in consequence of the war of independence, to lose many of its former centres of human industry. An example of this desolation was afforded by the little town of Yara. We had left the faddama on our right, and kept along rocky ground. But we were urgently warned by the people whom we met on the road of the danger of an approaching gharria. This place, which a short time ago was the seat of human well-being, had been destroyed by the enemy the preceding month, and all the inhabitants carried into slavery, notwithstanding the presence of a body of troops that marched out of Gando for the succor of their countrymen. The aspect of the place was doleful in the extreme, and corresponding with the dangerous situation in which we found ourselves. But life and death in these regions are closely allied. We had scarcely left the ruined village, when we were greeted by a most luxuriant rice field, where the crops were already almost three feet high, and girt by the finest border of a rich variety of shady trees, overtopped by a number of tall deleb-palms, the golden fruit of which, half ripe, was starting forth from under the feathery foliage. But our attention was soon diverted from this scenery to an object of greater interest to ourselves. We ob

served a solitary individual, in spite of the unsafe conidtion of the country, sitting quietly at the foot of the palm trees, and seemingly enjoying its fruit. Now from the news we had just received, we could not help suspecting this man to be a spy, posted here by the enemy in order to give information of the passer-by; and I had great difficulty in preventing my Arab from shooting him.

"Proceeding then through a very rich country, we reached, after a march of two miles, the town of Gulumbe, situated close to the southern border of the valley, and exhibiting extensive fields cultivated with yams and cotton. The banana constitutes the chief ornament of the narrow border between the faddama -low swampy valley-and the walls of the town, and the gonda raising its feathery foliage on its slender stem, towered proudly over the wall. The town is walled, of considerable size, and densely inhabited; but nevertheless the people are in such dread of the enemy, that they kept up a continual beating of drums; and though on account of the smallness of the gate, we encamped outside in a courtyard, we thought it prudent to fire a few shots, in order to apprise the people around that we were well prepared to receive them, to the great relief of the inhabitants of the town, who, delighted at the unexpected addition to their strength, treated us in a very hospitable manner.

"After a thunder storm, the night was succeeded by a beautiful morning. The fields on this side of the town as well as on the other, when we approached it, were fenced with great care, while horses and asses were grazing on the rich pasture grounds. The crops hereabouts were already-June-more than a foot above the ground. Besides sorghum, yams were cultivated to a great extent; yet on account of the insecurity of the country death and famine everywhere prevailed."-Pp. 150, 152.

"Our road lay through fine cornfields shaded by beautiful doràwa trees, along the border of a fertile valley, which was formerly surrounded by an uninterrupted line of larger towns. But most of them are now desolated and destroyed; and both factions are continually harassing each other by predatory expeditions. We soon reached Zaguma, a town of perhaps 7,000 to 8,000 inhabitants, but it was suffering greatly from famine, in consequence of the war which had raged for the last two years between the Fulbe conquerors of the country and the native inhabitants who had risen to assert their independence."-Pp.

155-157.

At length having advanced ten or eleven degrees west

ward from Kùkawa, on the lake Tsad, he reached the Niger at Say, and crossed to its southern bank.

"We were now near the Niger, and I indulged the hope that I might the next day behold the great river of Western Africa, which has been the object of such curiosity in Europe, and the upper part of the eastern branch of which I myself discovered. Elated with this feeling, I set out at an early hour the next morning, and after a march of a few miles through a rocky wilderness, covered with dense bushes, I obtained the first sight of the river, and soon reached the place of embarkation, opposite the town of Say.

"In a noble unbroken stream, though here where it has become contracted, only about 700 yards broad, hemmed in on this side by a rocky bank of from twenty to thirty feet in elevation, the great river of Western Africa was gliding along in a N.N.E. and S.S.W. direction, with a moderate current of about three miles an hour. On the flater shore opposite, a large town was spread out, the low and compact huts of which were overtopped by numbers of slender dum-palms. This is the river-town, or ford.

"I had sent a messenger in advance the preceding day, in order to have some large boats ready for me to cross the river. But none having arrived, I had plenty of leisure for contemplating the river scenery. There was a good number of passengers, Fulbe and Songhay, with asses and pack-oxen, and there were some smaller boats in readiness suitable to their wants; but at length the boats, or rather canoes, which were to carry me and my effects across, made their appearance. They were of good size, about forty feet in length, and from four to five feet in width in the middle, consisting of two trunks of trees hollowed out and sewn together in the centre These boats are chiefly employed in conveying the corn from the town of Sinder, which lies higher up the river, to Say, and they had been expressly sent for by the king of the waters,' or inspector of the harbor. The largest of them was of such size as to carry three of my camels.

"My camels, horses, luggage, and people having crossed over without an accident, I myself followed, elated at floating on the waters of the celebrated stream. A little nearer the western bank, a short distance below where the river is generally crossed, an isolated rock rises at this season, twelve or fifteen feet above the water."-Pp. 171, 172.

This place he considers likely to become a point of much importance to European merchants, should the navigation of the Niger prove practicable; as some distance above the passage of boats will be intercepted by rapids. The country is rich, and may yield large and valuable products for exchange for European merchandise. In the remainder of his journey to Timbuktu, instead of following the line of the river, he left it far on his right, till he struck it again a short distance above that city. The region through which he passed in this journey of perhaps 400 miles, is much diversified, presenting many rich vales and plains, interspersed with districts of thin soil, studded with villages and towns, but distracted with feuds and wars, and unsafe for travellers from other lands, from the prejudices of the Moslems, and the passion of all for blood and plunder.

At length I set out for Doré-a town about one-third of the way from Say to Timbúktu-on the last and most dangerous stage of my journey to Timbúktu, thinking I should be able to reach that place in about twenty days, but I underrated the distance; and I had no idea of the difficulties which attend the journey, at least for a Christian, and the delays that would be caused by the companion I had attached to me.

"On leaving the turbulent town, Doré, a great many armed people accompanied us, much against my inclination, and their conduct was so suspicious that we were obliged to make a halt, and send them away; for the inhabitants of this place had not long before robbed and killed a wealthy shereef whom they pretended to escort on his way. In crossing a low ground where water often forms a lake, we met a large caravan of traders from Bússumo, their asses heavily leaden with immense bundles of tari or cotton strips, and with kola nuts. Farther on, where a little cultivation of cotton appeared, the monkey-bread tree, or baobab, became predominant; altogether the whole province seemed to be in a miserable state; and a village which we passed, after a march of several miles, bore evident traces of the effects of war.

"We soon entered a district very different from that which we had hitherto traversed in the province, and causing us great delays and difficulties from the many rivers and swamps which we had to cross. On passing two streams, large, wide-spreading mur, tamarind and monkey-bread trees everywhere appeared, and we could see the footsteps of a great number of