These intelligent Moors gave me much information respecting Timbuctoo, and the interior countries where they had resided; they sold me many articles of Sudanic manufacture, among which were three pieces of fine cotton cloth, manufactured at Timbuctoo, and some ornaments of pure gold in or molu, of exquisite workmanship, of the manufacture of Jinnie; one of these pieces of Timbuctoo manufacture, of cotton interwoven with silk, of a square blue-and-white pattern, dyed with indigo of Timbuctoo, I had the honour to present to the British Museum, in April, 1796 [239], where it is now deposited.
Footnote 239:[ (return) ] This piece of cloth, about two yards wide and five long, I had the honour of offering to Sir Joseph Banks, who declined receiving it; but at the same time suggested that it was a manufacture deserving public notice, and would be considered an acceptable present by the British Museum.
I have been led into this digression from certain insinuations that have been [240] insidiously propagated, reflecting on the accuracy of my statements respecting the interior of Africa; and I must add, that I always have felt, and still feel confident, that in proportion as we shall become more acquainted with the interior of this unexplored continent, my account will be so much the more authenticated: my confidence in this opinion, (however dogmatical it may appear,) is founded on the original and intelligent sources of my information; on a long residence and general acquaintance with all the principal inhabitants of West Barbary, whose connections lay in Sudan, and at Timbuctoo; in a competent knowledge and practical acquaintance with the languages of North Africa, and a consequent ability to discriminate the accuracy of the sources of my intelligence.
Footnote 240:[ (return) ] See my letter to the editor of the Monthly Magazine, for March, 1817; page 125.
This being premised, I now proceed to offer to the public my animadversions on the above quotation from the Journal of Science and the Arts.
I have actually crossed the Wed Sebu, or the River Sebu, alluded to in the above quotation, which passes through the Berebber Kabyl of Zimure Shelleh; I have crossed the same river several times at the city of Mequinez, and also at Meheduma, where it enters the Atlantic Ocean, in lat. 34° 15' north, and from this experimental knowledge of the course of that river, I can affirm, with confidence, that it is not inaccurately laid down in my map of West Barbary [241], and that it is not three hundred English miles from Fas, but only six English miles from that city. I can also assert, from incontestable testimony, that Tombut, or Timbuctoo, is [242] not three hundred miles from the Nile El Abeed, but only about twelve English miles from that stream, the latter being south of the town.
Footnote 241:[ (return) ] For which see page 55.
Footnote 242:[ (return) ] Vide Jackson's enlarged Account of Marocco, &c. p. 297.
Respecting the following passage in the above quoted Journal of Science and the Arts, p. 272, "This river contains the fierce animals called Tzemsah, which devour men," I shall only observe, that Tzemsah is the word in Arabic which denominates the crocodile. Farther on, in the same page, we have the words,--"We must suppose that the Joliba makes at this spot a strange winding, which gives to the inhabitants of Marocco the opinion they express." This supposed winding is actually asserted to exist, and is denominated by the Arabs [243] El Kose Nile, i.e. the arch or curve of the Nile, and is situated between the cities of Timbuctoo and Jinnie.
Footnote 243:[ (return) ] Idem, note, p. 305.