It is remarkable, that in proportion as our mass of information respecting the interior of Africa increases, the truth of Mr. James Grey Jackson's account of that country, in the appendix to his account of Marocco, &c. receives additional confirmation. Some literary sceptics have been so far prejudiced against this author's report as to doubt its veracity altogether; but let us see how far the interesting report of Lieut.-Colonel Fitzclarence, in his journal of a route across India, through Egypt, to England, lately published, corroborates Mr. Jackson's description of Timbuctoo, published so long since as 1809.
It is to be lamented, that Jackson's African orthography is not altogether adopted: with the superior and practical knowledge which he evidently possesses of the African Arabic language, it cannot, I presume, be doubted by the learned and impartial, that his orthography is correct; and, judging from what has already transpired, I do not hesitate to predict, that his African orthography, from an evidence of its accuracy, will, in a few years, be adopted throughout; although the learned world have been ten years in correcting Tombuctoo into Timbuctoo; the latter being Mr. Jackson's orthography in his account of Marocco, Timbuctoo, &c. published in 1809.
The late account of Mr. Bowdich's mission to Ashantee has been the first to corroborate this author in this respect; and Lieut.-Colonel Fitzclarence has confirmed it with this additional observation, in his Journal of a Route, &c. page 493: "Upon enquiring about Timbuctoo the Hage laughed at our pronunciation, the name of the city being Timbuctoo." The next improvement in African geographical orthography, will probably be the conversion of Fez into Fas (for there is absolutely no more reason for calling it Fez than there has been for calling Timbuctoo, Timbuctoo), this word being spelled in Arabic with the letters Fa, Alif, and Sin, which cannot be converted into any other orthography but Fas; the same argument would hold with various other words spelled correctly by this author, an accurate elucidation of which might encroach too much upon your valuable pages. I shall therefore briefly state, that in page 480 of Colonel Fitzclarence's Journal, the name of the Moorish gentleman to whose care the sons of the Emperor of Marocco, Muley Soliman, were confided, is stated to be El Hadge Talib ben Jelow: this is incorrect orthography, there is no such name in the Arabic language as Jelow, it is a barbarism; ben Jelow signifies ben Jelule, and the proper name is El Hage Taleb ben Jelule.
Page 494. Behur Soldan is evidently another barbarism or corruption of the Arabic words Bahar Sudan: vide Jackson's Account of Marocco, Timbuctoo, &c. page 309, published by Cadell and Davies.
It has been observed by an intelligent French writer, that "Le pluspart des hommes mesurant leur foi par leur connoissance acquise croyent fort peu de choses." In confirmation of this opinion, many intelligent men, at the time of the publication of Jackson's Account of Marocco, Timbuctoo, &c. doubted the existence of the Heirie, as described by him; but in proportion as our knowledge of Africa improves, we see that the truth of these wonders is confirmed: and Colonel Fitzclarence mentions one that travelled four days in one; but we should not be surprised to hear, before this century shall terminate, that an Englishman had travelled from Fas to Timbuctoo on a Heirie, accompanied by an accredited agent of the Emperor of Marocco, in ten or fifteen days!
It appears by this ingenious traveller's Journal of a Route, &c. page 493, that all religions are tolerated at Timbuctoo. This is a confirmation of what is reported by Jackson, in the Appendix annexed to his Account of Marocco, &c. page 300.
The fish in the river of Timbuctoo, the Neel El Abeed or Neel of Sudan, is described by Colonel Fitzclarence as resembling salmon: this is a corroboration of Jackson, who says, the shebbel abound in the Neel of Sudan, and the shebbel is the African salmon. See appendix to Jackson's Account of Marocco, &c. page 306.
In page 494, Colonel Fitzclarence says, the Nile at Kabra is a quarter of a mile wide; Jackson says it is as wide as the Thames at London. See Appendix to Jackson's Marocco, &c. page 305.
In page 496 of the Colonel's narrative, an account is given of the rate of travelling through the Desert; which, allowing for an arbitrary difference, in the resting days, corroborates Jackson's Account, page 286.
In page 497, El hage Taleb ben Jelule's report to the Colonel, of an account of two white men, (undoubtedly Mungo Park and another,) who were at Timbuctoo in 1806, is a remarkable confirmation of the account brought by Mr. Jackson from Mogodor in January, 1807, and reported by him to the Marquis of Hastings, to Sir Joseph Banks, and to Sir Charles Morgan, which is inserted in the Morning Post and other papers, about the middle of August, 1814.