In chapter vi. of the Geographical Illustrations, 1798, I have set forth several facts, with a view to shew the probability of the termination of the Niger, by evaporation, in the country of Wangara, &c. To that, I shall beg leave to refer: but as many additional facts, tending to strengthen my former ideas, have been furnished by recent travellers, I shall have occasion to repeat some of the former statements and arguments, in the course of the discussion.
Towards the west and SW, to the extent of several hundred miles from the capital of Darfoor, Mr. Browne learnt, that the country was intersected by a number of streams, whose courses pointed to the west and north-west. He appears to speak, however, with less confidence of the courses of all the other waters, save the Misselâd, and the small river Batta, its adjunct. These, he unequivocally conducts from SE to NW. (See pages 449—464, and his map at page 180). But of the others, he merely says, “the course of the rivers, if rightly given, is, for the most part, from E to W.” But he also says, p. 449, “the country they flow through, is said to be, great part of the year, wet and marshy; the heat is excessive, and the people remark that there is no winter.” The principal, as well as the most remote of these rivers, is the Bahr Kulla, denominated from a country of the same name, described (p. 308), to abound with water; and this Bahr Kulla is considerable enough to require boats to cross it, of which some are made of single trees, large enough to hold ten persons.[50]
It would seem, therefore, (if Mr. Browne was correctly informed, and I can see no reason to doubt, because he speaks with caution), as if these rivers descended from the high country on the south of Darfoor, into a comparatively low, and hollow tract to the west, in which also two large lakes are marked in Mr. Browne’s map: and this tract falls, in our geography, nearly midway between the head of the White River, and the country of Wangara, placed according to the notices found in Edrisi; and which are corroborated, generally, by Mr. Horneman, who was told that Wangara lay to the westward of the empire of Bornu.[51] Through this country of Wangara, the great river of interior Africa (our Niger) runs, and beyond Wangara, eastward, we are unable to trace it. (It may be necessary to remark here, that Edrisi conceived that the Niger ran to the west, from a source, common to that, and to the Egyptian Nile.)
In fact, one ought not to be surprised to find, considering how very loosely and inaccurately such kind of information must necessarily be given, at so great a distance from the seat of inquiry, (that is, many hundred miles from Mr. Browne’s station in Darfoor), if the lakes and rivers in question should turn out to be those of Wangara itself! It may be observed, that the distances from the capital of Darfoor agree nearly as well to the lakes of Wangara, as to those of Hermad and Dwi; and the bearing does not differ two points of the compass.[52] There is nothing to check the bearings from Darfoor, on that side; and it would not be at all extraordinary, if two descriptions, such as those of Edrisi, and of the people of Darfoor, should be even more at variance, than the difference between the positions of the two sets of lakes and rivers, on the map.
But how ambiguous soever the subject of the western streams, between the head of the White River and Wangara, may be, the waters that flow from the southern and western borders of Darfoor, are clearly known to run to the north-west, and to form a large lake; proving a hollow space to exist, in the quarter, north-west of Darfoor; and little more than 160 miles eastward of Wangara.[53] Whether this hollow be a continuation of that which receives the waters of the Niger, and forms a part of them into lakes, in Wangara, remains to be discovered. It is, however, in proof, that Edrisi believed the fact, by his describing a water communication the whole way. I now proceed to describe the course of these waters, that flow from the quarter of Darfoor, towards the north-west.
Mr. Browne was informed, (page 449,) that on the south of Darfoor, and between that country and the source of the White River, the waters formed a considerable river, named Misselâd. This he traces on his map at page 180, and in the routes given in his Appendix, p. 449, 464, 468, towards the NNW and NW, to a point above the parallel of 15 degrees north (i. e. through near 400 G. miles of course); but he is silent, otherwise than by implication, respecting its future course. But of a second river (the Batta) whose course lies between the Misselâd and Darfoor, and very near to the former, he says, that it flows from the south, and then, deviating to the west, it falls into the Bahr-el-Fittré. (P. 464). It remains to be added, that, following the western road from Wara to Bagherme (in his Appendix, p. 464, 465), we come to the Bahr Fittré itself: but without any notices respecting the crossing of the Misselâd river, by the way. This matter, however, will be made clearer, presently, by the aid of Horneman and Edrisi.
Mr. Browne continues to say, (p. 465,) that “the people on the banks of the Bahr Fittré use little boats, for the purpose of passing from one place to another, on the river.” The word Bahr indicating equally a lake or a river, is here understood for the latter, by Mr. Browne; but we learn from Mr. Horneman, that the dominions of the sultan of Fiddri, (as he writes it,) are situated round a large fresh-water lake, which bears the same name: and that, into this lake flows a river which comes from Darfoor; and whose banks are very rich in sugar-canes. (See above, [p. 115.])
This account of the lake is strengthened by several circumstances. Horneman says, that the district of Fiddri, although so named by its own inhabitants, is called Cougu, or Cugu, by the people who dwell eastward; (the Arabs;) Luffe, by those on the west. Now, Couga, or Kauga, is noted by Edrisi, as a country and city near a large lake of fresh water, situated at 30 journies westward, or south-westward, from Dongola; 36 eastward from Gana: and here we have the very position. Moreover, Mr. Browne describes, in the before-mentioned western route, at 3½ journies short of the Bahr Fittré, Dar Cooka,[54] doubtless the country of Couga or Cugu in question.
The circumstance of boats plying on the Bahr Fittré (Browne’s Travels, p. 465,) also accords with the idea of a lake. Nor can there be a doubt that the Misselâd of Browne, is the river from the quarter of Darfoor, intended by Horneman: and that it, as well as the river of Batta, falls into the lake of Fittré.[55]
It may be remarked, that what Edrisi describes as the upper part of the course of the Niger, (Nilus Nigrorum) is evidently intended for this river: but he describes it as originating from the same source as the Egyptian Nile, and flowing westward. There also appears in Ptolemy, the same river springing from about the 10th degree of north latitude; as the Misselâd does.