[42]When the above is considered, we can understand that Abulfeda supposed the bays of Benin and St. Thomas to be 11 or 12 degrees more to the east, than they really are; and he might well suppose that “the sea came in at the back of the mountains that gave rise to the Nile.”
That the Nile of Egypt, and not the Niger, is meant, we learn in another place in the same author, where he speaks of the Egyptian Nile, and traces it to Egypt. Prolegomena, article Rivers.
[43]Komri, or rather Kummeree, is the Arabic term for lunar; and is the adjective of Kummer, the moon. [Mr. Hastings.]
[44]The mountains of Kong were seen by Mr. Park; but no other part of the chain.
[45]African Association, 1790, and 1791, quarto ed. p. 117. 123; octavo, 176. 186. Also quarto, 174; octavo, 260.
As two editions of this work are in the hands of the public, I have referred to both throughout this work; distinguishing them respectively by Q and O.
[46]The Rio Grande has its source very far to the south of this chain; first running to the north, till it touches the foot of this very ridge of mountains, by which it is turned to the west. [Vide Mr. Watt’s Plan and Journal.]
[47]The caravan in question was composed chiefly of slaves going from Manding to the ports of the Gambia.
[48]There is in Africa, a rainy season; and also a periodical change of wind, as in the same latitudes in India: in effect, a Monsoon.
[49]It may be conceived that the Romans, who, according to Pliny, (lib. v. 4.), held the dominion of the countries as far as the Niger, penetrated to it by the route of Gadamis, Fezzan, Taboo, and Kassina, as the most direct, and convenient one, from the Mediterranean. There are very clear proofs of the conquest of the three former by Balbus. (Pliny, lib. v. 5.) It was known to Pliny that the Niger swelled periodically like the Nile, and at the same season; which we have also in proof from Major Houghton’s Report; and from Mr. Park’s Observations. Pliny says, moreover, that its productions were the same with those of the Nile. (Lib. v. c. 8.)