The line of route in the first part of the journey depends essentially upon Timbo. This place is well worthy of attention both in respect to its physical geography and to the European relations with Africa. The English have always considered it as an important station for commerce, but it is not less deserving of study as the culminating point of this part of the continent. It is fortunate that several travellers have made efforts to determine its geographical situation. Major Laing has definitively fixed it in latitude 10° 25’ north, and longitude 12° 54’ west from Paris; its actual elevation above the sea remains to be correctly ascertained. I could not establish M. Caillié’s route upon a better basis; and this I have done, by means of a direction which the traveller obtained from the village of Dité. There the inhabitants informed him that Timbo was at two days’ distance in a certain direction, towards which he immediately applied his compass and found it to bear S. E. ¼ S. Now, we may observe (and it is a remark common to the whole interior of Africa), that the inhabitants are scarcely ever mistaken with respect to the bearings of places; their accuracy in this respect is surprising; it is the effect of habit and of a particular tact. Secondly, I subjected this line of route to the position of the town of Labé, which is tolerably well known though not so certainly as Timbo. Our traveller, when near Teléouel learnt that Labé lay N. E. ¼ E. at two days’ distance. Another confirmation is drawn from the position of Cambaya, in respect to Timbo, which latter, according to the natives, bears W. S. W. at two days’ journey from Cambaya. Here, then, are five points well connected together, Teléouel, Labé, Dité, Timbo, and Cambaya, forming a whole, the main support of which rests upon Timbo[52]. From the nature of these data I have had no hesitation in subjecting the route from Kakondy to them; and the result has been that the hour’s march proves to be a trifle more than three English miles, which, for the commencement of the journey, is not extraordinary.
But, be this as it may, the construction of this route upon the itinerary map has undergone no reduction or modification, and I have confined myself to designing as accurately as the scale would permit, all the angles of this line, the rivers which the traveller crossed or had sight of, the different elevations of the soil with his estimate of them, and in fact all the variations of the ground which he has carefully noted.
At thirty-two miles from Kakondy is a fine river called Tankilita, a name which much resembles that of Tingalinta, marked in several maps at the same distance;[53] and which word is perhaps pronounced Tenkalita; it is the same, according to the inhabitants, with the Rio-Nuñez; this stream, which flows to the north, would, in this case, be only the origin or principal tributary of the Rio-Nuñez.
Other rivulets or rivers, as the Bangala, the Doulinca, and the Kakiriman, a large river in the neighbourhood of the high mountains of Antegua, on the contrary flow towards the south. The soil is chiefly composed of granite in this district and beyond it: the mountains are very high, steep and pointed; chains still increasing in elevation succeed each other; and there are among them mountains two thousand feet in height. All this country, bordering on the Fouta-Dhialon, presents an accumulation of obstacles, which are with difficulty surmounted; and yet men and even women, with heavy loads upon their heads, are continually traversing it. One of these mountains, the Touma, forms the limit between the Tenanka and the Fouta, and beyond it are the cataracts of the Cocoulo, a large and very rapid river. Thence we proceed to the Bâfing, the chief arm of the Senegal: it appears that its source is to the west of Timbo, and that its course is to the west and north, (and not to the east); this, at least, is the inference I draw from the new itinerary; and the north-easterly course of the Tankisso, which belonged to the bason of the Dhioliba, confirms this opinion.[54]
We afterwards descend into vast and very fertile plains, watered by the Tankisso, a large river, with steep banks, the Bandiegue and others less considerable, till we reach the principal river of this part of Africa, the Dhioliba.
On leaving the Soulimana the river takes a northerly direction, as I have said above, on the authority of Major Laing, but afterwards turns to the east. This bend is precisely given by a distance in the new itinerary. It may be observed that the river passes at one day’s journey to the south of Saraya. This bearing is in perfect agreement with the map of Laing’s journey to the Soulimana,[55] which will confirm if necessary the position of Saraya, and my plan of the route. It is known that the actual height of its source above the level of the sea, is, according to Major Laing, about sixteen hundred feet, or a hundred and thirty more than the source of the Rokelle.
It was at Couroussa, in the little country of Amana, that our traveller crossed it. Though so near to its source, it had already attained a breadth of nine hundred feet, and the moderate velocity of two miles and a half. At a short distance from this point, the Yendan, a large river, falls into it; farther on it receives the Milo, coming from the town of Kankan, and the Sarano, which waters the rich plains of the Wassoulo. Proceeding towards the east, and leaving the Dhioliba to the left, the traveller reached Timé.
The situation of Timé is determined by two data: the one, that the march, throughout its whole length from Kakondy, was the same; the caravan was equally numerous, and if the country is less mountainous, the travellers were more fatigued, which forms a compensation: the other is furnished by the meridian altitude of the sun, twice taken at Timé, by means of the length of the shadow. Imperfect as this observation probably was, we ought to have some respect for it, when it coincides with the data of the itinerary; I shall soon resume this subject.
To conclude the examination of this first part of the itinerary, I shall make some remarks on the situation of the country, which appears to be the spot where the waters of this portion of the African continent separate. The first great line of partition is that which divides the waters of the Senegambia from those of the Soudan. The mountains which form it have their nucleus at Timbo, where their distinction into separate ranges is totally lost. Thence one range diverges to the north, and another to the east, and it is remarkable that the divisions of the countries or states correspond with the physical regions. Thus in the country called Fouta-Dhialon, Timbo and its mountains are the sources of the Rio-Grande, the Gambia, the Falemé, the Senegal, &c. The Soulimana and its fountains are the source of the Dhioliba on the one side, and the Rokelle and the Mungo take their rise on the other. From the backs of the mountains of the Fouta-Dhialon spring the tributaries of the Dhioliba, as the Tankisso (which cannot be an arm of the Senegal, as M. Caillié was informed): the spot where it rises is not far from Timbo, and the true point of division between the basons of the north and the east. Thus we have a proximate acquaintance with the relief of the country, which presents a satisfactory whole, where all appears to bear a natural connection. To this result M. Caillié’s observations have materially contributed.
Besides the line of division of which I have just spoken, there is another which separates the waters of the Senegambia from those of the Timannie; it is the result of an attentive examination of M. Caillié’s route. He crossed in fact two considerable rivers: the one, the Kakiriman, which is from seventy to eighty paces in breadth; the other, the Cocoulo, which is forty-five; and both very rapid. He saw them flowing to his right, that is southward, towards the bason of the Timannie.[56] Further on, that is after Popoco, all the rivers which he crossed flow to the left, towards the north, and into the Senegambia. Thus, between the route of M. Mollien and that of M. Caillié, there must be a very elevated mountain crest, running from N. W. to S. E. and passing near the point of intersection of the two routes.