LONDON:
PRINTED BY G. SCHULZE, 13, POLAND STREET.
ADVERTISEMENT.
Among the geographical problems which, during the last half century, have occupied the attention of the scientific world and awakened a spirit of adventure in enterprizing individuals, has been the existence of a large and populous city in the heart of Central Africa. The solution of this problem appeared to be a subject worthy of the solicitude even of Societies and Governments; and various expeditions have been dispatched at their expense to explore the unknown interior of that continent, with a particular view to the settlement of this long agitated question. In vain, however, have Houghton, Browne, Hornemann, and Park—in vain have their successors, our countrymen, Tuckey, Peddie, Campbell, Gray, Ritchie, Bowdich, Oudney, Clapperton, Denham and Laing—in vain have other European travellers, Burckhardt, Beaufort, Mollien, Belzoni, started from different points of the coast of Africa, animated with the hope of removing the veil which enveloped the mysterious city:—all have either perished or been baffled in the attempt. Of this number Major Laing alone reached the desired goal; but the results of his perseverance and his observations were lost to his country and to the world through the barbarous murder of that officer, and the consequent dispersion of his papers and effects.
Our neighbours, the French, have therefore just ground for exultation in the fact, that what British enterprize, seconded by the liberality of the British government, failed to accomplish, has been achieved by a very humble individual of their nation, and by means of his own slender unassisted resources; and they have certainly a right to boast that M. Caillié, the author of the work here presented to the public, is the first European who has succeeded in the attempt to penetrate to Timbuctoo, and returned, in spite of the perils interposed by the climate and by the still more destructive passions of men, to communicate all the information that circumstances enabled him to collect.
Of the importance of this information the adjudication of a premium of 10,000 francs (upwards of £400 sterling) by the Geographical Society of Paris to the traveller, affords presumptive evidence. When it is considered that, pursuing his course eastward from the French colony on the Senegal, he advanced by way of Kakondy, Kankan, and Timbo, to the distance of two hundred miles beyond Soulimana; that he then proceeded northward through more than one hundred villages to Jenné; that, there embarking on the great river Dhioliba (the Joliba of Mungo Park) he enjoyed the best opportunities for observing its course, its islands, and the extensive lake of Debo, which has afforded matter for so much discussion, during a voyage of nearly a month to Timbuctoo; that he has furnished positive information of high political and commercial interest respecting that city; and that he has proved the practicability of reaching it from the coast of the Mediterranean by traversing the great Desert which girdles Africa, and through which he returned to the territories of Morocco:—when all this is considered, it must be admitted that his merits have not by any means been overrated.
In this country also, which has long taken the lead in the encouragement of geographical discovery, it is fair to presume that the work in which M. Caillié has recorded, in language of unaffected simplicity, the observations made in a journey of 4500 miles, (of which 3000 were through regions either absolutely, or nearly unknown), cannot but possess powerful attractions for every class of readers, whether pursuing the career of trade, of science, or of politics, whether in quest of individual advantage or personal information.