"How about the Niger?" Frank asked. "Does it come from the same basin, or does it have another origin?"
"The source of the Niger," replied the Doctor, "is far to the north of the great basin where the three rivers I have named have their origin. Thus far no European has seen the source of the Niger; it has been most nearly reached by Winwood Reade, who visited the stream at a point where it was not more than a hundred yards in width, and probably forty or fifty miles from where it has its beginning.
SUNSET ON LAKE TCHAD.
"The Niger was partially explored by the brothers Lander, Richard and John, in 1830 and 1831; they visited it again in 1832 and 1834, and endeavored to establish trade with the natives along the lower part of the river, and also on its tributary, the Benoowe. The latter stream is sometimes called the Chadda, or Tchadda, as it is supposed to rise in Lake Tchad; but whether it does so or not is not fully established. The Niger is properly formed by the junction of the Chadda and the Joliba, the latter being the more western, and pronounced by those who have seen it to be longer and larger than the Benoowe."
One of the boys asked if any other Europeans than the Landers and Mr. Reade had explored the valley of the Niger.
"Yes," was the reply; "in its lower course it has been examined by so many that the names would make a long list. Near the end of the last century it was visited by Mungo Park, who was the first explorer of the upper valley of the Niger, and he went there again in 1805. Unfortunately for science, he was killed in this second expedition, and his papers were lost with him. In 1828 a Frenchman named Chaillié sailed down the river from Jenne to Timbuctoo, and reached Europe in safety. His account supplied the deficiency left by the death of Park; and in 1853 Timbuctoo was visited by Dr. Barth, a German traveller, who explored the river from that city to the town of Say, which lies in latitude 13° 8' south, and longitude 2° 5' east.
