relation of several travellers who had passed the same country agreeing with Amadou's Journal, being certain of the truth of what he had said, and of the dangers I should have run to no purpose, all these reasons induced me to proceed no further." It would be difficult to conceive what particular dangers Isaaco, a Mahomedan priest, "could have run" by travelling in the Mahomedan kingdoms of Tombuctoo and Haoussa.

Mr. Park informs us that he was about "to leave Sansanding with Lieutenant Martyn and three White men, one of them deranged;" and this agrees in number with the pretended Amadou's Journal: but this so striking a circumstance, (the mad man,) one above all others calculated to make a lasting impression on the mind of the guide, is wholly omitted in the Journal; and the whole of the White men are represented to be able hards. When one died it is mentioned with an air of regret, as it "reduced" the company to eight able hands. This could not have been the case had the insane man died; for instead of regret being expressed on this account, it would in their circumstances have been a great relief to them. It is equally clear, either that Isaaco was ignorant of the state of the river beyond Tombuctoo, or that to obtain the reward he took the risk of being detected in a forgery, when he made Amadou appear as ignorant as himself. And it was a considerable risk which he ran; for Mr. Beaufoy "had been told by a Moorish merchant, (Park's Travels, vol. i. 4to, App. by Major Rennell, Ixxiii.) that he had himself descended the Niger from Kabra to Haoussa, although he had forgot the exact number of days, and whether it was eight or ten; but one circumstance dwelt on his mind, which was, that by favour of a brisk wind they returned to Kabrà against the stream in as short an interval as they went down." And the Major adds, "this is no new fact to those who are ac customed to inland navigations."

There seems to be no reason for doubting the accuracy of this narration: and it proves, if true, that there is no impediment to the navigation of the Niger between Kabra and Haoussa; and of course that the Journal of Amadou is false.

"The same Moor," continues Major Rennell," added, that going still with the stream boats went to Jinnee and Ghinea, near the latter of which was the sea into which the Niger discharged itself. This Ghinea lies to the eastward of Tombuetoo and Haoussa, at the distance of 40 land-journeys from the first of these places."

Major Rennell computes a day's journey by land at 17 miles in direct distance; and thus Ghinea is placed 680 miles eastward

from Tombuctoo in direct distance, and probably it is not less than 800 by the course of the river.

There is sufficient evidence to satisfy us as to the course of the river for some hundreds of miles beyond Tombuctoo, and the familiarity with which Isaaco talks of finding a Poule at Sansanding, is proof likewise that it is common for the inhabitants eastward of that city to come to Sansanding; and had the account of Mr. Park's death been true, it would have been well known from Yaour to Goree: yet. Isaaco not only disbelieved the reports of his death, but in the journey taken by him expressly for the purpose of inquiring into the truth of these reports, he nowhere met with a single person who knew any thing of it, until he saw Amadou. Except, indeed, once at a place called Sannaba, (p 199,) a short distance N.W. of Yamina, on the Niger. At this place, he says: "I here found my sister and one of my wives I had left in my voyage with Mr. Park, and where they waited for my return (five years). They told me they had seen Alhagi Biraim, who told them Mr. Park was dead, and that he saw the canoe in which he died in the country of Haoussa; to which country he (Alhagi) had been, and to the place where Mr. Park died. Two sheep were given to me by Alhagi, &c." In the Journal of Amadou he makes Alhagi and Alhagi Biron two persons of considerable consequence at Yaour, to whom it was necessary to make presents.-Yet Alhagi tells him nothing of all this, neither does he say one word to him concerning Mr. Park. The inhabitants of Sego, 30,000; and the 11,000 at Sansanding, were all equally ignorant of it: even the king had never heard of it. Five years had passed since Mr. Park left Sansanding numbers of persons from the eastward must have visited Sansanding*, and many must have been the conversations respecting the extraordinary circumstance of four White men appearing in a country where none had ever before been seen neither would the surprise of the natives have been less at the singular vessel (schooner-rigged) in which they navigated the river and had Mr. Park and his party been lost even far beyond Yaour, the fact would have been perfectly notorious at Sego. Isaaco asked and obtained the king's aid "to discover what had become of Mr. Park, and to ascertain whether he is dead or alive" (p. 204); and it was not till some days afterwards, when he met with Mr. Park's pretended guide, that he heard any thing of him. This man (the guide), who had been

In describing the market at Sansanding, Mr. Park says, Journal, p. 157: "Haoussa and Jinnie cloth is sold here; and silks from Morocco, and Levant tobacco, which.comes by the way of Tombuctoo.”

sent on an extraordinary and in every respect singular voyage, who is represented as being placed in no less extraordinary circumstances himself, and to have suffered much in his own person, had, we must suppose, kept the whole a secret for five years; that he had never suffered a whisper to betray his having sailed with Mr. Park; and that Isaaco's schoolmaster, who procured him, made no inquiry of him:-this is too absurd to be credited. Besides, this man could have no inducement to make his voyage a secret, but many to relate all the circumstances. So many incongruous, suspicious, and impossible circumstances are heaped together in Isaaco's and Amadou's Journals, that they must be pronounced forgeries.

That the Amadou Fatouma of Isaaco was not Mr. Park's guide has been proved; that Mr. Park was not destroyed as he relates, has likewise been proved; and it is possible he may still be in existence: it is even probable that at least one of the four White men is living.

But the objection occurs, 66 They have not been heard of for more than nine years.' Let us examine this objection. Mr. Beaufoy's Moor says, "Near Ghinea is the sea into which the Niger discharges itself." In Major Rennell's map this is repre ́sented as a lake, about 100 miles east of Kashna: but as both these places are put down from computation, the distance between them may be much greater. The river is continued on the map 500 miles beyond the lake, till it falls into another lake in N. Lat. 16o, E. Long. 22o, and about 400 miles west of Darfur*.

Mr. Park's guide had resided some time at Kashna, but had never seen any one who knew the termination of the river, and is certain it does not terminate in that neighbourhood. Kashna is more than 1000 miles E. of Sansanding, (Rennell's Map,) and at a still greater distance from the nearest part of the Nile at Dongola, (Rennell's Geographical Illustrations, lxx.). Mr. Park's guide says that the Niger after it passes Kashna "runs directly to the right hand," or the south, i. e. directly into the heart of Africa. This man's account is probably the most correct that has yet been received. Mr. Beaufoy's Moor does not say that he saw the Niger beyond Ghinea, and his account might be from hearsay. It is certainly most extraordinary that the natives of places so very remote from the sources of the river should be quite ignorant how or where it terminated.

Caravans cross the northern parts of Africa in so many direc

Pinkerton's Modern Atlas.

tions, and the natives are so prone to wandering, and so used to long journeys, that their ignorance respecting this river appears almost incredible, and can only be accounted for by supposing that those nations which inhabit its banks far inland are all pagans divided into very small communities, as they are in southern Africa, and like them, too, comparatively sedentary.

Mr. Park was not destroyed at Boussa, and must have passed down the river; he was well provided with fire-arms, and had made an awning of hides for his defence, and he had eight hands on board. We ought not therefore to be surprised, but should rather be led to expect that he would continue his course at least so far as he was unimpeded by obstacles more formidable than the natives.

Has he then passed the bounds of all former authentic information; has he passed into those countries from which no natives have ever yet been brought? If he has, why may not the same causes detain him which have for ages kept the natives in their own country, and shut us out from all knowledge whatever respecting them?

He may have done this either by pursuing his course into the low country of Wangara, if there be such a country, or he may have penetrated the heart of Africa, as his information and reflection led him to expect he should do :-in either case it would be by no means extraordinary that he should neither be able to communicate with his friends nor to return; every attempt at communication from countries so very remote must be extremely precarious, and to return may be impossible.

Mr. Brown could find no means of communicating with his friends while in Darfur, where he was detained nearly three years, although there is a caravan to Cairo ; and Mr. Bruce found nearly the same difficulty in Abyssinia *, although a constant intercourse was maintained with Egypt. Mr. Bruce was detained many months, and would probably have ended his days there but for a strange concurrence of events.

If then both Mr. Brown and Mr. Bruce were deprived of the means of communication and escape from countries which maintained a constant intercourse with the Mediterranean, how much more difficult, how impossible even may it be for Mr. Park, far removed from all such intercourse, either to escape or to convey any account of his situation to his friends? It may be impossible, even if he be under no restraint, for him to quit the country with the smallest hope of being able to reach the coast in any direc

*The only communication from Mr. Bruce which reached England was a bill of exchange which he was able to negotiate with a travelling merchant.

tion; no means of accomplishing such an undertaking may exist in the country: which is not very unlikely; for it is almost impossible but that something must have been heard of the termination of this mighty river, if it were not prevented by such obstacles as are here supposed to exist. Should there be truth in this, should Mr. Park or any of his companions still survivewith what anxiety have they watched in the expectation of relief! How impossible must it have been for them to calculate upon our cool reasoning! how impossible for them to anticipate that our conclusions would be formed with such certainty as wholly to prevent any search having being made!

"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick." And it really makes one's heart sick to contemplate the possibility of their protracted existence in such a state, and would madden us in the attempt to fill up the picture. Still is their existence possible, and not a moment should be lost in causing the proper search to be made *. April 24, 1815.

Society against War.

[We recommend the Letter on this subject, which follows immediately below, to the most serious attention of our readers and the public.]

SIR,

on

To the EDITOR of THE PHILANTHROPIST.

I HAVE now before me the 17th Number of your very interesting and useful publication, and am pleased to see an article "The Slow Advances of practical Truth in the World." This is a subject which needs the serious, close, and immediate attention of every friend of humanity. A reference is made in this paper to the horrid practice of war, and a very natural feeling of astonishment is expressed that in the Christian world it should still prevail, and even receive the countenance of Christians. Now, Sir, that war is an evil, none will hesitate to acknowledge. The question then is this: Is war a necessary evil, or is it not? If it be a necessary evil, there is an end to all discussion, and there should be an end of all lamentation; our only object should be to alleviate its miseries and magnify its splendours, that we might be better reconciled to it. But if it be not a necessary evil, if the business of life might go on without it; * Since the above was written I have been informed that some prepara tory steps have been taken with a view to explore the Niger.