continued in that direction, and fell into the lake, which was at no great distance. Afterwards, in visiting Old Birnie and Gambarou, he saw it repeatedly, and describes it always as flowing eastward, sometimes with rapidity. The supposition that, through its winding course, he had uniformly happened to see it taking a direction opposite to its usual one, seems very strained and improbable. The Nile of the Negroes, of the Arabian writers, and of Sherif Imhammed, appears to us clearly to be the Quarrama or Zirmie, which actually flows westward into the Quorra. The route of the traveller just named led to Ashantee; but how could that country be reached by crossing the Tchadda? In considering the basin of the lake as inadequate to receive the waters both of the Yeou and the Shary, he does not seem duly to estimate the great evaporation in so hot a climate. The Aral, not much larger, and in a colder region, receives two rivers of the first magnitude without any outlet.

The design of penetrating to Timbuctoo was not yet relinquished; and this task was again undertaken by Mr Davidson, who had already travelled in different quarters of the world, and possessed courage, strength, address, and urbanity, which seemed peculiarly to qualify him for its accomplishment. He embarked in September 1835 for Gibraltar; but found a difficulty in penetrating to Morocco, which was, however, overcome in virtue of his medical character. The emperor, labouring under illness, sent him a kind invitation to court, and the Kaid of Tangier received instructions to assist him on his journey. On arriving at the capital, he found his services wanted, not only by the monarch, but by all the sable beauties who adorned his court. Every morning, after waiting on his majesty, he was presented by the eunuch with a list of the ladies' complaints, under the expectation that next day he would bring a remedy for each. Having become thus a necessary person, he was reluctantly allowed to leave Morocco; and it was not till 1836, after being heartily sick of his attendance, that he obtained permission. He attempted to take the most direct route across

the chain of Atlas; but after mounting to the height of 5000 feet, he was arrested by snow, and obliged to take the circuitous way of Mogadore. Here Mr Willshire

the consul exerted his influence in a negotiation with the Sheik of Wadnoon for his safe conveyance to Timbuctoo. That chief professed the most friendly disposition; but the great cafila arrived with dismal tidings of their having been twice attacked by the tribes of the desert, and thirteen of their number killed. The sheik expressed much apprehension; but the traveller remained undaunted, and taking advantage of a fair, during which there was a general armistice, made his way southward. The caravan was found to muster in uncommon strength, being expected to comprise 400 horses and 2000 camels. With this party Mr Davidson would probably have been safe; but he dreaded being, as he terms it, "worried to death" by the applications for medical aid from so numerous a body. He pushed on, therefore, with only four companions; and the first letters received from him were written in high spirits, stating that his health was completely restored, and that he hoped to spend the new year at Timbuctoo. However, on the 7th February, Mr Willshire received a letter from the Sheik of Wadnoon, with the intelligence that the traveller had been murdered in the desert. This chief, with a somewhat suspicious solemnity, protested his own innocence, imputing the crime to a lawless tribe named the Harib, who had been bribed by the merchants of Tafilet, alarmed lest their traffic should be thus interfered with. He promised to make strict inquiry, and recover, if possible, the property of the deceased. According to a more detailed account, Mr Davidson had first met a smaller body, who extorted from him a considerable sum of money. Eight or ten days after, 100 of the Harib horsemen came up and accosted his party in the most friendly manner. Their leader then asked Mohammed El Abd, the principal native who accompanied Mr Davidson, to show him a neighbouring watering-place. They went together; but soon after heard a musket fired;

and on wonder being expressed, the barbarian replied, that it was his men shooting the Christian. Mohammed represents himself as struck with horror, and declaring that he would rather have been personally the victim. The marauders, it appears, had entered into familiar conversation, in the course of which they expressed great curiosity respecting the musket; and one of them having thus got it into his hands, immediately discharged it against its owner. They presently seized all his property, allowing, however, the natives to proceed to Timbuctoo. According to statements made by one or two individuals coming from that city, it had been the theatre of serious conflicts. The Tuaricks had been driven out, and the quarter inhabited by them burnt down. They were still, however, in great force on the road thence to Sackatoo, rendering it impossible to proceed thither with safety. The chief informant had repeatedly met both with Laing and Caillié at Timbuctoo.

CHAPTER XVI.

Western Africa.

General View of this Coast-Dahomey-Norris and M'Leod— Foota Jallo-Watt and Winterbottom-Ashantee-Embassies of Bowdich and Dupuis-War-Defeat and Submission of the Ashantees-Adams' Account of Benin, Waree, and Bonny-Ephraim Town-Delta of the Niger.

THE whole coast of Western Africa within the tropics, forming a wide sweep around the Gulf of Guinea, has long been occupied by a chain of European forts, erected with a view to the traffic in gold, iron, and palm-oil, but, above all, in slaves; and since this last object has been finally abandoned by Great Britain, these stations have become to her of very secondary importance. The territory is in the possession of a number of petty states, many of which compose aristocratic republics, turbulent, restless, licentious, and rendered more depraved by their intercourse with Europeans. The interior country, extending in a direction parallel to the great central chain of mountains, of which the principal branch is here called Kong, presents nothing of that arid character stamped on so great a proportion of the African continent. The soil, copiously watered, is liable rather to an excessive luxuriance; but, where skilfully managed, it is highly fruitful. There are found, too, in this tract, several very powerful kingdoms, better organized and more improved than any near the coast. They have not, however, the slightest tincture of European civilisation; and their manners, in several important respects, are stained with habits and practices that belong to the very lowest stage of savage life.

Dahomey, the first of the greater states to which Europeans penetrated, had distinguished itself early in the last century by the conquest it then achieved of the flourishing kingdom of Whidah, situated on the Slave Coast. The victors committed the most horrible ravages ever witnessed,-reducing the country, the most fertile and beautiful then known in Western Africa, to almost utter desolation. As their king continued to exercise authority over this province, Mr Norris, in 1772, undertook a journey thither to observe the character and position of this extraordinary potentate, and to make arrangements for the benefit of the English trade. He passed through a fine district, abounding in the usual tropical productions, and rising by a gentle ascent about 150 miles inland to Abomey, the capital. He arrived at an appalling season, that of the annual Customs, when the great men were assembled from every quarter of the kingdom; and he was truly astonished to see those fierce and warlike chieftains, whose very name spreads terror throughout Africa, prostrating themselves before the monarch on the ground, and piling dust on their heads, in token of the most abject submission. This homage is yielded, not from fear, but from a blind veneration, which makes them regard their sovereign in the light of a superior being. In his name they rush into battle, and encounter their foes with Spartan intrepidity. One of them said to Mr Norris, "I think of my king, and then I dare engage five of the enemy myself." He added, “My head belongs to the king, and not to myself; if he please to send for it, I am ready to resign it; or if it be shot through in a battle, I am satisfied since it is in his service." The main object contemplated in this national anniversary is, that the despot may water the graves of his ancestors with the blood of human victims. These are numerous, consisting of prisoners taken in war, of condemned criminals, and even of many seized by lawless violence. The captives are brought out in succession, with their arms pinioned; and a fetisheer, laying his hand upon the devoted head, utters a few magical