down the dead body of the governor, who had fallen a victim to the fever of the climate, which had previously affected his brain. Thus, notwithstanding every exertion of Orfeur, who succeeded him, the equipment of the boats was delayed till the 11th December, when the unfavourable season was fast approaching. Stibbs had assigned to him a crew of nineteen white men, of whom one indeed was as black as coal, but being a Christian, ranked as white, and served as interpreter,-likewise twenty-nine grumettas, or hired negroes, with three female cooks; and he afterwards took on board a balafeu, or native musician, to enliven the spirits of the party.

Stibbs set out on the 26th of December, and the voyage proceeded for some time very agreeably. The English were every where well received, and at one place even a saphie or charm was laid upon the bank for the purpose of drawing them on shore. The captain had endeavoured to conceal his object, but in vain; he found himself repeatedly pointed out as the person who was come to bring down the gold. The native crew, however, predicted the most fearful disaster if he should attempt to proceed above the falls of Barraconda. As the boats approached that fatal boundary, the Africans came in a body, and stated their firm determination on no account to ascend any farther. No one, they said, had ever gone beyond Barraconda,-Barraconda was the end of the world, or if there existed any thing beyond, it was a frightful and barbarous region, where life would be in continual danger. A long palaver and a bottle of Stibbs' very best brandy were necessary ere they would agree to accompany him beyond this dreaded boundary of the habitable universe.

The falls of Barraconda were not found so formidable as rumour had represented; they were narrows rather than falls, the channel being confined by rocky ledges and fragments, between which there was only one passage, where the canoes rubbed against the rock on each side. In this region of the Upper Gambia, the natives, belying all slanderous rumours, proved to be a harmless, good-humoured people, who, wherever the crew landed, met them with presents of fowls and provisions.

The severest exertion now became necessary in order to pass the flats and quicksands, which multiplied in proportion as they ascended, and over which the boats, in some instances, could only be dragged by main force. The wild and huge animals that occupy these regions appeared still more dangerous to the present adventurers than to their predecessors. The elephants, which had fled precipitately before Jobson, struck the greatest terror into this party; one of them on a certain occasion putting to flight the whole crew. They were even seen in bands crossing from one side of the water to the other. The river-horses also presented themselves in numerous herds; and though this animal generally moved in a sluggish and harmless manner, yet in the shallow places, when walking along the bottom of the river, he occasionally came into collision with the boat; incensed at which, he was apt to strike a hole through it with his huge teeth, so as to endanger its sinking. If the courage of the crew against these mighty animals was not very conspicuous, their exertions in dragging the boat over the flats and shallows appear to have been most strenuous; yet so unfavourable was the season, that at the end of two

months Stibbs found himself, on the 22d February, when fifty-nine miles above Barraconda, obliged to stop short even of Tenda, and consequently of the point to which Jobson had formerly attained.

The commander, on his return, after making every allowance for the inauspicious seasons and circumstances, could not forbear expressing deep disappointment in regard to the expectations with which he had ascended the Gambia. He saw no appearance of that mighty channel which was to lead into the remote interior of Africa, and through so many great kingdoms. He declared his conviction that "its original or head is nothing near so far in the country as by the geographers has been represented." It did not of course appear to him to answer in any respect the descriptions given of the Niger,-it nowhere bore that name,-it did not come out of any lake that he could hear of,—it had no communication with the Senegal or any other great river. The natives reported that at twelve days' journey above Barraconda it dwindled into a rivulet, and "fowls walked over it." These statements were received most reluctantly and sceptically by Moore, now the Company's factor on the Gambia, and a man of spirit and intelligence, who had acquired some learning on the subject, and endeavoured to overwhelm Stibbs with quotations from Herodotus, Leo, Edrisi, and other high authorities. The mariner, though unable to cope with him in this discussion, did not the less steadily assert the plain facts which he had seen with his own eyes; and a degree of discouragement was felt, which prevented any other exploratory voyage from being undertaken for a considerable time into that part of the African continent.

FRENCH DISCOVERIES.

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CHAPTER VI.

French Discoveries.

French Settlement on the Senegal-Jannequin's Voyage-Voyages of Brue up the Senegal-Bambouk; Gold Mines-SaugnierGum-Trade.

FRANCE did not embark so early as some of the other powers in African discovery. Louis XIV., aided by his minister Colbert, was the first prince who studied to raise his kingdom to a high rank as a commercial and maritime power. But, unfortu nately, according to the spirit of the time, the only mode in which he ever thought of promoting any branch of trade was by vesting it in an exclusive company; and when, according to the usual fate of such associations, one was involved in bankruptcy, another immediately supplied its place. Thus four successive companies rose and fell; till at length they all merged in that greatest and most fatal delusion, the Mississippi Scheme. However, these copartneries, at their first formation, attracted many individuals of opulence and talent, and generally opened with a spirited career of enterprise and discovery. While the English sought to ascend the Gambia, the Senegal was the Niger to the Frenchthe stream by which they hoped to penetrate upwards to Timbuctoo and the regions of gold. At

the mouth of this river, about the year 1626, was founded the settlement of St Louis, which has ever since continued to be the capital of the French possessions in Africa.

The first person who brought home any accounts of French Africa was Jannequin, a young man of some rank, who, as he was walking along the quay at Dieppe, saw a vessel bound for this unknown continent, and took a sudden fancy to embark and make the voyage. The adventurers sailed on the 5th November 1637, and touched at the Canaries; but the first spot on the continent where they landed was a part of the Sahara near Cape Blanco. Jannequin was struck, in an extraordinary degree, with the desolate aspect of this region. It consisted wholly of a plain of soft sand, in which the feet were buried at every step; and a man, after walking fifty paces, was overwhelmed with fatigue. At Senegal the colony was found in so imperfect a state that the sailors were obliged to rear huts for their own accommodation; and slight as these were, the labour under a burning sun was very severe. In ascending the river, however, he was delighted with the brilliant verdure of the banks, the majestic beauty of the trees, and the thick impenetrable underwood. Amid the deep solitude which distinguished the country, all the forests were filled with echoes. The natives received him hospitably, and he was much struck by their strength and courage, decidedly surpassing, as appeared to him, the similar qualities in Europeans. He saw a Moorish chief, called the Kamalingo, who, mounting on horseback, and brandishing three javelins and a cutlass, engaged a lion in single combat, and vanquished that mighty king of the desert. Flat