ON AFRICA.

' 477 the Neel El Aheed) how comes it that they have not been noticed by Leo Africanus, who resided at Timbuctoo ; by Edrissi, who is the most correct of the Arabian geographers ; or whence is it, that these rivers have not been noticed by the many Moorish travelling merchants who have resided at Timbuctoo, and whom I have repeatedly questioned respecting this matter % or whence is it that Alkaid L'Hassen Ramy, a renowned chief of the Emperor of Marocco's army, with whom I was well acquainted, and who was a native of Houssa, knew of no such variously inclined streams. This being premised, I am certainly not disposed to relinquish the opinion I brought with me from Africa in the year I8O7, viz. that the Neel El Aheed is the only mighty river that runs through Africa from west to east ; but I admit that its adjuncts, as well as itself, have different names ; thus, in the manuscript of Mr. Park's death, a copy of which is inserted in " Mr. Bowdich's Account of Ashantee," it is called Kude ; many hundred miles eastward it is called Kulla, from the country through whicli it passes ; but Kude and Kulla are different The Arabs who conduct the cqfelahs or caravans across the Sahara, are often seen at Agadeer or Santa Cruz, and sometimes even at Mogodor ; and if there was a river penetrating to the north through the Sahara, would it not have been noticed by them ? Is it possible that such a prominent feature of African geography, as a river of sweet water passing through a desert, could fail of being noticed by these people, who are, in their passage through the Desert, continually in search of water ?