506 VARIOUS LETTERS When Moore asserted that there was no such river as the Niger, he evidently meant that the natives of Africa knew it not by that name j which is undoubtedly correct ; for the word being an European word, it would not be known in Africa : but its translation into Arabic is Bahar El Abeed, i. e. the river of Negroes. Edrissi called it Niger, from the same motive, viz. because it was so named by Europeans, and by them only.

I conceive that the hypothesis which has been credited by some, viz. that there is no receptacle for the two Niles, between Cashna and Timbuctoo, must now necessarily fall to the ground ; since the sea of Sudan, first declared by me to be between Cashna and Timbuctoo, and since confirmed by Ali Bey, and by Park, in his second journey, can (as I apprehend) no longer be doubted : and it is not improbable that this is the common receptacle of the Nile of the West and the Nile of the East. This hypothesis is strengthened by the testimony of the Shereef Imhammed, who has said, that he himself saw the Nile, at Cashna, flowing so rapidly westward, that vessels could not stem the current, if this be true, the ' Ba Sea Feena of Park, which is only another name for the Sea of Sudan must lie west of Cashna, and, probably, about the same point that it is stated by me to • The Arabic orthography is Bahar Sfeena which being literally translated into English, signifies the Sea of Ships.