regretted that Mr. Jackson, qualified as he is by his perfect knowledge of Arabic, had not found leisure and ambition to visit and examine this library, which perhaps contains a treasure richer and more valuable to the enlightened world, than all the golden palaces, which the negro monarch of Bambarra has in his possession!

The path seems open to adventure, and the time may come, when those who send forth missionaries to explore those interesting regions, will recollect, that when a traveller cannot speak the language of the country he is in, he will gain very little information from the people that inhabit it.

It is asserted that the mines belonging to the Sultan Woolo are so pure, that lumps of virgin gold are constantly found of several ounces in weight. These mines are worked by the negroes of Bambarra, who are thereby made extremely rich, "for all. " pieces of ore, which they take from the mines, not weigh" ing twelve mizans, or about two ounces, become a perquisite " to themselves, as a remuneration for their labour, and all " pieces of a greater weight belong to the Sultan, and are de" posited in his before-mentioned palaces."

I shall now conclude by giving the substance of certain passages, extremely curious, which relate to the river near Timbuctoo, which is called the Nile el Abeede, or Nile of the Negroes. In the interior of Africa, and amongst the rich traders, who engage in this traffick across the continent, there is but one opinion with regard to the Nile of Egypt and the Nile of Timbuctoo, and that opinion is, that they are one and the same river, or rather that the latter is the western branch of the former. The source of the Nile of Timbuctoo is at the foot of the western branch of the chain of mountains called Jibbel Kumra, where it forms a merja, or swamp copious springs, which throw the water up with great force, are very numerous, and are found on both sides of the mountain, that is on the eastern as well as on the western side. That these streams communicate with each other is an opinion

The

so general, that the Africans express their astonishment, whenever the Europeans dispute the fact, and assert that it is a folly to doubt what the experience of succeeding ages has demonstrated to be true. That the Nile of Timbuctoo communicates with Cairo, has been ascertained to a certainty by a party of seventeen negroes of Jinnie, who proceeded thither in a canoe, on a commercial speculation, and reached Cairo, after a trafficking voyage of fourteen months, who reported that there are twelve hundred cities and towns, with mosques or towers in them, between Timbuctoo and Cairo, built on or near the banks of the Nile el Abeede and the Nile Massar, or in other words the Nile of Soudan and the Nile of Egypt. Precisely where they join is not ascertained, or, more properly speaking, has not come to the knowledge of my author. The Nile el Abeede being the greater, and running through a larger tract of country than the Nile Cham, or Nile Massar, is called Nile el Kabeer, the greater Nile; the Nile of Egypt, however, is not called the lesser Nile, but always, as above, the Nile Cham, or Nile Massar; Cham being the Arabic name for Egypt, when united to Syria and other countries. The Nile el Abeede overflows in the same manner as the Nile of Egypt, when the sun enters Cancer: at Kabra near Timbuctoo, it becomes a very large stream. River-horses and crocodiles are found in it, and the country contiguous to its southern banks is covered with forests of primæval growth, in which are many trees of great size and beauty: these forests abound with elephants of an enormous size.

I now close my imperfect review of this very interesting work, which I earnestly recommend to my readers, not doubting but they will find it altogether as worthy of their study and attention, as the Swedish literati have of theirs, who, as I am well informed, are preparing a translation in the Swedish language at the University of Upsala near Stockholm..

From April to August 1809.

AGRICULTURE.

THE Manures most advantageously applicable to various Sorts of Soils, and the Causes of their beneficial Effect in each particular in. stance. By Richard Kirwan, Esq. Foolscap 8vo. 2s.

The Advantages which have resulted from the Establishment of the Board of Agriculture; being the Substance of a Lecture read to that Institution, May 26, 1809. By the Secretary to the Board.

3s. 6d.

A new Catalogue of Books on Agriculture, Planting, Gardening, &c. sold by J. Harding. 1s.

The Farmer's Magazine, No. XXVIII. 35.

Observations and Experiments on the Use of Sugar, in Feeding Cattle, Sheep, and Swine. 8vo. 3s. 6d.

ARCHITECTURE.

An Historical Survey of the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of France, with a view to illustrate the Rise and Progress of Gothic Architec ture in Europe. By the late G. D. Wittington. Royal 4to.

11. 6s.

Designs for Elegant Cottages and Small Villas. By E. Gyfford, Architect. Forming the Second Part of a Series of Select Architecture. Royal 4to. 26 Plates. 11. 11s. 6d.

A Treatise on the Properties of Arches and their Abutment Piers. By Samuel Ware, Architect. 10s. 6d.

Principles of Design in Architecture, traced in Observations on Buildings, Primeval, Egyptian, Phenician or Syriac, Grecian, Roman, Arabian or Saracenic, old English Ecclesiastical, old English Military and Domestic, revived Roman, Grecian, Chinese, Indian, Gothic and Modern English Domestic. 8vo. 5s.

Descriptions, Historical and Architectural, of Splendid and Cele. brated Public Buildings, English and Foreign, with Biographical Notices of their Founders and Builders, and other Eminent Persons. By James N. Brewer, No. I. 5s.

ARTS, FINE.

Ornamental Groups descriptive of Flowers, Birds, Shells, and Insects. By M. Gartside. No. I. Imperial folio. 21. 2s.

An Engraving by Heath, from a Picture by the latę Mr. Russel, of William Wilberforce, Esq. M.P. 11. 1s.

Hassell's Drawing Magazine of Rural Scenery. No. I. (to be continued weekly). 6d.

5

"the Senegal river to the house of Messrs. Cabane and "Depras, at Mogodor, in seven days." These astonishing trajects (each performed in the space of seven days) cannot by my author's computation be less than one thousand miles respectively. The witnesses to the truth of the latter fact are of the highest respectability, and the time passed by the way was ascertained by the date of the dispatch; which the rider of the heirie brought. There is also an authentic anecdote of a sebayee, that went from Mogodor to Marocco, and returned to Mogodor between sunrise and eleven o'clock at night; a journey of two hundred miles. This is a performance, that challenges all the annals of Newmarket to equal, and perhaps exceeds what their philosophy can expound, or their candour give perfect credit to. Yet it is no wonder in the country where the animal is known, and might be backed by the attestations of thousands. "The swiftness of the heirie is thus "described by the Arabs in their figurative style-When "thou shalt meet a heirie, and say to the rider, Salem Alick! " ere he shall have answered thee, Alick Salem! he shall be "afar off, and nearly out of sight; for his swiftness is like " the wind."

When my author computes by the term of a day's journey, he is to be understood as speaking of a journey of seven hours, at the rate of three miles and a half an hour, which is the rate of the camel of burden; so that a day's journey is on an average about twenty-four miles. A's for the animal called a dromedary, (if any such be in existence) it is absolutely unknown and unheard of in Western Africa, and remains a question for the naturalists to decide.

As the Arabs of the desart have this superior breed of camels, in like manner they have the desart horse, Sh'rubah Er'rech, which literally signifies Wind-sucker; the animal is so called, from his hanging out his tongue at one side of his mouth, when in speed, and, as it were, sucking in the air: in height about fourteen hands, and gaunt as a greyhound, his

extraordinary powers seem to be seated in the breadth and strength of his chest, which is two spans between his forelegs; these, though extremely fine in bone, are uncommonly strong in sinew, and his swiftness and durability exceed those of the common barb almost in the same degree, as the sebayee exceeds the common camel. The Arab employs him chiefly in hunting the ostrich, a sport in which he is particularly expert. The motion of this little speedy animal is uneasy to an unpractised rider; he is very low in the crest, and carries his head straight out, and so tucked up, (as the jockey phrase is) that he must be girted round the breast. The Scheik Abyd Allah, a familiar friend of Mr. Jackson, rode one of these horses from Mogodor to Santa Cruz, which is not less than a hundred English miles, between the dawn of day and four o'clock in the afternoon: my author also informs me, that upon meeting this Scheik on the sands of Mogodor, so mounted, and being challenged to try the speed of his Barbary horse, which was one of the finest in that country, fifteen hands and a half high, the Scheik upon his desart galloway gave him a start of one hundred yards in the distance of about one mile, and soon passed him with a velocity, that put all competition of speed instantly out of question.

The Arabs, who inhabit the cultivated spots, called Oasis, in the desart, where this horse is bred, feed him upon camel's milk, to which he becomes so attached as to reject all other sustenance, even water; and when brought to Marocco, which sometimes happens, he falls away" and if obliged " ultimately from hunger to eat barley and straw, the Moorish " provender, he recovers, gradually fills up, and becomes " handsome to the sight, but loses entirely his usual speed." Nay, he does more than this, for Mr. Jackson quotes an instance within his own knowledge, of Alkaid Omar ben Daudy, an Arab of Rahammenah, and Governor of Mogodor, "who had two Saharawan horses in his stables (horses of the "desart), and finding it inconvenient to feed them constantly