the greatest
problem in African, and even in modern geography;--one which had
exercised the ingenuity and conjecture of so many learned inquirers,
and in the efforts to solve which so many brave and distinguished
adventurers had perished. This discovery divested the Niger of that
singular and mysterious character, which had been one chief cause of
the interest that it had excited--when seen rolling its ample flood
_from_ the sea towards vast unknown regions in the interior. The
circuit by which it reaches the Atlantic assimilates its character
to that of ordinary rivers, without any much more remarkable windings
than are found in others of similar length. It displays, however, a
magnitude considerably greater than had been suggested by any former
observation.

We can now trace very distinctly, the entire line of this great river.
Its source, though not actually visited, seems ascertained by Laing
to exist in the high country of Kissi, about 200 miles in the interior
from Sierra Leone. Thence it rolls through Foota Jallo and Kankan,
where Caillie describes himself to have found it already a rapid and
considerable stream. At Bammakoo, having received the tributary from
Sankari in Manding, which Park mistook for the main river, it begins
its course over the fine plain of Bambarra, where it forms a noble
stream; and in passing Sego, the capital, has been considered
as equalling the Thames at Westminster. Thence it pursues a
north-westerly course, and flowing through the lake Dibbie, reaches
Timbuctoo. Its course from that city to Youri has not yet been
delineated; but the fact that Park navigated down from one place to
the other, fully establishes the continuity. During this reach the
Niger makes a great change of direction from north-east to almost
due south. From Youri to the sea, it was navigated by the present
travellers, and was found following generally a southern direction,
though making in one part a rapid bend to the east, whence it
gradually returns. If we measure two distances, one from the source
to Timbuctoo, and the other from that city to the sea, we shall have
nearly 2,000 miles, which may be considered as the direct course;
and the various windings must raise the whole line of the stream to
upwards of 3,000 miles. For several hundred miles of its lower course,
it forms a broad and magnificent expanse, resembling an inland sea.
The Niger must after all yield very considerably to the Missouri and
Orellana,