more
than the grossest falsifications, made to suit some private purpose,
or to throw a certain degree of ridicule upon the plans and exertions
of the African company. He had been informed of a mighty channel,
which was to lead him into the remote interior of Africa, but he had
as yet only navigated a river, which in certain seasons is almost
dry, and where the crews were obliged to assume the character of the
amphibious; for at one time, they were obliged to be for hours in the
water, dragging the boats over the shallows, and at another, they
were on the land, dragging the boats over it, in order to surmount
the ledges of rocks, which extended from shore to shore. At one time
they were rowing over the backs of the river horses, and the next,
they ran the risk of being thrown upon their own back, by the trunks
of the elephants, or having them snapped in two between the jaws of
the crocodiles.

The source of the great river, which, according to the description
then given of it, could not be any other than the Niger, was,
according to the opinion of Stibbs, "nothing near so far in the
country, as by the geographers has been represented." The river,
which he had navigated, did not answer in any degree with the
description which had been given of the Niger. The name was not even
known in the quarters through which he had passed; it did not flow
from any lake, that he could hear of, or which was known to any of
the natives, nor did it communicate with the Senegal, or any other
great river; and so far from it being a mighty stream in the
interior, the report was given to him by the natives, that at about
twelve days journey above Barraconda, it dwindled into a rivulet, so
small that the "fowls could walk over it."

On the return of Stibbs to the company's settlement at the month of
the Gambia, these reports were received with great reluctance, and
the strongest doubts were thrown upon their authenticity. At that
time, a person of the name of Moore was the company's factor on the
Gambia; and in order to invalidate the statements of Stibbs, he
produced Herodotus, Leo, Edrisi, and other high authorities, whilst
on the other hand, Stibbs declared, that he had never heard of such
travellers before, and that he did not see why greater faith should
be put in their reports, than in his.

Stibbs for some time supported the veracity of his statements, but
Moore and Herodotus at length prevailed, and Stibbs retired from the
service