a 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 [295]_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
507 point that it is stated by me to be situated, viz. fifteen journeys
of horse-travelling, or from 400 to 450 British miles east of
Timbuctoo.

[Footnote 295: The Arabic orthography is _Bahar S'feena_ which
being literally translated into English, signifies the Sea of
Ships.]

The word _Djinawa_ is the African word that denominates Guinea, but
I cannot imagine that it was ever intended to signify Gana. (See
Supplement to Encyclopaedia Britannica, p. 104.)

You say there are, in Africa, two rivers to which the name of
_Niger_ has been given: this is evidently an error, but possibly of
the press only. There are, however, two rivers in Africa to which
the name of _Neel_ has been given.

The Proceedings of the African Association, vol. i. p. 540, declare
that the Nile is a name applied in Africa to any great river; but
as this assertion is calculated to produce confusion in the
geographical elucidation of the interior of that continent, and as
it certainly is not the fact, I must here beg leave to contradict
it, and declare that there are absolutely but two rivers in Africa,
that bear the name Neel or Nile, viz. the Neel El Kabeer, Neele
Sudan, or Neel El Abeed, i.e. the great Nile, the Nile of Sudan or
the Nile of the Negroes; and Neele Masser, i.e. the Nile of
Egypt.[296]

[Footnote 296: _Nile_ is a French term, and loses its proper
pronunciation and is unintelligible when pronounced by an
Englishman to an African; but if written _Neel_, and pronounced
by an Englishman, it is intelligible.]

If my knowledge of the African Arabic can be of any service in
508 giving you the signification or correct orthography of African