understood it took the caravans of the Arab traders from Fez and Mequinez, three months to perform their journey to Timbuctoo. The articles of trade which they bring, are cotton cloths, clothing, silks, iron, beads, silver, tobacco in rolls, paper, earthenware, and tar; in exchange for which, they get gold dust, ivory, the teeth of the hippopotami, gum, and ostrich feathers;* slaves also form a considerable portion of their returns. He states the price of a man slave, if handsome,' to be about the value of thirty dollars, if otherwise, sixteen dollars; of a young female, about twenty-five dollars. The price of gunpowder is high at Timbuctoo: when he was questioned on this point, he looked about him, and seeing a small crystal basin on the side-board, he took it up, and said, that as much as that would hold (about 11⁄2 lb.) would cost the value of three dollars at Timbuctoo, two dollars at Sallagha; how much at Cormassie he did not know. Gunpowder is not brought to Timbuctoo by the Arabs, but by the merchants from Kong, and other places immediately connected with the Ashantee trade. Never heard of any copper-mines in the interior; neither did he see any iron manufactured in any part he has visited. They get their iron at Timbuctoo from Fez, and it is conveyed in short bars, on each side of the camels. When inquiry was made as to its price, he measured twice the length of his arm from the elbow, to which he added one span, and said it was worth five dollars. There is much gold at Timbuctoo, but not so much as at Sansanding, where he heard there are valuable gold mines; and a great number of Arabs resort there to trade. Cowries are current at Timbuctoo for the purchase of provisions, but they are not taken in trade by the Arabs; about 3000 of them are the value of a dollar. Their musical instruments are a kind of rude fiddle, flutes, and drums. All offences are punished by order of the sultan. Great offences, particularly meddling with any of the sultan's wives,' are punished by hanging. He did not see any one hanged, but saw a gallows there: he described the process, by making two men stand at a short distance from each other, and placing a stool between them, put his stick on their heads, with a handkerchief on it touching the stool, which he then kicked away: The punishment for theft is confinement, flogging, and restitution of the value, and servitude until paid. He says there is a house appropriated to the purpose of confinement, and which is guarded by four men with muskets. Circumcision is general among the people at Timbuctoo, who are all Mussulmen. He does not know the exact number of mosques, but recollects three large ones, two of which were built by the king, and one by the Arab traders. He heard that Timbuctoo was formerly subject to Bambarra, but ceased to be so since the latter had a war with the Foulahs, in which they were defeated: Sultan Mahomed is therefore independent, although not powerful; for he says, that his control does not extend much beyond Timbuctoo itself. Mahomed succeeded sultan Aboubekir, who, he heard, died about eight years ago; is ignorant who was his predecessor. Aboubekir was extremely rich. Wargee remained at Timbuctoo five weeks, during which time he lived in sultan Mahomed's house, and was treated by him with the greatest kindness. He never heard of any white man having been at Timbuctoo.

6

*Very few ostriches are to be seen within a considerable distance of Timbuctoo; they are brought there by the traders from Bornou.

Leaving Timbuctoo, Wargee embarked on the Bar-Neel (to which goods are transported on camels and asses) in a large boat, which was sometimes paddled by ten men, and sometimes pushed forward with long poles. The river near to Timbuctoo is deep, and flows in a direction contrary to that which they were going; its breadth is about 200 yards. The boat had a considerable quantity of salt in it, which had been brought from Tandeny to Timbuctoo, and they stopped at several places to dispose of it: eleven days after they left Timbuctoo, and at a place called Koonah, the river, which had been hitherto of nearly an equal width, spread out into a large lake, which was very shallow near to the shore; here small canoes came to receive the salt. It continued thus spread out for four days, until they arrived at Koonannah, where it narrowed to its former breadth. When asked if the lake had different names, he replied it was called Baharee, or Bar Hareh: its breadth, he observed, was about the length of the salt pond at Cape Coast; say, about half a mile. At the expiration of twenty-two days from their departure from Timbuctoo, they arrived at Jinne, which is built in a similar manner to Timbuctoo, but not nearly so large: he remained at Jinne a long time. He says, the country about Timbuctoo and Jinne is flat and fertile, and well adapted for pasturage, and that the number of cattle is considerable. From Jinne he went forward by land to Soorondoomah, in twenty-five days, remaining at several places; the distance is ten days' journey. From Sooroodoomah he advanced to Keri, to Samaco, to Galasoo, to Kong, in thirty-three days. In travelling from Jinne to Sooroodoomah, to Keri, to Samaco, to Galasoo, and to Kong, the rising of the sun was to his left. From Keri he diverged to the westward, and after a journey of ten days he arrived at Foulahna, a large town, the capital of a country of the same name, which he says is next to Bambarra; from thence again he returned to Keri. Between Kong and Galasoo is a considerable river, which he was obliged to cross by a canoe; its name he has forgotten; he describes its breadth, by saying it was as far as from the castle to the house in which he lived, (about 100 yards,) and its direction from the rising towards the setting of the sun. Kong is a town of considerable size, but not so large at Timbuctoo; the inhabitants are Mahomedans; they employ themselves much in trading with the Ashantees in one direction, also with Foulah Sansanding in the other; the houses are mud, flat-roofed, two stories high, some of them are good, but not equal to those at Timbuctoo.

Wargee remained at Kong fifty days; having taken a wife at Jinne, she fell sick at Kong, which caused his remaining so long. It would seem by this time his means had dwindled very materially; and on his being questioned, he acknowledged, that in addition to his loss at Galibabo, he had expended much of his property, and much had been extorted from him. We find him at Kong retailing in the market some material in small bottles, which was much prized by them, to darken their eyelids and their eyebrows, (query, lead ore,) and making a profit by selling it; this he said was called by the Arabs, hainar, and by the Kongs, incassah. It was understood, in the first instance, that this was purchased from the Arabs; but at a subsequent interview, he declared it was procured from a country called Namnam, about fiteen days' journey from Kano, the inhabitants of which are cannibals: observing, that this was much doubted, he again seriously repeated his assertion, and declared, that when he

was at Kano, the sultan was at war with Malim Jago, king of Namnam, and he saw several of these people who were made prisoners, sold in the market; that one day, a slave having died, the sultan, who doubted the fact of their being cannibals, paid the master for the body, and gave it to them, and they ate it; to this he was an eyewitness. Being asked if he had seen any mountains near to Kong, his reply was, that he had seen several large mountains, but he had either not noticed, or did not recollect their direction; neither could it be understood that there was a continued chain. From Kong he travelled to Goonah in fifteen days, but rested at different places some days: his course was now to the eastward, that is, his face was 'towards the rising sun.' From Goonah to Foolah in eight days; Foolah to Banah in twelve days, travelling in a different direction, that is, with the sun to his left. Banah is under the frontier of Ashantee, and a dependency of that kingdom; here he was stopped by an Ashantee chief, who told him he would not allow him to advance, until he had sent to consult the king. From Banah he was ordered to go to Deboyah, twelve days' journey eastward; and from Deboyah to Salagha, in a southerly direction, eight days. Inquiry being made if he had heard of Degwombah, he said it was thirty-three days' journey from Kong. He further said, that Degwombah and Yandee, (see notes,) were the same place, being called by the former name by the Houssa and Marawah people, and by the latter by that of Moosh. Salagha is five days' journey in a southerly direction from Degwombah. Salagha, as well as all the Marawah people, including Houssa, pay tribute annually to Bornou.

At Salagha he sojourned three months and ten days, and at the expiration of that time people came from the king of Ashantee, to tell him he might advance: went by another route, and passed many towns, but could not learn their names, there being no people who could speak to him. In fourteen days arrived at a village near Cormassie, where he was ordered to remain, and received a present of a sheep, a flask of rum, and some yams, from the king; four days after this he was allowed to go to Cormassie, and saw the king, from whom he again received a present of a sheep, a pig, some rum, yams, plantains, and gold. When asked where he was going, he told the king that he had travelled very far, and, hearing the English had a place not far off, he was desirous of getting there, because he knew they would help him to find his way back to his own country: the king replied that was well, and that he should be sent to Cape Coast Castle soon. He was kept at Cormassie twenty-five days, when the king appointed messengers to escort him to Cape Coast Castle, where he arrived in twenty-one days, as they travelled by very easy journeys, and rested about every other day. During his whole stay at Cormassie, the king behaved towards him with much kindness and attention.

Notes on the Travels of a Tartar.-No. 1. From what Wargee relates, it would appear that Adam's assertion, that there is "a considerable navigable river close to the city (Timbuctoo)," must be incorrect. Between Wargee's account and that of Leo, there is a considerable degree of coincidence: Leo places Timbuctoo at the distance of twelve miles from the Niger: Wargee says, it is three hours' walk from Timbuctoo to Kabarah, (on the Mazzr, a branch of the Bar-Neel, or Niger, but not navigable,) and three hours more from Kaberah to the junction of the Mazzr with the main stream of

the Bar-Neel. That Wargee's information on this point is correct, there can be little doubt, for he illustrated it by a rude sketch.— 2. The island formed by the Mazzr, (the Jinbalah of the maps,) Wargee calls Kabarah. He states its breadth to be about three hours' walk, and its length about two days' journey: he saw numbers of asses and cattle grazing on it.-3. Being questioned what route he would take if he were obliged to return to Timbuctoo, he stated the following, as the most direct: from Cape Coast to Cormassie, nine days, to Salagha fourteen days, Degwombah five, Sansaneemango five, Koomfiela fifteen, Boosmah seven, Manee three, Imboole ten, Timbuctoo five: in all seventy-three days.-4. It is a curious fact, that the hypothesis which favours the discharge of the waters of the Niger into the Nile of Egypt, should be in some measure confirmed by Wargee, without his being led to this point, further than when he stated the course taken by the rivers Bar-Neel and Quollah to run in a contrary direction, the former from W. to E. and the latter from E. to W.: on his being asked if he knew where they each disembogued, he stated, he heard that the Quollah entered into the sea to the westward. Of the Bar-Neel he spoke, of course, from Sego to Sansanding, to Jinne, to Timbuctoo, and thence passing through several countries he had not visited; but leaving Houssa to the southward, it passed through Turicak, being the same river he had crossed within one day's journey of Agades, on his route from Mourzook to Kano, and thence to Habesh; and before it arrived at Masr (Cairo) it formed a junction with the Nile of Egypt. The report made to Mr. Hutchinson, when resident at Ashantee, by the Moors there, was, "that the Quollah was the Niger, and the Niger the Nile of Egypt; that they (the Moors) knew it by that name from Jinne, to a far way in the country of the Arabs, where it assumed the name of Bar-al Nil; whence, having received many tributary streams, it passes Masr (Grand Cairo), and disembogues itself into the Bar-al Nil (Mediterranean) at Askandria." Wargee was repeatedly questioned on this point, but seemed perfectly clear in his conviction, that they were different rivers: he never heard the river called at Jinne by any other name than the Bar-Neel. -5. Sept. 30. Wargee's account relative to the setting in of the rains at Timbuctoo, was given some time since: when again questioned on the subject, he said, that from his leaving Timbuctoo to his arrival at Salagha, was seven moons; his stay at Salagha three moons and ten days; journeying thence to Cormassie, fourteen days; stay at the village, four days; at Cormassie, twentyfive days; journey from Cormassie to Cape Coast, twenty-one days. Since his arrival, in which he was correct to a day, four moons and ten days, making seventeen moons. This will make his departure from Timbuctoo to have been about the 10th of June. Leo, I believe, states the Niger to be inundated in July and August.-6. He neither heard of any white man having been at Timbuctoo, nor of any having been seen on the Bar-Neel; but he asserts, that, about three years ago, when he was upon one of his excursions from the vicinity of Kano, he arrived at a place called Lahoorpoor, on the banks of the Quollah; he saw a crowd collected, and inquired what was the cause; was told that two white men had been brought there who had been cast away. The river being very rapid, as well as rocky, in this place, the boats struck on one of the rocks; some of the natives seeing this, swam off to plunder, but the head man of the

place sent some people to their assistance, and got their things restored. The whole of the people were kind to them, particularly the head man, in whose house they lodged, and who gave them fowls, &c. and a girl to wait on them. He was in the room in which they were, but could not talk to them; saw no books or papers. Whilst he was there, a large hair trunk was brought in ;* it was carried on a pole on the shoulders of two men; saw also a large bundle, which he thinks contained bedding. The two men were quite white; one appeared about thirty years of age, the other a few years older; they wore green coats, and woollen caps, striped blue and white: they also wore gaiters, which he described by wrapping the skirt of the coat round his leg, and pointing to buttons; and had dirks or daggers, (several were shewn to him, but the one he fixed upon as being similar, is a short dirk about fourteen inches, with no guard; what they wore, he said, were like that, but with guards about four inches, which he shewed by placing his fingers across the dirk,) with body belts. He only remained at Lahoorpoor two days, then crossed the river, and proceeded to Laooree, which is only half a day's walk from its banks; never heard any thing of them after that time, neither did he learn from whence they came. He did not again visit Lahoorpoor, which is in the territory of Ganaganah.

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He was shewn several trunks, amongst which was one of that description; on this he placed his hand, as the one he saw like it, but larger; he also described by signs the manner in which it was corded.