Instead Of Another Niagara, Which General Report Had Led Them To Expect, They Saw Only A Comparative Brook Bubbling Over Its Stony Bed.

The fall appears to be occasioned merely by masses of granite, fragments of which have fallen down and blocked up the stream.

Yet this obstruction rendered it quite impossible for the boats to pass, nor could they be carried across the precipices and deep ravines, by which the country was intersected. The discoverers were, therefore, obliged to proceed by land through this difficult region, which, without a guide on whom they could rely, was attended with overwhelming toil. Cooloo Inga, and Mavoonda, the principal villages, were separated by wide intervals, which placed the travellers under the necessity of often sleeping in the open air. At length the country improved and became more level; the river widened, and the obstacles to its navigation gradually disappeared. But just as the voyage began to assume a prosperous aspect, indications of its fatal termination began to show themselves. The health of the party was rapidly giving way under the effects of fatigue, as well as the malignant influence of a damp and burning atmosphere. Tudor, Crouch and Galwey, were successively obliged to return to the ship. Captain Tuckey, after struggling for some time against the increasing pressure of disease and exhaustion, as well as the accumulating difficulties of the expedition, saw the necessity of putting a stop to its further progress. Mr. Smith at first expressed deep disappointment at this resolution, but soon became so ill that he could scarcely be conveyed to the vessel. On reaching it, a sad scene awaited the survivors; Crouch, Tudor and Galwey, were no more; they had successively sunk under the weight of disease. Mr. Smith soon shared their fate, and Captain Tuckey himself, on the 4th October, added one more to the number of deaths, without having suffered the usual attack of fever. He had been exhausted by constant depression and mental anxiety.

From this unfortunate expedition, however, some information was obtained respecting a part of Africa, not visited for several centuries. No trace indeed was seen of the great kingdoms, or of the cities and armies described by the Portuguese missionaries, so that though the interior may very probably be more populous than the banks of the river, there must in these pious narratives be much exaggeration; indeed it is not unworthy of remark, that all the accounts of the early missionaries, into whatever part of the world they undertook to intrude themselves, can only be looked upon as a tissue of falsehood, and hyperbolical misrepresentation.

The largest towns, or rather villages, did not contain above one hundred houses, with five hundred or six hundred inhabitants. They were governed by chenoos, with a power nearly absolute, and having mafooks under them, who were chiefly employed in the collection of revenue. The people were merry, idle, good-humoured, hospitable, and liberal, with rather an innocent and agreeable expression of countenance. The greatest blemish in their character appeared in the treatment of the female sex, on whom they devolved all the laborious duties of life, even more exclusively than is usual among negro tribes, holding their virtues also in such slender esteem, that the greatest chiefs unblushingly made it an object of traffic.

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