He leaves out, however, the
story of the frightful lips. Every fiction has its day; and that part
is now out of date. - Astl.
[4] Melli being itself unknown, we can hardly look to discover the
situation of Kokhia or Cochia; but it may possibly be Kuku, a town and
district to the N.E. of Bornou, which lies in the direction of the
text; or it may be Dar Kulla, greatly more to the S.W. but still in
the same track. - E.
[5] In Grynaeus this place is called Ato. As in the direction of the
caravan from Tombuto towards Tunis, it may possibly be Taudeny, an
ouasis or island of the great desert, in lat. 21 deg. 30' N. - E.
[6] Called Hona in Grynaeus. What part of Barbary this name may refer to
does not appear. But the passage ought perhaps to run thus, "_to Oran
by the Mountain of Wan_," as there is a range mountains of that name
to the S. E. of Oran, which joins the chain of Atlas, or the Ammer
Mountains. - E.
[7] This is the earliest account of the places from whence gold is brought,
and of the course of its trade through Africa, and thence into Europe;
and is even more particular and exact than any that has been given by
later authors. - Astl.
SECTION IV.
_Of the River Senegal and the Jalofs, with some Account of the Manners,
Customs, Government, Religion, and Dress of that Nation_.
Leaving Cape Branco, and the Gulf of Arguin, we continued our course
along the coast to the river Senegal, which divides the desert and the
tawny Azanhaji from the fruitful lands of the Negroes. Five years before
I went on this voyage, this river was discovered by three caravels
belonging to Don Henry, which entered it, and their commanders settled
peace and trade with the Moors; since which time ships have been sent to
this place every year to trade with the natives[1]. The river Senegal is
of considerable size, being a mile wide at the mouth, and of sufficient
depth. A little farther on it has another entrance, and between the two,
there is an island which forms a cape, running into the sea, having sand-
banks at each mouth that extend a mile from the shore[2]. All ships that
frequent the Senegal ought carefully to observe the course of the tides,
the flux and reflux of which extend for seventy miles up the river, as I
was informed by certain Portuguese, who had been a great way up this
river with their caravels. From Cape Branco, which is 280 miles distant,
the whole coast is sandy till within twenty miles of the river.
