specting his friend in Swearah: and it was agreed between them, or rather it was dictated by the former, that the whole redemption money should be 700 dollars. They travelled the same day ten miles more in a north-western course-making in all about 50. On the 1st of October they travelled about 40 miles; on the 2d Sidi Hamet had lost his way, and frequently stopped and smelled along the sand in order to find it againbut they got over 40 miles more; on the 3d they halted, after travelling 15; and on the 4th they went about 35. In the forenoon of the 5th they fell in with huge sand-hills, 200 feet high, which were drifted like snow banks upon the surface of the Desert, and which, our author thinks, were nothing more than accumulations of grit worn off the shore by the water, and blown up the rocks by the trade winds. They travelled 35 miles this day; and about 32 the next; during the night of which Captain Riley had the satisfaction of hearing the sea roar. On the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th, they travelled 360 miles; but saw nothing which we can afford room to particularize. On the 14th, they came to the edge of the Desert,-which was an abrupt precipice of about 300 feet; and through a gap in which they descended to the lower region. It was a plain declining to the west, and covered with round pebbles, like those of a sea-beach. The cliff, too, bore evident marks of having been formerly beaten with waves;-and there can be very little doubt, in short, that the plain just mentioned was formerly the bed of the sea. At present, the shore is a perpendicular rock of between 1 and 200 feet high, about 6 miles to the westward of what we take to be its old boundary. Sidi Hamet purchased a few goats from some Arabs whom they encountered; our captives had a part of the meat; and, after a journey of 30 miles, they slept pretty soundly' all night. On the 15th they travelled 20 miles; and, towards evening of the next day, they were obliged to pass an arm of the sea, which, as the tide had gone out, was only up to their hips and about 100 yards broad. This brought them 25 miles nearer to Swearah. On the 17th they travelled 50 more. On the 18th the bold cliffs which had formerly been washed by the sea began to be overtopped with high hills rising far into the country,' and presenting to their view an aspect very different from that of the Desert. They met other companies of Arabs pretty frequently; and every thing began to have the appearance of comparative cheerfulness and plenty. About noon they found themselves in a very beaten tract between high mountains; and towards evening they came to a river about two feet deep and 30 broad; the water of which was clear as crystal-brackishand literally filled with beautiful large fish' which were every moment jumping above the surface. They got, this day, 36 miles. During the 19th, they came on the inclined plain again; and, towards evening, they found a heap of barley straw and a small spot of cultivated ground. This brought them 30 miles farther. About 2 o'clock, P. M. of the 20th, they came into a valley which disclosed to their view a few rough huts of stone, near a stream of clear water running over a pebble bed and bordered with green bushes and shrubs in full blossom. It was the river Noon. Our famished captives satiated themselves with its waters; lay down and slept under some barren date trees; and, when they awoke, were presented by their master with about four pounds of honey-which they devoured, comb and all.' They went only 15 miles this day; and did not leave their encampment on the morning of the 21st. The place they had stopped at seemed to be a sort of thoroughfare; droves of camels, loaded and unloaded, constantly passing through it in almost every direction. In the forenoon, our company took up their course along the right bank of the river, and, after travelling a short distance, ascended the steep and craggy mountains to the eastward. On the 22d they steered to the north; and, about noon, they reached, through deep ravines, the inclined plain, which we have once or twice mentioned. On the 23d they procured some fresh fish; and travelled along the sea coast about 40 miles. They went about 50 on the 24th; during which day they passed one or two walled towns, and allayed their thirst at an arched cistern, built of stone and lime -about 80 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 20 deep. In the night of the 25th, they stopped under the walls of a village owned by one Sidi Mohammed. Early next morning Sidi Hamet brought to Capt. Riley a small scrap of paper, with a little black liquid. and a reed; said he must write a letter to his friend in Mogadore; that the whole ransom must be $920, besides the double-barrelled guns; and that himself and his companions must stay where they were, till an answer was returned. Sidi was going with the letter himself:--the captain begged hard to be taken along;' but his master would not suffer it; and he was obliged to content himself with imploring his friend in Mogadore--whoever he might be--to pay the required ransom and send them an interpreter and a guard. Sidi Hamet and Sidi Mohammed set out with the letter; leaving Seid and one Bo Mohammed to take care of the prisoners. · The walled villages, which we have once or twice alluded to, are square enclosures of about 400 yards on a side,--built up with stones and clay, to the height of about 15 feet. The gate is made of thick planks, merely hewed out with an axe; fastened together, we are not told how-probably by means of iron plates; and inserted into the groove of an upright shaft, which turns at the top and bottom, in sockets drilled out of stone slabs. The dwellings within are built with the same materials as the wall. They are about 25 feet square--about 15 high-and have a door and an air hole. Each village belongs to one great family, and each house to one subordinate family. The pen for sheep or goats is in the centre of the town; and the houses are built around upon the borders. A city is nothing more than an irregular collection of such villages. Ετερος δ' ετέρου πόλις εξαλαπάξει. One of these villages may be destroyed in a few hours; and whenever 'God delivers that of one Arab into the hands of another'; that is, when it is left without adequate protection, he never fails to beat down the walls and plunder the inhabitants. Their battering-ram consists of a huge stone, hung like a pendulum from a frame made of poles and crotches, Our author came to one village where two of these pendula were yet standing. The walls were beaten down; and the ground strewed with human bones. On the eighth day after Sidi Hamet's departure, Captain Riley received an answer to his letter, from an English gentleman, by the name of Willshire; who not only agreed, with the greatest willingness, to advance the stipulated ransom; but sent, by the carrier of his letter a basket of clothes, and a box containing some hard biscuits, boiled neat's tongue, tea, coffee, sugar; a tea kettle and pot; cups and saucers, and a few bottles of rum. Early next morning they started for Mogadore; and after travelling 40 miles north-westward over a very sandy country, with here and there a cultivated spot, they came to a city on the right bank of a rivulet. On both sides, there were walled villages, numerous herds, and many inhabitants. The city covered about 100 acres of ground; which is divided into compartments by means of mud-walls. Loads of Indian corn and barley continued to enter the city from the neighbouring fields until about 8 o'clock in the afternoon; when the gate was shut, and a watch stationed on the walls. During the 4th of Novem ber our captives saw no less than 50 walled towns; at one of which (Stuka, it appears) they stopped for the night, after a journey of about 50 miles. Here a Sheick by the name of Ali, who was Sidi Hamet's father-in-law, and who had travelled with the company ever since his departure,-laid a scheme to get possession of our captives, and intrigued with the governor to second his designs. He pretended that Sidi Hamet owed him $600; and refused to let his property go out of his hands, till he returned and paid up the debt. The news was, accordingly, to be carried to Mogadore;-but, in the meantime, Rais bel Cossim, the person who brought Mr. Willshire's let ter, was successful enough to gain over the governor; so that, on the 8th or 9th of November, the company set out again for their place of destination. They reached Santa Cruz about sun-set; left the town again in the night, in order to outmanœuvre Sheick Ali; and travelled (north-eastwardly, we suppose,) till mid-night of the next day. On the 10th, they passed some beds of rivers, and came to a place where the natives manufactured salt. The water issued from a pretty high mountain; and was conducted by gutters into shallow pans made of clay; where it was evaporated and crystallized. About eight o'clock, next morning, they came in sight of Mogadore; and had not long afterwards the inexpressible satisfaction of meeting their deliverer. Mr. Willshire conducted them to the city; and treated them with all the kindness and assiduity of a brother. In a short time the captain received a letter from Mr. Horatio Sprague, in Gibraltar; who paid Mr. Willshire the money he had advanced; and on the 4th of January, 1816, Mr. Savage, Burns, Clark, and Horace, were shipped for Gibraltar, on board of a Genoese schooner, sailing under English colours. The captain himself undertook a journey to Tangier, in order to see the American Consul General, and make some arrangements to liberate the remainder of his crew. After an interesting journey, he arrived at that place on the 19th; left it again on the 29th; and was, the next day, welcomed to Gibraltar, by Mr. Sprague. On the 2nd of February he set sail with his crew, in the ship Rapid; and on the 20th of the next month, was landed safely at New-York. After visiting his family in Middletown, Connecticut, he started for Washington; where he was introduced to Mr. Monroe, and procured, from the treasury department, $1852 45-the ransom money paid by Mr. Sprague-with a promise that no pains should be spared to redeem the remainder of the crew. Porter has since returned to his country; and Captain Riley has lately received from Mr. Willshire a letter, which encourages us to hope that the remainder will, ere long, be rescued from slavery. Before we proceed to give an abstract of Sidi Hamet's story, we shall consider, very briefly, an ingenious attempt of a late writer in the Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica,* to ascertain the termination of the river Niger. After stating, and endeavouring to refute, the theories of others on the subject, he gives it as his own opinion,- That the great river course which stretches across Africa consists in fact of two rivers; that one of these flows eastward by Sego and Tombuctoo, the other westward through Wangara and Cassina; and that these two rivers, at some intermediate point, not far from * Article, AFRICA. the modern position of Houssa, unite in a common receptacle." He first examines the testimony of the Arabian writers; who agree in stating, that the Nile of the Negroes runs westward, into the sea, or great water; and that 100 miles from its mouth, and about1200 from Gana, there is a large city called Ulil. He acknowledges himself, that 1200 miles, in a direct line from Gana, would reach beyond Tombuctoo; and, as his 'intermediate point' is still 100 more to the west, one can hardly help thinking, that the supposition of its being a considerable distance eastward of the last mentioned city, is rather poorly corroborated by Arabian authority. He attempts to refute this objection, however, by supposing that the 1200 miles were not ascertained by rectilinear measurement; but are merely the distance of the circuitous route along the bank of the river. This depends, again, upon another supposition, that, in travelling along a river that is going their way, the Arabians are accustomed to follow its meanders; which is altogether a supposition: we have no positive evidence of the fact; and we are told by Sidi Hamet, on the contrary, that, when he was himself travelling on the Niger, he once lost sight of the river for fifteen days. · Ulil, however, is still more precisely fixed (says our theorist) by the assigned distance (Edrisi, 40.) from Audogost (Agades) of one month, which, in the most direct line, would not reach beyond Houssa, and supposing a probable deflexion to the south would fall several days short of it.' Yet, what surprises us a good deal, in the very map which accompanies this article, the city of Ulil, so far from being placed several days 'short of Houssa,' is, in fact, located several days 'beyond' it! What surprises us still more, the interior great water which our author supposes, and which he proves to be west of Tombuctoo, is set down a great way eastward of it! And what absolutely astonishes us, he thinks he is warranted in telling us, that, 'from these collected statements, we may consider it as the clear and united testimony of the Arabian writers, that, immediately to the east of Houssa (which is far east of Tombuctoo) there exists a great lake, or inland sea, which receives the eastern branch of the Niger.' Now when our readers consider that, from a principle of religion, the Arabian writers never take the trouble of examining a country which is not Mahommedan; and that, from the foregoing exposition, it is impossible to reconcile their statements either with themselves, or with the known localities of the region of which they treat; we think they will agree with us, ( that the only clear' information to be extracted from them is, that, somewhere westward of Gana, the Nile of the Negroes runs into a great water. |