in all his budget. The excommuncation alluded to was written in the celebrated Textus Roffensis, so early as the time of bishop Ernulphus, who died A. D. 1124. It is a general form, intended to be used against any notorious malefactor or malefactors; but when, or where, or against whom it was issued, is not known. One thing is certain, that sentences of excommunication, couched almost in the same terms, were pronounced against violators of church-property; of which we have an instance in the close of the statutes of the Scottish church, enacted in 1225, under the authority of pope Honorius III.; and another at the end of the constitutions of the synod of Ossory, published about 1320. Indeed, "the general sentence or curse, used to be read to the people four times in the year, taken out of the Festival printed by Wynkyn de Worde, 1532," is to the same effect. It is therefore highly probable, that those who stole the art of alummaking from the papal territories, were excommunicated in similar terms; but we have no right to say, that the form in the Textus Roffensis was the very curse which the holy father employed. Translatious of that ancient malediction may be found in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1745, p. 490; in Grose's Antiquities, vol. 6, p. 107-109; Sterne's Tristram Shandy; and Charlton's History, p. 306-307. Instead of shocking the reader with a literal version of this impious and indecent execration, I prefer subjoining a copy of the original document, which was politely extracted for me from the Textus Roffensis, by Messrs. Hussey and Lewis, with the kind consent and direction of the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The reader will see, from the doubled terminations, that it might be used either in the singular or the plural.

"Ex auctoritate Dei omnipotentis, Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti, et sanctorum canonum, sanctæque et intemeratæ Virginis Dei genetricis Mariæ, atque omnium cœlestium virtutum, angelorum, archangelorum, thronorum, dominationum, potestatuum, cherubin ac seraphin, et sanctorum patriarcharum, prophetarum, et omnium apostolorum, et evangelistarum, et sanctorum innocentum, qui in conspectu Agni soli digni inventi sunt canticum cantare novum, et sanctorum martyrum, et sanctorum confessorum, et sanctarum virginum, atque omnium simul sanctorum et electorum Dei,- Excommunicamus, et anathematizamus hunc [vel os] furem [s], vel hunc [vel os] malefactorem [s], N. et a liminibus sanctæ Dei ecclesiæ sequestramus, ut æternis suppliciis excruciandus [vel i], mancipetur [entur], cum Dathan et Abiram, et cum his qui dixerunt Domino Deo, Recede a nobis, scientiam viarum tuarum nolumus; et sicut aqua ignis extinguitar, sic extinguatur lucerna ejus [vel eorum] in secula seculorum, nisi resipuerit [nt], et ad satisfactionem venerit [nt]. Amen.

Maledicat illum (os) Deus Pater qui hominem creavit. Maledicat illum (os) Dei Filius qui pro homine passus est. Maledicat illum (os) Spiritus Sanctus qui in baptismo effusus est. Maledicat illum (os) sancta crux, quam Christus pro nostra salute, hostem triumphans, ascendit.

Maledicat illum

Maledicat illum (os) sancta Dei genetrix et perpetua Virgo Maria. (os) sanctus Michael, animarum susceptor sacrarum. Maledicant illum (os) omnes angeli et archangeli, principatus et potestates, omnisque militia colest is exercitus. Maledicat illum (os) patriarcharum et prophetarum, laudabilis numerus.

Maledicat

illum (os) sanctus Johannes præcursor et Baptista xpi precipuus Maledicat illum (os) Sanctus Petrus, et Sanctus Paulus, atque sanctus Andreas, omnesque Christi apostoli, simul et cæteri discipuli, quatuor quoque evangelistæ, qui sua prædicatione mundum universum converterunt. Maledicat illum (os) cuneus martyrum et confessorum mirificus, qui Deo bonis operibus placitus inventur est.

Maledicat illum (os) sacrarum virginum chori, quæ mundi vana causa honoris Christi respuenda contempserunt, Maledicant illum (os) omnes sancti qui ab initio mundi usque in finem seculi Deo dilecti inveniuntur.

Maledicant illum (os) cœli et terra, et omnia sancta in eis manentia.

Maledictus (i) sit (nt) ubicunque fuerit (nt), sive in domo, sive in agro, sive in via, sive in semita, sive in silva, sive in aqua, sive in ecclesia.

Maledictus (i) sit (nt) vivendo, moriendo, manducando, bibendo, esuriendo, sitiendo, jejunando, dormitando, dormiendo, vigilando, ambulando, stando, sedendo, jacendo, operando, quiescendo, mingendo, cacando, flebotomando.

Maledictus (i) sit '(nt) in totis viribus corporis.

Maledictus (i) sit (nt) intus et exterius.

Maledictus (i) sit (nt) in capillis; maledictus (i) sit (nt) in cerebro.

Maledictus (i) sit (nt) in vertice, in temporibus, in fronte, in auriculis, in superciliis, in oculis, in genis, in maxillis, in naribus, in dentibus mordacibus, labris sive molibus, in labiis, in guttere, in humeris, in harnis, in brachiis, in manubus, in digitis, in pectore, in corde, et in omnibus interioribus stomacho tenus, in renibus, in inguibus, in femore, in genitalibus, in coxis, in genibus, in cruribus, in pedibus, maniculis, et in unguibus.

Maledictus (i) sit (nt) in totis compaginibus membrorum a vertice capitis, usque ad plantam pedis non sit in eo (vel illis) sanitas.

Maledicat illum (os) Christus Filius Dei vivi toto suæ majestatis imperio, et insurgat adversus eum (illos) cœlum cum omnibus virtutibns quæ in eo moventur ad damnandum eum (os), nisi penituerit (nt) et ad satisfactionem venerit (nt). Amen. Fiat. fiat. Amen."

VARIOUS opinions have been advanced by geographical writers respecting the course and termination of the river Niger; and even at the present day it is not generally known whether it flows toward the east or the west. Mr. Lucas, who travelled in the northern part of Africa about the year 1789, says, but probably without ever seeing the river he is describing, "the course of the Niger is from east to west," and so great is its rapidity that no vessel can ascend its stream. If this were true, this noble river must either discharge its waters into the Senegal or the Gambia, or empty itself into the Atlantic ocean; but this is known not to be the case. Mr. Mungo Park has since performed a journey of more than 1000 miles eastward from the mouth of the Gambia, to Silla, a town on the Niger: in this arduous undertaking he has discovered the head or source of the

Niger, which he lays down on the northern side of the lofty range of the mountains of Kong, near Sankari, in the country of Jallon Kadoo, latitude 10o 54' N., longitude 6° 32′ W.; and that the course of this long-sought river is from west to east; that it is covered with canoes; and that there are a great number of villages on its banks, the inhabitants of which spend a considerable portion of their time in fishing. At Bosradoo, a town about a mile and a half east of Bambakoo, and about 150 miles from the source of the Niger, the breadth of this river is one English mile, and its current runs at the rate of five miles an hour. "Between Maraboo and Deena," says Mr. Park, "it was as smooth and transparent as a mirror, beautiful and picturesque, and sometimes ruffled by a gentle breeze."

Though the source of the Niger has been discovered, its termination remains unknown. A late writer on geography asserts, that "after running more than 1100 miles almost due east, it loses itself in the sandy deserts." But what sensible man, with only a superficial knowledge of geography and the common laws of nature, can be so far deceived by the assertions of others, as to believe that a broad and rapid river, after it has run 950 miles from a place where it was a mile broad, could lose itself in a "sandy desert ?" From what we know of rivers which come within our immediate inspection, we are inclined to think that the Niger can neither lose itself nor decrease in magnitude from Bosradoo to any other place whither it may run in the east or south-east. All rivers increase in magnitude from thair sources to their terminations in seas, oceans, or salt lakes; and if we allow their breadths to be always proportional to the squareroots of their lengths, the breadth of the Niger at the place where it is supposed to "lose itself," will be nearly three miles. Moreover, if it were meant in the above assertion to intimate that the waters of this great river are carried off by evaporation, the hypothesis is equally absurd. The learned Dr. Halley calculated from the experiments which he made in this country, that a cubic inch of water exposed to the action of the solar rays for twelve hours in the middle of summer, would lose only one-tenth of its bulk by evaporation; but as the temperature of the regions in the interior of Africa* is much greater than that of this country, we must make some allowance. Suppose, then, one-eighth of a cubic inch of water is carried off from every inch of surface by evaporation in the interior of Africa per day, and we shall find that it will require one year to evaporate a body of water 451⁄2 inches deep, if it receive no supplies, and the water be not imbibed by the soil: but the water brought by the Niger, even at the rate of two miles an hour, is capable of compensating more than 18,000 times for this deficiency in the space of a year. Hence the idea of its waters being evaporated, or lost in sandy deserts, falls to the ground.

Another hypothesis is said to have been started by Mr. Mungo Park when he was to the eastward of Sansanding; and this is, that the Niger

The temperature of the water of the Nerico, a branch of the Gambia, at two o'clock p.m. on the 18th of May, 1805, at a place on the western side of Jallacatta, in latitude 12 degrecs 50 minutes north, was 94 of Fahrenheit's thermometer.

unites its waters with those of the Congo. This hypothesis was received in England in the latter part of the year 1806, and contained in a letter from Goree, said to be written by Mr. Park at Sansanding, to the east of Sego, and brought to Goree by one of his guides. He had proceeded a considerable way farther before he was left by the guide, and entertained the most sanguine expectations of soon reaching the coast. Lieutenant Martin, also, in a letter to Mr. M'Gaw, asserted that from what Mr. Park had been enabled to learn, he was convinced that the long-sought Niger was the Congo, and that they might be expected on the coast in about three months. Whether Mr. Park entertained such an opinion or not, is dubious, but that he either imagined the Niger to discharge its waters into the Congo or into a salt-lake in the interior of Africa, is almost certain, from the circumstance of his telling Modibinne, an African prince, that he intended sailing down the Jolibba, (i. e. the Niger,) to the place where it mixes with the salt-water.

That the Niger does not discharge its waters into the Congo, is very probable; first, because the shortest distance from Sansanding, a town on the Niger which has been visited and accurately laid down by Europeans, to Banbonsobbi on the Congo, is at least 1900 miles; and that the Niger is as large a river at the former as the Congo is at the latter of these places. The length of the Niger from its source to Sansanding is about 300 miles, and of the Congo from Banbonsobbi to its entrance into the South Atlantic, 250. Secondly, because the lofty range of mountains called Al Komri, or Mountains of the Moon, laid down in the latitude of about 10 degrees north, are between the Niger and the Congo, and consequently the waters of the former river cannot unite with those of the latter; at least we have no such instance, on a grand scale, in the known world.

The third hypothesis, viz. that the Niger discharges its water into a alt-lake of considerable extent in the interior of Africa, is more plausible than any that has yet been advanced. There are several instances of the kind in Asia; thus, the Wolga after running a course of 1700 miles, the Ural of 780, the Ochus of 450, the Khour of 420, the Kouma of 300, and the Tereck of 260, discharge themselves into the Caspian Sea, which properly speaking is but a salt-lake, having no communication with the ocean. The river Jihon in Tartary runs a course of 700 miles, and the Sihon of 550, and then empty themselves into the lake of Aral. The Ili, or Congou river of Chinese Tartary, runs a course of 350 miles, and then discharges itself into the lake Tinguis: and lastly the famous river Jordan, after running 105 miles, discharges itself into the Dead Sea, a lake in Palestine. All these lakes are composed of salt-water, and have no communication with the ocean, and such is probably the case with a lake in the interior of Africa, into which the river Niger flows.*

In support of this conjecture it will perhaps not be improper to add the following intelligence obtained from the Negroes by Mr. Park, when he was at Silla, in his first journey into Africa, viz. that at the distance of two days journey (suppose 50 miles) eastward from Silla is Jennè, a town situated on an island in the river. At the distance of four days from Silla (100 miles), the river discharges its water into a lake, called

Dibbie, whose extent is such that, in crossing over it from west to east, the canoes lose sight of land one whole day, that is, it is probably 40 or 50 miles in length. From this lake the water issues in many streams, which terminate in two large branches, one of which runs towards the east, and the other to the north-east; they, however, join again at Kabra, the port or shipping-place belonging to the city of Tombuctoo. Kabra is one day's journey south of Tombuctoo, and the whole distance by land from Silla to Tombuctoo is 14 days journey. From Kabra, at the distance of 11 days journey eastward, the river passes within about two days journey southward of Houssa; "but whether," says the editor of the African Association," it be the same that passes by Kassima, or at an immense distance mingles with the waters of the Nile, or empties itself into one or more inland lakes, are questions which future discoveries can alone resolve."

We will next endeavour to point out the probable situation of the above lake. Now, the place on the borders of the country of Houssa, at which Mr. Mungo Park is supposed to have been drowned in the Niger, is in the latitude of 16° N., and 5o 10'. of E. longitude, and about 900 miles from the head of the river: also in a route traversed by the camvans from Wara in Bergoo to the country of Darkulla, no less than four rivers are crossed whose waters run westward. It is therefore probable that these rivers empty themselves into the same lake, into which we have imagined the river Niger to flow. We may therefore lay it down between the latitudes of 12 and 16° N., and the longitudes of 15 and 20° E., and then the whole length of the Niger to this lake will be about 1700 miles. In consequence of this calculation, we may readily conjecture that the lake we have supposed to be in the centre of Africa is not much inferior in magnitude to that of the Caspian Sea in Asia; the Niger and the Wolga will be of equal length, and each empty itself into its respective body of salt

water.

It will probably next be required to prove that the rivers which empty themselves into lakes are just capable of supplying the water which is carried off by evaporation, and for this purpose we will take the Caspian Sea, whose length is 600 miles, and mean breadth 160. By calculation we find its surface equal to 385391001600000 square inches, and if we allow one-ninth of an inch to be evaporated per day, we shall have 42821222 400000 solid inches, equal to about 600 millions of tuns per day. Now, it has been calculated that the Po discharges 200 millions of tuns of water per day into the Adriatic Sea, and as the Wolga is more than double the length of the Po, we may readily infer that it discharges about 300 millions of tuns per day into the Caspian Sea. But there are five or six rivers besides which also discharge their waters into the Caspian Sea, and these will without doubt make up for the 300 million tuns of water. JOHN BAINES, jun.

December 31, 1817.