Niger_.

Sir Rufane Donkin's new hypothesis respecting the Nile, briefly stands
thus: The Niger (Ni-Geir) passes through Wangara, and emptying itself
into the Wad-El Ghazeh, or Nile of Bornou, which is formed by the
continuation of the Misselad (Geir) through Lake Fittre, flows under the
sands of Bilmah into the Mediterranean Sea. Sir Rufane is likewise of
opinion--that "reasoning from analogy, and still more from what we know
of the nature of the country, I have no doubt but that in very remote
ages, the united Niger and Geir did roll into the sea in all the
magnificence of a mighty stream, forming a grand estuary or harbour
where now the quicksand is."--"The question to be solved under such a
supposition is, what revolution in nature can have produced so great a
change in the face of the country, as to cause a great river which once
flowed into the sea, to stop short in a desart of sand." "We know from
all recent, as well as from some of the older modern travellers, that
the sands of the desarts west of Egypt, are encroaching on, and
narrowing the valley of the Nile of Egypt. We see the pyramids gradually
diminishing in height, particularly on their western sides, and we read
of towns and villages which have been buried in the desart, but which
once stood in fertile soils, some of whose minarets were still visible a
few years ago, attesting the powers of the invading sand. The sphynx,
buried almost up to the head, till the French cleared her down to the
back, attested equally the desolating progress of this mighty
sand-flood."--"And if we turn to the valley of the Nile of Egypt, we
shall see at this moment the very process going on by which the lower
part of the Niger, or Nile of Bornou has been choked up and obliterated
by the invasion of the Great Sahara, under the names of the desarts of
Bilmah and Lybia. Thus has been rubbed out from the face of the earth a
river which had once its cities, its sages, its warriors, its works of
art, and its inundations like the classic Nile; but which so existed in
days of which we have scarcely a record."

_La Perouse._

Before quitting Vanikoro, off which island La Perouse was wrecked, M. de
Urville, captain of the Astrolabe, constructed a monument there, bearing
the inscription, "To the memory of La Perouse and his companions. The
Astrolabe, 14 March, 1828." Among the relics which have been withdrawn
with great difficulty from beneath the waves, are a very strong anchor,
a