Gibraltar. He accordingly proceeded thither, but arrived two
days after the vessel had sailed. Soon afterwards he engaged himself
on board a Welsh brig, lying at Gibraltar, in which he sailed to
Bilboa, whence the brig took a cargo of wool to Bristol, and after
discharging it there, was proceeding in ballast to Liverpool; but
having been driven into Holyhead by contrary winds, Adams there fell
sick, and was put on shore. From this place he begged his way up to
London, where he arrived completely destitute. He had slept two or
three nights in the open streets, when he was accidentally met by a
gentleman, who had seen him in Mr. Hall's service at Cadiz, and was
acquainted with his history, by whom he was directed to the office of
the African Association, through whose means his adventures were made
known to the public.

Adams may be said to have been the first Christian, who ever reached
the far-famed city of Timbuctoo, and it must be admitted that many
attempts were made to throw a positive degree of discredit upon his
narrative, and to consider it more the work of deep contrivance than
of actual experience. It is certain that many difficulties present
themselves in the narrative of Adams, which cannot be reconciled with
the discoveries subsequently made, but that cannot be argued as a
reason for invalidating the whole of his narrative; especially when
it is so amply and circumstantially confirmed by the inquiries which
were set on foot by Mr. Dupuis, at the instigation of the African
Association, and the result of which was, a complete confirmation of
all the circumstances, which Adams

CHAPTER XIII.

It is perhaps not the least of the many extraordinary circumstances
attending the city of Timbuctoo, that no two travellers agree in
their account of it; and for this reason it is most difficult to
decide, to whom the greatest credibility should be awarded, or, on
the other hand, whether some of them, who pretend to have resided
within its walls, ever visited it at all. The contradictions of the
respective travellers are in many instances so gross, that it is
scarcely possible to believe that the description, which they are
then giving can apply to one and the same place, and therefore we are
entitled to draw the inference, that some of them are practising on
our credulity, and are making us the dupes of their imagination,
rather than the subjects of their experience. The expectations of
moorish magnificence were r