h were plates of gold, haunted the busy fancy of
Jobson, and he used every endeavour to ascend the river, in order
that he might discover the sources from which the plates of gold were
made. It was evident to him, that Buckar Sano had either practised an
imposition upon him, or that he had grossly exaggerated the treasures
of the wonderful city; but in regard to the former, he could not
divine any motive by which Buckar Sano could be actuated in imposing
upon him; and in regard to the latter, making every allowance for
exaggeration, it might eventually transpire, that the country
abounded with the precious metal, although perhaps not exactly in the
extraordinary degree as reported by Buckar Sano. After encountering
many difficulties, he was obliged to relinquish the farther ascent of
the river, nor did he even reach the point where the previous
discoveries of Thompson terminated, which may be considered as the
utmost boundary of the discoveries of that period; indeed many years
elapsed before any travellers passed the limits at which Thompson or
Jobson had arrived. The latter gives a strange report, which,
however, was in some degree partially circulated before him, of a
silent traffic being carried on in the interior between the moors and
a negro nation, who would not allow themselves to be seen. "The
reason," he adds, "why these negroes conceal themselves, is, that
they have lips of an unnatural size, hanging down halfway over their
breasts, and which they are obliged to rub with salt continually, to
keep them from putrefaction." Thus even the great salt trade of the
interior of Africa is not wholly untinged with fable.

The stream became at last so shallow, that Jobson could not ascend
any farther, and he began his voyage downwards on the 10th February,
intending to return at the season when the periodical rains filled
the channel. He was, however, never able to execute this purpose, as
he and the company became involved in a quarrel with the merchants,
whom he visits with his highest displeasure, representing them as
persons alive only to their own immediate interests, and utterly
regardless of any of those honourable motives with which all
commercial dealings ought to be characterised.

Jobson may be said to have been the first Englishman, who enjoyed the
opportunity of observing the manners and superstitions peculiar to
the interior of Africa, but that must be taken as only within the
narrow limits to which the