with watery paths. These Bosos, living
at a distance of nearly 900 miles from the coast, possess no idea of the
sea, and the question of what becomes of the mighty Niger beyond the
regions they know troubles them very little. One unusually intelligent
Bosos, when asked what became of the river beyond the towns which he
knew, or had heard of, down the Niger, said, "Beyond them? Oh, beyond
them the fishes swallow it."

_II.--The Valley of the Niger_

The country lying to the south of Timbuctoo, which is on the threshold
of the great Sahara desert, is the Sudan, otherwise called the Valley
and the Buckler of the Niger. It is a vast region traversed to an extent
of nearly 2,500 miles by one of the largest rivers in the world. This
river rises in the Kouranko chain of mountains, and is really formed by
two streams, the Paliko and the Tembi, which unite at a place called
Laya. The more important of these is the Tembi, and the wood from which
it springs is reputed sacred, and is the subject of innumerable legends
and superstitions. Access to it is denied to the profane by the high
priests and lesser priests, who represent the diety to mortals. The
neighbouring kinglets refer to them before undertaking a war, or other
act of importance, and the common herd consult them on all occasions of
weight. The spirit of the spring, being eminently practical, will only
condescend to attend to them through the medium of sacrifice, but the
ceremonies are not very ferocious, merely oxen being offered, and not
human victims, as in the neighbouring Dahomey.

The region of the source of the Niger is the land of heavy rainfall, and
the slopes of the mountain ranges are channelled by innumerable
cascades, rivulets, brooks, and rivers that carry off the heavenly
overflow. These countries of the Upper Niger are radiant. Tropical
vegetation spreads over them with the utmost prodigality. The river
flings itself headlong over the entire low-lying region between
Biafaraba and Timbuctoo, covering it and swamping it, until a steppe of
barren sand becomes one of the most fertile spots in the universe. The
Niger is to the Sudan what the Nile is to Egypt; but we find there not
one delta, as in Egypt, but three. Thus a most complete system of
irrigation is formed, and fertility is spread over thousands of square
miles. The rise and fall of the waters is as regular as that of the
Nile, and an infinitely greater distance is covered.

Bammaku is an import