except that they were more severe. It continues to return at the same season of the year, without producing extensive mischief, until the winter of 1816, when it began to be generally fatal to the horses of travellers. So far as I recollect, it was stated, that from thirty to forty travelling horses were destroyed during this winter. The consequences were alarming. In the wilderness, where a man's horse is his chief dependance, the traveller was surprised and distressed to see the beast sicken and die in convulsions, sometimes within three hours after encountering this little insect. Or, if the animal were fortunate enough to live, a sickness followed, commonly attended with a sudden and entire shedding of the hair, which rendered the brute unfit for use. Unwilling to believe that effects so dreadful could be produced by a cause apparently trifling, travellers began to suspect that the Indians, or others, of whom they obtained food for their horses, had, for some base and selfish end, mingled poison with it. The greatest precaution was observed. They refused to stop at any house on the way, and carried, for the distance of forty or fifty miles, their own provision; but, after all, suffered the same calamities. This excited a serious inquiry into the true cause of their distress. The fly, which has been mentioned, was known to be a most singular insect, and peculiarly troublesome to horses. At length it was admitted by all, that the cause of the evils complained of could be no other than this insect. Other precautious have since been observed, particularly that of riding over the road infested with it in the night; and now it happens that comparatively few horses are destroyed. I am unable to describe it from my own observation. I passed over the same road in April last, only two weeks. after it disappeared, and was obliged to take the description from others. Its colour is a dark brown; it has an elongated head, with a small and sharp proboscis; and is in size between the gnat and musqueto. When it alights upon a horse, it darts through the hair, much like a gnat, and never quits its hold until removed by force. When a horse stops to drink, swarms fly about the head, and crowd into the mouth, nostrils, and ears; hence it is supposed the poison is communicated inwardly. Whether this be true or not, the most fatal consequences result. It is singular, that from the time of its first appearance, it has never extended for a greater distance than forty miles in one direction, and, usually, it is confined to fifteen miles. In no other part of the country has it ever been seen. From this fact, it would seem probable that the cause of its existence is local. But what it is none can tell. After the warm weather commences, it disappears as effectually from

human observation, as if it were annihilated. Towards the close of December it springs up all at once into being again, and resumes the work of destruction. A fact, so singular, I could not have ventured to state, without the best evidence of its reality. All the circumstances here related are familiar to hundreds, and were in almost every man's mouth when I passed through the country. In addition to this, they were confirmed by the account which I received from Colonel John M'Kee, a gentleman of much intelligence and respectability, who is the present agent of the general government for the Choctaw nation. He has consented to obtain specimens of the insect for your examination, when it returns again; and will, I hope, accompany the transmission with a more perfect description than it has been possible for me to communicate.

In concluding this narrative of facts, I should be glad to take a comprehensive view of the whole. The bold features in the geology of the United States, as they are drawn by the Blue Ridge, the Cumberland, with its associated mountains, and the Dividing Ridge, deserve to be distinctly and strongly impressed upon the mind. Such is the order and regularity of their arrangement, that they can hardly fail to conduct the attentive observer to important results. What has now been said of them, is but an epitome of the whole. I trust the public will soon read, in the pages of your journal, a detail more perfect and more interesting. And allow me to suggest, whether, under the auspices of our learned societies, some men of science might not be employed and supported in exploring the country, with the prospect of greatly enlarging the science of our country, and of enriching our journals and cabinets of natural history. Tours of discovery have often been made for other objects, and with success. Our country yields to ro other in the variety, or the value, of its natural productions, We owe it to ourselves and to the world, to search them out with diligence and without delay.

SOMERS, (N. Y.) Oct. 1818.

END OF CORNELIUS'S TOur.

W. Icais, Printer, Finch-lane, Cornhill.

TRAVELS

IN

AFRICA,

TO THE SOURCES

OF THE

Senegal and Gambia,

IN 1818.

A Tholei
BY G. MOLLIEN.

WITH A MAP, AND OTHER ENGRAVINGS.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS, AND Co.

BRIDE COURT, BRIDGE STREET

Stereotyped and Printed by J. M'Gowan, Great Windmill Street, London.

PREFACE.

BEFORE the end of the 18th century, the Europeans were but little acquainted with the interior parts of Western Africa, comprised between the 20° and 8° of north latitude. They had only explored its coast, and ascended the Senegal and Gambia, to points where cataracts obstruct the navigation. They had made less progress in ascending the other rivers.

It would appear, nevertheless, from the accounts given by Portuguese travellers, that their countrymen had an intercourse with Tombouctou, Tocrour, and other towns of the interior, before the latter end of the 15th century; but owing to the want of positive information on the subject, it cannot be ascertained whether they visited themselves these cities, or knew their names from the negroes with whom they used to trade. It is probable, however, that the Portuguese traders had often crossed the country situate between the Atlantic Ocean and the great markets of the interior, but their travels have been of little use for the progress of geography; and, if we except the coast, the entire of the country remained unknown, till the other nations of Europe carried thither their navigation and commerce.

The French settled more particularly at the mouth of the Senegal, where they established the principal trading place; they possess on the African coast from Arguin to Sierra Leone.

Father Labat, in a work published in 1728, under the title of "Nouvelle Relation de l'Afrique Occidentale," has furnished an excellent account of the country, composed principally on the memoirs of Andre Brue, Director of the African Company, and an accurate observer. Several other French travellers have also given accounts, containing information more or less instructive: Father Alexis de St. Lo, in 1637, Jannequin, in 1643, Villaut de Bellefond, in 1669, Father Gaby, in 1689, Lemaire, in 1695, Adanson, in 1757, Demanet, in 1767, Praneau de Pommegorge, in 1789, Lamiral, in '1791, Sauguier, in 1791, have published the result of their observations.

The English had directed their attention towards the Gambia, long before the French had formed any settlement in Senegal. Several of their travellers, whose accounts were not consulted by Hakluyt and Purchas, such as Jobson, in 1623, Moore, in 1738, Smith, in 1744, Lindsay, in 1757, Matthews, in 1788, had described the part of the African continent lying between the bounds already mentioned.