Frank Richardson Cana

“ The banks of the Niger below Mopti become swampy and treeless, and the first of a series of lakes (Debo) is reached. These lakes are chiefly on the left of the main stream, with which they are connected by channels conveying the water in one direction or the other according to the season. At high water most of these are united into one general inundation. The largest lake, Faguibini, is nearly 70 m. long by 12 m. broad, has high shores and reaches a depth exceeding, in parts, 160 ft. It is not until Kabara, the port of Timbuktu, is reached, a distance of 450 m. ”

“ Moreover the Forcados bar shifts little laterally, and within the bar is a natural harbour with an area of 3 to 4 sq. m. having a depth of 30 ft. at low water spring tides. From the mouth of the Forcados to the main stream is 105 m., with a minimum depth in the dry season of 7 ft. A northern arm affords ocean-going vessels access to Wari and Sapele. The other western mouths of the Niger have as a rule shallow and difficult bars. The delta is the largest in Africa and covers 14,000 sq. m.
The Benue is by far the most important of the affluents of the Niger. ”

“ At their confluence the Niger is about three-quarters of a mile broad and the Benue rather more than a mile. The united stream forms a lake-like expansion about 2 m. in width, dotted with islands and sandbanks; the peninsula at the junction is low, swampy, and intersected by numerous channels. On the western bank of the Niger at this point is situated Lokoja (q.v.) , an important commercial centre. The stream, as far south as Iddah (Ida) , a town on the east bank, rushes through a valley cut between the hills, the sandstone cliffs at some places rising 150 ft. high. ”

“ At Ansongo, 430 m. below Timbuktu, the navigable reach of the middle Niger, in all 1057 m., ends. Four huge flint rocks bar the river at Ansongo and effectually prevent further navigation except in very small vessels. From Ansongo to Say, some 250 m., the river flows through several rocky passes, the current attaining greatBussa rapids and lower river. velocity. Throughout this distance the river is a hopeless labyrinth of rocks, islands, reefs and rapids. From Say, where the stream is about 700 yds. in breadth, to Bussa, there is another navigable stretch of water extending 300 m. ”

“ British travellers who have done work in the same region are Sir W. Wallace, L. H. Moseley, W. P. Hewby, P. A. Talbot and Captain Claud Alexander. The last-named two were members of an expedition led by Lieut. Boyd-Alexander, who himself crossed Africa from the Niger to the Nile. Messrs Talbot and Claud Alexander surveyed the country between Ibi on the Benue and Lake Chad, mapping (1904) a considerable part of the Gongola. [5] In 1854 the Benue itself was ascended 400 m. ”

“ In 1851 Barth crossed the Benue at its junction with the Faro, but the region of its sources was first explored by Flegel (1882–1884) , who traversed the whole southern basin of the river and reached Ngaundere. Other German travellers added to the knowledge of the southern tributaries, the Tarabba, Donga and others, which in the rains bring down a large body of water from the highlands of southern Adamawa. ”

“ It lies on the southern side of the Benue, some 850 m. by river from the sea and at an altitude of 600 ft. Here the width of the stream increases at flood time to 1000 or 1500 yds., and though it narrows at the somewhat dangerous rapids of Rumde Gilla to 150 or 180 yds., it soon expands again. About 50 m. below Yola the Benue receives, on the right bank, the Gongola, which rises in the Bauchi highlands and after a great curve north-east turns southward. It is over 300 m. long, and at flood time is navigable for about half of its course. ”

“ The two confluents being so unlike, the united river differs from each under the influence of the other. Here the river is at its lowest in April and May; in June it is subject to great fluctuations; about the middle of August it usually begins to rise ”

“ With but three short porter ages a boat could be navigated the whole of this distance. Moreover, from the confluence of the Ghazel the Nile is navigable (at high water) the entire distance to the Mediterranean. (See also Shari.) ↑ In 1816 James McQueen correctly divined that there was a great west-flowing tributary (the Benue) to the Niger, and that after its confluence the river ran south to the Atlantic. See his View of Northern Central Africa (1821) and Geographical Survey of Africa 1840. ”

“ The political references in this book are marked by jealous hostility to the British. Col. J. K. Trotter, The Niger Sources . . . (London, 1897) ; Sir H. H. Johnston, “The Niger Delta,” Proc. R.G.S. (December 1888) ; Sir F. Lugard, “An Expedition to Borgu on the Niger,” Geo. Jnl. (September 1895) ; E. Lenfant, Le Niger; voie ouverte à notre empire africain (Paris, 1903) , chiefly a demonstration that the Bussa rapids are not an absolute bar to navigation.
The foregoing books deal almost entirely with the Niger. For the Benue see, besides Barth’s Travels, A. F. Mockler Ferryman, Up the Niger ”