René Caillié
TRAVELS
THROUGH
CENTRAL AFRICA
TO
TIMBUCTOO;
AND
ACROSS THE GREAT DESERT, TOMOROCCO,
PERFORMED IN THE YEARS 1824-1828.
BY RÉNÉ CAILLIÉ.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
LONDON:
HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY,
NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
1830
PRINTED BY O. SCHULZE, 13, POLAND STREET.
ADVERTISEMENT
Among the geographical problems which, during the last halfcentury, have occupied the attention of the scientific world andawakened a spirit of adventure in enterprizing individuals, hasbeen the existence of a large and populous city in the heart ofCentral Africa. The solution of this problem appeared to be asubject worthy of the solicitude even of Societies and Governments;and various expeditions have been dispatched at their expense toexplore the unknown interior of that continent, with a particularview to the settlement of this long agitated question. In vain,however, have Houghton, Browne, Hornemann, and Park—in vain havetheir successors, our countrymen, Tuckey, Peddie, Campbell, Gray,Ritchie, Bowdich, Oudney, Clapperton, Denham and Laing—in vain haveother European travellers, Burckhardt, Beaufort, Mollien, Belzoni,started from different points of the coast of Africa, animated withthe hope of removing the veil which enveloped the mysteriouscity:—all have either perished or been baffled in the attempt. Ofthis number Major Laing alone reached the desired goal; but theresults of his perseverance and his observations were lost to hiscountry and to the world through the barbarous murder of thatofficer, and the consequent dispersion of his papers andeffects.
Our neighbours, the French, have therefore just ground forexultation in the fact, that what British enterprize, seconded bythe liberality of the British government, failed to accomplish, hasbeen achieved by a very humble individual of their nation, and bymeans of his own slender unassisted resources; and they havecertainly a right to boast that M. Caillié, the author of the workhere presented to the public, is the first European who hassucceeded in the attempt to penetrate to Timbuctoo, and returned,in spite of the perils interposed by the climate and by the stillmore destructive passions of men, to communicate all theinformation that circumstances enabled him to collect.
Of the importance of this information the adjudication of apremium of 10,000 francs (upwards of £400 sterling) by theGeographical Society of Paris to the traveller, affords presumptiveevidence. When it is considered that, pursuing his course eastwardfrom the French colony on the Senegal, he advanced by way ofKakondy, Kankan, and Timbo, to the distance of two hundred milesbeyond Soulim