per hour_.

"5thly. The annual flood of the Congo commences before any rains have
fallen south of the equator, and agree correctly with the floods of the
Niger, calculating the water to have flowed from Bambarra at the rate of
three miles per hour.

"Mr. Park is of opinion, that when your Lordship shall have duly weighed
the above reasons, you will be induced to conclude that his hopes of
returning by the Congo are not altogether fanciful; and that his
expedition, though attended with extreme danger, promises to be
productive of the utmost advantage to Great Britain.

"Considered in a commercial point of view, it is second only to the
discovery of the Cape of Good Hope; and in a geographical point of view,
it is certainly the greatest discovery that remains to be made in this
world.

"(Signed) MUNGO PARK."


The circumstance most deserving of attention in this Memoir, is the
opinion expressed respecting the course and termination of the Niger; a
geographical question of great difficulty and importance. In a treatise
written by Major Rennell expressly on the discoveries of Park, that
distinguished geographer, on comparing the various accounts of the
progress of the Niger beyond Houssa, had given a distinct opinion that
its waters had no communication either with the river Nile or the Sea;
but were spread out into a great lake in Wangara and Ghana, and were
evaporated by the heat of the sun. [Footnote: Proceedings of African