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NIGER

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 677 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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NIGER , a See also:

great See also:river of See also:West See also:Africa, inferior only to the See also:Congo and See also:Nile among the See also:rivers of the See also:continent, and the only river in Africa which, by means of its tributary the See also:Benue, affords a waterway uninterrupted by rapids, and available for shallow-See also:draught steamers, to the far interior. Rising within 150 M. of the See also:sea in the mountainous See also:zone which marks the N.E. frontiers of Sierra Leone and See also:French See also:Guinea, it traverses the interior plateaus in a vast See also:curve, flowing N.E., E. and S.E., until it finally enters the Gulf of Guinea through an immense See also:delta. Its See also:total length is about 2600 m. About 250 M. from its mouth it is joined by the Benue, coming from the See also:east from the mountainous region of See also:Adamawa. From its mouth to the limit of navigability from the sea the river is in See also:British territory; above that point it flows through French territory. The source of the Niger lies in 90 5' N. and ro° 47' W., and the most northerly point of the great See also:bend is about 17° N. The See also:area of the Niger See also:basin, excluding the arid regions with a slope towards the stream, has been calculated by Dr. A. Bludau at 584,000 sq. m. The river is known locally under various names, the most See also:common being Joliba (a Mandigo word meaning Great River) and Kworra or Quorra. By the last name the Niger was known in its See also:lower reaches before its identity with the upper river was established. The stream considered the See also:chief source of the Niger is called the Tembi.

A narrow The See also:

birth-See also:watershed separates it from the headwaters of the See also:place of the river. streams flowing See also:south-west through Sierra Leone. The birthplace of the Niger is in a deep See also:ravine 2800 ft. above sea-level. From a See also:moss-covered See also:rock a tiny See also:spring issues and has made a See also:pool below. This little stream is the Tembi, which within a See also:short distance is joined by two other rivulets, the Tamincono and Falico, which have their origin in the same mountainous See also:district. After flowing See also:north for about 'co m., the river turns eastward and receives several tributaries from the south. At its confluence with the Tankisso (a See also:northern tributary), 210 M. from its source, the river has attained dimensions sufficient to See also:earn for itself the See also:title Joliba. Taking at this point a decided trend northward, the Niger, See also:room. lower down, at Bamako—the first considerable See also:town on its See also:banks—has a See also:depth of 6 ft. with a breadth of 1300 ft. Seven or eight See also:miles below Bamako the Sotuba rocks See also:mark the end of what may be considered the upper river. From this point the navigable portion of the Niger begins. See also:Thirty miles below Sotuba are the rapids of Tulimandio, but these are navigable when the river is at its highest, namely from See also:July to See also:October. A little lower down is Kulikoro, from which point the See also:bed of the stream for over r000 m. is fairly See also:free from impediments.

The river here turns more directly to the east and increases in See also:

volume and depth. At Sansandig the stream is deep enough to permit of steamers of considerable See also:size plying upon the river. After Sansandig is passed the banks of The the stream become See also:low and the Niger is split up into See also:middle a number of channels. Mopti is at the junction of Niger and the See also:main stream with a large right-See also:hand backwater See also:lake or tributary, the Bani or Mahel Balevel, on which region. is situated the important town of See also:Jenne. The banks of the Niger below Mopti become swampy and treeless, and the first of a See also:series of lakes (Debo) is reached. These lakes are chiefly on the See also:left of the main stream, with which they are connected by channels conveying the See also:water in one direction or the other according to the See also:season. At high water most of these are See also:united into one See also:general inundation. The largest lake, Faguibini, is nearly 70 M. See also:long by 12 M. broad, has high shores and reaches a depth exceeding, in parts, 16o ft. It is not until Kabara, the See also:port of See also:Timbuktu, is reached, a distance of 450 M. from Sansandig, that the See also:labyrinth of lakes, creeks and backwaters ceases. Below Kabara the river reaches its most northerly point. At Bamba it is shut in by steep banks and narrows to 600 to 700 yds., again spreading out some distance down.

At Barka (200 M. from Timbuktu) the stream turns south-east and preserves that direction throughout the See also:

remainder of its course. At Tosaye, just before the bend becomes pronounced, the Baror and Chahar rocks reduce the width of the river to less than 500 ft., and at low water the strength of the current is a serious danger to See also:navigation. Below Timbuktu for a considerable distance the Niger receives no tributaries; from the north none until the region of the See also:Sahara is passed. In places the See also:desert approaches See also:close to the river on both banks and immense See also:sand See also:dunes fill the See also:horizon. At Ansongo, 430 M. below Timbuktu, the navigable reach of the middle Niger, in all 10J7 m., ends. Four huge See also:flint rocks See also: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 great 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 See also:Bussa, there is another navigable stretch of water extending 300 M. After the desert region is past the Niger receives the See also:waters of the river See also:Sokoto, a considerable stream flowing from the north-east. Some distance below this confluence are the Bussa rapids, which can only be navigated with considerable difficulty. These Bussa rapids and lower river.

675 Sapele. The other western mouths of the Niger have as a ride shallow and difficult bars. The delta is the largest in Africa and covers 14.g0o sq. m. The Benue is by far the most important of the affluents of the Niger. The name signifies in the See also:

Batta See also:tongue " See also:Mother of Waters." The river rises in Adamawa in about 7° 4o' N. and 13° 15' E., The Benue. a little north of the town of Ngaundere, at a height of over 3000 ft. above the sea, being separated by a narrow water parting from one of the headstreams of the Logone, whose waters flow to Lake See also:Chad. In its upper course the Benue is a See also:mountain torrent falling over 2000 ft. in some Igo m. With the Chad See also:system it is connected by the Kebbi or See also:Mayo Kebbi, a right-hand tributary whose confluence is in about 92° N., 131° E. The Kebbi, fed by many torrents rising in the eastern versant of the Mandara Hills, issues from the S.W. end of the Tuburi marshes. These marshes occupy an extensive depression in the moderately elevated See also:plateau east of the Mandara Hills, and are cut by to° N., 15° E. The central See also:part of the marshes forms a deep lake, whence there is a channel going northward to the Logone and navigable for some months during the See also:year. The Kebbi flows west, and soon after leaving '1 uburi passes through a rocky barrier marked by a series of rapids and a fall at Lata of 165 ft. Below these obstructions the Kebbi to its junction with the Benue has a depth of not less than 6 ft.

In places, as at Lere and Bifara, it widens into lake-like dimensions. Below the Kebbi confluence the Benue, now a considerable river, turns from a northerly to a See also:

westerly direction and is navigable all the year See also:round by boats See also:drawing not more than 22 ft. For some 40 M. below the confluence the river has an See also:average width of 180 to 200 yds., and flows with a strong steady current, although a broad See also:strip of See also:country on each See also:side is swampy or submerged. It is here joined by the See also:Faro, which, rising in the Adamawa Mountains S.E. of Ngaundere, flows almost due north. About 5o m. below the junction of the Faro is See also:Yola, the See also:capital of Adamawa. It lies on the See also:southern side of the Benue, some 85o m. by river from the sea and at an See also:altitude of 600 ft. Here the width of the stream increases at See also:flood See also:time to moo or 'goo yds., and though it narrows at the some-what dangerous rapids of Rumde Gilla to 15o er 180 yds., it soon expands again. About 50 m. below Yola the Benue receives, on the right See also:bank, the Gongola, which rises in the See also:Bauchi See also:highlands and after a great curve north-east turns southward. It is over 300 m. long, and at flood time is navigable for about See also:half of its course. The Benue receives several other tributaries both from the north and the south, but they are not of great importance. It flows onwards to the Niger with comparatively unobstructed current, its valleys marked for the most part by ranges of hills and its banks diversified with forests, villages and cultivated tracts. But though exception- rapids—though not such a hindrance to navigation—are of a more dangerous See also:character than any encountered between Ansongo and Say.

" In one pass, some S4 yds. wide, shut in between two large reefs, a See also:

good half of the waters of the Niger flings itself over with a tremendous roar " (Hourst). The rapids extend for so m. or more; in a less obstructive See also:form they continue to See also:Rabba, but See also:light-draught steamers ascending the stream during flood season experience little difficulty in reaching Bussa. A little above Rabba the river makes a See also:loop south-west, at the See also:head of the loop being (right bank) Jebba. Here the river is bridged by the railway from See also:Lagos. Sixty miles lower down is the mouth of the (left hand) tributary the Kaduna, a river of some magnitude which gives See also:access to Zungeru, the headquarters of the British See also:administration in Northern See also:Nigeria. The head waters of the Kaduna are not far from See also:Kano. Below the mouth of the Kaduna, on the right bank of the Niger, is See also:Barn, the starting-point of a railway to Kano. In 7° 50' N. 6° 45' E. the Niger is joined by its great tributary the Benue. 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 in. in width, dotted with islands and sandbanks; the See also:peninsula at the junction is low, swampy, and intersected by numerous channels. On the western bank of the Niger at this point is situated See also:Lokoja (q v.), an important commercial centre.

The stream, as far south as Iddah (See also:

Ida), a town on the east bank, rushes through a valley cut between the hills, the See also:sandstone cliffs at some places rising 150 ft. high. Between Iddah and Onitsha, 8o m., the hanks are lower and the country flatter, and to the south of Onitsha the whole See also:land is laid under water during the See also:annual T he Delta, floods. Here may be said to begin the great delta of the Niger, which, extending along the See also:coast for about 120 m., and 140 or 15o m inland, forms one of the most remarkable of all the swampy regions of Africa. The river breaks up into an intricate network of channels, dividing and subdividing, and intercrossing not only with each other but with the branches of other streams, so that it is exceedingly difficult to say where the Niger delta ends and another river system begins. The Rio See also:Nun is a See also:direct continuation of the See also:line of the undivided ally free from obstruction by rapids, the river falls very low in the river, and is thus the main mouth of the Niger dry season, and for seven to eight months is almost useless for navi- From the sea the only indication of a river mouth is a break in the dark See also:green mangroves which here universally fringe the coast. The See also:crossing of the bar requires considerable care, and at. ebb See also:tide the outward current runs 51 knots per See also:hour. For the first 20 M. (or as far as See also:Sunday See also:Island, the limit of the sea tide in the dry season) dense lines of mangroves 40, 5o, or 6o ft in height shut in the channel; then See also:palm and other trees begin to appear, and the widening river has See also:regular banks. East of the Nun the estuaries known as the See also:Brass, See also:Sombrero, New See also:Calabar, Bonny, Opobo (or Imo), &c. (with the exception, perhaps, of the first-named), seem to derive most of their water from See also:independent streams such as the Orashi, rising in about 6° N., which is, however, linked with the Niger by the Onita See also:Creek in 51° N. Behind the town of Okrika, some 30 M. Up the Bonny river, the swampy ground gives place to See also:firm land, partially See also:forest-clad West of the Nun all the estuaries up to the Forcados seem to be true mouths of the great river, while the See also:Benin river, though linked to the others by transverse channels, may be more properly regarded as an independent stream.

(See BENIN.) In this direction the largest mouth is the Forcados, a See also:

noble stream with a safe and relatively deep bar Its banks in its lower course are densely wooded, but the See also:beach is sandy and almost free from See also:marsh and See also:malaria. The mouth is 2 M. wide. It has supplanted the Nun river as the chief channel of communication with the interior. There are 17 to 19 ft. of water over the Forcados bar, as against 13 ft. at the Nun mouth. Moreover the Forcados bar shifts little laterally, and within the bar is a natural See also:harbour with an area of 3 to 4 sq. m. having a depth of 3o ft. at low water spring tides. From the mouth of the Forcados to the main stream is 'og in., with a minimum depth in the dry season of 7 ft. A northern See also:arm affords ocean-going vessels access to Wari and gation. The Benue lies within British territory to a point 3 M. below the mouth of the Faro, in about 13° 8' E. East of that point the river is in the See also:German See also:colony of Cameroon. As the Niger and the Benue have different gathering grounds, they are not in flood at the same time. The upper Niger rises in See also:June as the result of the tropical rains, and decreases in Flood and See also:December, n s breadth at Turella expanding from between low 2000 and 2500 ft. to not less than IZ m. The middle seasons.

Niger, however, reaches its maximum near Timbuktu only in See also:

January; in See also:February and See also:March it sinks slowly above the narrows of Tosaye, and more rapidly below them, the level being kept up by supplies from backwaters and lakes; and by See also:April there is a decrease of about 5 ft. In See also:August the channel near Timbuktu is again navigable owing to See also:rain in the southern highlands. The Benue reaches its greatest height in August or See also:September, begins to fall in October, falls rapidly in See also:November and slowly in the next three months, and reaches its lowest in March and April, when it is fordable in many places, has no perceptible flow and at the confluence begins to be covered with the water-See also:weed Pistea Siratiotes. The flood rises with great rapidity, and reaches 50, 6o, or even 75 ft. above the low-water mark. The two confluents being so unlike, the united river differs from each under the See also: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; and its maximum is reached in September. In October it sinks, often rapidly. A slight rise in January, known as the yangbe, is occasioned by water from the upper Niger. Between high- and low-water mark the difference is as much as 35 ft. The See also:geological changes which have taken place in the Niger basin are imperfectly known. The French scientists E. F.

See also:

Gautier and R. Chudeau, summing up the See also:evidence available in 1909, set forth the See also:hypothesis that the existing upper Niger Geological and the existing lower Niger were distinct streams. changes. According to this theory the upper Niger, somewhat above where Timbuktu now stands, went north and north-west and emptied into the Juf, which in the beginning of the See also:quaternary See also:age was a See also:salt-water lake, the remnant of an arm of the sea which in the See also:tertiary age covered the northern See also:Sudan and southern Sahara as far east as See also:Bilma. Lake Fagubini is regarded as a remnant of the See also:ancient course of the upper river. When the upper Niger had this direction, the See also:Wadi Taffassassent, now a dried-up river of the central Sahara, which See also:rose in the Ahaggar mountains, is believed to have formed the upper course of the existing lower Niger. While the upper and lower parts of the Niger have all the See also:appearance of ancient streams, the middle Niger is the result of a See also:recent " See also:capture; " it has no past, it scarcely has a See also:present " (see R. Chudeau, Sahara soudanais, See also:Paris, 1909). Vague ideas of the existence of the river were possessed by the ancients. The great river flowing eastward reached by the Nasamonians as reported by See also:Herodotus can be no See also:History other than the Niger. See also:Pliny mentions a river Nigris, and ex- ploration. of the same nature with the Nile, separating Africa and See also:Ethiopia, and forming the boundary of See also:Gaetulia; and it is not improbable that this is the See also:modern Niger. In See also:Ptolemy, too, appears along with Gir (possibly the See also:Shari) a certain Nigir (N1-yap) as one of the largest rivers of the interior; but so vague is his description that it is impossible definitely to identify it with the Niger.' Arabian geographers, such as See also:Ibn Batuta, who were acquainted with the middle course of the river, called it the Nile of the Negroes. At the same time contradictory opinions were held as to the course of the stream.

It was supposed by some geographers to run west, an See also:

opinion probably first stated by See also:Idrisi in the 12th See also:century. Idrisi gave the Nile of See also:Egypt and the Nile of the Negroes a common source in the Mountain of the See also:Moon. Fountains from the mountain formed two lakes, whence issued streams which united in a very large lake. From this third lake issued two rivers—the Nile of Egypt flowing north, and that of the Negroes flowing west (see R. See also:Dozy and M. J. de See also:Goeje's Edrisi, See also:Leiden, 1866: Premier Climat, 1st 4 sections). From Idrisi's description it would appear that he regarded the Shari, Lake Chad, the Benue, Niger and See also:Senegal as one great river which emptied into the See also:Atlantic.2 That the Niger flowed west and reached the ocean was also stated by See also:Leo See also:Africanus. The belief that a western See also:branch of the Nile emptied itself into the Atlantic was held by See also:Prince See also:Henry of See also:Portugal, who instructed the navigators he despatched to Guinea to look for the mouth of the river, and when in 1445 they entered the See also:estuary of the Senegal the Portuguese were convinced that they had discovered the Nile of the Negroes (see See also:Azurara's See also:Discovery and See also:Conquest of Guinea, Beazley and Prestage's See also:translation, vol. ii., See also:London, 1899, chaps, lx. and lxi., and introduction and notes). The Senegal being proved an independent river and the eastward flow of the Niger assumed, the theory that it ran into the Nile was revived, and almost to the very year in which the course of the river was actually demonstrated geographers and travellers, such as J. G. See also:Jackson in his See also:Empire of Marocco, first published in 1809, fought zealously for the identity of the Nile of the Negroes with the river of Egypt. The highest scientific authority of the See also:day, See also:Major See also:James See also:Rennell, believed, however, that the Niger ended, by evaporation, in the country of " See also:Wangara "—a region located by him, through a misreading of Idrisi, far too much 1 See also:Sir Rufane See also:Donkin in a curious and learned See also:work, A Dissertation on .

. . the Niger (1829), made the Niger join the Gir, which last stream he calls the Nile of See also:

Bornu. The united river ran north, disappeared underground in the Sahara and reached the Mediterranean at " the quicksands of the gulph of Sidra." Donkin believed that the desert, advancing eastwards, would overwhelm the See also:Egyptian Nile also in its lower course. " The Delta," he exclaims, " shall become a plashy quicksand, a second Syrtis ! and the Nile shall cease to exist from the Lower See also:Cataract downwards." 2 The See also:hydrography of northern central Africa as now known largely explains the See also:medieval belief in a connexion between the western rivers and the Egyptian Nile. Leaving out of See also:account the Welle-See also:Ubangi (and Idrisi's description of the two See also:Niles may infer a knowledge of that stream, which was supposed by See also:Schweinfurth to form part of the Chad system), there is an almost continuous water-way from the mouth of the Senegal to that of the Nile. The upper waters of the Bakoy branch of the Senegal and those of the navigable Niger are less than 40 m. apart; the Niger communicates directly through the Benue, Lake Tuburi and the Logone with the Shari; the easternmost affluents of the Shari and the most western tributaries of the See also:Bahr el Ghazel affluent of the Nile are within 20 m. of one another. With but three short porterages a See also: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.)to the east, between 150 and 200 E. (see Rennell's See also:map in See also:Hornemann's Travels, 1802). To Rennell the Benue was an east-flowing continuation of the Niger .3 The imagined existence of mountains—called See also:Kong in the west and Komri (Lunar) in the east—stretching in a high and unbroken See also:chain across Africa about ro° N. long prevented geographers from thinking of a possible southern bend to the Niger. That the vast network of rivers on the Guinea coast, of which the Nun was the chief, known as the Oil Rivers, formed the delta of the Niger does not appear to have been suspected before the beginning of the 19th century. Consequently it was from the direction of its source that the river was first explored in modern times.

In 1795 Mungo See also:

Park (q.v.) was sent out by the See also:African Association, and was the first See also:European to see and describe the upper river. Park landed at the See also:Gambia, and struck the Niger near Segu (a town some distance above Sansandig) on the 20th of July 1796, where he beheld it " glittering in the See also:morning See also:sun as broad as the See also:Thames at See also:Westminster and flowing slowly to the eastward " (Travels, 1st ed. p. 194). He descended the river some distance, and on his return See also:journey went up stream as far as Bamako. In 1805 Park returned to Africa for the purpose of descending the Niger to its mouth. He started as before from the Gambia, reached the Niger, sailed down the river past Timbuktu, and on the See also:eve of the successful accomplishment of his undertaking lost his See also:life during an attack on his boat by the natives at Bussa (Nov. or Dec. 1805). Park held to the opinion that the Niger and Congo were one river, though in 1802 C. G. Reichard, a German geographer, had suggested that the Rio Nun was the mouth of the Niger.4 Owing to Park's See also:death the results of his second journey were lost, and the work had to be begun afresh. In 1822 Major A. G.

See also:

Laing (who had reached Timbuktu by way of See also:Tripoli) obtained some accurate See also:information concerning the See also:sources of the river, and in 1828 the French explorer Rene Caillie went by boat from Jenne to the port of Timbuktu. In 1826 Bussa was reached from Benin by See also:Hugh See also:Clapperton, and his servant See also:Richard See also:Lander. On Clapperton's death Richard Lander and his See also:brother See also:John led in 183o an expedition which went overland from Badagry to the Niger. Canoeing down the river from Yawri—6o m. above Bussa—to the mouth of the Rio Nun they finally settled the doubt as to the lower course of the stream. In 1832 See also:Macgregor See also:Laird established the African Steamship See also:Company, and Richard Lander and R. A. K. See also:Oldfield (as members of its first expedition) ascended the Niger to Rabba, and the Benue as far as Dagbo (8o m.). In 1841 an expedition, consisting of three steamers of the British See also:navy, under See also:Captain (afterwards See also:Admiral) H. D. Trotter, went up to Egga (Egam), but was forced to return owing to sickness and mortality. Heinrich See also:Barth (1851–1854) made known to See also:Europe the course of the river from Timbuktu to Say.

Barth sailed down from Saraiyamo (situated on a tributary stream south-west of Timbukutu) to Kabara; then skirted the left bank to a small town called Bornu in 16° N., and the right thence to Say. In 188o–1881 the German E. R. See also:

Flegel ascended the Niger to Gomba opposite the confluence of the Sokoto river with the main stream, and about 7o m. below Barth's southmost point. Zweifel and Moustier, sent out by M. Verminck, a See also:Marseilles See also:merchant, discovered (1879) the sources of the Falico, &c., and in 1885 the Tembi source was visited by Captain Brouet, a French officer. Indeed the additions to the knowledge of the Niger during the last two decades of the 19th century were largely the work of French See also:officers engaged in the See also:extension of French influence throughout the western Sudan. From 1880 onwards See also:Colonel (afterward General) See also:Gallieni took a leading part in the operations on the upper river, wherein 1883 a small gunboat, the Niger, was launched for the See also:protection of the newly established French posts. In 1885 a voyage was made by Captain Delanneau 3In 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 (1820 and See also:Geographical Survey of Africa (1840). 4 See Ephemerides geographiques, vol. xii. (See also:Weimar, Aug.

1803). past the ruins of Sansandig, as far as Diafarabe. In 1887 the gunboat made a more extended voyage, reaching the port of Timbuktu, and correcting the mapping of the river down to that point. In 1894–1895 See also:

attention was directed to the middle and lower Niger, to which several expeditions started from the coast of Guinea. A still more important expedition was that of See also:Lieutenant Hourst, who, starting from Timbuktu in January 1896, navigated the Niger from that point to its mouth, executing a careful survey of the river and the various obstructions to navigation. A voyage made in 1897 by Lieutenant de Chevigne showed that at low water the See also:section between Timbuktu and Ansongo presents great difficulties, but the voyage from Timbuktu to Say was again successfully accomplished in 1899 by Captain Granderye. In 1901 Captain E. See also:Lenfant ascended the river with a flotilla from its mouth to Say, and he demonstrated the " normal practicability " of the route, despite the Bussa rapids. The delta of the Niger has been partially surveyed since it became British territory by various See also:ship captains, officials of the Royal Niger Company and others, including Sir Harry See also:Johnston, sometime British See also:consul for the Oil Rivers. In addition to the main stream, the Niger basin was made known by exploration during the last See also:quarter of the loth century and the See also:early years of the loth. The journeys of the German traveller G. A.

See also:

Krause (north from the See also:Gold Coast, 1886–1887) and the French Captain Binger (Senegal to See also:Ivory Coast, r887–188g) first defined its southern limits by revealing the unexpected northward extension of the basins of the Guinea coast streams, especially the See also:Volta and Komoe, a fact which explained the See also:absence of important tributaries within the Niger bend. This was crossed for the first time, in its fullest extent, by Colonel P. L. See also:Monteil (French) in 1890-1871. At the eastern end of the basin much light has been thrown on the system of the Benue. 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, See also:Donga and others, which in the rains bring down a large See also:body of water from the highlands of southern Adamawa. British travellers who have done work in the same region are Sir W. See also:Wallace, L. H. Moseley, W. P.

Hewby, P. A. See also:

Talbot and Captain Claud See also:Alexander. The last-named two were members of an expedition led by Lieut. See also: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 (1004) a considerable part of the Gongola.' In 18J4 the Benue itself was ascended 400 M. by the " See also:Pleiad " expedition, and in 1887 to 13-° E., and the Kebbi to Bifara by Major (afterwards Sir See also:Claude) See also:Macdonald, further progress towards the Tuburi marsh being prevented by the shallowness of the water. The upper basin of the Benue was also traversed by the French expeditions of Mizon (1892) and See also:Maistre (1892–1893), the latter passing to the south of the Tuburi marsh without definitely settling the hydrographical question connected with it. This was accomplished by Captain Lenfant in 1903. He ascended the Kebbi and discovered the Lata Fall, continuing up the river to its point of issue from Tuburi. Crossing the marshes he found and navigated the narrow river leading to the Logone. See also:Save for the porterage round the Lata Fall the whole journey from the mouth of the Niger to Lake Chad was made by water. The Benue in the neighbourhood of Yola was mapped in 1903–1904 by an Anglo-German boundary See also:commission.

From 1904 onwards the French undertook See also:

works on the Niger between Bamako—whence there is railway communication with the Senegal—and Ansongo with a view to deepening the channel and removing obstructions to navigation. In 1910 the British began dredging with the See also:object of obtaining from the mouth of the river to Baro a minimum depth of 6 ft. of water. ' Captain Claud Alexander died of See also:fever in northern Nigeria on the 30th of November 1904. His brother, Lieut. Boyd Alexander, in a subsequent expedition across Africa was murdered in See also:Wadai on the and of April 1910. See also:AuTH0RITIEs.—Mungo Park, Travels 'in the Interior Districts of Africa . . in the Years 1799, 1796 and 1797 (London, 1799). A geographical appendix by Major James Rennell summarizes the information then available about the Niger. R. and J. Lander, See also:Journal of an Expedition to explore the Course and Termination of the Niger . . (3 vols. London, 1833) ; H.

Barth, Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa . . ., vols. iv. and v. (London, 185g–1858); Gen. J. S. Gallieni, See also:

Mission d'exploration du Haut Niger . . (Paris, 1885) ; E. Caron, De See also:Saint See also:Louis an Port de Timbouktou; Voyage dune cannoniere francaise (Paris, 1891); M. Hourst, Sur le Niger et an pays See also:des Touaregs (Paris, 1898), See also:English translation, French Enterprise in Africa . . . Exploration of the Niger (London, 1898). The See also:political references in this See also:book are marked by jealous hostility to the British.

See also:

Col. J. K. Trotter, The Niger Sources (London, 1897) ; Sir H. H. Johnston, " The Niger Delta," Proc. R.G.S. (December 1888) ; Sir F. See also:Lugard, " An Expedition to See also:Borgu on the Niger," Geo. Jnl. (September 1895) ; E. Lenfant, Le Niger; voie ouverte a notre empire africain (Paris, 1903), chiefly a demonstration that the Bussa rapids are not an See also:absolute bar to navigation.

The foregoing books See also:

deal almost entirely with the Niger. For the Benue see, besides Barth's Travels, A. F. Mockler Ferryman, Up the Niger; Narrative of Major Claude Macdonald's Mission to the Niger and Benue Rivers . . . (London, 1892); L. Mizon, " Itineraire de la source de la Ben6ue au confluent des rivieres Kadel et Mambere" and other papers in the See also:Bull. See also:Soc. Geog. Paris for 1895 and 1896; C. Maistre, A travers l'Afrique central du Congo au Niger (Paris, 1895) ; E. Lenfant, La Grande Route du Chad (Paris, 1905) ; Col.

L. Jackson, " The Anglo-German Boundary Expedition in Nigeria," Geo. Jnl. (July 1905) ; P. A. Talbot, " Survey Work by the Alexander Gosling Expedition: Northern Nigeria 1904–1905, " idem (February 1906); Boyd Alexander, From the Niger to the Nile, vol. i. (London, 1907). The British See also:

Blue Books, See also:Correspondence See also:relating to Railway Construction in Nigeria (1905) and Further Correspondence, &c. (1909), contain information about the navigability of the lower Niger and of the Kaduna. The best maps are those published by the French and British See also:War Offices; an See also:Atlas du See also:tours du Niger de Tombouctou aux rapides de Boussa in 50 sheets on the See also:scale of 1: 50,000, by Lieut. Hourst and others, was published in Paris in 1899. (F.

R.

End of Article: NIGER

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