Of this river, which in Arabic is sometimes called Neel il Kibeer, or the Great Nile, and at others, Neel il Abeed, or the Nile of the Negros, the rise and termination are unknown, but the course is from East to West. So great is the rapidity with which it traverses the Empire of Cashna, that no vessel can ascend its stream; and such is the want of skill, or such the absence of commercial inducements among the inhabitants of its borders, that even _with_ the current, neither vessels nor boats are seen to navigate. In one place, indeed, the Traveller finds accommodations for the passage of himself and of his goods; but even there, though the ferrymen, by the indulgence of the Sultan of Cashna, are exempted from all taxes, the boat which conveys the merchandize is nothing more than an ill-constructed raft; for the planks are fastened to the timbers with ropes, and the seams are closed both within and without, by a plaister of tough clay, of which a large provision is always carried on the raft for the purpose of excluding the stream wherever its entrance is observed. [Sidenote: Imhammed.] The depth of the river at the place of passage, which is more than a hundred miles to the South of the City of Cashna, the capital of the empire of that name, is estimated at twenty-three or twenty-four feet English.[12] [Sidenote: Imhammed.] [Sidenote: Ben Alli.] Its width is such that even at the Island of Gongoo, where the ferrymen reside, the sound of the loudest voice from the northern shore is scarcely heard; and at Tombuctou, where the name of Gnewa, or black, is given to the stream, the width is described as being that of the Thames at Westminster. In the rainy season it swells above its banks, and not only floods the adjacent lands, but often sweeps before it the cattle and cottages of the short-sighted or too confident inhabitants. [Sidenote: Imhammed and Ben Alli.] That the people who live in the neighbourhood of the Niger should refuse to profit by its navigation, may justly surprise the Traveller; but much greater is his astonishment, when he finds that even the food which the bounty of the stream would give, is uselessly offered to their acceptance; for such is the want of skill, or such the settled dislike of the people to this sort of provision, that the fish with which the river abounds are left in undisturbed possession of its waters. [Sidenote: Imhammed.] [Sidenote: Imhammed.]