"Yes," was the reply; "in its lower course it has been examined by so many that the names would make a long list. Near the end of the last century it was visited by Mungo Park, who was the first explorer of the upper valley of the Niger, and he went there again in 1805. Unfortunately for science, he was killed in this second expedition, and his papers were lost with him. In 1828 a Frenchman named Chaillié sailed down the river from Jenne to Timbuctoo, and reached Europe in safety. His account supplied the deficiency left by the death of Park; and in 1853 Timbuctoo was visited by Dr. Barth, a German traveller, who explored the river from that city to the town of Say, which lies in latitude 13° 8' south, and longitude 2° 5' east. [Illustration: SCENE ON THE NIGER AT SAY.] "Barth has left the account of his travels in three large volumes, which were published in 1857, and described his wanderings from 1849 to 1855. He died in Berlin in 1865, and is justly regarded as one of the famous explorers of Africa. His account of Timbuctoo is the best that has reached us. He had a good opportunity to see the city, as he was detained there nearly a year by the Sultan, who refused to let him go on. "The aggregate length of his journeyings was some fourteen thousand miles, and the territory he opened to the knowledge of the civilized world may be roughly estimated at four million square miles. He explored Lake Tchad and a considerable portion of the valley of the Niger, settled several questions that were troubling the geographers, and made a large addition to the knowledge of the Great Desert of Sahara. "We are wandering from the equatorial basin of Central Africa," continued the Doctor; "but while on this subject we may as well have a peep at Timbuctoo. We must make it in imagination, as there is very little prospect that any of us will ever get there in person. The French are talking about a railway from the Mediterranean to Timbuctoo, and they also propose an inland sea by cutting a canal to flood the depression of the Sahara desert. Timbuctoo would be near the southern shore of the proposed sea; but thus far the scheme has ended in nothing but talk. When the railway is completed, or the lake is formed, we will think about seeing the city, if, happily, any of us are alive. "Timbuctoo had been heard of for centuries, but the first European to visit it was Major Laing, in 1826. Chaillié went there in 1828, and Barth in 1853; and, as I before told you, the latter has given us the best account we have had of the city.