Of course this state of the upper river, although it does not reach always the same level, cannot fail to exercise an influence also upon the lower part, where it is called Kwára, and where it has been visited repeatedly by Englishmen. But although, on account of their being unaware of this character of the river, they have not paid much attention to its features at the beginning of the hot season, and have even rarely visited it at that period, nevertheless Mr. Laird, who spent several months in the Kwára, has not failed to observe a phenomenon which exactly corresponds to the state of the river which I have just described. For he records[5] the surprising fact, which formerly must have been quite unintelligible, but which now receives its full illustration, namely, that the river _at Iddá began to rise on the 22nd of March._ This, in my opinion, he erroneously attributes to the rains up the country, as there are no rains whatever during the whole of March, and only a few drops in April; but it is evidently the effect of the waters in the upper and wide part of the river at length beginning to decrease about the middle of February, if we take the current at from 2½ to 3 miles, as the windings of the river extend to not much less than 2000 miles between Kábara and Iddá. The elevation of Timbúktu above the level of the sea I assume to be about 900 feet. It was on the 4th of January that the first boat from Kábara approached close to the walls of the town of Timbúktu; and, as the immediate result of such a greater facility of intercourse, the supply of corn became more plentiful, and, in consequence, much cheaper: the sʿaa of millet being sold for 40 shells, and the suníye, that is to say, more than two hundred pounds’ weight, for 3000, or one Spanish dollar, certainly a very low rate; while I myself, as a foreigner and a stranger, had to pay 3750. The high state of the waters was naturally of the greatest interest to me; and, in order to satisfy my curiosity, the Sheikh took me out on the 9th. Emerging from the town at about the middle of the western wall, where formerly the báb el gibleh[6] was situated, we went first to the nearest creek of the river, but found here no boats; and then crossing an extremely barren and stony level reached another branch of the creek, where eight or ten smaller boats, without a covering or cabin, were lying; the innermost corner of this creek not being more than four or five hundred yards distant from the Great Mosque, or Jíngeré-bér. All the people asserted that the river, at Kábara, had now reached its highest level, and even affirmed that it had begun to fall here on the 7th; but, nevertheless, it became evident that the waters were still rising during the whole of the month,—almost endangering the safety of the town. On this occasion I learned that a great inundation in 1640 had flooded a considerable part of the town, and converted into a lake the central and lowest quarter, which is called Bagíndi, a name