As Long As Any Fact Is Shut Out From The Knowledge Of Man, He Who Is In Search Of It

Will supply the deficiency by his own conclusions, which will be more or less removed from the object of his

Pursuit, according to the previous opinions which he may have formed, or to the credit which he may have placed on the reports of others. These remarks cannot be better illustrated, than in the case furnished by the Joliba, the Quorra, or Niger, the termination of which river was utterly unknown until Richard and John Lander, braving difficulties which would have broken any other hearts than theirs, succeeded in navigating the river until its conflux with the ocean. Since Park's first discovery of the Joliba, every point of the compass has been assumed for the ulterior course and termination of that river, and however wrong subsequent discovery has proved this speculative geography to have been, it is not to be regarded as useless. Theories may be far short of the truth, but while they display the ingenuity and reasoning powers of their authors, they tend to keep alive that spirit of inquiry and thirst for knowledge which terminates in discovery.

Various accounts of this river had been gradually collected from different sources, which afforded grounds for fresh theories respecting its termination. That of Reichard was the favourite, he supposing that it assumed a southwest course, and terminated in the gulph of Guinea. It was observed at the time, that there was neither evidence on which such an opinion could be supported, nor any by which it could be refuted.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 2 of 1124
Words from 290 to 558 of 309561