Note 96 — RICHARD LANDER,

The Niger, so Herodotus heard, flowed from the west eastward—ἀπὼ ἑσπέρης πρὸς ἥλιον ἀνατέλλοντα.

Pliny first uses the word Niger or Nigris. He seems to have thought that the Niger and Nile were somehow united; and Claudian seems to have fallen into the same mistake:

'Gèr notissimus amnis Æthiopum, simili mentitus gurgite Nilum.'

The French have a notion that the Senegal and the Niger may be connected by a cutting, by which means Timbuctoo might be conveniently approached, and trade opened up with the interior of Africa.