NIGER, a large river of Africa, of which many erroneous opinions have been entertained. According to Herodotus, Pliny, Ptolemy, and many of the ancients, this river runs from west to east, an opinion which was long forgotten, and in more modern times it was believed to flow from east to west; but from the recent discoveries of the indefatigable Mr Park, who himself saw this majestic river, the opinion of the ancients is now fully established, that its course is from west to east. The source of the Niger is supposed to be in that mountainous region in western Africa, which gives origin to the rivers Gambia and Senegal, which discharge their waters into the Western ocean, while the Niger rising from the opposite side of the mountains, takes an easterly direction. See AFRICA, p. 264. and 272. See also AFRICA, SUPPLEMENT, p. 101.