THE DISCOVERY OF RIVER GAMBRA (1623)

London: The Hakluyt Society, 1999. Edited, with additional material, by David P. Gamble and P. E. H. Hair. Pp. xvi+342(last blank), coloured frontispiece plus 1 coloured and several black & white text illustrations, text maps, bibliography, index; med. 8vo; navy cloth, lettered and decorated in gilt; dust wrapper; The Hakluyt Society, London, 1999. Third series, No. 2. *In 1623 Richard Jobson published an account of a 1620-1621 English voyage up River Gambia, during which a party, led by himself, penetrated to a point some 460 miles up-river. The purpose of the voyage was to make contact with the gold trade of the West African interior, but in this there was little success. However, Jobson's account of the river, its commerce, natural history, peoples, religions and politics, was the earliest to appear in print, in this fullness of detail, in any language. It was also the earliest detailed account of any part of Black Africa by an Englishman.