^. - UUSB LI8KARY :^, #^'--'" DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE AFRICA. By HUGH MURRAY, Esq. F.RS.E. ADTHOR OF THE "HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA." NARRATIVE OF RECENT EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS. LONDON: T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW; EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK. MDCCCLVIL PREFACE. The object of this volume is to exhibit, within a mode- rate compass, whatever is most interesting in the adven- tures and observations of those travellers who, from the earliest ages, and in various directions, have sought to explore Africa ; and also to give a general view of the physical and social condition of that extensive continent at the present day. This quarter of the globe has afforded ampler scope than any other to that enterprising spirit which impels men, regardless of toil and peril, to pene- trate into unknown countries. Down to a comparatively recent period, the greater part of its immense surface was the subject only of vague report and conjecture. The progress of those discoverers, by whom a very large extent of its interior has at length been disclosed, having been accompanied with arduous labours, and achieved in the face of the most formidable obstacles, presents a succession of striking incidents, as well as of new and remarkable objects. Nor can our interest fail to be heightened by the consideration, that Britain, by the intrepid spirit of her travellers, her associations of dis- tinguished individuals, and her national patronage, has secured almost the exclusive glory of the many great 6 PREFACE. advances which within the last sixty years have been made towards the completion of this important object. The work now submitted to the public, and the one on the Polar Regions, embrace two of the most inter- esting fields of modern adventure. The brave men who traversed those opposite portions of the world, frequently found their efforts checked, and their career arrested, by the operation of causes which, although equally power- ful, were yet extremely different in their nature. In the Northern Seas they suffered from that dreadful extremity of cold to which high latitudes are exposed ; in Africa, from the scorching heat and pestilential vapours peculiar to a tropical climate. There, they encountered the fury of oceans and tempests ; here, the privations and fatigues which oppress the traveller in parched and boundless deserts. In the former they had less to endure from that aluiost total absence of human society w^hich renders the Arctic zone so dismal, than they had to sustain in the latter from the fierce, contemptuous, and persecuting character of the people who occupy a great portion of the Libyan continent. In a word, while exploring these remote regions, they braved almost every species of danger, and passed through every variety of suffering, by which the strength and fortitude of man can be tried. The interval which has elapsed since the first appear- ance of this work has afforded the means of adding greatly to its value. In one new edition there were added lotices of the British seitlements, and the long PREFACE. 7 chapter on the Landers' discovery of the termination of the Niger. In another edition were added still further notices of the British settlements, some accounts of the countries adjacent to the Cape Colony, the information from Captain Owen respecting the east coast, and the im- portant chapter on Laird and Oldfield, Allen, and David- son. In the edition of 1853 there were added the chapter on boat and steam-ship explorations in the West; the chapter on Duncan, Richardson, and the French; the chapter on explorations in the basin of the Upper Nile ; the early and middle parts of the chapter on recent discoveries in the East and South ; and a large portion of the latter part of the chapter on the social condition of Africa. And to the present edition is added the latter part (pages 434 to 448) of the chapter on recent discoveries in the East and South. This new matter is nearly as extensive as the entire narrative of the original work ; and it is all replete with in- terest to both the geographer and the general reader; re- markable alike for the vast amount of discovery which it records and for the rich variety of adventure which it relates. There were in the original work a chapter on the geology of Africa, and three chapters on the natural history of Africa. But these, besides possessing little or no attraction for the majority of readers, have been considerably anti- quated by the progress of discovery and of science. They are therefore now left out. To the map, which was origi- nally constructed with care, according to the best author- ities, various additions have been made, in order to illustrate the new discoveries and settlements. y PREFACE. The present work having fur ite main object the History of Discovery and Adventure, does not include the countries on the Mediterranean coast, which, being fi-om the earliest ages well known to the nations of Europe, have been separ- ately brought forward under the title of the Barbary States. Egypt, again, owing to its high antiquity, its stupendous monuments, and the memorable revolutions thi'ough which it has passed, has in like manner afforded ample materials for a distinct volume ; and tlie same plan has been followed with respect to the extensive countries of J^ubia and Abys- sinia. Edinburgh, Jidy 1857. CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. GI3NERAL VIEW OF THE NATURAX. FEATURES OF AFRICA. Introductory Observations — Its Situation on the Globe — Ex- tensive Deserts — Mountains and Pcivers — -Vegetable Life — Animal Life — Social Aspect — Striking Contrasts which it presents, Page 17 CHAPTER IL KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA AMONG THE ANCIENTS. Noi'thern Africa well known — Obstacles opposed by the De- sert — Description given by Herodotus — by Diodorus — by Strabo — Ancient Accounts of the Nile — of Ethiopia — of Abyssinia — Expedition sent by Necho — Journey of the Nasamones — Voyage of Sataspes — of Hanno — Voyages of Eudoxus — Periplus of the Erythi'oean Sea, 28 CHAPTER IIL SETTLEMENTS OF THE ARABS. Their Influence on this Continent — Migration into Central Africa — Ghana — Tocrur — Kuku — Wangara — (Jlil — Eastern Africa — Travels of Ibn Batuta — Description by Leo Afri- canus, 48 CHAPTER IV. PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. Rise of the Spirit of Discovery — Voyages along the Western Coast — The Senegal — Prince Bemoy — Discovery of the Congo — Numerous Missionaries sent out — Superstitions of the Natives, 56 iO CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. Decline of Portuguese Maritime Power — Company formed in England to explore the Gambia — Richard Thompson — His Death — Jobson's Voyage up the Gambia — Manners of thf* Native Africans — Vermuyden — Stibbs, Page G8 CHAPTER VI. FRENCH DISCOVERIES. French Settlement on the Senegal — Janneqiiin's Voyage — Voyages of Brue up the Senegal — Bambouk ; Gold Mines— Saugnier — Gum-trade, 82 CHAPTER VII. EARLY PROCEEDINGS OF THE AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. Ledyard — Lucas— Informationrespectingthe Interior— Hough- ton— His Death, 93 CHAPTER VIII. park's FIRST JOURNEY. Park undertakes to explore Africa— Departure — 111 Treatment at Bondou and Joag — Kooniakary — Captivity among the ^ Joors — Escape — The Niger — Sego — Sansauding — Silla — Obliged to return — Various Misfortunes — Distressed State — Finds Relief at Kamalia— Arrival in England, 99 CHAPTER IX. park's SECOND JOURNEY. Views under which he was sent out — Departure — Overtaken by the rainy Season — Great Sickness and Distress — Embarks on the Niger — Negotiations with the King of Bambarra — Obtains Permission to build a Vessel — Sansanding— Sets sail —Accounts of his Death, 119 CONTENTS. 11 CHAPTER X. VARIOUS TRAVELLERS. Homeman—NichoUs— -Roentgen— Adams— Riley, ...Page 128 CHAPTER XI. GOVERNMENT EXPEDITIONS. Great Expedition planned under Tuckey and Peddie— Captain Tuckey reaches the Congo — Difficulties encountered — Great Sickness— Disastrous Issue— Major Peddie arrives at Ka- kundy — His Death — Captain Campbell advances into the Foulah Territory— Obliged to return— His Death— Gray— Laing— Ritchie and Lyon — Death of Ritchie, .142 CHAPTER XIL DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. Arrangements with the Court of Tripoli— The Travellers ar- rive there — Journey to Mourzouk — Difficulties— Agreement with Boo Khalloom— Departure— The Desert— Tibboos and Tuaricks— Arrival at the Lake Tchad- The Yeou— Kouka — Visit to the Sheik— The Sultan— Description of Bornou— Denham's Excursion to Mandara— Great Range of Moun- tains—Disastrous Expedition— War against the Mungas— Excursion to Loggun — Expedition against the La Salas — Biddoomahs— Clapperton's Journey into Houssa — Appear- ance of that Country — Kano — Sackatoo — Sultan Bello — Return of the Travellers, 149 CHAPTER XIIL clapperton's SECOND JOURNEY — LAING— CAILLIE. Objects of this Journey — Departure from Badagry— Death of Pearce and of Morrison — Kingdom of Yarriba— Eyeo — Kiama — Wawa — Boussa — Particulars respecting Park — Nyffe — Koolfu — Zaria — Kano — Siege of Coonia — Violent Conduct of Sultan Bello — Sickness and Death of Clapperton at Sackatoo — His Servant' Lander returns, partly by a new Route — Laing's Expedition— He reaches Timbuctoo — Assas- sinated — Caillie undertakes a Journey — Reaches Jenne — Timbuctoo— Aroan— The Desert— Arrival at Tangier,.... 1G8 12 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. THE landers' discovery OF THE TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. Expedition undertaken by Richard and John Lander — Arrival at Cape Coast — At Badagry — Annoyances there — Journey toEyeo — The royal Wives — Yarriban Females — Superstitions ^ Human Sacrifices — The Fellatas — Alorie — Journey to Kiama — Aspect of the Country and People — Journey to Boussa — Reception — The Widow Zuma — Voyage up the Niger to Youri — Interviews with the King — Description of Youri — King's Daughters — Return to Boussa — Journey to Wawa — Final Residence at Boussa — Disposal of Goods — Late Changes in Central Africa — Attempts to recover Park's Journal — Voyage to Patashie — Lever — Disappointment re- specting a Canoe — Bajiebo — Aspect of the Niger — Belee — King of the Dark Water — Zagoshi — Rabba — The Coodoonia — Egga — Dangers to be apprehended in going down the River — Kacunda — Dreadful Alarm at Bocqua — Reconcilia- tion — Damuggoo— Good Reception — Kirree — They are at- tacked and plundered — Obtain some Redress — Conveyed to Eboe — Negotiation for Ransom — King Boy — Voyage to Brass Town — Richard Lander conveyed to an English Ship — Behaviour of Captain Lake — Boy's Return — John Lander conveyed to the Vessel — Arrival at Fernando Po — Supposed Fate of Lake — Pir^es — Voyage to England — Range of the Thermometer at different Points— General Result of this Expedition, , Page 230 CHAPTER XV. LAIRD AND OLDFIELD— ALLEN — DAVIDSON. Plan of Mr Laird's Expedition— Voyage to the Niger — Ascent to Eboe — Dreadful Sickness and Mortality — Attempts to ascend the River- IVIr Laird proceeds to Funda — Adventures there, and Departure — Description of that City— Mr OldfieH ascends the Tchadda — Visits Rabba — Its Description — De- scends the River — Death of Lander— Return to England — Mr Allen's Theory respecting the Yeou and Tchadda — Mr Da^ddson's Expedition— Residence at Morocco— Jour- ney to Wadnoon— His Murder — Accounts respecting Tim- buctoo, 267 CONTENTS. 13 CHAPTER XVI. WESTERN AFRICA. General View of this Coast — Dahomey — N orris and M'Leod — Foota Jallo — Watt and Winterbottom — Ashantee — Embas- sies of Bowdich and Dupuis — War — Defeat and Submission of the Ashantees — Adams' Account of Benin, Waree, and Bonny — Ephraim Town — Delta of the Niger, Page 285 CHAPTER XVII. SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. The Cape— Settlement of the Dutch— Kolben — Hope, Sparr- man, Le Vaillaut — Barrow ; Caffres ; Bosj>smans — Trutter and Sommerville— Dr Cowan and his Party — Their Assassina- tion — Lichtenstein — Campbell's (the Missionary) First and Second Journeys — Burchell — Thompson — Invasion of the Mantatees — Zoolas — Alarm in the Colony— Great Irruption of the Caffres — Peace — Settlement of Natal— Great Emigra- tion of Dutch Farmers — Their Conflicts with the Natives— Ex- pedition of Dr Smith— Sir James Alexander — Eastern Afi-ica — Conquests of the Portuguese — Their present State— Eng- lish Expedition up the Zambesi — Zanzibar, Mombaza,&c.,298 CHAPTER XVIII. BOAT AND STEAM-SHIP EXPLORATIONS IN THE WEST, Despatch of the Ethiope to exyilore the Niger — Ascent of the Formosa— Visit to Benin — Ascent of the Waree and the Niger to a point above Bajiebo — Examination of the Old Calabar River — Ascent of the Cross River — Discovery in the Eboe Country — Government Expedition to the Niger — Ex- ploration of the Cameroons River — Examination of the Bay of Amboises, 341 CHAPTER XIX. DUNCAN, RICHARDSON, AND THE FRENCH. Ahguay— Whidah— the Hahotia River— Dahomey— the Kong Alountains — Adafoodiah — Travels and Discoveries in the Sahara — The Great Expedition from Tripoli to the Regions south of Lake Tchad — The French possession of Algiers — 14 CONTENTS. Sufferings of the French Array — War with the Kahyles — Kxpedition against the Emir Abd-el-Kader — Proposed Great Explorations, Page 367 CHAPTER XX. EXPLORATIONS IN THE BASIN OF THE UPPER KILE. Revived interest respecting the Sources of the Nile — Descrip- tive View of the Nile's Basin— Bruce — Salt— The Church Missionaries — Ruppell — Combes and Tamisier — YonKalte — Sthimper — TheAbaddies — Lefevre — Rochet — Beke — Harris — Many other Travellers— Egyptian Expeditions — Supposed origin of tlie White Nile in the Mono-Moezi country — Dis- covery of the Snowy Mountains, 387 CHAPTER XXI. RECENT DISCOVERIES IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. Condition of the East — Discovery of the Haines River — Explo- ration of the Juhb — Discoveries west of Momtjas — Progress in the South — Adventures of the Modern Nimrod — the Coun- try of Bamangwato— The valley of the Limpopo — Discovery Oi Lake Ngami — Supposed Central Plateau — Explorations northward of Lake Ngami — Livingston's journeys through the centre of Southern Africa 411 CHAPTER XXIL SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. Distinction between Native and Foreign Tribes — Natives — Agriculture — Manufactures — internal Trade — Exports and Imports between Great Britain and Western Africa — Domes- tic Accommodation— Intellectual Character — Superstitions — W^ar and Slavery — Amiable Features — Forms of Govern- ment — Foreign Races — Mohammedan Converts — European Colonization — Cape of Good Hope — Albany District — Natal — Effects of Missionary Enterprise — Sierra Leone — Settle- ments on the Gambia — The Gold Coast — The origin, history, and present condition of Liberia— Steam Navigation to Africa, 435 DISCOVERY AND ADVENTURE AFRICA. CHAPTEK I. General View of the Natural Features of Africa. Introductory Observations — Its Situation on the Globe — Ex- tensive Deserts — Mountains and Rivers — Vegetable Life — Animal Life — Social Aspect— Striking Contrasts which it presents. Before following the career of adventure and discovery chap. i. in Africa, and viewing its kingdoms and regions under ^ their varied aspects, it may be interesting to take a teatures of rapid survey of this continent in its original state, as it Africa. came from the hands of Nature. Though immense, and abounding even with the most striking and surprising contrasts, yet, on a general view, a certain uniformity, approaching almost to monotony, appears to pervade it. From the one end to the other, dreary wastes, of almost boundless extent, are spread over its surface, alternating with bright spots of the most luxuriant vegetation. These arid tracts, besides, have their borders embellished by shrubs and flowers, tinted with the most brilliant hues ; while a profusion of animal life, in all its forms, distinguishes the more temperate latitudes. Africa, considered in reference to her place on the globe, Geographical is an extensive continent so situated with relation to the ^''^^ '°^ A 18 GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHAP. L three others as to obstruct the great highway across the Circumnavi- oceaii. Hence her coasts form the chief barrier to a direct gatioii of iier maritime intercourse between the distant extremities of the earth. To perform the vast circuit of her shores, and to round her stormy capes, have tried the courage and constancy of the greatest navigators. Could Africa cease to exist, gi-eat facilities would be afforded to the communication between the other continents, and many new channels of commerce would be opened up. As, however, she has an existence likely to be coeval with theirs, our concern is with her actual condition, present- ing as it does many peculiar claims to interest in the eyes of the philosopher and politician, pe^ Mrlti s. '^^^ physical peculiarities which distinguish Africa seem to depend chiefly on the circumstance, that almost her whole territory is situated within the tropics. The other portions of the earth's surface, which lie directly beneath the solar influence, consist generally either of sea, or of naiTow and insular lands refreshed by breezes from the ocean. But the greatest breadth of this con- tinent is under the unmediate dominion of the sun ; and most of her people see that great planet, in its annual pro- gress from tropic to tropic, pass twice over their heads, and thus experience a repetition of its most intense and penetrating rays. The highest blessings of this sub- Intenseheat. lunary world, when carried beyond a certain limit, become its deadliest bane ; and that orb, accordingly, which cheers and illumines the rest of the earth, glares on Africa with oppressive and malignant beam, blasting the face of Nature, and covermg her with desolation. Sometimes it converts the soil into a naked desert, and sometimes overspreads it with a noxious exuberance of vegetation. The land, when not watered by copious rains or the ovei-flowing of rivers, is scorched and dried up, till it is turned into a dreary waste. Hence the vast plains of sand form a feature truly alarming. The Great Desert, with the exception of the narrow valley of the Nile, reaches across the entire continent, exhibit- ing an expanse of burning surface, where for many '■% '■'fill" • f \^^^ 'ill w iljir«"*i m f :p'"'-li|::fF'"'«'p'^' NATURAL FEATURES OF AFRICA. 19 days the pilgrim finds not a drop of water, nor sees chap. i. the smallest vestige of animal or vegetable life. He j^^ Q^-^t pursues his dreary route amid loose hills, incessantly Desert, shifting, and leaving no marks to guide his course. Every breeze is loaded with dust, which enters the mouth and nostrils, penetrating even between the clothes and skin. Sometimes the sand drives along in clouds and whirl- winds, beneath which it was once thought that caravans and even armies had been buried ; but it is now ascer- tained that the numerous bones which whiten the desert are merely those of adventurers who have sunk under famine, thirst, and fatigue ; and that the sand, which continually moves, has accumulated over them. Tra- itnpresMonof vellers in these desolate tracts have been impressed with the idea of their being the bed of an ancient ocean. This is not the place to enter into a speculation on the formation of the earth ; but that every part of its sur- face lay once beneath the waters is sufficiently apparent, though there is no historical proof that Africa emerged later than other continents. The earliest records repre sent her deserts to have been as extensive as they are in our days, and to have pressed equally close upon the cultivated belt along the northern coast. In general all regions between the tropics, when not plentifully watered, moulder into sand, alternating with a hard and impenetrable stratum of clay. The central wastes of Asia, of Arabia, and of Sindetic Hindostan, though infe- rior to those of Africa, are yet of a similar character, and also of immense extent. In order to obviate the extreme eff'ects of the tropical uainy sun, which produces a desolation so dreadful. Nature has reason, provided suitable remedies. Every country under this latitude has its rainy season, when, amidst the blaze of lightnings and the noise of thunder which rends the sky, Heaven seems to open all her windows to pour an un- broken flood upon the earth. The ground is covered as with a deluge, and the dry beds of the rivulets are filled with torrents ; yet so intense are the solar rays, that the moisture thus lavished upon the surface is quickly dried 20 GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHAP. L Swelling ot the rivors. Mountain chains. up. Great rivers, which, swollen hy the rains, overflow their banks and lay the adjoining country under water, or at least afford the means of artificial inundation, are the principal source of that luxuriant fertility, that rapid growth of all vegetable substances, which characterize, in a peculiar manner, every tropical climate. It is to the streams, which descend from the lofty precipices and eter- nal snows of the Himraaleh, that the plains of Hindostan and China owe their amazing fruitfulness. Africa, too, has elevated mountain-chains, which give rise to several rivers of great magnitude and most fertilizing influence. Atlas, along its northern border, presents, even in so hot an atmosphere, pinnacles wrapt in everlasting snow. Still more extensive is that central range, wliich, distinguished by various local names, is most generally known under the poetical appellation of "The Mountains of the Moon." Yet these ridges, besides being less gigantic than those of the other continents, labour under the peculiar disad- vantage of extending across the breadth only of Africa. The Andes and the Himmaleh, those stupendous heights of America and Asia, as they traverse their respective regions in the direction of their length, cover a much greater surface, and thus create fertility in the plain? which intervene between their bases and the ocean. But rivS? °^ ^^^ ^^^® larger of the African rivers, directing their course through a vast extent of low land, reach the sea only by a very circuitous passage ; while several of them, diffusing their waters into lakes, are lost in the very heart of the continent. The result is, that the enormous breadth of the Sahara, or Great Desert, is scarcely irrigated even by a streamlet. It depends entirely on the periodical rains ; and these sink into the sandy and porous surface, till, being arrested at the depth of eight or ten feet, they form that " sea under ground " which has been traced throughout a large portion of the waste. Vegetable life, in consequence of this absence of mois- ture, is scantily diffused over a great extent of central Africa. In the heart of the mountains, however, and in the kingdoms along their border, the soil is most pro- Extent and Vegetable liie. NATURAL FEATURES OF AFRICA. 21 fusely watered, and, under the influence of a tropical sun, chap. i. produces, perhaps beyond any other part of the world, ~7 that luxuriant growth, and those gigantic vegetable forms, tropical which distinguish the equatorial regions. The baobab, vegetation- or great calabash, appears to be the most enormous tree on the face of the earth. Adanson assures us, that its circumference in some cases, is fully thirteen fathoms, as measured by his arms passed round the trunk. Branches, extending horizontally, each equal to a large tree, make the baobab a forest as it were in itself. The mangrove, too, which rises on the borders of rivers or inundated spots, diffuses itself in a manner truly remarkable. The branches dropping down upon the watery bank, strike root and grow ; hence the original stem, spreading far- ther and farther, throws over the stream a species of natiiral arcade. Nor do these mighty trees stand alone, but have their interstices filled up by numberless shrubs, simibs and canes, creeping and parasitical plants, which intersect parasitical and entwine with each other till they form a thick and impenetrable mass of underwood. To cut even a narrow path through these dense groves is a laborious process ; and as shoots are continually growing inwards on each side, the track, without constant travelling and the dili- gent use of the axe, soon becomes impassable. As we approach the confines of the Desert, these giants The acacia of the wood disappear, and vegetation presents a different ^"*^ ^^^"*' and more pleasing aspect. It exhibits now the light and gay form of the acacia, whole forests of which rise amid the sand, distilling those rich gums that constitute an important material of African commerce. The lotus, a celebrated and classical shrub, the tamarisk, and other elegant trees, afford agreeable and nutritive berries, which are used as the principal food of several nations. Various flowering bushes, too, of the most delicate tints, rising in wild and spontaneous beauty, embellish the precincts of the waste. Thus, when first approached, and before vegetable nature begms to expire, instead of assuming a stern character, it wears rather a pleasing and smiling aspect. 22 GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHAP. I Animal life. Dangers from wild beasts. The lion. Hyena. The animal world* in Africa changes equally its nature as it passes from one to another of these opposite regions. In the plains inundated by the great rivers it multiplies with extraordinary power, and often assumes huge and repulsive forms. Throughout all this continent the wild tribes exist in large and formidable numbers, and there is scarcely a tract which they do not either hold in full 230Ssession, or fiercely dispute with man. Even the most densely-peopled countries border on wide forests and wastes, whose ruthless tenants find their prey occasion- ally in the wandering savage, as well as in the tamer animals which surround him ; and when the scent of human slaughter is wafted on the breeze, bands of hungry monsters hasten from every side to the feast of blood. These ferocious creatures hold, indeed, so commanding a position, that the native scarcely makes any attempt to extirpate them, or even to prevent their increase. He wages against them only a defensive war, and employs his courage and skill chiefly in hunting the elephant, the antelope, and other peaceful species, by whose spoil he may be em-iched. The lion, that king of the desert, and mightiest among the tribes which have the wilderness for their abode, abounds in Africa, and causes all her forests to re-echo his midnight roar. Yet both his courage and fierceness have, it is said, been overrated ; and the man who can undauntedly face him, or evade his first dreadful spring, rarely falls his victim. Wider ravages are committed by the hyena, not the strongest, but the most ferocious and untameable of all the beasts of prey. These creatures, by moving in numerous bands, achieve what is beyond the single strength of the larger animals ; they burst with devouring rage into the cities, and have even carried by storm fortified enclosures. The elephant roams in vast herds through the densely-wooded tracts of the * In the present chapter we allude only to a few of the more conspicuous and peculiar characteristics of African zoology. The subject is treated at greater length in a subsequent part of this volume. NATURAL FEATURES OF AFRICA. 23 interior, disputiDg with the lion the rank of sovereign chap. i. among quadrupeds ; matchless in bulk and strength, rn, "T yet tranquil, majestic, peaceful, he is led with his fellows phant. under the guidance of the most ancient of their number, having a social and almost moral existence. He seldom attacks either man or beast. The human being is in , most cases the aggressor, not only with the view of pro- tecting the fruits of the earth, but also in order to obtain the bony substance composing his tusks, which, under the name of ivory, forms one of the most valued articles of African trade. The prodigious strength of the elephant, his almost impenetrable hide, his rapid though awkward movements, render him a most perilous object of attack even to the boldest hunters ; so that pits and snares of various kinds are the usual means by which his capture is effected. Instead of the tiger, Africa has the leopard and the panther, belonging, however, only to certain of its districts. In the large and broad rivers of this continent, and The rhino- through the immense forests which overshadow them, a ^^^°^ race of amphibious animals of monstrous shape and size display their unwieldy figures. The rhinoceros, though not strictly amphibious, slowly traverses marshes and swampy grounds, and almost equals the elephant in strength and defensive powers, but wants his stature, his dignity, and his wisdom. The single or double horn with which he protects himself is an article of commerce in the East, though not valued in Europe. A still huger form is that of the hippopotamus, or river-horse, fitted alike to stalk on land, to march along the bottom of the waters, or to swim on their surface. He is slow, pon- derous, and gentle ; yet when annoyed, either by design or accident, his wrath is terrible ; he rushes up from his watery retreat, and, by merely striking with his enor- The croco- mous tusks, can overset or sink a loaded canoe. But ^^'®- the most dreaded of all the inhabitants of the African rivers is the crocodile, the largest and fiercest of the lizard tribe. He lies like a log upon the waters, watch- ing for his prey, attacking men and even the strongest 24 GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHAP. I. Reptiles and serpents. Borders of the desert. Orang- outang. animals, which, however, engage with him in obstinate and deadly encounters. We have not yet done with the various prodigious creatures that Africa generates. She swarms more especially with the serpent brood, which spread terror, some by their deadly poison, others by their mere bulk and strength ; in which last respect her reptiles have struck the world with amazement. Ancient history records that whole provinces have been overrun by them, and that one, in particular, after disputing the passage of a river with a Roman army, was destroyed only by the use of a battering engine. Emerging from these dank regions, where the earth, under the united influence of heat and moisture, teems with such a noxious superabundance of life, we approach the Desert. Jlere a change takes place equally singular and pleasing as in the vegetable world. Only light and airy forms tripalong the sandy border ; creatures innocent, gentle, and beautiful, — the antelope, of twenty different species, all swift, with bright eyes, erect and usually elegant figures, — preying neither on men nor the other animals, but pursued by most on account of the delicate food which they afford. Here, too, roams the zebra, with its finely-striped skin, encompassing it like a robe of rich cloth ; and the camelopard, the tallest and most remarkable of quadrupeds, with his long fore-legs and high-stretching neck, of singular and fantastic beauty, crops the leaves of the African forest. Though a rare species, he is seen occasionally straying over a great por- tion of that continent. Nature, sporting, as it would seem, in the production of extraordmary objects, has filled Africa with a won- derful multitude of those animals which bear the closest alliance to " the human form divine." The orang-outang appears to constitute the link between man and the lower orders of living things. Standing erect, without a tail, with flat face, and arms of not greatly dispropor- tioned length, it displays in every particular a deformed resemblance to the lord of the creation. It seems even NATURAL FEATURES OF AFRICA. 25 to make a nearer approach than any other animal to the chap. i. exercise of reason. It has been taught to make its own Docility bed, to sit at table, to eat with a knife and fork, and to pour out tea. M. Degrandpre mentions one kept on board a French vessel, which lighted and kept the oven at a due temperature, put in the bread at a given signal, and even assisted in drawing the ropes. There was a strong suspicion among the sailors that it would have spoken, but for the fear of being put to harder work. — Baboons. The baboons, again, are a large, brutal species, disgusting in their appearance, yet not without some kind of union and polity. The monkey tribe, now familiar in Europe, and attracting attention by their playful movements, fill with sportive cries all the forests of tropical Africa. The insect race, which in our climate is generally insects, harmless, presents there many singular and even formi- dable characteristics. The flying tribes in particular, through the action of the sun on the swampy land, rise up in terrible and destructive numbers. They fill the air and darken the sky ; they annihilate the labour of nations ; they drive even armies before them. The Ravages of locust, when its bands issue in close and dark array from the depths of the Desert, commits ravages surpassing those of the most ferocious beasts, or even the more desolating career of human warfare. In vain do the de- spairing inhabitants seek with fire and other means to arrest their progress ; the dense and irresistible mass continues to move onward, and soon baffles every attempt to check its course. Whole provinces which, at their entrance, display rich harvests or brilliant verdure, are left without an ear or a blade ; and, when at length de- stroyed by famine or tempest, they cover immense tracts exhaling the most noisome stench. Yet they may be ^® ^^ ^ used as food, and are even relished by certain native tribes. The mosquito and its allies do not spread such a fearful desolation ; though, by their poisoned and tormenting stings, they render life miserable, and not very unfre- quently lead to its extinction. Even a swarm of wild bees, in the solitary woods of Western Africa, has put 26 GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHAP. L a whole caravan to flight, wounding severely some of itc- Termites, or members. But perhaps the most extraordinary of all the white ants, insect races are the termites or white ants, which display, on a greater scale, the arts and social organization for which their species are so famed in Europe. They cover the plains with their conical huts from ten to twelve feet in height, and are regularly distributed into labourers and soldiers, with others holding the rank of king and queen. The queen rpj^^ latter personage, when about to add to the numbers of the tribe, presents a most extraordinary spectacle, being swelled to many times the amount of her natural dimensions ; and, at the arrival of the critical period, in- stead of a progeny of two or three, she produces as many thousands. These ants are far from being of the same harmless description as the corresponding insects of this quarter of the world. On finding their way into a house they devour every thing, clothes, furniture, food, not even, it is said, sparing the inmates, who are compelled to make a speedy retreat. Self-imposed Such are the evils to which the people of this conti- suflferings of j-^gjj^ ^pg perpetually exposed from the lower creation ; and yet they experience in full force the tnith of the pathetic lamentation of the poet, that " man is to man the surest, deadliest foe." Africa, fi-om the earliest ages, has been the most conspicuous theatre of crime and of wrong ; where social life has lost the traces of primitive simplicity, without rising to order, principle, or refine- ment ; where fraud and violence are formed into na- tional systems, and man trembles at the sight of his fellow-creature. For centuries, thousands of her unfor- tunate children have been dragged in chains over her deserts, and across the ocean, to spend their lives in dis- ' tant bondage. In a word, superstition, tyranny, anarchy, and the opposing interests of numberless petty states, maintain a constant and destructive warfare in this suf- fering portion of the earth. Nevertheless, compelled as we have thus been to describe the ills of Africa, we should err very widely did we represent her as pervaded by one deep monoton- NATURAL FEATURES OF AFRICA. "iy' ous gloom. In some parts of tlie picture there are chap, i bright lights interspersed, that shine more conspicuously g^j ^^ from the vast blanks and deep shadows with which regions of they are surrounded. In the heart of the most dreary '^^'■'^^• wastes, there emerges many a little oasis or verdant islet, which to the wanderer of the desert appears almost an earthly paradise. These spots have been painted in colours that belong not to the imperfect abodes of earth ; as gardens of the gods, fairy seats, islands destined to be the mansions of the blessed. In like manner, in the bosom of its wildest woods and mountains, there lurk, in many an unsuspected retreat, scenes of the most soft and pastoral beauty. Even amid its moral darkness there shine forth virtues which would do honour to human nature in its most refined and exalted state. A tender Natural flow of domestic affection generally pervades African affections, society. Signal displays, too, have been made of the most generous hospitality ; and travellers, who were on the point of perishing, have been befriended and saved by absolute strangers, and even by enemies. These varieties of nature and of character, these alternations of wildness and of beauty, of lawless violence and of the most generous kindness, render the progress of the European through this continent more interesting and eventful, more diversified by striking scenes and in- cidents, than in any other quarter of the globe. 28 KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA CHAPTER 11. Knowledge of Africa among the Ancients, Northern Africa well known — Obstacles opposed by the De- sert — Description given by Herodotus — by Diodorus — by Strabo — Ancient Accounts of the Nile — of Ethiopia — of Abyssinia — Expedition sent by Necho — Journey of the Nasamones — Voyage of Sataspes — of Hanno — Voyages of Eudoxus — Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. ^^^^- ^^' Africa, so far as it extends along the Mediterranean, Ancient was not Only well known to the nations of antiquity, AtSS.^'^^^'*' but constituted an integral part of their political and social system. This coast forms, indeed, only a compar- atively small portion of that great continent ; but while the sphere of civilisation and the geographical knowledge of the Greeks were nearly comprised within the circuit of the Mediterranean shores, Northern Africa held in their view no inconsiderable importance. This region, now covered with thick darkness, and left so far behind in all the arts and attainments which exalt and adorn human nature, had at that early period taken the lead. Historic in these very particulars, of all other nations. It in- regions. eluded Egypt and Carthage, which, as the first seats of government and commerce, were the admiration of the ancient world. In the patriarchal ages, when the Scripture history represents the Mesopotamian Plain, the scene of the future empires of Babylon and Assyria, as little more than a wide and open common, Egypt ap- pears regularly organized, and forming a great and power- ful kingdom ; and when Greece was under the tumul- tuary sway of a number of petty chieftains. Homer already celebrates the Hundred Gates of Thebes, and AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 29 the mighty hosts which in warlike array issued from chap, ii them to battle. The valley of the Nile was famed also originof amonof the ancients for producing? the first elements of learning and o J: CT letters on ttiG learning and abstract research ; the first approach to banks oi the alphabetical writing by hieroglyphic emblems ; the first ^^^^• great works in sculpture, painting, and architecture ; and travellers even now find that country covered with mag- nificent monuments, erected at an era when the faintest da^vn of science had not yet illumined the regions of Europe. While Egypt was thus pre-eminent m know- Commercial ledge and art, Carthage equally excelled in commerce and of carthage. in the wealth produced by it ; by means of which she rose to such a degree of power as enabled her to hold long suspended between herself and Rome the scales of universal empire. In her grand struggle with that re- public she sunk amid a blaze of expirmg glory ; while the land of the Pharaohs, after having passed through many ages of alternate splendour and slavery, was also at length included in the extended dominion of the Caesars. Yet, though all Northern Africa thus merged into a province of the Roman world, it was still an opu- lent and enlightened one ; boasting equally with others its sages, its saints, its heads and fathers of the church ; and exhibiting Alexandria and Carthage on a footmg with the greatest cities which owned the imperial sway. While, however, the region along the Nile and the Limited extent of. Mediterranean was thus not only well known, but formed African civil a regular part of the ancient civilized world, the progress ligation. of science did not extend beyond the tract bordering on the sea and the river. After proceeding a few journeys into the interior, the traveller found himself among wild and wandering tribes, who exhibited human nature under its rudest and most repulsive forms. On his ad- vancing somewhat farther, there appeared a barrier at once vast and appalling, — endless plains of moving sand, without a shrub, a blade of grass, or a single object by which life could be cheered or supported. This formi- dable boundary, which stopped the victorious career of Cambyses and of Alexander, arrested much more easily 30 KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA CHAP. II. every attempt at improvement and colonization. It The desert Secured to the roaming tribes of the Desert the undis- boundary. turbed possession of those insulated spots of verdure, which were scattered at distant intervals amid the deso- lation of the interminable waste. The border Meantime, although these causes prevented the civil- tract, isation, and even the knowledge of Europeans, from ever penetrating deeply beyond the Mediterranean bor- der, yet between it and the measureless Desert there intervened a wide tract of alternate rock, valley, and plain, presenting a varied and often a picturesque land- scape. This region, intermediate between the known and the unknown, between civilized and savage exist- ence, excited in a great degree the curiosity of the ancients ; to whom, however, it always appeared dimly as through a cloud, and tinged with a cei-tain fabulous and poetical colouring. Investigation Herodotus, the earliest and most interesting of Greek historians, when endeavouring to collect information Fertile por- tions. respecting the whole of the inhabited world, was obliged, in the absence of written documents, to have recourse to travelling ; and his narrative is almost entirely the record of what he saw and heard during his various pere- grinations. By means of a long stay in Egypt, and an intimate communication Avith the native priests, he learned much that was accurate, as well as somewhat that was incorrect and exaggerated, respecting the wide region which extends from the Nile to the Atlantic. He justly describes it as much inferior in fertility to the cultivated parts of Europe and Asia, and suffering severely from drought ; yet there were a few spots, as Cinyps and the high tracts of Cyrene, which, being finely irrigated, might stand a comparison with the richest portions of the globe. Generally, however, on quitting the northern coast, which he terms the forehead of Africa, the country became more and more arid. Hills of salt arose, out of which the natives constructed their houses without any fear of their melting beneath a shower, in a region where rain was unknown. The land became almost a desert. AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 31 and was filled with such multitudes of wild beasts as to chap. n. be considered their proper inheritance, and scarcely dis- — puted with them by the human race. Farther to the variations ot south the soil no longer afforded food even to these fierce -aspect. tenants ; there was not the trunk of a tree nor a drop of water ; total silence and desolation reigned. Such is the general picture Herodotus draws of this northern boundary of the great African desert, which must be acknowledged to be extremely accurate. In the tract westward from Egypt, behind the hilly The temple range of Cyrene, the first object was the celebrated |^j^j'jfj,\'^^ shrine of Ammon, dedicated to the Theban Jove, and to which the Greeks were wont to ascribe a higher pro- phetic power than even to their own Delphic oracle. This temple, situated in the midst of almost impassable deserts, was distinguished for a fountain which, sensibly warm at midnight, became gradually colder till noon. Ten days' journey beyond Ammon lay ^gila, occupied by the Nasamones, a numerous people, who in winter fed their flocks on the coast, and in summer repaired to col- lect the dates that grow here in extensive forests of palri"- trees. To these \vanderers are ascribed various singular customs, among which was their mode of foreseeing the future by lying down to sleep on the tombs of their ancestors, watching the dreams that arose while in this position, and treasuring them up as oracles. Border- ing upon this nation had formerly been the Psylli, Ror^gj. famous for charming serpents, an art not yet wholly lost tribes. among their Successors ; but that tribe, suffering once under a severe drought, had been so ill-informed as to proceed southward in hope of finding water, where, being involved in those vast and burning deserts, they entirely perished, and their place was taken by the Nasamones. Beyond them the Macae inhabited a beautiful region watered by the river Cinyps, on whose banks rose " the hill of the Graces," covered with a profusion of the finest foliage. Such is still the gay and brilliant aspect which the neighbourhood of Bengazi presents. To the south of the Nasamones, in a region almost resigned to wild 32 KKOWLEDGE OP AFRICA GUAR II. The Gara- mantes. Tribes round the Lake of TritouiB. beasts, the Garamantes inhabited- an extensive valley, now called Fezzan. They are represented under charac- ters of which the present natives retain no trace, — as a solitary and timid people, shunning the intercourse of strangers, destitute of arms, and not even attempting to defend themselves against foreign aggression. After the Gindanes and the Lotophagi, who fed on the lotus and made wine from its fruit, came the Mach- lyes and the Auses, dwelling round the Lake of Tritonis, — the scene of the reported birth and oracle of Minerva, with which were connected many celebrated fables of ancient mythology. An annual festival of a peculiar kind was celebrated by the virgms of the latter tribe, when their fair hands were employed in throwing stones against each other with such fury that usually some of them were left dead on the spot. The fate of these sujEFerers was peculiarly hard, since it was supposed to justify the most unfavourable suspicions respecting their previous life. After all, this rough sport of the Libyan belles is not much ruder than one which we shall find still prac- tised among the most distinguished dames of Bornou. Proceeding farther westward, Herodotus finds a family of the Auses, called Maxyes, who cultivated the gi-ound ; and he is now on the border of the Carthaginian territory, of which, for reasons that Major Rennell cannot fully comprehend, he forbears to treat. He follows the direc- tion of the interior from the Garamantes, be^'ond whom were Ethiopians dwellmg in caves and running so swiftly that the former people found it necessary to hunt them in chariots, — a proceeding very unsuitable to the meek character elsewhere ascribed to them, and wliich, it is feared, may have been practised with the evil intent of carrying off these poor victims as slaves. Our author ^' comes next to the Atlantes, and relates several things, which, with better knowledge, he would probably have omitted. He pretends, for example, that none of them bear proper names ; that they neither eat animal food nor dream dreams ; and, wliat is not quite so improbable, that, on seeing the sun rlse^ they pour reproaches and Carthage- nian orders. AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 33 execrations on him, for the manner in which he burns chap. II. and destroys their land. Behind them ascends the long p^jji^^ and lofty range of Atlas, whose head is said to remam Atlas. for ever invisible and wrapped in clouds, and which the natives believe to be the pillar of heaven, — a creed adopted, or perhaps invented, by the Greeks and Romans. Herodotus here stops, frankly owning that his informa- tion did not enable him to go farther. The only other accounts which had reached him respected a nation be- yond the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar), with whom the Carthaginians carried on trade in a very Carthage- peculiar manner. This wild and timid race would not native barter approach or hold parley with those adventurers, who, on drawing near to the shore, kindled a fire, uttered loud cries, and laid on the sand a certain quantity of goods. The natives hearing them, and seeing the smoke, came down, surveyed the deposite, placed beside it a certain portion of gold, the most precious article of their traffic, and withdrew. The foreigners advanced to examine the tender thus made, and according to their estimate of its value, either carried away the bullion, or left the whole untouched ; in which last case the simple people under- stood that more of the precious metal was expected. Thus the parties went backwards and forwards, till the exchange was adjusted. If the accounts given by Herodotus of this western theane of region be tinctured with fable, the narrative of Diodorus ancient my- shows still more that the ancients had made it one of ' the grand theatres of their mythology. To it they refer the ancient and early reign of Saturn, under the appella- tion of Ouranus or Heaven ; the birth of Jupiter, and his nursing by Amalthaea ; the impious race of the Titans, and their wars with the gods ; Cybele, with her doting love for Atys and frantic grief for his fate. This his- torian represents the Atlantic people as claiming these objects for themselves ; but it seems much more probable, that the warm imagination of the Greeks, attracted by the mysterious grandeur of the region, transported thither the creations of their own fancy. Our author, however. 34 KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA CHAP. ir. Airican race of Amazons. Tnarick respect for woman. Narrati' Struljo. e of makes a positive averment as to the existence of a race of Amazons there, still more warlike and formidable than those on the banks of the Thennodon. They did not, like these last, positively exterminate or expel the male sex from their confines ; but, reserving to them- selves the cares of war and government, employed their lords in keeping the house, tending the children, and performing all the f mctions which are elsewhere ex- clusively assigned to females. As soon as the wife had gone through the necessary trouble of bearing a child, she handed it to the husband to be nursed, and imme- diately resumed her own high and arduous occupations. These gallant vii-agoes, it is said, not only ravaged all this part of Africa, but passed the Isthmus of Suez, and carried their victorious arms into Syria and Asia Minor. What foundation there may be in fact for this story of the western Amazons it is not easy to conjecture ; but the Tuaricks, a numerous race still found in these regions, treat their females with greater respect, and al- low them more liberty than is usual among their neigh- bours. Nor were these the only fierce and warlike women who spread terror through Africa. Diodorus places here the Gorgons, who caused death by the mere hideousness of their aspect, and the serpents hissing in the hair of Medusa. Yet, amid all these terrible fables, he gives a just description of the back-settlements of Northern Africa ; representing them as thinly inhabited by wandering tribes, as bounded by an extensive uniform plain resembling the ocean, covered with piles of sand whose termination was unknown, and which, mstead of any object that could cheer the eye or refresh the senses, swarmed with serpents of huge form, that inflicted in- stant death on tlie unwary traveller. These reptiles were even reported to have once invaded Egypt, and to have driven before them a crowd of its terrified inhab- itants. Strabo, who wrote after the Roman sway was fully established over Africa, gives a much more sober report of its western regions. Extending his view beyond the A3I0NG THE ANCIENTS. 35 Atlas, he describes the Mauri, peopling a rich ten-itory chap. ii. on the Atlantic coast capable of yielding the most abund- "— . ant harvests ; but nothmg could Avean the nation from the Beiberi wandering life in which they delighted, moving continu- ally with their tents from place to place, wrapped in the skins of wild beasts, riding without saddle and often without bridle, on small, swift, active horses. He repre- sents them as fighting with sword and spear ; not with ^rode of war- the poisoned arrows imputed to them by Horace, which, ^'^^"'^' however, are really used at present in Central Africa. Eastward, between the greater and smaller Syrtis, he finds the Mastesyli, who followed once the same wan- dering life, and were called Nomades or Numidians ; but Masinissa had alread}^ inured them to the practice of agriculture, and to some of the refinements of polished life. Carthage at its first subjection was razed to the ground, and left long desolate ; but the Romans, at length attracted by the appearance of the fine region which surrounds it, sent thither a colony, who soon elevated it to its former rank as the greatest city of Africa. Another territor}^, of which the ancients had consider- Ancient able knowledge, was that extending upwards along the oTuie NUy Nile, whose immediate borders have always been not >'aiiey. only habitable but fertile. Nothing astonished them more than to see this great river, which, after flowing through a region not moistened by a drop of rain, and where it was not fed by a single rivulet, began to swell at a certain season, rose always higher and higher, till at length it overflowed its banks, and spread like a sea over Lower Egypt. Some of the hypotheses formed to ac- count for this inundation deserve to be noticed : The most prevalent opinion ascribed it to the Etesian winds, blowing from the north periodically and so violently, that the waters of the Nile, thereby prevented from reaching the sea, necessarily spread over the land ; but Diodorus clearly shows, besides the reason being itself insufficient, that there was no correspondence in the periods ; observing also, that those winds blew up many other rivei-s without producing a similar effect. The 36 KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA CHAP. II. Supposed soarces of ioundation. Ancient Ethiopia. Learned language of Egj-pr. philosophers of ^Memphis, it seems, followed even by Mela, the celebrated Latin geographer, surmised that the unknown and inaccessible fountains of the Nile lay on the opposite side of the globe, where during our summei it was winter ; consequently the greatest rains then fell, and the swollen waters, flowing across the whole breadth of the torrid zone, acquired that soft and mellow taste which made them so agreeable. But the most singular hypothesis is that of Ephorus, who thought that the land was full of gaps or chinks, which in winter absorbed the water, but sweated it out under the influence of the summer heat. Diodorus takes superfluous pains to show that this theory, so absurd in itself, had no correspond- ence with the facts of the case. The real cause, arising from the rains which fall on the high mountains in the interior and tropical regions, was mentioned and strongly supported by Agatharchides, who wrote a learned work on the Red Sea ; which, however, was far from attaining the favourable reception that it merited. The name of Ethiopia was usually applied by the ancients to the southern parts of Africa, and even of Arabia, and generally indeed to all countries inhabited by black nations. The region, however, which extends sever- al hundred miles along the Nile above Egypt, formed the proper Ethiopia, — a sacred realm, in which the priests placed the most revered objects of their mythology. Hither Jove repaired to hold his annual festival ; and here was spread the table of the sun, which, when exposed to the rays of that great luminary, was supposed to take fire of its own accord and be consumed. Hence, accord- ing to some, Thebes and iMemphis derived all the sciences and arts which rendered them illustrious in that early age. Diodorus even asserts that tlie learned language of Egypt was the same spoken by the vulgar in Nubia ; but we should much rather believe, with Herodotus, that the latter country owed to the former all that she pos- sessed of art and civilisation. The sovereigns of the upper Nile are said to have received a wild and peculiar homage, by a number of their wives, courtiers, and servants, all AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 37 eagerly canvassing for tlie honour of being interred along chap. ii. ^vith them, — a practice of savage life still extensively s^^aT^ prevalent in pagan Africa. According to the historian honours to this veneration was carried to so singular a pitch, that if ^ '^ '^^ ' the king lost a leg or an arm, each of his courtiers pre- sently severed from himself the same member. The priests, however, whose mfluence in this realm of superstition was always paramount, appear at one time to have become quite supreme ; reducing their royal master to a state of entire dependence. Lastly, it may be inferred both from classic and sacred writers, that Ethiopia, in the first century, was governed by a female monarch, who ap- pears to have borne the hereditary name of Candace. The Greeks settled in Egypt, especially during the Greek influ- wise and able government of the Ptolemies, carried on Egypt. a considerable navigation along the western coast of the Red Sea, which, holding the continent to be bounded by the Nile, they accounted scarcely African ; but upon this subject we must follow modern ideas. Ptolemy Euergetes seems to have conquered part of Abyssinia^ forming it into a kingdom, of which Axum was the capital ; and fine remains of Grecian architecture still attest the fact of this city having been a great and civilized metropolis. Every ancient description, however, repre- sents the native inhabitants of these shores as existing in ^.""^"*f ^°"' ~ dition of a state of extreme barbarity and wretchedness. They Abyssinia. are classed by Diodorus and Strabo, according to the miserable food on which they usually subsisted ; some as eaters of fish, of elephants, and of turtles, while others are said to have fed on locusts, on roots, and even on the tender branches of trees. Many sought shelter also in places which had no regular claim to be considered as human habitations. These were either cavities dug out of the rock, with an opening to the north for coolness ; or they were formed by twisting together the branches of several large shrubs, and constructing thus a species of shady arbour ; while some tribes, still more forlorn, merely climbed the trees to seek safety and shelter among the foliage. These representations were at one KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA CHAP. II Modern Travellers. Extent of area known to the Greeks. Ancient expeditions of discovery. time deemed fabulous, and might still have been thought so, had not Bruce and other modern travellers proved the existence of similar rudeness among the Shangalla and other tribes that border on Abyssinia. The districts now surveyed form the whole of Africa respecting which the Greeks had obtained any precise and determinate knowledge. They comprised a wide ex- tent of shore, but extended a very short distance inland ; being bounded on each side by two unknown coasts, which stretched so far that it was not possible to conjecture their termination. Two tempestuous oceans, a desert the most dreary on the face of the earth, and infested by multitudes of huge and ferocious animals, were the barriers that hemmed in so closely the ancient settlers, and could scarcely in any instance be passed with impu- nity. Yet the principle of curiosity, which cannot be extinguished in the human breast, is even rendered more ardent by the greatest obstacles. To lift up a portion of that veil, within which the vast mysteries of unknown Libya were shrouded, appeared an achievement rivalling the glories of conquest, and promised to confer immortal renown. The most active and enterprising spirits ac- cordingly, who sought to acquire celebrity by exploring the earth, looked to Africa as affording the most in- viting scene of fame and adventure. Two expeditions of discovery, the earliest known, and perhaps the earliest ever undertaken, are related by Herodotus. One of the most illustrious of the native kings of Egypt was Necho, whose name ranks second only to that of Sesostris, and who lived about two hundred years before the historian. The habits and prejudices of the ancient Egyptians were unfavourable to maritime enterprises ; yet this ruler, with the spirit of a great man, which raised him superior to the age in which he lived, eagerly sought the solution of the grand mystery regarding the form and termination of Africa. He was obliged to employ, not native, but Phoenician navigators, of whose voyage the Greek author received an account from the Egyptian priests. Proceeding down EgyptiRi AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 39 the Red Sea they entered the Indian Ocean ; and m three years made tlie complete circuit of the continent, passing through the Pillars of Hercules, and up the ^lediterra- expiuia'tion nean to Egypt. They related that, in the course of this very long voyage, they had repeatedly drawn their boats on land, sowed grain in a favourable place and season, waited till the crop was matured under the influence of a tropical heat, then reaped it, and continued their progress. They added that, in passing the most southern point of Africa, they were surprised by observing the sun on their right hand, — a statement whicli the historian himself rejects as fabulous. Such is all the account transmitted to us of this extraordinary expedition, which has given rise to a learned and voluminous controversy. Rennell in his Geogi-aphy of Herodotus, Vincent in his Discussions Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, and Gosselin in his Geo- **" the au- graphy of the Ancients, have exhausted almost every thenarrativ possible argument ; the first in its favour, the two latter to prove that it never did nor could take place. To these last it appears quite impossible that ancient mariners, with their slender resources, creeping in little row-galleys along the coast, without the aid of the compass, and unable to venture to any distance from land, could have performed so immense a circuit. All antiquity, they observe, continued to grope in doubt and darkness respect- ing the form of Africa, which was only fully established several thousand years afterwards by the expedition of Gama. On the other side, Major Rennell urges, that, immense as this voyage was, it was entirely along a shore of which the navigators never required to lose sight even for a day ; that their small barks were well equipped and better fitted than ours for coasting navigation ; and, drawing very little water, could be kept quite close to the land, and even hauled on the beach whenever an emergency made this step indispensable. The statement, that at the extremity of Africa they saw the sun on the right, that is, to the north of them, — a fact which causes Herodotus peremptorily to reject their report, — affords the strongest confirmation of it to us, who knoAV that to 40 KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA Expedition to the country of the Xasa- mones. CHAP. II. the south of the equator this must have really taken place, and that his unbelief arose entirely from ignorance of the real figure of the earth. The other expedition had its origin in the country of the Nasamones, whom we have already mentioned as occupying the district southward of Cyrene. Five young men of distinction formed themselves into an African association, personally to explore what was unknown in the vast interior of their continent. They passed first the region inhabited by man ; then that tenanted by wild beasts ; lastly, they reached the immeasurable sandy w^aste. Having laid in a good stock of water and pro- visions, they travelled many days partly in a westerly direction, and came at length to one of the oases or ver- dant islands which bespangle the Desert. Here they saw trees laden with agreeable fi-uit, and had begun to pluck, when there suddenly appeared a band of little black men, who seized and carried them ofi^ as captives. They were led along vast lakes and marshes to a town situated on a large river flowing from west to east, and inhabited by a people of the same size and colour with the strangers, and strongly addicted to the arts of necro- manc}''. It is not said how or by what route they re- turned ; but, since they supplied this relation, they must by some means have reached home. Herodotus concludes tills great river to be the Kile flowing from the west- w^ard ; w^hile Major Rennell, and more lately M. Heeren, conceive it to be the Niger of Park, and the city to be Timbuctoo ; but since the late discoveries of Denham and Clapperton, it has appeared more probable that the stream was the Yeou or river of Bornou. The distance from Cyrene thither is not very great ; and nowhere but in the Tchad can we find those mighty lakes which make so prominent a figure in the narration. On the whole, it must appear tinily wonderful that these efibrts, made at so early an era, should have led to discoveries, respecting both the maritime outline and the interior of the conti- nent, which Europeans could not regain for thousands of years, and one of which has only recently been made. Great river discovered. AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 41 The next expedition on record was made under less chap. il. pleasing auspices. Sataspes, a Persian nobleman, had E^p^j^^n been condemned by Xerxes to crucifixion on account of of Sataspes, a some crime of which he had been guilty ; but his mother, noJig^" by earnest entreaty, obtained a commutation of the sen- tence into one which she represented as still more severe, — that of sailing round Africa. Under this heavy neces- sity, the exile coasted along the Mediterranean, passed the western point of the continent, and began a south- ern course. But he who undertook to explore this vast country with no interest in the result, buoyed up by no gay enthusiasm, and urged only by the fear of the cross, was ill prepared for achieving so mighty an enter- prise. He sailed southward for a considerable space; Jg5^57^^^^^ but when he saw the Atlantic waves beating against the dreary shore of the Sahara, that scene of frequent and hopeless shipwreck, it probably appeared to him that any ordinary form of death was preferable to the one which here menaced him. He returned and presented himself before Xerxes, giving a doleful description of the hard- ships which he had encountered, declaring that the ship at last stood still of itself, and could by no exertion be made to proceed. That proud monarch, refusing to listen to such an explanation, ordered the original sentence to be immediately executed. Such appears to have been the only African voyage undertaken by the Persians, to whom the sea was an object of aversion, and even of superstitious dread. Carthage, the greatest maritime and commercial state Carthage- of antiquity, and which considered Africa and the Atlantic Jon^ ^^p^*^^" coast as her peculiar domain, must have made several exploratory voyages before she could establish those extensive connexions upon which her trade was founded. Of all such attempts, however, the record of one onh^ remains. It consisted of an expedition on a very large scale, sent out, about 570 years before the Christian era, for the joint purposes of colonization and discovery, under an admiral named Hanno. He carried with him, in sixty large vessels, emis:rants of both sexes to the number of 42 KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA CHAP. II. Carthaffe- Dian colonies. Novel ap- pearances. Supposed singular race of human beings. thirty tliousand. At the distance of two days' sail beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the adventurers founded the city of Thymiaterium, and afterwards, on the wooded promontory of Soloeis. erected a stately temple to Nep- tune. They then built successively five other cities ; after which they came to the great river Lixus, flowing from Libya and the high boundary of the Atlas. Its banks were infested by numerous beasts of prey, and inhabited only by savage Ethiopians, living in caves, and repelling every friendly advance. Proceeding three days along a desert coast, the navigators reached an island, which they named Cerne, situated in a recess of the sea, where they established their last colony. Sailing onward still a certain number of days, they saw a large river full of crocodiles and hippopotami, and containing various islands. The inhabitants were timid, and fled at their approach ; but their manners presented some remarkable peculiarities. During the day deep silence reigned ; but as soon as the sun set, fires blazed on the shore, and the shouts of men were mingled with the varied sounds of cymbals, trumpets, and other musical instruments. This scene, being new to the Carthaginians, struck tliem with a sort of terror ; but, in fact, it must have arisen from the custom prevalent over native Africa, where the inha- bitants rest during the oppressive heat of the day, and spend great part of the night in dancing and festivity. On another shore they were astonished to see the land all on fire, and torrents of flame rushing into the sea, — an appearance doubtless owing to one of tliose conflagrations frequently occasioned in such countries by the practice of setting fire to the grass at the end of autumn. Next appeared an island in a bay, where they found a most smgular race, bearing the liuman form indeed, but covered with shaggy hair, resembling those satyrs and sylvan deities with which pagan mythology peopled the woods. These monsters, whom tliey call Gorillge, and who seem evidently to have been orang-outangs, ran off" on their approach, climbed rocks, and threw down stones on their pursuers ; yet three females w^ere caught, and their skins AMONG THE ANCIEISTS. 43 carried to Carthage. At length, the coast becoming quite chap. it. desolate, and no longer affording either provisions or Dis-g^oj,^ water, it was found necessary to return. concerning How far this expedition extended, and what proportion yoyigl^ of the African coast was surveyed, has been the subject of long and learned controversy. The two most recent and elaborate disputants are Major Rennell and M. Gosselin : the former of whom believes that Hanno passed Sierra Leone, and that the island and bay of the Gorilloe were Sherbro' Island and Sound ; while the other terminates the voyage on the frontier of Morocco, at the entrance of the river Nun. The one supposes a course along the western shore of nearly 2500 miles, the other one of about 700 ; and yet each hypothesis is supported by pro- found and able arguments.* In such a case who shall decide ? We ourselves have made some attempts to do so, without being able to come to a conclusion so clear as to justify us in interposing between two such cham- pions. But whoever undertakes the study of the original works Avill be gratified by finding all the resources of learning, ingenuity, and acuteness, exhausted by these two great writers on this curious subject. The individual who in that early age made the most eJ^^oxus! resolute and persevering efforts to explore Africa, was Eudoxus, a native of the city of Cyzicus, who lived about 130 years before Christ. Alexandria was then the centre of naval enterprise, and her princes the most zealous patrons of all useful undertakings. The young Greek happening to visit that city, was introduced to Ptolemy Euergetes, whom he ably assisted in prosecuting those schemes of discovery on which this monarch's mind ap- pears to have been deeply intent. Where so much was unknown on every side, it was a subject of grave deli- beration in what direction he should first proceed ; and an expedition to trace the upper course and fountain of * M. Heeren has lately attempted to prove that Hanno's voyage reached to the mouth of the Gambia, which is less by nearly a fifth than the course assigned by Major Rennelh 44 KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA CHAP. II. Expedition to Hindostan. Appeal to commercial patronage. the Nile was at one time contemplated. But the spirit of adventure was soon turned towards another object by the arrival of a native of Hindostan, whom one of the king's vessels had saved from shipwreck, and who offered to act as pilot in leading Eudoxus to that opulent and celebrated region. The latter, having performed the voy- age to India prosperously, returned laden with wealth ; and though not quite satisfied with the manner in which he was treated by Ptolemy, he yet undertook another expedition to the same quarter. On emerging from the Red Sea, he was driven by a storm upon the eastern coast of Africa, where he observed the land taking such a direction as inspired the idea that it might, by no vast circuit, lead round to the Straits of Gibraltar ; and to be the circumnavigator of Africa became from that moment the object to which his life was devoted. On his re- turn to Alexandria, he found that Euergetes was dead, and the new sovereign gave him still greater cause of complaint ; for which reason he determined to trust no more to the precarious patronage of princes, but to make a general appeal to the commercial public. The mer- chants of Cadiz were thought most likely to embrace his views ; and on his way thither he passed through Rhodes, Marseilles, and other great maritime states, calling upon all who were animated with the generous spirit of enterprise to accompany or to aid him in his undertaking. An extraordinary sensation seems to have been created in those commercial cities. Eudoxus easily assembled round him a considerable band of volunteers, and was enabled to equip amply and even splendidly two vessels, furnished with medical men and artisans of various descriptions, and even enlivened by a band of youthful musicians. With this array he passed the Straits, and turned his prow, as he imagined, towards India. But his gay crew, inspired by himself probably with too flattering hopes, seem to have anticipated only a smooth and holiday excursion. When, therefore, they saw them- selves ranging along an unknown and dreary shore, against which beat the waves of the mighty Atlantic, AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 45 they were seized with panic. In vain did he urge the necessity of standing out to sea, as the only mode of suc- cessfully navigating his large and heavil^'-loaded ships ; they obstinately insisted on his keeping close to land. The consequence was, as he had distinctly foretold, that the principal vessel was stranded upon one of those dan- gerous sand-banks which abound on the coast. The crew were so fortunate, however, as to convey ashore not only the cargo but the timbers, out of which Eudoxus, with a zeal that nothing could damp, contrived to con- struct another though smaller bark, in which he pursued the voyage. He came then to nations speaking a lan- guage which his fancy flattered him was the same that he had heard on the eastern coast of Africa. But at this moment, when he seemed on the eve of accomplish- ing his most sanguine expectations, the shattered state of his armament obliged him to return ; retaining still the fullest confidence that, if the means could be found of equipping another, all his brilliant hopes would be realized. Disgusted, however, with his band of timid volunteers, he overcame his reluctance to royal patronage. He sought the precarious aid of Bocchus, king of Mauri- tania, who received him well, and ordered an expedition to be prepared ; but meanwhile he was privately warned that this treacherous prince, instead of forwarding him on his voyage, intended that his people should land and leave him to perish on an uninhabited island. It does not ap- pear what motive had given birth to so base a design ; the Greek, however, with better means of judging than we have, believed it and fled. He made his next attempt in Spain, where he found no difficulty in equipping two other vessels, on board of which he placed seed-corn and materials for building, that, in case of necessity, he might land and raise a crop on a fertile little island observed at an advanced point of his former voyage. Here, very unluckily, Posidonius, Strabo's informant, stops short, and refers to the Spaniards and Gaditanians for farther information ; but profound silence reigns on their part, and the world probably must remain for ever in darkness CHAP. IT. Panic of the crew. False pro- mises of royal patiouage. 46 KNOWLEDGE OF AFRICA CHAP. II. as to the issue of this last expedition. It must not be Incrednlons criticisms of Strabo. concealed that authors of great name, not excepting postor, — a reproach which many of the most eminent discoverers have been destined to bear. This geographer is a most merciless critic ; but the authorities for the nar- rative are admitted to be good, and his several olijections drawn from the internal evidence do not appear at all conclusive. Antiquity has put sundry fables into the mouth of the navigator, by which his reputation has severely suffered. According to certain accounts, he pretended to have really made the circuit of Africa ; to have visited some nations that were dumb ; others with- out tongues ; and one people who had no mouths, but received all their food by the nose. These are the wild exaggerations which, in a credulous age, a story under- goes in passing from one person to another. The de- scriptions of Strabo, collected from the best sources with a sceptical and even malignant scrutiny, contain none of those suspicious wonders, nor any event which at all exceeds the common course of nature. Narrative of A line of navigation along the eastern coast of Africa is described in a work of later date, written apparently after the establishment of the Roman power m Egypt. It is termed the Periplus of the Erythraean (or Indian) Sea, by an author whose name was Arrian ; but it com- prises not so much the result of any individual adventure as a general view of the commercial voyages regularly made thither from Alexandria. After passing Abyssinia, the pilots shaped their course along a shore (that of the modern Berbera) abounding in a remarkable degree with myrrh, frankincense, and other odoriferous plants. They then reached Cape Aromata (Guardafui), which forms the termination of the Red Sea and the entrance into the Indian Ocean. The coast of Africa, in this latitude, afforded ivory in abundance, rhinoceros' horns, and tortoise-shell, the last of which was extremely fine ; and, in return for these, arms, wine, and corn were the most acceptable commodities. The voyage termi- Alexandrian Toyages. AMONG THE ANCIENTS. 47 nated at a promontory and port called Rhapta, — a fact chap. II. which of itself would show the extent of ancient navi- ^. "t~: ., ,..,.,. . 1 1 ii 1 1 T Disputed Site gation m this direction, could the learned aq^ree where of ur.apta. that town was situated ; but all the names being changed, and no observations of latitude having been made, it is difficult to fix the positions with certainty. Rhapta, according to Gosselin, was INIagadoxo ; according to Vossius and Vincent it was at or near Quiloa, a place more than double the distance of the first from Cape Guar- dafui. On this point Dr Vincent seems clearly in the right. All the names are indeed altered, but the natural features remain the same. Now the seamen are in one place represented as passing successively the seven mouths of a large river at short distances from each other ; and these cannot possibly be found any where but in the series of estuaries on which Patta and Melinda are built, the principal of which is that of the Quillimane, — a '?onclusion which necessarily carries the situation of Rhapta southward to Q,uiloa. Ptolemy, who wrote <^r'nion of probably a century later, gives the more remote position '° ^™^' of Prasum as a promontory, port, and city, to which in his time merchants were accustomed to sail. We have no fact to guide us to the locality of that town, except that it was two or three hundred miles south-east from Rhapta. Gosselin makes it Brava ; but this is still short of the mouths of the seven rivers which afford the test for detennining the situation of the several ports. Dr Vincent, again, would have Prasum to be Mozambique ; but though the coast runs south-east from Quiloa to Cape Delgado, from this last point to the island now named the direction is south, and even a little south-west. At or near Cape Delgado, therefore, must, it appears, be fixed the boundary of ancient navigation along the east- ern coast of Africa. 48 SETTLEMENTS OF THE ARABS. CHAPTER III. Settlements of the Arabs. Their Influence on this Continent — Migration into Central Africa — Ghana — Tocrur — Kuku — Wangara — Ulil — Eastern Africa — Travels of IbnBatuta — Description by Leo Africanus. CHAP. III. J HE triumph of the followers of Mohammed, who in II h'ra" ^^*^^ years spread their arms and their creed over half medun the eastern world, produced an immense change in the trmmpiis. social system of Asia, and a still greater in that of Africa. Their ascendency at first was by no means inauspicious, and portended little of that deep darkness and barbarism in which it has since involved these two continents. After the first violences to which fanaticism prompted the more ardent converts, the Saracen sway assumed a Saracenic milder aspect, and their princes cultivated the arts and cultivation of even the sciences, with a zeal which had expired amonsr tii6 3.rt3 unci X o sciences. the effeminate descendants of the Greeks and Romans. Even the remote ^Mauritania, which seemed doomed to be for ever the inheritance of a barbarous and nomadic race, was converted into a civilized empire ; and its capital, Fez, became a distinguished school of learning. Their love of improvement reached even the most distant regions. They introduced the camel, which, though a native of the sandy wastes of Arabia, was equally adapted to the still more immense deserts that stretch so widely over Africa. Paths were opened through wilds, to pene- trate which had hitherto defied all human efforts. An intercourse by means of caravans was formed with the interior countries, to obtain gold and slaves ; and, amid the sanguinary disputes which afterwards arose among SETTLEMENTS OF THE ARABS. 49 the descendants of the prophet, many, whose ill fortune chap ni. exposed them to the enmity of successful rivals, sought dumber and refuge on the opposite side of the Great Desert. By influence of successive migrations, they not only became numerous ^'^® Saracens in Central Africa, but, from superior skill in the art of war, rose to be the ruling power. They founded several flourishing kingdoms in those parts of the continent, which Europeans vainly sought to reaC'h tilLthey were recently explored by our enterprising countrymen. Of these states Ghana was the most prosperous, foi-ming the great market for gold, in search of which merchants repaired from the remotest regions. Its sovereign was ac- knowledged as supreme by all the neighbouring princes ; while his court displayed a splendour, and was adorned with objects, hitherto unexampled in those regions. Among its ornaments were painting, sculpture, and glass wmdows ; which, being before unknown, excited the sur- prise and admiration of the natives. The king, it is said, ^^"yai state rode out attended by elephants and camelopards, tamed by an art then first introduced, but since lost. The inhab- itants were also dazzled by the display of a mass of solid gold, weighing thirty pounds, with which the throne was embellished. This prince made a great profession of justice, going out twice every day, and presenting him- self to all who wished to offer petition or complaint. The vicissitudes of fortune have subverted the kingdom of Ghana, and made its territory successively subject to Timbuctoo, Kashna, and Sackatoo ; but our late travellers found it, under the changed name, or rather orthography, of Kano, still extensive and populous, and the chief seat of the interior commerce of Africa. Tocrur, about twenty-four days' journey north-west Thekingdcn of Ghana, was a kingdom inferior indeed to the other, yet powerful and independent. It carried on an exten- sive traffic with the people of the " remotest west," who brought shells and brass, for which in return they are said to have received gold and ornaments. Mention is made of the cotton cloths which still form the staple manufacture. Tocrur appears evidently to be Sackatoo 50 SETTLEMENTS OF THE ARABS. CHAP. III. or Soccatoo, now the capital of an empire which compre- hends Ghana and all the neighhouring countries. Indeed, in an official document communicated hy Major Denhara, we find this called the empire of Takror. The kingdom Kuku, to the eastward of Ghana, forms another king- ^ dom, on whose power and extent the Arabian writers largely dilate. The sovereign is said to have a very numerous train of attendants, and the people to be uncommonly warlike, though rude in their manners and attire. The merchants, at the same time, are represented as very richly dressed, and accustomed to visit and hold intercourse with the nobility. This country is manifestly Bornou, named from its capital, which still bears the same appellation. Twenty days' journey to the south was Kaugha, a city famous for industry and useful arts, and the women of which were renowned for their skill in the secrets of magic. Though the resemblance of name is rather imperfect, this seems to be Denham's Loggun, much celebrated by him for its ingenious labours and fine manufactures, as well as for the intelligence of its females ; and among a rude people wit and witchcraft are always imagined to have a close connexion. S'vvaD^iS. To the south of Ghana lay Wangara, a district said to have contained gold, the commodity for which African commerce was so much prized. This region is described as intersected and overflowed during the rainy season by the branches of the Nile (of the Negroes, or Niger), Avhich impregnate the earth with the sand whence this precious metal is extracted. As soon as the waters have retii-ed, the inhabitants eagerly dig the ground, and every one finds more or less, " according to the gift of God." But there seems to be some confusion of ideas about this country and its golden products. A district in the south- ern part of Soudan is called Oongoroo, or Ungura, though it no longer furnishes gold ; nor is Ghana at the pre- sent day the market for that valuable staple of Central Africa. In the mountainous countries to the south-west this metal is still collected abundantly, in the very manner mentioned by the Arabian writers. SETTLEMENTS OF THE ARABS. 51 The whole range of Alpine territory to the southward chap, iil of the regions now described was called Lamlam, and -,., , , 1 . , c ^ 1 -1 ^ "^ Lamlam presented a contmued scene oi barbarous violence. It teiritory. was branded as the land of the infidels, — of a people to whom none of the charities of life were due, and against whom the passions of cruelty and of avarice might be gra- tified without remorse. Expeditions or slave-hunts were therefore made into those unfortunate countries ; when, after the most bloody conflicts, numerous victims were seized, carried off, and sold to the merchants of Northern Africa, who conveyed them to all parts of the eastern world. The same cruel and iniquitous traffic is cai-ried on in a similar manner, and with unabated activity, at the present day. Respecting Western Africa, the Arabians do not seem imperfect to have been very accurately informed. They describe o^^^he^'^^'^ the Atlantic as only about five hundred miles beyond Arabians. Tocrur, altliough two thousand would have been nearer tlie truth ; perhaps they mistook the great lake Dibbie for the sea. They mention the Island of Ulil, whence were brought great quantities of salt, an article in con- stant demand throughout Soudan. Though called an island, it was probably Walet, the great interior market for that mineral ; but all the features of the country around and beyond it seem to have been confusedly blended together by the Mohammedan authors. At the time when the Arabian geographers flourished, influence of the Christian religion was professed, not only in Abys- iiosf!i« sinia, but even to the northern frontier of Nubia, at Syeue. The bigotry and dislike produced by hostile creeds not only deprived these writers of the means of information, but led them to view with contempt every tbing relating to countries accounted infidel. Their notices, therefore, of the regions in the Upper Nile, and along the western shores of the Red Sea, are exceedingly meagre. It was otherwise, indeed, with the eastern coast of Africa on the Indian Ocean; for the people of southern Arabia, who were then actively employed in commerce and naviga- tion, had not only explored, but formed establishments 52 SETTLEMENTS OF THE ARABS. CHAP. III. Information from Arabic iterature. IV-n Batuta His great expedition through Central Africa. at Mombaza, Melinda, Mozambique, and at all the leading points on that coast ; which were still found in their pos- session by the early Portuguese navigators. For this general view of Central Africa in the twelfth century we are indebted to Edrisi, Abulfeda, Ibn-al- Vardi, and other writers, who do not however pretend to have visited the regions which they describe. Arabic literature has, notwithstanding, been also enriched by the productions of some eminent travellers : Wahab and Abuzaid, in the ninth century, penetrated into China, and communicated to the western world the first distinct idea of that remarkable empire and its people. Their career, however, was far surpassed in the fourteenth century by Ibn Batuta, a learned Mohammedan, who traversed the continents of Asia and Africa from the Eastern Ocean to the banks of the Niger. For a knowledge of his narra- tive the English public have recently been indebted to the learned labours of Professor Lee of Cambridge, as a mem- ber of the Society for Oriental Translation. Unfortu- nately he could only procure the work in a very abridged form, which renders it more an object of curiosity than fitted to convey full information as to the state of the world at that early period. It was from Fez that Ibn Batuta commenced his great peregrination through Interior Africa. He went first to Segilmissa, which he describes as a handsome town, situated in a territory aboundmg with date-trees. Having joined a caravan, he came, after a journey of twenty-five days, to Thaghari, which some manuscripts make Tagaza, evidently the Tegazza of Leo, supposed by Major Rennell to be the modern Tisheet, containing the mine whence Timbuctoo is chiefly supplied with salt. To our travel- ler the place seemed to contain no object desirable or agreeable ; there was nothing but salt ; the houses were built with slabs of that mineral, and roofed with the hides of camels. It even appeared to him that Nature had lodged this commodity in regular tables in the mine, fitted for being conveyed to a distance ; but he probably overlooked an artificial process by wliich it is usually SETTLEMENTS OP THE ARABS. 53 brought into this form. From Thaghari he went in chap, hi. twenty days to Tashala, three days beyond which com- — menced a desert of the most dreary aspect, where there was neither water, bird, nor tree, — " nothing but sand and hills of sand." In ten days he came to Abu Latin, Observations a large commercial town, crowded with merchants from "astomslnd various quarters of the continent. The manners of the manners. people, as is indeed too common in the scenes of inland traffic throughout Afi-ica, appeared to him very licentious, and wholly destitute of that decorum which usually marks a Mussulman residence. The women maintained a greater share of respectability than the other sex ; yet this did not prevent their hiring themselves as temporary wives to those whom the pursuits of trade induced to visit the place. Professor Lee has not hazarded a con- jecture what town this is ; but, on finding it in one manuscript called Ayulatin, and in another Ewelatin, we think there is no doubt of its being Walet, which lay directly in the route of our traveller, and is the only great city in that quarter of Africa. From Abu Latin the adventurer proceeded in twenty- "^^isit to Mali four days to Mali, then the most flourishing country and city in that part of the continent. This is evidently the Melli of Leo, who described it as situated on a river to the south of Timbuctoo ; but it is not easy to identify it with any modern position. Our traveller makes heavy com- plaints of the inhospitable spirit and narrow bounty of an African potentate in this district. Waiting upon his Koyai majesty, and being informed that a present was on its pi'eseut. way to him, he feasted his imagination on the idea of some rich dress or golden ornament ; instead of which, the whole consisted of a crust of bread, a dried fish, and sour milk. He had the boldness to remonstrate with the king about this beggarly donation, declaring, that, in the course of travelling over the whole world, he had never received the like ; and his majesty, instead of being incensed, began to extend to him some measure of generosity. Ibn Batuta, however, was disgusted by the abject homage paid to this monarch, as it still is to the native princes African courtiers. cour.-e of the Niger. 54 SETTLEMENTS OF THE ARABS. CHAP. III. of Africa ; the courtiers, as they approached, casting dust Abject~ o" their heads, throwing themselves prostrate and grov- homage of elling on the earth, — a degradation which he had never witnessed in the most despotic courts of the East. Yet justice is admitted to have heenmost strictly administered, and property perfectly secure ; as a proof of which, mer- chants from the most distant country, who died at Mali, were as assured of leaving their inheritance to tlieir pos- terity as if it had heen deposited at liome. The traveller was astonished by the immense size of the trees in tliis region, in the hollow trunk of one of which he observed a weaver plying his trade. Ideas of the Ibn Batuta in this part of his journey saw the Niger ; and the view necessarily led to a conclusion opposite to that hitherto entertained by his countrymen, who con- sidered it as flowing westward to the ocean. Having no opportunity of making a complete observation, he fell into the opposite error, since prevalent in Northern Africa, and identified it with the Nile. He supposed it to flow by Timbuctoo, Kawkaw (Kuku ?), Yuwi (seemingly the Yeou), and then by Nubia to Egypt. From Mali he turned northward to Timbuctoo. This city, which was then subject to the former, was governed by a negro viceroy, and was far from possessing the cele- brity and importance which it has since attained. The toA\Ti was chiefly peopled by merchants from Latham ; but what particular country that was, it appears now im- possible to determme. He next proceeded eastward by Kawkaw, Bardama, and Nakda, where he seems to have been near Nubia, but gives no farther details till he again arrived at Fez. Leo Afri- About two centuries after Ibn Batuta, a very full de- Granada, scription of Africa was furnished by a geographer named Leo, who was even honoured with the surname of Afri- canus. He was a native of Granada ; but having, after the capture of that city by Ferdinand, repaired to Fez, lie acquired in that once eminent school a knowledge of Arabic learning and of the African continent. He after- wards travelled through a groat part of the interior, and SETTLEMENTS OF THE ARABS. 5i> having made his way to Rome, wrote liis description of it chap. in. under the auspices of Leo X. It appears that, since the Riggof the tune of Edrisi, one of those revolutions to which barbarous kingdom of states are liable had greatly changed the aspect of these countries. Timbuctoo, which at the former period either did not exist, or was not thought worthy of mention, had now risen to be the most powerful of the internal king- doms, and the great centre of commerce and wealth. Ghana, once possessed of imperial greatness, had already changed its name to Kano, and consented to become trib- utary to it. Bornou appears under its present appel- lation ; and several sovereignties which have since held a conspicuous rank are mentioned for the first time ; — Casena or Cassina (Kashna), Zegzeg, Zanfara, and Guber. Gago, represented as being four hundred miles south-east of Timbuctoo, is evidently Eyeo, lately visited by Clap- perton. Ghinea or Ghineoa, described as a city of great commerce and splendour, has been supposed to be Ghana ; but we think it is evidently Jenne, which Park found to be the largest and most flourishing place in Bam])arra. At Timbuctoo many merchants were extremely opulent, ^eaith and and two of them had obtained princesses in marriage. Literature was cultivated with ardour, and manuscripts bore a higher price than any other commodity. Izchia, the king, who had subdued all the neighbouring countries, maintained an army of 3000 horse, and a numerous in- fantry, partly armed with poisoned arrows. Gold, for which his capital had now become the chief mart, was lavislily employed in the embellishment of his court and person. He displayed solid masses, larger even than the one at Ghana, and some of his ornaments weighed 1300 ounces. The royal palace and several mosques M-ere handsomely built of stone ; but the ordinary habitations, as in all Central Africa, were merely bell-shaped huts, the materials of which were stakes, clay, and reeds. • 56 PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. CHAPTER IV Portuguese Discoveries. Rise of the Spirit of Discovery — Voyages along the Western Coast — The Senegal — Prince Bemoy — Discovery of the Congo —Numerous Missionaries sent out — Superstitions of tho Natives. CHAP. IV. Apathy of Medieval Europe. Early naval efforts. Europe during ten centuries, affected by the decline of the Roman empire, the irruption of the barbarous nations, and the operation of the rude systems of feudal jjolity, remained sunk in profound apathy respecting all objects relating to science, discovery, and distant commerce. The splendour of the Crescent for a short interval out- shone whatever was brightest in the Christian world ; and the courts of Bagdad, Fez, and Cordova, were more refined and more enlightened than those of London and Paris. At a somewhat early period, it is true, the Hanse Towns and the Italian republics began to cultivate manufactures and commerce, and to lay the foundation of a still higher prosperity ; but they carried on chiefly an inland or coasting trade. The naval efforts, even of Venice and Genoa, had no farther aim than to bring from Alexandria and the shores of the Black Sea the commo- dities of India, which had been conveyed thither chiefly by caravans over land. Satisfied with the wealth and power to which they had been raised by this limited c^pimerce, these celebrated commonwealths made no attempt to open a more extended path over the ocean. Their pilots, indeed, guided most of the vessels engaged in the early voyages of discovery ; but they were em- PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 57 ployed, and the means furnished, by tlie great monarchs chap. iv. whose ports were situated upon the shores of the Atlantic. About the end of the fifteenth century, the human Revival in mind began to make a grand movement in every direction, ^^^ fifteenth especially in religion, science, industry, and freedom. It eagerly sought, not only to break loose from that thral- dom in which it had been bound for so many ages, but to rival and even surpass all that had been achieved during the most brilliant eras of antiquity. These high aims were peculiarly directed to the department of ma- ritime discovery. The invention of the compass, the skill of the Venetian and Genoese pilots, and the know- ledge transmitted from former times, inspired all classes with the hope of being able to pass the ancient barriers, and to throw light upon regions hitherto unknown. Portugal, a nation of comparatively small resources, Early pre- started first in this career, and took the lead, for a certain p^rt'if.faT ^ time, of all the European states. During the reign of its kings, John and Emanuel, it stood pre-eminent in enter- prise and intelligence ; and Prince Henry in particular, a younger son of John I., devoted all his thoughts to the promotion of naval undertakings. No idea, however, was yet entertained by them of the new world after- wards discovered by the daring spirit of Columbus. The local position of their country, its wars and expeditions against Morocco, led to the idea that the western border of Africa was the best field for research. The informa- tion respecting this coast was still very limited ; so that the passage of Cape Bojador by Gilianez, in 1433, caused a surprise and admiration almost equal to what were afterwards excited by the discovery of America. A rapid progress was then made along the shore of the Sahara, and the Portuguese navigators were not long in reach- ing the fertile regions watered by the Senegal and the Gambia. The early part of this progress was dreary in the ex- Unattracfivo treme, for the mariners saw only naked rocks and bum- visited. ing sands, stretching immeasurably into the interior, and afibrding no encouragement to any project of settlement. 58 PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. CHAP. IV. Island of Ar^n dis- covered. The fabulous Prester John. Strange aim of dis- coverers. Beyond Cape Blanco, however, Nuno Tristan, in 1443, discovered the Island of Arguin ; and, notwithstanding the disaster of Gonzalo da Cintra, who, in 1445, was killed by a party of Moors, the Portuguese made it for some time their principal establishment. The country was far from presenting a brilliant aspect, though visited by caravans of the " Brabariis and Luddaias " (the people of Bambarra and Ludamar), who gave a very favourable report of the interior regions. Besides the expected accession to the power and splendour of their monarchy, the settlers cherished another object still more fondly : They hoped to open an int-ercourse with a prince, of whom they had heard much under the mysterious ap- pellation of Prester John. This singular name seems to have been first introduced by travellers from Eastern Asia, where it had been applied to some Nestorian bishop, who held there a species of sovereignty ; and when ru- mours arrived of the Christian king of Abyssinia, he was concluded to be the famed royal priest. His domin- ions being represented as stretching far inland, and the breadth of the continent being very imperfectly under- stood, the conclusion was formed, that a mission from the western coast might easily reach his capital. Wliat were the precise expectations from an intercourse with this personage does not fully appear ; but it seems to have been thoroughly rooted in the minds of the navi- gators, that they would be raised to a matchless height of glory and felicity, if they could by any means arrive at his court. The principal instruction given to all offi- cers employed in African service was, that in every quarter and by every means, they should endeavour to effect this grand discovery. They accordingly never failed to put the question to all the wanderers of the Desert, and to every caravan that came from the interior, • — but in vain, the name had never been heard. The Portuguese then besought the natives, at all events, into whatever region they might travel, studiously to in- quire if Prester John was there, or if any one knew where his residence might be found ; and, on the promise PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 59 of a splendid recompense in case of success, this was chap. iv. readily undertaken. In 1446, Diniz Fernandez discovered Cape Verd, and Discovery of in the following year Lancelot entered the Senegal ; and ^*^*^ '^'^^^' in this neighbourhood the mariners found fertile and populous regions, that promised to reward their exer- tions much more effectually than the visionary name after which they had so eagerly inquired. A circum- stance occurred also, most convenient for monarchs who contemplate an extension of dominion ; Bemoy, a prince of the Jaloff nation, came to Arguin, complaining that he had been driven from the throne, and entreating the aid of the strangers to enable him to recover his crown, which he was willing to wear as their ally, and even as their vassal. He was received with open arms, and Reception of conveyed to Lisbon, where he experienced a brilliant ^''"^6 T • • • 1 • 11 -11 11 1 o 1 Bemoy at reception, his visit bemg celebrated by all the festal ex- Lisbon. hibitions peculiar to that age, — bull-fights, puppet-shows, and even feats of dogs. On this occasion he made a display of the agility of his native attendants, who, on foot, kept pace with the swiftest horses, mounting and alighting from these animals at full gallop. After being instructed in the Christian religion, he was baptized, and did homage to the King and to the Pope for the diadem which was to be placed on his head ; for this pur- pose a powerful armament, under the command of Pero Vaz d'Acunha, was sent out with him to the banks of the Senegal. The conclusion of this adventure was extremely Tragical fa to tragical, for, a quarrel having arisen between Bemoy and ^^ ' ^ ""'^^' the commander, the latter stabbed the prince on board of his vessel. Whether this violent deed was prompted by the heat of passion, or by well-grounded suspicions as to the fidelity of the African, was never fully investigated ; but the king learned the event with deep regret, and, in consequence, gave up his design of building a fort on the Senegal. He made, however, no pause in his indefati- gable efforts to trace the abode of Prester Jolin. Am- bassadors were sent into the interior, and, according to 60 PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. Expeditions to the interior. Tlie Gold Coast dis- covered. CHAP. IV. De Barros, even as far as Tiinbuctoo. All endeavours proved vain as to the primary object ; but the travellers thereby gained a more complete knowledge of this part of Interior Africa than was afterwards attained in Europe till a very recent period. Most of this intelligence, however, has either perished, or still remains locked up in the archives of the Lusitanian monarchy. The Portuguese continued to prosecute African dis- covery till, in 1471, they reached the Gold Coast, where, dazzled by the importance and splendour of the commo- dity, the commerce in which gave name to that region, they built Elmina (the mine), making it the capital of their possessions in this continent. Pushing onward to Benin, they received a curious account of an embassy said to be sent, at the accession of every new prince, to the court of a sovereign called Ogane, residing seven or eight hundred miles in the interior. When the ambas- sadors w^ere introduced, a silk curtain shrouded the monarch from their ^^[ew, till the moment of their de- parture, when the royal foot was graciously put forth from under the vail, and " reverence done to it as to a holy thing." This statement greatly excited the curi- osity of the discoverers, to whom it appeared that this mysterious potentate was more likely than any they had yet heard of to be Prester John. Who this Ogane really was has been a subject of much doubt and discussion. The Portuguese had for some time been desirous to frame a title to this extensive coast, part of which they had now examined. They appealed chiefly to the religion, or rather to the superstition, of the age. The maxim had been early established, that whatever country should be conquered from infidel nations was to be held the pro- perty of the victors. This claim was rendered available by a grant obtained from the Pope, assigning to them in full dominion all lands which should be discovered beyond Cape Bojador, and in their farther progress east- ward. Hence, after the establishment at Elmina, the king no longer hesitated to assume the pompous title of Lord of Guinea, and instructed his commanders that, Title to new discoveries. PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 61 instead of the wooden cross hitherto erected in token of chap iv. conquest, thev should raise pillars of stone double the ,. — , height of a man, with suitable inscriptions, surmounted Diego Cam. by crucifixes inlaid with lead. In 1484, Diego Cam sailed from Elmina in quest of new shores on Avhich this em- blem of national dommion might be planted. After passing Cape St Catherine, he found himself involved in a very strong current setting out from the land, which was still distant ; though the water, when tasted, was ascertained to be fresh. It was conjectured, therefore, that he was near the mouth of a great river, which proved to be the fact, and is now well kno^^^l under the name of the Zaire or Congo. Diego, on reaching its southern bank, erected his first monument, — an event considered so mem- orable, that the stream itself has often, by Portuguese writers, been termed the " River of the Pillar." He ascended its borders, opened an intercourse with the in- habitants, and mquired after the residence of their sove- reign. They pointed to a place at a considerable distance in the interior, and undertook to guide thither a mission, which they pledged themselves, within a stipulated period, to lead back in safety. As the natives meantime Carrying off passed and repassed on the most intimate footing, Diego native. took advantage of a moment when several of the principal prJnces. persons were on board his ship, weighed anchor, and stood out to sea. He soothed the alarm visible in the countenances of their countrymen on shore, by signs, intimating that this step was taken solely to gratify the anxious desire of his sovereign to see and converse with these African chiefs ; that in fifteen moons they would certainly be brought back, and that meanwhile a num- ber of his people should be left as hostages. He then Reception at sailed to Lisbon, where he introduced with triumph these living trophies of his discovery ; and the king, who was much pleased, held many conversations with the Congo princes, whom he loaded with honours, and caused to be conveyed back at the appointed period to the shores of the Zaire. On Diego's arrival in that river, it was highly gratifying to see, waiting on the bank, the part of his 62 PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. CHAP. IV. Return to the Zaire. Expedition of Ruy de Sousa. Native re- ception of Christianity crew whom he had left as pledges, and respecting whom he had felt some anxiety. He was mvited to court, where the sovereign not only received him with kindness, but agreed to embrace Christianity, and to send several of his nobles to Europe, to be instructed in its principles. They sailed accordingly, and this new arrival of Congo chiefs of the first rank gave fresh satisfaction at Lisbon. The}'- remained two years, experiencing the very best treatment ; and, on being considered ripe for baptism, the kiiig stood godfather to the principal envoy, and his chief courtiers to others ; on w^hich occasion the Africans received the names of the persons by whom they had been thus honoured. In 1490, a new armament, guided by Ruy de Sousa, conveyed back the new converts to their native country, and the Portuguese, on their arrival, were received by the monarch in full pomp. The native troops approached in three lines, making so prodigious a noise with horns, kettledrums, and other instruments, and raising shouts so tremendous, as to surpass all that the Europeans had ever witnessed in Catholic processions and invocations to the saints. The king himself, who was seated in the midst of a large park, upon an ivory chair raised on a plat- form, was dressed in rich and glossy skins of wild beasts, a bracelet of brass hanging from his left arm, a horse's tail from his shoulder, and on his head a bonnet of fine cloth woven from the palm-tree. He gave full permis- sion to erect a church ; and, Avhen murmurs were heard from a few of his attendants, he instantly offered to put them to death on the spot ; but his visitors laudably dis- suaded him from so violent a step. He himself and ait his nobles were forthwith baptized ; and the freest scope was allowed to the exertions of tlie missionaries. These churchmen seem to have been really animated with a very devoted and persevering zeal ; but they had unfor- tunately conceived an incorrect idea of what they came to teach, and, instead of inculcating the pure doctrines and precepts of Christianity, merely amused the people with empty and childish exhibitions. The presentation PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 63 of beads, Agni Dei, images of the Madonna and saints ; chap. iv. the splendid processions ; the rich furniture and solemn xomhTai ceremonies of the church, — dazzled the eyes of the savage native con- natives, and made them view the gospel only as a gay and pompous pageant, in which it would be an amuse- ment to join. The sacrament of baptism, to which the Catholics attach great importance, was chiefly recom- mended by a part of the ritual that consisted in putting into the moutli a certain quantity of salt, which in Congo is an extremely rare and valued commodity ; and the missionaries were not a little disconcerted to find that the very form by which the natives expressed the holy or- dinance was " to eat salt." Thus an immense body of the people were very speedily baptized and called Christians, but without any idea of the duties and obligations which that sacred name imposes. There was, however, one point which their new teachers soon began very conscientiously, though perhaps in rather too hasty and peremptory a man- ner, to enforce. Appalled by the host of wives that sur- interference rounded every African prince or chief, and whom, as they Polygamy. fulfilled for him all public as well as domestic services, it had been his constant study to multiply, they called upon their converts to select one, and to make a sweeping dismissal of the rest. This was considered an unwarrant- able inroad on one of the most venerated institutions of the realm of Congo ; and to the aged monarch the privation appeared so intolerable, that he thereupon renounced his Christian profession, and plunged again into the abyss of pagan superstition. Happily, Alphonso, the youthful heir-apparent, seemg nothing so dreadful in the sacrifice, cheerfully submitted to it, and, braving his father's dis- pleasure, remained attached to the Portuguese. The old engendered. king dying soon after, his zealous son became entitled to ascend the throne ; but his brother, Panso Aquitimo, supported by the nobles and almost the whole nation, raised the standard of revolt in support of polygamy and paganism. A civil war ensued, in which the prince had little more than a handful of Europeans to oppose to the innumerable host of his rebellious countrymen ; how- 64 PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. CFTAP. IV. Supposed miraculous victories. Missionary establish- ment at Congo. Introduction of the inqui- sition. Violent mode of converting a native queen. ever, in consequence, as his adherents believed, of the apparition in the clouds, at one time of St James, and at another of the Virgin Maiy, he always came off victorious. Doubtless the better arms and discipline of his allies rendered them superior in the field to the tumultuary host of their rude assailants. Alphonso being thus firmly seated on liis throne, the missionaries for a time secured a safe and comfortable establishment in Congo. Being reinforced by successive bodies of their brethren, they spread over the neighbour- ing countries, Sundi, Pango, Concobella, Maopongo, many tracts of wliich were rich and populous, though the state of society was in general extremely rude. Every where their career was nearly similar : the people gave them the most cordial reception, flocked in crowds to witness and to share in the pomp of their ceremonies, accepted with thankfulness their sacred gifts, and received by thousands the rite of baptism. They were not, how- ever, on this account, prepared to renounce their ancient habits and superstitions. The inquisition, which was speedily introduced into their domestic arrangements, caused a sudden revulsion ; and the papal agents thence- forth maintained only a precarious and even a perilous position. They were much reproached, it appears, for the rough and violent methods employed to effect their pious purposes ; and though they treat the accusation as most unjust, some of the proceedings, of which they boast with the greatest satisfaction, tend not a little to countenance the charge. When, for example, they could not persuade the people to renounce their superstitions, they used a large staff, with which they threw down the idols and beat them in pieces : they even sometimes stole secretly into the temples and set them on fire. A member of their order at Maopongo, having met one of the queens, and finding her inaccessible to all his instructions, determined to use sharper remedies, and, seizing a whip, began to apply it to her majesty's person. The effect he describes as most auspicious ; every successive blow opened her eyes more and more to the truth, and she at PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 65 length declared herself wholly unable to resist such chap. iV. forcible arguments in favour of the Catholic doctrine. : — She hastened to the king, however, with loud complaints loss of respecting this mode of spiritual illumination, and the ^^^o*^*"- missionaries thenceforth lost all favour both with that prince and the ladies of his court, being allowed to remain solely from dread of their countrymen. In only one other instance were they permitted to employ this mode of conversion. The smith, in consequence of the skill, strange in the eyes of a rude people, with which he manufactured various arms and implements, was sup- ^ posed to possess a measure of superhuman power ; and he had thus been encouraged to advance pretensions to the character of a divinity, which were very generally admitted. The missionaries appealed to the king respect- Dealings ing this impious assumption ; and that prince, conceiving y^j^^ij* "**^^® it to interfere with the respect due to himself, agreed to deliver into their hands the unfortunate mechanic, to be converted into a mortal in any manner they might judge efficacious. After a short and unsuccessful argument, they had recourse to their usual potent instrument of conversion ; yet Vulcan, deserted in this extremity by all his votaries, made still a firm stand for his celestial dignity, till the blood began to stream from his back and shoulders, when he finally yielded, and renounced all pretensions to a divine origin. Farther acquaintance discovered other irregularities interference among the natives, against which a painful struggle was ^'^.^ national to be maintained. Before marriage the two parties lived together for some time, and made trial of each other's tempers and inclinations before concluding the final en- gagement. To this system of probation the people were most obstinately attached, and the missionaries in vain, denounced it, calling upon them at once either to marry or to separate. The young ladies were always the most anxious to have the full benefit of this experimental process ; and the mothers, on being referred to, refused to incur responsibility, and expose themselves to the reproaches of their daughters, by urging them to an 66 PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. CHAP. l\. Zeal of the Missionarie? Pngan and Popish charms. Magical ordeaL abridgment of the trial, of which they might afterwards repent. The missionaries seem to have been most dili- gent in the task, as they call it, of " reducing strayed souls to matrimony." Father Benedict succeeded with no fewer than six hundred ; but he found it such labo- rious work, that he fell sick and died. Another subject of deep regret respected the many superstitious practices still prevalent, even among those who exhibited some sort of Christian profession. Sometimes the children brought for baptism were bound with magic cords, to which the mothers, as an additional security from evil, had fastened beads, relics, and figures of the Agnus Dei. The chiefs, in like manner, while they gladly availed themselves of the protection promised from the wearing of crucifixes and images of the Virgin, were unprepared to part with the enchanted rings and other pagan amulets with which they had been accustomed to form a panoply around their persons. In case of dangerous illness, sor- cery had been always contemplated as the main or sole remedy, and those who rejected its use were reproached as rather allowing their sick relations to die than incur the expense of a conjurer. But the most general and pernicious application of magic was made in judicial proceedings. When a charge was advanced against any individual, no one ever thought of inquiring into the facts, or of collecting evidence, — every case was decided by preternatural tests. The magicians prepared a beve- rage, which produced on the guilty person, according to the measure of his iniquity, spasms, fainting, or death, but left the innocent quite free from harm. It seems a sound conclusion of the missionaries, that the draught was modified according to the good or ill will of the prac- titioner, or the liberality of the supposed culprit. This trial, called the bolungo, was indeed renounced by the king, but only to substitute another, in which the accused was made to bend over a large basin of water, when, if he fell in, it was concluded that he was guilty. At other times a bar of redhot iron was passed along the leg, or the arm was thrust into scalding water ; and, if the PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. 67 natural effects followed, the person's head was immedi- chap, iv ately struck off. Snail-shells, applied to the temples, gjj, ^ if they stuck, inferred guilt. When a dispute arose tests of between man and man, the plan was to place shells on ^"'^^ the head of each, and make them stoop, when he from off whose head the shell first dropped had a verdict found against him. While we wonder at the deplorable ig- norance on which these practices were founded, we must not forget that the ^'judgments of God" as they were termed, employed by our ancestors during the middle ages, were founded on the same unenlightened views, and were in some cases strictly identical. Other powers of still higher name held sway over the Xative con- deluded minds of the people of Congo. Some ladies of '^J^^^^^J rank went about beating a drum, with dishevelled hair, and pretending to work magical cures ; there was also a race of mighty conjurers, called Scingilli, who had the power of giving and withdrawing rain at pleasure ; and they had a king called Ganja Chitome, or God of the Earth, to whom its firat fruits were regularly offered. This person never died ; but when tired of his sway on earth, he nominated a successor, and killed himself, — a step, doubtless, prompted by the zeal of his followers, when they saw any danger of his reputation for immor- tality being compromised. This class argued strongly in favour of their vocation, as not only useful, but absolutely essential, since without it the earth would be deprived of those influences by which alone it was enabled to minister to the wants of man. The people accordingly viewed with the deepest alarm any idea of giving offence to beings whose wrath might be displayed in devoting the land to utter sterility. ^ We do not possess any record of the period or the iiXence of manner in which the Portuguese and their missionaries '^e Poiiu- were expelled from Congo ; but Captain Tuckey's late expedition did not find on the banks of the Zaire any trace or even recollection of either. EART.Y ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. CHAPTER V. CHAP. V. Portuguese claims to Africa. Pvesults of Dutch enter- ■Drise. Early English Discoveries, Decline of Portuguese Maritime Povrer— Company formed in England to explore the Gambia — Richard Thompson — His Death — Jobson's Voyage up the Gambia — Manners of the Native Africans — Vermuyden — Stibbs. The Portuguese, while they bore away the palm of maritime enterprise from all other nations, considered Africa especially as a region which they had won for themselves, and had covered with trophies of discovery and victory ; but, after being subjected to the cruel and degrading yoke of Philip II. of Spain, they lost all their spirit and energy. Under the same influence they became involved in hostihty with the Dutch, who had risen to the first rank as a naval people, and whose armaments successively stripped them of their most important pos- sessions in this continent as well as in the East Indies. In 1637, Elmina itself, their capital, fell into the hands of those bold and successful rivals ; and at present the boasted lords and rulers of Guinea have not an acre left of their dominions along the whole western coast. They retain only the Madeiras, the Cape Verd, and other islands, which cei-tainly are not destitute of beauty, nor even of some degree of political and commercial value. The Hollanders did not long remain undisputed masters of the seas. The glorious and splendid results which had arisen from the discovery of the East and West Indies, caused the ocean to be generally viewed as the great theatre where wealth and glory were to be gained. The French and English nations, whose turn it was to EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. b9 take the lead in European affairs, pressed eagerly forward chap. v. in this career, endeavouring at once to surpass their pre- siavesettie- decessors and each other. Many African settlements ments. were formed with the view of securing a supply of slaves for their West India possessions ; hut a more distant, more innocent, and more brilliant object also attracted their attention. Flattering reports had reached Europe of the magnitude of the gold trade carried on at Tim- buctoo and along the Niger ; and letters were evenreceived from Morocco, representing its treasures as surpassing those of Mexico and Peru. On that side, indeed, the immense Desert and its barbarous inhabitants rendered the central regions almost inaccessible ; — but there was another channel which appeared to open the fairest and most tempting prospects. Accordine- to all the geo- The central 1- • 1 X / xu i. J.X. 2. ■ T 1 -1, ^^^^ regions, graphical systems oi that age, the great river Joliba, flowing through the interior of the continent, and by whose alluvion its plains were covered with gold, was understood to empty itself into the Atlantic, either by the Senegal or Gambia, or, as was more commonly sup- posed, by both these channels imagined to be branches proceeding from the great stream. By ascending either accordingly, it seemed possible to reach Timbuctoo and the country of gold ; and this became a favourite object with several European nations. In 1618, a company was formed in England for the English purpose of exploring the Gambia. They sent out that ^mpair^ sanie year Richard Thompson, a person of spirit cl.A enterprise, in charge of the Catherine of 120 tons, with a cargo worth nearly two thousand pounds sterling. In the month of December he entered the river ; and pro- ^ ceeding as high as Kassan, a fortified town, where he left most of his crew, he pushed on in boats. The Por- tuguese, who were still numerous in that district, and retained all their lofty claims, were seized with bitter jealousy at this expedition made by a foreign and rival power. Led on by Hector Nunez, they furiously at- tacked the party left at Kassan, and succeeded in making a general massacre of our countrymen. Thompson, on 70 EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. CHAP. V. Perseverance of the Knglish adveritixrers. Fate of Richard Thompson. Spirit dis- played by Richard Jobsor.. learning these dreadful tidings, altliough unable to make any effort to avenge the slaughter of his people, still maintained his station on the river, and sent home tlie most encouraging accounts of the general prospects of the undertaking. The company listened to his statement, and despatched another vessel, Avhich unfortunately ar- rived at an improper season, and lost most of the crc%y by sickness. Even yet they were not dismayed ; but, retaining their ardour unabated, fitted out a third and larger expedition, consisting of the Sion of 200 tons, and the St John of 50, and gave the command to Richard Jobson, to whom we are indebted for the first satis- factory account of the great river-districts of Western Africa. This officer entered the Gambia in November 1620 ; but what was his dismay on receiving the tidings that Thompson had perished by the hands of his owti men ! Mutiny was then a frequent occurrence in those danger- ous and distant services ; but how it arose in this case, or who was to blame, was never duly investigated. The crew are said to have been unanimous in representing the conduct of their leader as oppressive and intolerable ; but, in regard to a man of undoubted spirit and enter- prise, and who fell the first of so many victims in the cause of African discovery, we should not receive too readily the report of those who had so deep an interest in painting his character in the darkest colours. Jobson, notwithstanding the shock caused by this in- telligence, did not suffer himself to be discouraged, but, pushing briskly up the river, soon arrived at Kassan. The Portuguese inhabitants in general had fled before his arrival, whilst the few who remained, professed in respect to Hector Nunez and the massacre committed by him, an ignorance, and even a horror, for which he gave them very little credit. He had reason, on the contrary, to believe that they were forming a scheme of attack, and even urging the natives to rise against the English ; and such was the dread of their machina- tions that scarcely any one could be prevailed on to EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. 'J\ act as his pilot. Notwithstanding these suspicions and chap. v. alarms, he still pursued his course ; but after passing p^ssl^of the falls of Barraconda he found himself involved in great the rapids of difficulties : The ascent was to he made against a rapid ^^^ Gambuu current ; the frequency of hidden rocks made it dan- gerous to sail in the night ; and they often struck upon sand-banks and shallows, when it was necessary for the crew to strip and go into the water, in order to push the boat over these obstacles. They were once obliged to carry it a mile and a half, till they found a deeper channel. The discoverers now beheld an entirely new world, and Wild beasts , J. p . r\ -J • and croco- a novel aspect of nature. On every side were immense dUes. forests of unknown trees, while both the land and the water were inhabited b}'' multitudes of savage animals, whose roarings every night resounded through the air. Sometimes twenty crocodiles were seen together in the stream, and, their voices, calling as it were to each other, resembled the " sound of a deep well," and might be heard at the distance of a league. Sea-horses also were observed tossing and snorting in every pool ; while ele- phants appeared in such numbers on the shore, that, at one place, there were sixteen in a single troop. These last animals were an object of great terror to the natives, of whom only a few durst attack them with their long poisoned lances and assagays ; but whenever the Eng- lish made a movement against them, they fled like forest- deer, and by their swiftness eluded all pursuit. Three balls were lodged in one individual, which made off, but was afterwards found dead by the negroes. Lions, ounces. Monkeys imd and leopards, were also seen at a little distance ; but ^'^^°°"^- amid the alarms inspired by these formidable creatures, the sailors were amused by observing the various evolu- tions of the monkey tribe. The baboons marched along, occasionally in herds of several thousands with some of the tallest in front, under the guidance of a leader, the lesser following behind, while a band of larger size brought up the rear. " Thus do they march on, and are very bold." At night, as they took their stand upon 72 EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. CHAP V. the hills, filling the air with confused cries, " one great Angerat tJie voice would exalt itself, and the rest were all hushed." intruders. They mounted the trees to look at the English, the sight of whom seemed to inspire dissatisfaction ; they grinned, shook the boughs violently, uttered angry cries, and when any advances were made towards acquaintance, ran off at full speed. The crew shot one ; but before they could reach the spot, the rest had carried it away. On tracing these creatures to their haunts in the depths of the forest, recesses were found, where the foliage had been so intertwined above, and the ground beaten so smooth beneath, as made it difficult to believe that these " bowers for dancing and disport" had not been framed by human hands. Tenda*^"" ^^ Amid these difficulties and adventures the party arrived at Tenda, on the 26th January 1621, where they expected to meet with Buckar Sano, the chief merchant on the Gambia. This personage accordingly waited on them ; but, being treated with brandy, used it so im- moderately that he lay all night dead- drunk in the boat. However, he seems on this occasion to have been merely off his guard, as he ever after acted a very intelligent and prudent part. He not only traded himself, but was employed as an agent in managing the transactions of others. His good faith, however, seems to have been rendered somewhat doubtful by the accounts which he gave to Jobson of a city four months' journey in the interior, the roofs of which were covered with gold. Trading with The report of a vessel come up to trade caused a great resort from the neighbouring districts ; and the natives, rearing temporary hovels, soon formed a little village on each side of the river. Speedily there appeared five hundred of a ruder race, covered with skins of wild ani- mals, " the tails hanging as from the beasts." The women, who had never before seen a white man, ran away ; but the sight of a few beads soon allured them to return. Unluckily the universal cry was for salt, — a- commodity deficient and much desired through all Central Africa ; but Jobson, unapprijzed of this, had not the natives. EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. /J laid in a sufficient stock. Every thing else was lightly chap. v. prized in comparison ; and many who were on their way to swell the market, learning this omission, instantly Articles of turned back. He obtained in exchange gold and ivory, "^t'^« ^^^^ and could have got hides in abundance, had they not been too bulky a commodity to bear the expense of conveyance. Buckar Sane undertook to introduce the English at Abject the court of Tenda. On reaching the king's presence, ^°™cfn °^ they witnessed an example of the debasing homage courtiers. usually paid to negro princes, and of which Clapperton, in Eyeo, afterwards saw several striking instances. The great and wealthy merchant, on appearing before his majesty, j&rst fell on his knees, then, throwing off his shirt, extended himself naked and flat on the ground, while his attendants almost buried him beneath dust and mud. After grovellmg for some time in this position, he started up, shook off the earth, which two of his wives assisted in clearing from his pei-son, and was then speedily equipped in his best attire, with bow and quiver. He and his attendants, after havuig made a semblance of shooting at Jobson, laid their bows at his feet, which was understood as a token of submission : the king even assured the English captain, that the country and every thing in it were thus placed at his disposal. In return for gifts so magnificent, it was impossible to refuse a few bottles of excellent brandy ; the value of which, how- ever, Jobson never expected to realize from these regal donations. The commander of the Sion soon found himself in the Jcen't^^*^ middle of the dry season, and the river sinking lower the : and lower ; yet he still made a hard struggle to ascend, animated by the deceitful or inflated reports of Buckar Sano concerning the city of gold. At the distance of a few days' journey he heard of Tombaconda, which he conjectured to be Timbuctoo. The conclusion was most erroneous, this city being distant nearly a thousand miles ; but Europeans had formed as yet no adequate idea of the dimensions of Africa. At length the stream became so ascent or river. CHAP. V. Return down the river. Observation of native manners. Funeral ceremonies. 74 EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. sliallow that he found it utterly vain to attempt ascending higher. He began his voyage downward on the ]Oth February, proposing to return during the season when the periodical rains filled the channel. This purpose was never executed. Both he and the company became involved in quarrels with the merchants, against whom he bitterly inveighs, as persons who entirely disregarded every object beyond their own immediate profit. Jobson, earlier perhaps than any other Englishman, had an opportunity of observmg the manners and super- stitions peculiar to native Africa. He found each chief attended by a number of musical performers, whom he dignifies with the title of " juddies or fiddlers," and com- pares to the Irish rhymsters. These are called, as we learn from other authors, Jelle, or Jillemen, and per- form on several instruments rudely constructed of wood, making a very loud noise. These minstrels, with the Greegree men, or magicians, most fantastically attired, often form singular groups, as exhibited in the accom- panying plate. The two chief occasions were those of circumcision, and funeral. The former, performed in a very rough manner, attracted the whole country ; the forest blazed with fires, while loud music, shouts, and dancing, resounded throughout the night. At the inter- ment of chiefs there were much crying and lamentation, conducted in a somewhat mechanical manner, resembling the Irish howl. Flowers of the sweetest scent were buried along with the deceased, and much gold was de- posited for his service in the other world ; but there is no mention of those human sacrifices, which form so foul a blot on some of the most civilized African nations. At all festivals a conspicuous part was acted by a personage called Horey, which name our author interprets, " the Devil." This being took his station in the adjoining woods, whence he sent forth tremendous sounds, supposed to be of sinister portent to all within hearing. The only remedy was to deposite, as near to the spot as any one could venture, a large supply of provisions ; the speedy disappearance of which authenticated to the villagers native de- ception. of Ver- niuyden. EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. 77 both the existence of this supernatural agent, and the chap, v fact of his having been appeased. To Jobson, on the BoldTxpo- contrary, this very circumstance, combined with the sure of severe hoarseness with which several of the natives were afflicted, afforded a clue to the origin of the extraordi- nary roaring, and of this he had soon ocular demonstration. Happenmg, in company with a marabout, to hear the Horey in full cry from a neighbouring tliicket, he seized a loaded musket, declaring aloud his resolution forthwith to discharge the contents at his Infernal Majesty. The marabout implored him to stop ; the tremendous sound was changed into a low and fearful tone ; and Jobson, on running to the spot, saw this mighty demon in the shape of a huge negro, extended on the ground in such agonies of fear that he was unable even to ask for mercy. The Company, amid the divisions already alluded to, Expedition do not appear to have prosecuted farther their designs of discovery. The next attempt was made, about 1660 or 1665, by Vemiu^'den, a rich mercliant on the Gambia, who fitted out a boat well stored with beef, bacon, bis- cuit, rice, strong waters, and other comfortable supplies ; which, however, on arriving at the flats and shallows, were found materially to impede the movement of the vessel. He came first to a wide expanse, which he com- pares to Windermere Lake, where the only difficulty was to find the main branch amid several that opened from different quarters. " Up the buffing stream," says he, " with sad labour we wrought ;" and, when they ascended higher, it often l)ecame necessary to drag the boat over the flats ; for which purpose the sailors were frequently obliged to strip naked and walk through the water. They were rather rudely received by the only tenants of those upper tracts, the crocodiles and river- liorses, "ill pleased, or unacquainted with any companions in these watery regions." One of the latter struck a hole in the boat with his teeth, — an accident which proved very inconvenient from the absence of any one skilled in carpentry ; but, by hanging a lantern at the stem, they induced these monsters, which are afraid of light Obstacles to navigation. 78 EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. CHAP. V. Attack by baboons. Eager thirst tor gold. Project of the Duke of Chandos. shining in tlie dark, to maintain a respectful distance. On landing to search for gold, they were assailed by an incredible number of huge baboons, on which it is com- plained that no oratory except guns could produce any impression ; and even after two or three had been killed, they attacked with increased fury, till successive dis- charges at length compelled them to retreat. The sole object in this voyage was the discovery of gold. The adventurer landed at various points, washed the sand, and examined the rocks. He had carried out not only mercury, aqua regia, and large melting-pots, but also a divining rod, which was not found to exhibit any virtue ; however, on being laughed at by his com- panions for his delusive expectations, he persuaded him- self that this potent instrument had lost its qualities by being dried up during the voyage from England. On one occasion he found a large mass of apparent gold, which proved to be mere spar. The real metal, he says, is never met with in low, fertile, and wooded spots, but always on naked and barren hills, embedded in a reddish earth. At one place, by twenty days' labour, he succeeded in extracting twelve pounds. At length he declares, that he arrived " at the mouth of the mine itself, and saw gold in such abundance as surprised liim with joy and admiration." However, he gives no notice of the position of this vein, the existence of which has not been con- firmed by any subsequent observer. It was not till 1720 that the spirit of African discovery again revived in England. The Duke of Chandos, then director of the African Company, concerned at the declin- ing state of their affairs, entertained the idea of retrieving them by opening a path into the golden regions still reported to exist in the interior of Africa. At his sug- gestion the members, in 1723, furnished Captain Bar- tholomew Stibbs with the usual means of sailing up the Gambia. On the 7th October, this navigator arrived at James' Island, the English settlement, about thirty miles from the mouth of the river, whence he immediately wrote to Mr Willy, the governor, who happened to be EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. 79 then visiting the factory of Joar, more than a hundred chap. v. miles distant, asking him to engage canoes. He received Dia^jeg for answer, that none were to he had, and was almost encountered distracted to learn that this officer w^as giving himself no j'hoiomew concern about the affair. Some days after, however, a stibbs. boat brought down the dead body of the governor, who had fallen a victim to the fever of the climate, which had previously affected his brain. Thus, notwithstanding every exertion of Orfeur, who succeeded him, the equip- ment of the boats was delayed till the 11th December, when the unfavourable season^ was fast approaching. Stibbs had assigned to him a crew of nineteen white men, of whom one indeed was as black as coal, but being a <^hristian, ranked as white, and served as interpreter, — likewise twenty-nine grumettas, or hired negroes, with three female cooks ; and he afterwards took on board a balafeu, or native musician, to enliven the spirits of the party. He set out on the 26th of December, and the voyage Kariy pro- proceeded for som€! time very agreeably. His people h!s party" were every where well received, and at one place even a saphie or charm was laid upon the bank for the purpose of drawing them on shore. The captain had endeavoured to conceal his object, but in vain ; and he found himself repeatedly pointed out as the person who was come to bring down the gold. , The native crew, however, pre- dicted the most fearful disaster if he should attempt to proceed above the falls of Barraconda. As the boats approached that fatal boundary, the Africans came in a body, and stated their firm determination on no account to ascend any farther. No one, they said, had ever gone beyond that point, — Barraconda was the end of the world, or if there existed any thing on the farther side, it was a frightful and barbarous region, where life w^ould be in continual danger. A long palaver and a bottle of Stibbs' very best brandy were necessary ere they would agree to accompany him beyond this dreaded limit of the habitable universe. But the falls of Barraconda were not found so formid- 80 EARLV ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. CHAP. V. Passage of the falls of Barraronda. Shallows and quicksands. Encounters with river- liorses. Fniitless termination 0/ tiie voyage. able as rumour had represented them ; they were narrows rather than falls, the channel being confined by rocky ledges and fragments, between which there was only one passage, where the canoes rubbed against the rock on each side. In this region of the Upper Gambia, the natives, belying all slanderous rumours, proved to be a harmless, good-humoured people, who, wherever the crew landed, met them with presents of fowls and provisions. The severest exertion now became necessary in order to pass the flats and quicksands, which multiplied in proportion as they ascended, and over which the boats, in some instances, could only be dragged by main force. Tlie wild and huge animals that occupy these regions appeared still more dangerous to the present adventurers than to their predecessors. The elephants, which had fled precipitately before Jobson, struck the greatest terror into this party ; one of them on a certain occasion putting to flight the whole crew. They were even seen in bands crossing from one side of the water to the other. The river-horses also presented themselves in numerous herds ; and though this quadruped generally moved in a sluggish and harmless manner, yet in the shallow places, when walking along the bottom of the river, he occasion- ally came into collision with the boat ; incensed at which, he was apt to strike a hole through it with his huge teeth, so as to endanger its sinking. If the courage of the crew against these mighty assailants was not very conspicuous, their exertions in dragging the boat over the flats and shallows appear to have been most strenuous ; yet so unfavourable was the season, that at the end of two months Stibbs found himself, on the 22d February, at fifty-nine miles above Barraconda, obliged to stop short even of Tenda, and consequently of the point to which Jobson had formerly attamed. The commander, on his return, after making every allowance for the mauspicious seasons and circumstances, could not forbear expressing deep disappointment in regard to the expectations with which he had ascended the Gambia, He saw no appearance of that mighty EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. 8] channel which was to lead into the remote interior of chap. v. Africa, and through so many great kingdoms. He de- j^j „ ~ • clared his conviction, that " its original or head is nothing ing report oi near so far in the country as by the geographers has ^^'^^^ been represented." It did not of course appear to him to answer in any respect the descriptions given of the Niger, — it nowhere bore that name, — it did not come out of any lake that he could hear of, — it had no communi- cation with the Senegal or any other great river. The natives reported, thatat twelve days' journey above Barra- conda it dwindled into a rivulet, and " fowls walked over it." These statements were received most reluctantly Sanguine and sceptically by Moore, now the company's factor on M^ore.^^ the Gambia, a man of spirit and intelligence, who, having acquired some learning on the subject, endeavoured to overwhelm Stibbs with quotations from Herodotus, Leo, Edrisi, and other high authorities. The mariner, though unable to cope with him in this discussion, did not the less steadily assert the plain facts which he had seen with his own eyes ; and a degree of discouragement was felt, which prevented any other exploratory voyage from being undertaken for a considerable time into that part of the African continent. 82 FRENCH DISCOVERIES. CHAPTER VI. French Discoveries. French Settlement on the Senegal — Jannequin's Voyage — Voyages of Brue up the Senegal — Bambouk ; Gold Mines— Saugnier— Gum-trade. i rench sell erne of discovery. CHAP. vr. France did not embark so early as some of the neigh- bouring states in African discovery. Louis XIV., aided by his minister Colbert, was the first prince who studied to raise his kingdom to a high rank as a commercial and maritime power. But, unfortunately, according to the spirit of the time, the only mode in which he ever thought of promoting any branch of trade was by vesting it in an exclusive company ; and when, according to the usual fate of such associations, one was involved in bankruptcy, another immediately supplied its place. Thus foui successive copartneries rose and fell ; till at length they all merged in that greatest and most fatal delusion, the Mississippi Scheme. However, these several bodies, at their first formation, attracted many individuals of opu- lence and talent, and generally opened with a spirited career of enterprise and discovery. While the English sought to ascend the Gambia, the Senegal was the Niger to the French — the stream by which they hoped to pene- trate upwards to Timbuctoo and the regions of gold. At the mouth of this river, about the year 1626, was founded the settlement of St Louis, which has ever since con- tinued to be the capital of their possessions in Africa. The first person who brought home any accounts of that colony was Jannequin, a young man of some Attention directed in the Senegal FKENCH DISCOVERIES. 83 rank, who, as he was walking along the quay at Dieppe, chap. vr. saw a vessel bound for this unknown continent, and took First~^a e a sudden fancy to embark and make the voyage. The ad- of Jannequin venturers sailed on the 5th November 1637, and touched at the Canaries ; but the first spot on the continent where they landed was a part of the Sahara near Cape Blanco. Jannequin was struck, in an extraordinary degree, with the desolate aspect of this region. It consisted wholly of a plain of soft sand, in which the feet were buried at every step ; and a man, after walking fifty paces, was overwhelmed with fatigue. At Senegal the colony was state of the found in so imperfect a state that the sailors were obliged Senegal to rear huts for their own accommodation ; and, slight as ^° ""^' these were, the labour of erecting them under a burning sun was very severe. But, in ascending the river, he was delighted with the brilliant verdure of the banks, the majestic beauty of the trees, and the thick impenetrable underwood. Amid the deep solitude which distinguished the country, all the forests were filled with echoes. The natives received him hospitably, and he was much struck by their strength and courage, decidedly surpassing, as appeared to him, the similar qualities in Europeans. He saw a Moorish chief, called the Kamalingo, who, mounting on horseback, and brandishing three javelins and a cutlass, engaged a lion in single combat, and van- quished that mighty king of the desert. Flat noses and Native ideas thick lips, so remote from his own ideas of the beautiful, beauty""*' were considered on the Senegal as forming the perfection of the human visage ; nay, he even fancies that they were produced by artificial processes. He w^as surprised by the enormous number oigreegrees, or charms, in which the chiefs were enveloped. Every peril — of water, of wild beasts, and of battle — had an appropriate antidote, by which the owner was secured against them. These potent greegrees were merely slips of paper, which the marabouts, or Mussulman doctors, had inscribed with Arabic characters ; and being then enclosed in cases of thick cloth, or even of gold and silver, were hung round the person in such profusion that they actually formed a species of armour. In some instances they composed 84 FRENCH DISCOVERIES. CHAP. VI. such a load, that the possessor was unable to mount on horseback without assistance. Exertions of '^^^ Sieur Brue, who, in 1697, was appointed director- the Sieur general of the Company's affairs, was the person who '''^^'' did most for their prosperity, and also made the greatest efforts to penetrate into the interior. In that year he embarked on a voyage to the Siratik, or King of the Foulahs, whose territory lay about 400 miles up the Senegal. In ascending that river, he was struck, like Jannequin, by the magnificent forests, and the profuse and luxuriant verdure with which they were clothed ; while it was amusing to observe the numberless varieties of the monkey tribe, which were continually leaping from bough to bough. Elephants marched in bands ot forty or fifty, and large herds of cattle fed on the ricli meadows, though, during the season of inundation, they Reception at withdrew to the more elevated spots. At Kahayde, he Kaaayde. yy^^ received by a chief belonging to the siratik, accom- panied by numerous attendants, among whom were his wife, daughters, and some female slaves, all mounted upon asses. He was cordially welcomed ; yet the re- flection suggested by his dealings with this gay and fair train was, that European beggars, however great their effrontery, might learn much from the example of the higher circles in Africa. When they can no longer ask, they begin to borrow, with the firm resolution of never repaying ; and the worst of all is, when they offer a gift, they hold it a deadly offence if they are not presented with at least double the value in return. AiTiva! at Brue sailed up the river, and landed at the port of 1101 el. Ghiorel ; then, with a party of armed attendants, set out for Gumel, about ten leagues in the interior, where the siratik resided. At the former place he was visited by Buckar Sire, one of the young princes, and afterwards by the Kamalingo or general, and the Boquenet, a venerable negro, who filled an office similar to that of treasurer or prime minister. These two latter personages assured the director of the hearty welcome which awaited him at court ; intimating, at the same time, their readiness to receive the presents which he was understood to have FRENCH DISCOVERIES. S5 brought to their sovereign. These accordingly were chap. vi. spread out, and consisted of scarlet cloths, coloured wor- „ — ~ *^ , , , . n 1111 1 Presents sent Bteds, copper kettles, pieces of coral and amber, brandy, to the King. spices, and a few coins, in portions respectively destined for the king, his wives, and the illustrious messengers ; yet these liberal gifts, though they amply satisfied the great personages who received them, did not drain the finances of the Company, since the entire cost did not exceed sixty or seventy pounds. The country was found level, well cultivated, and filled with such numerous herds that the French with difficulty made their way through them. At a village called Buksar, the sire and his attendants again met them, brandishing their lances or assagays, as if in the act to strike. This being explained as meant for the greatest possible compliment, Brue, in return, ^ent aT cocked his pistol at the young prince, with whom he Court. then spent the evening. After being introduced to seve- ral ladies of the court, he was entertained with supper, consisting of fruits, kouskous, and other simple products of African cookery. Then followed the folyar or dance, the favourite amusement of the negroes ; but while all the youth of the village were tripping it gaily upon the green, amid songs and music, he found more gratification in the kalder, or conversation carried on by the old men seated on mats in a circle. Their manners were noble and dignified ; and they showed retentive memories, as well as quick apprehension, respecting the objects which came within their limited range of observation. He set out next morning for the residence of the ^^^.^^. siratik, being respectfully escorted thither by the kama- psiiace. lingo ; but he found that prince surrounded by none of those circumstances which constitute in Europe the pomp of royalty. His palace was merely a cluster of mud cabins enclosed by a hedge of reeds ; and in one of these huts he reclined on a couch, while several of his wives and daughters sat round him on mats spread on the ground. The reception was perfectly friendly, and Brue even obtained permission to erect forts, — a privilege of which African princes are usually and indeed naturally jealous. The director was allowed full liberty to con- 86 FRENCH DISCOVERIES. Manners of the African ladies. Removal of the Court CHAP. VJ. verse with the female circle, who were by no means held in that state of austere seclusion which gives such a gloom to Mussulman society. The ladies began to talk in the most lively and familiar manner ; and as the visitor was thought to eye with admiration a handsome young prin- cess of seventeen, she was tendered to him in marriage. He excused himself as being already joined in the bonds of matrimony ; but they professed themselves quite imable to conceive how this could form an objection, intimating that their young relative was prepared to share the honour with any reasonable number of rivals. It then behoved the director to explain the matrimonial system of Europe, which furnished, as it alw^ays does in Africa, ample ground for wonder and speculation. The lot of the French women was pronounced to be truly enviable ; but his own situation was much commise- rated, especially in his present state of separation from his only wife. The court being obliged to remove by the annoyance arising from a species of flying insect, Brue had an op- portunity of observing the royal procession. First came a numerous body of mounted musicians, who, performing on various instruments, produced a noise at once deafen- ing and discordant. Next followed the royal ladies, seated on camels in large osier baskets, which so com- pletely enveloped their persons that their heads only were seen peeping above. Their female domestics, riding by their side on asses, endeavoured to enliven them by incessant talk. The baggage behind was borne by a long train of the same animals ; while horsemen in mili- tary array, with the king and his principal nobles at their head, closed the cavalcade. The director and his party, while all this gay train passed by, exchanged with them the usual salutations ; and having satisfactorily accomplished the immediate object of his journey, he returned to St Louis. In 1698, the same gentleman undertook another voy- age, in which he aimed not merely at the limited objects above stated, but sought to ascend the Senegal as high as possible, and to open a commercial intercourse with Second French voyage FRENCH DISCOVERIES. 87 the interior. On this occasion he had again an amicable cHAP. VI interview with the siratik, and employed four of his AmicaWe negroes in destroying an enormous lion which had in- receptiop fested the neighbourhood. Farther on he observed some peculiar forms of the animal creation : the air for two hours was darkened by the passage of a cloud of locusts, and the boats were covered with their filth. Lions and elephants roamed in vast numbers ; but the latter were quite tame and harmless, unless when attacked. Mon- keys swarmed in their usual multitudes ; and in one place there were numbers of a red colour, which appeared extremely surprised at the view of the strangers, and came in successive parties to gaze at them ; on which occasion they conversed with each other, and even threw down dry branches upon the boatmen. The French, we ^^^^j^ q, know not why, fired, and killed several ; upon which they nonkeys. raised an extraordinary commotion, and sought, by throwing stones and sticks, to avenge the fall of their comrades ; but, soon finding the contest unequal, they retired for safety into the woods. The navigators were also introduced to a personage called " The King of the Bees," who, by the use of a particular charm, came to visit them surrounded by thousands of these insects, over which he exercised an absolute sway, guiding them as a shepherd does his sheep, and completely securing all his friends against their formidable stings. Brue, on reaching Gallam, found himself in a some- Rival nativa what delicate position. Two rival princes disputed the P^'"^'^^^ throne, each holding, at his respective residence, a cer- tain sway ; but both claiming the entire homage, and all the presents brought by the director. The legitimate ruler, in particular, sent his son to remonstrate that his imdoubted right ought not to be sacrificed to that of an ephemeral usurper. The European, however, acting steadily on the principle of self-interest, endeavoured to ascertain which of the two sovereigns could most benefit the Company ; and finding the real power chiefly in the hands of the rebel, bestowed on him the larger por- tion of good things. The other party was thereby so incensed that he even threatened an attack ; but the 88 FRENCH DISCOVERIES. CHAP. VL The St. Joseph Fort on the Upper Senegal Accounts of the interior. Gold mines of Bamboulv. detei-mined language of Brue, and the sight of the great guns which he had on board, made him relinquish all hostile intentions. The director now reached Dramanet, a thriving tm\Ti, inhabited by several rich merchants, who traded as far as Timbuctoo, which, according to their computation, was five hundred leagues in the interior. This position was therefore thought the most convenient place for a foi-t, which was called St Joseph, and continued long the principal seat of French commerce on the Upper Senegal. He then went up to Felu, where an immense rock, crossing the river, forms a cataract, which it is almost impossible for vessels to pass. Quitting his boats, he proposed to ascend to the falls of Govinea, about forty leagues higher ; but the water was getting so low, that, fearing the navigation downward would be interrupted, he returned to St Louis. In reply to numerous inquiries made by him on this journey, he received accounts of the kingdom of Bam- barra, of the Lake Maberia (Dibbie of Park), of Tim- buctoo, of the caravans which came thither from Barbary, and even of masted vessels which had been seen on the waters beyond. But the grand object of his research was the course of the Niger, concerning which he received two quite opposite descriptions. According to some it flowed westward from the Lake Maberia, till it separ- ated into the two channels of the Gambia and Senegal ; but other and juster reports represented it as being dis- tinct from both these rivers, and as passing eastward beyond Timbuctoo. The testimonies transmitted to France in favour of this last opinion must have greatly preponderated, since both the eminent geographers, Delille and D'Anville, adopted this delineation ; and yet the popular impression in that country, as well as among Europeans in general, long continued to regard the Niger and Senegal as the same river. Bej'ond Gallam lay another more tempting region, Bambouk, which contains mines of gold, the most pro- ductive of any that have been found in the interior of Western Africa. ' Tlie difficulty of penetrating thither. FRENCH DISCOVERIES. B9 liowever, was extreme, the natives having completely chap. vi. barred the frontier against white men, in consequence of i^fla^^ of the tyranny exercised by the Portuguese, who had ruled Portufeuese and oppressed the district, till they were cut off or finally °PP''^^^>°"' expelled by a general insurrection. Many advCTiturers, after being induced by high bribes to undertake the jour- ney, successively declined the enterprise. At length a person named Compagnon, laden with valuable presents, ventured to pass the boundary, and by his address sue- j^xpioration ceeded in conciliating the inhabitantsof the nearest village, by Compag- A profound alarm, however, spread through the country, """" when it was known that there was a white man within its precincts, and representations were sent, that, according to the ancient salutary laws, he should forthwith be put to death ; nevertheless, by gifts and adroit management, he succeeded in making his way from village to village. He contrived to visit the principal districts, and even to carry off a portion of the ghingan, or golden earth, which forms the pride and wealth of Bambouk. Brue then transmitted to France various projects, and among others that of conquering the country, which he under- took to effect with 1200 men; but such a degree of Apathy in apathy prevailed at home, that none of these propositions France, made any impression. Subsequent governors, we find, directed their attention to the same subject : two of them, Levens and David, even visited Bambouk in person ; but no attempt was ultimately made either to conquer or to form settlements in that part of Airica. Indeed, though either step might have been successful in the first instance, the possession of such a territory would in the end have proved both costly and precarious. From the accounts thus received, and which have Recent ac- been collected by Mr Golberry, Bambouk appears to counts or consist of a mass of lofty, naked, and barren mountains, "^"^ °" and to contain scarcely any treasures, except those which are hid in the bowels of the earth. Besides, it is in the most arid and dreary spot of this gloomy region that the gold is found. Several hills in different quarters, not very high, but of considerable extent, have tliis metallic substance distributed throughout, under the 90 FRENCH DISCOVERIES. CHAP. VI. Sold mines. Native miners Obstacles encountered by theui. form of grains, spangles, and even of small lumps, which are always found larger in proportion to the depth of the bed. In the mine of Natakon, the ore is mixed with earth, from which the precious dust is extracted by con- tinued agitation in water ; or it adheres to fragments of iron, emery, and lapis lazuli, whence it is easily detached. In the mine of Semayla, on the contrary, it is embedded in a hard reddish loam, mixed with other substances still harder, from which it can be extracted only by reducing them all to a powder. This is effected by pounding them with a pestle of hard wood, which is soon worn away by the resistance of the minerals ; on which account, this mine, though richer than the other, is less valuable. The Farims, who are absolute chiefs of Bambouk, allow these operations to take place only at certain seasons, when they tliemselves attend to levy a proportion of the proceeds. Two men, or two women, — for they are promiscuously employed in this occupation, — dig out the earth or other substances, which they hand to those who are to extract the gold from it. This metal they imagine to be a capri- cious being, delighting to sport with their eager pursuit ; and when they find a rich vein suddenly become unpro- ductive, they call out, " He is off!" The pit, which is six feet in diameter, is dug to the depth of thirty or forty, when the workmen are usuallj'- arrested by an impenetrable bed of reddish-coloured marble, which, from certain indications, Golberry is led to consider as only the covering of much more abundant veins. These pits or shafts, by means of laddei-s, are carried down with perpendicular sides, which often fall in, and bury the unfortunate miners. This, however, does not at all dis- compose the survivors : they apprehend that the devil, or rather a certain subterranean deity, having occasion for labourers to conduct his own operations underneath,' seizes in this manner the best he can find on the surface of the earth. Nor do they feel the least surprise, though they cannot conceal then- regret, when, in the course of working, they light upon the skeletons of the victims. The devil, they then fancy, has found himself mistaken FRENCH DISCOVERIES. 91 in his choice, and has rudely thrown them back to the chap. vr. place whence he had withdrawn them. The trade to Gallam appears, by the report of M. Favourable Saugnier, who undertook an excursion thither, to have ^ '^•'^''^ "^ been very profitable, when its advantages were not coun- terbalanced by accidents on the route. Gold, ivory, and slaves, could be purchased on easy terms ; and the natives, called Serawoolies, were intelligent and active, though inclined to be thievish. The voyage, however, is liable to many vicissitudes, the navigation often dangerous, and the natives on shore perpetually on the watch for plunder, especially the princes or robbers, which terms in Africa are nearly synonjTnous. The French government, also, had issued instructions not to proceed to great extremities against these high-born pilferers ; and hence Saugnier complains, that, though he had at one time eight royal personages on board his vessel as prisoners, he durst not turn them to any account. In this way the adventure was almost as likely to ruin as to enrich the person who undertook it. The chief prosperity of the French settlements on the succe« of Senegal was derived from the gum-trade, of which Gol- the gum berr}' has given a lively description. To the north of this ^'^^^' river, where the fertile lands pass into the boundless plains of the Sahara, grow large forests of that species of acacia from which the gum distils. It is crooked and stunted, resembling rather a bush than a tree. No incision is necessary ; for under the influence of the hot winds the bark dries and cracks in various places. The liquor exudes ; but by its tenacity remains attached in the form of drops, which are as clear and transparent as the finest rock-crystal. The Moorish tribes, to whom „ . ^ 1 T1T11 11'' r. ^loorish these woods belong, break up about the begmnmg of tribes. December from their desert encampments, and proceed to the gum-district in a tumultuous crowd ; the rich mounted on horses and camels, while the poor perform the journey on foot. Six weeks are "spent in collecting the precious resin ; after which it is conveyed to the great annual fail* held on the banks of the Senegal. The 92 FRENCH DISCOVERIES. Oreat trading Trtir, CHAP. VI. scene of this merchandise is an immense plain of white moving sand, the desolate monotony of which is not broken by a single herb or shrub ; and here the French take their station to await the arrival of the Moors. On the appointed morning they hear at a distance the eon- fused noise of their hordes in motion. Towards noon this extensive solitary waste appears covered with men, women, and animals, innumerable, enveloped in clouds of dust. The chiefs ride beautiful horses ; while the females of rank are seated on camels, elegantly caparisoned, in baskets covered with an awning. An incessant murmur pervades this barbarous assemblage, till, the whole having arrived, the camp is pitched, and a cannon fired as a signal for beginning the fair. The French relate, that every species of artifice and even threats are employed by these rude traffickers to enhance the price of their commodity ; yet they themselves, it would appear, have little right to complain, inasmuch as they confess that tliey have, insensibly, and without attracting the notice of their barbarous customers, raised the kantar, by which the gum is measured, from five hundred to two thousand pounds weight. Dishonest artifices EARLY PROCEEDINGS, &c. 93 CHAPTER VII. Early Proceedings of the African Association. Ledyard — Lucas — Information respecting the Interior — Hough- ton— His Death. The preceding narrative of French and English dis- chap, tii, coveries, proves the imperfect success with which the j^, ^^^ earlier attempts to penetrate into the interior of Africa, results of though made by the most powerful nations of Europe, explorers were attended. While the remotest extremities of land and sea in other quarters of the globe had been reached by British enterprise, this vast region remained an un- seemly blank in the map of the earth. Such a circum- stance was felt as discreditable to a great maritime and commercial nation, as well as to the sciences upon which the extension of geographical knowledge depends. To remove this reproach, a body of spirited individuals Formation of formed themselves into what was termed the African Association. Association ; who, after subscribing the necessary funds, sought out individuals duly qualified to undertake such distant and adventurous missions. Lord Rawdon, after- wards Marquis of Hastings, Sir Joseph Banks, the Bishop of Llandaff, Mr Beaufoy, and Mr Stuart, were nomi- nated managers. It seemed scarcely probable that the mere offer to defray travelling expenses, which was all the society's finances could afford, would induce persons with the requisite qualifications to engage in journeys so long and beset with so many perils ; yet such is the native enterprise of Britons, that men eminently fitted for the task presented themselves, even in greater num- bers than could be received. cedure. 94 EARLY PROCEEDINGS OF THE CHAP. Ml. 'pjjg £j.y^ adventurer was Mr Ledyard, who, born a Ledj-ard's traveller, had spent his life in passing from one extremity rSSeUer' 0*' the earth to another. He had sailed round the world with Captain Cook, had lived several years among the American Indians, and had made a journey with the most scanty means from Stockholm round the Gulf of Bothnia, and thence to the remotest parts of Asiatic Russia. On his return he presented himself to Sir Jo- seph, to whom he owed many obligations, just as that eminent person was looking out for an African traveller. He immediately pronounced Ledyard to be in all respe'^ts suited, and recommended him to Mr Beaufoy, who was struck with his fine countenance, frank conversation, and an eye expressive of determined enterprise. He him- self declared this scheme to be quite in unison with his wishes ; and on being asked how soon he could set out, replied, " to-morrow.'* Affairs, however, were not yet Plan of pro- quite matured ; but he was soon after provided with a passage to Alexandria, with the view of first proceeding southward from Cairo to Sennaar, and thence traversing the entire breadth of the African continent. He arrived at the Egyptian capital on the 19th August 1788, and while preparing for his journey into the interior, transmitted some original, though rather fanciful, observations upon the country. He represents the Delta as an unbounded plain of excellent land miserably cultivated ; the villages as most Avretched assemblages of poor mud huts, full of dust, fleas, flies, and all the curses of Moses ; and the Description people much below the rank of any savages he ever saw, pjid fts ^ * wearing only a blue shirt and drawers, and tattooed as natives. much as the South Sea Islanders. He bids his coitc- spondents, if they wish to see Egyptian women, look at any group of gipsies behind a hedge in Essex. The Mohammedans he describes as a trading, enterprising, superstitious, warlike set of vagabonds, who, wherever they are bent upon going, will go ; but he complains that the condition of a Frank is rendered most humiliating and distressing by the furious bigotry of the Turks. To him it seemed inconceivable that such enmitv should AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. 9b exist among men, and that beings of the same species chap. vii. should think and act in a manner so opposite. By con- car^Ivan versing with the Jelabs or slave-merchants, he learned a routes of tiie good deal respecting the caravan-routes and countries of chants. the interior. Every thing seemed ready for his departure, and he announced that his next communication would be from Sennaar ; but, on the contrary, the first tidings received were those of his death. Disappointment,, occa- of^Ledyard. sioned by delay in the departure of the caravan, working upon his impatient spirit, brought on a bilious complaint, to which he applied violent remedies, and thus reduced himself to a state from which the care of Rossetti, the Venetian consul, and the skill of the best physicians of Cairo, were found insufficient to deliver him. The society had, at the time they engaged Ledyard, qaa'.ifications entered into terms with Mr Lucas, a gentleman, who, of Lucas. being captured in his youth by a Sallee rover, had been three years a slave at the court of Morocco, and after his deliverance acted as vice-consul in that empire. Having spent sixteen years there, he had acquired an intimate knowledge of Africa and its languages. He was sent, by way of Tripoli, with instructions to accompany the cara- van, which takes the most direct route into the interior ; and being provided with letters from the Tripolitan ambas- sador, he obtained not only the bey's permission, but even promises of assistance for this expedition. At the same time he made an arrangement with two shereefs, or de- scendants of the prophet, whose persons are held sacred, to join a caravan, with which they intended to travel. He proceeded with them to Mesurata ; but the Arabs interruption there, being in a state of rebellion, refused to furnish neyl'*^"^'" camels and guides ; which, indeed, could scarcely be expected, as the bey had declined to grant them a safe conduct through his territories. Mr Lucas was therefore obliged to return to Tripoli, without being able to pene- trate farther into the continent. He learned, however, from Imhammed, one of the shereefs, who had been an extensive traveller, a variety of particulars respecting the interior regions. The society had at the same time P.ornou and Kasliaa. 96 EARLY PROCEEDINGS OF THE CHAP. vii. made very particular inquiries of Ben All, a caravan- Repo)Tof trader of Morocco, who happened to be in London. From Ben Aii. these two sources Mr Beaufoy was enabled to draw up a view of Central Africa, very imperfect indeed, yet superior to any that had ever before appeared. States of According to the information thus obtained, Bomou and Kashna were the most powerful states in that part of the continent, and formed even empires holding sway over a number of tributary kingdoms, — a statement at that time quite correct, though affairs have since greatly changed. The Kashna caravan often crossed the Isiger, and went onwards to great kingdoms beyond the Gold Coast, Gongah or Kong, Asiente or Ashantee, Yarba or Yarriba, through which last Clapperton recently travel- led. Several extensive routes across the Desert were also delineated ; but in regard to the Niger, the report of Imhammed revived the error which represented that river as flowing westward towards the Atlantic. The reason on which this opinion w^as founded will be evident, when we observe, that it was in Kashna that Ben Ali considered himself to have crossed that stream. His Niger, then, was the Quarrama or river of Zirmie, which flows westward through Kashna and Sackatoo, and is only a tributary to the Quorra or Great River, to which we give the name. He describes the current as very broad and rapid, probably from having seen it during the rainy season, when all the tropical rivei-s of any magnitude assume an imposing appearance. Enterprise "^^ ^^^ Lucas made no farther effbrt to penetrate into of Major Africa, the next expedition was performed by a new agent, and from a different quarter. Major Houghton, who had resided for some time as consul at Morocco, and after- wards in a military capacity at Goree, undertook to reach the Niger by the route of the Gambia ; not, however, like Jobson and Stibbs, by ascending its stream in boats, but by travelling singly on land. He seems to have been endowed with a gay, active, and sanguine spirit, fitted to carry him through the boldest undertakings, but without that cool and calculating temper necessary to Houghton. AFRICAN ASSOCIATION. 97 make his way amid scenes of peril and treachery. He chap. vii. began his journey early in 1791, and soon reached Me- Reception at dina, the capital of Woolli, where the venerable chiet ^''.^ capital received him with extreme kindness, promised to furnish guides, and assured him that he might go to Timbuctoo with his staff in his hand. The only evil that befell him there, arose from a fire which accidentally took place, and spreading rapidly through buildings roofed with cane and matted grass, converted in an hour a town of a thousand houses into a heap of ashes. The Major ran out with the rest of the people into the fields, saving only such few articles as could be carried with him. He writes, that by trading at Fattatenda a man may make at least 800 per cent., and live in plenty on ten pounds a-year. Quitting the Gambia, he took the road through Bambouk, and arrived at Ferbanna on the Faleme. Here he met with an extraordinary degree of kindness from the king, who gave him a guide and money to defray his expenses. A note was afterwards received from him, dated Simbing, and which contained merely these words. Last letter — " Major Houghton's compliments to Dr Laidley ; is Jj^^^j^^^^J in good health on his way to Timbuctoo ; robbed of all his goods by Fenda Bucar's son." This was the last communication from him ; for soon afterwards the ne- groes brought down to Pisania the melancholy tidings of his death, of which Mr Park subsequently learned the particulars. Some jMoors had persuaded the Major to accompany them to Tisheet, a place in the Great Desert, and frequented chiefly on account of its salt-mines. In Treachery of alluring him thither, their object, as appears from the tlie Moors, result, was to rob liim ; for it was very much out of the direct route to Timbuctoo. Of this in a few days he became sensible, and insisted upon returning ; but they would not permit him to leave their party until they had stripped him of every article in his possession. He wandered about some time in the Desert without either food or shelter, till, at length, he sat down under a tree and expired. Mr Park was shown the very spot where his remains were abandoned to the fowls of tlie air. I park's first journey. 99 CHAPTER VIII. Pai-k's First Journey, Park undertakes to explore Africa — Departure — 111 Treatment at Bondou and Joag — Kooniakary — Captivity among the Moors — Escape — The Niger — Sego — Sansauding — Silla — Obliged to return — Various Misfortunes — Distressed State- Finds Relief at Kamalia — Arrival in England. As soon as the Association were informed of the unhappy chap. viii. fate of Houghton, they accepted the services of Mr Mungo ^im,^^^ark Park, a native of Scotland, who had been regularly bred to the medical profession, and just returned from a voy- age to India. The committee were satisfied that he possessed the requisite qualifications, though they could not yet be aware of the full extent of his courage and perseverance, nor of the unrivalled eminence to which, as a traveller, he was destined to rise. He set sail from Portsmouth on the 22d Maj^ 1795, An-ivai at and on the 21st June arrived at Jillifree on the Gambia. He then proceeded to Pisania, in the fertile kingdom or Yani, where he was detained five months by illness under the hospitable roof of Dr Laidley. While suffering from the fever of the climate, he acquired the Mandingo lan- guage, and obtained considerable information from the negro traders respecting the interior countries. The Gambia at this station was deep and mudd}', oversha- dowed by impenetrable thickets of mangrove, and th^ stream filled with crocodiles and river-horses. On the 2d of December, he again took his departure, JJii^jo^^;;^^^^" attended only by a few negro servants. On the 5th he arrived at Medina, where the good old king received F 100 PARK S FIRST JOURNEY CHAP. VIIT. Reception by the king at Medina. Perils of a defenceless traveller Royal spoliation. reception by the ladies. him with the same hospitality he had so liberally shov/n to Major Houghton ; but earnestly exhorted him to take warning from the fate of that too adventurous travel- ler, and go no farther. Mr Park was not to be thus discouraged ; but immediately proceeded to enter the great forest or wilderness which separates this country from Bondou. He conformed to the example of his companions in hfjnging a charm or shred of cloth on a tree at its entrance, which was completely covered with those guardian symbols. In two days he had passed the wood and reached Bondou, a fine champaign country, watered by the Faleme. He had soon, however, to en- counter the perils which cannot but await every single and defenceless traveller who, loaded with valuable goods, journeys through a succession of petty kingdoms where law is unknown. At Fatteconda, which he reached on the 21st December, he was obliged to wait upon Almami, the king, who had already disgraced himself by the plunder of Houghton. Being desirous to preserve a new blue coat, our adventurer deemed it the wisest plan to wear it on his person, fondly hoping that it would not be actually stripped off his back. However, after the in- troductory ceremonial, the monarch began a warm pane- gyric on the wealth and generosity of the whites, whence he proceeded to the praises of the coat and its yellow buttons, concluding by expressing the delight with which he should wear it for the sake of his guest. He did not add, that if these hints were disregarded, it would be seized by force ; but the traveller, being thoroughly convinced that such was his intention, pulled off the coat, of which he humbly requested his majesty's acceptance. The barbarian abstained from farther spoil, and introduced him as a curiosity to his female circle. The ladies, after a careful survey, approved of his external appearance, with the exception of the two deformities of a white skin and a high nose ; but for these they made ample allowance, being blemishes produced by the false taste of his mother, who had bathed him in milk when young, and, by pinching his nose, elevated it into its present PARK S FIRST JOURNEY. 101 absurd height. Park flattered them on their jet-black skins and beautifully-flattened noses ; but was modestly warned that honey-mouth was not esteemed in Bondou ! Another forest intervened between that kingdom and Kajaaga, which he crossed by moonlight, when the deep silence of the woods was interrupted only by the howl- ing of wolves and hyenas, which glided like shadows through the thickets. Scarcely was he arrived at Joag in Kajaaga, when a party from Bacheri, the king, sur- rounded him, and declared his merchandise forfeited, in consequence of his entering the country without paying the duties. On this pretext he was stripped of his goods, except a small portion which he contrived to hide. Un- able to procure a meal, he was sitting disconsolate under a hentang tree, when an aged female slave came up and asked if he had dined. Being told that he had not, and had been robbed of his property, she presented several handfuls of nuts, and went off^ before he could return thanks. Demba Sego, nephew to the King of Kasson, happening to be at Joag endeavouring to negotiate a peace between his uncle and Bacheri, who were at vari- ance, now undertook to guide him into that district ; he did so, but exacted duties and presents till Mr Park was deprived of half his remaining stock. Kasson is a level, fertile, and beautiful country. At Kooniakary, the capital, our traveller was well received by the king,, and forwarded to Kemmoo, the principal towa of Kaarta. Daisy, the sovereign of this state, likewise treated him with the utmost kindness ; but, on learning his intention of taking the route to Timbuctoo through Bambarra, he declared this to be impossible, as he himself was then at war with the latter kingdom, and assured Mm that he would at once be killed if he attempted to enter it from his dominions. There remained therefore no alternative but to go by way of the Moorish kingdom of Ludamar, a perilous and fatal route, on which Major Houghton had already perished. Park, however, hoped, by pro- ceeding along the southern frontier, to reach Bambarra without coming much into contact with the furious bigots by whom it was peopled. CHAP. VIII. Entering of the Kajaaga kingdom. Female kind- ness. Total spolia- tion. Compulsor) change ct ' route. 102 PARK S FIRST JOURNEY. CHAP. vni. Successful negotiations with the Muors. Recalled t.y the iloors. Conveyed to Eenowm. Keecption and treat- in en r. On liis arrival at Jarro, a large town chiefly inhabited by negroes, but entirel}^ under the power of the Moors, he sent to Benowm, the capital, a messenger loaded with presents to negotiate with Ali, their chief, for a passage through his territories. After waiting a fortnight in great anxiety, he received a safe conduct to Goombo, a place on the frontier of Bambarra. He first proceeded to Deena, a town in the possession of the same people, who insulted him in the grossest manner^ and also plundered him ; so that he was happy to escape by setting out at two in the morning of 8d March. He passed next through Sampaka and Dalli, where he was received by the negro inhabitants with the usual kindness and hospitality of that race ; he was even induced to stop a day at Dalli, under promise of an escort ; but this was a fatal pause. At Sami, on the 7th March, a party of Moorish horse- men appeared, for the purpose of telling him that Fatima, the favourite wife of Ali, having been struck with desire to see what kind of creature a Christian is, he must instantly come and show himself ; but he was assured, at the same time, that he would be w^ll treated, and, on satisfying her majesty's curiosity, would even be for- warded on his journey. Benowm, the barbarian capital, to which Park was then conveyed, proved to be a mere camp, composed of a number of dirty tents, intermingled with herds of camels, horses, and oxen. He was surrounded by crowds, actuated partly by curiosity and partly by that malig- nant feeling which always inflames the Moor against the Christian. They snatched off" his hat, made him un- button his clothes to show the whiteness of his skin, and counted his fingers and toes, to see if he were really of the same nature with themselves. After being kept for some time in the sun, he Avas lodged in a hut made of corn-stalks, supported by posts, to one of which was tied a wild hog, evidently in derision, and to intimate that they were fit associates for each other. The hog indeed would have been the most harmless part of the affair, had not idle boys taken delight in tormenting and park's first JOURNEi'. 103 exciting the animal to a constant state of fury. Crowds chap. viir. of both sexes incessantly poured in to see the white ciu-iosiTyto man, and he was obliged to continue the whole day but- aee a white toning and unbuttoning his clothes, to show his skin, ^'*'^' and the European manner of dressing and undressing. When curiosity was satisfied, the next amusement was to annoy him, and hence he became the sport of the meanest and most vulgar members of this rude commu- nity. The horsemen took him out, and galloped round him, baiting him as if he had been a wild beast, twirling their swords in his face to show^ their skill in the use of that weapon. Repeated attempts were made to compel Demands on him to work. One of All's sons desired him to mend iiis skill. the lock of a double-barrelled gun, and could scarcely be persuaded that all Europeans did not ply the trade of the smith. He was also installed as barber, and directed to shave the head of a young prince ; but not relishing tliis function, he contrived to give his highness such a cut, that Ali took the alarm, and discharged him as incapable. That chief, under pretence of securing him against de- predation, seized for himself all that remained of the traveller's property. Having examined the instniments, he was greatly astonished at the compass, and particu- larly at its always pointing towards the Great Desert. Park, thinking it A^am to attempt any scientific exposition, said, that its direction was always to the place where his mother dwelt ; whereupon Ali, struck with superstitious dread, desired it to be taken away. Amid these insults, his sufferings were the more sufferings severe from the very scanty measure of food with which ^?^ piiva- he was supplied. At midnight only he received a small mess of kouskous, not nearly enough to satisfy nature. He had been invited indeed to kill and dress his com- panion the hog ; but this he considered as a snare laid for him, believing that the Mohammedans, had they seen him feasting on this impure and hated flesh, would have killed him on the spot. As the dry season advanced, water became scarce and precious, and only a very limited quantity was allowed to reach the infidel, who thus was 104 PARK S FIRST JOURNEY. CHAP. VIII. Great scarcity of water. Knowledge and informa- tion ac- quired. Kancour of the Moors. Visit to t)ie Princess Fatimx made to endure the pangs of the most tormenting thirst. On one occasion, a Moor, who was drawing water for his cows, yielded to his earnest entreaty that he might put the bucket to his mouth ; then, struck with sudden alarm at such a profanation of the vessel, seized it, and poured the liquid into the trough, desiring him to share with the cattle. Park overcame the risings of pride, plunged his head into the Avater, and enjoyed a delicious draught. During this dreadful period, he contrived, neverthe- less, to obtain some information. Even the rudest of his tormentors took pleasure in teaching him the Arabic characters, by tracing them upon the sand. Two Mo- hammedan travellers came to Benowm, from whom he obtained routes to Morocco, Walet, and Timbuctoo ; but they gave the most discouraging report as to the prospects of reaching the latter city. He was told it would not do; the Moors were there entirely masters, and viewed all Christians as children of the devil, and enemies of the prophet. Fatima, the wife of Ali, whose curiosity to see a European he had been brought hither to gratify, was absent all this time, and not even yet expected, while the rancour of the Moors, by whom Park was surrounded, became always more imbittered. A party even proposed that he should be condemned to death, though the king's sons only recommended to put out his eyes, alleging that they resembled those of a cat. Hereupon he began seriously to consider the possibility of escape ; but, besides his being closely watched, the Desert was now so entirely destitute of water, that he must have perished on the road with thirst. He was therefore obliged to await the rainy season, however unfavourable for travelling through the negro territories. On the 30th April, Ali, having occasion to move his quarters, came to Bubaker, the residence of Fatima, and the stranger was introduced to that favourite princess. The beauty of a Moorish female is measured entirely by her circumference ; and to bestow this grace on their daughters, the mothers stuff them with enormous quan- park's first journey. 105 tities of milk and kouskous, the swallowing of which is chap, viil enforced even with blows, till they attain that perfection j^g^J^ of form which renders them a load for a camel. The female dimensions by which Fatima had captivated her royal ^^'■^^^y- lover were very enormous, and she possessed besides Arab features with long black hair. Tliis queen at first shrunk back with horror at seeing before her that monster, a Christian ; but, after putting various questions, began to see in him nothing so wholly different from the rest of mankind. She presented to him a bowl of milk, and continued to show him the only kindness he met with during this dreadful captivity. At length her powerful intercession induced Ali to take Park with him to Jarra, where our traveller hoped to find the means of proceed- ing on his journey. But here a striking event occurred : Ali, through Assault of avarice, had involved himself in the quarrel between the J^ira. monarchs of Kaarta and Bambarra, and news arrived that Daisy was in full march to attack the town. The troops, who ought to have defended the place, fled at the first onset, and nothing remained for the inhabitants but to abandon it, and escape from slaughter or slavery, the dreadful alternatives of African conquest. The scene was affecting. The local attachments of the natives are strong ; and the view of this disconsolate crowd quitting perhaps for ever the place of their birth, the scene of their early life, and where they had fixed all their hopes and desires, presented a striking picture of human calamity. Park w^ould now very gladly have presented himself opposing before his friend Daisy ; but, being afraid that in the dangeis. confusion he should be mistaken for a Moor, and killed as such, he thought it a safer course to join the retreat. He found more difficulty in escaping than he had expected, being seized by three Mohammedans, who threatened to carry him back to Ali, but finally contented themselves with robbing him of his cloak. In flying from savage man, he soon found himself involved in a danger hardly less alarming ; he was in the midst of an extensive desert, in which was neither food nor a drop of water. 106 PARK S FIRST JOURNEY. Fortunate occurrence of rain. CHAP. VIII. Having ascended the loftiest tree within his reach, he Terrible^ could see no boundary to the scene of desolation. The scene of pangs of thirst became intolerable, a dimness spread over his eyes, and he felt as if this life with all its mingled joys and miseries was about to close, — as if all the hopes of glory by Avhich he had been impelled to tliis adven- turous career had vanished, and he was to perish at tho moment, when a few days more would have brought him to the Niger. Suddenly he saw a flash of lightning, and eagerly hailed it as a portent of rain ; the wind then began to blow among the bushes ; but it was a sand- breeze, which continued for an hour to fill the atmosphere with dust. At last there burst forth a brighter flash, fol- lowed by a shower, which being received upon his clothes, the moisture wrung out from them gave him new life. He travelled onwards, passing, but carefully shunning, a village of the Moors ; when thirst, imperfectly satisfied, began again to torment him. Then he heard a delightful sound, the croaking of fi'ogs, and soon reached the muddy pools which they inhabited, when both himself and his Reception at horse enjoyed a copious draught. He came to a Foula village called Sherilla, where the dooty, or chief ma- gistrate, shut the door in his face, and refused him a handful of corn ; however, in passing the suburbs, a poor woman, who was spinning cotton in front of her hut, invited him to enter, and set before him a dish of kous- kous. Next day he was hospitably received by a negro shepherd, who regaled him with dates and boiled com ; but, happening to pronounce the word Nazarani (Chris- tian), the wife and children screamed and ran out of the house, into which nothing could induce them to return. At Wawra, Park considered himself beyond the reach of the Moors ; and, being kindly received, determined to rest two or three days. When he was known to be on his way to Sego, the capital, several women came and besought him to ask the king about their sons, who had been taken away to the army. One had neither seen nor heard of hers for several years : she declared he was no heathen, but said his prayers daily, and that he was Rest at Wawra, park's first journey. 107 often the subject of her dreams. Leavhig this place, he chap, viil came to Dmgyee, where he seemed invested with a sacred j>ece^n it character, — a man earnestly entreating a lock of his hair Dingyee. to be used as a saphie or charm ; and receiving permission to cut it off, he contrived to crop completely one side of the head. Proceeding towards Sego, he joined on the road several small negro parties ; but, as the country became more populous, hospitality was less common. In Moorja, however, though mostly peopled by Moham- medans, he found gayety and abundance. He next passed through several towns and villages, which, in the late war, had been systematically destroyed ; the large bentang-tree, under which the inhabitants used to meet, had been cut down, the wells were filled up, and every thing done which could render the neighbourhood unin- habitable. He passed also a coffie, or caravan, of about caravans of seventy slaves tied together by the neck with thongs of slaves. bullock's hide, seven individuals upon each thong. His horse was now so completely worn out, that, instead of attempting to ride, he found it necessary to drive it before him. Being also barefooted, and in the most miserable plight, he afforded a subject of merriment to the natives, who asked if he had been travelling to Mecca, and made ironical proposals for the purchase of his animal ; even the slaves were ashamed to be seen in his company. At length the near approach to Sego was indicated by Approach to crowds hastening to its market ; and Mr Park was told Sego. that on the following day, the 21st July, that primary object of his search, the Joliba or Great Water, would appear before him. He passed a sleepless night ; but, starting before daybreak, had the satisfaction, at eight o'clock, to see the smoke rising from the town. He over- took some former fellow-travellers, and, in riding through a piece of marshy ground, one of them called out, geo affilli First sight of (see the water), and looking forwards, " I saw," says ^^^^^'^s*- he, " with infinite pleasure, the great object of my mis- sion, the long-sought-for majestic Niger, glittering to the morning sun, as broad as the Thames at Westminster, and flowing slowly to the eastward. I hastened to the 108 PARK S FIRST JOURNEY. CHAP. VIII. brink, and having drunk of the water, lifted up my fer- vent thanks in prayer to the Great Ruler of all things, for having thus far crowned my endeavours with success." Capital o^ ^^^ Park now saw before him Sego, the capital of the the kingdom kingdom of Bambarra. It consisted of four separate of am arra. ^^^rj^g^ ^^yq q^i each side of the river, surrounded with high mud walls, — the houses, though only of clay, neatly whitewashed, — the streets commodious, with mosques rising in every quarter, — and it was estimated to con- tain about thirty thousand inhabitants. The numerous canoes on the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surrounding country, presented altogether an appearance of civilisation and magnificence little expected in the bosom of Africa. The traveller sought a passage to Sego-see-Korro, the quarter where the king resided ; but, owing to the concourse of passen- gers, he was detained two hours ; during which time his majesty was apprized that a white man, poorly equipped, was about to pass the river to seek an audience. A chief was immediately sent, with an express order, that the stranger should not cross without the royal permis- sion, and pointed to a village at some distance, where it was recommended that he should pass the night. Park, not a little disconcerted, repaired to the place ; but as the order had not been accompanied with any instructions for his reception, he found every door shut. Turning his horse loose to graze, he was preparing, as a security from wild beasts, to climb a tree and sleep among the branches, when a beautiful and affecting incident oc- curred, which gives a most pleasing view of the negro character. An old woman, returning from the labours of the field, cast on him a look of compassion, and desired him to follow her. She led him to an apartment in her hut, procured a fine fish, which she broiled for his sup- per, and spread a mat for him to sleep upon ; ordering her maidens, who had been gazing in fixed astonish- ment at their guest, to resume their tasks, which they continued to ply through a great part of the night. They cheered their labours with a song, which must Forbid to cross tlie river. Female hos- pitality. park's first journey. 109 have been composed extempore^ since Mr Park, with deep chap, viii emotion, discovered that he himself was the subject of song~oFtiie it. It said, in a strain of affecting simplicity, — " The Negro winds roared, and the rains fell. The poor white man, ^omen. faint and weary, came and sat under our tree. He has no mother to bring him milk, no wife to grind his corn. — Chorus — Let us pity the white man, no mother has he," «Scc. The traveller was singularly gratified, and next morning could not depart without requesting liis land- lady's acceptance of the only gift he had left, two of the four brass buttons that still remained on his waistcoat. He continued two days in this village, during which Deliberation he understood that he was the subject of much delibera- con^mmg tion at court, the Moors and slave-merchants giving the most unfavourable reports of his character and purposes. A messenger came and asked if he had any present, and seemed much disappointed on being told that he had been robbed of every thing. On the second day thereafter appeared another envoy, bearing an injunction from Mansong that the foreigner should not enter Sego, but proceed forthwith on his journey ; to defray the expenses of which a bag containing 5000 cowries was delivered to him. He estimates this sum at only twenty shillings ; but admits that, valued according to the price of provi- sions, it was worth much more, being sufficient to main- tain himself and his horse fifty days. Two days brought our traveller to Sansanding, a large Reception at town with 10,000 inhabitants, and he hoped to enter Sansanding. unnoticed, finding himself mistaken by the negroes for a Moor. Being carried, however, before Counti INIamadi, the dooty, he met a number of Mohammedans, who not only denied the supposed national connexion, but regarded . liim with their usual hatred and suspicion. Several even pretended they had seen him before, and one woman swore that she had kept his house three years at Grallam. The judge put a negative on their proposal of dragging him by force to the mosque ; but they climbed over in great numbers into the court where he had taken up his quarters for the night, insisting that he should perform no park's first journey. Native prejudices overcome. Danger from a lion. CHAP. VIII. his evening devotions, and eat eggs. The first demand was positively declined ; but he professed his utmost readiness to comply with the second. The eggs were accordingly brought, but raw, as the natives imagined it a part of European depravity to be fond of them in that state. His reluctance to partake of this fare exalted him in the eyes of his sage visitants ; his host thereupon killed a sheep, and gave him a plentiful supper. His route now lay through woods, grievously infested Avith all kinds of wild animals. His guide suddenly wheeled his horse round, calling out, " IVara hilli billi ! — a very large lion l" Mr Park's steed was ill fitted to convey him from the scene of danger ; but, seemg nothing, he supposed that the man was mistaken, when the latter exclaimed, " God preserve me !" and the traveller then saw a very large red lion, with his head couched between the fore-paws. His eyes were fixed as by fascination on this sovereign of the beasts, and he expected every moment the fatal spring ; but the savage animal, either not pressed by hunger, or struck with some mysterious awe, remained immovable, and allowed the party to pass unmolested. Real misery arose from a meaner cause, namely, the amazing swarms of musquitoes which ascended from the swamps and creeks, to whose attack, fi'om the ragged state of his garments, he was exposed at every point, and so covered over with blisters that at night he could get no rest. An affecting crisis next arrived : His horse, the faithful and suffering companion of his journey, had been daily becoming weaker. At length, stumbling over some rough ground, he fell : all his master's efforts were insufficient to raise him, and no alternative remained but, — after collecting some grass and laymg it before him, — to leave the poor animal, not without a sad presentiment that, ere long, the rider him- self might perish with hunger and fatigue. He now hired a boat, and was conveyed up the river to Silla, another large town, where the dooty reluctantly permitted him to take shelter from the rain in a damp shed. Half- naked, worn down by fatigue and sickness Sulferinsr trora mus- quitoes. Proceeding by water. park's first journey. hi and foreseeing the approacli of the wet season, by which chap, viii the whole country would be inundated, he began to increasing contemplate his situation with serious alarm. All other dangers and obstacles were small, when compared to the fact, that in proceeding eastward he would be brought more and more within the range of Moorish influence. 'He learned, that at Jenne, though included in Bambarra, the muni- Moorisii cipal power was chiefl}^ in the hands of those fierce and 'anaticism. merciless fanatics, who at Timbuctoo held the entire sway. On these grounds he felt convinced that certain destruction awaited him in his progress thither ; that all his discoveries would perish with himself ; and that his life would be sacrificed in vain. His only hope — and it was but faint — of ever reaching England, depended upon his turning westward, and proceeding ])y the most direct route to the coast. On this course he determined, ■ — a decision which was fully approved both by his em- ployers and by the public. During his stay at Silla, he used every eflbrt to obtain information information respecting the more eastern countries, par- "^^^'"*^^^- ticularly the kingdom of Timbuctoo, and the line of the Niger. He was told that the next great city along that river was Jenne, which was represented as very flourishing, and larger than Sego or any other place in Bambarra. Lower down, the current spread out into an expanse, called Dibbie or the Dark Lake, so extensive. The Dark that in crossing it the canoes during a whole day lost sight of land. On the eastern side it again issued from this lake in two large branches, enclosing the alluvial coun- try of Jinbala, and uniting once more in one channel, flowed on to Kabra, the port of Timbuctoo. That town, Bituated a day's journey northward from the Niger, was described to him as the great centre of the commerce carried on between the Moors and negroes, by means of which the former people had filled it with Mohammedan converts : it was added, that the king and his principal officers belonged to this faith, which was professed there with even more than the usual intolerance. An old negro related, that on his entering a public inn the landlord 112 PARK S FIRST JOURNEY. and exagge- rated inior- matioii. Agreeable sui^prlse. CHAP. viiL laid on the floor a mat and a rope, saying, " If you are a imperf^t Mussulman, you are my friend ; sit down on this mat : if not, you are my slave, and with this rope I will lead you to market." The sovereign, Abu Abrahima, was clothed in silk, lived in great pomp, and possessed immense riches ; but there now appears reason to suspect that, in these reports, both the bigotry and the splendour of Timbuctoo were somewhat exaggerated. Beyond this city, eastward, there was said to be a great kingdom called Houssa, with a capital of the same name, situated on the river. This also was somewhat inaccurate : there is no city called Houssa ; and the term is not applied to a king- dom, but to an extensive region comprehending many principalities, through which the Niger does not pass. Having formed his resolution, he forthwith began his return to the westward, and at Modiboo met with an unexpected and rather pleasing occurrence : While he was conversing with the dooty, a horse was heard to neigh ; upon which the magistrate asked, smiling, if he knew who was speaking to him — and presently going out, led in the traveller's own horse, greatly recruited by rest. At first he drove the animal before him, but afterwards moimted, and found him of great benefit in passing the swamps and swollen rivulets which ob- structed his route. He soon learned that dangers, even greater than he had feared, beset his path : The King of Bambarra had been at last so worked upon by Moorish counsellors, that, repenting even his former stinted kindness, he had sent messengers to apprehend Park, and to bring him a prisoner to Sego ; from which fate he escaped only by the retrograde direction he had taken. From that time every door was resolutely shut against him ; at Sansanding his best friend Counti Mamadi privately paid him a visit, and advised him to leave the place early next morning, and to make no delay in the vicinity. Accordingly, at a village near the capital he obtained a confirmation of these unfavourable tidings^ and was exhorted to lose no time if he wished to get safe out of Bambarra. He then quitted the road, and struck Increasing daiigers. park's FIRST JOURNEY. 113 off through fields and swamps, at one time intending to CHAP, via swim across the Niger, and push towards the Gold Coast , jroiio^g but he afterwards resolved to pursue his course west- the course of ward along the river, and thus ascertain its precise line. ^^^ ^^^^"^ He had now nothing to subsist on except what charity bestowed, which was only an occasional handful of raw com. There was also the greatest difficulty in finding a way through the swampy and inundated grounds. Once both his horse and he sunk to the neck in mud, and came out so completely besmeared that they were com- pared by the natives to two dirty elephants. At another time, when he had stripped and was leading his animal through a river that took him up to the neck, a friendly African called out, that he would perish if he went on, African and undertook to procure a canoe ; but when he came ftiendiiness out, and his white skin was distinctly seen, the stranger put his hand to his mouth, exclaiming in a low tone of amazement, " God preserve me ! what is this 1" He continued his kindness, however ; and at Taffaro, where our traveller was shut out from every house and obliged to sleep under a tree, brought him some supper. One of his most disagreeable adventures was at Souha, where the dooty, after a surly refusal of every refreshment, called a slave, and ordered him to dig a pit, uttering at the same time expressions of anger and vexation. The hole became deeper and deeper, till it assumed the ap- pearance of a grave ; and Park, who saw no one but himself to be put into it, began to think it high time to move off. At length, the slave went away, and then Avarice of a returned, holding by the leg and arm the naked corpse of a boy about nine years old, which he threw in with an air of savage unconcern, the master exclaiming, " Na- phula attiniata ! — ^money lost, money lost !" Our coun- tryman withdrew in the deepest disgust at this display of brutal avarice. The only hearty meal he obtained for many days was from a Moslem convert, who, pre- senting a board, entreated him to write a saphie upon it, the return for which would be a good supper of rice and salt. This was too important an offer to be rejected ou slave-owner 114 park's first journey. lieward for a written charm. Arrival at Bammakoo. Hospitable reception jit Kooma. CHAP. VIII. account of nice scruples. He therefore covered the board with the Lord's Prayer, which his host carefully washed off and drank, afterwards licking the wood with his tongue. For this service, in addition to his evening repast, he received next morning a breakfast of meal and milk. The traveller now arrived at Bammakoo, where the level country on this side of the Niger terminates ; but, on wishing to cross to the other bank, he was informed that the river would not be fordable for several months, and that no canoe could be procured large enough to transport himself and his horse. At length there was pointed out a path, rocky and difficult, but through which he might contrive to pick a way under the direction of a Jili-kea, or singing-man, who was going to Sibidooloo. The road, however, proved excessively rough and peril- ous, when his tuneful conductor, finding himself mis- taken in the way, sprang up among the cliffs, and quickly disappeared. Mr Park was obliged to return and search among a number of glens, till he found a track marked by the tread of horses, which led him to Kooma, a beautiful sequestered village in the heart of those barren mountains, where, on the produce of a small fertile val- ley, the inhabitants lived in peaceful abundance. They showed that kind hospitality, which had been bestowed only scantily and occasionally in the still more fruitful regions below. Next day he set out for Sibidooloo ; but on this route his last and greatest disaster awaited him. In passing a rivulet he found a shepherd, who had been wounded by a party of banditti, and soon after saw a man sitting on the stump of a tree, while from among the grass appeared the heads of six or seven others, with muskets in their hands. Seeing it impos- sible to escape, he resolved to meet the danger with a fearless aspect. Pretending to take them for elephant- hunters, he went up and asked if their chase had been successful. Instead of answering, one of them ordered him to dismount ; but then, as if recollecting himself, he waved with his hand to proceed. The traveller had not gone far when he heard voices behind, and, looking round, Meeting with robbers. park's first jolrney 115 saw them all in full pursuit, calling to liim that they chap, vni were sent to carry him and his horse before the King striped and of the Foulalis at Fooladoo. He did not attempt a vain robbed. resistance, hut accompanied them till they came to a dark spot in the depth of the wood, when one of them said, " This place will do." The same man snatched off his hat ; another instantly tore away the last remaining button from his waistcoat ; the rest searched his pockets, and investigated, with the most scrupulous accuracy, every portion of his apparel ; and at last they deter- mined to make sure work by stripping him to the skin. As he pointed to his pocket-compass with earnest entreaty, one of them cocked a pistol, threatening, if he should touch it, to shoot him tlii'ough the head. When reth'ing, they were seized with a feeling of remorse, and threw to him his worst shirt, a pair of trousers, and his hat, in the crown of which he kept his memoranda. After this blow, Mr Park felt a deeper depression than Desolate he had experienced under any former disaster. Naked *^"° ^^^°" and alone in a vast wilderness, 500 miles from any settle- ment, surrounded by savage beasts and b}^ men still more savage, he saw no prospect before him but to lie down and perish. From this depth of despondency his mind was suddenly revived by a mingled impression of nature and of religion : A small sprig of moss, in a state of fructi- fication, struck his eye, the delicate conformation of whose roots, leaves, and capsule, could not be contemplated with- out admiration. He then bethought himself, — " Can that Return of Being, who planted, watered, and brought to perfection, in this obscure corner of the world, a thing which ap- pears of so small importance, look with unconcern upon the situation and sufferings of creatures formed after his own image V Inspired by these just and pious reflec- tions, he started up, went on despite of fatigue, and found deliverance to be nearer than he had any reason to anticipate. Having arrived at Sibidooloo, he waited on the niansa, "^I^^qIi^q or chief ruler of the town, and related his misfortune ; when the latter, taking his pipe from his mouth and ]]6 PARK S FIRST JOURNEY. CHAP. VIII. Kind treat- ment by- native chiefs. Recovery of bis property. Meeting with Karia Taura. tossing up his sleeve, said with an indignant air, " Sit down : you shall have every thing restored to you ; I have sworn it." He then ordered several of his people to go by daybreak next morning over the hills, and ob- tain the assistance of the dooty of Bammakoo in pursuing the robbers. Thus relieved, Mr Park remained two days in this hospitable village, but found it pressed by so severe a famine that he could not think of tasking their benevolence any longer, and went on to a town called Wonda. Here the mansa, who was at once chief magis- trate and schoolmaster, received him with kindness ; but the dearth was felt there with equal severity. Remark- ing five or six women, Avho came daily to receive an allowance of com from the dooty, he asked an explana- tion. " Look at that boy," said the local dignitary ; " his mother has sold him to me for fifty days' subsistence for herself and family." The traveller, having during his stay become very unwell, heard the hospitable land- lord and his wife lamenting the necessity of supporting him till he should either recover or die. After the lapse of nine days, messengers arrived from Sibidooloo with his horse, harness, clothes, and even the pocket-compass, though broken ; all of which had been recovered by the exertions of the mansa. The beast being reduced to a skeleton, and quite unfit for a journey over the flinty roads, was presented to his land- lord ; the saddle and bridle were sent to his generous friend at Sibidooloo. Then, sick as he was, the discoverer took leave, and went through several towns in the moun- tain-territory of Handing, where he was, on the whole, hospitably treated. His arrival at Kamalia formed a most important era. There he met Karfa Taura, a negro, who was collecting a coffle of slaves for the Gambia, and by whom he was told it was impossible at this season to traverse the Jallonka wilderness, in which there were eight rapid rivers to be crossed. He however, offered to support him in the interval, and conduct him at the proper season to the coast, asking only a reasonable compensation, which was fixed at the value of a prime park's fi.^st journey. 117 slave. Mr. l^ark was thus seasonably delivered from all chap. vin. his troubles, and obtained a more certain prospect of g^^^^^j^ reaching home in safety. delivery He no longer encountered those difficulties and vicis- troubles situdeswhich had rendered the formerpart of his journey so full of interest and adventure. In traversing the high countries of Manding, Konkodoo, and Dindikoo, his attention was much drawn to the patient industry of the natives, in collecting gold-dust by laborious washings of detrital sand. At the place where he CuHous crossed the Baling, the principal head-stream of the ['iie^Bafin-^*'^^ Senegal, he was struck also with the rude ingenuity of a very curious bridge. *' The river at this place," he says, " is smooth and deep, and has very little current. Two tall trees, when tied together by the tops, are sufficiently long to reach from one side to the other, the roots resting upon the rocks, and the tops floating in tiie water. When a few trees have been placed in this direction, they are covered with dry bamboos, so as to form a floating bridge, with a sloping gangway at each end, where the trees rest upon the rocks." The bridge is renewed every year, the old one being always swept away by the floods of the rainy season. The most formidable part of the journey homeward journey was through the vast and verv dense forest of Jallonka, tinough the '^ » ' forest or in which the caravan travelled during five days without Jallonka, seeing a single human habitation. They marched in close and regular order, to protect the party against the attack of wild beasts, whose roarings were heard continually around them, and to which every one who straggled was sure to tall a victim. Such, too probably, was the lot of Nealee, a female slave, who, either from obstinacy or excessive fatigue, refused to proceed any farther ; and after vain attempts to compel her by the whip, she was abandoned to her fate. On emerging Ifom this wood, they had no difficulty in passing through the fine open country of Dentilla and the smaller wilderness of Tenda. jMr. Park was now again on the CHAP. VIII. Reception ol Park at Pisania Difficulty in reaching home. Enthusinsm excited by his return. 118 park's FIRST JOURNEY. Gambia ; and, on the 10th June 1797, reached Pisania, where he was received as one risen from the dead ; for all the traders from the interior had believed and re- ported, that, like Major Houghton, he was murdered by the Moors of Ludamar. Ivarfa, his benefactor, received double the stipulated price, and was overpowered with gratitude ; but when he saw the commodious furniture, the skilful manufactures, the superiority in all the arts of life, displayed by Europeans, compared with the attainments of his countr^nnen, he was deeply mortified, and exclaimed, " Black men are nothing !" expressmg his surprise that any one could find a motive for commg to so miserable a land as Africa. The traveller had some difficulty in reaching home. He was obliged to embark, on the loth June, in a vessel bound to America, and was afterwards driven by stress of weather to the Island of Antigua, whence he sailed on the 24th November, and on the 22d December landed at Falmouth. He arrived in London before dawn on the morning of Christmas-day, and in the garden of the British Museum accidentally met his brother-in-law Mr Dickson. Two years having elapsed since any tidings of him reached England, he had been given up for lost ; so that his friends and the public were equally astonished and delighted by his reappearance. The report of his unexpected return, after making such splendid discover- ies, kindled throughout the nation a higher enthusiasm than had perhaps been excited by the result of any for- mer mission of the same nature. To satisfy the public impatience, an outline was drawn up by Mr Bryan Ed- wards, accompanied with learned geograpliical illustra- tions by Major Rennell. The entire narrative was published early in 1799, and besides the interest insepar- able from the remarkable events described, the merit of being written in a pleasing and animated style has ren- dered it one of the most popular books in the English language. park's SECOND JOURNEY. 119 CHAPTER IX. Park''s Second Journey. Views under which he was sent out — Departure — Overtaken by the rainy Season— Great Sickness and Distress— Embarks on the Niger — Negotiations with the King of Bambarra — Obtains Permission to build a Vessel— Sansanding— Sets sail — Accounts of his Death, The discoveries of Park in his first journey, though the CHAP. IX. most splendid made by any modern traveller, rather EffedTof excited than satisfied the national curiosity. The Niger I'aiifs had been seen flowing eastward into the interior of ^^^'^'^^ • Africa ; and hence a still deeper interest and mystery were suspended over the future course and termination of that great central stream. Kingdoms had been dis- covered, more flourishing and more populous than any formerly known in that continent ; but other kingdoms, still greater and wealthier, were reported to exist in re- gions w^iich he had vainly attempted to reach. The lustre of his achievements had diffused among the public in general an ardour for discovery, W'hich was formerly confined to a few" enlightened individuals. It was evi- dent, however, that the eff'orts of no private association could penetrate the depths of the African continent, and overcome the obstacle presented by its distance, its deserts, and its barbarism. Hence, George III., the Royal patron and employer of the celebrated Cook, w^as induced * ^°°^se. to come forward again as the promoter of discovery in this new sphere ; and accordingly, in October 1801, Mr Park w^as invited by government to undertake an expe- dition on a larger scale. Having in the mean time mar- 120 park's SECO^'D JOURNEY. CHAP. IX. ried the daughter of Mr Anderson, with whom he had ParkTsetti - ^^^"^'^^ ^^^^ apprenticeship as a surgeon, and having entered ment at with some success on the practice of his profession in Peebles. ^^le town of Peebles, it was supposed that, content with laurels so dearly earned, he had renounced a life of peril and adventure. But none of these ties could detain him, when the invitation was given to renew and complete his splendid career, on which, indeed, his mind had been j^j brooding with enthusiastic ardour. He had held much course of the intercourse with Mr Maxwell, a gentleman who had long Niger. commanded a vessel in the African trade, by whom he was persuaded that the Congo, which, since its discovery by the Portuguese, had been almost lost sight of by Europeans, would prove to be the channel by which the Niger, after watering all the regions of Interior Africa, enters the Atlantic. The scientific world were veiy much disposed to adopt the same views on this subject ; and, accordingly, the whole plan of the expedition was adjusted with an avowed reference to them. But the agitation of the public mind, by the change of ministry and the war with France, delayed farther proceedings till 1804, when he was desired by Lord Camden, the colonial secretary, to form his arrangements, with an assurance of being suppHed with every means necessary for their accomplishment. The course which he now suggested, as the result of his dearly-bought experience, was, that he should no longer travel as a single and unprotected Proposed wanderer. He proposed to take with him a small party, party.""^ who, being well armed and disciplined, might face almost any force which the natives could oppose to them ; with these he meant to proceed direct to Sego ; where he in- tended to build two boats 40 feet long, and thence to sail downwards to the estuary of the Congo. Instructions were accordingly sent out to Goree, that he should be furnished liberally with men and every thing else of which he might stand in need. Mr Park sailed from Portsmouth in the Crescent transport on the SOth January 1805. About the 8th March he arrived at the Cape Verd Islands ; and on the park's second journey. J 23 28th readied Goree. There he was joined by an officer chap. ix. and thirty-five soldiers, and he provided himself with .— — asses from the Islands, where the breed of these animals Goree. is excellent, and which appeared well fitted for traversing the rugged hills of the high country whence issue the infant streams of the Senegal and Niger. He took with him also two sailors and four artificers, who had been sent from England. But before all these measures could be completed a month had elapsed, and it was then evident that the rainy season could not be far distant, — a period in which travelling is very difficult and trying to European constitutions. It is manifest, therefore, Unwise that he ought to have remained at Goree or Pisania till ^^^^^ that sickly period had passed ; but, in his enthusiastic state of mind, it would have been extremely painful to linger so long on the eve of his grand and favourite undertaking. He hoped, and it seemed possible, that before the middle of June, when the rains usually begin, he might reach the Niger, which could then be navigated without any serious toil or exposure. He departed, therefore, with his little band on the fourth day of May, and proceeded through Medina, along the banks of the Gambia. With so strong a party, he was no longer Depredations dependent on the protection of the petty kings and natives mansas ; but the natives, seeing him so well provided, thought he had now no claim on their hospitality ; on the contrary, they eagerly seized every opportunity to obtain some of the valuable articles which they saw in his pos- session. Thefts were frequent ; the kings drove a hard bargain for presents ; and at one place the women, with immense labour, had emptied all the wells, that they miofht derive an advantau:e from sellinf? the water. Sub- Conrse of .°. . .1 . .1 ,.,,1 ivr -r. 1 tlie Gambia. mittmg quietly to these little annoyances, Mr Park proceeded along the Gambia, till he saw it flowing from the south between the hills of Foota Jallo and a high mountain called Muianta. Turning his face almost due west, he passed the streams of the Ba Lee, the Ba Fing, and the Ba Woollima, the three principal tributaries of the Senegal. This change of direction led him through 122 PARK S SECOND JOURNEY. CHAP. IX. Romantic character of the villages. Beginning ot the raiiiv Royal band of depre- dator?. a tract much more pleasing than that passed in his dreary return through Jallonka and its Avilderness. The villages, built in delightful mountain-glens and looking from their elevated precipices over a great extent of wooded plain, appeared romantic beyond any thing he had ever seen. The rocks near Sullo assumed every possible diversity of form, towering like ruined castles, spires, and pyramids. One mass of granite so strongly resembled the remains of a Gothic abbey, with its niches and ruined staircase, that it required some time to satisfy him of its being wholly the work of nature. The crossing of the rivers, now considerably swelled, was attended with many diffi- culties ; and in one of them Isaaco the guide was nearly devoured by a crocodile. It was near Satadoo, soon after passing the Faleme, that the party experienced the first tornado, which, marking the commencement of the rainy season, proved for them " the beginning of sorrows." On such occasions, violent storms of thunder and lightning are followed by deluges of rain, which cover the ground three feet deep, and have a peculiarly malignant influence on the European frame. In three days twelve men were on the sick-list ; and the natives, as they saw the strength of the expedition decline, became more bold and frequent in their predatory attacks. At Gimbia, accordingly, attempts were made to overpower, by main force, the whole party, and seize all they possessed ; but by merely presenting their mus- kets, the assault was repelled without bloodshed. At Maniakorra the whole population hung on their rear for a considerable time, headed by thirty of the king's sons ; and great delicacy was felt as to the mode of dealing with these august thieves, so long as their proceedings were not quite intolerable. One of them came up and engaged Mr Park in conversation, while another ran off with his fowling-piece ; and, on his attempting pursuit, the first took the opportunity of seizing his great-coat. Orders were now given to fire on all depredators, royal or plebeian ; and after a few shots had been discharged, without producing any fatal effects, the thieves concealed park's second journey. 123 themselves among the rocks, and were merely seen peep- ing through the crevices. The expedition continued to melt away beneath the deadly influence of an African climate. Every day added to the list of sick or dead, or of those who declared them- selves unable to proceed. Near Bangassi, four men lay down at once ; it was even with difficulty that Mr Park dragged forward his brother-in-law Mr Anderson, while he himself felt very sick and faint. His spirits were about to sink entirely, when, coming to an eminence, he obtained a distant view of the mountains, the southern base of which he knew to be watered by the Niger. Then indeed he forgot his fever, and thought only of climbing the blue hills which delighted his eyes. But before he could arrive at that desired point, three weeks elapsed, during which he experienced the greatest difficulty and sufl"ering. At length he reached the sum- mit of the ridge which divides the Senegal from the Joliba, and coming to the brow of the hill, saw again this majestic river rolling its immense stream along the plain. Yet his situation and prospects were gloomy indeed, when compared to those with which he had left the banks of the Gambia. Of thirty-eight men whom he then had with him, there survived only seven, all suffering from severe sickness, and some nearly at the last extremity. Still his mind was full of the most sanguine hope, espe - cially when, on the 22d August, he felt himself floating on the waters of his favourite stream, and advancing towards the ultimate object of his ambition. He hired canoes to convey his party to Marraboo ; and the river, here a mile in breadth, was so full and so deep, that its current carried him easily over the rapids, but Avith a velocity which was in a certain degree painful. From the place just named he sent the interpreter Isaaco to Mansong, with part of the presents, to treat with that monarch for protection, as well as for permis- sion to build a boat. This envoy was absent several days, during which, great anxiety was felt, heightened by several unfavourable rumours, among which was, that CHAP. IX, Deadly influences of the climate. Great diffi- culties aud suffering. Treaty with a native prince. 124 PARK S SECOND JOURNEY. CHAP. IX Favourable reception of his mes- senger. Singular pro- ceedings of tlie king. Politic mes- Bage of Park the king had killed him with his own hand, and an- nounced his purpose to do the same to every white man that should come within his reach. These fears were dispelled hy the appearance of the royal songster, who brought a message of welcome, with an invitation to repair to Sego, and deliver in person the remainmg presents intended for the monarch. At Samee the party met Isaaco, who reported that there was something very odd in his reception b}'- Mansong. That prince assured him, in general, that the expedition would be allowed to pass down the Niger ; but whenever the envoy came to particulars, and proposed an interview with Mr Park, the king began to draw squares and triangles with his finger on the sand ; and in this geometrical operation his mind seemed wholly absorbed. Isaaco suspected that he laboured under some superstitious dread of white men, and sought by these figures to defend himself against their magic influence. It was finally arranged that the presents should be delivered, not to the sove- reign himself, but to Modibinne, his prime minister, who was to come to Samee for that purpose. He accordingly appeared, and began by requiring, in his royal mas- ter's name, why Park had come to Bambarra with so great a train from so distant a country, — allowing him a day to prepare his reply. Next morning the traveller gave an answer in form, representing his mission as chiefly commercial, and holding' forth the advantages which Bambarra might reap by receiving foreign goods dhectly from the coast, instead of circuitously, as now, through Morocco, the Desert, Timbuctoo, and Jenne, having a profit levied upon them at every transfer. Modibinne expressed satisfaction both with the reasons and with the presents ; and on his return next day, off"ered, on the part of Mansong, the option of building a boat either at Samee, Sego, Sansanding, or Jenne. He chose Sansanding, thereby enabling the barbarian ruler to avoid all intercourse with Europeans, of whom he seemed to entertain so mysterious a dread. The voyage down the river was distressing ; for, though park's second journey. 125 the fatigue of travelling was avoided, the heat was so chap. ix. intense that it was thought sufficient to have roasted a Great^ffer- sirloin : and the sick had thus no chance of recovery, ing from tiie Sansanding was found a prosperous and flourishing ^^^^' town, with a crowded market remarkahly well arranged. The principal articles, which were cloth of Houssa or Jenne, antimony, beads, and indigo, were each arranged in stalls, shaded by mats from the rays of the sun. There was a separate place for salt, the main article of their trade. The whole presented a scene of commercial order and activity totally unlooked for in the interior of Africa. Mansong had promised to furnish two boats ; but they laray supply were late in arriving, and also proved very defective. In toatl^'^ ^^^ order to raise money, it was necessary to sell a consider- able quantity of goods. Nor was it without much trouble that the two skiffs were finally converted into the schooner Joliba, forty feet long, six broad, and draw- ing only one foot of water, — the fittest form for navi- gating the river downward to the ocean. During Park's stay at Sansanding he had the misfor- Death of tune to lose his brother-in-law Mr Anderson, to whom Anderson. his attachment was so strong as to make him say, — " No event which took place during the journey ever threw the smallest gloom over my mind till I laid Mr Anderson in the grave. I then felt myself as if left a second time lonely and friendless amidst the wilds of Africa." Though the party was now reduced to five Europeans, one of whom was deranged, and though the most gloomy anticipations could not fail to arise in the mind of our traveller, liis firmness was in no degree shaken. He announced in a letter to Lord Camden his int expeditions. Causes of Park's failure. CHAPTER XL Government Expeditions. Great Expedition planned under Tuckey and Peddie— Captain Tuckey reaches the Congo — Difficulties encountered — Great Sickness— Disastrous Issue— Major Peddie arrives at Ka- kundy — His Death— Captain Campbell advances into the Foulah Territory— Obliged to return — His Death— Gray— Laing— Ritchie and Lyon — Death of Ritchie. CHAP. XL The fate of Park, notwittistanding the deep regret it excited in England and throughout Europe, presented nothing which could destroy the hope of future success ; for the chief cause of failure could be easily traced to the precipitation into which he had been betrayed by a too ardent enthusiasm. Nor had any thing been discovered adverse to the hypothesis that identified the Niger witli the Congo, which still retained a strong hold on the public mind. The views of government and of the nation on Plan of a *^^^^ subject were entu-ely in unison. It was therefore great expedi- determined that an expedition on a large scale should be fitted out, divided into two portions, one to descend the Niger and the other to ascend the Congo ; which two par- ties, it was fondly hoped, would effect a triumphant meet- ing in the middle of the great stream they were sent to explore. This resolution was loudly applauded ; and never perhaps did an armament, expected to achieve the most splendid victories, excite deeper interest than the one now proj ected, which seemed destined to triumph over the dark- ness that had so long enveloped the vast interior of Africa. The expedition to the Congo was intrusted to Captain tion, GOVERXMEKT EXPEDITIONS. ]43 Tuckey, an officer of merit and varied services, who chap. XT. had published several works connected with geography Quaiifi^- and navigation. Besides a crew of about hft}', includ- "^'O'ls o^ k''^".' ing marines and mechanics, he was accompanied by ]Mr ' Smith, an eminent botanist, who likewise possessed some knowledge of geology ; Mr Cranch, a self-taught but able zoologist ; Mr Tudor, a good comparative anatomist ; Mr Lockhart, a gardener from Kew ; and Mr Galwey, an intelligent person who volunteered to join the party. They sailed from Deptford on the 16th February 1810, J^'e^expe^ "^ and reached Malemba on the 80th June, where they dition. met with a cordial reception from the mafook, or king'q merchant, in the belief that they were come to make up a cargo of slaves. The chiefs, on being reluctantly con- vinced of the contrary, burst into the most furious invectives against the crowned heads of Europe, parti- cularly our own most gracious sovereign, whom they denominated " the Devil," imputing chiefly to him the stop put to this odious but lucrative traffic. A few days brought the English into the channel of the Congo ; which, to their great disappointment, instead of exhibiting the immense size they had been taught to expect, scarcely appeared a river of the second class. The stream, it is Disappoint- true, was then at the lowest, but the depth being still "^^" ' more than 150 fathoms, it was impossible to estimate the mass of water which it might convey to the ocean. The banks were swampy, overgrown with mangrove- trees ; and the profound silence and repose of these extensive forests made a solemn impression upon the mind. At Embomma, the emporium of this district, much interest was excited by the discovery tliat a negro officiating as cook's mate was a prince of the blood. He Megroof was w^elcomed with rapture by his father, and with a general rejoicing by the whole village. The young savage was soon arrayed in full African pomp, having on an embroidered coat very much tarnished, a silk sash, and a black glazed hat surmounted by an enormous feather. Captain Tuckey was introduced to the chevoo, or hereditary chief, who, with his huge gilt buttons. 144 GOVERNMENT EXPEDITIONS. CHAP. XI. Suspicions of the native prince. The Yellala or Great Cataract. [mproved aopearance of tlie country. stockings of pink sarcenet, red lialf-boots, and high- crowned embroidered hat, reminded him of punch in a puppet-sliow. All attempts to convey to this sage prince any idea of the objects of the expedition proved vain. The terms which express science and an enlightened curiosity did not excite in his mind a single idea, and he rang continual changes on the questions, " Are you come to trade !" and, " Are you come to make war ?" — unable to conjecture any other motive. At length, having received a solemn declaration that there was no intention to wage hostilities, he sealed peace by the acceptance of a large present of brandy. After sailing between ridges of high rocky hills, the expedition came to the Yellala, or Great Cataract ; and here they met with a second disappointment. Instead of another Niagara, which general report had led them to expect, they saw only "a comparative brook bubbling over its stony bed." The cascade appears to be occasioned merely by masses of granite, fragments of which have fallen down and blocked up the stream. Yet this ob- struction rendered it quite impossible for the boats to pass ; nor could they be carried across the precipices and deep ravines by which the country was intersected. The discoverers were therefore obliged to proceed by land through this difficult region, which, without a guide on whom they could rely, was attended with overwhelm- ing toil. Cooloo, Inga, and Mavoonda, the principal villages, were separated by wide intervals, which often placed the travellers under the necessity of sleeping in the open air. At length the country improved and became more level, the river widened, and the obstacles to its navigation gradually disappeared ; but just as the enter- prise began to assume a prosperous aspect, indications of its fatal termination were already perceptible. The health of the party was rapidly giving way under the effects of fatigue, as well as the malignant mfluence of an atmo- sphere at once moist and burning. Tudor, Cranch, and Galwey, were successively obliged to return to the ship ; and Captam Tuckey, after struggling some time against GOVERNMENT EXPEDITIONS. 145 the increasing pressure of disease and exhaustion, as well CHAP. XI. as the accumulating difficulties of the expedition, saw the Fatafciose necessity of putting a stop to its farther progress. Mr of the expe- Smith at iirst expressed deep disappointment at this ^^^^^ resolution, but soon became so ill that he could scarcely be conveyed to the vessel. On reachmg it, a sad scene awaited the survivors : Cranch, Tudor, and Galwey were no more ; they had sunk, one after another, under the weight of disease. Mr Smith soon shared their fete ; and Tuckey himself, on the 4th October, added one more to the number of deaths, without having suffered the usual attack of fever. He had been exliausted by con- stant depression and mental anxiety. From this unhappy expedition, however, some infor- information mation was obtained respecting a part of Africa not visited obtained by for several centuries. No trace indeed was seen of the aiuon? ^ great kingdoms, or of the cities and armies described by the Portuguese missionaries ; so that, though the interior may not improbably be more populous than the banks of the river, there must, in these pious narratives, have been much exaggeration. The largest towns, or rather villages, did not contain above 100 houses, with 500 or 600 inhabitants. They v>^ere governed by chenoos, with a power nearly absolute, and having mafooks under them, who were chiefly employed in the collection of revenue. The people were merry, idle, good-humoured, hospitable, Cliaracter of and liberal, with rather an innocent and agreeable ex- pression of countenance. The greatest blemish in their character appeared in the treatment of the female sex, on whom they devolved all the laborious duties of life, even more exclusively than is usual among negro tribes ; holding their virtue also in such slender esteem, that the greatest chiefs made it an object of traffic. Upon this head, however, they have evidently learned much evil from their intercourse with Europeans ; a remark ap- plicable not only to the shores of Africa, but also to the more interesting settlements in the South Sea. Meantime the other section of the expedition under Major Peddie, whose instructions led him to descend the 146 GOVERNMENT EXPEDITIONS. CHAP. XL Expedition and death of ^Faior Peddie. Captain CampbelL Detension and retain. Snccessive deaths of the leaders. Niger, arrived at the mouth of the Senegal. Instead of the beaten track along the banks of that river, or of the Gambia, he preferred the route through the country of the Foulahs, which, though nearer, was more difficult and less explored. On the 17th November 1816, he sailed from the Senegal, and on 14th Decembei?, the party, consisting of 100 men and 200 animals, landed at Kakund}-, on the Rio Nunez ; but, before they could begin then- march, the major was attacked with fever and died. Captain Campbell, on whom the command now devolved, proceeded in the line proposed till he arrived at a small river called the Panietta, on the frontier of the Foulah territory. By this time many of the beasts of burden had perished, and great difficulty was found in obtaining a sufficient quantity of provisions. Tlie King of the Foulahs, on being asked for permission to pass through his territories, seemed alarmed at hearing of so large a body of foreigners about to enter his country. He contrived, under various pretexts, to detain them on the frontier four months, during which their stock of food and clothing gradually diminished, while tliey were suffering all the evils that arise from a sickly climate and a scanty supply of necessaries. At length their situation became such as to place them under the absolute necessity of returning ; and all their animals being dead it was necessary to hire the natives to carry their baggage, — an expedient which gave occasion to frequent pillage. They reached Kakundy with the loss only of Mr Rum- mer the naturalist ; but Captain Campbell, overcome by sickness and exertion, died two days after, on the 18th of June 1817. The superintendence was then transferred to Lieutenant Stokoe, a spirited young naval officer, who had joined the expedition as a volunteer. He formed a new scheme for proceeding into the interior ; but un- happily he also sunk under the effects of the climate and the fatigues of the journey. A sentence of death now seemed pronounced against all who should attempt to penetrate the African continent ; and yet there were still daring spirits who did not shrink GOVERNMENT EXPEDITIONS. 147 from the undertaking. Captain Gray of the Royal African Corps, who had accompanied the expedition, the fate of which has just been narrated, undertook, in the year 1818, to perform a journey along the more fre- quented banks of the Gambia. He arrived without any obstacle at Boolibani, the capital of Bondou, where he remained from the 20th June 1818, to the 22d May 1819 ; but owing to the jealousy of the monarch he was permitted to proceed no farther. With some difficulty he reached Gallam, where he met Staff-surgeon Dockard, who had gone forward to Sego to ask permission to pro- ceed through Bambarra, — a request which had also been evaded. The whole party then returned to Senegal. In 1821, Major Laing was sent on a mission from Sierra Leone, through the Timannee, Kooranko, and Soolima countries, with the view of forming some commercial arrangements. On this journey he found reason to be- lieve that the source of the Niger lay much farther to the south than Park had supposed. At Falaba he was assured that it might have been reached in three days, had not the Kissi nation, in whose territory it was situated, been at war with the Soolimanas, with whom the major then resided. He was inclined to fix the source of this gi-eat river a very little above the ninth degree of latitude. The British government were, meantime, indefatigable in their endeavours to find out other channels for explor- ing the interior of Africa. The Bashaw of Tripoli, though he had usurped the throne by violent means, showed a disposition to improve his country by admitting the arts and learning of Europe ; while the judicious conduct of Mr Warrington, our consul, inclined him to cultivate the friendship of Britain. As, through his tributary king- dom of Fezzan he held a constant communication with Bornou and the other principal states of Central Africa, he readily undertook to promote the views of any English expedition which might be sent in that direction. Such an opportunity was not to be lost. The usual means were supplied by the ministry, and the ordinary inducements held forth by the Association. Mr Ritchie, a young man of 1 CHAP. XI. Journey undertaken by Captain Gray Journey of Major Laiiu Persevering zeal of the British government. 148 GOVERNMENT EXPEDITIONS. CHAP. XL Ritchie and Lyon's expa- dition. Base charac- ter of the Sultan of Tripoli. Death of Kitcliie. scientific acquirements and zeal for discovery, undertook the direction of this adventure ; and he was accompanied by Lieutenant Lyon, who, as a naval officer, was expected to be useful in navigating the Niger when the party should reach that river. These gentlemen were perfectly well received at Tripoli, and set out, on the 22d March 1819, for Fezzan with Mukni, the sultan, who gave them the most solemn assurances of protection. This chief, however, was a ruffian, who had made his way to power by the massacre of the late sovereign and his brother, and who supported his interest at Tripoli by annual slave-hunts, which he extended over the whole Desert to the frontier of Soudan. By such means he brought annually to that town 4000 or 5000 of those unhappy victims, a large proportion of whom were bestowed in presents to his liege lord. Under a guardianship so in- auspicious the travellers could hardly expect that support of which they soon stood very much in need. Mourzouk was found extremely unhealthy, being intensely hot, and surrounded by pools of stagnant water, which rendered even the natives liable to fever and ague. The members of the expedition soon felt its effects. Lieutenant Lyon being seized with dysenter}^, and Mr Ritchie with bilious fever, under which they languished during the whole summer. The treacherous Mukni not only withheld all aid, but studiously prevented others from giving them assistance. At length the chief of the mission, over- whelmed by disease and anxiety, died on the 20th November 1819 ; after which Mr Lyon found liimself without the means of penetrating farther than to the southern frontier of Fezzan. He obtained a good deal of information respecting the remoter countries, which, how- ever, has been rendered less important by the fuller and more recent intelligence received through Denham and Clapperton. He passes a very unfavourable judgment upon the territor^^ of Fezzan, which he considers nearly as barren as any part of the surrounding desert. The cul- tivation is confined to a few gardens, into which water is raised by immense labour from wells of considerable depth. DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 149 CHAPTER XII. Denhnm and Clapperton. Arrangements w4th the Court of Tripoli— The Travellers ar- rive there— Journey to Mourzouk— Difficulties— Agreement ■with Boo Khalloom— Departure— The Desert — Tibboos and Tuaricks— Arrival at the Lake Tchad— The Yeou — Kouka — Visit to the Sheik— The Sultan — Description of Bornou— Denham's Excursion to Mandara — Great Range of Moun- tains — Disastrous Expedition — War against the Mungas — Excursion to Loggun — Expedition against the La Salas — Biddoomahs— Clapperton's Journey into Houssa — Appear- ance of that Country — Kano — Sackatoo — Sultan Bello— Return of the Travellers. Nothing could shake the determination of the British chap. xii. L'overnment to obtain, bv some means or other, a com- ^ , — FrBsli &r- petent degree of information respecting the unknown langements countries of Africa. The great favour enjoyed at the court^at^ court of Tripoli was still regarded as an advantageous TripoiL circumstance ; and it was chiefly due, as already observed, to the prudence and ability of Mr Wariington, without whose advice scarcely any thing of importance was transacted. The bashaw was therefore disposed to renew his protection to whatsoever mission Britain might send. Nor could the support of any sovereign have been more efficient ; for the influence of this petty prince and the terror of his name are almost unbounded in the greatest kingdoms of Central Africa. One weapon, the gun, in the hands of his troops, gives him all this superiority ; for the remoter nations, from the Nile to the Atlantic, scarcely know^ any other arms besides the spear, the bow, 150 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTOX. CHAP. XIL Importp.nt influence of firearms. Denham, Clapperton, and Oudney. Reception by tlie Sultan. and the javelin. A musket among those tribes is an object of almost supernatural dread ; individuals have been seen kneeling down before it, speaking to it in whispers, and addressing to it earnest supplications. With troops thus armed, the ruler of Tripoli is esteemed along the northern border the most potent monarch on earth ; and it is a matter of surprise among the natives that he has not ere now compelled all Europe to embrace the Mohammedan faith. He could therefore assure the English that, for any but physical obstacles, they might travel as safely from Tripoli to Bomou, as from Edin- burgh to London. Under the confidence inspired by these circumstances, government prepared another expedition, and without difficulty procured a fresh band of adventurers, who undertook to brave all its perils. Major Denham, Lieu- tenant Clapperton of the navy, and Dr Oudney, a surgeon in the same service, and possessing a considerable know- ledge of natural history, were regularly appointed. With- out dela}^ they proceeded to Tripoli, where they arrived on the 18th November 1821. They were immediately introduced to the bashaw, whom they found sitting cross- legged on a carpet, attended by armed negroes. After treating them to sherbet and coffee, he invited them to a hawking-pai-ty, where he appeared mounted on a milk- white Arabian steed superbly caparisoned, having a saddle of crimson-velvet richly studded with gold nails, and with embroidered trappings. He was preceded by six chaousheSy or officers, in white silk robes ; while two favourite negro slaves, in glittering vest, light burnouse, and Avhite turban, supported him on each side. The hunt began on the borders of the Desert, where parties of six or eight Arabs dashed forward quick as lightning, fired suddenly, and rushed back with loud cries. The skill with which they manoeuvred their steeds, wliirling the long musket over their heads as they rode at full gallop, appeared quite surprising. Although the visiters were personally well treated at Tripoli, they could not shut their eyes to the barbarism the British consuT. DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 151 every where prevailing. The Sheik, Belgassum Khalifa, chap. XII. a fine old Arab, understood to be high in the favour of the ^ — ' " . Assassma- bashaw, had been one evening at an elegant entertainment tion of a in the palace, when on reaching his own door a pistol-shot ^^^^'^" wounded him in the arm, and on his entering the pass- age, a second penetrated his body. He staggered into the house, denouncing his own nephew as the author of the assassination. The murderers rushing m, completed their crime by stabbing him seven times with their daggers, and his wife received two wounds while endeav- ouring to save him. The three actors in this tragedy instantly fled for security to the British consul ; but Refuge Mr Warrington sent immediate notice to the bashaw, sought with " that the murderers of IQialifa would find no protection under the flag of England." That potentate, however, either privy to the crime or disposed to wink at its com- mission, expressed his regret that the guilty persons had found shelter in the consulate ; a sanctuary, he added, that he could not think of violating. Repeated assur- ance was given that he might employ any force, or use any means, to drag them from beneath a banner that never was disgraced by affbrding protection to assassins. The bashaw at length, ashamed of his apathy, sent six- teen stout fellows, by whom the ruffians were seized ; and in less than an hour they were seen hanging from the castle- walls. The mission, fortified with recommendations to the Pilgrimage Sultan of Fezzan, now entered upon their long and dreary pilgrimage to Mourzouk, where they arrived on the 8th April 1822. This prince received them with affability, but gave himself very little trouble in making provision for the prosecution of their journey. He even intimated Ills intention of visiting Tripoli, and the necessity of their remaining till his return. This arrangement was most disheartening ; nor did they know v/hat reliance to place in the sincerity of Boo Khalloom, a great mer- chant, who invited them to accompany an expedition which he was preparing for Soudan. The sultan and he soon afterwards departed, each with large presents for the to Mourzouk. 152 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XTI. Unsuccessful negotiations. Character of Boo Khal- loom. bashaw, to intrigue against one another at the court of Tripoli ; and now there was scarcely a camel left in Fez- zan, or any other means of travelling. Major Denhani therefore saw no alternative but that he himself should hasten back to that city, and remonstrate with his high- ness on this apparent violation of his promise. After a tedious journey of twenty days, with only three at- tendants, he arrived, and waited on the barbarian, who received him with his usual courtesy ; but, not giving that full satisfaction which was expected, the major lost no time in setting sail for England, to lodge a complaint with his own court. This step was painfully felt by the other, who sent vessel after vessel, one of which at last overtook the traveller, while performing quarantine at Marseilles, and announced that arrangements were actually made with Boo Khalloom for escorting him to the capital of Bornou. Accordingly, on his return to Tripoli, he found the Arab chief already on the borders of the Desert. This trader, who was now to be a guide to the Eng- lish into the immense regions of the south, was a person- age of a very different character from what we in this country can form any idea of. The African caravan- merchant has nothing in common with that respectable class of men who, seated in counting-houses at London or Amsterdam, direct the movement of their ships over the ocean, and count the silent accumulation of their profits. He, on the contrary, must accompany his mer- chandise from one extremity to the other of a great con- Dancers of the trader. suffering, and frequently of death itself. Nor is it from a parched wilderness and a burning climate that he ha^ most to apprehend : His path is every where beset by bands, whose trade is plunder, and who find amusement in assassination. He must therefore have his property guarded by an armed band, ready to defend with their blood what his money has purchased. These followers, being in continual service, and exposed to frequent fight- ing, become practised soldiers, and are more than a match DENHAM AND CLAPPERTOX. 153 for the roving barbarians who infest the Sahara. Even chap, xti the greatest princes view these merchant-chiefs with fear y^^^ ^ ^j,g and jealousy ; and, though they contrive to draw con- merchant- siderable advantage from their trade, scarcely reckon the kingdom their own while these troops are within its boundaries. The merchants unhappily do not confine themselves to self-defence ; but, seeing robbery practised on every side against themselves, begin to retaliate, and soon find it cheaper, and, according to African ideas, not less honourable, to replenish their stores by plunder than by purchase. Slaves, the staple of their trade, are gene- violent rally obtained by the most atrocious violence, in expe- "btafnine ditions called ghrazzies or felateas, undertaken solely for slaves, that nefarious purpose. Provided they can escape the dangers and casualties to which they are exposed, their profits are immense, the value of merchandise being somewhat more than tripled by its conveyance across the Desert. Thus a few successful journeys enable a man to acquire a fortune almost princely, and a high degree of influence in the Barbary States. In short, the merchant, the warrior, the prince, the robber, are united in this extraordinary character ; and he is prepared, ac- cording to circumstances, to act in one or in all of these capacities. Yet Boo Khalloom might be reckoned a good specimen of this evil race : He possessed an enlarged and liberal mind, and was honourable, and even humane, so far as a slave-merchant could retain these qualities ; he was dragged, too, with reluctance into the most odious parts of his vocation, — while at home his generosity was such as to make him almost idolized. Under the guidance of this remarkable personage Expectations Major Denham set forth, with almost the full assurance Denhlm of reaching those depths of Africa from which no Euro- pean had ever yet returned. Little occurred to diversify the usual monotony of a desert-route, till they arrived at Sockna, where Boo Khalloom, who was fond of dis- play, determined to make his entrance with suitable pomp. He rode a white Tunisian horse, with gilded saddle, and trappings of scarlet cloth bordered with gold ; 154 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XI 1. Dress of Boo Khalloom. Crossing the Ge'oel AssoucL Illness of Oudney and Clapperton. his dress consisted of various caftans and robes of the richest silks adorned with gold buttons, lace, and embroi- dery : the burnouse, a present from the bashaw, had cost 400 dollars. The citizens meeting the party with shouts and guns, and the females with singing and dan- cing, formed a species of triumphal procession. Several days were spent at Sockna, Khalloom being ill, and wishing to try the effect of various charms and super- stitious remedies. The English, meantime, witnessed a great marriage-ceremony, the chief pomp of which con- sisted in placing the bride in a basket on the back of a camel and leading her I'ound the town, while numerous horsemen galloped up and discharged their muskets quite close to her head ; the honour of which compliment was understood to compensate for the fear which it could not fail to occasion. In journeying onwards to Mourzouk the travellers passed along the naked sides of the Gebel Assoud, which the major crossed now for the third time ; but no fami- liarity could relieve the sense of dreariness and misery w^hich its aspect occasioned. A rainy day came as a blessing to the whole party, — especially to the poor slaves, on whom Boo Khalloom had, in special kindness, bestowed one draught of water in the day to cool their burning thirst. On the SOth October, the caravan made its entry into Mourzouk, with similar pomp as into Sockna, amid the shouts of the inhabitants, whom the chief, by his liberality, had inspired with the warmest attachment. The major, however, was much disheart- ened by not seeing any of his countrymen amid the joyous crowd ; and his lears were confirmed by finding Dr Oudney just recovering from a severe attack in the chest, and Lieutenant Clapperton in bed the fifteenth day with ague, — facts which, combined with the unfor- tunate result of the last expedition, and the sickly look of the natives themselves, indicated some peculiarly bane- ful influence, without any visible cause, in the climate of that district. Invalids so severely afflicted were not very fit to begin DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 155 a long and laborious journey ; but their ardour was ex- treme ; and, imagining that a change of air would be beneficial, thev contriv^ed, even before Boo lOialloom was ready to set out, to move forward to Gatrone, leav- ing Major Denham behind at Mourzouk. On the 29th November, the whole caravan breaking up from that city, began their journey through the Desert, and were escorted by nearly every inhabitant who could hire or borrow a horse. The expedition, besides the English, comprised 210 Arabs, ranged in tens and twenties, under different chiefs. The most numerous were the M'Garha, who, to the amount of seventy, came from the steril shore of the Syrtes. These barbarians enlivened the route by their traditionary tales, their songs, their extemporary poems, in which all the incidents of the journey were narrated ; in short, by an inexhaustible fund of wit ami vivacity. Their pride, their revenge, their robberies, did not come into view in their intercourse with our country- men, who, being received into their camp, having eaten of their bread and salt, and being bound in the cord of friend- ship), were entitled to all the rights of hospitality, and would have been protected even at the hazard of life. The caravan arrived in due time at Traghan, a small town containing a fine carpet-manufactory, and ruled by a marabout, who used the sanctity of his character to maintain order and promote the prosperity of the place. Passing that station they were soon m the heart of the Desert, where they spent whole days without seeing a living thing, even a bird or an insect, that did not belong- to their own company. After painful marches under the direct action of the solar rays, they were delighted by the silence and beauty of the night. The moon and stars shone with peculiar brilliancy ; cool breezes succeeded to the burning heat of the day ; and, on removing a few inches of the loose hot soil, a soft and refreshing bed was obtained. Even the ripple of the blowing sand sounded like a gentle and murmuring stream. Every noise was rendered doubly impressive by the deep stillness, as well as by an echo from the surface of the surrounding waste. CHAP. xir. Their ardoui and perse- verance. Arab guanJ Arrival at Ti-agliau. 156 DEXHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XII. Tibboos and Tuaricks. Cliavactevis- tics of the African tribes. Manners of the Tuaricks. In this track the travellers had on the one side the Tibboos, on the other the Tuaricks, two native tribes, probably of great antiquity, and liaving no alliance with the Arab race, now so widely spread over the continent. The Tibboos were on the left hand ; and it was throusli their villages that the caravan passed. These people live partly on the milk of their camels, which pick up a scanty subsistence on the few verdant spots that rise amid the Desert, partly by carrying on a small trade between Mourzouk and Bomou, in which they are so busily employed that many do not spend at home more than four months in the year. They are black, though without the negro features ; the men ugly, but the young females possessed of some beauty, not wholly obscured by the embellishments of coral stuck in the nose, and of oil streaming over the face. They are, besides, a gay, good-humoured, thoughtless race, with all the African passion for the song and the dance ; which last they practise gracefully, and with movements somewhat simi- lar to the Grecian. This cheerfulness apj)ears wonder- ful, considering the dreadful calamity with which they are daily threatened. Once a-year, or oftener, an inroad is made by their fierce neighbours the Tuaricks, who spare neither age nor sex, sweeping away all that come within then- reach. The cowardly Tibboos dare not even attempt resistance ; they can only mount to the top of certam steep rocks, with flat summits and per- pendicular sides, near one of which every village is built, carrymg up with them every thing that can be removed ; and this rude defence avails against still ruder assailants. The Tuaricks, again, were observed by Clapperton and Oudney in a journey to the Avestward from Mourzouk, and were found in their private char- acter to be frank, honest, and hospitable. The females are neither immured nor oppressed, as is usual among the Mohammedan tribes, but meet with notice and respect ; indeed the domestic habits of this nation much resemble those of Europeans. They are a wandering race of shepherds and robbers, holding in contempt all who live DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 15: CHAP. XII. Tuarick on his Camel, witli Male and Female Tibboo. in houses and cultivate the ground ; yet they are perhaps ijse of lettt the only native Africans who have letters and an alpha- '^"^ ^°^^^- bet, which they inscribe, not on books and parchments indeed, but on the dark rocks that chequer the surface of their territory ; and, in places where they have long resided, every stone is seen covered with their writings. The accompanjang plate represents a Tuarick on his camel, with a male and female Tibboo standing beside him. Bilma, the capital of the Tibboos, was found a mean Biima, the town with walls of earth, but surrounded by numerous capital^ lakes containing the purest salt, the most valuable of all articles for the commerce of Soudan. The inhabitants, however, though deeply mortified, dare not prevent their powerful neighbours from lading their caravans Avith it, and underselling them in all the markets. About a mile beyond the town was a fine spring, spreading around, and forming a little circle of the richest verdure ; and this was 158 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XII. Entry on the fleseit. Reappear- iiRce of vege- tation. abboos of 'he Gundii tiibe. the liLst appearance of vegetable life the travellers were to see in a march of thirteen days. In these wilds, the constant drift cauees hills to rise or disappear in a night ; and as all traces of a road are soon obliterated, the eye is guided only by certain rocks which are seen at intervals amid the waste. Sometimes the sand is formed into hills with very steep sides, from twenty to sixty feet high. Down these the camels are made to slide ; and can only be kept steady by the driver hanging with all his weight on the tail, otherwise they would tumble forward, and throw the load over their heads. " Tremendously dreary are these marches ; as far as the eye can reach, billows of sand bound the prospect." In a high wind volumes of this substance darkened the air, through which it was sometimes impossible to pass. After a fortnight spent in the Desert, the expedition saw symptoms of a return to the region of life. Scattered spots of thin herbage appeared ; little valleys watered by springs were filled with the shrub called suag, on which grew delicate berries ; small herds of gazelles fed in these retreats ; even the droves of hyenas indicated the revival of animal nature. As they advanced, the dales became more gay and verdant ; and the creeping vines of the colocynth in full bloom, with the red flowers of the kossom, converted many of these spots into a little Arcadia. The freshness of the air, with the melody of the birds among the creeping plants whose flowers dif- fused an aromatic odour, formed a delightful contrast to the desolate region just passed. Here again were found Tibboos of the Gunda tribe, a more alert and active people than the former ; the men uglier, the girls hand- somer and more delicately formed. This sept have about 5000 camels, on whose milk alone they support them- selves dui-ing half the year ; the little crop of gussub and millet being too i3recious for their horses, they are fed on milk, either sweet or sour, which keeps them at all times in the highest health and condition. The chief, Mina Tahr, or the Black Bird, was presented by- Boo Khalloom with a coarse scarlet burnouse and a DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 159 tawdry silk caftan : these paltry dresses, being the finest that had ever invested the person of this chieftain, threw him into ecstasies of delight, which he continued for hours to testify by joyful shouts and high leaps into the air. Major Denham's watch singularly delighted him ; but solely, as soon appeared, from the pleasure of seeing his own person in the bright metallic case ; so that a very small mirror was deemed still more precious. In this approach to the territory of Soudan our tra- vellers began to witness the exercise of mutual plunder between their mercantile escort and the natives. Every animal which straggled from the main body was instantly carried off ; even a dog had been eaten up, and only the bones left. A herald, handsomely equipped, who had been sent forward to the Sultan of Bornou, Avas found stripped, and tied naked to a tree. On the other hand, no sooner did the caravan come in view of any village than the in- habitants were descried on the plain beyond in full flight with all their effects. The Arabs pursued in indignation only, as they pretended, at not being allowed to purchase what they wanted ; but the conduct of the poor natives was evidently the result of long experience ; and Major Denham saw executed on one party the most lapid pro- cess of depredation he ever witnessed. In a few seconds the camels were eased of their loads, and the poor women and girls deprived of all their clothes. Boo Khalloom, on this and other occasions, interposed, and insisted on resti- tution ; but whether he would have done so without the urgent remonstrances of the English appears doubtful. The expedition, now advancing rapidly, entered Ka- nem, the most northern province of Bornou, and soon arrived at Lari, a town of 2000 inhabitants, composed of clusters of rush-huts, conical at top, and looking like well-thatched corn-stacks. This place formed a remark- able stage in their progress ; for, from the rising ground in front of it was seen the boundless expanse of the great interior sea of Africa, the Lake Tchad, " glowing with the golden rays of the sun." Major Denham, who saw here the key to his grand scheme of discovery, hastened CHAP. xir. Presents tu the chie£ Mutual plunder Speedy de- predatioij. Entering the northern province of Bornou. DEJVHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 161 to ine shores of this mighty water. These were darkened CHAP. Xll. with the varied and beautiful plumage of ducks, geese, Appearance pelicans, and cranes four or five feet in height, immense of the Lake spoonbills of snowy whiteness, yellow-legged plovers, ^^^^ with numerous unknown waterfowl, sporting around and quietly feeding at half pistol-shot. The major felt reluctant to invade the profound tranquillity of these feathered tribes, and betray the confidence with which they received him; but at length, overcoming his scruples, he took up his gun, and soon filled a large basket. It was evident, that remarkable changes in the bed of the Tchad had recently taken place ; for, though this was not the rainy season, long stalks of gussub were growing amid the waters on ground formerly dry. The caravan now marched along the shores of the lake, Arrival at and arrived in two days at Woodie, a large town, the ^^'°°^^*^- first which was found thoroughly negro. The inhabit- ants lived in sluggish plenty on the produce of a fertile country, without any attempt to enjoy either elegancies or luxuries. It was resolved .that the company should pause here, till a messenger could be sent forward to obtain for them an invitation, or permission, to present themselves before the Sheik of Bornou; the political state of whose country was at this time somewhat singular. Twenty years before, it had been overrun and completely political conquered with dreadful devastation by the Fellatas, a western people, to whose empire it seemed to be finally annexed. There still remained, however, a patriotic spirit m the people which spurned a foreign yoke. The present sheik, a native of Kanem, of humble birth but of superior talents and energy, rallied round him a band of bold spearmen, and, animating them by a pretended vision of the prophet, hoisted the green flag, and attacked the invaders. His success was such, that in ten months the enemy were entirely driven out of Bornou, which they had never since re-entered, though desultory hosti- lities were still carried on. This fortunate leader, idolized by his army, was now the real master of the country ; \'et the reverence of the nation for their ancient line of state of tlie country. 162 DEXHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. xir. Reverence for heredi- tary royalty. Invitation from tlie sheik of Bornou. Uncertain reports. African rriilitary display. kings was too deep to allow the legitimate heir to be wholly superseded. This last ^vas drawn forth from ob- scurity, received the title of sultan, and was established in empty pomp at the city of Birnie ; while the success- ful soldier, under an humbler name, retained in his own hands all the real power. After five days an invitation arrived from the sheik to visit him at Kouka, for which city the travellers immediately departed. In their way they passed the Yeou, the first river which had crossed their path in this long journey, excitmg considerable interest from being at first supposed to be the Kiger flowing from Timbuctoo. The stream, which w^as fifty yards broad, proceeded with some rapidity eastward mto the Tchad ; and in the wet season its breadth became twice as great. On the bank, for the convenience of passengers, lay two large canoes, rudely constructed of planks fastened by cords, and having the opening stuffed with straw. The men and goods were ferried over on these rafts, while the horses and camels, having their heads fastened to them, swam across. In approaching Kouka, Major Denham was exposed to considerable uncertainty, in consequence of the contradic- tory reports respecting the array and aspect of this great central court of Africa. Some told him that the sheik was surrounded by a mere handful of half-armed, half- naked negroes, fit only for plunder, while, according to others, he was at the head of a numerous cavalry, highly equipped, and well disciplined. The major pressed eagerly on before the main body, and, emerging from the forest, had his curiosity gratified by seeing several tliousand horse drawn up in line, and extending on each side as far as the eye could reach. He now awaited the coming up of the Arabs ; at sight of whom the Bornou troops, who had previously stood immoveable, raised a mighty shout, which was followed by a sound, equally loud, of rude martial music. Then, forming detached parties, they galloped up full speed to the strangers, never pausing till they almost touched the horses' heads, i J I 11 \ ' DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 163 when they suddenly wheeled round and returned, ex- chap, xir, claiming, " Blessing ! blessing ! sons of your country ! ,. — — sons of your country !" They had soon completely mode of surrounded the party, and wedged them in so close, wav- welcome, ing their spears over their heads, that it was impossible to move. Boo Khalloom had nearly lost all patience at this vehement and incommodious welcome ; but at length Barca Gana, the commander-in-chief, made his appear- ance, restored order, and caused a passage to be opened, by which the caravan, though somewhat slowly, made its way to the city. After their arrival at Kouka, symptoms of jealousy Jealousy at appeared, and only twelve of the principal persons, the ^""^^'^• English included, were allowed to enter. They were led through a wide street, lined with spearmen, to the door of the sheik's residence ; and here the principal cour- tiers came out in succession, saluting the party with loud cries of " Barca ! Barca !" Still no one invited them to go in, upon which the wrath of Boo Khalloom, who held himself scarcely inferior to their chief, was kindled, and he declared that, unless immediately admitted, he would return to his tent. An officer merely waved his hand as a signal for patience ; and at last Barca Gana appeared, and invited the Arab leader to enter unattended. A full half-hour had elapsed when the gates were again opened, and the four Europeans called. They found, on the Ricid present as well as on other occasions, the etiquette of of 'tiie^ court this barbarian court extremely rigid, and enforced m the roughest and most unceremonious manner. They were allowed to walk only one by one, and when thought to be going too fast the guards grasped them by the leg so abruptly that they could scarcely avoid falling flat for- ward ; and when it was time to stop, instead of their being told so, spears were crossed before them, and the palm of the hand applied to their breast. At the close of all this ceremony, they saw the sheik quietly seated on a carpet, plainly dressed, in a small dark room, orna- mented solely with guns and pistols, which he had i-e- ceived in presents from crowned heads, and esteemed the K 164 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XI r. Age and appearance. 01 the sheik. Present? deUveied, Interest excited by a musical box. most rare and precious of decorations. He appeared about forty or forty-five years of age, and his coun- tenance was pleasing and expressive. He inquired their object m visiting Bornou ; when, being informed that they had come merely to see the country, and to give an account of its appearance, produce, and people, he engaged to forward their views, and even to gratify their wishes to the utmost of his power. Such motives, however, afterwards proved entirely incomprehensible to his illiterate mind. Major Denham next day waited again on the sheik and delivered his presents. A double-barrelled gun and two pistols, with powder-flask and shot-cases, were ex- amined by the chief with the most minute attention ; the other gifts, consisting of fine cloths, spices, and por- celain, were no sooner produced than the slaves carried them off. The African was particularly gratified on being told that the King of England had heard of him, and said, turning to his captains, " This must be in con- sequence of our having defeated the Begharmis ;" upon which Bagah Furby, a grim old soldier, who had made a figure in that war, came forward and asked, " Did he ever hear of me f The polite major sci-upled not to answer, " Certainly ;" when the whole party instantly called out, " Oh ! the King of England must be a great man." Denham, while residing at Kouka, had frequent op- portunities of visiting the sheik ; and one day he received a message to come instantly and exhibit a musical box that played a variety of tunes, and which the other understood to be in his possession. This great warrior, who had never before shown any interest except about grave concerns, was quite enchanted on hearing its per- formance, and raised shouts of delight and astonishment. He examined minutely the different parts of the me- chanism, declaring he would willingly give a thousand dollars in exchange for it. The major, unable to mis- understand so broad a hint, presented the box to his highness. The display of sky-rockets also caused the DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 165 utmost amazement and joy, and was even employed to chap. xit. strike the enemies of the sheik with superstitious awe. p,^^Q,~ Finding that our traveller could speak Arabic, and give shown to much information not otherwise attainable, that chief JJenham became fond of liis conversation, and invited him to pay frequent visits. It remained that Major Denham should be presented Proceedini? to the sultan in his royal residence at Birnie, where all 'o Bimic. the state and pomp of the kingdom, though with none of its real power, were concentrated. On the 2d March the English accompanied Boo Khalloom to that city, and, on their arrival, the following morning was fixed for the interview. Fashion, even in the most refined European courts, does not always follow the absolute guidance of reason or taste, and her magic power is often displayed in converting deformities into beauties ; but there is certainly no court of which the taste is so absurd, gro- tesque, or monstrous, as that to which our countrymen were now introduced. An enormous protruding belly ideas of and a huge misshapen head are the two features, with- courtly out which it is vain to aspire to the rank of a courtier or fine gentleman. This form, valued probably as a t3'pe of abundance and luxury, is esteemed so essential, that, where Nature has not bestowed and the most ex- cessive feeding and cramming cannot supply it, wadding is employed, and a false bell^'- produced which, in riding, appears to hang over the pommel of the saddle. Turbans also are wrapped round the head, in fold after fold, till it appears swelled on one side to the most unnatural dimensions, and only one-half of the face remains visible. The factitious bulk of the lords of Bornou is still farther Unwieldy augmented by drawing round them, even in this burning climate, ten or twelve successive robes of cotton or silk, while the whole is covered over with numberless charms enclosed in green leather cases. Yet under all these en- cumbrances they do sometimes mount and take the field ; though the idea of such unwieldy figures being of any avail in the day of battle appeared altogether ridiculous, — and it pro\ed accordingly, that, on such high occa- figures of the lords of Bornou. 166 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XII. sions, they merely exhibited themselves as ornaments, without even making a show of encountering the enemy. Appearance With about 800 of this puissant chivalry before and of the sultan, around him, the sultan was himself seated near the gar- den-door in a sort of cane-basket covered with silk, and his face entirely shaded beneath a turban of more than Kiven. Native markets. pflfipip^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ bultau of Bornou. the usual magnitude. The presents Avere silently de- posited ; nothing passed ; and the courtiers, tottering beneath the weight of their turbans and their bellies, could not display that punctilious activity which had been so annoying at the palace of the sheik. This was all that was ever seen of the sultan of Bornou. The party then set out for Kouka, passing on their way through Angornou, the largest city in the kingdom, containing at least 80,000 inhabitants. During his residence at these two towns, Major Den- liam frequently attended the markets, where, besides the proper Bomouese, he saw the Shouaas, an Arab tribe, who are the chief breeders of cattle ; the Kanem- boos from the north, with their hair neatly and tastefully plaited ; and the Musgow, a southern clan of the most DENHAM AXD CLAPPERTON. lOJ savage aspect. A loose robe or shirt of the cotton cloth chap, xil of the country, often tine and beautifully dyed, was the — : universal dress ; and high rank was indicated by six or different seven of these worn one above another. Ornament was ^"^'^^ studied chiell}^ in plaiting the hair, in attaching to it strings of brass or silver beads, in inserting large pieces of amber or coral into the nose, the ear, and the lip ; and when to these was added a face streaming with oil, the Bornouese belle was fully equipped for conquest, female di Thus adorned, the wife or daughter of a rich Shouaa and ess orna- ments. might be seen entering the market in full st^de, bestriding an ox, which she managed dexterously by a leathern thong passed through the nose, and whose unwieldy bulk she even contrived to torture into something like capering and curvetting. Angornou is the chief market, and the crowd there is sometimes immense, amounting to 80,000 or 100,000 individuals. All the produce of the country is bought and sold in the open street ; for shops and warehouses do not enter into the system of African traffic. There is displayed an abundance of their principal grain, called gussub, a good deal of wheat and rice, large droves of bullocks, and considerable numbers of sheep and fowls ; but not a vegetable except a few onions, nor fruit of any kind, — the Bornouese not having yet attained to the production of these luxuries. The objects most Objects most prized are pieces of amber, coral, and brass, to adorn the ^" lequest. countenances of the females : these are sold readily, and paid in money, while other articles are usually exchanged for cloth. Young lions are sometimes offered for sale to be kept as domestic favourites. The major found one of them enclosed by a crowd of spectators, and was in- vited to step up and stroke it on the mane. He was about to comply, though with sensations which he admits himself unable to describe, when the animal suddenly darted past him, broke through the circle, and rushed to another stJition. The slieik afterwards sent him a young one as a pet, which he politely returned, expressing regret at not being able to find room for it. Bornou, taken altogether, forms an extensive plain, 1( DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. xn. Periodical changes on the bed of the Tchad. Number of wild beasts. Cultivation of tiie land. Mode of fshing. stretching 200 miles along the western shore of Lake Tchad, and nearly the same distance inland. This sea periodically changes its bed in a singular manner. During the rains, when its tributary rivers pour in thrice the usual quantity of water, it inundates an extensive tract, from which it retires in the dry season. This space, then overgrown with dense underwood, and with grass twice the height of a man, contains a motley assemblage of wild beasts, — lions, panthers, hyenas, elephants, and serpents of extraordinary form and bulk. These mon- sters, while undisturbed in this vast den, generally remain tranquil, or war only with each other ; but when the lake swells, and its waters rush in, they of necessity seek refuge among the abodes of men, to whom they prove the most dreadful scourge. Not only the cattle, but the slaves tending the grain, often fall victims ; they even rush in large bodies into the towns. The fields beyond the reach of this annual inundation are very fertile ; and land may be had in any quantity by liim who has slaves to cultivate it. This service is performed by females from Musgow, who, aiding their native ugliness by the insertion of a large piece of silver into the upper lip, wliich throws it entirely out of shape, are estimated according to the quantity of hard work they can execute. The processes of agriculture are extremely simple. Their only fine manufacture is that of tohes, or vestments of cotton skilfully woven and beautifully dyed, but still not equal to those of Soudan. In other handicrafts they are very inexpert, — even in works of iron, which are of the greatest use to a martial people. The Bornouese have, however, an ingenious mode, represented in the accompanying plate, of fishing with a very simple apparatus. They select two large gourds, and fasten them to each end of a stem of bamboo, and the fisherman seating hunself upon this machine, floats with the current, and throws his net. On drawing it up he lays it before him, stuns the fish with a mace, ana pues them into the gourds. They are afterwards dried, and conveyed over tlie country to a considerable distance. DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON 169 CHAP XII. Fishing in the River Yeon. This people are complete negroes both in form and Character of feature ; they are ugly, simple, and good-natured, but ^^*® natives. destitute of all intellectual culture. Only a few of the great fights, or doctors, of whom the sheik was one, can read the Koran. A " great writer " indeed Is held in still higher estimation than with us ; but his composi- tions consist only of words written on scraps of paper to be enclosed in cases, and worn as amulets. They are Medical then supposed to defend their possessor against every amulets and danger, to act as charms to destroy his enemies, and to be the main instrument in the cure of all diseases. For this last purpose they are aided only by a few simple applications ; yet the Bornou practice is said to be very successful, either through the power of imagination, or owing to their excellent constitutions. In the absence of all refined pleasures, various rude sports are pur- sued with eagerness, and almost with fury : The most favourite is wrestling, Avhich the chiefs do not practise in person, but train their slaves to it as our jockeys do game-cocks, taking the same pride in their prowess and victory. Nations are often pitched against each other, the Musgowy and the Begharmi being the most powerful. Rewards to the victor. ] 70 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XII. Many of them are extremely handsome and of gigantic Feats of size ; and hence their contests are truly terrible. Their wrestling. masters loudly cheer them on, offering high premiums for victory, and sometimes threatening instant death in case of defeat. They place their trust, not in science, but in main strength and rapid movements. Occasionally the wrestler, eluding his adversary's vigilance, seizes him by the thigh, lifts him into the air, and dashes him against the ground. When the match is decided, the victor is greeted with loud plaudits by the spectators, some of whom even testify their admiration by throwing to him presents of j&ne cloth. He then kneels before his master, who not unfrequently bestows upon him a robe worth thirty or forty dollars, taken perhaps from his own per- son. Death or maiming, however, is no unfrequent result in such encounters. To these recreations is added gaming, always the rage of uncultivated minds. Their favourite game is one rudely played with beans, by means of holes made in the sand. Plans of Boo Boo Khalloom, having despatched his affah-s in Bornou, wished to turn his journey to some farther account, and proposed an expedition into the more wealthy and com- mercial region of Houssa or Soudan ; but the eager wishes of his followers pointed to a different object. They called upon him to lead them into the mountains of Mandara in the south, to attack a village of the kerdies, or unbelievers, and carry off the people as slaves to Fez- zan. He long stood out against this nefarious proposal ; Excursion but the slieik, who also had his own views, took part against him ; even his own brother joined the malecon- tents, and at length there appeared no other mode in which he could return with equal credit and profit. Influenced by these inducements, he suffered his better judgment to be overpowered, and determined to conduct his troop upon this perilous and guilty excursion ; while Denham, allowing his zeal for discovery to overcome other considerations, contrived, notwithstanding the pro- hibition of the sheik, to be one of the party. They were accompanied by Barca Gana, the principal general, Khalloorc. for capturing slaves. [I'if iiTr>'4=*s .!! 'W' DENHAM A.VD CLAPPERTON. 171 a negro of huge strength and great courage, along with chap. xit. other warriors, and a large troop of Bornou cavalry, -jj-oo s~f These last are a fine body of men in point of external Bornou appearance. Their persons are covered with iron plate ^^^^^O- and mail, and they manage, with surprising dexterity, their little active steeds, which are also supplied with defensive armour. They have one fault only, but that a serious one, — they cannot stand the shock of an enemy. While the coiit^t continues doubtful, they hover round as spectators, ready, should the tide turn against them, to spur on their coursers to a rapid flight ; but if they see their friends victorious, and the enemy turning their backs, they come forward and display no small vigour in pursuit and plunder. The road to Mandara formed a continued ascent Appearance through a fertile country which contained some populous of the towns. The path being quite overgrown with thick and ^°"° '^' prickly underwood, twelve pioneers went forward with long poles, opening a track, pushing back the branches, and giving warning to beware of holes. These operations they accompanied with loud praises of Barca Gana, calling out, — " Who is in battle like the rolling of thunder ? Barca Gana. In battle who spreads terror around him like the buffalo in his rage ? Barca Gana." Even the chiefs on this expedition carried no provisions provision for except a paste of rice, flour, and honey, with which they t|'e expedi- contented themselves, unless when sheep could be pro- cured ; in which case half the animal, roasted over a frame-work of wood, was placed on the table, and the sharpest dagger present was employed in cutting it into large pieces, to be eaten without bread or salt. At length they approached Mora, the metropolis of Mandara. This was another kingdom which the energy of its present sultan had rescued from the yoke of the Fellata empire ; and the strong position of its capital, enclosed by lofty ridges of hills, had enabled it to defy repeated attacks. It consists of a fine plain, bordered on the south by an immense and almost interminable range of mountains. The eminences directly in front were not quite so lofty 172 JDENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XII. Ranges of l)i)ls. Natives of the hil! villages. Anticipations of plunder. Reception by the Sultan of Mandara. as the hills of Cumberland, but bold, rocky, and precipi- tous, while distant peaks appeared towering mucli higher, and shooting up a line of sharp pinnacles resembling the needles of Mont Blanc. It was reported, that two months were required to cross their greatest breadth and reach the other side, where they rose ten times higher, and were called large moon mountains. They there over- looked the plain of Adamowa, through which a great river, that has been erroneously supposed to be the Quorra or Niger, was said to flow from the westward. The hills immediately in view were thickly clustered with villages perched on their sides and even on their summits, and were distinctly seen from the plain. They were occupied by half-savage tribes, whom the ferocious bigotry of the nations in the low country branded as pagans, and whom they claimed a right to plunder, seize, and drive in crowds for sale to the markets of Fezzan and Bornou. " The fires, which were visible in the different nests of these unfortunate beings, threw a glare upon the bold rocks and blunt promontories of granite by which they were surrounded, and produced a picturesque and somewhat awful appearance." A baleful joy gleamed in the visage of the Arabs as they eyed these abodes of their future victims, whom they already fancied themselves driving in bands across the Desert. " A kerdy village to plunder !" was all their cry, and Boo Khalloom doubted not that he would be able to gratify their wishes. Their common fear of the Fellatas had united the Sultan of Mandara in close alliance with the sheik, on whom he had lately conferred his daughter ; and the nuptials had been celebrated by a great slave-hunt among the mountains, when, after a dreadful struggle, 3000 captives, who were sold for slaves, furnished out the materials of a magnificent marriage-festival. The expedition obtained a reception quite as favourable as had been expected. In approaching the capital they were met by the sultan v/ith 500 Mandara horse, who, charging full speed, wheeled round them v/ith the same threatening movements which had been exhibited at DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 1/3 Bomou. The horses were of a superior breed, most chap. xii. skilfully managed, and covered with cloths of various Brilliant ap- colours, as well as with skins of the leopard and tiger-cat. pearance of Hence this cavalry made a very brilliant appearance; ^® ""*"*' >• but the major did not yet know that their valour was not superior to that of their Bomou allies. The party were then escorted to the capital, amid the music of long pipes like clarionets, and of two immense trum- pets. They were introduced next day. The mode of ap- proaching the royal residence is to gallop up to the gate at full speed, which often causes fatal accidents ; and on this occasion a man was ridden down and killed on the spot. The sultan was found in a tent of dark-blue cloth. The Sultan of sitting on a mud bench, surrounded by about 200 attend- *^»'^*^^''a- ants, handsomely arrayed in silk and cotton robes. He was an intelligent little man, about fifty years old, with a beard dyed sky-blue. Courteous salutations were exchanged ; during which he steadily fixed his eyes on the major, concerning M'hom he at last inquired ; and the traveller was advantageously introduced as belonging Bigotry of to a powerful distant nation, in alliance with the Bashaw ^^® Moslems. of Tripoli. At last, however, came the fatal question, — « Is he Moslem ?"— « La ! la .'—No ! no !"— " What ! has the great bashaw Caffre friends f — Every eye was instantly averted ; the sun of Denham's favour was set ; and he was never again allowed to enter the palace. The bigotry of this court seems to have surpassed even ingenious its usual bitterness among the African tribes, and our the coixrtiei-s. traveller had to undergo a regular persecution, carried on especially by Malem Chadily, the leading figlii of the court. As the major was showing to the admiring chiefs the mode of writing with a pencil and effacing it with Indian rubber, Malem wrote some words of the Koran with such force that their traces could not be wholly removed. He then exclaimed with triumph, " They are the words of God, delivered to his prophet ; I defy you to erase them !" The Englishman was then called upon to acknowledge this great miracle ; and, as his countenance still expressed incredulity, he was viewed 174 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTOX. CHAP. XII. Exhortations of Malem Chadilv. iloslem attempts to convert Denham. Impatience of the traveller. Ksrdy sup- plications for mercy. with looks of such mingled contempt and indignation as induced him to retire. Malem, however, again assailed him with the assurance that this was only one of the many miracles which he could show to be wrought by the Koran ; imploring him to turn, and paradise would be his, otherwise nothing could save him from eternal fire. " Oh !" said he, " while sitting in the third heaven I shall see you in the midst of the flames crying out to 3^our friend Barca Gana and myself for a drop of water ; but the gulf will be between us :" his tears then flowed profusely. The major, taking the general aside, entreated to be relieved from this incessant persecution ; but Gana assured him that the figlii was a great and holy man, to whom he ought to listen. He then held out not only paradise, but honours, slaves, and wives of the fii"st families, as gifts to be lavished on him by the sheik if he would renounce his unbelief. Our countryman asked the commander, what would be thought of himself if he should go to England and turn Christian I " God forbid I" exclaimed he ; " but how can you compare our faiths l mine would lead you to paradise, while yours would bring me to hell. Not a word more." — Nothing appears to have annoyed the stranger so much as to be told that he was of the same faith with the kerdies or savages ; little distinction bemg made between any who denied the Koran. After a long discussion of this question, he thought the validity of liis reasoning would be admitted, when he could point to a party of those wretches devour- ing a dead horse, and appealed to Boo Khalloom if he had ever seen the English do the same ; but to this, Avhich was not after all a very deep theological argument, the Arab replied, — " I know they eat the flesh of swine ; and, God knows, that is worse." — " Grant me patience !" exclaimed the major to himself, — " tliis is almost too much to bear and to remain silent." The unfortunate kerdies, from the moment they saw Arab tents in the valley of Mandara, knew the dreadful calamity which awaited them. To avert it, and to pro- pitiate their leader, numerous parties came down with DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 175 presents of honey, asses, and slaves. Finally appeared chap, xh the Musgow, a more distant and savage race, mounted j^^ j^^j^,,, on small fiery steeds, covered only with the skin of a of the Mus- goat or leopard, and wearing necklaces made of the teetli ^^^' ^^'^^*^' of their enennes. They threw themselves at the feet of the sultan, casting sand on their heads, and uttering the most piteous cries. The monarcli, apparently moved by these gifts and entreaties, began to intimate to Boo Khalloom his hopes that these savages might by gentle means be reclaimed and led to embrace the true faith. These hopes Avere held by the latter in the utmost de- rision ; and he privately assured Major Denham that nothing Avould more annoy this devout Mussulman than to see them fulfilled, whereby he must have forfeited all right to drive these unhappy creatures in crowds to the markets of Soudan and Bornou. In fact, both his highness and the sheik had a much deeper aim. Every politic plans effort was used to induce Boo Khalloom to engage in of the sultan. the attack of some strong Fellata posts, by which the country was hemmed in ; and as the two monarchs viewed the Arabs with extreme jealousy, it was strongly suspected that their defeat would not have been regarded as a public calamity. The royal councils were secret and profound, and it was not known what influences worked upon Boo Klialloom. On this occasion unfor- tunately he w^as mastered by his evil genius, and con- sented to the proposed attack ; but as he came out and ordered his troops to prepare for marching, his counte- nance bore such marks of uneasiness that the major asked if all went well, to which he hurriedly answered, " Please God." The Arabs, however, who at all events expected plunder, proceeded with alacrity. The expedition set out next morning, and after pass- Setting out ing through a beautiful plain, began to penetrate the dition.^^''^" mighty chain of mountains which forms the southern border of the kingdom. Alpine heights, rising around them in rugged magnificence and gigantic grandenr, presented scenery which our traveller had never seon surpassed. The passes of Hairey and of Horza, amid a of a pantile? J 76 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XII. superb amphitheatre of hills, closely shut in by over- Magnificent l^^iig^^o cliffs, more than 2000 feet high, were truly natural Striking. Here, for the first time in Africa, did Nature sscenery. appear to the English to revel in the production of ve- getable life : the trees were covered with luxuriant and bright-green foliage ; and their tmnks were hidden by a crowd of parasitical plants, whose aromatic blossoms Destruction perfumed the air. There was also an abundance of animal life of a less agreeable description. Three scor- pions were killed in the tent ; and a fierce but beautiful panther, more than eight feet long, just as he had gorged himself by sucking the blood of a newly-killed negro, was attacked and speared. The sultan and Barca Gana were attended by a considerable body of Bornou and jMandara cavalry, whose brilliant armour, martial aspect, and skilful horsemanship, gave confidence to the Euro- pean officer, who had not yet seen them put to the proof Attack on a It was the third day when the expedition came in Feiiata town ^.-^^^ ^^ ^^^ Fellata town of Dirkulla. The Arabs, sup- ported by Barca Gana and about 100 spearmen, marched instantly to the attack, and carried first that place, and then a smaller town beyond it, killing all who had not time to escape. The enemy, however, then intrenched themselves in a third and stronger position, called Mus- feia, enclosed by high hills, and fortified in front by numerous swamps and palisades. This was likewise attacked, and all its defences forced. The guns of the Arabs spread terror, and Barca Gana with his own hand Cowardice of threw eight spears, every one of which took effect. It was thought that, had the two bodies of cavalry made even a show of advancing, the victory would have been at once decided ; but Major Denham was much surprised to see those puissant warriors keeping carefully under cover behind a hill on the opposite side of the stream, where not an arrow could reach them. The Fellatas, seeing that their antagonists were only a handful, rallied on the tops of the hills, and being joined by additional numbers, turned round. Their women behind cheered them on, supplying them with arrows, and rolling down erance . Fellafas. DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 177 fragments of rock on the assailants. These arrows were chap. xii. tipt with poison, and, whatever limb thev pierced, the (.^^^~^ ^^^^ whole body in a few hours became black, blood gushed persev" from every orifice, and the victim expired in agony. The °^ ^^^ condition of the Arabs soon became alarming : scarcely a man was left unhurt, and their horses were dying under them. Boo Khalloom and his charger were both wounded with poisoned arrows. As soon as the Fellatas saw the Arabs waver, they dashed in with their horse ; at sight of whom all the heroic squadrons of Bornou and Mandara put spurs to their steeds, the sultan at their head, and the whole became one mass of confused and tumultuous flight. Denham saw too late the peril into which he had incon- siderately plunged : his horse, pierced to the shoulder- bone, could scarcely support his weight, while the cries of the pursumg enemy urged him forward. At length the Pevii of animal falling to the ground threw him with violence -^'"J"'" against a tree, then, frightened by the noise behmd, it started up and ran off. The Fellatas were instantly upon him, when four of his companions were stabbed at his side, uttering the most frightful cries. He himself fully expected to be treated in the same manner ; but happily his clothes formed a rich booty, through which the savages were loath to run their spears. After inflicting some shght wounds, therefore, they stripped him to the skin, and forthwith began to quarrel about the plunder. While they were thus busied, he contrived to slip away, and though hotly pursued, and nearly overtaken, succeeded in reach- ing a mountain-stream gliding at the bottom of a deep and precipitous ravine. Here he had snatched the young ^^^^P® ^^^^ branches issuing from the stump of a large overhanging dangers, tree, in order to let himself down into the water, when, beneath his hand, a large liffa, the most dangerous ser- pent in that country, rose from its coil, as in the very act of darting upon him. Struck with horror, he lost all recollection, and fell headlong into the water ; but the shock instantly revived him, and, with three strokes of his arm, he reached the opposite bank, and felt himself for the moment in safety. Running forward, 178 DENIIAM AND CLAPPERTOX. CHAP. XII. he was delighted to see his friends Barca Gana and Boo E-scape^to his Khalloom ; but amid the cheers Avith which they were friends. Fall of Bno Khalloom. Kindnes! of Ma lei I Chadily. T.oss of the Arabs. endeavouring to rally their troops, and the cries of those who were falling under the Fellata spears, he could not for some time make himself heard. Then Maramy, a negro appointed h}^ the sheik to attend him, rode up and lifted him on his own horse. The Arab leader ordered a burnouse to be thrown over him, — very seasonably, for the burning sun had begun to blister his naked body. Suddenly, however, Maramy called out, " See, see ! Boo Khalloom is dead !" and, at the same moment, that spirited chief, overpowered by his wounds, dropped from his liorse, and rose no more. The others now thought only of pressing their flight, and soon reached a stream, where they refreshed themselves by copious draughts, and a halt was made to collect the stragglers. Denham here fell into a swoon ; during which, as he afterwards learned, Maramy complained that the jaded horse could scarcely cairy the stranger forward, when Barca Gana said, — " By the head of the prophet ! Be- lievers enough have breathed their last to-day ; why should we concern ourselves about a Christian's death T* Malem Chadily, however, so bitter as a theological op- ponent, showed now the influence of a milder .spirit, and said, — " No, God has preserved him ; let us not abandon him ;" and Maramy declared, — " His heart told him what to do." They therefore moved on slowly till about midnight, when they passed the Mandara frontier in a state of severe suffering ; but the major met with much kindness from a dethroned prince, Mai Meegamy, who, seeing his wounds festering under the rough woollen cloak which formed his only covering, took off^ his own trousers and gave them to him. The Arabs lost forty-five of their number, besides their chief; the survivors were in a miserable plight, most of them wounded, some mortally, and all deprived of their camels and the rest of their property. Renoun- cing their pride, they were obliged to .-supplicate from Barca Gana a handful of com to keep them from starv- DENHAM AND CLAPPERTOX. 17P ing. The Sultan of Mandara, in whose cause they had chap. xir. suffered, treated them with the utmost contumely, which unge^oiis perhaps thev mio^ht deserve, but certainly not from him. conduct of r^ rx J r i. ■ -c^ 1 .^ tlie Sultan of Deep sorrow was afterwards felt m Jbezzan when they Mandura. arrived in this deplorable condition and reported the fall of their chief who was there almost idolized. A national song was composed on the occasion, which the following extract will show to be marked by great depth of feel- ing, and not devoid of poetical beauty : " Oh ! trust not to the gun and the sword : The spear of the unbeliever prevails ! " Boo Khalloom, the good and the brave, has fallen I Fnnevai song Who shall now be safe I Even as the moon amongst the ^^^^'^ ^'^'^'" little stars, so was Boo Khalloom amongst men ! Where shall Fezzan now look for her protector? Men hang their heads in sorrow, while women wring their hands, rending the air with their cries ! As a shepherd is to his flock, so was Boo Khalloom to Fezzan ! " Give him songs ! Give him music ! What words can equal his praise ] his heart was as large as the De- sert ! his coffers were like the rich overflowings from the udder of the she-camel, comforting and nourishing those around him ! " Even as the flowers without rain perish in the field, so will the Fezzaners drooj) ; for Boo Khalloom returns no more, " His body lies in the land of the heathen ! The poi- soned arrow of the unbeliever prevails ! " Oh ! trust not to the gun and the sword ! The spear of the heathen conquers ! Boo KJialloom, the good and the brave, has fallen ! Who shall now be safe V The sheik of Bornou was considerably mortified by MortificatioD 1 ^ , . , . . "^ , , ^ "^ of the sheik the result oi tins expedition, and the miserable figure ofBomoiu made by his troops, though he sought to throw the chief blame on the Mandara part of the armament. He now- invited the major to accompany an expedition against the Mungas, a rebel tribe on his southern border, on which occasion he was to employ his native band of Kanemboo spearmen, who, he trusted, would redeem the military L 180 DENUAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XII. Expedition against the Mun^as. Etiquette of the sultan's court Desolating effects of war. Traces of former civi- lization. reputation of the monarchy. Major Denham was always ready to go wherever he had a chance of seeing the man- ners and scenery of Africa. The sheik took the field, attended by his armour-bearer, his drummer fantastically dressed in a straw hat with ostrich-feathers, and followed by three wives, whose heads and persons were wrapped up in bro^^Tl silk robes, and each led by a eunuch. He was preceded by five green and red flags, on each of which were extracts from the Koran, written in letters of gold. Etiquette even required that the sultan should follow with his unwieldy pomp, having a harem, and attendance much more numerous ; while frumfrums, or wooden trumpets, were continuall}'' sounded before him. This monarch is too dignified to fight in person ; but his guards, the swollen and overloaded figures formerly described, enveloped in multi23lied folds, and groaning beneath the weight of ponderous amulets, produced them- selves as warrioi*s, though manifestly unfit to face any real danger. The route lay along the banks of the river Yeou, called also Gambarou, through a country naturally fer- tile and delightful, but presenting a most dismal picture of the desolation occasioned by African warfare. The expedition passed upwards of thirty towns, completely destroyed by the Fellatas in their last inroad, and of which all the inhabitants had been either killed or carried into slavery. These fine plains were now over- grown with forests and thickets, in which grew tama- rind and other trees, producing delicate fruits ; while large bands of monkeys, called by the Arabs " enchanted men," filled the woods with their cries. Here, too, was found Old Birnie, the ancient but now desolate capital, evidently much larger than any of the present cities, covering five or six miles with its ruins. They passed also Gambarou, formerly the favourite residence of the sultans, where the remains of a palace and of two mosques gave an idea of civilisation superior to any thing that had yet been seen in Interior Africa. There were left in this country only small detached villages, the inhabitants DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 181 of which remained fixed to them by local attachment, CHAP. XIL in spite of constant predatory inroads by the Tuaricks, gecr^T^odes who carried off their friends, their children, and cattle, of defence. They have recourse to one mode of defence, which con- sists in digging a number of blaquas, or large pits ; these they cover with a false surface of sods and grass, into which the Tuarick, with his horse, plunges before he is aware, and is received at the bottom upon sharp-pointed stakes, which often kill both on the spot. Unluckily, Narrow harmless travellers are not less liable to fall into these ^^J^i^P'^,"^ untimely graves. Major Denham was petrified with horror iiam. to find he had approached very near to several of them ; indeed, one of his servants stepped upon the deceitful covering, and was saved only by taking an almost mira- culous spring. It seems wonderful that the sheik should not have endeavoured to restore some kind of security to this portion of his subjects, and to repeople those fine but deserted regions. „ . The troops that had been seen hastening in parties to the troops. the scene of action, were mustered at Kabshary, a town which the Mungas had nearly destroyed. The sheik held a review of his favourite forces, the Kanemboo spearmen, 9000 strong. They were really a ver^'- savage and military-looking host, entirely naked, except a girdle of goat-skin with the hair still attached, and a piece of cloth wrapped round the head. They carried large wooden shields, shaped like a Gothic window, with which tliey warded off the arrows of the enemy while they pressed forward to attack with their spears. Unlike ^^^^^^ watch, almost all other barbarian armies, they kept a regular night-watch, passing the cry every half-hour along the line, and at any alarm raising a united yell, which was truly frightful. At the review they passed in tribes before their chief, to whom they showed the most enthu- siastic attachment, kneeling on the ground and kissing his feet. The Mungas, again, were described as formidable antagonists, hardened by conflict with the Tuaricks, fighting on foot with poisoned arrows longer and more deadly than those of the Fellatas. — The group in the 182 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XII. Bomou Horseman, Kanemboo Spearman, and Munga Bowman. Military ac- accompanying plate shows the three celebrated military coutrements. characters, — the Bornou horseman, the Kanemboo spear- man, and the Munga bowman. The sultan, however, contemplated other means of securing success, placing his main reliance on his powers as a Mohammedan doctor and Avriter. Three successive nights were spent in inscribing upon little scraps of paper figures or words, destined to exercise a magical influence Singular in- upon the rebel host ; and their effect was heightened by superstitious <^he display of sky-rockets, supplied by Major Denham. tears. Tidings of the chief being thus employed were conveyed to the camp, when the Mungas, stout and fierce warriors who never shrunk from an enemy, yielded to the power of superstition, and felt all their strength withered. It seemed to them that their arrows were blunted, their quivers broken, their hearts struck Avith sickness and fear ; in short, that to oppose a sheik of the Koran who DENIIAM AND CLAPPERTON. 183 could accomplish such wonders, was alike vain and im- chap, xir. pious. They came in by hundreds, bowmg themselves jjumiiiatio to the ground, and casting sand on their heads, in token of Maiem of the most abject submission. At length Malem Fana- ^^''^^^'■ my, the leader of the rebellion, saw that resistance was hopeless. After offering in vain a conditional submission he appeared in person, mounted on a white horse, with 1000 followers. He was clothed in rags, and having fallen prostrate, was about to pour sand on his head, when the sultan, instead of permitting this humiliation, Policy of the caused eight robes of fine cotton cloth, one after another, ^'^'*^"- to be thrown over him, and his head to be wrapped in Egyptian turbans till it was augmented to six times its natural size, and no longer resembled any thing human. By such signal honours the sheik gained the hearts of those whom his pen had subdued ; and this wise policy enabled him not only to overcome the resistance of tliis formidable tribe, but to convert them into supporters and bulwarks of his power. Major Denham, who always sought with laudable zeal ><'ew country to penetrate into the remotest parts of Africa, now found ^^^ his way in another direction. He had heard much of the Shary, a great river flowing into Lake Tchad, on whose banks the kingdom of Loggun was situated ; and after several delays, he set out on the 23d January 1824, in company with Mr Toole, a spirited young volunteer, who, journeying by way of Tripoli and Mourzouk, had thence crossed the Desert to join him. The travellers of^ufe rtvev passed through Angornou and Angala, and arrived at Sharv. Showy, where they saw tlie river, which really proved to be a magnificent stream, fully half a mile broad, and flowmg at the rate of two or three miles an hour. They descended it through a succession of noble reaches, bor- dered with fine woods, and a profusion of variously -tinted and aromatic plants. At length it opened into the wide expanse of the Tchad ; after viewing wliich they again ascended and reached the capital of Loggun, beneath whose high walls the river was again seen flowing in ma- jestic beauty. The major entered, and found a handsome ]84 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XII. city, with one street as wide as Pall-Mali, having large _, — : ^^ dwellings on either side, with spacious areas in front. of Loggiin. Proceeding to the palace for the purpose of visiting the sovereign, he was led through several dark rooms into a wide and crowded court, at one end of which a lattice opened, and showed a pile of silk robes extended on a carpet, amid which two eyes became gradually visible : this was the sultan. On his appearance there arose a sounding of homs and frumfrums ; while all the attend- ants threw themselves prostrate, casting sand on their Denhlm^ar^ heads. In a voice which the court-fashion of Loggun court. required to be scarcely audible, the monarch inquired Major Denham's object in coming to his country, ob- serving, that, if it was to purchase handsome female slaves, he need go no farther, since he himself had hun- dreds who could be afforded at a very cheap rate. This overture was rejected on other grounds than the price ; yet, notwithstanding so decided a proof of barbarism, the Loggunese were found a people more advanced in the arts of peace than any hitherto seen in Africa. B}^ a studied neutrality, they avoided involving themselves in the dreadful wai-^ which had desolated the neighbouring Manufaetur- countries. Manufacturing industry was honoured, and the cloths woven here were superior to those of Bornou, being finely dyed with indigo, and beautifully glazed. There was even a current coin made of iron, somewhat in the form of a horse-shoe ; and rude as it was, none of their neighbours possessed any thing similar. The ladies were handsome, intelligent, and of a lively air and car- riage ; but, besides pushing their frankness to excess, their general demeanour was by no means decorous. They used, in particular, the utmost diligence in stealing from Major Denham's person every thing that could be reached, even searching the pockets of his trousers ; and, when detected, only laughed, and remarked to one another how sharp he was. But the darkest feature of savage lifb was disclosed, when the sultan and his son each sent to solicit poison " that would not lie," to be used against the other. The latter even accompanied the request Dark feature of savage life. DENHAM AND CLAPPERTOX. 185 with a bribe of three lovely black damsels, and ridiculed chap. XIL the horror which was expressed at the proposal. Abunda" The Loggunese live in a country abounding in grain of grain and and cattle, and diversified with forests of lofty acacias '^'''"^^• and many beautiful shrubs. Its chief scourge consists in the millions of tomienting insects which fill the atmo- sphere, making it scarcely possible to go into the open air at mid-day without being thrown into a fever ; indeed, children have been killed by their stings. The natives ])uild one house witliin another to protect themselves against this plague ; while some kindle a large lire of wet straw and sit in the smoke, a remedy which seems worse than the evil it is meant to obviate. Major Denham was much distressed on this journey iJeathof Mr. by the death of his companion Mr Toole ; and he could no longer delay his return when he learned that the Begharmis, with a large army, were crossing the Shary to attack Bornou. Soon after his arrival at Kouka the sheik led out his troops, which he mustered on the plain of Angala, and was there furiously attacked by 5000 of the enemy, led by 200 chiefs. The Begharmi cavalry War with the are stout fierce-looking men, and both riders and horses ^8^^^™'^ still more thoroughly cased in mail than those of Bornou ; but their courage, when brought to the proof, is nearly as contemptible. The sheik encountered them with his Kanemboo spearmen and a small band of musketeers, when, after a sharp conflict, the whole of this mighty host was thrown into the most disorderly flight ; eveA' the Bornou horsemen joined in the pursuit ! Seven sons of the sult-an, and almost all the chiefs fell ; 200 of their favourite wives were taken, many of whom were said to be of exquisite beauty. Mr Tyrwhit, a gentleman sent out by government to xyrwhit. strengthen the party, arrived on the 20th May, and on the 22d delivered to the sheik a number of presents, which were received with the highest satisfaction. In company with this gentleman. Major Denham, eager to explore Africa still farther, took advantage of another expedition undertaken against a tribe of Shouaa Arabs, distinguished 186 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTOX. The La Sala iribc. Habits of a nomade tvibe. CHAP. XIL by the name of La Sala, — a race of amphibious shep- herds who inhabit certain islands along the south-eastern shores of the Tchad. These spots afford rich pasture ; while the water is so shallow, that, by knowing the channels, the natives can ride without difficulty from one of them to another. Barca Gana led 1000 men on this expedition, and was joined by 400 of a Shouaa horde, called Dugganahs, enemies to the La Salas. These allies presented human nature under a more pleasing aspect than it had yet been seen in that part of the world. They despise the negro nations, and all who live in houses, and still more in cities ; while they themselves reside in tents of skin, in circular camps, which they move periodically from place to place. They enjoy simple plenty derived from the produce of their flocks and herds, celebrate their joys and sorrows in extemporary poetry, and seem to be united by the strongest ties of domestic affection. Tahr, their chief, having closely examined our traveller as to the motives of his journey, said, " And have you been three years from your home 1 Are not your eyes dimmed with straining to the north, where all your thoughts must ever be ] If my eyes do not see the wife and children of my heart for ten days, they are flowing with tears when they should be closed in sleep." On takmg leave, his parting wish was, " May you die at your own tents, and in the arms of your wife and family !" This chief might have sat for the picture of a patriarch : his fine serious expressive countenance, large features, and long bushy beard, afforded a favourable specimen of his tribe. The united forces now marched to the shores of the lake, and began to reconnoitre the islands on which the Shouaas with their cattle and cavalry were stationed ; but the experienced eye of Barca Gana soon discerned that the channel, though shallow, Avas full of holes, and had a muddy, deceitful aj^pearance. He proposed, therefore, to delay the attack till a resolute band of Kanemboo spearmen should arrive and lead the way. The lowing, however, of the numerous herds, and the bleating of the Evidences of fine natural affection. Obstacles to war. DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 187 flocks on the green islands which lay before them, excited chap. xii. in the troops a degree of hunger as well as of military imp^^nt ardour, that was quite irrepressible. They called out, attack. " What I be so near them and not eat them I No, no ; let ns on ; this night these flocks and women shall be ours !" Barca Gana suffered himself to be hurried away, and plunged in among the foremost. Soon, however, the troops began to sink into the holes or stick in the mud ; their guns and powder were wetted, and became useless ; while the enemy, who knew every step, and could ride through the wtiter as quickly as on land, at fljgijt once charged the invaders in front, and sent round a detachment to attack them in the rear. The assault was accordingly soon changed into a disgraceful flight, in which those who had been the loudest in urging to this lash adventure set the example. Gana, who had boasted himself invulnerable, was deeply wounded through his coat-of-mail and four cotton tobes, and with difhculty rescued by his chiefs from five La Sala horsemen who had vowed his death. The army returned to their quarters in disappomtment and dismay, and with a severe l^'rges of the loss. During the whole night the Dugganah women women, were heard bewailing their husbands who had fallen, in dirges composed for the occasion, and with plaintive notes, which could not be listened to without the deepest sympathy. Major Denham was deterred by this disaster from making any farther attempt to penetrate to the eastern shores of the Tchad. The Biddoomahs are another tribe who inhabit exten- '^'^^ Biddoo- sive islands situated in the interior of the lake, amid its deep waters, which they navigate with nearly 1000 large boats. They neither cultivate the ground nor rear flocks or herds, while their manners appeared to our tra- veller the rudest and most savage observed even among Africans, — the Musgow always excepted. They have adopted as a religious creed, that God, having withheld from them com and cattle, which the nations around enjoy, has given in their stead strength and courage, to be employed in taking these good things from all in whose 188 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTOX. Warlike creed of the tribe. Conrse of Clapperton and Ouduey, CHAP. XII. possession they may be found. To this belief they act up in me most devout manner, spreading terror and de- solation over all the shores of this inland sea ; no part of which, even in the immediate vicinity of the great capi- tals, is for a moment secure from their ravages. The most powerful and warlike of the Bomou sovereigns, finding among their subjects neither the requisite skill nor experience in navigation, make no attempt to cope with the Biddoomahs on their watery domains ; and thus give up the lake to their undisputed sway. While Denham was thus traversing, in every direction, Bomou and the surroundmg countries, Clapperton and Oudney were proceeding through Houssa, by a route less varied and hazardous indeed, but disclosing forms both of nature and of society fully as interesting. They de- parted from Kouka on the 14th December 1823, and, after passing the site of Old Birnie, found the banks of the Yeou fertile, and diversified with towns and villages. On enteriug Katagum, the most easterly Fellata pro- vince, they observed a superior style of culture ; two crops of wheat being raised in one season by irrigation, and the grain stored in covered sheds, elevated from the ground on posts. The country to the south was covered with extensive swamps and mountains, tenanted by rude and pagan tribes, who furnish to the Faithful an inex- haustible supply of slaves. The practice of travelling with a caravan was found very advantageous, from the mutual help afibrded, as well as from the good reports spread by the merchants respecting their European com- panions. In Bomou these last had been viewed with almost unmingled horror ; and, for having eaten their bread under the extremest necessity, a man had his testimony rejected in a court of justice. Some young Bomouese ladies, who accosted Major Denham, havmg ventured to say a word in his favour, an attendant ma- tron exclaimed, — " Be silent ! he is an uncircumcised CafFre, — neither washes nor prays, eats pork, and will go to hell ;" upon which the others screamed and ran off. But in Houssa this horror was not so great, and Strong Mos- lem preju- dices. DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 189 was mingled with the belief that they possessed super- chap. xii. natural powers. Not only did the sick come m crowds s^peT^tious expecting to be cured, but the ladies solicited amulets to virtues as- restore their beauty, to preserve the affections of their travdiers.^^^ lovers, and even to destroy a hated rival. The son of the governor of Kano having called upon Clapperton, stated it as his own conviction and that of the whole city, that the English had the power of converting men into asses, goats, and monkeys, and likewise that by read- ing in his book he could at any time commute a handful of earth into gold. The traveller having declared to him the difficulty he often found in procuring either asses or food, induced him, with trembling hands, to taste a cup of tea ; when he became more composed, and made a sort of recantation of his errors. As the caravan proceeded, they met many other way- Native farers, and found numerous females, sitting along the *'"'* ^^^ road, selling potatoes, beans, bits of roasted meat, and water with an infusion of gussub-grains ; and when they stopped at any place for the night, the people crowded in such numbers as to form a little market. Clapper- ton attracted the notice of many of the Fellata ladies, who, after examining him closely, declared, that had he only been less white, his external appearance might have merited approbation. The travellers passed through Sansan, a great market- sansan and place divided into three distinct towns, and Katagum, its capital, the strongly-fortified capital of the province, containing about 8000 inhabitants. Thence they proceeded to Mur- mur, where the severe illness under which Dr Oudney had long laboured came to a crisis. Though now in the last stage of consumption, he insisted on continuing his journey, and with the aid of his servant had been sup- ported to his camel ; but Clapperton, seeing the ghastli- Deatii of Dr ness of death on his countenance, would not allow him to proceed. He replaced him in his tent, where soon after- wards he breathed his last without a groan. Resolving that he should be buried with the honours of the country, the major gave orders that the body should be washed, 190 DENHAM AND CLAPPEIITON. CHAP. XII. Appearance ofKatungWiU Kano the chief citj of Houssa. Number of the popula- Articles of tiade. wrapped in turban-shawls, and a wall of clay built round the grave to protect it from wild beasts. Two sheep were also killed and distributed among the poor. Katungwa, the first town of Houssa Proper, and the next on the route, is situated in a country well enclosed and under high cultivation. To the south is an exten- sive range of rocky hills, amid which is the town of Zangeia, with its buildings picturesquely scattered over masses of rock. Clapperton passed also Girkwa, near a river of the same name, which appears to come from these hills, and to fall into the Yeou. Two days after, he entered Kano, the Ghana of Edrisi, and which is now, as it was 600 years ago, the chief commercial city of Houssa and of all Central Africa. It disappointed him much on his first entry, and for a quar- ter of a mile, in fact, there scarcely appeared a city at all. Even in its more crowded quarters, the houses rose gene- rally in clusters, separated by large stagnant pools. The inhabited f)art, on the whole, did not comprise more than a fourth of the space enclosed by the walls, the rest con- sisting of fields, gardens, and swamps ; however, as the whole circuit is fifteen miles, there is ample space for the population which is thought to vary from 30,000 to 40,000. The market is held on a neck of land between two swamps, by which, during the rains, it is entirely overflowed ; but in the dry season it is covered with slieds of bamboo, an-anged into regular streets. Diff^erent quarters are allotted for the several kinds of produce ; some for cattle, and others for vegetables ; while fruits of various descriptions, so much neglected in Bornou, are liere displayed in profusion. The fine cotton fabrics of the country are sold either in webs, or in what are called tohes and turkadees, with rich silken strips or borders ready to be added. Among the favourite articles are goora or kolla nuts, which are called African coffee, being supposed to give a peculiar relish to the water drunk after them ; and crude antimony, with the black tint of which every eyebrow must be dyed. The Arabs also dispose here of sundry commodities that have becomt DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 191 obsolete in the north ; the cast-ofF dresses of the Mame- chap. xii. lukes and other great men, and old sword-blades from >rati^r7iave Malta. But the busiest scene of all is the slave-market, market, composed of two long ranges of sheds, one for males and another for females. These poor creatures are seated in rows, decked out for exhibition, and the buyer scrutinizes them as nicely as a purchaser does a horse with us : he inspects the tongue, teeth, eyes, and limbs, makes them cough and perform various movements, to ascertain if there be any thing unsound ; and in case of a blemish appearing, or even without assigning a reason, he may return them within three days. As soon as the slaves are sold, the exposer gets back their finery, to be em- ployed in ornamenting others. ]\Iost of the captives pur- chased at Kano are conveyed across the Desert, during which their masters endeavour to keep up their spirits by an assurance that, on passing its boundary, they will be f^^^"^' /tv^^' set free and dressed in red, which they account the gayest siaveo. of colours. Supplies, however, often fail in this dreary journey, — a want felt first by the slaves, many of whom perish through hunger and fatigue. Clapperton heard the doleful tale of a mother who had seen her child dashed to the ground, while she herself was compelled by the lash to drag on an exhausted frame. But when well treated, they are very gay, — an observation gene- rally made in regard to slaves ; but this gayety, arising only from absence of thought, probably conceals much secret wretchedness. The regulations of the market of Kano seem to be Regulations good, and strictly observed. A sheik superintends the of Kano?' ^ police, and is said even to fix the prices ; and as the dylalaSy or brokers, are men of somewhat high character, pack- ages of goods are often sold unopened, bearing merely their mark. If the purchaser afterwards finds any defect, he returns them to the agent, who must grant compensation. The medium of exchange is not cloth as in Bornou, nor iron as in Loggun, but cowries, or little shells brought from the coast, twenty of which are worth a halfpenny, and 480 make a shilling ; so that, in paying 192 DENHAM AND CLAPPERTOX. CHAP. XII. a pound sterling, one has to count over 9600 of them. Use oFcow- ^^^ countryman admires this currency, as excluding all lie money, attempts at forgery ; but we should consider its use as at once tedious and inconvenient. Amid so many strangers there is ample room for the trade of the restaurateur^ which is carried on by a female seated on the ground, with a mat on her knees, on which are spread vegetables, gussub-water, and bits of roasted meat about the size of a penny ; these she retails to her customers squatted around. The killmg of a bullock forms a sort of festival at Kano ; its horns are dyed red with henna, public notice is given, and a crowd collected, who, if they approve of the appearance and condition of the animal, readily be- come purchasers. ing^ilat^"^* Boxing in Houssa, like wrestling in Bomou, forms a fiivourite exercise, and the grand national spectacle. Clapperton, having heard much of the fancy of Kano, intimated his willingness to pay for a performance, which was forthwith arranged. The whole body of butchers attended, acting as masters of the ceremonies ; and, as soon as the tidings spread, girls left their pitchers at the wells, the market-people threw down their baskets, and an immense crowd was assembled. The ring being formed, and drums beat, the performers first advanced singly, plying their muscles like a musician tuning his instrument, and each calling out to the bystanders, — " I am a hyena ! I am a lion ! I can kill all that oppose me." After about twenty had shown off in this manner, they came forward in pairs, wearing only a leathern girdle, and with their hands muffled in numerous folds ti'ielr plSe°^ of country cloth. It was first ascertained that they were figiits. not mutual friends ; after which, they closed with the utmost fury, aiming their blows at the most mortal parts, such as the pit of the stomach, beneath the ribs, or under the ear. It is said they even endeavour to scoop out the eyes, so that, in spite of every precaution, these matches often tenninate in the death of one of the combatants. Whenever Clapperton saw the affair verging to such an issue, he gave orders to stop ; and, DENHAM ASD CLAPPERTON. 193 after seeing six pairs exhibit, he paid the hire and broke char xil. up the meeting. DepaT^re From Kano he set out under the guidance of Mo- for Sackatoo hammed Jollie, leader of an extensive caravan intended for Sackatoo, capital of the sultan of the Fellatas. The country was perhaps the finest in Africa, being under high cultivation, diversified with groves of noble trees, and traversed in a picturesque manner by ridges of gran- ite. The manners of the people, too, were pleasing and pastoral. At many clear springs gushing from the rocks young women were drawing water ; and as an excuse for engaging in talk, our traveller asked several times for a draught to quench his thirst. " Bending gracefully on Pleasing one knee, and displaying at the same time teeth of pearly JJe^peopie. vvhiteness, and eyes of the blackest lustre, they presented a gourd, and appeared highly delighted when I thanked them for their civility, remarking to one another, ' Did you hear the white man thank me V " But the scene was changed on reaching the borders of the provinces of Goober and Zamfra, which were in a state of rebellion against Sackatoo. The utmost alarm at that moment prevailed ; men and women, with their bullocks, asses, J^tSn"^ and camels, were pressing their retreat, every one cry- ing out, " Wo to the wretch that falls behind ! he will be sure to meet an unhappy end at the hands of the Gooberites." There was danger even of being thrown down and trampled to death by the animals, which were furiously mshing backward and forward ; however, through the unremitting care of the escort, Clapperton made his way safely, though not without much fatigue and annoyance, along this perilous frontier. On the Ifith March 1824, after passing through the Approach to hilly district of Kamoon, the valleys began to open, and crowds of people were seen thronging to market with wood, onions, indigo, and other commodities. This in- dicated the approach to Sackatoo, which they soon saw from the top of a hiU, and entered about noon. A mul- titude flocked to see the white man, and received him with cheers of welcome. The sultan had not returned 194 DEXHAM AND CLAPPERTOX. tlie native minister. In tell i {rent curiositv. CHAP. XII. from a slave Hunt ; but the gadado, or minister, pei-form- Recepth^n by ^^ handsomely the honours of the place. Next day the chief arrived, and instantly sent for Clapperton. The palace, as usual in Africa, consisted of a sort of enclosed town, -with an open quadrangle in front ; and the stranger, on entering the gate, was conducted through three huts serving as guard-houses, after which he found Sultan Bello seated on a small carpet in a painted and orna- mented cottage. This ruler had a noble and commanding figure, with a high forehead and large black eyes. He gave the traveller a hearty welcome, and, after inquiring the particulars of his journey, proceeded to serious affairs. He produced books belonging to Major Denham, which had been taken in the disastrous battle of Dirkulla ; and, though he expressed a feelmg of dissatisfaction at the major's presence on that occasion, readily accepted an apology, and restored the volumes. He only asked to have the subject of each explained, and to hear the sound of the language, which he declared to be beautiful. He then began to press him with theological questions, and showed himself not wholly unacquainted with the con- troversies which have agitated the Christian world ; indeed, he soon went beyond the depth of his visiter, who was obliged to ovm that he was not versant in the abstruser mysteries of divinity. knowSlfof "^^^ sultan now opened a frequent and familiar com- the sultan, munication with the English envoy, in which he dis- played a good deal of information. The astronomical instruments, from which, as from implements of magic, many of his attendants started with horror, were ex- amined by the monarch with an intelligent eye. On being shown the planisphere, he proved his knowledge of the planets, and even of many of the constellations, by repeating their Arabic names. The telescope, which presented objects inverted — the compass, by which he could always turn to the east in praying — and the sex- tant, which he called " the looking-glass of the sun," excited peculiar interest. Being desirous to see an observation performed with the latter instrument, Clap- DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 195 perton, who had lost the key of the artificial horizon, chap. xii. asked a dagger to break it open ; upon wliich his highness Appi^Tn- started, and half drew his sword, trembling violently. ^''^"^ ^^ ^^e siiltin The other very prudently took no notice of this, but quietly opened the box, when the exhibition soon dis- pelled all unfavourable impressions. The sultan, how- Jealousy of ever, inquired with evident jealousy into some points of q^g^'tf'^ *^""' English history that had come to his knowledge ; as, the conquest of India, which the traveller endeavoured to represent as a mere arrangement to protect the natives, and particularly the Moslem part of the popula- tion. The attack on Algiers being also alluded to, was justly declared to have been made solely on account of her atrocious piracies. Sackatoo appeared to the discoverer the most populous impi-ession of city he had seen in the interior of Africa. The houses stand more close than in most other towns of Houssa, and are laid out regularly in well-built streets. It is surrounded by a wall between twenty and thh'ty feet high, with twelve gates, which are punctually shut at sunset. The dwellings of the principal inhabitants con- sist of clusters of cottages and flat-roofed houses in the Moorish style, enclosed in the usual manner. There are two mosques, one of which, then building, was 800 feet long, adorned wdth numerous pillars of wood plastered with clay, and highly ornamented. Clapperton, desirous to accomplish his main object, cuifot Benin solicited a guide to the western countries and the Gulf solicited. of Benin. By this route he might investigate the course of the Joliba and the fate of Park ; he might also pave the way for a commercial intercourse, which would be ot some benefit to Britain, and of great advantage to Africa. The sultan at first gave assurances of permission and aid in travelling through every part of his dominions ; but when our countryman specified Nyff^e on the banks of the Niger, Youri where the papers of Park were reported to be kept, Rakah and Fundah where that river was said to fall into the sea, the courtiers began to demur. Professing solicitude for his safety, they represented that DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. CHAP. XII. Influence of Arub machi- nations. Disturbed state of the country. Supposed motives of tlie sultan. Account of I'ark's death. the season was becoming unfavourable, and that rebellion and civil war were raging to such a pitch in those coun- tries as to make even the mighty protection of Sultan Bello insufficient for his security. He strongly suspect- ed that this change was produced by the machmations of the Arabs, and particularly of IMohammed Gomsoo, their chief, notwithstandmg the warm declarations of friendship made to him by that personage. They were supposed to be apprehensive, that, were a communication opened with the western coast, Interior Africa might be supplied with European goods by that shorter route, instead of being brought by themselves across the Desert. Perhaps these suspicions were groundless ; for the state of the country was afterwards found to be, if possible, worse than had been described, and the ravages of the Fellatas so terrible, that any one coming from among them was likely to experience a very disagreeable recep- tion. Indeed, it may be suspected that the sultan must have been a good deal embarrassed by the indifference with which his guest listened to his pompous boasting as to the extent of his empire, and by the earnestness with which he entreated him to name one of his seaports where the English might land, when it is certain that he had not a town which was not some hundred miles dis- tant from the coast. To prevent the disclosure of this fact, which must have taken place had our traveller pro- ceeded in that direction, might be an additional motive for refusing his sanction. In short it was finally an- nounced to Clapperton, that no escort could be found to accompany him on so rash an enterprise, and that he could return to England only by retracing his steps. Here the traveller obtained an account of Park's death, corresponding in the main points with the statement given by Amadi Fatouma. The Niger, it appears, called here the Quorra, after passing Timbuctoo, turns to the south, and flows in that direction till it crosses the parallel of Sackatoo, only a few days' journey to the westward; but whether it reached the sea, or, making an immense circuit, became the Shary, and poured itself into the DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON. 197 basin of the Tchad, were points on which his informants char xii. varied greatly. ^ — Returning by a different route, the lieutenant visited returning. Zirmie, the capital of Zamfra, a kind of outlawed city, the mhabitants of which are esteemed the greatest rogues in Houssa, and where all runaway slaves find protection. He passed also through Kashna or Cassina, the metropolis of a kingdom which, till the rise of the Fellata power, ruled over all Africa from Bornou to the Niger. In its present subject and fallen state, the inhabited part does Present state not cover a tenth of the wide circuit enclosed by its ^^ J^ashna. walls ; yet a considerable trade is still carried on with the Tuaricks, or with caravans crossing the Desert by the route of Ghadamis and Tuat. Here our traveller met with much kindness from Hadgi Ahmet, a powerful Arab chief, who even took him into his seraglio, and de- sired him, out of fifty black damsels, to make his choice, — a complaisance, nothing resembling which had ever before been shown by a Mussulman. But our country- man, being indisposed, only picked out an ancient maiden to serve as a nurse. Clapperton rejoined Major Denham at Kouka, whence fleeting of they set out, and recrossed the Desert in the latter part anSenh"™. of 1824. Having reached Tripoli next January, they soon after embarked for Leghorn ; but, being detained by contrary winds and quarantine regulations, did not reach London till June. 198 clapperton's second journey. CHAPTER XIII. Clapperton^s Second Journey — Laing — CailUS. Objects of this Journey — Departure from Badagry— Death of Pearce and of Morrison — Kingdom of Yarriba— Eyeo — Kiama — Wawa — Boussa — Particulars respecting Park — Nyffe — Koolfu — Zaria — Kano — Siege of Coonia — Violent Conduct of Sultan Bello— Sickness and Death of Clapperton at Sackatoo— His Servant Lander returns, partly by a new Route — Laing's Expedition— He reaches Timbuctoo— Assas- sinated — Caillie undertakes a Journey— Reaches Jenne — Timbuctoo — Aroau — The Desert— Arrival at Tangier. CHAP. XIII. It is clear that, in spite of some occasional symptoms of Friendly jealousv, and even of alarm, the Sultan of the Feilatas manifesta- manifested a considerable inclination to cultivate inter- suitanoflhe course with the English. He was even understood to FeUetas. g^j^ ^^^t messengers should wait at Rakah and Fundah, or at some port on the coast, to conduct a new mission to Sackatoo. These promises, it is probable, were mere inferences drawn from the empty boasts of his highness ; he being master neither of Rakah nor Fundah, nor of any place within a great distance of the Gulf of Benin, Be this as it may, there seemed good ground to expect a welcome for the British envoys when they should reach his capital ; and in that direction, it was conjectured, were to be found the termination of the Niger, and also the most direct channel of trade with regions already ascertained to be the finest in Africa. These were views to which the statesmen who con- luentotciap- ducted the naval department at home were never in- perton, sensible. Clapperton, now promoted to the rank of captain, was equipped afresh, and sent to the Gulf of CLAPPERTON's SECOND JOURNEY. 199 Benin ; Captain Pearce, an excellent draftsman, and Mr chap. xtii. Morrison, being named as his associates, the latter a pearceTnd surgeon of some experience, whose skill, it was hoped, Morrison. might be of great avail in preserving the health of the whole expedition. The mission, m the end of 1825, reached its destina- New route tion ; but, as might perhaps have been anticipated, they determiued could hear nothing of Rakah or of Fundah, of any mes- sengers sent by Bello, nor of any town subject to him on this coast. They were not, however, discouraged ; and having consulted Mr Houtson, whom a long residence had made thoroughly acquainted with the country, they were advised not to attempt ascending the banks of the river, — a circuitous track, and covered with pestilential swamps, — but to take the route from Badagry as the most direct and commodious, and by which, in fact, almost all the caravans from Houssa come down to the shores of the Atlantic. On the seventh of December the party set out from ^et out from Badagry. But at the very first they were guilty of a ^ ^^^^' fatal imprudence ; for during the two succeeding nights they slept in the open air, and on the last occasion in the public market-place of Dagmoo, without even their beds, wliich had been sent away by mistake. The consequence ^ was, that in a day or two Morrison and Pearce were attacked Avith a dangerous fever, and Clapperton with fits of ague. Instead, too, of stopping in one of the towns, and endeavouring by rest to recruit their exhausted strength, we find them pushing on till the 22d, when the chief of the expedition, seeing the illness of his two companions increase, urged them either to remain behind deafh ooior- or return to Badagry. They insisted on proceeding ; but "son and next day Mr Morrison, who could struggle no longer, departed for the coast, and he died before reaching it. Captain Pearce persevered, till, sinking on the road, he breathed his last at nine in the evening of the 27th. The survivor was thus left to pursue his way in very painful and desolate circumstances. He had only a faithful servant, Richard Lander, who stood by him in all his 200 CLAPPERTON S SECOND JOURNEY CHAP. XIII, Entering tlie kingdom of yarriba. Wives of the king of Eyeo. Agreeable reception. Absence of religious enmity. fortunes, with Pascoe an African, not the most trusty of his race, whom he had hired at Badagry. After a journey of sixty miles, the travellers entered the kingdom of Yarriba, called also from its capital Eyeo. This country had long been considered on the coast as the most populous, powerful, and flourishing of all Western Africa, holding even Dahomey in vassalage. It answered the most favourable descriptions of it ; the fields were extensively cleared, and covered with thriving planta- tions of Indian corn, millet, yams, and cotton. A loom nearly similar to that used in England was busily plied ; while the women were spinning, or dyeing the cloths with their fine indigo. These African dames also went from town to town bearing large burdens on their heads, — an employment shared by the numerous wives of the King of Eyeo ; their majesties being in no respect distin- guished from the humblest of their countrywomen. Amid these occupations, they exercised their powers of speech with such incessant perseverance as to confirm the captain in what appears to have been with him an old maxim, that no power on earth, not even African despotism, can silence a woman's tongue ; yet, as this loquacity seems to have been always exerted in kindness, he need not, we think, have groaned quite so heavily under its influence. The Englishmen were agreeably surprised by the reception which they experienced during this journey. In Houssa they had laboured under the most dire pro- scription as Caffres, enemies of the prophet, and fore- doomed to hell ; and, as black is there the standard of beauty, their colour was considered by the ladies a deep leprous deformity, detracting from every quality that might otherwise have been agreeable in their persons. With the negro and pagan Eyeos there was no religious enmity ; and having understood, by reports from the coast, the vast superiority of Europeans in arts and wealth, this people viewed them almost as beings of a higher order. A rumour had also spread that they came to do good, and to make peace wherever there was war. clapperton's second journey. 201 On entering the to^^^ls they were immediatel}^ encircled chap. xiii. by thousands, desirous to see Avhite men, and testifying cii,.i^^.and respect, — the males by taking off their caps, the women respectful by bending on their knees and one elbow. In some ^^"^""^^ places singing and dancing were kept up through the wliole night in celebration of their arrival. The mission had now to cross a range of hills about Range of hill eighty miles broad, said to reach the whole way from '^°^"^'"y- behind Ashantee to Benin. The highest pinnacle, indeed, Avas not supposed to exceed 2500 feet, which is a good deal lower than Skiddaw ; but its passes were extremely narroAv and rugged, hemmed in by gigantic blocks of granite 600 or 700 feet in height, sometimes fearfully overhanging the road. The valley varied in breadth from 100 yards to half a mile ; but every level spot along the foot of these mountains, or amid their cliffs, was covered with fine crops of yams, millet, and cotton. A large fp/rit*of tj^e population thus filled those Alpine recesses, all animated natives. with the most friendly spirit. Parties met the travellers on the road, or were stationed on the rocks above, which echoed with choral songs and sounds of welcome. After ascending hill after hill they came to Chaki, a large and populous town, on the very summit of the ridge. Here the caboceer had a house and a large stock of provisions ready for them : he put many questions, and earnestly pressed them to stay two or three days. Having descended to the plain, and passed through a Messenger- number of other towns, the party came to Tshow, where ^f'yarriba."^ a caboceer arrived from the King of Yarriba, witli a numerous train of attendants on foot and horseback. This chief having shaken hands with them, immediately rubbed his whole body, that the blessing of their touch might be spread all over him. His people kept up through the night a constant tumult, — singing, drum- ming, dancing, and firing ; and, claiming free quarters, they devoured such a quantity of provisions, that the travellers fared worse than in any other place. Next morning they set out with a crowded escort of bowmen on foot, and of horsemen ill mounted but active, dressed 202 clapperton's second journey. CHAP. XIII. in the most grotesque manner, and covered with charms. DistanTview From the brow of a hill, the great capital of Eyeo opened of the capital, to the view, on the opposite side of a vast plain bordered by a ridge of granite hills, and surrounded by a brilliant belt of verdure. On reaching the gate, they entered the house of a caboceer, till notice was sent to the king, who immediately invited them to his palace. They had five miles to march through this spacious metropolis, during Great extent which the multitude collected was so immense, and raised 3 t e city, ^^^j^ ^ cloud of dust, that they must have stopped short, had not their escort, by a gentle but steady application of the whip and the cane, opened a way, and finally cleared a space in front of the throne. The monarch was sitting under a veranda, dressed in two long cotton tobes, and ornamented with three strings of glass beads, and a pasteboard crown covered with blue cotton, which had been procured from the coast. The Englishmen, instead of the usual prostration, merely took oiF their hats, bowed, p.eceptionby and presented their hands, which the king lifted up ^"^' three times, calling out, " Ako I ako I" (How do you do 1) His wives behind, drawn up in a dense body, which the travellers vainly attempted to number, raised loud cheers, and smiled in the most gracious manner. After an interview of half an hour, the chief eunuch showed the party to commodious lodgings, where a good dinner was prepared. In the evening they were surprised by a visit from his majesty in plain patriarchal style, with a long staff in his hand, saying that he could not sleep without again inquiring after them. Great popu- Eyeo, or Katunga, is fifteen miles in circumference, and supplied by seven large markets ; but there are many open fields and spaces in this wide circuit, and hence the number of inhabitants could not be even con- jectured. The population of the country must be very great, the whole being under cultivation, and the towns large and numerous. The government, in theory, is most despotic ; hence the greatest chiefs, when they approach the sovereign, throw themselves on the ground, lie flat on their faces, and heap sand or dust upon their heads ; clapperton's second journey. 203 and the same degrading homage is paid to the nobles by chap, xiii. their inferiors. Yet the administration seems mild and j^yj^j^gs of paternal ; no instances of wanton cruelty were observed ; mild paternal and the flourishing state of the people showed clearly the 8''^®'^°™^°*- absence of all severe oppression. The horrid and bloody customs, which produce such dark scenes in Ashantee and Dahomey, were mentioned here with detestation. At the death of his majesty, only a few of his principal ministers and favourite wives take poison in parrots' eggs, that they may accompany and serve him in the invisible world. The first question asked by every ca- boceer and great man was, how many wives the King Favour for of England had, beuig prepared, it should seem, to measure his greatness by that standard ; but when told that he had only one, they gave themselves up to a long and ungovernable fit of laughter, followed by expressions of astonishment how he could possibly exist in that des- titute condition. The monarch of Yarriba could boast, that his wives, linked hand in hand, would reach entirely across the kingdom. Queens, however, in Africa are applied to various uses of which Europeans have little idea. For example, some of them formed a band of bod^'guards ; while others were observed in every part of the kingdom acting as porters, and bearing on their heads enormous burdens. Hence they might more pro- perly be called slaves than queens. •^ ^ IgnorancB of The Eyeos, like other nations purely negro, are wholly letters. unacquainted with letters or any form of writing ; these are known only to the Arabs or Fellatas, who penetrate thither in small numbers. Yet they have a larg-e stock of popular poetry, and every great man has bands of singers of both sexes, who constantly attend him, and loudly celebrate his acliievements in extemporary verses. The convivial meetings of the people, even their labours and journeys, are cheered by songs composed for the occasion, and chanted often with considerable taste. Their houses, though mere clay cottages, are studiously adorned with carving ; the door-posts, and every piece of furniturp, being covered with well- executed representations of war- 204 CLAPPERTON S SECOND JOURNEY. Amusing public per- formance-, Tlie white (leviL CHAP. XIII. like processions, or of the movements of huge serpents seizing their prey. They have also public performances, which do not indeed deserve the name of dramatic, as they consist of simple mimicry and buffoonery. The first act of a piece witnessed by the strangers exhibited men dancing in sacks, who performed their parts to ad- miration. One of the bags opened, and thence issued the boa constrictor fourteen feet long, covered with cotton cloth coloured and striped so as to resemble the original. Though rather full in the belly, it presented very nearly the form, and imitated well the actions, of that huge animal. The mouth was opened wide, probably by two hands, to devour a warrior armed with a sword, who had come forth to contend with this formidable creature, and who struck it with repeated blows till it writhed in agony and finally expired. Lastly, out of another sack came the white devil, a meagre, shivering figure, so painted as to represent a European. It took snuff, rub- bed its hands, and attempted, in the most awkward manner, to walk on its naked feet. The audience, amid shouts of laughter, called the particular attention of the captain to this performance ; which being really good, he deemed it advisable to join in the mirth. As soon as Clapperton was fixed at Eyeo, he began to negotiate in regard to the means of advancing into Houssa, anxious to pass through that country and reach Bornou before the rains set in. The king had professed a determination to serve liim in every shape ; but this proved to be the very thing in which he was least in- clined to fulfil his promise. As every African prince seeks to make a monopoly of the strangers who enter his territory, it was hinted that one journey was well em- ployed in seeing the kingdom of Yarriba and visiting its great monarch. The captain having pleaded the posi- tive command of his sovereign, was then informed that tlie direct route through Nyffe was much disturbed by civil war, the inroad of the Fellatas, and the insurrection of a great body of Houssa slaves, — reports suspected at the time to be fabricated merely to detain the travellers. Xegociations foradvancing to Houssa. Disturbed state of the country. clapperton's second journey. 205 but wliich were afterwards found to be correct. The chap. xiii. king, who absolutely refused permission to proceed to cj^cv^us Rakah, though situated on the Niger at the distance of route die- only three days' journey, undertook to convey them to *''*^'^' Houssa by a safer, though somewhat circuitous route, through the kingdom of Jiorgoo. After passing a number of smaller places, the mission Arrival at the arrived at Kiama, capital of a district of the same name, Kiama. and containing 30,000 inhabitants. Kiama, Wawa, Niki, and Boussa, are provinces composing the kingdom of Borgoo, all subject in a certain sense to the sovereign of Boussa ; but the different cities plunder and make war on each other without the slightest regard to the supreme authority. The people of Kiama, and of Borgoo in general, have the reputation of being the greatest thieves and robbers in all Africa, — a character which nothing in their actual conduct appeared to confirm. Clapperton was well received at the former ; and the king soon visited ft°endantr '^ him with the most singular train ever seen by a Euro- pean, namely, six young girls, who, without any apparel except a fillet on the forehead and a string of beads round the waist, and carrying each three light spears, ran by the side of his horse, keeping pace with it at full gallop. " Their light form, the vivacity of their eyes, and the ease with which they appeared to fly over the ground, made them appear something more than mortal." When his majesty entered, the young ladies laid down their spears, put a blue cloth round their waists, and attended on him. But on his taking leave, they discarded their attire ; he mounted his horse, " and away," says the captain, " went the most extraordinary cavalcade I ever saw in my life." Our countryman was visited by the principal Q,\een'^ ^^^^ queen, who had lost her youth and charms ; but a good deal of flirtation passed between him and the eldest daughter, who, however, being twenty-five, was consider- ed in Africa as already on the wane. Yarro, the king, was extremely accommodating, and no difficulty was found in proceeding onward to Wawa. This is a large city, containing, it is said, 18,000 in- town of Wawa. 206 clapperton's second journey. CHAP. XIII. habitants, who are enriched by the passage of the Houssa Visit to the Caravans. They spend the wealth thus acquired in dis- solute pleasure, and have been denounced by our traveller as the most complete set of roaring topers he ever knew. Festivities were usually prolonged till near morning, and the town resounded the whole night with the song, the dance, the castanet, and the Arabian guitar. The Wawa Troublesome ladies paid a very particular and rather troublesome tionl^ ^ ^^' attention to the English party. The captain complains of being pestered by the governor's daughter, who came several times a-day, always half-tipsy, painted and be- dizened in the highest style of African finery, to make love to him ; and on meeting only with cold excuses, she departed usually in a flood of tears. But the most persevering suit was that made by Zuma, an Arab widow, possessor of a thousand slaves, and the second personage in Wawa. Being turned of twenty, she was considered as past her bloom, and a too ample indulgence in the luxuries which her wealth afforded had enlarged her dimensions till they might be justly likened to those of a huge water-cask ; yet she had still some beauty, and, being only of a deep-brown complexion, considered Address of a berself fair, and was in the most eager search after a native widow, white husband. In tliis pursuit she cast her eyes first upon the servant, to whom our traveller hesitates not to assign the palm of good looks in preference to him- self; and he gave Lander full permission to follow his for- tune. But that sage person, unmoved by all her charms and possessions, repelled her advances in so decided a manner that the widow soon perceived there was no- thing to be made of him. She then withdrew her artil- lery from this quarter, and directed it entirely against his master, to whom she laid very close siege. At length, VisitbvCIap- ^^ ^ frolic, he agreed to visit her. He found her sur- p(;rroiuoher. rounded by every circumstance of African pomp, seated cross-legged on a piece of Turkey carpet, with an English pewter mug for her goora-pot, and dressed in a rich striped silk and cotton robe of country manufacture. Her eyebro \vs were dyed black, her hair blue, her hands clapperton's second journey. :i»/ and feet red ; necklaces and girdles of beads, coral, and chap. xiii. gold, profusely adorned her person. She made a display Display of of additional finery lodged in her repositories, leading her wealth, him through a series of apartments, one of which was ornamented with a number of pewter dishes and bright brass pans. After these preliminaries, she at once declared her wish to accompany him on his journey, and proposed to send forthwith for a inalem, or hcly man, to read the fatha, by which their fates would be indissolubly united. Clapperton, who seems to have been completely stunned as^sVdu^ity of by this proposal, stammered out the best apology heZuma. could, and hastened away. His conduct, however, does not appear to have been so decisive as to deter the lady from the most energetic perseverance in her suit. She even obtained his permission for his servant Pascoe to accept a wife from among her slaves ; but he was not aware that, according to African ideas, she had thus acquired a sort of claim to himself. Regardless of all these tender solicitations, our traveller f^r uTe^Ni^'er had no sooner completed his arrangements than he set out for the Niger, leaving directions for his baggage to join him at the ferry of Comie, while he went round by Boussa. We shall follow him at present to the former place, where he did not find his packages, but learned that the widow, having placed them under arrest, had left Wawa with drums beating and a numerous train, and moreover, that she claimed a full right to his person, as liis servant Pascoe had accepted a wife at her hand. It Ambitions was whispered, besides, that she was meditating to sup- scht-mes of plant the governor, — a scheme which, aided by the per- ^'^"^^" sonal bravery of the strangers, she might probably realize, — and that she afterwards meant to invite the English- man to ascend the throne of Wawa. " It would have been a fine end to my journey indeed," says he, " if I had deposed old Mohammed, and set up for myself, with a walking tun-butt for a queen !" Scarcely had he received this account when a present from the widow intimated her arrival in a neighbouring village. The captain, however, insensible to all the brilliant hopes 208 CLAPPERTOK S SECOND JOURNEY. CHAP. XIII, Arrest of Cliipperton's properry. Return of Zuma. Scene of Park's deatli Native ideas \vitli refer- ence to the English. thus opened, set off full speed for Wawa to recover his property. On his arrival the governor refused to libe- rate it till Zuma's return ; the other in vain protesting that his movements and hers had no sort of connexion. However, next day, the sound of drums was heard, and the ladj made her entry in full pomp, astride on a very fine horse, with housings of scarlet cloth, trimmed with lace. The large circumference of her own person was invested in a red silk mantle, red trousers, and morocco boots ; and numerous spells, sewed variously in coloured leather, were hung all round her. She was followed by a train of aiTned attendants, and preceded by a drummer decked in ostrich-feathers. On the whole, the scene was so splendid, that our hero's resolution seems for a moment to have wavered ; but, nevertheless, his part was soon taken. Pascoe was directed to return his wife, and thus extinguish all claim that could be founded upon her ; and having received his baggage our country-man set for- ward without admitting the fond widow to any farther conference. On his way to Comic, he had visited Boussa, a place chiefly interesting as the scene where the career of Park terminated in a m.anner so tragical. Every thing tended to confirm th^ report of Amadi Fatouma, and to dispel the scepticism with which it had been originally regarded. The king, however, and all the citizens, spoke of the event with deep grief and reluctance, and disavowed all personal concern in it. One man assigned as the reason of the attack, tliat the party had been mistaken for the advanced guard of the Fellatas, who were then ravaging Soudan. It was added that a number of natives died in consequence, as was im.agined, of eating the meat found in the boats, which was supposed to be human flesh. That the English have no abode but on the sea, and that they eat the bodies of the negroes whom they purchase, are, it seems, two ideas widely prevalent over Africa. Even the sovereign himself could scarcely be brought to believe that they had a spot of land to dwell upon. The captain and his followers wei'e, notwithstanding, received clapperton's second journey. 209 with the same kindness and cordiality which they had chap. xiil. experienced ever since they entered the country. Seven continued boats were waiting ibr them, sent by the Sultan of Youri, kind recep- with a letter, in which he earnestly solicited a visit, and ^^"' promised, on that condition, and on that only, to deliver up the books and papers of Park. Our traveller could not reconcile it with his plans to go to Youri at this time, proposmg to visit it on his return, which, as will appear, never took place. Immediately after crossing the JSiger, he entered Desolations KyfFe, a country which had been always reported to him ° "^ '^^^' as the finest, most industrious, and most flourishing in Africa ; but he found it, as indeed he had been forewarn- ed by the King of Yarriba, a prey to the most desolating civil war. The succession being disputed between two princes, one of them called in the Fellatas, and, by giving up his country to their ruthless fury, obtained the privi- lege of reigning over its ruins. The captain, in his iournev Kumed * ^1, o o -J, 1 . X- " towns and to the sanscm or camp, saw only wasted towns, plantations plantations. choked with Aveeds, and a few remnants of a miserable poi)ulation. This African station consisted of a number of huts like bee-hives, arranged in streets, with men weaving, women spinning, markets at every green tree, holy men counting their beads, and dissolute slaves en- . gaged in drinking ; so that, but for the number of horses and armed men, and the drums beating, it might have been mistaken for a populous village. Amid this desolation, two towns, Koolfu and Kufu, ^""'^'^ ^^^ being walled and situated on the high road of the Houssa caravans, had protected themselves in some measure from the common calamity, and were still flourishing seats of trade. All the merchants halted for some time at Koolfu, and those from Bornou seldom went any farther. The market was crowded with the same articles as that of Kano ; the Moslem religion was the most prevalent ; but it had not yet moulded society into the usual gloomy monotony ; nor had it succeeded in secluding or subject- ing the female sex, who, on the contrary, were the most active agents in every mercantile transaction. Clapner- 210 clapperton's second journey. ciiAP. XIII. ton knew twenty-one female brokers who lived at the infliience of same tmie in one house, and went about continually women from market to market. Many had amassed considerable wealth, and were persons of great consequence, — entirely in their own right. Elated with this distinction, they claimed considerable latitude as to their deportment, and spent whole nights with the men in singing and drmking, • — a species of indulgence very prevalent in all these entrepots of African trade. The English, however, ex- perienced here none of the bigoted enmity encountered in other Moslem cities. On the contrary, they were the Sndness to ^^J^^^^ ^^ much kindness ; the principal people of the the English, place sent presents, and the lower ranks sought to obtain a sight of them by mounting the trees which overlooked their residence. The Koran does not seem to have much embarrassed the Koolfuans, Their only mode of study- ing it was, to have the characters written with a black substance on a piece of board, then to wash them off, and drink the mixture ; and when asked what spiritual benefit could be derived from the mere swallowing of dirty water, they indignantly retorted, *' What ! do you call the name of God du-ty water!" This mode of imbibing sacred truth is indeed extensively pursued ^ tliroughout the interior of the African continent, tongkoroand The captain passed next through Kotongkora and GuurL Guari, two states which, united in a league with Cubbi and Youri, had shaken off the yoke of the Fellatas. Guari, strongly situated among hills, could, it was said, bring IpOO horse into the field. He then entered Zeg- zeg, a Fellata country, which, especially around Zaria, its capital, is one of the finest in all Africa. Beautifully variegated with hill and dale, like the most romantic parts Fine country of England, it was covered with plentiful crops and rich around Zaria, pastures, and produced, besides, the best rice grown in any portion of that continent. Rows of tall trees, resem- bling gigantic avenues of poplar, extended from hill to hill. Zaria, like many other African cities, might be considered as a district of country surrounded with walls. When the traveller entered he saw for some time only clapperton's second journey. 21 J fields of grain, with the tops of houses rising behind them ; cLiAP. XIII. still such \va5 its extent, that the population was said to exceed that of Kano, and to amount to at least 50,000. t%- ^^ ^ , Setting out from Zaria, he soon reached his old quarters state of at Kano ; but he unfortunately found that great city in *^*"^ a state of dreadful agitation. There was war on every side ; hostilities had been declared between the King of Bornou and the Fellatas ; the provinces of Zamfra and Goober were in open insurrection ; the Tuaricks threat- ened an inroad ; in short, there was not a quarter to which the merchants durst send a caravan. This town, being nearly midway between Bornou and Sackatoo, he left his baggage there to be conveyed to the former on his return, and set out for the capital of Bello, bearing only the presents destined for that prince. On his way jjaster of a he found numerous bands mustering to form an army tiative army. to attack Coonia, the rebellious metropolis of Goober. The appearance of the troops was very striking as they passed along the margin of some beautiful little lakes formed by the river Zirmie. These waters were bordered by forests of flowering acacias, with dark-green leaves, the shadows of which were reflected on the smooth sur- face of the lake like sheets of burnished gold and silver. *' The smoking fires, the sounding of horns, the beating of their gongs or drums, the braying of their brass and tin trumpets, every where the calls on the names of Mohammed, Abda, Mustapha, with the neighing of horses and the braying of asses, gave animation to the beautiful scenery of the lake, and its sloping, green, and woody banks." At length the army mustered, to the number of at least Number of 50,000 or 60,000, chiefly on foot; a rude feudal host, *''^ '*'^^*- arranging themselves according to their provinces and chiefs, without any military order. In a short time, they formed a dense circle round the walls of Coonia. Clapperton expected soon to see some brilliant exploit performed by the united movement of this great force, commanded by the Sultan and Gadado in person. The ' whole, however, both horse and foot, kept carefully K 212 CLAPPERTON S SECOND JOURNEY. CHAP. XIII. Timidity of the ti'oops. Abrapt retreat of tlie army. Unfavourable reception at Siickutoo. Jealousy of the English. beyond the reach of the arrows, which, with a sure and steady aim the enemy directed against them. From time to time indeed a doughty warrior, well covered with armour, rode up, calHng, " Shields to the wall ! Why don't you come on 1" but he instantly and quickly rode back, amid the derisive shouts of his countrymen. The only parties who exposed themselves to real danger were a few chiefs, in quilted armour, ornamented with gaudy robes and ostrich plumes, and of such weight that two men vrere requii'ed to lift them on horseback : several of them were brought down by the fire of one well-directed musquet from the walls. Evening closed without any thing being effected by this band of heroes ; and during the hours of darkness, an alarm being raised of a sally from the garrison, the whole besieging army began a tu- multuous flight, tumbling over each other and upsetting every thing in their way, thinking only how they might soonest escape from danger. The retreat was continued the whole of the follov/ing day and night, no halt taking place till ten of the second morning. Thus closed this memorable campaign. Clapperton, at the sultan's suggestion, repaired to Sackatoo (v/hich he now calls Soccatoo) ; the monarch himself remaining behind at Magaria, a neighbouring town, which he was raising into a new capital. The traveller's time was spent between the two places. He found, however, an entire change in the feelings of kind- ness and cordiality towards himself, which had been so remarkably displayed in the former journey. Jealousies had begun to fester in the breasts of the African princes. They dreaded some ambitious design in those repeated mis- sions sent by England without any conceivable motive ; for, that men should undertake such long journeys out of mere curiosity, they could never imagine. The sultan accordingly had received a letter from the court of Bor- nou, warning him that, by this very mode of sending embassies and presents, which the English were now following towards the states of Central Africa, they had made themselves ma&ters of India, and trampled on all CLAPPERTON'S SECOND JOURNEY. 213 its native princes. The writer, therefore, gave it as his chap. xin. opinion that Clapperton should immediately be put to ™ "T~ . death. An alarm had, in fact, been spread throughout death to Sackatoo that the English were coming to invade Houssa. Clapperton. The panic was entirely groundless, as no European poten- tate would at present dream of attempting to conquer those vast and almost inaccessible regions. However, with the imperfect knowledge possessed by the chiefs, and the facts before them relative to India, it was very natural for them to entertain such apprehensions. The sultan, irritated, doubtless, at the shameful result of his grand expedition against Coonia, felt also another and more pressing fear. War had just broken out between himself and the King of Bornou ; the traveller was on his way to visit that prince, and had left six muskets at Kano, supposed to be intended as a present to him ; a supply which, m Central Africa, where the whole Fellata empire could scarcely muster forty, was almost enough to turn the scale between these two great military powers. Under the impulse of such feelings, Bello proceeded tp Unworthy steps unworthy of a prince and a man of honour : he de- Pi"<^«eding3 manded a sight of the letter which his guest was convey- mg to the King of Bornou ; and when this was refused, he forthwith seized it by violence. Lander was induced by false pretences to bring the baggage from Kano to Sackatoo, when forcible possession was taken of the six muskets. The captain loudly exclaimed against these proceedings, declaring them to amount to the basest rob- bery, to a breach of all faith, and to be the worst actions of which any man could be guilty. Such language was strong re- rather too strong to be used to a sovereign, especially to monstrances, one who could at any moment have cut off his head ; and the minister even dropped hints as if matters might come to that issue, though, in point of fact, the govern- ment did not proceed to any personal outrage. But, from other causes, the career of this spirited and hitherto successful discoverer was now drawing to a close. His strong constitution and vigour of mind had till this period enabled him to resist all the baneful influences of 214 clapperton's second journey. CHAP. XIII. an African climate. He had recovered, though perhaps Fatailnness ^^^* completely, from the effects of the rash exposure of Clapper- which had proved fatal to his two companions ; hut, being overcome with heat and fatigue, when hunting at Magaria, he had lain down on a damp spot in the open air, and was soon after seized with dysentery, which continued to assume more alarming symptoms. Indeed, after the seizure of the letter to the Sultan of Bornou, he was never seen to smile, and in his sleep was heard addressing loud reproaches to the Arabs. Unable to rise from bed, and deserted by all his African friends, who saw him no longer a favourite at court, he was watched with tender care by his faithful servant Richard Lander, who devoted his whole time to attendance on Attention of his sick master. At length he called him to his bedside, Lander. ^^^^ ^^j^^ «; j^j^hard, I shall shortly be no more, — I feel myself dying." Almost choked with grief. Lander re- plied, " God forbid, my dear master, — you will live many years yet." But the other rejoined, " Don't be so much affected, my dear boy, I entreat you : it is the will of the Almighty ; it cannot be helped." He then gave particular directions as to the disposal of his papers, and of all that remained of his property ; to which strict attention was promised. " He then," says Lander, " took my hand within his, and looking me full in the face, while a tear stood glistening in his eye, said in a low, and deeply-affecting tone, * My dear Richard, if you had not been with me I should have died long ago ; I can only thank you with my latest breath for your kindness and attachment to me ; and if I could have lived to re- turn with you, you should have been placed beyond the Death of reach of want ; but God will reward you.' " He survived Clapper ion, g^j^g days, and appeared even to rally a little ; but one morning Lander was alarmed by a peculiar rattling sound in his throat, and, hastening to his couch, found him sitting up, and staring wildly around ; he laid his head gently on the dying man's shoulder ; some indistinct words quivered on his lips ; he strove, but meffectually, to give them utterance, and expired without a struggle or a sigh. clapperton's second journey. Sn Bello seems to have repented in some degree of his chap, xiii harsh conduct, especially after ncAvs arrived of a great Retamiiig victory gained by his troops over the Sultan of Bornou. favour of He allowed Lander to perform the funeral obsequies ^ °" with every mark of respect. He also supplied him with the means of returning home, allowing him to choose his road, though advising him to prefer that by the Great Desert ; but having already had too many dealings with the Arabs, he made choice of the track through the negro countries. On his arrival at Kano, Lander, comparing all his Bold pmject impressions on the subject with the information he had o^^ ^a'^'^^'"- already acquired, formed the spirited design of attempt- ing alone to resolve the great question respecting the termination of the Niger, which he hoped to effect by proceeding to Fundali. In order to reach that city, he travelled due south, through a country diversified with rising ground, but still presenting a fertile and luxuriant aspect. He was told, however, that at some distance m the same direction he would come to a very moun- tainous region, inhabited by a savage people called Yemyems. These are probably the Lamlam of Edrisi, Description reported to be devourers of human flesh, and said to have cannibah. lately killed and eaten a whole caravan ; since which time no one had been much inclined to go near them. The chief place through which Lander passed was Cut- tup, composed of 500 little villages, clustered together, and forming the market for a very great extent of coun- try. The king's wives were vastly delighted to receive one or two gilt buttons from the traveller's jacket ; and, imagining them to be pure gold, fastened them to their ears. From hence he proceeded to Dunrora, where he Jonrney was informed that about half a day's journey eastward ^^^'^^^'^'■<^- was the large city of Jacoba, near which flowed the Shary, in a continuous course between the Tchad and Fundah ; which last place lay now due w^est. Here he promised himself the satisfaction, in ten or twelve days, of removing all doubts as to the course of the Joliba, when suddenly four horsemen, mounted on foaming steeds. 216 clapperton's second journey. CHAP. Xlil Kecal of Landei- by the kiug of Zegzeg. Inquiries after Clap- perton. Proposed ei:- pedition of Major Lainf,', Departure from TripoU .Assaulter Tuaricks. galloped into the town. Their leader, followed by an immense multitude, rode up, and told him that he must instantly return to the King of Zegzeg. Lander endeav- oured to argue the point, hut could get no ansAver, except that they must either bring him with them or lose their heads. He was therefore compelled to repair to Zaria, the capital, where, being introduced to the king, and having delivered his presents, that prince boasted of having done him the greatest possible favour, since the people of Fundali, being now at war with Sultan Bello, would certainly have murdered any one who had visited and carried gifts to that monarch. From this reasoning, sound or otherwise, the stranger had no appeal, and was obliged to make his way back by his former path. In all the places through which he passed, anxious inquiries were made about " his father," as the people called his master ; and when they heard of his death, they raised loud lamentations. He reached Badagry on the 21st November 1827 ; but, being detained some time there and at Cape Coast Castle, did not arrive in England till the 30th April 1828. The British government were still indefatigable in their exertions to explore every region of Africa. At the time when Clajjperton proceeded on his second ex- pedition. Major Laing, who had distinguished himself in the Ashantee war, and in the short excursion already mentioned towards the source of the Niger, undertook to penetrate to Timbuctoo, which, from the first era of modern discovery, has been regarded as the most pro- minent city of Central Africa. Tripoli was again chosen as the starting point, whence he directed his steps south- westward, across the Desert by Ghadamis. He set out under the protection of Sheik Babani, who had resided twent3^-two years at Timbuctoo, and was now governor of Ghadamis ; but in the midst of the wilderness, six- teen days after leaving Tuat, a band of ferocious Tua- ricks surprised the cafila while the major was in bed, and having inflicted twenty -four wounds, eight of them with a sabre, left him for dead. Through the care of his com- LAING. 217 panions, however, he made a surprising recovery, nu- chap. xiii. meroiis portions of bone having been extracted from his g^^. "jT~ head and temples. After some farther delays, he reached recovery. Timbuctoo on the 18th August 1826, and remained there more than a month. Several letters were received from r.etters from him dated at that celebrated city, respecting which he ^"" ^^^^'^' stated that, except in point of extent, which did not ex- ceed the circuit of four miles, it had completely answered his expectation ; that he had found its records copious and interesting ; and had collected ample materials for correcting and improving the geography of this part of Africa. But his departure was hastened by the follow- ing circumstance: — Labo, or Bello, sultan of Alasina, Expulsion having obtained the supremacy over that capital, sent a *'™"i t^^e letter to Osman, the governor, with instiaictions that the Christian, who, he understood, was expected there, should be forthwith expelled in such a manner as to deter him from ever attempting to return. Laing, thus obliged to retreat, made an arrangement with Barbooshi, a Moorish merchant, to accompanj^ and protect him in the route by Sego to the coast, which he had determined to follow. Three days after leaving Timbuctoo, when the caravan His murder was in the heart of the Desert, this wretch, instigated ^y ^^arbooshi by the basest avarice, murdered, in the night-time, the individual he had undertaken to guard, taking possession of all his effects. Yet his papers, it appears, were car- ried to Timbuctoo ; nay, the Quarterly Review produced strong reasons for believing that they were actually con- veyed back to Tripoli, and that it was owing to the vilest treachery, in persons from whom it might least have been apprehended, that they vrere not forwarded to the British government. Another journey was now announced, which, in the French ex- first instance, strongly excited the public expectation, annouuced. The French savans proclaimed throughout Europe, that M. Caillie, their countryman, animated by the hope of a prize offered by the Society of Geography, had pene- trated across Africa from Sierra Leone to Morocco, having passed through Jenne and Timbuctoo, those two great 218 CAILLIE. CHAP. xiil. seats of commerce which our travellers had sought so Susp^ns ^^^S *o reach, and whence none had ever returned. This regaidintr adventurer, rewarded with a pension and the cross of M. caiihe. ^^^^ Legion of Honour, was immediately classed with the first of modern discoverers. But these extravagant pretensions, contrasted with the defects of the narrative itself vv hen laid before the public, gave rise in high quar- ters to a doubt whether there Avas any reality whatever in this expedition, and whether M. Caillie' was not an- Credibiiity of Other Damberger. On a careful examination of circum- I .is narrative gtances we are inclined to believe the general accuracy of his account. For example, there seems good autho- rity for admitting his departure from Sierra Leone ; for his having announced the intention to undertake this journey ; and, lastly, for his arrival at Rabat in Morocco, in a condition of great distress. His statement, too, with all its defects, bears an aspect of simplicity and good faith, and contains various minute details, includ- ing undesigned coincidences with facts ascertained from Defective Other quarters. His false reports of celestial phenomena intelligence, might arise from his ignorance of such subjects ; while his inaccuracies in regard to Major Laing might proceed from the defective intelligence on which he depended. Perhaps these last form rather a presumption in his favour, since, in composing a forgery, he would probably have brought his statements into a studious agreement with those of the English journal named above, the only authentic source of information respecting the proceed- ings of that unfortunate traveller. Additions to Though disposed, on these grounds, to consider Caillie's previous expedition as real, we regai'd it nevertheless as having made only a limited addition to our knowledge of In- terior Africa. English travellers had already explored the country to within a limited distance on each side of Timbuctoo, had traced the Niger far beyond that city, and had ascertained its position in respect to the sur- rounding regions. The object now was, to obtain a description of the town by an intelligent and learned traveller, which the Frenchman is not. He certainly CAILLIE. 219 deserves commendation for his enterprise ; but fortune chap. xiir. had denied him education, and nature has not bestowed „, 7~7«^ ' CI- Want of fit upon him any ample share of reflection or judgment, quaiifica- Nevertheless it was impossible to pass through such ex- ^°"^' tensive and remarkable countries without gleaning- some valuable information, of which we shall now endeavour to extract the most important particulars. Rene Caillie was born in 1800, of poor parents, at Parentage of Mauze, in the department of the Deux Sevres. The ^'^"^ CaiiUt. reading of voyages and travels, and especially of Robin- son Crusoe, inspired him, he tells us, with such an un- conquerable thirst for adventure as took away all relish for the sports and occupations of his age. After some opposition from his friends, he was permitted to follow hi3 inclination ; and having obtained a sight of certain maps of Africa, the vast spaces left vacant, or marked as unknown, excited in his mind a deep mterest. In 1816, Departure he sailed from Rochefort for the Senegal ; and a short ^neeaL time after his arrival, having learned the departure ot Major Gray's expedition for the interior, he resolved to join it, and actually proceeded on foot for that purpose ; but the fatigue of walking over loose sand under a burn- ing sun overpowered him, and he was happy to obtain a water-conveyance to Goree. He even left Africa, but returned in the end of 1818. Finding at St Louis a party setting out with supplies for Gray, he joined them, and arrived at Bondou, though only in time to witness and share in the failure of that attempt. His health having suffered severely from the fatigues Return to of this journey, he returned and spent some years in ^"lance. France ; nor was it till 1824 that he proceeded once more to the Senegal, and resumed his schemes of disco ver3\ With the aid of M. Roger, the governor, he passed neaily a year among the tribe of Moors called Braknas, and con- ceived himself to have acquired such a knowledge of the manners and religion of that race as would fit him for travelling in the character of a Mohammedan convert on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Having retraced his steps to St Louis, he solicited from two successive governors the sum 220 CAILLIE. CHAP. XIII. of 6000 francs, with which he undertook to reach Tim- Unsiiccessfni ^^ictoo. A deaf ear heing turned to his ajjplication, he applications next repaired to Sien-a Leone, and made the same request f>.r money. ,^ General Turner and Su- Neil Campbell ; but these officers, could not be expected, without authority from home, to bestow such a sum on a foreigner possessing no very strikmg qualifications. They received him kindly, however, and gave him appointments out of which he saved about £'80 ; when, stimulated by the prize of 1000 francs, offered by the French Society of Geography to any individual who should succeed in reaching Timbuc- too, he formed the resolution to undertake this arduous journey with only such resources as the slender sum in his possession could command. Departure ^^ ^^^ ■''^^^ April 1827, he Set out from Kakundy in from Kd- company witli a small caravan of Mandingoes. His route ^"" ^' lay through the centre of the kingdom of Foota Jallo, in a line intermediate between its two capitals of Teemboo and Laby. This was a very elevated district, watered by the infant streams of the Senegal and Niger, which descend from a still higher region farther south ; and he found the road difficult, being not only steep, rocky, and traversed b}^ numerous ravines and torrents, but often obstructed Fine appear- by dense forests. It presented, however, many highly- ance of the picturesque views ; while the copious rivulets diffused a rich verdure over extensive tracts, where the Foulabs fed numerous flocks, which, with a little rice, sufficed for their subsistence. Fruits of various kinds, yams, and other vegetables, are also cultivated with success. Their rude agriculture, however, is conducted chiefly by slaves, who are in general well treated, living in villages by themselves, and having two days in the week to pro- vide for their own subsistence. Caillie, like other writers, describes the Foulahs as a fine and handsome people, attached to a pastoral life, but at the same time fond of war, and excessively bigoted in religion. Crossing the In his route through Foota Jallo, he crossed the Ba Ba Ping. Fing, not far from its source, where it was still fordable, though it already rolled a rapid and foaming stream CAILLIE. 221 about 100 paces broad, and is said*to form a very strik- chap. xiri. ing cataract, at a little distance above. About 100 miles Keaching the farther on, in the territory of Kankan, near the village ^'iger. of Couroussa, he came to the Niger, where it presents itself as a considerable river, eight or ten feet deep, and running at the rate of more than two miles an hour. Kankan is described as an interesting place, with about Description 6000 inhabitants, surrounded by a beautiful quickset- °^ ^''"''^"• hedge, answering the purpose of a wall for defence. The market, held thrice a-week, is well supplied, not only with the native commodities of cloth, hone}^, wax, cotton, provisions, cattle, and gold from the neighbouring district of Boure, but also with European articles brought from the coast, among which the chief are fire-arms, powder, calicoes, amber, beads, and coral. The adjoining country is at once fertile and highly cultivated ; and the Milo, a tributary to the Niger, runs close by the town. To the north is the province of Boure, which our author repre- sents as more abundant in the precious metal than any other in this part of Africa. Here, as in the districts visited by Park, this substance is entirely alluvial, em- bedded in a species of earth, whence it is separated by agitation in water. Caillie remained more than a month at that towncaiiiie. before he could find a caravan to guide him through Ouassoulo, a fine country diversified by numerous little villages surrounded by fields neatly laid out and highly cultivated. The people are industrious, mild, humane, hospitable, and, though pagans, feel no enmity towards their Mohammedan neighbours. The women weave a fine cotton cloth, which is exported to all the surrounding districts ; yet there was a want of that cleanliness, which, in Kankan, had formed a pleasing feature. Beyond this inhabitants province is the town of Sambatikila, the inhabitants of "^ which live in voluntary poverty, bestowing little trouble on the cultivation of the ground, which they allege dis- tracts them from the study of the Koran, — a statement justly derided as only a specious cloak for indolence. The traveller came next to Time', situated in a terri- 222 CAILLIE. CHAP. XIII. tory fertile and profusely irrigated, yielding abundantly various fruits and vegetables, which are scarce or un- Fertiie dis- known on the coast. Among these were the shea or country. butter-tree, and the koUa or goora nuts, which are esteemed a great luxury, and conveyed in large quantities into the interior. The victuals, however, were found insipid, owing to the almost total absence of salt, which can only be procured by the wealthy ; nor could the Frenchman at all relish the plan of seasoning food by a sauce extracted from the flesh of mice. Detention by He was detained at Time upwards of five months by illness. ^ severe illness. On the 9th January 1828, he joined a caravan for Jenne, and proceeded through a district generally well cultivated, and containing a number of considerable villages, till, on the 10th ]\Iarch, he came in view, near the village of Cougalia, of the Niger, which appeared to him only about 500 feet broad, but very deep, flowing gently through a flat and open country. The caravan sailed across it, and, after travelling six miles, and passing, by rather deep fords, two smaller branches, they entered the city of Jenne, one of the most celebrated in the interior of Africa, and which had never before been visited by a European. City of It is described by Caillie as situated at the eastern Jenne. extremity of a branch of the Niger separating below Sego from the main current, with which, after passing the for- mer town, it again unites. This delineation seems doubt- ful ; for such a branch, had it existed, would probably have been observed by Park, who, on the contrary, de- scribes the river which passes Jenne as a separate stream, \ rabic name tributary to the Niger. The Arabic term, translated by 1 island. US island, is of very vague import, being familiarly applied to a peninsula, and even to a space wholly or partially enclosed by river-branches. The country around, as far as the eye could reach, formed only a naked marshy plain, interspersed with a few clumps of trees and bushes. The city was two miles and a half in circuit, surrounded by a wall of earth ; the houses, rather well built, are composed of sun-dried bricks, two stories high, without CAiLLii. 223 windows in front, but lighted from inner courts. The chap. xiii. streets are too narrow for carriages, being only of such Honsesand breadth that seven or eight persons may walk abreast, streets. The population is reckoned by M. Caillie at 8000 or 10,000; but upon this subject we suspect he has formed his estimate rather too low. The inhabitants consist of various African tribes, attracted by the extensive com- merce of which it is the centre. The four principal classes are the Foulahs, Mandingoes, Bambarras, and Moors, of whom the first are the most numerous, and are bigoted Mohammedans, compelling the pagan Bambarras who resort thither to conform to the rules of the Koran during their temporary residence. The trade is chiefly Moorish in the hands of thirty or forty Moorish merchants, who merciiunts. often unite in partnership, and maintain a communica- tion with Timbuctoo in barks of considerable size. The negroes also carry on business, but on a much smaller scale, and chiefly in native articles. The markets are filled Markets for with the productions of the surrounding country, either native pro- . for consumption or exportation, — cloth, grain, fruits, slaves,' kolla-nuts, meat, fish, gold from Boure, and, unhappily, with numerous slaves, who are paraded through the streets, and off'ered at a rate varying from 35,000 to 40,000 cowries each. These commodities draw in return from Timbuctoo, salt, Indian cloths, fire-arms, beads, toys, and all the variety of European articles. The traffickers of Jenne were found more polished in their manners than any African nation with whom the stranger had yet held intercourse : they were extremely hospitable, entertain- ing him at free quarters during his whole stay ; but he considers them as having driven an exceedingly hard bargain for his goods. The mode of living, even of the simple mode most wealthy, was extremely simple. Their houses con- °^ living. tained scarcely any furniture ; and their clothes were deposited in a large leathern bag, generally suspended from the roof. The chief entertainment to w^hich he was invited consisted merely of a huge fragment of a sheep stewed in onions, and, as usual, eaten with the fingers, — four cups of tea concluding the repast. 224 CAILLIE. CHAP. XIL Qq ^i^Q 23d March, the traveller left Jenne, near which Embarkation he embarked on the Joliba, which was there half a mili3 ontheJoUba. broad, in a vessel of sixty tons burden, but of very slight construction, and bound together with cords. Such barks, impelled without sails, and deeply laden, cannot proceed with safety when the waters are agitated by a brisk gale ; therefore much time is consumed in the voyage. Upon landing he passed first through the country of Banan, which presented a surface flat and monotonous, but abounding in flocks and herds. On the 2d April, the Lake Debo. river opened into the great Lake Dibbie, here called Debo, in sailing across which, notwithstanding its mag- nitude, land was lost sight of in no direction except the west, where the water appeared to extend indefinitely like an ocean. Three islands, observed at different points, were, not very happily, named St Charles, Maria Theresa, and Henri, after three individuals who the author little suspected would so soon be exiled from France. Country of After quitting this lake, the Niger flowed through a tiic touiahs. (.Qm^^j.y thinly occupied by Foulah shepherds, and by some tents of the rude Tuaricks. On the 19th April, he arrived at Cabra, the port of Timbuctoo, consisting of a row of houses composed of earth and straw, extending about half a mile on the bank of the river. The inhabitants, estimated at about 1200, are entirely employed in lading and unlading the numerousbarkswhichtouchat the quay. Entrance of In the evening of the 20th April, attended by some Timbuctuo. cQnipanions, he rode from Cabra, and entered Timbuctoo, which he calls Temboctou. He describes himself as struck with an extraordinary and joyful emotion at the view of this mysterious city, so long the object of curiosity to the civilized nations of Europe. The scene, however, presented little of tliat grandeur and wealth with which the name has been associated. It comprised only a heap of ill- built earthen houses, all around which were spread immense plains of moving sand of a yellowish white colour, and parched in the extreme. " The horizon ia of a pale red, — all is gloomy in nature, — the deepest silence reigns, — ^not the song of a single bii'd is heard ;"* CAILLIE. 227 and yet there was something imposing in the view of a chap, xiil great city, thus raised amid sands and deserts by the mere power of commerce. Although M. Caillie resided above a fortnight in Tim- information buctoo his information respecting it is very defective, relative to It appears, except in point of situation, to be nearly such a city as Jenne, consisting of large houses, chiefly tenanted by Moorish merchants, intermingled with conical straw- huts occupied by negroes. The author has given a croquis, or sketch of part of the city, which, though very deficient in perspective, is yet so curious as to merit a place in this publication. There are seven mosques, of which the principal one is very extensive, having three galleries, each 200 feet long, with a tower upwards of fifty feet high. One part, apparently more ancient than the rest, and now becoming a ruin, exhibited a style of architec- ture decidedly superior to the modern buildings. Timbuctoo is entirely supported by commerce. It is Commerce of the depot of the salt conveyed from the mines of Taudeny, Timbuctoa and also of the European goods brought by the caravans from Morocco, as well as by those from Tunis and Tripoli, which proceed by way of Ghadamis. These goods are embarked for Jenne, to be exchanged for the gold, slaves, and provisions, with which that city exclusively supplies Timbuctoo, the neighbourhood being almost a complete desert. The population is estimated at 10,000 or 12,000, which, not being in proportion to a town three miles in circumference, is probably underrated. The people are chiefly negroes of the Kissour tribe, but bigoted Moham- medans. There appeared less bustle and activity than at Jenne, — a circumstance not very easily accounted for. Osman, the king, was an agreeable-looking person of The king fifty-five, to whom the traveller was introduced, without ^^°^"- being aware that he was only viceroy, or at least tributary, to the Sultan of Masina. The country is much harassed by the wandering tribe of Tuaricks, who, like the Be- douins in Arabia, levy a regular tax on the caravans.* * The map constructed by M. Jomard, upon Caillie's routes, changes greatly the position of Timbuctoo, especially in respect 228 CAILLTE. CHAP. XIII, Jonrney to Aroan. Trade in light goods. He left Timbiictoo on the 4th May, and after a journey of six days arrived at Aroan, which he found rather a well-built to\^Ti with 8000 inhabitants, supported solely by the passage of the caravans from Barbary, and from the salt-mines of Taudeny, which usually halt here be- fore and after passing the Desert to the northward. The environs of this place are of the most desolate aspect, and all its provisions are drawn from Jenne by way of Tim- buctoo. The neighbourhood does not afford an herb or a shrub, and the only fuel consists of the dried dung of camels. The springs, which alone render it habitable, are abundant, but of bad quality. It nevertheless carries on a considerable trade in light goods directly with San- sanding and Yamina. Walet was mentioned as a great emporium, situated to the west-south-west, in a position somewhat different from that assigned by Park ; but the statements in both cases are very vague, and we do not see the slightest ground for M. Jomard's conjecture that there are two Walets. Diepjitecl lonsitude of Timbuctoo. to longitude, which it places four degrees to the westward of the site assio^ned by Major Rennell. It seems impossible, how- ever, to admit an alteration to this extent, which would throw Sego so far westward as to render Park's bearings from Jarra to Sego, and from Sego to Bammakoo, completely erroneous. Besides, it appears to us that M. Jomard has forced to the westward all the positions between Jenne and Timbuctoo, in a manner quite unwarranted by M. Caillie''s own descriptions. This excess becomes manifest in the line from Galia to the mouth of the Debo, thirty-five miles of which are stated to run north-east, without a single movement in a contrary direction ; yet M. Jomard has manoeuvred to make the last position the most xvesterly of the two. If the route from Jenne to Tim- buctoo lies as much to the northward as M. Caillie represents, where, indeed, he in some measure agrees with the delineation of D'Anville, it must be somewhat farther west than our maps place it, but not nearly so far as M. Jomard fixes it. In regard to the observation of latitude attempted by the traveller, M. Jomard's claims are very moderate, since he merely argues that, in the absence of any other, this is not wholly to be ne- glected ; yet even this seems too much, when he at the same time admits that all the observations made by him in a similar manner are of no value whatever. Under these circumetancet-, we conceive that it would be premature to change, in our map, the position of Timbuctoo from that formerly fixed by Major Rennell. C AIL LIE. 229 Our traveller departed from Aroan on the 19tli May, chap. xiii. in company with a caravan of 120 camels, laden with ~- the productions of Soudan ; and he had now the prospect across the of crossing a desert of ten days' extent, in which there ^^e^^'"*- was scarcely a drop of water. " Before us appeared a horizon without bounds, in which our eyes distinguished only an immense plain of burning sand, enveloped by a sky on fire. At this spectacle the camels raised long cries, and the slaves mournfully lifted their eyes to heaven." M. Caillie, however, departed in high spirits, animated by the idea of being the first European who should, from the southern side, have crossed this sandy ocean. But his tone of feeling was soon lowered when q^^^^ g^^-g^ he came to experience the sufferings arising from the ings endured, intense heat, the blowing of the sand, and the scanty supply of water, which was served out only tAvice a-day, leaving long intervals, during which the most torment- ing thirst was endured. Some small wells, from which they had hoped for a little aid, were found dry ; so that both men and animals were reduced to the last extremity, when they reached the copious springs of Telig, and re- lieved their thirst by repeated draughts. During many succeedmg marches, water again became insults and scarce, and he had besides much to suffer from the insult iuiiospitaiity. and neglect of his companions. El Drah, on the outer frontier of Morocco, was the first inhabited district ; but it was poor, and occupied by inhospitable tribes of Moors and Berebbers. Turning somewhat eastward, they passed through the fine country of Tafilet, covered with noble woods of date-trees, and producing a valuable breed oi sheep. After undergoing the labour of crossing a rugged defile of Mount Atlas, they proceeded to Fez, whence the adventurer found his way, though in a somewhat poor plight, to Tangier. He arrived on the 18th August 1828, and M. Delaporte, the vice-consul, received and forwarded him to France. 230 THE LANDERS DISCOVERY OF THE CHAPTER XIV. The Landers' Discovery of the Termination of the Niger. Expedition undertaken by Richard and John Lander — Arrival at Cape Coast — At Badagry — Annoyances there — Journey to Eyeo — The royal Wives — Yarriban Females — Superstitions — Human Sacrifices — The Fellatas — Alorie — Journey to Kiama — Aspect of the Country and People — Journey to Boussa — Reception — The Widow Zuma — Voyage up the Niger to Youri — Interviews with the King — Description of Youri — King's Daughters — Return to Boussa — Journey to Wawa — Final Residence at Boussa — Disposal of Goods — Late Changes in Central Africa — Attempts to recover Park's Journal— Voyage to Patashie — Lever — Disappointment re- specting a Canoe — Bajiebo — Aspect of the Niger — Belee — King of the Dark Water — Zagoshi — Rabba — The Coodoonia • — Egga — Dangers to be apprehended in going down the River — Kacunda — Dreadful Alarm at Bocqua — Reconcilia- tion — Damuggoo — Good Reception — Kin-ee — They are at- tacked and plundered — Obtain some Redress — Conveyed to Eboe — Negotiation for Ransom — King Boy — Voyage to Brass Town — Richard Lander conveyed to an English Ship — Behaviour of Captain Lake — Boy's Return — John Lander conveyed to tke Vessel — Arrival at Fernando Po — Supposed Fate of Lake— Pirates — Voyage to England — Range of the Thermometer at different Points — General Result of this Expedition. CHAP. XIV. The journeys of Denham and Clapperton made a great accession to oiir knowledge of Interior Africa. These travellers completed a diagonal section from Tripoli to the Gulf of Benin ; they explored numerous kingdoms, either altogether unknown, or indicated only by the most imperfect rumour. New mountains, lakes, and Results of Denliam and Clapperton's journeys. TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 231 rivers, had been discovered and delineated ; yet the chap, xiv course of the Niger remained wrapt in mystery nearly unsolv~d as deep as ever. Its stream had been traced very little mystery of lower than Boussa, which Park had reached, and where ^^^ ^'^^" his career was bronght to a fatal termination. Again, the unhappy issue of Clapperton's last attempt chilled for a time the zeal for African discovery ; but that high spirit of adventure which animates Britons was soon found acting powerfully in a quarter where there was least reason to expect it. The narrative of the journey just Qualifica- mentioned proved that Richard Lander possessed the^jonsof warmest fidelity, joined to an intelligence above his rank Lander. in life. Partaking of the ardour that inspired his master, he endeavoured, in his return towards the coast, to follow a direction which, but for unforeseen circumstances, would have issued in solving the grand problem. After reaching England he still cherished the same spirit ; and, undeterred by the recollection of so much peril and hardship, tendered his services to make one effort more, in order to reach the mouth of this mysterious river. His offer was accepted, though on terms which make it New expedi- abundantly evident that the enterprise was not under- j4""'ed" taken from any mercenary impulse. As a compensation for again encountering the peril of death or captivity, he was to be furnished with only such a sum of money and other supplies as were absolutely necessary for his jour- ney ; his wife was to receive a moderate aliment during his absence ; and himself, on coming home, was to be rewarded with a gratuity of one hundred pounds. His joined by his brother John, in compliance with his own earnest wish, brother. was permitted to accompany him, but without the stipu- lation of any recompense whatever. The two brothers sailed from Portsmouth on the 9th Reception at January ]830, in the Alert, which had on board jMr cSe?'''''^ Maclean, president of the council at Cape Coast Castle. They reached that settlement on the 22d February, and mention in the highest terms the hospitable reception experienced there, as well as at Anamaboe from Mr Hutchinson, a gentleman who had been engaged in the 232 THE LANDERS DISCOVERY OF THE CHAP. XIV. Establish- ment at Anamaboe. Reception at Accra. Introduction to king Adooley. Singular gi-ounds of native favour. first mission to Ashantee. " His silken banners, hia turreted castle, his devoted vassals, his hospitality, and even his very solitariness," remmded them of an old English baron in the feudal times. At Cape Coast, Richard engaged his former friend Pascoe, who proved a most valuable assistant to the party. They were after- wards joined by Antonio, son to the chief of Bonny, who justly calculated, that by descending the Great River he would reach his native city. They sailed from Cape Coast for Accra, which they quitted on the loth March, and landed on the 22d at Badagry. Their dress, a huge straw hat with scarlet tobe and Turkish trousers, excited bursts of laughter among the inhabitants, whose behaviour, however, was other- wise friendly and respectful. They were introduced next morning to Adooley the king, who received them with extreme apathy and coldness, of which they com- plain grievously, but which were afterwards sufficiently explained. The fortunes of this personage had been singular. A younger son to the ruler of Lagos, he had been encouraged b}' his father's nommation, and the sup- port of a powerful party, to advance pretensions to the sovereignty, though to the exclusion of an elder brother ; but the people, attached to tlie rights of primogeniture, drove him out with his adherents, and he arrived a fugi- tive at Badagry, conveying in a cage his aged mother, and the skull of his other parent. The people here were so edified by his behaviour, and by these marks of filial piety, that they adopted him for their chief, and repulsed all the attacks made by his enemies. Adooley was thus encouraged to undertake a war against Lagos, but the result was unfortunate ; his troops were defeated, and his bravest generals either slain, or taken and condemned to the most cruel death. These disasters, joined to an explosion of gunpowder which had destroyed his most valuable eff'ects, including those received from Captain Clapperton, were urged in excuse of his present depres- sion. Rousing himself, however, from his apathy, he made a complete survey of the contents of the travellers' TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 233 boxes, selecting various objects which had struck his CHAP. xiv. fancy. He afterwards made a demand for a number of Exti-avagant presents, including four regimental coats like those worn demands of by the King of England, forty less splendid, fifty mus- '^^''°^®^- kets, twenty barrels of gunpowder, two puncheons of rum, two puncheons of cowries, and a variety of other commodities. The Landers, thinking some deception allowable, gave a note to be sent to Cape Coast Castle for these articles, though with the full conviction that the government there would by no means accede to claims so extravagant. The adventurers suffered extreme annoyance during Extreme their abode at Badagry from the crowds, who made the g'^y j"*^® ^^ most noisy protestations of their regard, hoping to pro- cure presents, or at least a glass of rum. Their situation obliged them to receive with apparent cordiality these unwelcome courtesies, the recollection of which haunted their dreams, and rendered their slumbers restless. Badagry is a more considerable place than was sup- Extent of the posed, being divided into four districts, each governed by "^^'^^'^^'y- a chief who assumes the title of king. It is situated in a fertile plain, watered by a broad river resembling a still and beautiful lake. The soil, composed of loam or clay covered with a fine whitish sand, is exceedingly productive, especially in yams, Indian corn, and fruits, while fish is abundantly supplied from the neighbouring stream. The travellers, in walking from their residence to that of the chief, a distance of a mile and a half, met at every step dealers in various commodities ; so that, if the purchasers bore any proportion to the sellers, the population must be immense ; but no precise estimate could be formed on this subject. In proceeding to Eyeo, the party followed the route Bohoa an formerly pursued by Clapperton, with a few variations, city"*^^^ which did not bring them into contact with any new place of importance except Bohoo, a very extensive city, and the capital of the kingdom till the reigning sovereign, about half a century ago, transferred his residence to the present metropolis. It has since declined, though still 234 TUE landers' discovery of the CHAP. XIV. large and flourishing, being situated in the midst of as Fine mintrv. ^^^ ^ country as the best parts of England. Numerous Fellatas in this neighbourhood pursue with success their pastoral occupations. Beauty and The scenery around was beautiful in a liigh degree. richness of 'pjjg woods exhaled a delicious fraorrance, and were filled the sccncrv, with mj'riads of brilliantly tinted butterflies. The land was also fertile and tolerably well cultivated. Tso im- plement, it is true, was employed in agriculture except the hoe ; but, from the lightness and softness of the soil it appeared to be doubtful whether the jjlough would not be a mere encouragement to sloth. The conveniences of life, however, are not commensurate with these natural advantages. The houses, as in the most unimproved negro countries, are miserable hovels, often in the shape of beehives, having their floors overspread with cow- dung, and being placed several of them together in a Mean native court-yard, enclosed by a wall of earth. The dwellings uigs. ^£ persons of rank are distinguished by little more than the number of courts and huts, each of which is tenanted by one of the king's officers, or of his wives with their families. An active commerce is carried on, not by wagons or even on the backs of animals, but on the heads of men and women, chiefly the latter. Our travellers were astonished at the enormous burdens borne by them •as well as by mere children ; not seeming to be aware that this is the way in which, provided the weight be duly poised, the greatest strength of the bod}'- can be Wives of the exerted. The royal wives, whose multitude and active ^°^" occupations have been formerly commemorated, are ex- empted from tolls ; being distinguished by a peculiar cloth wrapped round their goods, which no other female is allowed to use under a severe penalty. Turnpikes are said to be nearly as common as in England : but this expression conveys an erroneous idea, for the sums levied are evidently mere local duties, no part of which is ex- pended upon the roads. These are usually formed by the simple pressure of the foot : no care is taken even to lay a tree over the pools and marshy spots so as to TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 235 afford a dry passage ; while ant-hills rise unmolested in chap. xi\^ the middle of the narrowest path. The active part taken by females in business and y^^^iq society did not contribute to the comfort of our travellers, activity in Lander expresses in still more doleful terms than Clap- ^^^^°^^^- perton the exquisite suffering produced by the loud and incessant clatter of their tong-ues, which he verily believes nothing but sickness or death could silence. Yet as this talk consisted only of clamorous gossip or turbulent mirth, and where it assumed the form of scolding was not directed against him, it does not appear why it should have caused so much inconvenience. However, the places appropriated to the reception of travellers, consisting of huts crowded within a court-yard, brought the parties into very close proximity ; and while the female voices ^Q^stant rose high above every other, there was an under-accom- sources of I)animent of squalling brats, of goats, sheep, and other ani- ^^sturbanca mals, which prevented them from enjoying the necessary rest. This nois}^ merriment was often alternated with deep sounds of lamentation, continued almost for whole nights ; though the rapid transitions from sorrow to joy seemed to indicate that the former sentiment was not very agonizing. Indeed a native, to whom Lander men- tioned his distress at witnessing one of these scenes of wo, coolly replied, " What matter I they laugh directly." But, unquestionably, his mode of relieving himself from the presence of these African ladies, by squirting water in their faces from a syringe, was very uncourteous. Superstition in this country assumes a still darker D^rk forma form than we could have imagined ; and we find that the oi superstl- travellers hastened from Badagry to avoid the dreadful spectacle of the sacrifice of 800 human victims. The principal officers and governors are bound to accompany the king to the other world ; and accordingly, even in the bloom of youth and vigour, they often held their lives on the frail tenure of that of an old man about to step into the grave. On the death of a great chief his favourite wives are doomed to follow him, being either poisoned or beaten to death with the club of the fetish priest. If this 236 THE landers' discovery OF THE CHAP. XIV. i.error of the The Fellatas ot Yariba. Great supe- riority of the race. sacrifice was ever voluntary, it has now entirely ceased to be so. The ladies in particular shrink with extreme dismay from the idea of parting with life. On the de- mise of the Viceroy of Jenna, two of his wives hid them- selves ; but one was discovered and obliged to consent to swallow poison. She fell into frightful agonies when she saw her grave digging, and preparations making for the wake at her funeral ; while her slaves, who called her mother, abandoned their labours and yielded to the most poignant affliction. The leading people of the town came in large bands, beating their breasts and tearing their hair in lamentation for her approaching fate. "When the travellers left the place, there was understood to be a disposition in some powerful quarters to save her ; though great fears were entertained that such a depar- ture from an ancient and venerated custom would excite an insurrection among the inhabitants. The Fellatas have penetrated in great numbers into Yar- riba, and are gradually becoming masters of that country in defiance of the feeble resistance of the native sove- reign. They had established themselves at Alorie, about three days' journey to the south-west of Eyeo, which, by the influx of fresh bodies of the invaders, as well as of Yarriban slaves and other malecontents, has become a larger city than the capital. Lander afterwards, when in NyflFe, heard them boast that " they could conquer the whole world if the salt water did not prevent them." They are a race decidedly superior to those whom they are supplanting ; active, intelligent, and, unless in the heat of warfare, even mild and humane. Our country- man in particular was as much pleased with the deport- ment of the Fellata females as he had been disgusted and harassed by that of the royal ladies of Yarriba. Their dress is arranged with taste ; their hair is braided with peculiar neatness ; and their manners, artless and simple, almost realize the idea of the poetical shepherdess. Their conversation, at once modest, respectful, and kindly, proved a recreation in the midst of troubles, and leave- taking was sometimes attended with considerable regret. TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 237 The travellers were, as before, well received at Eyeo, chap, xiv though the negotiation with Ebo, the fat eunuch, was Reception at not conducted without difficulty. Lander had been Eyeo. judiciously directed to proceed by the shortest route to the Niger, which is distant only about forty miles from this town, and by no means to delay his progress by going to Youri (which he now calls Yaoorie), though his brother John might if expedient be sent thither. The minister, however, expressed his opinion that this pro- posal would be viewed with jealousy by the king. Here- upon Richard rather hastily gave up the original plan, and merely requested aid to forward himself and his relative to Youri. _ He thus made an additional circuit of more than 800 miles, and thereby greatly increased the difficulties and perils of his journey. Having left Eyeo, and passed through the large fron- change of tier town of Keeshee, the travellers found themselves in country. a region altogether different from that level and fertile plain over which they had hitherto journeyed. The surface became abrupt and rugged, covered with vast forests, through which range the lion, the leopard, and other fierce and destructive animals. The danger from these, however, was small in comparison of that appre- hended from large bands of robbers who infested this Apprehen- tract, and at the first sight of whom the natives of Yar- f^^^""^ riba were accustomed to take flight. Once an armed party of twenty suddenly appeared from behind the trees, when the caravan gave themselves up for lost ; but upon Lander levelling his loaded gun they retreated precipitately into the forest. In the heart of this wild region, the passage of the small rivulet of Moussa brought them into Kiama, a territory which differs completely from Yarriba both in its aspect and population. Though presenting some fertile spots, it is much diversified with mountain, forest, and waste. The people are proud. Courage and courageous, spirited, delighting in martial exercises, and natives. ^ warm both in their attachments and resentments. The king professes the Mohammedan religion ; yet his at- tachment to pagan rites is still displayed by numerous 238 THE landers' discovery of the CHAP. XIV uncouth figures, which, as fetishes or guardian powers, NatirelTorse- ^^® Stationed at the entrance and along the walls of his race. house. The most striking spectacle viewed in the city ^ was that of a horse-race immediately following one of M their solemn festivals. The numerous spectators dis- ^p played extraordinary animation, and made a striking V appearance as they were assemblmg beneath the shade ■ Female of magnificent trees. Many of the females had at great W costume. cost adorned themselves in coarse Manchester cloths, and I bed-furniture of the most glaring and gaudy patterns ; I being moreover loaded with bracelets, strings of beads hung from the neck, and rings round the ankle. The horses also were gaily caparisoned, with clusters of brass bells on their heads, pieces of red cloth, silk and cotton tassels, and little charms in coloured cases attached to the bridles. On the signal to start, " the riders brandished their spears, the little boys flourished their cows' tails, the buffoons performed their antics, and muskets were discharged. — The sun shone gloriously on the tobes of green, white, yellow, blue, and crimson, as they fluttered in the breeze ; and with the fanciful caps, the glittering spears, the jiru^ling of the horses' bells, the animated looks and warlike bearing of their riders, presented one of the most extraordinary and pleasing sights that we have ever witnessed." Friendly re- The kuig gave them a good reception in his palace, th^k'^'^ ^^ °^' rather hut, on the floor of which arms were piled ; while the walls were adorned with good prints of George the Fourth, the Duke of York, Duke of Wellington, and Lord Nelson. Though he managed to detain them longer than they desired, he made no actual opposition to their journey, but prevailed upon them not to go to Boussa by way of Wawa (which our travellers now call Wowow), with whose chief he was then at enmity. They proceeded over a hilly country, and through the towns of Kakafungi, Coobly, and Zalee, till, on the I7th June, they arrived at Boussa. The party were immediately introduced to the king, and to the midiki or queen, from both of whom they TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 239 experienced the most cordial reception. Their majesties chap, xiv even professed to have been weeping in the morning Kinjj~fj over the death of Captain Clapperton, though their eyes queen of bore no symptoms of this sorrowtul occupation. JSexi day tlie illustrious pair were delighted beyond measure by being presented with a looking-glass. They after- wards waited on the travellers in very humble attire, and without the least ceremony. Some regret was at first expressed that no coral was included among the presents ; but a few plated buttons newly scoured soon engrossed their attention, and gave rise to a long and eager struggle. The king secured the largest and best, yet contrived to persuade the midiki to be content with what fell to her lot. " The royal couple were like two great children." The travellers met here with their friend the widow Meetins: wit' Zuma, who waited upon them very plainly dressed, and zamsL. °^^ related a most doleful tale. She had openly quarrelled with the chief of Wawa, and being worsted, was obliged to climb over the city wall, and flee on foot to Boussa, a task which her dimensions rendered most laborious. She farther complained of l)eing now reduced to extreme poverty; but under all these mishaps, her person had been augmented in so extraordinary a measure, that it was with great difficulty she could mtroduce herself through the spacious doorway of the hut. Pascoe entered into Demana of . . . . Pascoe. a long negotiation with her to recover the value of a wife for whom, he alleged, he had paid half the price in the former journey, though no delivery had taken place. This demand does not appear altogether in accordance with Clapperton's statement, namely, that the woman was freely bestowed, and returned on account of the claim to himself as her husband which the widow chose to found upon her gift : the debt, in short, could not be established. Lander, notwithstanding his kind reception at Boussa, Supposed had on very slender grounds conceived the idea that the {u^^*^]^^ °* king would view with jealousy his design of sailing down the Niger. He therefore asked merely to be conveyed to Youri, pretending that his main object was to proceed 240 THE landers' discovery OF THE CHAP. XIV. Fortnnate results of the voyage to Youii. Native indolence. Entrance to Youri. Mean ap- pearance of the sultan. thence to Bornou. His majesty readily consented ; and this voyage, whether wise or not, had the fortunate effect of adding considerably to our knowledge of In- terior Africa. The river from Boussa to that city is broken into numerous channels by rocks and sand-banks, which rendered the passage often difficult, and sometimes dangerous for the larger class of vessels. The shores, however, when at all level, were thickly studded with villages. A little below Youri all the obstructions dis- appeared ; and the travellers were assured that the upper part of the river was entirely navigable. Their progress was however retarded by the laziness, under the sem- blance of mock respect, shown by the master, or, as he is called. King of the Canoe, who excused his leisurely movements by telling them, that " white men are more precious than a boat-load of eggs, and require as much care to be taken of them :" and when urged to be more active, he remarked, " kings do not travel so fast as common men ; I must convey you along as slowly as possible." They landed at a village, and after walking eight miles entered Youri, which they found to be defended by strong gates composed of wood rudely strengthened with plates of iron. They soon obtained an introduction to the prince, whom they had been so desirous to visit. After passing through a low dark avenue, and being kept long standing in a yard, they were conducted into another area, resembling that of a farm establishment. Here " we discovered the sultan sitting alone in the centre of the square on a piece of plain carpeting, with a pillow on each side of him, and a neat brass pan in front. His appearance was not only mean, but absolutely squalid and dirty. He is a big-headed, corpulent, and jolly-looking man, well stricken in years ; and though there is something harsh and forbidding in his counte- nance, yet he was generally smiling during the confer- ence." He showed considerable dissatisfaction because neither Clapperton nor Lander had paid their court to him on their previous journey, and still more on being TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 241 infomied that the means of making a present had been chap, xiv reduced very low by the rapacity of tlie chiefs already jnauiriTs visited. In regard to Park's papers, he merely replied regarding with an affected laugh, " How do you think that I could papers. have the books of a person that was lost at Boussa V Afterwards, being pressed upon the subject, he despatched an Arab to inform tliem, that " he declared to God, in the most solemn manner, that he had never had in his possession, nor seen, any books or papers of the white travellers that perished at Boussa." Thus it appears, that his proposal to Clapperton, by which the present travellers had been so unguardedly lured, was a mere pretext to induce the Captain to visit him, and bestow a portion of the valuable articles with which he was under- stood to be amply provided. His whole conduct was in Mean arti- perfect unison with this first specimen of it ; for though "^,*i^ ^^ ^^^ he did not absolutely rob them, there was no artifice even the most petty which he did not employ in order to ob- tain the few commodities that still remained in their pos- session. Wishing to purchase some things, he induced our countrymen to send them, desiring that they should affix their own price ; then said they asked too much ; on wliich pretext he delayed and in a great measure evaded paying for them at all. In their ill-judged confidence in his friendship, they requested him to furnish a boat, in which they might descend the Niger. He replied, they might have one for a hundred dollars ; but, being unable to command that sum, they Avere finally obliged to apply to their friend the King of Boussa, whom they had so imreasonably distrusted, and who cheerfully undertook to supply their want. Youri is a large city, and surrounded by a very fertile Youri and country. It is twenty or thirty miles in circumfer- IJ'^^^Jun'trv" ence, encompassed with a high and strong wall, which, however, as is usual in Africa, encloses a large extent of cultivated fields. The soil is moist, producing great quantities of indigo, cotton, wheat, and particularly of rice. A superabundant population was indicated by the complaints of poverty, which, notwithstanding the fruit- 242 THE landers' discovery of the CHAP. XIV. fuliiess.of the land, were every where heard. The people, Character of ^^i^g numerous and warlike, had baffled ever}" attempt the people, of the Fellatas, by whom all the neighbouring kingdoms j» were overrun. Their wars, however, like those of other M Africans, were not sanguinary, since in a recent and * obstinate contest the slain did not exceed half a dozen on each side. Native Such of the inhabitants as could find any pretext waited in crowds upon the strangers, both to gratify their curiosity and in the hope of obtaining presents. In particular the king's daughters, a numerous offspring, held themselves privileged visiters. The}'' seldom came unprovided Avith a supply of booza or beer, with which they contrived to get themselves tipsy. The travellers uncourteously designate them "a parcel of noisy women;" and having employed in vain other means to shorten their visit, had recourse to the plan of frightening them away by a discharge of pistols. Loud complaints, it I appears, were raised by the more antique members of I this illustrious house, respecting a preference alleged to have been shown for the society of the more youthful part of the sisterhood. This charge caused a schism in the royal family which was not likely to be soon healed. Pretexts lor Although his majesty had consented to the departure detention at Qf ^jg visiters, he delayed it on various pretexts, some of which were extremely ridiculous. He sent a bundle of ostrich-feathers as a present for the King of England ; but deeming, he said, the supply too small, besought them to await a fresh growth, to promote which he had smeared the animal copiously with butter. At the same time Lander from different quarters received accounts of the rapacious manner m which he had treated several strangers who had visited Youri, and began to apprehend that he would not allow them to depart till he had de- prived them of all they possessed. Happily their friend the sovereign of Boussa transmitted so strong a remon- strance, that in a few days they obtained permission to resume their journey. The travellers embarked on the Cubbie, a tributary TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 24.3 of the Niger. All the way thither, and along its banks, chap, xiv the country was carefully cultivated by the Cumbrie, ,. , "T ,. , ,p M J.- "x • J ^ • A £c • Embarkation a hali-servile race, patient, mdustrious, and suttermg on the much oppression from their lords. Numerous mdividuals, ^'^^'^•^• stationed on platforms raised above the grain, were em- ploj'ed to watch and scare away the birds. About five miles above Boussa the river shows a magnificent body of water seven or eight miles in breadth, and a little farther down it presents the same grand appearance ; yet in passing that city it is not more than a stone's throw across, and of proportional depth, — a circumstance which has suggested the idea that a part of its waters may find a passage by subterraneous channels. On Favour of an-iving at that town, they found it impossible to avoid t'le king of visiting the King of Wawa, who had been highly dis- satisfied because they had not proceeded to his court on the way from Kiama. They were assured they might be supplied by him with a larger boat than could be procured at Boussa. The monarch, however, insisted on making, with the assistance of a devout Mussulman, a so- lemn inquiry of the "■ dark water" whether the strangers would reach the sea in safety ; and he returned with the intelligence that the Joliba had promised a favour- able termination to their voyage. The Landers now departed for Wawa ; but thought impediments the road was frequented, it was all but impassable, full ^^ ^^^^*=- of holes and pits, overgrown with grass reaching often above their heads, soaking them with moisture, and filled with ])rickly shrubs which tore the clothes and skin. In approaching the city, however, the path be- came excellent, being the only one in Africa formed with any care. The king afterwards assigned as his reason for keeping the highroads near his capital in good order, that an enemy would be deterred from attacking him, both by the appearance of a numerous population and by this display of activity. Their reception by this Singular re- prince was good, but singular. On reaching the entrance the king. of the town the}^ fired two pistols, when he came out to meet them ; but the messenger from Boussa had not 244 THE landers' discovery of the CHAP. XIV. come up, and etiquette did not therefore permit an}^ in- . — tercourse. He stood in a niche, " fixed and motionless, etiquette, with his hands clasped under his tobe, and supported on his bosom ; and round a pole, which had been placed erect in another niche, a naked youth had entwined his legs, remaining in breathless anxiety to be a spectator of the approaching interview. No two beings ever bore a more striking resemblance to statues." At length the expected envoy appeared. The spell was broken ; " yet the grave eccentric old man shook hands with us without taking them from the tobe in which they had been en- veloped, or even condescending to look in our faces." However, he afterwards became much more frank, and assured them of the very best canoe that could be pro- cured. Nothing at all remarkable happened during the Neffotiationa week spent at this place. On returning to Boussa they tor a boat expressed the greatest desire to conclude the negotiation about the boat. They had already begun to experience that both themselves and their goods were losing the gloss of novelty. They had taken out a hundred thou- sand needles ; but besides that this quantity overstocked the market, the manufacturers, who warranted them not to cut in the eye, had secured this property by giving them no eyes at all, and many were returned upon their Appreciation hands. Metal buttons were in considerable request ; •goods. 13^^.^ being mostly worn, they soon lost the splendour conferred by laborious friction. New shillings, from their brilliancy, were valued almost as highl}^ as old dollars. At length when red cloth, tea-canisters, — every thing showy and glittering had been disposed of, some cases that had contained portable soup found a ready sale in virtue of the tin labels attached to them ; and one of the natives was seen proudly strutting about with the mpn?,°™^' '^otto " Concentrated gravy" adorning several parts of his head dress. It was therefore not without extreme satisfaction they received notice that the negotiation respecting the canoe was brought to a close ; the midiki having undertaken to manage it with her brother the King of Wawa without any trouble on their part. The ments. TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 245 agreement was, that thej'- should give their two horses chap, xiy for a large and sufficient one. This vessel, wlien pro- duced was found to be too small, and far from corre- obtaineiL spending in value to the price exacted ; but they were assured that at Lever, a town some distance down the river, they would find one every way adapted to their purpose. Before leaving Boussa, we may collect into one view certain detached notices respecting the more recent changes in political changes in Central Africa. The empire of the ^f,"^'^' Fellatas, which had appeared so firm and united, was fall- ing to pieces on every side. Not only Goober continued its successful resistance ; but Cassina (here strangely metamorphosed into Catsheenah) had declared itself in favour of Doncassa its ancient prince, who, supported by Bornou, was fast regaining his power. Even the little kingdom of Zegzeg, with its capital Zaria, had raised the standard of revolt. For these disasters Bello endeav- oured to find compensa4:ion in pursuing conquests to the j^e^oj^ westward. He was completely master of the fine country against the of NyfFe, alternately setting up and deposing its princes po^er? Magia and Edeersa, while Rabba its largest town was h.eld by Malem Dendo his lieutenant. He was now pre- paring to cross the Niger and attack Yarriba, the fall of which was anticipated from the supine character of its sovereign and people. Another report was, that the Sultan of Bornou had recovered his power, and thrown into prison the sheik, — whom the last mission had found exercising such uncontrolled sway, — thougli he after- wards set him at liberty. The utmost diligence was employed to discover Park's inquiries journals, or any thing belonging to that illustrious dis- for Park's coverer. It was found that the King of Boussa possessed ' "™^ ^ a rich crimson-damask tobe loaded with gold embroidery, which he said was purchased by his predecessor from a white man at a period very nearly corresponding to the date of Park's last journey, who there was reason to think had actually worn it. The travellers received this tobe as a donation, though they were prevented by 246 THE landers' discovery OF THI? CHAP. XIV Relics of Park. Disappoint- ment in the search. Departure f.um Boussa Kiiavery of tiie king of subsequent occurrences from bringing it home. They were particularly solicitous to obtain information con- cerning the journal; and the king, after being promised a handsome reward, caused strict inquiry to be made of a poor man, who w^as said to possess a book saved out of the wreck. The volume was produced ; but, to the ex- treme disappointment of all parties, it proved to be a nautical publication of the last century, consisting chiefly of logarithmic tables. Between the leaves were a few loose papers, the most important of which was a card of invitation to Mr Park from a family in the Strand. All inquiries at Youri were fruitless ; but at Wawa, one man had really possessed some books even during Captain Clapperton's visit ; but that officer not having made any search when there, they were neglected and " fell to pieces." One female v/as found to have preserved a pillow snatched from the wreck, having within it an iron frame, to which was attached an unintelligible manu- script, seemingly a mere charm. Thus all hope of any important discovery under this head proved abortive. On the 20th September 1830, the travellers took a friendly leave of their majesties of Boussa, and set sail. They arrived the same day at Patashie, a large and fertile island, where they obtained an ample supply of provi- sions. The canoe-arrangement was still very unsatis- factory ; but after another journey to Wawa, they were assured that they would find a suitable one at Lever. Accordingly on the 30th they embarked, and in three hours, though the distance was twenty miles, reached that town. But what was their astonishment upon learning that Lever was not under the jurisdiction of the King of Wawa, who had not a canoe there of any description ! They had been completely outwitted by these illustrious monarchs, who had obtained from them two horses worth sixty pounds, for which they had given absolutely nothing. " They have played with us," says Lander, " as if we were great dolls ; we have been driven about like shuttlecocks." Redress, however, being both tedious and doubtful, they judged it most TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 247 advisable to appropriate two canoes lent them by the chap. xiv. chief of Patashie ; a painful measure, — for thoug-h he . — ^ Approp^ iu- was indeed entitled to claim payment from his majesty t:on of of Wawa, he had little chance of obtaining it, — and this ^^"°^^ was a very bad return for his kindness. However, ne- cessity, the tyrant's j)lea, was here resorted to by the travellers ; and these skiffs, though much too small, were taken because no others were to be had. Lever or Lay aba, and Bajitbo, two large trading towns, ^avab had been shifted from the eastern to the western bank, BajieVo. in order to avoid the Fellatas ; yet that race, in peace mild and industrious, but in war the fiercest of marauders, had found their way thither, and kept the inhabitants in perpetual alarm. Still this did not interrupt their thoughtless gayety, or their moonlight songs and dances. Beyond Bajiebo the Niger becomes a noble river, often three miles broad, and " both banks presented .the most delightful appearance. They were embellished with mighty trees and elegant shrubs, which were clad in thick and luxuriant foliage, some of lively green, and others of darker hues ; and little birds were singing merrily among their branches. Magnificent festoons of creeping plants, ahvays green, hung from the tops of the tallest trees, and, drooping to the water's edge, formed immense natural grottos." Yet Lander sa}'s, " there is something wanting in an African scene to render it com- Deficiencies parable in interest and beauty to an English landscape. ^^ ^^ Atricaa There are no verdant fields, no hedges adorned Avith the jessamine, the daisy, the primrose, the blue-bottle, or the violet, and the hundred other pretty wild-flowers, which please the sight, and exhale in spring-time or summer the most grateful and delicious fragrance. Besides, gene- rally speaking, a loneliness, a solemnity, a death-like silence, pervades the noblest and most magnificent pro- spects." After passing Leechee, another considerable town, they found the river bordered by ranges of rocky hills, part probably of that great chain which stretches across Central Africa. Their aspect was dark and ro- mantic, covered with stunted trees and shrubs, which, 248 THE LANDERS DISCOVERY OF THE CHAP. XIV. shooting from the hollows, overhang immense precipices. -J ~~Z , From the very centre of the stream rises a majestic and almost perpendicular rock, called Mount Kesa ; its base fringed by venerable trees, and its rugged sides covered with scanty vegetation. The superstitious natives be- lieve it to be the seat of a benevolent genius. im].ortant ^.t Bclec, ou an island, they were visited by Moham- visitors med, son to the magia, ruler of Nyffe, whom they had seen at Patasliie ; also by a messenger from Malem Dendo, the chief of Rabba. A still more important per- sonage did them the same honour, namely, the " King of the Dark Water," who was to accompany them to his island-domain. His approach was announced by loud music, and he soon appeared in a large, neat, ornamented canoe, having on board about twenty musicians. This prince, a fine-looking old man, with six handsome black wives, Ij^nded, courteously saluted the travellers, and made them some small presents. Soon after, they set sail along with him, and reached in safety his insular territory of Zagoshi. The island of The island now named is a remarkable spot, a sort of Zagosiii. miniature Holland in the heart of Africa. It is about fifteen miles long and three broad, surrounded by the Niger, and scarcely rising above the level of its surge. The soil is almost a marsh, many of the houses standing in water, and a cane applied to the floor of a hut might be thrust to any depth. The numerous inhabitants are Nativemanu busily employed in manufacturing cotton tobes and industry^ trousers, as well as caps of mixed silk and cotton, with a skill which would not disgrace European workmen. Their fabrics attract the admiration of the surrounding nations, who vainly attempt to imitate them. Wherever the Englishmen walked they saw the natives spinning, making wooden dishes, stirrups, hoes, and other instru- ments. The river is covered with their canoes, and the chief possesses about 600 ; by wliich force, and their pecnliar situation, they are secured against attack, and exempted from those revolutions which overwhelm the adjoining kingdoms. They are hospitable and obliging, TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 249 live in amity with their neighbours, and in friendly in- chap. xiv. tercourse witli each other. Rahba, on the banks of the Niger, about two miles j^^ cj^y from Zagoshi, is, next to Sackatoo, the largest city in the Kabba.' Fellata dominions. The surrounding country is highly productive, covered not only with rich crops, but with numerous flocks and herds, including peculiarly fine breeds both of horses and cattle. The discoverers did not visit Rabba, their only object being now to descend the river with the utmost despatch ; but it was necessary to obtain the chief's permission to proceed, and their pro- spects in this respect were at first very gloomy. The presents, which indeed were of slender amount, were rejected with disdain ; and they were obliged with great regret, to part with the rich tobe of ]Mr Park, the pre- sentation of which inspired the utmost delight, and made the king completely their friend. At Zagoshi they were enabled, for a balance of 10,000 Barter of cowries, to exchange their two small canoes for one larger, ^i^noes. and described as much more commodious ; but here again they were cheated. They took leave on the 16th October of the King of the Dark Water, and were carried down the current at the rate of three or four miles an hour ; so that in the two following days they made upwards ot 100 miles in an easterly direction. The Niger was from two to six miles broad ; in some places bordered by low swampy grounds, elsewhere by mountains of considerable height and varied aspect. The party were annoyed by vast crowds of hippopotami tossing about with such lumbers of violence as threatened to overset their vessel. Having hippopotamu slept on the 18th at a small island called Fofo, they passed next morning a river of considerable size, which they had reason to believe was the Coodoonia formerly crossed b}' Lander near Cuttup on his way to Dunrora. In a few hours they reached Egga, a town four miles in length and two in breadth ; in front of which, along the shore, were numerous canoes, some so large that, being covered with a shed, they served for the dwelling of the Owners. The chief, an aged man of patriarchal appear- 2.-0 THE LANDERS DISCOVERY OF THE CHAP. XIV. Reception by the chief of Troublesome curiosity. Report of the disturbed state of the adjacent country. Arrival at Kacnnda. ancCj was found squatted on a cow's hide, smoking a pipe three yards long. He received them with mingled kindness and surprise, telling them " they were strange- looking people, and well worth seeing." Intense curi- 3sity was excited throughout the to\\'n, and their hut t\^as hlockaded by the whole population ; so that the only exercise they could obtain was by walking round and round the floor like wild beasts in a cage. They could not refuse the chief's request to exhibit themselves to all his wives, old and young, with a number of the principal people ; and the room was thus so crowded, with the doors and windows blocked up, that their re- sidence became very incommodious. They were first amused, then annoyed by solicitations for charms against war, sickness, crocodiles, to make the citizens rich, and enable them to catch canoe-loads of fish. Egga was stated to be the last town of Nyffe, and where terminated the more orderly kingdoms and governments in this part of Africa. The travellers were assured, that in descending the river they would find only detached cities, and these at war with each other, addicted to plunder, and barbarous in the extreme ; but, animated by the spirit of enterprise, suffering moreover from scarcity of victuals, and considering that " the mountains of the natives generally prove to be no bigger than molehills," they resolved at all events to proceed. Nor was their purpose shaken by the panic which, on returning to the canoes, they found prevailing among their men, who had been assured by the people of the town that if they went down the river they would certainl}^ be murdered or sold as slaves. They therefore demanded their wages, and permission to return to Cape Coast ; but, being informed that if they deserted the enterprise they should not receive a farthing, they at length agreed to continue, though not without uttering loud murmurs. Kacunda, where the party next arrived, did not con- firm these alarming descriptions. It was composed of a cluster of three or four villages, inhabited by a mild, inoffensive, and industrious race. The chief received TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 251 them with kindness and hospitality ; but he and all the chap. xiv. inhabitants gave the same unfavourable account of the contused tribes occupying the lower banks. They were described unfavourable as communities of ferocious outlaws, acknowledging no ^^P""^^^ human authority ; so that the traders of Egga never ventured to descend the stream unless in parties of ten or twelve canoes, and even then they found it necessary to pass the towns under cover of night. The travellers, concluding that these representations were prompted by g„p«Qgg(j a WLsh to detain them, in order that the grandees might motives for have full leisure according to the African custom to senfaS^" solicit presents, refused to wait even for canoes which the king offered to send for their protection. While their servants, therefore, were all in tears, the two bro- thers recommended themselves to the Supreme Disposer of events, and boldly pushed out into the river. Hav- ing loaded their muskets, and finding the skiff pass smoothly along, the spirits of the men soon revived. In the evening they found themselves opposite to " a large spreading town, from which issued a great and confused noise as of a multitude quarrelling, or as the waves of the sea rolling upon a rocky beach ;" but this and other towns and villages were carefully avoided. About five in the morning they observed a river three or four miles broad entering the Niger from the eastward. They as- Junction of cended it for a short space ; but meeting a strong current Vith t*he ^*' "^ they became fatigued, and allowed themselves to be car- Niger. ried back. This was evidently the Tchadda, a great tributary stream, which they had before often heard mentioned, particularly at Kacunda. At the junction of these rivers was a large town, which from previous information they understood to be named Cutturacurra- fee, the seat of a very extensive commerce. The banks here were generally high, sometimes mountainous, and the water ran over a rocky bottom, which caused a great rippling on its surface. The party had sailed from Kacunda about seventy or "^^ *°^ ^"^ eighty miles, when feeling fatigued, and their apprehen- sions being lulled, they landed. On a cleared spot, 252 THE LANDERS DISCOVERY OF THE CHAP. XIV, Sudden alaiHL Tnuninpnt danger. Courage and coolness of the travellers Critical position. seemingly laid out for a market or fair, they began to erect an awning, with the view of taking some repose. But news was soon brought, that the men straggling in search of firewood had lighted upon a village where they found only females, who, struck with alarm, ran into the fields to warn the men of the arrival of strangers. So little fear did this inspire, that the people were sent back for yams and a light ; and, though they returned with tidings that the women had again fled in the same wild alarm, no dread of attack was entertained. Suddenly one of the sailors called aloud, " War is coming ! war is coming !" Starting up, " we beheld a large party of men almost naked, running in a very irregular manner, and with uncouth gestures, towards our little encamp- ment. They were all variously armed with muskets, bows and arrows, knives, cutlasses, barbs, long spears, and other instruments of destruction." Very uneasy sensations were inspired by the sight of " this band of wild men with their ferocious looks and hostile appear- ance." They advanced rapidly in such numbers as to afford scarcely any hope of a successful conflict. It was therefore determined to approach and accost them in a pacific manner, — a step which required no common cool- ness and courage. " Throwing do\%Ti' our pistols, which we hajd snatched up in the first moment of surprise, my brother and I walked very composedly and unarmed towards the chief. As we approached Um, we made all the signs and motions we could with our arms, to deter him and his people from firing on us. His quiver was dangling at his side, his bow was bent, and an arrow, which was pointed at our breasts, already trembled on the string, when we were within a few yards of his person. This was a highly critical moment, — the next might be our last. But the hand of Providence averted the blow ; for just as the chief was about to pull the fatal cord, a man that was nearest him rushed forward and stayed his arm. At that instant we stood before him, and immediately held forth our hands, — all of them trembled like aspen leaves, — the chief looked up full in TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 253 our faces, kneeling on the ground, — ^liglit seemed to flash chap, xiv from his dark rolling eyes, — his body was convulsed all EstabiMi- over as though he were enduring the utmost torture, — ment of and with a timorous yet undefinable expression of coun- rdations. tenance, in which all the passions of our nature were strangoly blended, he drooped his head, eagerly grasped our proffered hands, and burst into tears. This was a sign of friendship ; harmony followed, and war and bloodshed were thought of no more. Peace and friend- ship now reigned among us." The armed men who surrounded the leader showed extreme satisfaction ; " every eye sparkled with pleasure, — they uttered a shout of joy, — they thrust their bloodless arrows into their quivers, — they ran about as though they were possessed of evil spirits, — they twanged their bowstrings, fired off their muskets, shook their spears, clattered their quivers, danced, put their bodies into all manner of ridi- culous positions, laughed, cried, and sung, in rapid suc- cession, — they were like a troop of maniacs." An old man Explanation who understood the Houssa language having undertaken gies.*^^^ "' the office of interpreter, told them that the chief, on hear- ing a number of strange people speaking an unknown language had arrived at the market-place, concluded them to be enemies come with the intention of making a night attack on the city, and carrying off the inhabitants as slaves : that he advanced breathing vengeance and slaughter ; but when he saw them approach unarmed, observed their white faces, and finally their hands ex- tendeJ towards him, he felt a strange emotion, and be- lieved them to be children of heaven dropped down from the skies. " And now," said he, " white men, all I want Friendly (s your forgiveness." This was granted with a cordial [uhl"''" '*" shake of the hand, and the travellers uttered an inward thanksgiving for their preservation. " We were grate- ful to find that our blood had not been shed, and that we had been prevented from spilling the blood of others. — It was a narrow escape ; in another minute our bodies would have been as full of arrows as a porcupine's is full of quills." During this eventful transaction Pascoe, 254 THE LANDERS DISCOVERY OF THE Fidelity and courage of Oi Pasco. JIarket-place of Boequa. High esti- mate of Europeans. Friendly promises. CHAP. XIV. whom Clapperton had described as "an African, not the most tmsty of his race," completely redeemed his charac- ter, and shovred the greatest courage, keeping his musket pointed at the chief's breast, ready " to bring him down like a guinea-fowl" had he offered violence to his master ; but Sam and Antonio scampered off, and after returning were so terrified as to be for some time unable to speak. The party continued on cordial terms with the chief, and learned that this was the famous market-place of Boequa, frequented by numerous strangers from the in- terior, and from the upper and lower banks of the Niger. Their previous information was confirmed, that the great river which they had passed was the Tchadda, and that the city of Funda was situated three days' journey above the point of junction. After some farther communication the party next day resumed their voyage. They passed Atta, a large town, of the inhabitants of which they had received no favour- able accounts ; but after touching at Abbazacca, whose rapacious chief they found it very difficult to satisfy, they next day arrived at Damuggoo, where they expe- rienced a more cordial reception than in any other part of Africa. In the more interior districts, where white men w^ere never heard of, they had been viewed merely as strange beings, the sight of whom afforded sometimes amusement, and at others occasioned terror ; but the people nearer the coast had received even exaggerated accounts of the power of Europeans and of the greatness of their monarchs. The chief of Damuggoo expressed in strong language the pleasure he experienced, and which he said would have been felt by his deceased father, at beholding a white man. A grand festival in their honour was celebrated by the firing of muskets and a night of dancing and revelry. On condition of their waiting a few days, he undertook to send a canoe and some of his people with them down to the sea. He seemed particularly delighted with the idea of the great white king being made acquainted with his kind treatment of the travellers, adding, " You may inform him of my TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 255 dignity, my riches, my strength, and my power." When chap, xi V they complained ot'tlie crowds wlio, impelled by curiosity, D^spoti^ blocked up the door of their hut, he coolly recommended power of the that their heads should be struck off, though they did '^"^^^^ not think proper to avail themselves of this permission. Indeed this chief seemed to be a very tyrant in his ad ministration, performing the operation just mentioned on the slightest offences. He, however, faithfully exe- unfayour- cuted his engagements, though he showed a disposition ^^^'^ omens, to detain the travellers on the ground of unfavourable omens discovered in performing a fetish, w^iich occupied him and his priests nearly a whole day, and also from the inspection of the entrails of birds ; but Richard con- trived to overrule all these objections. He sailed on the 4th of November, and on the way was much affected by the affliction of a poor female slave, who continued for some time fetching deep sighs, with an expression of sadness and silent sorrow, then burst into loud lamenta- tions, and pointing to a spot on the coast, cried out : " There I was born ! that is my country 1" At two next morning he stopped in the vicinity of a village ; but, impatient to proceed, set out at live, two hours before his brother, who followed in the Damuggoo canoe. It was after seven, when near the i unction of two rivers, , ' . T. Junction ot one flowing from the east into the Niger the other west- streams. ward from it to Benin, he observed a large market-town named Kirree. Numerous boats were lying on the shore, and there soon appeared coming upwards a fleet of fifty large canoes ornamented with a variety of ensigns, among which was the British union flag, and others with devices representing tables, decanters, chairs, and similar domestic objects. The clothing of the men was like- wise entirely of European manufacture, and the whole presented a spectacle at once picturesque and grateful to an English eye. Lander sailed gaily on to meet them ; Sudden but emotions of a different kind speedily succeeded, when ^^^^^' a huge negro fiercely beckoned to him to come on board. As he did not instantly obey, the crew mounted a plat- form, and levelled their muskets. He felt that, with 256 THE landers' discovery of the CHAP. xi"\ his small loaded bark, to engage a fleet of fifty war- Spoliation of caiioes was merely to throw away his life. The assail- Riciiaid ant then placed his boat alongside of the traveller's, and canoe. with incredible rapidity began to transfer its contents into his own. Our countryman, driven to despair, pre- sented his piece at the chief; but it was wrested from him. He succeeded, however, in rescuing Pascoe's wife, who had been seized as part of the booty. The enemy's canoe then made for the town ; and none of the others having joined in the outrage, our adventurer attempted a pursuit, and was received on board of a friendly vessel, while i hree men were put mto his to assist in pulling her to the market. Surprise of Meantime John Lander, having left the village two John Lander, j^^^j.^ ^^^^^ j^^ brother, followed with his utmost speed. After sailing nearly an hour, his crew were surprised to see, in a passing canoe, a sheep and goat, which were recognised as having formed part of Richard's cargo. They pursued and recovered the animals, but were at a loss to understand how the other party had yielded them to plunderers who were only two in number. John was astonished when he came in sight of the large fleet de- corated with European flags and ensigns ; and when in one of them he observed his brother, he concluded that he must be returning to obtain restitution of his pro- perty. Several of these vessels instantly pursued him, and being of unusual magnitude, with a six-pounder lashed to the bow of each, he judged resistance vain, and tried to escape ; but the hostile canoes pushed on with such rapidity that three of them successively struck against Sinking of j^jg hoat, wliich was capsized and sunk. Struggling amid his canoe. , ' , ^ , . ^ -, ■ the water, he was endeavourmg to reach a vessel m which sat two women from whom he hoped for pity, when a gigantic negro snatched him with a violent jerk out of the water, and let him drop into the canoe like a log. Meantime, as other small craft were pushing for- ward to share the booty, several came into collision and were overset ; whereupon, men, women, and children, clinging to tlicir floating goods, screamed and struggled TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 257 in the water. As John was looking around in despair, chap, xiv he again at a little distance discovered his brother, who -^^^^^^ was steadfastly gazing on him, and pointing his finger to ment of each the skies, as if saying, " Trust in God." Hereupon his °'*^^'^' mind' became more calm, and soon after coming along- side, Richard threw a shirt over his naked body ; but on attempting to step into the canoe he was dragged back. In this extremity, while the brothers scarcely hoped Favourable for life, affairs suddenly took a favourable turn. The change. people of Damuggoo had been plundered only because they had not been recognised ; and with others of their countrymen they now joined in calling for j ustice. They were seconded by a number of females richly dressed in silk, with large anklets of ivory ; also by the Moham- medan malems, — a class fierce and bigoted on the Upper Niger, but here always reasonable and friendly, and one of whom first cheered the sufferers with the hope of redress. A council was held in the market-place, which decided that the stolen articles should be restored, and the ringleader in the attack put to death. Search was presently made for the goods ; and there were produced partial re- in the midst of the assembly the medicine-chest, a box storation of with books and John Lander's diary, and the clothes- perry. bag nearly emptied of its contents. There had disap- peared the whole of the arms, nine valuable elephants' tusks, ostrich-feathers, various small commodities, and, what was most of all regretted, Richard's journal. i,oss of Meantime certain wild cries were raised from without bv ^''''^'^''*^,^'^ the plunderers, who were on the pomt of makmg a desperate effort to regain the booty ; but after having excited a violent tumult, seeing a strong party determined to resist them, they retired in disappointment to their canoes. The travellers were then called and informed, that the King of Kirree being absent they must be sent to Obie, ruler of the Eboe country, and placed at his disposal. It may be observed, that their assailants were Eboes, who came up equipped for war and plunder, yet provided with arms, clothes, earthenware, and skins, to purchase what they could not obtain by force. I 258 THE landers' discovery of the CHAP. 51V. Our countrymen considered this a favourable arrange- Escorted to iiient, thougli they became virtually captives, and were ubie. escorted down the river by two large war- vessels. The banks now presented an alluvial aspect resembling that of the coast ; they were low, fiat, bordered by vast en- tangled forests which almost concealed the habitations ; but the crowds of people that came to the shore showed the neighbourhood to be populous. Tliey were understood to raise plantains, bananas, and yams, in great abundance. The two brotliers, however, were under the necessity of remaining in the bottom of the boat covered with mats, S'nffiiiar pre- ^^ consequence of the crew entertaining the strange idea indices oi tiie that if the Niger, who had never before beheld a white man, should cast his eyes upon them, he would instantly destroy both them and their bark. On the 8th November, after they had passed two large branches of the river, one flowing south-east the other west, an Eboe man called out, " There is my country !" and they soon came in front of the town, where were hundreds of canoes, some larger than any they had yet observed, capable of containing seventy persons, many of whom made these vessels their sole habitation. The houses were uncom- monly neat, plastered over, with wooden pillars in front, and surrounded by well-fenced court-yards planted with bananas, plantains, and cocoas. The travellers were Native speedily accosted in broken English by a person calling royalty. himself Gun, and pretending to be a sort of king and the relation of kings, his brother being King Boy, his father King Forday, who with King Jacket ruled the district at the mouth of the river. What was of much more consequence than this list of ridiculous monarchs, they learnt from him that an English brig, the Thomas of Liverpool, was lying in the river ; and in this vessel they conceived the hope of embarking. Iritioductinn The next object was the introduction to the great and dreaded King Obie, who turned out to be a sprightly youth, with a mild open countenance, and shook hands with them very cordially. His brilliant and glittering ornaments almost entitled him to the appellation of the ransom demanded TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 259 " Coral King." Strings and pieces of coral and glass chap, xiv hid the materials of his conical cap, and so closely en- ~ — circled his neck as to impede respiration. One of the rations. Bonny people, who had accompanied them from Damug- goo, gave a long and eloquent description of the wrongs sustained at Kirree ; and though nothing was said on the subject of business, the general tenor of their reception inspired blattering hopes. But these were soon chilled by the intelligence that his majesty had determined to exact an enormous ransom ; and the only question ap- i^normoua peared to be whether the people from Brass or from Bonny should have the benefit of the capture. So eager was the competition that the former made the ridiculous assertion, that the Boimy branch of the river having been dried up, it was impossible to convey the strangers by that route to the sea. Obie then sent for the tra- vellers, and stated twenty bars, or the value of twenty slaves, as the price of their liberation, adding, that they must remain at Eboe till that amount should be sent up from the coast. This arrangement struck them with the deepest consternation, as it appeared very doubtful whether any English captain would consent to advance so great a sum. Happily, however. King Boy himself Mode of determined to engage in the speculation, and offered to ^"^"^^^ pay Obie his demand, provided he obtained a book (bill) on Captain Lake of the Thomas for thirty-five bars and a cask of rum. This was to them gratifying intelligence, though the claim was exorbitant ; but they resolved to promise any thing in order to effect their escape. The engagement was accordingly made, and King Obie took a smijing leave, exacting a promise that on returning to England they would report him to be a good man. Eboe is a very large town, called commonly the Eboe PopniatioQ country, and forming the principal mart for slaves and palm-oil. The people are rude, brutal, and dissolute. Intoxication is indulged to great excess, the parties sit- ting till after midnight, and engaging in violent and often sanguinary quarrels. Indeed the groans and shrieks during these scenes were so dreadful, as at first to 260 THE landers' discovery OF THE CHAP. XIV. Noisy revels Overloaded canoe. Sinsruiar entry into Brass Town, Exhovbitant exactions of King Forday, produce the belief that some person was enduring the most cruel death ; but it was discovered that such sounds arose in the midst of their deep potations, without being attended with any fatal consequences. The travellers were put on board a canoe belonging to Brass Town, fifty feet long, but occupied by sixty persons, and so heavily laden with goods that it did not rise more than two inches out of tlie water, and on any stream less smooth than the Niger must have been speedily swamped. Great inconvenience was experienced from the limited space, especially at night, when the Landers could not stretch themselves to sleep without having laid upon their bodies the feet of King Boy and of his royal spouse Addizetta, which, being of very large dimensions, and loaded with heavy ornaments, produced an intolerable pressure. They sailed on the 12th No. vember, and on the 14th felt the influence of the tide. On the 15th they overtook three canoes, one of which conveyed King Forday, a venerable, complacent-looking old man, who endeavoured to amuse them with a song, which, though scarcely audible, was highly applauded by his subjects. The entry into Brass Town was made in singular style. The fetish priests drew in chalk on the persons of King Boy, themselves, and the crew, various fantastic figures, which made it scarcely possible to recognise them ; then, taking their station on the bow of the boat, they per- formed strange dances and gestures. The town was found to be a miserable, dirty, marshy place, divided by a lagoon into two portions, each containing about 1000 inhabitants, and one belonging to King Forday, the other to lung Jacket. The rank luxuriance of the surround- ing soil produces only the plantain ; while the making of salt, and trading with the towns on the river, form the occupations of the people. Forday would not allow Lander to depart till he gave to his majesty a hook for the value of four slaves, and agreed to leave his brotl: er and seven others as hostages till the bills were paid. On the 17th of November, Richard Lander embarked TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 261 to complete his important discovery. The branch of the chap, xiv A'i2er, which here enters the sea, is divided into two ^., ~7~ , 11 • 11 1 1 T-.- Tf-M 1 T-> i^- Situation 01 Kinaller sections, called the First and Second iirass Rivers ; Brass Tovol but Brass Town is not built upon either, probably from their banks being too moist and liable to inundation. It stands upon a large creek, connected with the main streams by numerous rivulets winding through this allu- vial district. As they sailed along, wherever an echo was returned. Boy threw into the river a portion of rum, yam, or fish, to propitiate the spirit of the iiood. The shores were almost wholly under water and covered with impenetrable thickets of mangrove. In the evening they reached the Second, and next morning the First Brass River, called by the Portuguese the Nun, and in a quarter of an hour after, Richard, with inexpressible de- light, saw two European vessels at anchor. The first Enropean was a Spanish slave-ship, on board of which he was vessels. courteously received, but found the crew suffering dread- fully from sickness. He hastened to the English one, eagerly anticipating a cordial reception, and the termi- nation of all his troubles. But he was distressed to find it in a more sickly state than the other ; four of the crew were dead, the remaining four lying sick, and the captair himself in an advanced stage of fever. Lander told him his story, and having had his majesty's instructions read, earnestly intreated him to fulfil his engagements with the African chief, under the assurance of being remunerated by government. To his utter dismay the Bmtal con- captain, with brutal oaths and abusive expressions, ab- |^«=*5'^'''" solutely refused to give a single article. Instead of the cuptaiu. generous character of a British mariner, the traveller dis- covered a being fiercer and more ignorant than any he had met with in the unfrequented wilds of Africa. Boy Avas then requested to take them to Bonny, where he would find numerous English vessels ; but he replied, " No, no, dis captain no pay, Bonny captain no pay ; I won't take you any farther." Lander might have been more easily consoled under this involuntary breach of faith, had not his brother and the rest of the party been 262 THE LANDERS DISCOVERY OF THE Promised ransom. Jndisrnation ot tlie Eboe cliiefl CHAP. XIV. still in the power of Boy, whose countenance betokened the most gloomy discontent. At length Lake was pre- vailed upon to give a sort of growling promise that when these individuals were brought to the ship the stipulated payment would be made. The king took his leave, sullen and grumbling, yet engaging that within three days he would return with the others. Meantime, John waited with anxiety the issue of his Anxiety of "brother's expedition, and the return of the chief. A Jolin Lander i ir-, . i,. -ii letter irom Kicnard nrst acquainted hmi witli the cause of the delay, which gave occasion to the most alarming apprehension. Soon after King Boy was heard furiously quarrelling with his wives, and muttering to himself as he walked towards the apartment. John, who had been reposing on a mat, placed his head on his hand and awaited the tempest which was about to burst upon him. The ruler entered, liis eye flashing, his lip quivering, his countenance exhibiting bitter scorn ; he then burst into expressions of savage indignation. " Eh I" said he, '' you are thief man ; English captain no will ! You assured me, when I took you from the Eboe country, that he would be overjoyed to see me, and give me plenty of beef and rum ; I received from him neither the one nor the other." After recounting at length his own good deeds and their promises, he always concluded, " But you are no good ; you are tliief man. Eh ! English captam no will ; he no will." After allowing him to give full vent to his fury, Lander mildly renewed assurances, that as soon as Captain Lake saw him and his companions on board he would afford all the satisfaction desu-ed. Boy, half believing, half mistrusting, went out in a very gloomy temper ; but two days after, his spirits being elated by a splendid festival, celebrated on occasion of old Forday resigning to him the government, he promised to set out next morning. Departure ^^ ^^^ ^'^^ November, the savage monarch and his for tiie mouth suite departed in a large canoe, with John and his com- le igei rades in a smaller one. In the evenino: thev passed the Moderated by renev.-ed promises. Second Brass River, and the traveller forcibly describes TERMINATION OF THE NIGER. 263 his emotions when he " could perceive in the distance the chap, xi v. long-wished-for Atlantic, with the moonbeams reposing sound ^f tiie in peaceful beauty upon its surface, and could also hear ocean. i,he sea breaking and roaring over the sandy bar which stretches across the mouth of the river. The solemn voice of ocean never sounded more melodiously in my ear than it did at that moment. ! it was enchanting as the harp of David." The masts and rigging of the brig, seen at midnight like a dusky cloud, appeared to him beautiful as the gates of paradise. Meantime, Richard Anxiety of endured intense anxiety, aggravated by the unfeeling Kiciiard captain, who advised him not to trouble himself any more about his brother, as he was certainly dead. When the party were at length descried at midnight encamping at the mouth of the river. Lake caused all the muskets to be loaded and placed in a covert position, so that they might open at once on the people of Brass if they should attempt any violence. On the morning of the 24th, the canoe arrived, and a happy meeting took place between the two brothers. Boy was politely received ; but, agi- tated by hope and fear, he could not but observe that there was no preparation for delivering that valuable assortment of goods which he had so fondly expected. Feeling himself in the power of the English, he ex- changed his haughtiness for a submissive address. The Landers, who well knew what was to follow, endeav- presents to oured to sooth him by presenting five silver bracelets, the chief a native sword, and a watch, of which Boy knew not the value. The two first were accepted, though he called one of his men, and showed what was offered instead of the thirty -five bars, when both uttered a significant groan. He then ventured to approach the captain, and ask for the goods solemnly promised to hun. Lake, willing to Base onfiuct delay the crisis till the ship was under way, excused ^f Captain himself on account of being busied in writing, till the demand being repeated again and again, he called out in a voice of thunder, " / no will /" then burst into a torrent of furious invective against the poor African monarch. Boy was thunderstruck, and observing the preparations 264 THE landers' discovery OF THE CHAP. XIV. for sailing, became afraid lest he should be carried off, and, hastening into the canoe, made with full speed for the shore. Departure cf King Boy. Great danger at the river bar. Brutal con- duct of Lake Marrr. a body of gentlemen, at the head of whom was Mr Mac- Land!^^^' gregor Laird, formed a company with the view of turning the recent discoveries to some practical advantage. They declared, we believe with truth, that commerce, though of course an essential, was by no means their only object. They hoped also to aid in suppressing the slave-trade, in introducing true religion, civilisation, and humanizing influences, among nations whose barbarism had hitherto been only heightened by European connexion. Steam-navigation presented an obvious resource for Resources overcoming the obstacles which occur in the rivers of na^j^!|;"j'o„. Africa. Two iron steamers were therefore constructed, 268 LAIRD AND OLDFIELD. CHAP. XV. The vessels of the expedition. Departure from Liverpool. Fxplorlng a piissage. Attack from an Eboe village. the Quorra of forty and tlie Alburkah of sixteen horse power, with crews of twenty-six and fourteen men re- spectively : while the Columbine, a sailing vessel of 200 tons, cari-ied out goods. Mr Lander readily accepted an invitation to join the party, and they were also accom- panied by Lieutenant Allen of the navy, whom the ad- miralty appointed to survey the river ; while Dr Briggs and Mr Oldfield went as medical attendants. The expedition sailed from Liverpool on the 19th July 1832, and proceeded direct for Port Praya in the Cape de Verd Islands, where they arrived on the 17th August. They then touched successively at Sierra Leone and the American settlement of Monrovia, engaging on this coast a number of Kroomen, a race remarkable for their activity and skill in the management of boats. They afterwards paid visits to the Dutch colony at Axiui and to Cape Coast Castle, and on the 16th October an- chored near the mouth of the river Nun. The effects of the climate were already painfully perceptible, so that in two or three days they lost Captain Harries and two seamen of the Columbine. Ten days were employed in preparations, during which they were attended by the Kings Boy and Forday, who showed aprofusion of civilities. On the 2Gth, having got under way, they began to explore a passage through the narrow channels. The country on both sides of the river appeared one extensive swamp, covered with mangrove, cabbage, and palm trees; whence the fen-damp rose in the morning, cold and clammy, like the smoke of a wet wood fire. The natives were very unhealthy, partly owing to their coarse diet and to an excessive indulgence in spirits ; yet the only effect felt from the climate was a tendency to grow ex- tremely fat, which operated even while consuming only lialf the usual quantity of victuals. On the 1st Novem- ber, Lander, wlio had gone somewhat ahead, intimated the danger of an attack from an Eboe village ; and Mr Laird soon after saw the whole right bank in a blaze of musketry. The Quorra was presently put in motion, and placed abreast of the town. The fire ceased during Wm.: iiiUfVli i. LAIUD AND OLDFIELD. 269 the night, but was recomnienced in the morning out CHAP. X7 of the bush by eneiines almost invisible. It was soon unfoTmnntc silenced by a dischaiee from the vessel, and the English miMinii.r- '' ^ , . , , stancuns. then landed, and burned the houses; but as tiiey were returning, the natives appeared again, and renewed the fire with loud yells, so that the party had some difficulty in re-embarking. This attack was found to have arisen from a misunderstanding caused by the discbarge of a signal-gun ; though it seems to be acknowledged that the inhabitants of the hostile village bear very bad cha- racters. The population as far as Eboe was not reckoned Degraded to exceed fuur thousand adults, who were in the most poi^"!^''""- degraded and demoralized state. The only produce of their country was palm-oil, collected in gourds of two or four gallons, which could be procured in any quantity. On arriving at EI)oe they met a cordial reception Cordial re- from the king, who is described as tall in his person, ^jJo^" '^ with a pleasing countenance and agreeable manners. He displayed extraordinary politeness, in the most lively attention to their wants and couifort ; and after the conference, he accompatiied them to the boats, walking familiarly with his arm round Mr. Lander's neck, and followed by not fewer than between two and three thousand of his suljects. Next day also he made a public visit to tiie ships, escorted by seven war-canoes, each containing between sixty and seventy men, and by about fifty other canoes of all sizes. Upwards of an hundred canoes likewise came in the evening with cargoes of yams, bananas, and palm-oil, thus indicating the existence of much regular and honest industry. On the 9Lh November the party left Eboe, and were proceeding favourably, when on the lltli fever made its Noxiona appearance, and on the following day Mr. Laird felt its cu^attT symptoms — throbbing headache, burning pain in the feet and hands, deadly sickness at the stomach, with a sudden prostration of strength. The disease daily spread more widely, till, by the 24th, the Quorra had lost thir- teen men and the Alburkah two. They were struck 270 LAIRD AND OLDFIELD. CHAP. XV. Causes of the distempei". Unsatisfac- tory transac- tions with the King of Attali. Appearance of the river at the con- fluence of the Tcliadda. with an apprehension that all would perish together, and not one return to relate the catastrophe ; but the malady then somewhat abated. This dreadful distemper is ascribed to the close air on a narrow winding river, where a horrid stench issued from the surrounding swamps. The writer considers it as having been aggra- vated by the monotony of the scene, and the absence of all excitement, even that of danger. He recommends constant employment, music, and even a temporary in- crease in the allowance of spirits, to support the sinking energies. It seems singular that the voyage to Attah, a distance of about three hundred miles, should have occupied a month, when a good steamer, it might be presumed, could have accomplished it in a few days. The transactions with the King of Attah were very unsatisfactory; and his brother, with whom they en- deavoured to treat for ivory and other goods, ended every discussion with the angry query, " Why wont you take men 1" His majesty indeed was seen performing certain ceremonies, in which persons fantastically dressed used expressive gestures, and threw alligators' flesh into the water, hoping thereby to prevent the strangers from ascending ; but as he did not oppose any human obstruc- tions, they proceeded without difficulty. The river now assumed a delightful appearance, bordered by hills with flat summits ; beyond which appeared in the distance the bold range of the Kong mountains. The sick began to recover, and the convalescents to gain strength. In approaching the confluence of the Tchadda, the Niger presented itself as " an immense river about 8000 yards wide, flowing majestically between its banks, which rose gradually to a considerable height, and were studded with clumps of trees and brushwood, giving them the appear- ance of a gentleman's park ; while the smoke rising from diff'erent towns on its banks, and the number of canoes floating on its bosom, gave it an aspect of securit}'^ and peace far beyond any African scene I had yet witnessed." The prospect of trade, however, did not correspond with IVIr Lander's report. Ivory was scarce and dear, and LAIRD AND OLDFIELD. 271 the indigo so dirty as not to be worth its freight home. chap, xv The stream became now very shallow, and on the 22d — December the Quorra struck first on one sandbank, and offhe^ then on another; and, after a succession of such accidents, stream, it was found necessary to house her, and await the rise caused by the rainy season. A convenient situation was found on an adjacent hill for depositing the goods. The table-lands were very extensive, one of them containing four towns ; and the hill-sides were so steep as com- pletely to secure them against an enemy. Lander en- deavoured to penetrate upwards in the Alburkah to Rabba and Boussa, but soon discovered that the depth of water was insufficient for his purpose. Condemned to a gloomy and monotonous life, Mr Laird again suffered under ague, and was deeply affected by the death of Dr Briggs, whose society had been his chief consolation, p^^.j^ ^^ He now, therefore, determined to ascend the Tchadda Dr. Briggs. to Funda, long known as the chief city in this part of Africa; but the entrance was so obstructed by sandbanks, that the boat could proceed only through a creek, which, two miles above, traverses its delta. The main stream, thus attained, was found two fathoms deep, and flowing rapidly. After a tedious navigation of seven days, during which he passed a considerable number of villages, he reached Yimmaha, the port of Funda, about thirty miles distant. The most unfavourable intelligence was here received respecting the king, who was said to have abie^mem- poisoned two brothers, beheaded a third, while a fourth, ?«"ce at to escape his cruelty, had committed suicide : it was added that his conduct to merchants was most inhuman and oppressive. Mr Laird, however, tnisting that these reports were exaggerated, did not allow himself to be deterred. He despatched a message, in reply to which, Messentrer after some delay, eighteen horsemen from the king came from tiie to wait upon him ; they bent down, put his foot on their heads, and threw dust over their persons. Their palaver imported, tliat the monarch was ready to receive him, and had sent meantime a present of goats and yams. Vain attempts were made to procure bearers, the natives 272 LAIRD AND OLDFIELD. CHAP. XV. declaring they were men, not horses ; however, Mr Laird, ArrivaTat finding a navigable channel to within nine miles of Funda. Funda, contrived to reach that city. He arrived by moonlight, and was shown first to a miserable hovel, but next day to a better house in a broad street. Both night and morning, he was beset and annoyed by immense crowds, who showed the most unbounded curiosity to see a white man ; and having brought into his presence a disgusting Albino, they asked if he was his brother. Unpromising In the afternoon, the king waited upon him in full state, procee gs. (jg^Qp^^pj ^^j^j^ splendid silk and velvet robes, which covered a person of enormous size ; but his countenance bore a sinister expression, not ill answering the reports concerning him. He declared, however, that he had great pleasure in seeing a European ; promised abundance of ivory, professing that all he had was Mr Laird's, and promising to secure for him better quarters. His majesty having seated himself on a large tin box containing the traveller's clothes, his attendants immediately stated that it had thereby become royal property, affixed to it the broad arrow, and placed it on their shoulders to convey it to the palace. The wardrobe, however, was rescued by two of the Kroomen, though not till after a fierce altercation. Singular In the evening the merchant was visited by a raw-boned royaiu\" ^ active-looking man whom he thought he must have seen before, but could not tell where. As this person- age became insolent and exacting, the Kroomen were employed to eject him. Next day the traveller having gone to return the royal visit, was waiting in an outer court of the palace, when this very individual came and sat down beside him. After some talk, he inquired fo^ the king, and was astounded to hear that he who sat by him, and whom the night before he had so roughly turned away, was the same person. Our countryman showed an extreme incredulity, founded chiefly on the disapp arance of his former enormous dimensions ; but these proved to liave been an affair of state produced by ample stuffing. Having next refused to the royal LAIBD AND OLDFIELD. 273 request the carpet on which he sat, he parted from his chap. xv. majesty on terms by no means promising-. Unfiiendiy Unfriendly dispositions were erelong manifested, dispositions For example, wlien Mr Laird removed to comfortable lodgings at the house of a rich widow, who gave him a cordial welcome, he was astonished to find that he had thereby committed a serious offence ; his goods were seized, the lady was hurried to the palace and put in irons preparatory to her being flogged. Hastening thither, he was received by the sable monarch Avith a volley of words, not understood, but evidently hostile, and accompanied with the comment of passing his hands repeatedly across his throat. However, the introduction of eleven well- „ , 1 IT- Happv turn armed Kroomen gave a happy turn to the discussion, oiaffairs. which closed with the arrangement that, on quitting his residence at the widow's, he should be accommodated with apartments within the royal mansion. This estab- lishment, like others in Africa, consisted merely of an immense assemblage of huts, covering nine or ten acres and surrounded by a mud wall ; two of which, about twenty feet in diameter, swarming with vermin, were assigned to the traveller. The residence here proved extremely uncomfortable, jn-jtatinn- The natives flocked with the most eager curiosity to see rathe the white man, especially Avhen eating ; and if they '^'^^'"^'*^'- could put him in a passion, which he admits was too easily done, their delight was unbounded. The king admitted them through a gateway, and, it was believed, levied a fee from every visiter ; but Mr Laird at last, by threat- ening to shoot the first that entered, freed himself from the annoyance. After sunset the whole city resounded Evening cou- with a concert of drums, triangles, and trumpets, which he declares diabolical, and having the accompaniment of mosquitoes, buzzards, ants, rats, and bull-frogs, placed sleep entirely out of his reach. A severe illness seized him, and by reducing his personal dimensions, with which all African ideas of dignity are associated, greatly lowered him in public estimation. The king daily paid him long visits, during which, the latter, whose temper 274 LAIRD AND OLDFIELD. Impolitic alrercalioiis ■with the king. Urfu'our- n!ile reports hour Lander CHAP. XY. as well as spirits had yielded greatly to sickness and annoyance, seems scarcely to have observed the prudence requisite in dealing with a prince in whose power he had placed himself. Their interviews appear to have been marked by incessant altercation ; and he at one time threatened to blow up the town with gunpowder. It was soon evident that the enterprise was to be most unprofitable, since every one who attempted to sell ivory was severely flogged ; and the king, if he had any, care- fully withheld it. By a messenger despatched to Yim- maha, he learned that Lander had gone down the river, that Lieutenant Allen was in a high fever, and in his delirium had wounded the cook of the Alburkah. Our traveller's only object was now to escape out of the peril- ous condition into which he had plunged; but on asking permission and the means of conveyance, tlie king replied, that his gods would not allow him. There seemed, indeed, much room to apprehend that their next injunction would be to murder him, and seize all his property; a measure which, perhaps, was only retarded by a super- stitious dread attached to the idea of a white man. Every means of escape was now to be studied ; and Sarsfield, an attendant, by his knowledge of the native character, was enabled to devise one. Mr Laird announced to the king that, on a certain day and hour, he would perform a solemn ceremony with a view to discover whether he was to depart or to stay at Funda. His majesty, the priests, and the whole city crowded to see the white man's fetish ; the walls and roofs to a great distance were covered with spectators. The traveller, being provided with four skyrockets, to which he had attached a paper with mystic characters, suddenly let them off, followed with the blaze of six blue lights. The multitude, struck with terror, fled in every direc- tion ; the king threw himself on the ground, and begged to know the decree of destiny. Wishing to fix the impression more deeply, he invited the savage to his cottage, and taking out a compass announced that if the needle, when placed on the jrr Cleans of escape devised. Superstitimis terror ol tlie natives. j^.ound, should point to him- LAIRD AND OLDFIELD. 275 self, it would portend his departure ; if to liis majesty, chap, xv the contrary. He took care of course to place it in the cons^ivTtr. due position ; and the king, on seeing the result, gave Mr. Lairds a hurried consent, then hastened away, timidly refusing *^^P^^''"^*^- to touch the instrument. After a day spent in prepara- tion Laird had the satisfaction of leaving, and in four days reached the vessel. Funda is one of the largest towns in Interior Africa, ^ 11 -1 • 1 1 n • 1 . Extent of nearly three miles m length, and its population not Funda. much short of 40,000. Only about a tenth are Moham- medans, who include, however, the most opulent among the inhabitants. The slaves, estimated to be as five to six of the freemen, are mildly treated, but very scantily fed. A magnificent, fruitful, and beautiful plain sur- rounds the city, bounded by a range of low distant hills. The place is enclosed by a wall twelve feet high, six thick, and for the most part by a ditch ten feet deep. Cotton is spun by every individual high and low, the king himself not excepted ; the implement being a species of bobbin, which can be used even in walking. There are also extensive dye-works ; and iron is fabricated into Working in a great variety of useful articles. For ornamental pur- *'^'^"' poses, copper is employed, said to be brouglit down the Tchadda ; and the profession of the smith is highly hon- oured. Trade was reported to have been once very brisk, but is now much reduced by the king's oppressive con- duct. The principal amusements consist in horse-races „ and other exercises, performed upon the adjacent plain ; amusements. and the animals display considerable agility, even under the weight of riders wadded out to an enormous size. This is followed by mock fights, and then by dances, chiefly distinguished by displays of agility, and by the barbarous dissonance of various loud instruments. The regular force appeared to consist only of three hundred foot and thirty cavalry ; and though there were six mus- kets, only one man durst venture to fire them. Soon after, Mr Laird descended the Niger ; and having jjr^Yai"! visited Bimbia and Calabar, and spent some time at Fernando Po, he returned to England. His narrative, 276 LAIRD AND OLDFIELD. Ascending: the Tchadda. CHAP. XV. liowever, is succeeded by the journal of Mr Oldfield. Jouvmirof ^^'ho 'went out as surgeon of the Alburkah, the early part Mr. Oldfield. of which, before the arrival at Attah, embraces nearly the same subjects, and communicates little new informa- tion. But after that period, as the two vessels proci eded in different direction*:-, he had an opportunity of adding very considerably to our knowledge. After the re- turn of Mr Laird from Funda, he and Lander deter- mined to ascend the Tchadda, hoping, we believe with- out reason, to reach by that channel the great lake Tchad. The shores were varied ; but generally speak- ing, neither so fertile nor populous as those of the Niger. The natives seemed struck with alarm ; and when the steam was let off, and a skyrocket sent up, they fled in the utmost consternation. In passing near Funda, they received a visit from the king's daughter, with whom they were greatly pleased. A messenger arrived from the sovereign of the Bassa ; but, awed by some myste- rious dread, he came repeatedly abreast of the vessel, and after looking earnestly at it, always dropped astern, and finally departed without entering. At two conti- guous towns, Dagboh, and Obohbe, the chiefs fled, and only one sent his daughter, ten or eleven years old, with no attire except a girdle of beads. They landed at the former place, and found it of considerable extent, the streets well stocked with sheep, goats, and poultry; but all the natives had disappeared except two, who earnestly beckoned them to depart. Having heard of Domah, a populous and industrious town, two days' journey inland, they sent thither a messenger ; but he was stopped by a party of Bornou soldiers, who threatened if he proceeded to cut off his head. Thus excluded from all intercourse with the shore, their stock of provisions became ex- tremely low, and consisted almost solely of the coarse grain of dhourra. For this reason, after having ascended the river 104 miles, Mr Lander deemed it necessary to return. On the way down, they landed at a town named Oruka, and even received an invitation from the king of Corracu ; but, as his majesty showed some vacillation, Apprehen- sion of the Datives. Failnrn ol provisions. LAIRD AND OLDFIELD. 277 they finally departed without seeing him. At length they chap. XY. found themselves in the Niger, where they were relieved RetunTto from the disagreeable sensation of an empty stomach, the Niger. which had been often experienced on the Tchadda. Lander had been baffled in a former attempt to ascend Ascent to to Boussa ; but as its periodical rise was now approach- ing, it was thought possible at least to reach Rabba, intending to open a trade with that important capital. On this voyage, the river with its banks made a most magnificent appearance. Villages followed each other, in many places at the distance of only a stonecast. The mountains were clothed with the most brilliant verdure, and partly cultivated to the very summit. Some of the expanses, particularly one which is represented on the accompanying wood-cut, looked like choice speci- mens of lake scenery, with most picturesque combina- tions of rugged wildness, romantic grandeur, and smiling beauty. The people, too, instead of the jealous dread Friendly which prevailed on the Tchadda, showed the most eager fheTativefi"'^ and friendly curiosity. At one place a body of Mallams came out, and gave the navigators a most solemn wel- come, repeating sentences from the Koran, Egga sur- passed Mr. Oldfield's expectations, appearing to contain an immense population. They met a friendly reception, too, from Ederesa, a mild good-humoured looking per- sonage, who reigned over one-half of Nyffe, while his brother, the magia, reigned over the other. A strong sensation had been excited along the Niger by this expedition. A canoe arrived, sent by the King Messenger of Rabba to ascertain if they were the same Christians ^'j^™ J^ ® who had been at Sackatoo two years before. A mes- Rabba. senger was despatched to announce their peaceable in- tentions. Two other canoes afterwards appeared from the magia and from the King of the Dark Water (Zagoshi) ; but they hovered for some time around the vessel before venturing to approach. The envoy re- turned, stating that the king and chiefs of Rabba think- ing they came as auxiliaries to the magia, had been in R 278 LAIRD AND OLDFIELD CflAP. XV. very great alarm, and had even thought of abandoning GreatTxtent ^^^^ town ; but his Statements had reassured them. On otRabba. the Same evening the party came in sight of Rabba, which appeared of immense extent, built on a rising ground, and resembling an amphitheatre. An amazing crowd of natives, mcluding a number of Fellata horse- men, had assembled to see them. The English fired a salute, the first time that a cannon had been heard on the upper Niger, and next morning found horses waiting Well stocked to convey them to the palace. The streets were narrow and excessively dirty ; but they passed through a range of markets, fitted respectively for wood, cloth, indigo, slaves, and other articles, with which they appeared well stocked. The royal residence consisted of about thirty huts, each surmounted by an ostrich-egg and enclosed by a high wall. After passing through several apartments, they came to the palaver-house, where above a hundred chief's were seated cross-legged, having the whole head except the eyes enveloped in muslin robes. They could not for some time discover who was the king ; but found him at length in Osiman, son to Mallam Dendo, who was sitting ^f^<^^Pt'0" by very plainly dressed among the others. This temporary concealment is a common policy, adopted from fear, or from the hope that several of them might obtain pre- sents under the regal character. Osiman proved a shrewd intelligent man, with a dignified and imposing, yet frank address. Several ladies came and peeped at the strangers ; but on being seen, scampered away laughing. The king, according to African etiquette, removed the presents without almost deigning to look at them. The party were apprized, however, of other persons of almost equal dignity, who would expect to be similarly grati- ciucu*^"'^ fied. Such were Mallam Moosa, an agreeable old man, seemingly the head of the Moslem religion, surrounded by about thirty or forty persons, several of whom were ferocious and ill-looking, with beards reaching to the middle, and, lu. ^:.ne instance, shaped like a peacock's tail. Another was Sullikeen Yiki, the king of war or general, a fierce-looking personage, seated on a leopard's skin. LAIRD AND OLDFIELD. 279 His aspect was so little ^jrepossessmg, that they shortened chap, xv their visit as much as possible. The discoverers also T^,,~T^f landed on the island of Zagoshi, which they found in the zaooshi. . same condition as formerly, except that it had been partially inundated by the flood, and some of the houses swept away. The king, like all other African potentates, manifested Royal mode an extreme alacrity to trade ; but, as usual, rather on a ^^ trading. one-sided system. He showed the strongest disposition to take alniost every thing the travellers had or could com- mand ; but, though ample payment was promised in ivory or cowries, it was not made good without extreme diffi- culty, and we do not clearly understand if it was ever completed. Generally he treated them with great po- liteness ; yet he conridentially disclosed his real opinion to their Afiican servant, expressing wonder that he should accompany dogs and unbehevers, adding : " It is well pi-ejudices known that in their own country they eat black men, against and dye red cloth with their blood. Besides, they know ^^ " ^ ^^^ nothing, not even Allah ; and, after death, they are our slaves in paradise." The people, however, crowded to obtaJJi the benefit of their skill in medicine, believed to be supernatural ; and in the morning their court-yard resembled an mfirmary. The natives expected that the English, like their Mallams, would effect the cure by cliarms written on a piece of paper ; and one old lady was most indignant at the request to feel her daughter's pulse, declaring that if she once touched an unbeliever, she would never recover. One man having been taken ill, believed that they had blown poison through the key- hole of his door. Rabba was estimated to contain about 40,000 inhabit ants, and the surrounding country is very fertile, abound- ing in grain, vegetables, and cattle. The finest horses are brought from Sackatoo ; but some of excellent quality are reared in the district, and might be purchased for about three pounds. The army is estimated at 20,000 foot and 6000 horse, chiefly slaves liberated on condition of military service. During a great pai-t of the year Population ot Jiab'oa. 280 LAIRD AND OLDFIELD. Slave hunt- ing expedi- tions. CHAP. XV. they follow pacific occupations ; but in the dry season, when the waters are low, they engage in those slave - hunting expeditions which form the chief object with all orders of xifrican princes. The greater number are sent to Houssa ; while some are conveyed to the mouth of the river for the European market. Rabba is the centre of a great trade with the neighbouring countries, being even frequented by merchants from Tripoli. After quitting this city, the party sailed down the river, and arrived at Fernando Po on the 3d November 1833. Arrangements were almost immediately made for a fresh expedition up the Niger. Mr Oldfield, in the Alburkah, was to lead the way, while Lander, in the Quorra, went to Cape Coast and Accra for a supply of cowries. The former sailed up to Iddah, the proper appellation, it seems, for the place before erroneously termed Attah, which is in fact the name of the king. Some time was spent there, and hopes entertained of opening an advantageous trade ; but their transactions could not be carried on in a satisfactory manner with that grasping and capricious tyrant. They had even strong Arrange- ments lor i new Niger eipeditiou, Ascent to- the nioutli cf tiie Tcliadda. Lander fatally wounded. occasioned by poison which he had administered ; and he readily acknowledged that he had murdered Pascoe by the same means. The surgeon then ascended to the mouth of the Tchadda, and, having visited the Iccory market, where he carried on some small traffic, returned down the river. He had already been apprized that Lander had been attacked and wounded by a body of natives ; and on reaching the estuary of the Niger learned all the particulars of this tragical adventure. That gentleman, who had come up with two boats and a stock of valuable articles, was, at a town named Hyam- mah, assailed by the combined inhabitants of it and two adjacent places. Three of his men were shot, several wounded, and he himself received a ball in the thigh, which, though at first it appeared not dangerous, proved ultimately fatal. A boat, a canoe, and most of the goods fell into the hands of the brigands. A lady and her i!jik!**ii' ^iHl t:!'!l,, i'' ;r"'"9!|iii:li. I if i iiiir -iiP,ii||ii,;,i^ jlpjillliiilliliill'" 'V LAIRD AND OLDPIELD. 281 child were also captured, but afterwards ransomed, Mr chap. x v. Oldfield, in passing the place on his way downward, was yj ^~7 careful to keep the steam in full action, and the vessel attack on tiie in the middle of the river ; yet two hundred men rushed -^^^"'^'^h- from behind a bank, and commenced a fire, which they continued as long as the bark was in sight. He was afraid to return it, lest the vessel should have run aground, and his people have been overwhelmed by numbers. On the 9th July, he reached Fernando Po, and on the 8th November, his arrival at Falmouth closed this chequered, and, on the whole, very unfortunate expedition. Notwithstanding this unfavourable result, Mr Laird Prospect of states plausible reasons for his belief that a commerce of centraV considerable value might be opened w^ith Central Africa, Africa. through the medium of the great rivers which flow into the Atlantic. The natives are active, eager for the ac- quisition of property, preferring, indeed, to obtain it by plunder or the sale of slaves, yet willing, if no other means are open to them, to resort to honest industr^^ He proposed to occupy one of the heights on the upper part of the Niger, and invite the people to bring com- modities by giving them, in the first instance, liberal prices. The usual delay in the lower channel of this river, which has uniformly been attended with such in- jury to health, it was thought might be avoided. The British government also determined on an expedition for establishing factories on the Niger, some particulars of which will be given in the following chapter. Lieutenant Allen, who accompanied Mr Laird, pre- Allen's map sented to the Geographical Society a map of the QuoiTa, Quona. with a memoir, in which he maintains the hypothesis, that the Tchadda and the Yeou are the same river, the latter flowing out of, not into, the lake Tchad, which thus communicates with the Niger. We confess ourselves unable to see any ground for setting aside the positive and repeated testimony of Major Denham upon this subject. He crossed the Ycou in entering Bornou from the north, and saw it flowing rapidly eastward^ at the rate of three and a half miles an hour. The Arabs told him that it 282 ALLEN. CHAP. XV. Grounds of Major Deii- liam's opinions. The Quai-- rama or Zirmie. Expedition to Timbuc- too. Proceedings of Mr. Davidson. continued in that direction, and fell into the lake, which was at no great distance. Afterwards, in visiting Old Birnie and Garabarou, he saw it repeatedly, and describes it always as flowing eastward, sometimes with rapidity. The supposition that, through its winding course, he had uniformly happened to see it taking a direction opposite to its usual one, seems very strained and improbable. The Nile of the Negroes, of the Arabian writers, and of Sherif Imhammed, appears to us clearly to be the Quarrama or Zirmie, which actually flows westward into the Quorra. The route of the traveller just named led to Ashantee ; but how could that country be reached by crossing the Tchadda ? In considering the basin of the lake as inadequate to receive the waters both of the Yeou and the Shary, he does not seem duly to estimate the great evaporation in so hot a climate. The Aral, not much larger, and in a colder region, receives two rivers of the first magnitude without any outlet. The design of penetrating to Timbuctoo was not yet relinquished ; and this task was again undertaken by Mr Davidson, who had already travelled in different quarters of the world, and possessed courage, strength, address, and urbanity, which seemed peculiarly to qualify him for its accomplishment. He embarked in September 1835 for Gibraltar ; but found a difficulty in penetrating to Morocco, which was, however, overcome in virtue of his medical character. The emperor, labouring: under ill- ness, sent him a kind invitation to court, and the Kaid of Tangier received instructions to assist him on his journey. On arriving at the capital, he found his services wanted, not only by the monarch, but by all the sable beauties who adorned his court. Every morning, after waiting on his majesty, he was presented by the eunuch with a list of the ladies' complaints, under the expectation that next day he would bring a remedy for each. Having be- come thus a necessary person, he was reluctantly allowed to leave Morocco ; and it was not till 1836, after being heartily sick of his attendance, that he obtained permis- sion. He attempted to take the most direct route across DAVIDSON. 283 the chain of Atlas ; but after mounting to the height of chap. XV. 6000 feet, he was arrested by snow, and obliged to take gng^^." ^,je the circuitous way of Mogadore. Here Mr Willshire Atlas moun- the consul exerted his influence in a negotiation with the *^'"^ Sheik of Wadnoon for his safe conveyance to Timbuc- too. That chief professed the most friendly disposition ; but the great cafila arrived with dismal tidings of their having been twice attacked by the tribes of the desert, and thirteen of their number killed. The sheik ex- pressed much apprehension ; but the traveller remained undaunted, and taking advantage of a fair, during which there was a general armistice, made his way southward. The caravan was found to muster in uncom- mon strength, being expected to comprise 400 horses and 2000 camels. With this party Mr Davidson would Apprehen- probably have been safe ; but he dreaded being, as he Davidson. terms it, " worried to death " by the applications for medical aid from so numerous a body. He pushed on, therefore, with only four companions ; and the first letters received from him were written in high spirits, stating that his health was completely restored, and that he hoped to spend the new year at Timbuctoo. However, Tnteiiiffenoe on the 7th February, Mr Willshire received a letter from the Sheik of Wadnoon, with the intelligence that the traveller had been murdered in the desert. This chief, with a somewhat suspicious solemnity, protested his own innocence, imputing the crime to a lawless tribe named the Harib, who had been bribed by the merchants of Tafilet, alarmed lest their traffic should be thus inter- fered with. He promised to make strict inquiry, and recover, if possible, the property of the deceased. Ac- uj^^^^f.^.^ cording to a more detailed account, Mr Davidson had first Harib met a smaller body, who extorted from him a consider- able sum of money. Eight or ten days after, 100 of the Harib horsemen came up and accosted his party in the most friendly manner. Their leader then asked Moham- med El Abd, the principal native who accompanied Mr Davidson, to show him a neighbouring watering-place. They went together ; but soon after heard a musket fired ; 284 DAVIDSON. CHAP. XV. and on wonder being expressed, the barbarian replied, JiurdeTof *^^* ^^ ^^'^^ ^^^ ^^°^ shooting the Christian. Mohammed Davidaon. represents himself as struck with horror, and declaring that he would rather have been personally the victim. The marauders, it appears, had entered into familiar con- versation, in the course of which they expressed great curiosity respecting the musket ; and one of them having thus got it into his hands, immediately discharged it Disturbed against its owner. They presently seized all his pro- perty, allowing, however, the natives to proceed to Tim- buctoo. According to statements made by one or two individuals coming from that city, it had been the theatre of serious conflicts. The Tuaricks had been driven out, and the quarter inhabited by them burnt down. They were still, however, in great force on the road thence to Sackatoo, rendering it impossible to proceed thither with safety. The chief informant had repeatedly met both with Laing and Cailli^ at Timbuetoo. state of Timbuetoo. WESTERN AFRICA. 285 CHAPTER XVI. Western Africa. Greneral View of this Coast — Dahomey — Norris and M'Leod — Foota Jallo — Watt and Winterbottom^ — Ashautee — Embas- sies of Bowdich and Dupuis — War — Defeat and Submission of the Ashantees — Adams' Account of Benin, Waree, and Bonny — Ephi'aim Town — Delta of the Nigei*. The whole coast of Western Africa within the tropics, chap. XVI. forming a wide sweep around the Gulf of Guinea, has occupation long been occupied by a chain of European forts, erected of Westeru with a view to the traffic in gold, iron, and palm-oil, but, above all, in slaves ; and since this last object has been finally abandoned by Great Britain, these sta- tions have become to her of very secondary importance. The territory is in the possession of a number of petty states, many of which compose aristocratic republics, turbulent, restless, licentious, and rendered more de- praved by their intercourse with Europeans. The in- terior country, extending in a direction parallel to the great central chain of mountains, of which the principal branch is here called Kong, presents nothing of that Fniitfuiness arid character stamped on so great a proportion of the of tiie soil. African continent. The soil, copiously watered, is liable rather to an excessive luxuriance ; but, where skilfully managed, it is higlily fruitful. There are found, too, in this tract, several very powerful kingdoms, better organ- ized and more improved than any near the coast. They have not, however, the slightest tincture of European civilisation; and their manners, in several important respects, are stained wdth habits and practices that be- long to the very lowest stage of savage life. 286 WESTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVI. The state of Dahomev. Journey of Mr. Korris. Abject hoinape of the chiefs. National anniversary, Dahomey, the first of the greater states to which Europeans penetrated, had distinguished itself early in the last century by the conquest it then achieved of the flourishing kingdom of Whidah, situated on the Slave Coast. The victors committed the most horrible ravages ever witnessed, — reducing the country, the most fei-tile and beautiful then known in Western Africa, to almost utter desolation. As their king continued to exercise authority over this province, Mr Norris, in 1772, undertook a journey thither to observe the character and position of this extraordinary potentate, and to make arrangements for the benefit of the English trade. Ho passed through a fine district, abounding in the usual tropical productions, and rising by a gentle ascent about 150 miles inland to Abomey, the capital. He arrived at an appalling season, that of the annual Customs, when the great men were assembled from every quarter of the kingdom ; and he was truly astonished to see those fierce and warlike chieftains, whose very name spreads terror throughout Africa, prostrating themselves before the monarch on the ground, and piling dust on their heads, in token of the most abject submission. This homage is yielded, not from fear, but from a blind vene- ration, which makes them regard their sovereign in the light of a superior being. In his name they rush into battle, and encounter their foes with Spartan intrepidity. One of them said to Mr Norris, " I think of my king, and then I dare engage five of the enemy myself." He added, " My head belongs to the king, and not to my- self ; if he jjlease to send for it, I am ready to resign it ; or if it be shot through in a battle, I am satisfied since it is in his service." The main object contemplated in this national anniversary is, that the despot may water the graves of his ancestors with the blood of human victims. These are numerous, consisting of prisoners taken in war, of condemned criminals, and even of many seized by lawless violence. The captives are brought out in suc- cession, with their arms pinioned ; and a, fetisheer, laying his hand upon the devoted head, utters a few magical WESTERN AFRICA. 287 words, while another from behind, with a large scimitar, chap, xvi severs it from the body, when shouts of applause ascend gg^jj"" f from the surrounding multitude. At any time w^hen human vic- the king has a message to convey to a deceased relation, ^^'"^ he delivers it to one of his subjects, then strikes off his head, that he may carry it to the other world ; and if any thing fai-ther occurs to him after he has performed this ceremony, he delivers it to another messenger whom he despatches in the same manner. Another grand object of this periodical festival is the Market jor market for wives. All the unmarried females through- '*^'^'^^- out the kingdom are esteemed the property of the sove- reign, and are brought to the annual Customs, to be placed at his disposal. He selects for himself such as appear most beautiful and engaging, and retails the others at enormous prices to his chiefs and nobles. No choice on this occasion is allowed to the purchaser ; in return for his 20,000 cowries a wife is handed out, and, even be she old and ugly, he must rest contented ; nay, some, it is said, have in mockery been presented with their own mothers. The number of wives usually kept by the T^e king's king amounts to 3000, who serve him in various capacities — being partly trained to act as a body-guard, regularly regimented, and equipped with drums, flags, bows and arrows, while a few carry muskets. They all reside in the palace, which consists of an immense assemblage of cane and mud tents, enclosed by a high wall. The skulls ^^JJ^JJ""'* and jaw-bones of enemies slain in battle form the favour- tropiiies. ite ornament both of his residence and of the temples. His apartment is paved and the walls and roof stuck over with these horrid trophies ; and if a farther supply appears desirable, he announces to his general that " his house wants thatch," when a war for that purpose is im- mediately undertaken. Mr M'Leod, during his residence at Whidah, in 1808, ^['Jj^^i^^JJ^^l' found the country still groaning under the cruel effects tyranny. of Dahoman tyranny. He particularly deplores the case of Sally Abson, daughter of the late English gover- nor by a native female, who, trained in all European 288 WESTERN AFRICA. Excursion to the Southern Fouhihs. CHAP. XVI. accomplishments, added to them the most engaging sim- Fate^fSaii pl^^^^J ^^ manners. Suddenly she disappeared, and Mr Absou. M'Leod's eager inquiries were met by a mysterious silence ; all hung down their heads, confused and terri- fied. At length an old domestic whispered to him that a party of the king's half-heads (as his messengers are termed) had carried her off m the night, to be enrolled among the number of his wives, and warned him of the danger of uttering any complaint. A more pleasing spectacle was presented to Messrs Watt and Winterbottom, who, in 1794, ascended the Rio Nunez to Kacunda, and made an excursion to Foota Jallo, the principal state of the Southern Foulahs. This people profess the Mohammedan religion, are orderly and well instructed, display skill in working mines of iron, and in carrying on the manufacture of cloth, leather, and other African fabrics. Caravans of 500 or 600 persons were often met, carrying on their heads loads of 160 pounds weight. The article chiefly sought after is salt, which the children suck as ours do sugar ; and it is common to describe a rich man by saying he eats salt. The two principal towns, Laby and Teemboo, contained respectively 5000 and 7000 inhabitants. The king could muster 16,000 troops, whom unhappily he employed in war, or at least hunts, against twenty-four pagan nations that surround his territory, chiefly with the view of procuring slaves for the market on the coast. When the travellers represented to him the iniquity of this course, he replied, " The people with whom we go to war never pray to God ; we never go to war with people who pray to God Almighty." As they urged that in a case of common humanity this ought to make no dis- tinction, he quoted passages from the Koran command- ing the faithful to make war on unbelievers. They took the liberty to insinuate that these might be interpolations of the devil, but found it impossible to shake his reliance on their authenticity. A more recent and memorable intercourse was that opened with the coui-t of Ashantee. This people Avere War and slave hunt ing. Influence of Mohamme- dan bigo- try. WESTERN AFRICA. 289 first mentioned, in the beginning of last century, under chap. xvr. the name of Assente or Asienti, and as constituting a ^j^ ^r~ great kingdom in the interior, — the same was described dom of to Mr Lucas at Tripoli as the ultimate destination of ^shantee. those caravans which, proceeding from that city, cross the whole breadth of Africa. Being separated from the maritime districts, however, by Aquamboc, Dinkira, and other powerful states, they did not come into contact with any European settlement. It was not indeed till the commencement of this century that these states were obliged to give way before the growing strength of the Ashantee empire, which at length extended to the bor- ders of the Fantees, the principal people on the Gold Coast. These last were ill fitted to cope with such for- The Fantee midable neiglibours. They are a turbulent, restless tribe, extremely apt to give offence, while in battle they are equally cowardly and undisciplined. The King of Ashan- tee having, not unwillingly perhaps, received from them high provocation, sent in 1808 an army of 15,000 war- riors, who entered their territory and laid it waste with fire and sword. At length they came to Anamaboe, where the Fantees had assembled 9000 men ; but these were routed at the first onset, and put to death, except Brave de- . fence ot tlie a few who sought the protection of the British fort. The British foit. victors, on this account considering the English as allies of their enemy, turned their arms against the station, at that time defended by not more than twelve men. Yet this gallant little band, supported by slender bulwarks, baffled the fierce and repeated assaults made by the barbar- ous host, who were repulsed with considerable slaughter. Seized with admiration and respect for their bravery, the Dignified Ashantees now made proposals for a negotiation, which justfeeiinijof were accepted, and mutual visits were paid and returned. |^J® Ashan- The English officers were particularly struck with the splendid array, the dignified and courteous manners, and even the just moral feeling, displayed by these warlike strangers. They, on their side, expressed an ardent de- sire to open a communication with the sea and with the British, complaining that the turbulent Fantees opposed 290 WESTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVI. Treaty between the Ashantees and Fantees. Mission of James Bow- (iich, ami Huvciiinson. Splendonr of the capital. Co5tiy royal decora- tions. the only obstacle to so desirable a purpose. A treaty was concluded, and a good understanding seemed estab- lished between the two nations. The A.shantees, how- ever, made several successful incursions in 1811 and 1816 ; and on the last occasion the Fantees were obliged to own their supremacy, and engage to pay an annual tribute. The British government judiciously kept aloof from these feuds ; but in 1817 a mission was sent, under Messrs James, Bowdich, and Hutchinson, to visit the capital of that powerful kingdom, and to allay some trifling dissensions which had unavoidably arisen. These gentlemen, having set out on the 22d April, passed over a country covered, in a great measure, with natural forests, in some parts of which, where a footpath had been cut, they witnessed most beautiful scenery. Being delayed by an illness which seized Mr James, they did not arrive at Coomassie, the capital, till the 19th May, when they were surprised at its unexpected splendour. It was four miles in circumference, buitl not indeed with European elegance, but in a style supe- rior to any of the maritime towns. The houses, though low and constructed of wood, were profusely covered with sculpture. The array of the caboceers, or great war-chiefs, was at once dazzling and wild. They were loaded with fine cloths, in which variously coloured threads of the richest foreign silks were curiously inter- woven ; and both themselves and their horses were decorated with golden beads, Moorish charms or amulets , purchased at a high price, and the whole intermingled with strings of human teeth and bones. Leopards' skins, red shells, elephants' tails, eagle and ostrich feathers, and brass bells, were among the favourite ornaments. On being introduced to the monarch, the English found all these embellishments crowded and concentrated on his own person and attendants, who were literally op- pressed with large masses of solid gold. Even the most common utensils were composed of that metal. At the same time, the executioner, with his hatchet on his breast, and the execution-stool clotted with blood, gave WESTERN AFKICA. 291 CUAP X\T Asliantee WaiTior and Attendant. The Dignified manners c the king. a thoroughly savage character to all this pomp, manners of the king, however, were marked with a i"a""eisof dignified courtesy ; he received the strangers cordially, and desired them to come and speak their palaver in the market-place. On the presents heing carried to the palace, he expressed high satisfaction with them, as well as great admiration of the ingenious workmanship. After several other interviews he entered on the subjects Demands under discussion, which related to some annual payments bSSii" ^^'^ formerly made to the Fantees for permission to erect forts, as well as for the ground on which they stood ; and his majesty now demanded, as conqueror of the country, that these payments should be transferred to himself. The claim was small, and seems, according to African ideas, to have been reasonable ; but ]Mr James thought him- self bound to remain intrenched in the rules of European diplomacy, and si.mply replied, that he would state the demand to the governor of Cape Coa^t. The king then 292 WESTERN AFRICA. Indignation excited by diplomatic formalities. Successful change of tactics. CHAP. XVL told them that he expected they had come to settle all palavers, and to stay and be friends with him ; but now he found that their object was to make a fool of him. Con- sidering himself insulted, he broke through the ceremoni- ous politeness which he had before studiously mamtained. He called out, " the white men join with the Fantees to cheat me, to put shame upon my face !" Mr James still remaining firm, the other became more incensed, and exclaimed, " the English come to cheat me ; they come to spy the country ; they want war, they want war !" Our envoy merely replied, " no ; we want trade ;" but the monarch's wrath increased to such a degree, that he started from his seat and bit his beard, calling out, " Shantee foo ! Shantee foo !" and added, " if a black man had brought me this message, I would have had his head cut off before me." A singular manoeuvre now took place in the diplomatic party. Mr Bowdich, with two junior members, conceiving that Mr James' too rigid adherence to rule was endangering the preservation of peace with this powerful sovereign, resolved to supersede him and undertake the charge of the negotiation. They conducted it entirely to the satisfaction of his majesty, who concluded a treaty with them, and even made a proposal of sending two of his sons to be educated at Cape Coast Castle. During their stay at Coomassie, the commissioners witnessed dreadful scenes, which seem to sink the Ash- antee character even below the ordinary level of savage life. The Customs are practised on a scale still more tremendous than at Dahomey. The king had recently immolated on the grave of his mother 3000 victims, 2000 of whom were Fantee prisoners ; and at the death of the late sovereign the sacrifice was continued weekly for three months, consisting each time of 200 slaves. The absurd belief that the rank of the deceased in the future world is decided by the train which he carries along with him, makes filial piety interested in promoting by this means the exaltation of a departed parent. On these occasions the caboceers and princes, in order to court- Cruel and bloody funeral rites WESTERN AFRICA. 293 royal favour, often rush out, seize the first person they chap, xvl meet, and draor him in for sacrifice. While the Customs ^ :; — '°. , Carelessness last, therefore, it is with trembling steps that any one of human crosses his threshold ; and when compelled to do so, he ^^^^' rushes along with the utmost speed, dreading every instant the murderous grasp which would consign him to death. To cultivate the good understanding now established, ^'^ew mission the British government very judiciously sent out M. Dupuis, who, during his residence as consul at Mogadore, had acquired a great knowledge of Africa and its people. But, before his arrival, the ardour of their mutual affec- tion had been cooled by the intervention of some clouds, which he had set out in the hope of dispelling ; neverthe- less, the mission, upon arriving at Coomassie early in 1820, Friendly in- was well received. The king repeated his earnest desire continued, to cultivate a friendly intercourse with the British nation, and withdrew such of his demands as were shown to be inadmissible. A treaty was concluded by which his claim to full dominion over the coast was sanctioned, but he agreed that the English should exercise jurisdiction within their own forts, and in their immediate vicinity. M. Dupuis found this monarch deeply impressed with ideas of royal respect for white men, and also with a desire to imitate P^mp- and rival the pomp of European kings. He was erecting a palace, the outside of which consisted only of large logs of timber ; but the interior was to be adorned with brass, ivory, and gold. He said, " now white men know me, I must live in a great house as white kings do ; then I shall not be ashamed when white people come ;" — and on another occasion, " I must have every thing suitable, and live like a white king." He had procured architects from Elmina to give instructions to his own subjects, ^^^J^r^^ who, however, performed the task in so awkward a manner, that he himself laughed at them, — exclaiming, " Ashantees fools at work !" But the want of skill was compensated by their numbers : and while engaged in their labours, they suggested to M. Dupuis the singular image of a legion of devils attempting to construct a tower of Babel. 294 WESTERX AFRICA. CHAP. XV? Sacrif ce of human victims. Refusal of til British to ratify the tt-eaty. Fatal en- counter be- tween the Britisli and Aslsantees. Tlie envoy had the uiihappiness of being resident during the " Little Adai Custom," as it was called, and understood that in one day upwards of seventy victims had been sacrificed in the palace alone. He was not present ; but, waiting on the king immediately after, saw his clothes stained with blood, the royal death-stool yet reeking, various amulets steeped in gore, while a spot on the brow of his majesty and his principal chiefs indicated the work in which they had been engaged. The government of Cape Coast Castle did not ratify the treaty concluded by M. Dupuis, who, as Major Ricketts alleges, had gone too far in acknowledging the supremacy of the king over the Fantees ; that people having merely made a present of occasional sums under the pressure of circumstances, but not being bound to pay a regular tribute. It was at all events a questionable policy in the British government to interfere in the con- test. They determined, however, to resist the demands of the Ashantee monarch, who, to enforce them, entered Fantee in January 1824 with a body of 15,000 men. Sir Charles M'Carthy, newly appointed governor, being ill-informed as to the strength of the enemy, marched out to meet him at the head of scarcely 1000 British, and a crowd of cowardly and undisciplined auxiliaries. The two armies encountered near the boundary stream of the Bossompra, where the English, soon deserted by their native allies, in whose cause they had taken the field, maintained the contest for some time with characteristic valour, till it was discovered that, through the negligence of the ordnance-keeper, the supply of powder was ex- hausted. Thus deprived of the use of fire-arms, they were surrounded by the immensely superior numbers of a warlike and desperate enemy, and after a fearful con- test, the particulars of which never fully transpired, the whole army either perished on the field, or underwent the more cruel fate of captivity in the hands of this merciless foe. Only three officers, all of whom were wounded, brought the dreadful tale to Cape Coast Castle. The Ashantees then overran the whole open country, WESTERN AFRICA. 295 laid siege to the fort, and pressed it closel}' for some chap, xvl months : but beina: repeatedly checked, and sufferino: — , .' J i. X- • • iu A ^ J Siege of Cape under sickness and want of provisions, they retreated, coast Castle. In 1820, they again advanced to the coast ; when, after a very hard contest, they were completely defeated near Accra on the 7th August. The governor then refused to ^q^^^^ ^f ^^ grant peace unless on the condition that the king would Ashantees surrender two of the royal family as hostages, and lodge concluded. 4000 ounces of gold to be employed against himself in the event of his renewing hostilities. After a long negotia- tion, the disputes were closed by his sending 600 ounces, with a son and nephew to be educated at the Castle. Captain Adams, in the course of a trading voyage along Visit of Cap. tlie African shore, visited Benin, the capital of which is fo^Benin.'"* situated on a river coming from the north-east. The city is large, apparently containing about 15,000 inhabit- ants, and surrounded by a country extremely fertile, but not highly cultivated. The king is fetish, that is, he is worshipped by his subjects as a god, and must not on any account be supposed either to eat or sleep. Heresy against this creed is punished by instantl}? striking off the head of the unbeliever. With all his divine and royal attributes, however, his majesty does not disdain Royal attri- the occupation of a merchant, and drives a hard bargain hawts.^" while exchanging slaves and ivory for tobacco, which is a favourite luxury. He is accessible to strangers, pro- vided they spread before him, as a present, a handsome piece of red silk damask. Human sacrifices are not practised to the same extent as in some other parts of Africa ; yet considerable numbers are offered on the graves of great men, and four annually at the mouth of the river, to attract vessels ; but such is the pestilential character of the climate, that this bloody charm brings now comparatively few slave-merchants to Benin. Captain Adams ascended also to Waree, an insular territory, enclosed by two branches of another stream ^®^Y"J.gQ_ flowing through this alluvial district. It is beautiful as well as fertile, is about five miles in circuit, and appears as if it had dropped down from the clouds ; for all the 296 WESTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVI. Damp and unhealthy country. Chief slave market. The Calabar river Barbarian use of European luxuries. surrounding shores consist of an impenetrable forest, rising out of a swamp. Even in the dry season the water stands on the ground a foot in depth, producing exhala- tions which prove excessively destructive to the European constitution, as well as to all the more delicate plants and animals that happen to be removed from the drier soils of the interior. The Brass River, which we have described from the account of Lander, has never been much frequented by Europeans. Bonny is the chief market for slaves, which, according to Adams, were sold there to the annual amount of 20,000, the greater part of whom are brought down from the Eboe country. The town is mean, being built of stakes driven into the ground, w^attled and plastered, and is surrounded by a marshy country overgrown with timber. The people have canoes capable of containing 120 individuals ; they set out in parties with the sound of drums and gongs, and return in a few days with from 1500 to 2000 slaves. Salt of good quality is also manu- factured, and sent into the interior. The Calabar River, though less important than that of Bonny, also affords access to a considerable trade. Lander visited Ephraim Town, the chief seat of its commerce ; and in his way up the stream he was struck by the ap- pearance of something hanging from the branch of a tree, which proved to be a human body, suspended by the middle, with the feet and hands just touching the water — a barbarous sacrifice by the pagan natives to propitiate the spirit of the river. The town, composed of houses resembling those of Eboe, appeared to contain about 6000 inhabitants. Duke Ephraim, the cliief, exhibited with pride his best room, which formed indeed an extra- ordinary spectacle. It was " literally crammed full ot all kinds of European furniture, covered with cobwebs and dust about half an inch deep. Elegant tables and chairs, sofas of a magnificent description, splendid look- ing-glasses, and prints of the principal public characters of England, as well as views of sea and land engage- ments set in handsome gilt frames, teautifully cut glass WESTERN AFRICA. 297 decanters and glasses, glass chandeliers, and a quantity chap. xvi. of other things too numerous to mention, were all mixed „ "T 1 • 1 r> • »» mi 1 Presents together in the utmost confusion. These are the ac- from cumulated presents received from time to time from m^rchams. merchants of the different European countries. This coast, extending upwards of 200 miles from Benin to Calabar, has acquired a new interest since the discovery by Lander of its forming the Delta of the Niger. All the numerous estuaries which open into the Bights of Benin and Biafra are evidently branches of that great river. The whole rang-e of the coast presents a s:loomy Gloomy , . , ^ T ? T, aspect of tno and uniform aspect ; bemg every where completely allu- coast vial, partially inundated, and covered with impenetrable forests of mangrove. The main streams are connected by creeks and smaller channels, so that there is an inland communication by water between Calabar and Benin : indeed the whole maritime territory may be considered as a cluster of islands. The character of the natives, corrupted by the long prevalence of the slave- trade, is fierce, reckless, and dissolute. Mr Boyle gives a gloomy picture of this region as " uninviting when first descried, repulsive when approached, dangerous when examined, and horrible and loathsome when its qualities and its inhabitants are known." He therefore thinks that it will never be to any great extent resorted to for trade by Europeans. The case, however, is different when it is viewed as a channel of communication with ^^^"^^^^^ ^ the finest regions of the interior ; for in these days the communica- use of steam will carry the navigator quickly through ^'°"' the lower channels of the river, where the danger from pestilential vapours and the rude character of the people is the greatest, and convey him to the more civilized and improved countries on its upper banks. 298 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. CHAPTER XVII. Southern and Eastern Africa. The Cape— Settlement of the Dutch— Kolben— Hope, Sparr- man, Le Vaillant — Barrow ; Caffres ; Bosjesmans — Trutter and Sommerville— Dr Cowan and his Party— Their Assassina- tion — Lichtenstein — Campbell's (the Missionary) First and Second Journeys — Burchell — Thompson — Invasion of the Mantatees — Zoolas — Alarm in the Colony— Great Irruption of the Caffres — Peace — Settlement of Natal — Great Emigra- tion of Dutch Farmers— Their Conflicts with the Natives— Ex- pedition of Dr Smith — Sir James Alexander — Eastern Africa — Conquests of the Portuguese — Their present State— Eng- lish Expedition up the Zambesi — Zanzibar, Mombaza, &c. CHAF. XVII. Thesonthern extremity of Africa. The cape reached by Diaz and De Gama. Portuguese Indian con- quests. The southern extremity of Africa has long attracted the particular attention of modem navigators. To pass its remotest boundary formed the main object of ambition with the Portuguese in their celebrated voj^ages of dis- covery along its shores. After a century spent in vain endeavours to accomplish this undertakmg, Diaz obtained a view of the great promontory ; but the stoimy sky in which it was enveloped, and the fearful swell produced by the conflict of contending oceans, appalled even that stout navigator. He named it the Cape of Tempests, and immediately returned home with his shattered barks. The king, with a bolder spirit, substituted forthwith the appellation of the Cape of Good Hope, which it has ever since retained ; yet some years elapsed before the daring sails of Gama rounded this formidable barrier, and bore across the ocean to the golden shores of India. The Portuguese, engrossed by the discovery and con- quest of the kingdoms of the East, and busied in lading their vessels with the produce of those opulent regions, SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 299 scarcely deigned to cast an eye on the rude border of chap, xvii Southern Africa, its terraces of granite, its naked Karroo unpromising plains, or the miserable kraals of the Hottentot. Their character of fleets, indeed, stopt occasionally for water and refresh- ^^^'^^P"- ments ; but no attempts were made to occupy, and still less to colonize, this barren and unpromising country. The Dutch, a prudent and calculating people, having Prudent pushed their way into the Indian Seas, where they first !?.^^^^^^ f rivalled and then supplanted the Portuguese, soon dis- covered the important advantage that might be derived from the Cape as a naval station. In 1650, they founded Cape Town, — a step which led to farther improvement ; for it thereby became necessary to draw supplies of grain and provisions from the surrounding territory. When, moreover, it was found that on some neighbouring hills the vine could be reared in high perfection, a new value was stamped upon the settlement. The natives, not then destitute of bravery, but ill-armed, undisciplined, find disunited, were easily driven back, or reduced to an almost complete bondage ; and hence the country, for several hundred miles in every direction, so far as it afforded any herbage, was soon covered with grazing- farms under Dutch masters. Peter Kolben, who resided some years at the Cape, i'eter Koi- published a narrative, which, though in a few points tiye.^ liable to censure, gives by far the fullest account of the Hottentots, before they were completely weighed down by European oppression. This unfortunate race has long been proverbial throughout Europe, for presenting man in his lowest state, and under the closest alliance with the inferior orders of creation. It must, indeed, be admitted, that they take particular pains to render their external ^'^'^yi^^^r appearance the most hideous that the human body can possibly present. Grease is poured over their persons in copious streams, which, being exposed to the perpetual action of smoke, forms on their skin a black shining cake, through which its natural colour, a j^ellowish- brown, is scarcely ever perceptible. The use of unctuous substances in Africa forms the chief distinction of rank, — 300 SOUTHERX AND EASTERN AFRICA. Universal anointing with unctu- ous sub- stances. Repulsive habits of life. CHAP. XVII. the rich besmearmg themselves with butter, while the poorer classes are obliged to tear the fat from the bowels of slaughtered animals. They assign as a reason for this singular practice an effect which has been readily ad- mitted by judicious travellers, namely, that such a coat- ing has a most salutary influence in defending them from the rays of the sun, and in averting many cutane- ous disorders. Nature seems to have aided the task of disfiguring them, by covering the head with irregular tufts of hard coarse hair, and causing singular promi- nences, composed of fat, to jut out in parts where they are least ornamental. Nor do their habits of life present any thing to redeem this outward deformity. Their kraals consist of a confused crowd of little conical hovels, composed of twigs and earth, in which large families sit and sleep, without having room to stand upright. The fire in the middle fills these dwellings with thick smoke, while the floors are deeply covered with every species of filth. At festivals, when an ox or a sheep is killed, they rip it open, tear out the entrails, which they throw on the coals, and feast on them. before the animal is completely dead. Yet they are a friendly, merry, hos- pitable race, living together in the greatest affection and harmony. The sluggish stupidity with which they are so generally taxed, seems to have been in a great measure produced by their degrading subjection to the Dutch boors. In their free state they had a republican form of polity, and konquers or captains of the kraal, who led them to war, which they carried on with fury. This commander usually sounded a pipe or flageolet, during which his men fought without intermission ; but as soon as the music ceased they began to retreat. They direct their darts and throwing-sticks with a sure aim, surround and attack wild animals with skill and vigour, evading their springs with a dexterity which no European can equal. They tan, dress, and shape skins ; make mats of flags and bulrushes ; twist strings for their bows out of the sinews of animals ; and even mould iron into cutting instruments with considerable expertness. Be Friendly and hospitable disposition. Great skill in the chase. SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 301 fore they were subdued, they displayed the same passion chap, xvil for the dance and song which is general throughout —— Africa. A heavy reproach indeed lies upon them, as reference to being destitute of all ideas of religion ; and the atheist religion. has even boasted of their msensibility in this respect, as an exception to that universal belief of mankind, which is urged against his unnatural tenet. Supposing this assertion correct, such ignorance, which must have sprung from the profoundest apathy, could not form any high authority on a subject so abstruse. But the fact itself, as in every similar case, has vanished before the light of more accurate observation. The Hottentot, it is true, had neither temples, images, nor a regular priesthood; but he believed in a supreme good Being, Belief in whom he viewed with distant adoration, and also in a go^^ and little deformed and malignant power, whom he sought eviL to pacify by gifts and sacrifices. He had the usual super- stitions of unenlightened men, hailing the new and full moon not only with offerings, but with shouts, cries, and dances, prolonged throughout the night. He attached a sacred character to certain woods, hills, and rivers, which he supposed haunted by departed friends, or by the spirits of ancient heroes. Lastly, to come to the very lowest, he had a little shining beetle which he had exalted into a deity. About the close of last century. Southern Africa ex- cited a particular interest among the lovers of natural animal and history, owing to the brilliancy of its floral productions, ^^f^uc^ons. and to those remarkable forms of the animal kingdom which, though generally diffused over that continent, could be most conveniently studied in the vicinity of the Cape. In 1778, Captain Henry Hope, who, under the authority of the Dutch government, had penetrated into the interior of the colony with a caravan of eighty- nine persons, published at Amsterdam a work containing plates of the giraffe or camelopard, the zebra, the hippo- potamus, the g-nu, and other animals then almost un- known in Europe. Soon afterwards, the whole region was carefully surveyed by two eminent naturalists, first 302 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVII. Survey of Sparnnan and Le Vaillant. Observatio is oil the wild animals. Tour of Mr. Barrow. Hottentot Blaves. Sparrman, and then Le Yaillant, — the one distinguished by sound sense and accurate observation, the other by the splendid colouring which he threw over the narra- tive of his personal adventures. These travellers viewed with admiration the elegant forms of the giraffe and the zebra, the light shape and bright eye of the spring-bok the most beautiful of antelopes, and of which herds were seen covering those desert plains as far as the eye could reach. They were struck also with the odd shapes of the gnu and the quagga, combining as it were the most opposite natures. Sparrman's hunts were not very suc- cessful : he gave chase repeatedly to the gnu, but that animal by its swift bounds eluded pursuit. Herds of zebras were seen only at a distance ; and of all the hip- popotami which he attacked, he could secure only one, three weeks old. He made a full examination, however, of the rhinoceros and the quagga ; and also brought to Europe the first precise account of that wonderful and destructive insect, the termes or white ant. Le Vaillant, more fortunate, conveyed to France the skin of the giraffe, as well as that of a full-grown hippopotamus. He brought also a rich collection of birds, and many specimens of those beautiful flowering shrubs which spring up no- where but amid the sands of the African desert. Mr Barrow, who in 1797, while private secretary to Lord Macartney, made a tour through the lands subject to the Cape government, communicated more important information than any of his predecessors, and exhibited for the first time a view of the social condition of this remote colony. He found the Hottentots reduced almost universally to the condition of slaves, not transferable indeed, but attached to the soil, and not on that ac- count the better treated. Frequent use is made of a heavy leathern thong, the lashes inflicted with which are measured not by number but time. Connecting this punishment with his favourite luxury, the Dutchman orders the flogging of the culprit to continue while he himself smokes a certain number of pipes. Even when a native engages for hire, the children born during his SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 303 period of service are destined to become slaves. Notliing, chap. xvii. In short, can more fully prove the cruel treatment of ^.^ ^ — ". this unfortunate race, than the fact, that they do not ot the race, keep up their numbers, but are gradually disappearing. The Dutch planters or boors occupy lots of consider- able extent, reaching usually some miles in every direc- Disputes tion ; yet the nearest neighbours are engaged in almost among the constant feuds respecting the boundaries of these vast possessions. Their dissensions must doubtless be greatly fomented by the usual mode of measuring land, which is according to the number of steps taken in walking over it. There is indeed an official pacer (^felt-wagt-meester), who receives three dollars for every perambulation ; but be- sides that this survey must always be more or less vague, he is alleged sometimes to take partial steps in support of a favourite claimant. The boor, absolute master of those wide domains, covers them with flocks and herds, the care of which he commits to his Hottentots, — obtaining Their thus the entire disposal of his own time, which he de- ?^dolence votes to the most listless indolence. He makes neither milk nor butter ; nor does he produce either wine, fruits, or vegetables. The pipe never quits his mouth, except to take his sopie or glass of brandy, and to eat three meals of mutton soaked in the fat of the large-tailed sheep, without vegetables or even bread. The good lad}' of the house, equally disdainful of toil, remains almost Dutch coio- as immovable as the chair on which she sits, having "^i^ts. before her a table always covered with hot coffee. The daughters sit round with their hands folded, resembling articles of furniture rather than youthful and living be- ings. No diversion, no event, breaks the monotony of this insulated existence ; nor does knowledge for them " ever unrol her ample page." A schoolmaster, indeed, o/theschool- usually forms part of the establishment ; but as it is masters, thought too much to maintain on-e for teaching onl}'', he is expected to make himself useful in sundry other capa- cities. Mr Barrow even saw one of this learned frater- nity yoked in a plough. Amid such varied avocations, these instructors cannot be expected to convey to their 304 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. Liberal hos- pitality. Visit to th Caffres. CHAP. XVII. pupils more than the mere elements of reading and writing. At the same time, hospitality knows scarcely any limits. With the exception of their nearest neigh- bours, with whom they are probably involved in bound- ary-feuds, any person, from whatever quarter, is wel- come. The stranger opens the door, shakes hands with the master, kisses the mistress, sits down, and makes himself completely at home. From Graaf-Reynet, at the eastern extremity of the colony, i\Ir Barrow pushed forward to the country of the Caffres, it being the main object of his journey to adjust some differences between them and the European settlers. The first party he met, after passing the bound- ary, made the most favourable impression upon him. The females flocked and danced round the strangers, showmg the utmost curiosity, and receiving with de- light presents of tobacco and brass buttons, yet never trespassing on the limits of decorum. Their persons were somewhat short and stunted, and the skin of a deep glossy brown ; but the features were almost European, and their dark sparkling eyes bespoke vivacity and in- telligence. The men, again, were the finest figures that the traveller had ever seen, considerably above the middle size, robust and muscular, yet of the most ele- gant symmetr3\ Their deportment was easy, and their expression frank, generous, and fearless. In reply to the complaints made in regard to their encroachments upon the settlement, they averred on what appeared probable grounds, that much greater intrusions had been made by the colonists themselves, and protested their readiness to accede to any arrangement which might obviate future dissension, — stating, however, that nothing could be done but through Gaika, the great king of the Caffres. The umpires proceeded towards his residence, through a beau- tiful but uncultivated and somewhat entangled country. He was absent at the moment in pursuit of a band of wolves ; but his wife and mother, with fifty or sixty attendants, sat round and conversed, through an inter- preter, in the most agreeable manner. At length tho Fine appear ance of the men. Gaika, king of the Caffres. SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 305 monarch was seen approaching at full gallop, mounted chap. X vii on a handsome ox. Alighting from this singular charger, ^gasmmbie he graciously welcomed the strangers, and, sitting down and con- with his attendants under the shade of a mimosa, entered Measures upon business. He showed himself extremely reasonable aiopted. in every respect, declaring, that whatever inroads had taken place on the frontier were without his knowledge or sanction, and he agreed at once to regulations which might put an end to future aggression. It seems probable indeed that, had the wise and conciliatory measures which Mr Barrow suggested been steadily adhered to, all collision might have been avoided with this manly and warlike race. The Caffres are perhaps the most completely pastoral Pastoral -, ., r ■ ^j.1-- "• J habits of the people m existence ; tor, owmg to their roaming mode caffi-es. of life, their agTiculture is very limited. Game is scarce, and they make no use of their extensive line of seacoast for fishing ; but the management of cattle is thoroughly understood, being carried on by the men, who milk as well as tend the cows, and who, by a particular modu- lation of the voice, send out a herd to graze, or recall it at pleasure to the enclosures. A cow is never killed but on high occasions, for milk with roots form their standard diet. Skill is shown in several arts, such as making skiii in baskets of grass, sharpening iron by means of stones, ^j^^'^"'^^' without being able to smelt it, and dressing calf-skins for apparel. Polygamy is lawful ; but as a wife costs an ox, or two cows, the practice is confined to the rich. After returning to Graaf-Reynet, Mr Barrow passed '^^,^1^^^ across the Great Karroo or desert, covered with a scanty desert. vegetation, yet presenting spring-boks, ostriches, and other wild animals, which roam in large herds, while the most beautiful flowers spring up amid the sand. He then came to the borders of the Sneuwberg, or Snowy Mountain, the streams from which cover an ex- tensive district with luxuriant herbage. The colonists there are kept in a state of greater activity than else- where, by the dread of wild beasts, and of the still fiercer race of Bosjesmans, whose kraals occupy the 306 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVII. Cnielty to- V rtrds tlie Bosjesnians. Barrow's in- terview with tliera. Modes of ob- taining food. Great energy. intermediate valleys. They pursue and hunt down these unhappy creatures, as if they were the natural enemies of the human race. The traveller mentions a young fellow who had made a journey along part of that moun- tain-range ; and on his return, being asked if he had seen many natives, replied, vrith a disappointed air, that he had shot only four. These savages, in their turn, carry off all the cattle they can find, and put to a cruel death every one who falls into their hands, whether he be Dutch or Hottentot. Each throws upon the other the blame of this mutual hostility. Mr Barrow took some pains to acquire information respecting this unfor- tunate race. His party having succeeded in surprising a kraal, the natives sprung out of their little mat-huts with cries resembling the war-whoop of savages, and flew to the top of a neighbouring hill. From inveterate habit it was impossible to prevent some bloodshed ; but at length, by persevering kindness, several were induced to come forward and hold communication with the English. They proved to be the ugliest of human beings. Their hollow^ backs, projecting bellies, and prominent poste- riors, caused the body to assume nearly the form of the letter S. In their condition, too, they are, of all rational beings, perhaps the most forlorn and wretched. Their only mode of obtaining food is by scramblmg over the rocks after wild animals, digging the earth for unsavoury roots, devouring the larvae of ants and locusts, and, finally, in wild foray, carrying off cattle from the adjoining plains. Yet the habits arising from this precarious sub- sistence create a degree of energy which does not arise w^hen man is permitted to slumber in the lap of ease and abundance. Hence, this people indulge even in an extravagant gayety, which forms a striking contrast to the gloomy dejection of the enslaved Hottentots. On moonlight nights they dance without intermission from sunset till dawn ; and, on the prospect of fine weather, sometimes continue this exercise several days and nights. Their little arrows, tipt with poison, are shot with sur- prising dexterity; and the warriois bound from rock SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 307 to rock with an agility whicli baffles all European pur- cHAP. xvu suit. They endure long fasts, Avhich render their bodies -, 7~^^.e,.g usually very lank and meagre ; but when they make ofenduiunce a capture of cattle or sheep, they devour the flesh in a disgusting manner, and in amazing quantities. Mr Barrow, having given to three of them a slieep about five in the evening, saw it entirely consumed by twelve next day, when their formerly lank bellies were dis- tended to an extraordinary size. In regard to art, it may be observed that the pictures of animals, drawn on the rocks with no inconsiderable spirit and correctness, showed at least the rudiments of that species of talent. The knowledge of Europeans respecting the Cape terri- Extending- tory had, till this date, been confined by the Karroo or '^"°y^^^.^® desert, and the formidable range of the Sneuwberg be- territory. yond it. In 1801, a scarcity of cattle being felt, Messrs Trutter and Sommerville undertook an expedition with the view of obtaining a supply in some of the more re- mote districts. Having passed the Snow-mountain and the country of the Bosjesmans, they came to the Orange river, a broad stream flowing westward to the Atlantic, and on the banks of which were the Koras or Koranas, a pastoral people possessmg numerous herds. The infor- mation here received induced them to proceed into the country of the Boshuanas, which continued to improve as they advanced, till, to their utter surprise, in the midst of the savage wildernesses of Southern Africa, they found City of a regular city. Lattakoo was composed of 2000 or 8000 ^^"'^ ^^' houses, neatly and commodiously built, well enclosed, and shaded from the sun by spreading branches of the mimosa. The country around was not only covered with numerous herds, but showed considerable signs of cultivation ; and the king, a venerable old man, invited them to his house, where he introduced them to his two wives. The travellers, who met every Avhere a hospi- recep\ioiif table reception, were the objects of an eager but friendly curiosity. Their report, in fact, encouraged the idea that the golden age was rencAved in the centre of Africa. The Cape government afterwards undertook to follow 308 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVII. Mission of Dr. Cowan and Lieuten- ant Denovan. Disastrous issue of tlie expedition. Treachery of the Wanketzens Journrj' of Dr. Lichten- steiu. Frar-k and hospitable reception. up this discovery. Lord Caledon sent Dr Cowan and Lieutenant Denovan, at the head of a party of twenty men, with instructions to strike across the continent in a north-eastern direction, and by endeavouring to reach Mozambique, to connect the two great points of African geography. They passed Lattakoo, and accounts were received from them nearly eleven days' journey be- yond it, when they were in the midst of a richer and more beautiful country than they had yet seen in that part of the world. After a long and anxious interval the governor sent a fast-sailing vessel to Sofala and Mozam- bique, the captain of which was informed that the ex- pedition had come to a most disastrous issue. It was stated that the party having arrived in the dominions of the Eling of Zaire, between Inhambane and Sofala, had been attacked in the night and cut to pieces, with the exception of two individuals. Mr Campbell was afterwards assured, that the catastrophe had taken place among the Wanketzens, a nation immediately beyond Lattakoo, where the travellers, trusting to the friendly behaviour and professions of the people, had neglected the most common precautions. The officers went to bathe, leaWng one party in charge of the wagons, and another to guard the cattle. Thus split into three divi- sions, they were successively attacked and destroyed by the treacherous barbarians. Dr Henry Lichtenstein, after surveying several of the Cape districts, extended his journey to the territory of this newly discovered people, accompanied by one of the natives named Kok, who had been for some time absent from his country. The first individuals they met ac- costed them with such demonstrations of kindness and cordiality as conveyed the most favourable impression of their character, and relieved some apprehensions under which the doctor had laboured. The inhabitants, too, of the first village at which they arrived, received them in a manner quite frank and hospitable, though they showed rather an excessive eagerness to obtain a supply of tobacco. Crossing the river Kuruhman, and proceed- SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 309 ing by a winding path through a noble forest, they chap. XVII reached Lattakoo. The curiosity excited by their arrival curiosiT attracted a crowd so immense as to make it impossible for excited at the wagons to proceed ; but still the multitude seemed ^^"akoo. to be animated by the most friendly sentiments. The venerable old king next appeared, and promised to pay them an early visit. On a pipe of tobacco being pre- sented, he began to inhale the smoke by large draughts ; and after being satisfied, handed it to his prime minister, who transmitted it to the next in dignity ; thus it passed from mouth to mouth till it reached the lowest of the attendants. The king afterwards introduced the visiter Tlie favourlta to his two wives, of whom the principal one, ]Makaitshoah, ^^^^^'^• dazzled him by the beauty which had raised her from a low degree to the station that she now occupied. She was loaded with African finery, — a mantle trimmed with rich furs, and fastened to the shoulder by a bundle of cats' tails, sundry necklaces of bone, copper, and coral, and on one arm no fewer than seventy-two copper rings, on which she set the highest value : she displayed, and saw them counted with peculiar delight. The ladies paid FavouritG ^ a very long visit, but showed little regard for tea, which tiie ladies. ' was at first presented as most suitable to their rank and sex ; w^hile wine, and more especially brandy, were highly relished by them. In the course of a long con- versation, the lot of European wives, in having each a husband to herself, became, as usual, the favourite theme ; but Makaitshoah, though she approved of the system in general, thought that in Africa, w^here the waste of w^ar was so great, polygamy, to a certain extent, was neces- sary to keep up the numbers of the nation. Dr Lichtenstein had intended to proceed considerably Intermption farther into the interior ; but his views were changed by J.^^^® ^[^^"5^ a proposal earnestly pressed upon him by the king to journey. accompany, and assist with his fire-arms, an expedition w^hich his majesty was about to undertake against his neighbour Makkrakka. Findmg that he could not remain without involving himself in the deadly feuds of these chiefs, he chose rather to return to the colony. T 310 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVII. Queen of Lattakoo, Lattakoo "Warrior, and two Bosjesman Hottentot? Benevolent. Journey of Mr. Jolin Campbell. Great appre- hensions at Lattakoo. Mr John Campbell, animated by the benevolent desire of impartmg to this people the blessings of tnie religion, undertook, in 1813, a mission into Southern Africa. Passing the Sneuwberg in the direction followed by Messrs Tinitter and Sommerville he reached Lattakoo, which, by a change not unusual in Africa, had been moved about sixty miles to the southward of its original situation ; but the new city had not yet attained more than half the dimensions of the old. His reception was at first marked by the utmost reserve and jealousy. Not a sound was heard in the city ; and he walked through empty streets to the great square in front of the palace, where several hundred men were drawn up armed and in battle-array. All this precaution was suggested by the fear that he and his companions were sent to avenge the death of Dr Cowan and Mr Denovan ; but no sooner were the inhabitants satisfied that he came with no com- mission from government, and with no hostile object, than they crowded round him with their usual frankness, and eagerly begged for tobacco. Soon after. Mateebe SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 31 1 the king, entered with a numerous train of attendants, chap, xvil bearing spears tipt with ostrich-feathers. He did not, jjeteebee in passing, take any notice of the English strangers ; but kias; of Lat- immediately after admitted them to an interview, though ^'^"^°' without receiving them quite so graciousl}'' as they could have wished. He particularly demui-red to the proposal of founding a mission at Lattakoo, on the ground that it would interfere with the tending of their cattle and other occupations ; but this being Mr Campbell's favourite o1)ject, he pressed it so earnestly, and represented in such flattering terms the superior wealth and industry of Europeans, that Mateebe at length gave his consent to the estabhshment of missionaries, and promised to treat them well. The observations of this philanthropist have finally Results of dissipated all that remained of the ori in large clay-furnaces ; their houses were surrounded metaUurgy. with good stone-enclosures ; while the walls of mud were often painted, and moulded into pillars and other ornaments. Well-fashioned vessels of earthenware were used for holding corn, milk, and similar stores ; and con- siderable ingenuity was shown in the preparation of skins. A certain extent of land round the town was under cul- tivation, while a larger portion beyond was devoted to pasturage ; but it was necessary that the cattle should every night be driven home for security. At Kureechane IVIr Campbell witnessed, on the largest Council of scale, the peetso or council, where the assembled chiefs *^^® chiefs. act so extravagantly, yet speak with so much judg- ment as makes it difficult to say whether they are sages or madmen. Even in their way to the meeting they indulge in strange gambols, leaping into the air and brandishing their weapons, as if to attack and sometimes to stab an enemy. The circle being formed, they join in a song, which the principal person often follows with a dance. Each chief, as he rises, prefaces his speech with three tremendous yells, sometimes imitating the bark of a dog. Several of his attendants then spring forward and dance before him, — an accompaniment never omitted, even when the age and stiffened limbs of the per- formers render it altogether ludicrous. At length comes ciiaracter- the speech, replete with frankness, courage, often with a native eio- rude species of eloquence, and even with good sense. On (luence. some occasions the speakers pour the severest reproaches on the king, who retorts with bitterness, but never re- sents in any other shape. The females, meantime, stand behind, and take an eager interest in the debate, — cheer- ing those whose sentiments they approve, or bursting into loud laughter at any that they consider ridiculous. 314 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVH. Mr Campbell, on his return, took a dii'ection some- ^^ — :, what to the westward, and found himself on the borders The southern i i . i i i • i i Saiiara. of an immense desert, which he thinks may be called the Southern Sahara. It is so extensive that a party engaged in a plundering expedition were said to have spent two montlis in reaching Mampoor, its opposite extremity, which was situated on the ocean. His con- clusion, however, that this desert reaches nearly to the equator is very hasty, since the route he describes evi- dently stretched in a great measure from east to west. Journey of ^^^ Burchell, in 1812, made an extensive journey Mr. Burchell. through this part of Africa. He did not penetrate quite so far as his predecessor ; and the account of his progress beyond Lattakoo has not yet appeared. At that city he spent a considerable time ; and his diligent observa- tions of nature and society, animated by a fine vein of philosophical reflection, give a considerable interest to his narrative. Distinction of That rude equality, which had been remarked among ranis. ^n i\^q tribes of the Hottentot race, was found here giving way to very marked distinctions, chiefly sup- ported by wealth, which those in power sought the means of increasing by their incessant wars and plunder ; yet their dignity is not accompanied with that haughty separation from the inferior classes which exists m Europe. Mateebe, called here IMattivi, chief or kmg, used to squat on the ground, chatting and exchanging pipes with the lowest of his people. Although, of easy na^tive course, their manners boast no great refinement, the}'- are manners. neither boisterous nor vulgar ; but a frank and easy de- portment distinguishes all of them. Industry is held in honour ; the chiefs guard the cattle, while the women build houses, cultivate the ground, and prepare clothes and furniture. On one occasion they gave good proof of their honesty ; for, when the traveller's oxen had run away and mingled with immense herds of their own, they sought them out and brought them back to him. In begging, however, they are most ceaseless and importunate. At his first entrance they observed a SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 3] 5 certain degree of ceremon}^, and only one solitary cry chap. XYli. for tobacco was heard ; hut this feeling of delicacy or , 1 -, r , , . . 1 • tT. 1 . , Importunate decorum soon gave way. Mattivi nimseli made a private native beg- request that the presents intended for him should not ''^^^^• he seen by the people at large, by whom they would soon be all begged away. They seemed to have more pride in what they procured by solicitation than in a thing of greater value if received as a spontaneous gift. There was hardly any appearance of police ; even mur- der passed with impunity, though among themselves it was not frequent. They had no temples, and nothing which he thinks can be called religious worship ; but, in return, they had every form of superstition. The last visiter to Lattakoo was Mr Thompson, who, ^^sit of in 1 823, found that city in a state of great danger and Lattakoo" alarm. Rumours increased that a host of black warriors were coming from the north and east, who were said to be plundering and destroying every thing before them. They had already sacked Kureechane ; and being re- pulsed from Melita, capital of the Wanketzens, were marching directly upon Old Lattakoo, whence, it was apprehended, they would advance to the modern city. It was added that they were cannibals, and led by a giantess with one eye ; though, amid all this exaggeration, the reality of the danger was undoubted. The Boshua- fn^^loT"'^ nas immediately summoned a peetso, and formed the re- solution of going out to meet the invader ; but all who knew them were aware that they would fight only by ambuscade and under cover, and would flee as soon as the enemy should make a serious attack. The mission- aries, in this extremity, made great exertions to save Exertions for the nation. One of them hastened back to implore the efacient aid. aid of the Griquas, a people bordering on the English colony, and who had learned the use of fire-arms from the Europeans. ]\Ir Thompson and another went out to trace and report the progress of this formidable inroad. On reaching the old town they found it silent and un- inhabited, like the most desolate wilderness ; while the pots boiling on the fires showed that its desertion was 316 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVII recent, and that the enemy were probably at a very Approach of the Manta- tees. General panic at Lat- takoo. Arrival of Griqua allies. Unsuccessful attempt at negotiation. on, till, arriving at the top of a hill, their guide cried out, " The Mantatees ! " who were in fact seen moving in an immense mass along the valley beneath. It was necessary to put spurs to their horses, in order to escape the hazard of being surrounded. The arrival of the traveller at Lattakoo spread a general alarm ; for so rapid was the IVIantatee march, that only a little time could elapse before they would reach the city. The queen, with her female attendants, and the principal chiefs, nished into the house to ask the advice of the missionaries in this fearful crisis. The general opinion was in favour of flight. Even the war- riors, who had been poisoning their arrows and practising the war-dance whole nights without intermission, gave up all hope of successful resistance, and were preparing to follow the long files of oxen, on which the inhabitants were already placing their most valuable effects. Sud- denly a cloud of dust was seen in the south, which, on its nearer approach, announced the first division of Griqua horse coming to their aid. Hereupon, all who were endued with any portion of courage detei*mined to re- main and face the enemy. The allies were received with unbounded exultation ; many oxen were killed and roasted, and even at this critical moment the two parties gave themselves up to feasting and jollity. Their security increased Avhen notice was received that the Mantatees still remained at Old Lattakoo, consuming the cattle and provisions found in that place. Several of the missionaries then set out to endeavour to open a negotiation. On coming within sight of the foe they rode forward in a peaceful manner, inviting them by signs to a conference ; when instantly the savages raised a hideous yell, and rushed forward so rapidly, throwing their spears and clubs, that the Christian plenipoten- tiaries found the utmost difficulty in galloping out of their reach. The allied force now came up, and on the following SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 3J7 morning offered battle to the vast army of the INIantatees. chap, xvil Their aspect was truly frightful. They were almost offer"^attie quite black, with only a girdle round the loins; their totiieManm- heads were crowned with ostrich-plumes ; they had ^^^''' numerous brass rings about their necks and legs, and were armed with spears, javelins, battle-axes, and clubs. The whole body, supposed to amount to at least 40,000, rushed forward in an extended line, endeavouring to enclose the little troop opposed to them. The Boshua- nas gave way as soon as they were seriously attacked ; the Griquas, on the contrary, kept up a close fire, which stunned the enemy, who still, however, continued to advance. The horsemen galloped back to some distance, then alighted, and again alternately fired 'and retreated, repeating this manoeuvre for several miles. The Man- fi"e G^Jquas. tatees pressed on with the utmost fury, confident, if they could once come to close quarters, of annihilating in an instant the small body opposed to them ; but find- ing that all efforts were vain, and seeing their bravest warriors falling rapidly, they paused, and began slowly to retire. The Griquas pursued, but were several times exposed to extreme danger by the enemy turning sud- denly round and renewing the combat. At length the Mantatees set fire to Lattakoo, and retreated through J^fnJSct of the flames. The missionaries were now deeply shocked the Boshu- by the base and barbarous conduct of the Boshuanas, ^^'^'" who, after their pusillanimous behaviour in the field, began not only to plunder, but to butcher the wounded as well as the women and children left on the field ; nor was it without difficulty that they succeeded in saving * some of these defenceless objects. . The name Mantatee, which signifies wanderer, does Mautatees. not apply in its literal meaning to this desolating horde. They appeared to be a nation of Caflrre tribes inhabiting the country around Cape Natal. They had been im- pelled to this mroad in consequence of being driven from their own possessions by the Zoolas, a still more warlike and powerful race, who with their ferocious chief Chaka were now first brought to the knowledge of Europeans. 318 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. Division of the invaderi CHAP. XVII. The invaders after their defeat separated into several detachments, one of which settled among the Knree- chanes, while another very numerous body directed their march against those Caffre tribes who are immediately contiguous to the colony. The latter, struck with terror, began to seek refuge vrithin the English border ; and it seemed certain that, in case of defeat, which without aid was the most probable issue, the whole nation would follow. This would have been a most distressing occur- rence, as there was neither space nor food for their herds ; while it would have been inhuman, not to say difficult, to thrust them back by force against the spears of their enemies. The governor, therefore, and Sir George Mur- ray then colonial minister, decided that the invading bands must be repelled by force if necessary ; at the same time that a friendly adjustment should if possible be made. The first body, consisting of about 7000, entered the territory of the Tambookies, a Caffre tribe friendly to the English. Major Dundas, landrost of the county of Somerset, marched to their aid ; and though his party amounted only to twenty-four men, their fire chiefly decided the contest against the assailants, who retreated with such precipitation that the danger was considered as over for the present. Soon, however, Colonel Som- erset, who commanded on the frontier, learned that they were again approaching in much greater force, and were believed, though erroneously, to be the conquering race of the Zoolas. That officer, therefore, with about a thousand men, took the field, and found them, to the estimated number of 20,000, strongly encamped on a rising ground. About 26,000 of the Caffres joined him ; but, though making a most fonnidable appearance, they acted merely as spectators, and left to him all the danger as well as the glory of the contest. It was maintained by the enemy with the utmost fury and obstinacy up- wards of seven hours, when they w^ere obliged to give way at all points ; the Caifres, then taking courage, began to massacre the women and childrecj but were English co- operation against tiiein. Colonel Somerset': loire. SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 319 stopped in their savage career. The Mantatees made no chap. xvii. further movements ; but parties of them, inider the ^ — various titles of Monguanas, Fingoes, Fetcani or Ficani, ottheManta- settled in the unoccupied districts, seeking to conciliate ^®^^- the natives, by whom they were reduced to a certain degree of subjection. The colony remamed in tolerable tranquillity till the irruption of great irruption made by the CafFres themselves in 1834, ent at that they immediately planned an establishment. The piamied. former repaired to the Cape, where, in May 1824, he addressed a letter to the governor, Lord Charles H. Somerset, setting forth the advantages of the place, and requesting permission to convey thither twenty-five per- sons. This application was granted, on condition that no territorial acquisition should be made without the express sanction of government. He went accordingly ; but a long time having elapsed without any intelligence, an alarm was excited, which induced IMr King, a friend of his newly arrived at the Cape, to fit out a vessel and sail to Natal. Though unfortunately shipwrecked, he found Prosperity of the settlement tolerably prosperous. He contrived to ment"^^' build a small schooner, which was sent with produce to Algoa Bay, but, being without register, was there seized and left to decay. This proceeding, which appears very extraordinary, having cut him off" from maritime inter- course with the Cape, Mr Farewell attempted to open a communication by land ; when a chief, hostile to Chaka, and jealous of Europeans, attacking him on the road, murdered him, with several of liis party. Others, how- ever, were not deterred from following ; and a regular intercourse, including a traffic in ivory and other articles, was established. In the course of these journeys, the important travellers observed a tract of country extending along Jo^y. the coast from the Umgane to the Umzimvoobo, to a considerable distance inland, and comprehending about 20,000 square miles. Although from recent disturbances nearly unoccupied, it appeared to them superior as a grazing country to any they had ever seen. Water, which is the chief want in the Cape territory, was here in super- abundance. The surface consisted either of large plains covered with luxuriant grass, or of low undulating knolls connected together by rich meadows. Chaka, meantime, who had spread such desolation Fail of throughout Southern Africa, fell in 1828 a victim to his ^^'^^''' 328 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVIL own ferocity. A strong body of troops, whom he sent to Tyrannical attack a neighbouring tribe, w^ere surprised and driven barbarity. back with severe loss, when the enraged tyrant ordered 2000 women, the wives of his beaten men, to be put to death at the rate of 300 a-day. This shocking barbarity roused general indignation, a conspiracy was formed, which included his own brothers, and he was forthwith His successor assassinated. Dingaan, his successor, seems to have been Dnigaau. j^^^ warlike, leaving the neighbouring countries in com- parative tranquillity ; though from Captain Gardiner's nan-ative the same savage habits appear still to prevail. The sovereign never marries, and notwithstanding his numerous concubines, no one sees or hears of his having a child, while it would be death to inquire. A fearful solution of this mystery was given when a woman brought to him an infant, in the hope, seemingly, of melting him by its appearance : the monster murdered on the spot Savapre first the child and then the mother. When a chief, ^ ^" •* through political jealousy, is put to death, all persons having the remotest connexion with him share his fate. Dingaan, having ordered one of his brothers to execution, commanded ten villages to be destroyed. His captain called the inhabitants together on friendly pretexts, and when the whole were assembled, each of his party stabbed his neighbour, and very few escaped. Yet this chief con- tinued friendly to the Europeans, who, to the number of thirty, still occupied the station at Natal. About 2500 natives had clustered round them, and more would have sought their protection ; but the tyrant, viewing this arrangement with great jealousy, exacted an engagement Son of^ ^^^'' *^^^* ^o ^^^^ should be received. By a reversal of the labour at usual order of thmgs, the Africans cultivated the ground, while the Europeans employed themselves solely in hunting the elephant and the buffalo, the one for his tusks and the other for his hide. In 1835, with the sanction of Sir B. D' Urban, they laid out the plan of a town, to which his name was affixed, while the adjacent country received that of Victoria. The Dutch farmers, from the time that the intelli- SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 329 gence was received of the unoccupied territory near Natal, CHAP. XVIL had been hankerino- after a removal thither : an inclina- t,, T^, 1 11 Plans of the tion which was strengthened by the unsettled state of the Dutch CafFre frontier, and the disastrous inroad which followed. ^^^■'^^•■^• The governor, in remonstrating against the restoration of the province of Adelaide, strongly urged that a great Extensive emigration would certainly follow such a measure ; and emigration. this actually took place in 1836, when about 3000 passed the frontier and proceeded southward. They came, however, upon the lands of Moselekatsi, chief of the Matabili, a branch of the Zoolas, who, not relishing this inroad, sent a powerful force against them ; and though, by intrenching themselves behind their wagons, they secured their lives, many of their sheep and cattle were carried off. Having obtained reinforcements from the Griquas and elsewhere, they, in January 1 837, surprised the chief in his town of Mosega, killed several hundreds with almost no loss to themselves, and completely re- deemed their stolen herds. Tlie intelligence of this victory induced other parties to follow, and Sir James Alexander estimates, probably with some exaggeration. Location of that before April, 20,000 persons had left the colony, grant™'' They met no farther obstruction in their progress till they located themselves in the territory of Dingaan. This chief, who had been pleased with the settlement of a few Europeans upon a corner of his kingdom, felt very differ- ently when he learned the arrival of a little nation. As usual, he scrupled not to employ treachery as well as violence. About 100 of the principal farmers, with Retief their head man, being induced to visit him, were received with the utmost courtesy, and invited to witness a splendid dance prepared for their recreation. They Treacherocs were prevailed upon, on this festive occasion, to lay aside I?"'^?^^' ^\ their arms, and witness the dramatic exhibitions of about 2000 Zoolas who, upon a signal given, rushed on the strangers, six upon each man, and in a few minutes mur- dered them all. They then hastened to the Dutch camp, attacked it by surprise, and could not be repulsed, till several hundreds had been killed, and 20,000 cattle re- 330 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. Reprisals by the emigrant colonists. Exploration ot Southern Africa. ExpeditTon of Sir James Alexander. moved. The colonists, having mustered their strength to avenge this massacre, made two successive inroads, one of them from Port Natal, but were repulsed with loss. In a third, where they encountered a force of 10,000 men, they boasted of a victory with the loss of only three of their number ; yet they did not recover their stolen property. Both these hostilities with tlie natives, and some perplexing questions respecting the tenure of land continued for some time to check the prosperity of the settlement. But at length Natal rose so far above adversitj', as to compete with Albany the character of a desirable field of emigration. Amid these tragical events, the exploration of South- ern Africa was not overlooked. In 1885, Dr Andrew Smith set out from the Cape on a tour along the interior of the eastern coast, having chiefly in view the advance- ment of natural history. He spent about two years in this expedition, — visited the sources of the rivers Caledon and Maputa, and i-eached the 23d degree of latitude. He made some important collections; but no detailed account of his observations has yet been laid before the public. A more recent expedition, embracing a considerable extent of new country, was performed in 1836 and 1837 by Captain Sir James Alexander. That gentleman, employed for purposes of discovery as well by govern- ment as by the Geographical Society, had arrived in the beginning of 1835 ; but, hearing of the formidable war just broken out on the eastern frontier, his zeal for the service prompted him at once to join the army. Other ob- jects diverfed his attention till about the middle of 1836 ; and he then considered his original plan of proceeding north-eastward as superseded by the travels of Dr Smith which have just been noticed. The only direction left for him appeared to be the north-west, where he might trace the unknown courses of the Orange and Great Fish rivei-s, and survey the countries of the Namaquas and Damaras, the latter known only by name. For this journey he provided a wagon, a team of oxen, furniture and arms, with seven servants. Proceeding from the colony, his route led him through SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 331 the outer district of Clanwilliam, 800 miles long, 200 CilAP. xvii. broad, but having a population of only 8400. There DistricTot were o70 farms surveyed, but so rudely as in many cases Cianwiiiiam. greatly to overlap each other ; there were also many un- surveyed. This wide region endures severe privations ; there is not a medical man from the Cape to its farthest point, a space of 400 miles ; not a clergyman for a great part of the distance ; and no independent civil authority nearer than Worcester, 80 miles from the frontier. The state of manners and morals in the settlement showed marks of these deficiencies. At its extremity, on the slope of the lofty range of the Kamiesberg, is the mis- sionary station of Lily Fountain, who have on their books 800 of the wild Namaquas, whom they have not only instructed in religion, but trained in some degree to agriculture and the arts of life. From this station the traveller proceeded to the mouth Wouth of jhe of the Gariep or Orange river, in the neighbourhood of which he found that people, a good-natured and indo- lent race, cultivating nothing except a little tobacco, of which they are inordinately fond. They had no market for cattle unless with the whale-ships at Angra Piquena, and complained that, in attempting to drive them to the Cape, they were maltreated by the boors. The river exhibits very fine scenery, sometimes spread into translucent lakes, elsewhere rushing over a rocky bed, or forming a grand cataract ; but these features, how- ever picturesque, must, we apprehend, render it unfit for navigation. At one point it was so shallow, that he ^^j'^?'?^ waded across. The mouth was announced by a line of breakers appearing between two sandy heights crowded with penguins and gulls — outside lay the ocean. Re- turning by a different route, he came to a large deposite of copper ore easily accessible, and which, when assayed, was found very rich. As there is an abundance of wood for smelting, it will doubtless one day be turned to good account. On the 16th November Sir James again left Lilv pJ^ ,^"^^- ^ "^ tain left. Fountain, following a line considerably more towards the interior. He passed two mission stations, the resi- 332 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVIT. dents at which occasionally suffered severe hardships ; ,„ ";, .,- and one of them, Mr Trelfall, had been lately killed by Warm Bath ' ' J j village. Northern luute. The Oup river. The Bosjes- maos tribe. the natives. A ford was found across the Orange river and on the other side was Warm Bath, the head village of Abram, a chief who ruled to a great distance north- ward. Though sulky, brutal, and ignorant, he had desired a missionary, mainly, as was suspected, to increase his importance and procure presents of cloth and arms ; however, Mr Jackson occupied the most remote station in this direction. As our author saw more of the Nama- quas, he perceived more clearly their scanty knowledge, which was confined to the pursuing of wild beasts and the training of pack-oxen. They could not tell their age, nor distinguish one year from another ; some had no names ; few could count five ; and still fewer could number their ten fingers. He asserts that they have no religious ideas ; 3'et immediately adds that they wor- ship a great father, and believe in witchcraft. On the 18th, Sir James moved northward, escorted to a certain distance by Abram and several of his people. They passed some streams which ran towards the east into the Great Fish River ; and though at this season these were only dry beds, yet, by digging into them, water was always found. At one point they came in contact with a greater river, called the Oup ; but it too did not run constantly, though there were always pools in its channel. The banks being extremely rugged, it was necessary to strike westward ; and in the midst of a very arid country they found the remains of the missionary station of Bethany, which had been abandoned on ac- count of repeated outrages inflicted by the natives. They then descended into a beautiful and verdant plain, which extended a considerable space ; when in the east- ern horizon appeared the long range of the Unuma or Bulb mountains, 2000 or SOOO feet high, the intermedi- ate ground being watered by the Koanquip, a tributary of the Great Fish River. In ascending into that lofty region, they found them- selves among a new tribe, the Bosjesmans or Boschmans, who nearly resemble those so well represented by Mr SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 333 Barrow, though with persons much fuller, and in better CHAP, xvn condition. They have neither flocks nor herds, but live Appetence entirely by hunting and a little fishing. They are at aud habits. once daring and skilful in the chase ; and some of them have the art of frightening away lions from their prey after their hunger has been somewhat appeased, when they seize what remains. One man even said, " I live by the lions ;" but Sir James learned afterwards, that this person, in dealing with a lioness, not observing she had whelps, was killed by her, notwithstanding his charm- ing. They have a mode of hunting bees, tracing them by the drops of wax to the hive, which is immediately plundered. Many had never seen white men, whom ideas regard- they regarded with some disgust, seeming to suspect that JJJfu]^^**® the skm had been flayed off. Even those who lived near the missionary stations viewed the large wagons used in southern Africa as enormous living creatures ; and hence they leaped across their tracks, to avoid the peril of touching them. One of these machines having been broken and abandoned, a Bosjesman came and told the missionary, that his great pack-horse, having lost a leg and eating no grass, could not live long. Their remote- ness from Europeans has not preserved them from habits of plunder, nor even from murder, while their moral ideas are in some respects the most degraded. At the extremity of this wild region, the traveller The desert of came to another still worse, the desert of Tans, in which ^'^^^ for sixty miles there was not a single watering-place, and where the soil, consisting chiefly of gray sand, pre- sented only single blades of grass waving in the hot wind. He had engaged several Bosjesman guides, who, even in such tracts can find water in the crevices of the rocks ; but a signal-gun having been fired on missing one of his party, they fled with such precipitation that they could not be overtaken. The sufferings of his attendants from Sufferinfrs thirst soon became mtense, and though, with their means ^'^^ ^^"'^^ of conveyance, there could be no risk of their actually sinking under their privations, considerable alarm on that subject seems to have prevailed. His wagon could not be dragged through the deep sand by the weakened 334 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVII. Abandon- ment of their •waggon. Walvjsch Bay. Intercourse •with Ameri- can -whalers. Visit to the Hill Da- mar as. Friendly re- ception at a native vil lage. cattle, and was therefore abandoned in the desert, like a ship cast away at sea. Several horses and dogs perished ; but all the men successively reached the precipitous banks of the Kuisip. They found here, not running water, but long pools, that amply quenched their thirst, the only danger being fi-om the excess in wliich some of them indulged. The party here continued to travel downward along the course of the river, suffering still both hunger and thirst, till on the 19th April they reached Walvisch Bay, in latitude 22° 55' south. Here was no want of water ; while abundance of fish, with wild fowl, afforded them a plentiful and agreeable diet. They had some expectation of being met by a British ship of war, in which they were disappointed ; but first one and then another American whaler appeared in the bay. They held friendly inter- course with these vessels, and procured some provisions and supplies in return for articles which they themselves could spare. The bay abounds with fish and fowl, and whales are so plentiful that the Americans often remain there three or four months. The climate is healthy, and the soil though sandy could be rendered in some degree productive. There appears therefore no obstacle to its becoming either a settlement or a mission-station. The exhausted state of his equipment rendered it im- possible to think of proceeding farther northward ; but Sir James, anxious to do as much as possible, determmed to travel towards the east, and survey the country of the Hill Damaras, a people hitherto almost unknown. On entering it, there appeared ranges of broken ground, with single mountains rising in grotesque, peaked, and serrated forms. He came afterwards to a succession of ridges and valleys, clothed with fine grass, and interspersed with dwarf trees and bushes. The first villages he saw Avere deserted, drought and famine having, it was said, driven the natives from their habitations. By and by, he came to one still occupied, where he met a friendly re- ception. These people have completely the Negro form, colour, and features ; they live very rudely, without grain, cattle, or even dogs trained for hunting ; yet from SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 335 the abundance of game, they are numerous, dwelling in chap, xvir, detached villages under head men, but without any jjogtrnMes general chief. The Damaras of the plain are a greater between the people, possessing ample herds ; and their hill neigh- theTSuTand bours, imagining these can be got out of a cave when- plain. ever wanted, infer that there can be no harm in taking a few of them. Hence constant hostility reigns between the two races, who do not understand each other's speech, and hold no intercourse but by conflict and plunder. A traveller, therefore, wishing to penetrate among the tribes of the plain, should enter from the seacoast, and by no means come down upon them from the high country. Farther eastward he came to Niais, a village Reception at containing 1200 Namanuas and Hill Damaras, living under a brave chief of the former tribe, w^ho had wrested this fine territory from the people of the plain. Here Sir James was well received, and found himself in the midst of abundance, milk being brought to him morning and evening. He w^as now very desirous of making his way eastward across Africa to the Indian Ocean, but was assured that an impassable desert intervened, so that even to reach Lattakoo it was necessary to make a cu-cuit by the Orange river. He had therefore no option but to turn his face towards the Cape. He proceeded some days through the same fine valley. Fertility of which, being populous and abounding in supplies, ap- ^^^^lon. peared well calculated for a missionary station. They came then upon " veritable Namaqua land, with patches of sand, quartz, dry white grass, and bushes." Crossing the Fish River, ^vhich appeared entitled to its name, he soon after arrived among plains of vast extent, desolate and silent as the grave. Having next to cross the Un- climate of uma or Bulb Mountains, his people experienced a most j^g^^^jlfj^^ striking change of climate, being unable to sleep for cold, their clothes stiff wdth hoar-frost, and their benumbed hands scarcely able to load the bullocks. On descend- ing to the low ground, he struck into his old track, and liad the satisfaction of recovering the wagon, which one of the party had contrived to bring to this spot. He arrived at the Cape on the 21st September 1837. 336 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. Eastern coat-t of Africa. CHAP. XVIL We possess a very limited knowledge respecting the eastern coast of Africa, washed by the Indian Ocean, — a region long visited only by the Portuguese, who con- tinued to throw a veil of mystery over all their discove- ries. In 1498, when Vasco de Gama had rounded the Cape of Good Hope, he touched at Mozambique, Mom- baza, and Melinda, where he found the ruling people Arabs and bigoted jSlohammedans. His object was merely to obtain pilots to guide his fleet to Hindostan ; but at the two former ports he met an inhospitable and treacherous reception ; while, on the other hand, he experienced at Melinda the utmost courtesy, and readily found the means of continuing his voyage to the coast of Malabar. Cabral, who followed in the footsteps of Gama, likewise visited Q,uiloa, which he describes as the capital of an extensive kingdom, and the seat of a flourishing trade ; but it was not till he, too, readied Melinda that he could obtain any friendly assistance. The Portuguese, engrossed for some time with the more brilliant objects presented by the shores of India, sought only in African ports refreshment and pilots, and made no attempt at conquest ; but as their empire extended, resentment or ambition furnished motives for successively attacking those settlements. In 1505, Almeyda, in-itated by the reception given to him at Quiloa and Mombaza, landed and took possession of Settlement at both these cities. In 1508, permission was obtained to erect a fort at Mozambique, by means of which his countr^anen soon expelled the Arabs, and became com- plete masters of the town. Attracted by its vicinity to the gold mines, and its convenience as a place for refit- ting their fleets, they made it the capital of their pos- sessions in Eastern Africa. Melinda also, which had long been friendly to Europeans, at last refused any longer to endure their insulting spirit ; a quarrel arose, and that city was added to the dominion of the foreigners. They were now masters of the principal positions in a range of coast fully 2000 miles in length, though with- out extending their sway to any distance into the interior. Views of the early Portu- guese voyagers. ilozambique. SOUTIIERX AND EASTERN AFRICA. 337 About 1569, the Portuguese made two vigorous at- ciiAP. x\il tempts, under Nunez Barreto and Vasco Fernandez, to Ambitious advance into the country behind Mozambique, chiefly pvojects of with the view of reaching the gold mines, the produce giese?^ "" of which was brought in considerable quantities down the Zambezi to Sofala. They penetrated a considerable way up the river, on the banks of which they erected the forts of Sena and Tete. Its upper course was over- hung by steep and precipitous rocks belonging to the mountainous range of Lupata, which here crosses its channel. At length they arrived at Zimbao, the capital The gold of Motapa, and even at the mines of iVIanica ; but, in- JJ-'Ma^nJca. stead of the expected abundance of the precious metal, they found that, as m other parts of Africa, it was labo- riously extracted in small quantities from the extrane- ous substances in which it is embedded. On this expe- dition they frequently encountered the natives, who were always beaten ; but they were so harassed by long marches and scarcity of provisions, that they returned in a very exhausted state, without establishing any per- manent dominion over that vast region. As the energy of the Portuguese government declined, Expnlsion of its sway over these colonies was reduced within limits g^^ese?^^"' which always became narrower ; and in 1631, the people of Mombaza rose, massacred the settlers, and re- establish- ed their independence. They have been successively deprived of all their possessions northwards of Mozam- bique. That city, which was visited by Mr Salt in 1809, and Captain Owen in 1823, during his survey of the eastern coast of Africa, is represented as much decayed, though still containing many lofty and well built houses. The harbour is safe, formed by three coral islands, on one of which the town itself stands. It is defended by Garrison of a large quadrangular fort, mounting eighty cannon and Mozambiqua garrisoned by 200 negro soldiers, which, if the guns were well served, Avould effectually command the en- trance, the situation being judiciously chosen. The governor, having a very small salary, is obliged to add to his income by merchandise ; yet he contrives to main- 338 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVII Pomp of the viceroy. Commerce of Qiiilli- mane. Esploratorj party to Zambezi. Portuguese station at Cliapongo. tain in his establishment a portion of that pomp which once distinguished the viceroys of Eastern Africa. The entertainment of tea, whicli is open every evening to ail the respectable inhabitants, is set out in a service of pure gold, and the negroes in attendance are loaded with ornaments of that metal. The commerce consists only of slaves, with a little ivory and gold. QuiUimane, at the mouth of the Zambezi, is now a greater mart for the first article, and is visited annually by about a dozen vessels from Rio Janeiro, which return with 400 or 500 captives each. It contains 2800 inhabitants, chiefly in the condition of bondmen. Inhamban, in a more salu- brious site, carries on the same trade on a smaller scale ; but Sofala, notwithstanding its great name, exhibits now orJy a miserable fort, protecting a few mud-huts. In 1824, a party comiected Avith Captain Owen's ex- pedition, consisting of Lieutenant Browne, Mr Forbes, and Mr Kilpatrick assistant-surgeon, with two black- servants, undertook to ascend and explore the Zambezi. After proceeding eight miles, they emerged from tlie mangrove swamps, and sailed amid groves of cocoa-nut and orange trees : and having accomplished about forty- seven miles, though only thu'ty-two in direct distance, they became involved in an archipelago of islets, the channels between which were so shallow, that they were obliged to travel some space by laud, and then re-embark. AtChapongo they found a Portuguese station, commanded by a lady named Donna Pascoa d'Almeyda, who had no troops except a small negro militia, who submitted to her authority. She lived, however, in great pomp, and gave the strangers a cordial welcome. In ascending they saw a country tolerably well cultivated, but tame and uninteresting, till, in approaching Sena, they beheld the bold and picturesque outline of the mountains of Yemale. Before arriving, however, they had tlie atflic- tion to lose Mr Forbes, a young man of great promise, who fell a victim to the climate. At Sena they had the satisfaction of again meeting their Chapongo hostess. This place i3 the capital of a Portuguese territory, estimated SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. 339 to contain 3600 leagues, fertile and abounding in various ciiap. xviL resources, but the people being destitute of industry and jq^^^ ^^ enterprise, it is neglected and ill cultivated. Those of enterprise at Tete, about sixty leagues higher, were reported to be ^^^'^' ■ much more active, cultivating wheat, vegetables, sugar, coffee, and rice ; while its situation, on the side of a mountain, was very salubrious. The commandant re- ceived them coldly, and the priest sought only to obtain money from them. This treatment aggravated their exhaustion of body and mind, under which Mr Browne, ^^^^ ^^ after having nearly lost his faculties, finally sunk. Ivilpa- Brown and trick then became reckless and desponding, and, seeking ^'P^t^^ck. relief in the use of spirits, soon shared the fate of his two companions. There remained of the unfortunate expe- dition only the two black servants, from whom Donna Pascoa endeavoured to extract the little money they had ; but they steadUy resisted, and having with diffi- culty effected their escape, after many perils reached Quillimane. Captain Owen, in his farther survey of this coast, in^;pations was every where struck with the remains of former of foi-mer wealth and civilisation, strongly contrasted with its pre- civiiizatiori sent poverty and barbarism. The Arabs, who once made it the seat of an active trade, are closely pressed by the Galla and other barbarous tribes, who have become masters of the whole of the interior, and leave to them little more than the islands on which their cities are built. On the sea-side, they can scarcely escape sub- jection to the Imam of Muscat, whose mild and protect- Tiie Tmam oi ing government, indeed, is perhaps the best they can ^luscat. expect. The centre of his power is in the insular terri- tory of Zanzibar, which he has rendered the most flour- ishing spot and chief emporium of this part of the con- tinent. Dr Ruschenberger states it to contain 150,000 inhabitants, and to yield a revenue of 110,000 dollars. According to M. Albrand, the great body of the people are Moors, whom he has completely reconciled to his go- vernment. The trade is carried on by about 200 Banians ; and there are 15,000 slaves, who are very mildly treated. 340 SOUTHERN AND EASTERN AFRICA. CHAP. XVII, Objects (if cultivation at Zanzibar. Application for Eiiglisli protection. Capture of Fatta. Trade of Lamoo and ilagadoxo. The sugar-cane, clove, and nutmeg trees, have been intrc- duced, but as yet with doubtful success. On the opposite coast, this prince holds control over a miserable village, scarce visited or known, which occupies the site of the once-famed emporium of Quiloa. There are still some in- teresting remains of the walls bosomed in trees, and the harbour is extremely fine. jNIombaza, on a small island surrounded by coral reefs, has a still more perfect har- bour, and its fort, though dilapidated, might be rendered impregnable. It now defends itself with difficulty against the imam, whose fleet Captain Owen found closely blockading it. ,The citizens had hoisted the English flag, and earnestly solicited permission to place them- selves under its protection. He promised to transmit their application, and prevailed upon the commander of the besieging force to withdraw ; but he had the mortifi- cation to learn, that as soon as the danger was past, all their inclination for British sovereignty vanished, and they showed little disposition to fulfil their engagements. Patta, farther to the north, was attacked in 1817 by the imam, and captured after a brave resistance. Though fallen from its former importance, it still has an active traffic carried on by means of those long boats called dows. The Portuguese castle remains, though now in a very ruinous condition. Much of the trade has been trans- ferred to Lamoo, a larger town, contaming 5000 inhabit- ants, and defended by a modem fort. Mukdeesha, called often Magadoxo, is also a place of some importance, and mistress of a considerable territory. Being built of stone, and adorned with four minarets, it makes an imposing appearance from the sea; but the interior, as elsewhere, is composed only of thatched huts. This place appears still to hold out against the Arab chief. Melinda (or Maleenda) is now entirely possessed by the Galla, through dread of whom no one dares to approach its coast. EXPLORATIONS IN THE WEST. »341 CHAPTER XVm. Boat and Steam-SJiip Explorations in the West. Despatch of the Ethiope to explore the Niger — Ascent of the Formosa — Visit to Benin — Ascent of the "Waree and the Niger to a point above Bajiebo — Examination of the Old Calabar River — Ascent of the Cross River — Discovery in the Eboe Country — Government Expedition to the Niger — Exploration of the Came- roons River — Examination of tne Bay of Amboises. Notwithstanding the failure of Mr. Laird's expedition, chap, xviil the Niger still seemed likely to offer a ready navigable inlet to extensive intercourse with the interior of central Africa. But the pestiferous swamps athwart its delta were a fearful hindrance, perhaps an absolute barrier. Could not some channel be found which might avoid Continued them ? Might not the Formosa River, or some other ihS^e? stream or estuary on the extreme wing of the delta, away from the thickest of the noxious exhalations, afford a safe and easy approach to the main body of the Niger? These were the thoughts of most persons who kept a keen eye on the geography of Africa, or felt a special interest in its civilization and trade. No man cherished them more warmly than Robert Jamieson, Esq., of Liver- pool. That gentleman staked great interests in the west of Africa, and determined to try, at his own cost, whe- ther the navigation of the Niger might not be trium- phantly attempted. In 1839 he built and despatched a Despatcli of steam vessel, of thirty horse-power, to explore the For- *^® Etiuopc mosa, or any other channel which might seem most promising, and to attempt to establish commercial re- X 342 BOAT AND STEAM-SHIP CHAP. xvni. lations with the interior. She was called the Ethiope, and put under the command of Mr. Becroft. Her crew comprised fifteen Europeans, and a corresponding num- ber of kroomen. And she had interpreters on board, one of whom, of the name of Mina, had accompanied Clapperton and Lander. Ascent of the The Ethiope entered the Formosa in April 1840. She ionnosa. ascended the river about forty miles, to a point where it forked into two branches ; and she then ascended one of these from forty to fifty miles, and the other from sixty to seventy miles. The main stream was winding, bold, and beautiful, and had commonly a depth of from three to six fathoms ; and the branches were much narrower and extremely tortuous, and had nowliere, in the vessel's course, a depth of less than three fathoms* They could not be farther ascended, not at all on account of shallowness, but solely in consequence of a rank sti'ong aquatic vegetation, which spread in meshes across their current, and which could not have been penetrated by any process short of tedious and laborious cutting. Mr. Becroft felt small inducement to attempt this; for he already concluded, from the crystal limpidness of the water of both branches, as compared with the turbid- ness of the Kiger, which he had navigated some years before, that the Formosa is an entirely independent river, and probably rises in the high lands north-west of the Niger's basin. Extensive plains were seen stretch- ing away from the farthest point reached; but they did not show any appearances of cultivation or inhabitants. The Sooba The natives lower down call this district the Sooba country. country, and say that it forms part of the kingdom of Benin. The banks of both branches of the river were beautifully wooded. We may state, though in the way of digression, that two years before the period of the Ethiope's exploration, when Mr. Jamieson's schooner, the Waree, was Ij'ing in the mouth of the Formosa, two of the officers of that vessel, Messrs. ]\Ioffat and Saiith, made some examina- EXPLORATIONS IN THE WEST. 343 tion of the north side of the Formosa's basin onward to CHAP, xvin the city of Benin. Their immediate object was to open a trade with the village of Gato, and to obtain a sanction for this from the king of the country. They were paddled TriptoBeniu. by kroomen, in the schooner's galley, from fifteen to twenty miles up the Formosa, to the Gato creek ; they then ascended the creek about the same distance to the village ; and they then were carried in their cots, about twenty miles, in a north-easterly direction, through a finely wooded, and in some places very beautiful counti-y, to the city. They were not long there till they got horrific evidence of the savage condition of the inhabi- tants. In one place, a heap of human skulls-marred the thoroughfare, and glittered in the sunshine ; in another, two corpses were exposed in a sitting posture on the roof of a hut; in a third and adjacent one lay, like carrion, fed upon by turkey-buzzards, the headless bodies of men who had been recently put to death ; and in a fourth was an open pit, emitting a sickening putrid stench, and evidently serving as a barbarous substitute for a ceme- try. The king treated Messrs. Moffat and 8mith with an affectation of prodigious personal dignity, and im- mense commercial consequence, but at last came to The court oi I'eason in the vulgar manner of a higgling traflBcker. ^""^ Mr. Smith's watch was much adm.ired by the courtiers ; a pocket-compass, which he carried, was regarded with astonishment and fear, on account of its always pointing to the white man's country ; and a rocket fired at night, in the presence of a crowd of spectators, drew from them noisy and delighted applause of the Europeans. Mr. Becroft and his party in the Ethiope returned to the anchorage at the mouth of the Formosa, only eleven days after they had left it. Relinquishing all hope that com- merce could ever be pushed far into the interior of Africa by that channel, they resolved to try whether a good entrance to the Niger might be found by what is called the AVaree branch. A considerable offset, called the Young Town Creek, leaves the Formosa at some distance *M^;^^/... 344 BOAT AND STEAM-SHIP CHAP. XVIIL above its mouth, and flows to the south; and this con- veyed them into the Waree. They were now within the limits of the delta ; and they found the navigation in- tricate, and soon began to suffer the effects of the jjesti- Ascent of the lential air. They spent a fortniglit in reaching the Niger ■ at tlie point whence the Xun branch goes off, a short way below the town of Eboe ; and in their progress thither, they passed three openings to the sea, which they pre- sumed to be the rivers Escravos, Forcados, and Ramos. Sickness more or less attacked all the European portion of the crew^ ; and it afterwards remained with them, in various violence, during all the time they were in the Niger, and eventually carried off one of the officers, two seamen, and two boys. The explorers left Eboe on the 20th of May ; but, in consequence of the periodical rise of the waters not having fully set in, and of its possessing less than the usual volume, they did not reach Rabba till the 25th of August. Notwithstanding every precaution to avoid shallows, the vessel was constantly taking the ground, and often she could not be got off again without much labour and loss of time, more particularly as the Euro- pean part of the crew continued unable to make any exertion. Ascent of the Qn the 7th of September thev left Rabba, in the hope ^lge^abov•tt /.-r» I'^p i- ■, Rabba. of ascending as far as Boussa before the river ceased to rise ; and they soon passed the long low island which Lander calls a sort of miniature of Holland in the heart of Africa, and then enjoyed the luxur}"- of steaming along the base of the Kesa range of mountains. Next day they struggled up narrow channels among rocky islets, which vexed the waters, and made the currents strong — some of the islets looking picturesque and romantic, and all the surrounding landscape very beautiful. On the 9th they passed the town of Kalimah, and further on the village of Agoghie, and toward evening the village of Buckoe ; and all the way they had to keep a sharp out- look for rocks, some of which rose up as ledges and EXPLORATIONS IN THE WEST. 345 islets, while many either barely showed themselves CHAP, xviii above water, or lay quite sunk, and were revealed only by eddies. On the 10th the party lay off Leechee. This had appeared to Lander a considerable town ; but it was now a wretched place, with not more than about 300 inhabitants, and seemingly much oppressed by the Fel- latas ; yet it had begun to make acquaintance with one of the worst evils of the great cities of the civilized world — a passion for ardent spirits. At the villages of Difficulties of Buzzanghie and Tykboo, which were passed on the 11th, "^^^sation the river rioted between very rocky banks, and was con- tracted to a width of only about 300 yards, but with so small increase of depth as to have soundings of not more than five or six fathoms. Further up, and above the town of Bajiebo, it was squeezed between flanks of rock into a central channel of about fifty yards in width, and rolled on so tumultuously that the steamer could only just go a-head, and was very ticklish to steer. There was no safe anchorage ; and the sounding leads would not work. The vessel strained and struggled, and did not get up without well-sustained and persevering effort. But very soon she arrived at another gorge of exactly the same kind, but worse, — the width only about thirty yards, and the current almost like a torrent. With all steam up, and full power of engine, she here could barely hold her own, or keep her stem right forward ; and had she been caught on either bow by the current, she could not have recovered herself, but would have been swept away like a chip of wood. Mr. Becroft now concluded that further progress was Arrestment impracticable. To have attempted to cast anchor and ^ ^ " wait for more favourable circumstances in such a place and at such a time, would have been folly. The ground was so foul, and the current so impetuous, that the an- chor would have been lost ; and the periodical rising of the river was still so steadily increasing, and had so long a period to continue, that delay would have been ruin. M)-. Becroft judged that, if things had been a little more 346 BOAT AND STEAMSHIP Traffic at Bajiebo aud Kabba. CHAP. XVIII. favourable, he could have readied Lever from the spot at which he then was in two hours, but that he could not have ascended to Boussa and Yaoux in less than a month, and that only by taking advantage of the eddies. His clear duty was to return, and he therefore set about the most heroic part of a hero's conduct, — commenced a judicious retreat. The steamer, on her way down, cast anchor at Bajiebo. The people from that town went alongside in canoes, and were allowed to go on board in small parties to in- dulge their curiosity to see the "white man" and his " fire-ship." They also fetched yams and lire-wood for sale ; but with the exception of a little ivory, they had no produce to barter for merchandise. At Rabba, which Lander had found to be the largest town in the Fellata dominions, except Sackatoo, and which was now the seat of a court, and the greatest city on the lower Niger, the explorers were well received and entertained, and had frequent interviews wuth the king. They sought only to drive a trade, but were treated rather as princes than as merchants. Their " fire-ship " and the fame of Eng- land were as grand things in the estimation of both the monarch and the multitude as an African kingdom. All classes crowded the beach to look at them ; the king exchanged presents with them, and returned their salute- shots with the noisiest public demonstrations of joy ; and when they were about to depart, he became so suppliant as to express a wish that, besides a number of brass can- non to protect his town, Mr, Becroft would bring for him, on his next visit to Ral)ba, two sofa beds and a large trunk. The ex})lorers called at all the other principal places on the river for trade, both in going up and in returning ; and they everywhere experienced entire friendliness on the part of at once kings, chiefs, and people. The Ethiope returned through the delta by the way she went, and arrived on the 30th of October at the mouth of the Formosa river. All the country which Traffic at other places. EXPLORATIONS IN THE WEST. 347 she traversed, from the apex of the delta upwavd, is CHAP, xvill. described by her officers as beautiful, fertile, and plea- sant. The natives, though possessing few suitable ar- Facilities for tides to give in exchange for European commodities. ^?°^^.^^'^? °" were desirous to trade. Indigo, well prepared and of good quality, was found for sale, in small quantity, in the market-place of Rabba ; cotton was spun and woven at several towns; and both these articles, and other tropical productions, would no doubt be raised in great abundance for exportation if a steady demand for them were once made. But not a trace of anything was dis- covered by the Ethiope to evade or mitigate the terrible evils of the delta's pestilential swamps. These now Hindrances seemed certainly to debar all attempts at commerce ex- ^"** cept such as might be made by means of steam vessels, manned entirely by native Africans, under the direction of European officers and engineers well inured to the climate. But any steam-vessel of sufficiently light draught of water to be suitable for river navigation, would not be strong enough to bear the buffeting of sea- billows, and make safe voyages to Europe ; the employ- ment of steam-vessels of any kind in such a region as that of the Niger would be expensive; the repairing of loss from accidents to engineers and machinery would be difficult and impossible; and, even if all these difficulties could be overcome, the river itself was now well ascertained to be navigable during only the few months of its being in flood. Thus the results of the Resnitsoftha Ethiope's exploration appeared utterly to damp the piorSu.^^* warm hopes which had been entertained of opening a great commercial intercourse with interior Africa by the Niger. Mr. Becroft was instructed to remain some months longer in Africa with the Ethiope, and to ascend the Old Calabar and the Cross rivers at the time of their periodical rise. These streams enter the ocean adjacent to the south wing of the Niger's delta, as the Formosa does adjacent to the north one; and as they had never 348 BOAT AND STEAM- SHIP CHAP. XVIil. yet been explored farther than a few miles from their embouchure, they miuht possibly be found to lead the way to the interior Niger. They had, at all events, Importance been long and intimately known as a grand outlet of CaiaL^and palm-oil, and other tropical productions, to the trading Cross Rivers, vessels of the coast; and they seemed certainly to flow from rich regions, and could scarcely fail to present scenes and resources well worthy of exploration. Mr. Becroft was detained by untoward circumstances, in his trading about the mouths of the Niger, from pro- ceeding to the Old Calabar at a duly early period in the season; and when he did proceed, he was arrested on his way by news of the disastrous state of a great govern- ment expedition which was then in the Niger, and turned aside to assist one of its ships out of the delta, and on to Fernando Po. He did not cast anchor oft Duke Town, in the Old Calabar, till so late as the 23d of October, and then the flood-season of the river was far advanced. But he made prompt use of his time, and laid vigorous hold of the best opportunities which offered for prosecuting the objects of his visit. Having secured the good-will of the chiefs of Duke Town and Creek Town — both of whom affected the style of sovereigns — the former so magniloquenth' as to call Ascent of the himself " Evamba, king for all black man" — Mr. Becroft set sail on the 25th. The scenery from the very first, and everywhere, was charming and diversified. The river swept on in folds and reaches ; the banks and flanks had a curving contour, and alternated in grove and glade; and the vales and slopes were now gaily ar- rayed in cultivated plantations, and now picturesquely feathered with wild palms. Calabashes were seen sus- pended near the tops of many of the cabbage trees, to collect the minniefot, or palm-wine, which exudes from wounds inflicted on the upper part of the stems. At respectively about five miles and eight miles from Duke Town, the Ethiope reached the towns of Little Guinea Company and Big Guinea Company. These EXPLORATIONS IN THE WEST. 349 places are a kind of memorial of the infamy which long CHAP, xvni attached to British trade on the west coast of Africa ; for they got their fantastic name from early British slavers. The former is a single town, with probably about one thousand inhabitants ; and the latter is a Towns of group of six towns, each having its own chief, and all pany!^^^°'"' having a population of probably about five thousand. Mr. Becroft and his officers made them a visit, " anxious to see what towns with so imposing a name were like ;" but they found them squalid and miserable, and much inferior to Duke Town. Tbe inhabitants crowded out to look at the strangers, and displayed no little astonish- ment and interest ; and the chiefs behaved variously, yet, on the whole, were friendly, — and one of them, " on hospitable thoughts intent," fetched out minniefot and Hollands, and, according to the custom of the district, partook first of the drink himself, by way of " taking the doctor off it." Mr. Becroft took the steamer about eight miles farther than Big Guinea Company, and passed seve- ral other seats of population, and observed the scenery to be still luxuriant and lovely ; but now he found the river suddenly diminishing to a mere creek, and of no consequence whatever beyond the influence of the tide ; and he made the best of his way back to Duke Town, and arrived there on the 27th, The Old Calabar River and the Cross River form a Connection confluence about five miles below Duke Town ; and they cakbar^and are connected by a creek which is overlooked at its top- Cross Rivers, most bend by Creek Town, and which isolates a tract of about twenty or twenty-five square miles above their confluence. Kow that the Old Calabar River bad turned out to be of small extent, tbe Cross River might pro- bably prove of correspondingly greater consequence, — to be, in fact, the grand channel by which the merchan- dise of this part of Africa had found its way to the coast. But the chiefs of Duke Town and Creek Town were not quite willing to have it explored, and tried to deter Mr. Becroft by statements about the lowness of the water, 350 BOAT AND STEAM- SHIP Town. CHAP. xvm. and about probable danger from inland tribes. Tlicy were small '' kings," — not much different, in extent of jurisdiction, and in causes of jealousy, from the reguli Tiie kings of of ancient Europe, and the village chiefs of ancient Asia; an?Creek^ ^^^ ^^^7 ^^'^^ Vastly better reason than the monarchs of the large kingdoms of interior Africa to apprehend that any great communication through their own states to adjacent ones, especially by such powerful means as Mr. Becroft's expedition, might prove unfavourable or even perilous to their authority. They had also in their hands the management of all the trade of the district with European vessels, and may well be supposed to have felt little relish for the possible effects which explora- tion might produce upon their revenue. Yet, with a liberality which might teach a magnificent lesson to the statesmen of the greatest empires, they not only waived their objections, when they found Mr. Becroft resolute, but lent him their utmost aid. In a grand palaver of the two chiefs and their principal counsellors, it was resolved to lend him King Eyamba's state-canoe, with its crew of pull-away-boys. He had asked this on find- ing that the periodical floods had already fallen too low to make it safe that season to take the steamer up the Cross River; and he probably felt as much surprise as gratification at the granting of his bold request. He made the canoe as comfortable as he could, armed her, took on board of her his interpreter, his leadsman, and some of his own kroomen, and left the Ethiope to lie off Duke Town till his return. He started on the 4th of November, and was convoyed a short way bj' Eyamba. The Cross River was found, for a distance of about twenty-three miles, to form a narrow delta. The explorers went up what seemed the main chan- nel. This proved an expansive sheet of water, varying in width from 250 yards to one mile and a half, but often exceedingly shallow, and profusely intersected by man- grove islands, of beautiful outline, and most picturesque ai'pearance. In one lovely reach of about three miles Exploration of the Cross Kiver. EXPLORATIONS IN THE WEST. 351 in length, the waters were haunted by hippopotami, the CHAP, xviil. flanking slopes were patched with field-cultuve, and the left bank was overhung by luxuriant woodland. At the apex of the delta, the main stream appeared to be from 1000 to 1500 yards wide, and divided into three chan- nels. About nine miles onward was the miserable vil- The village lage of Biabboo, belonging to Eyamba of Duke Town, ° '^ ^°" and inhabited principally by old women, most of whom had been banished from Old Calabar for the crime of bearing twins, — having " two piccaninni one time." Above this occurred a gorgeous reach, split into three channels by richly wooded islands, and all over brilliant with tropical shrubs and flowers. Farther on was the town of Etoo, whose inhabitants bore a cut-throat cha- racter, and had often plundered the Calabar canoes on their way to market, and who — true to an old proverb of many lands, which says, that evil doers are evil dread- ers — would not let the explorers land, lest they should miraculously smite them with small-pox! On the 7th, several miles above Etoo, and after the party had passed a small creek leading to the Innieong country, they were surprised to see a large canoe coming The king of up the river, with native flags and music, and with two innieong. men at the bow keeping up a constant fire of musketry. On its approaching, the principal person in it announced himself to be the " King of Innieong come to see white man," whom he heard " lived for water ;" and on get- ting alongside, "his majesty" offered presents, and ex- pressed himself delighted, — saying that he had " never seen white man before," and that his " heart was glad now he look him." The river still was charming. The banks were flanked at intervals with fields of yams, cocoas, and maize; and the country behind them w^as plentifully and beautifully wooded. Several canoes were xative fish- seen engaged in fishing, by means of ingeniously-con- ^^y* trived baskets, fixed with stakes in the shallower parts of the stream. A small town was passed ; and then appeared a remarkable sandstone cliff, forming tlie 352 BOAT AND STEAM- SHIP Tlie town of Omun. CHAP. XVIII. abutment of a hill, and held sacred by the surrounding population. On the 8th, the party reached the town of Omun. They had received savage accounts of this from Eyamba at Duke Town ; and they approached it with caution, sending a message beforehand to apprise the chief of their coming. They landed amid a crowd of wondering starers, passed along a few narrow windings, and found themselves in front of a ruinous hut, with a pile of human skulls at the entrance, — the craniums coloured with red and yellow ochres, and the eye-sockets plugged with clay. This was the palace of the chief. They passed through a small court crowded with women, and stooped under a low doorway into a dark, narrow, semi- circular apartment, and were then in the royal presence. The chief was a stout, heavy, elderly man, and received them with perfect nonchalance, yet gave them substan- tial tokens of a welcome. His courtiers, on whom they afterwards waited at their own homes, overwhelmed them with kindness. An entertainment with dancing and rude music was given in the evening; and when the strangers took their leave to return to the canoe, they were lighted to the beach with torches, preceded by songsters singing the white men's praises. The town stands on the upper end of a large island, and appeared to contain about 5000 inhabitants. The people resemble those of Old Calabar, and dress in a similar way, but speak a considerably different dialect, and have few or none of the European articles of finery with which all African grandees, who can get them, love to improve their costume But all children, and the younger boys and girls, go quite naked. The explorers found the seasonal river flood rapidly falling at Omun, and already become very low; and they resolved to turn there, and make all speed back to Duke Town. But in the course of the following year they received instructions from Mr. Jamieson to resume their explorations ; and on the 10th of September, 1842, Jlanners of the Omun people. EXPLORATIONS IN THE WEST. 353 they were again at Oniun, — not with a canoe, however, chap. xvni. but with the Ethiope. Their friends there were de- lighted to see them once more, but looked very scowl- ingly on the conveyance by which they had come, and did not hesitate to express a suspicion that the propel- Thoughts ling power of the steamer was an evil spirit, or " the sj^eamerl'^ devil." They could not be induced to venture on board till they had seen some native traders fi-om Old Calabar going on to the deck and returning unhurt ; but when they did venture, and began to get rid of fear, they viewed every thing about the ship with the utmost wonder and admiration. A display of fij*e-rockets was made at night to give them pleasure ; but it friglitened them, and had to be suddenly stopped. On the 13th, the Ethiope weighed anchor, to proceed up the river. One of the Omun grandees, of the name of Anna, went with her, professedly from motives of friendship to the expedition, but secretlj' to induce Mr. Becroft to attempt the adjustment of a state quarrel between Omun and a neighbouring "kingdom." The party soon reached a village called Innoo-coboh, be- longing to Anna, and inhabited principally^ by slaves who worked upon his plantation. Several Eboes were there on a visit from a country of their own on the west side of the river ; but the}' had a widely different cha- racter, and spoke an entirely different dialect, from the Eboes on the Niger. About twenty-five miles above Omun, the Ethiope ar- The town of rived at the large town of Acoono-Coono. The inhabitants ^^oo^^o- were greatly alarmed, and crowded on the bank, seeming- ly determined to give battle. Mr. Becroft and his surgeon landed unarmed, carrying a few presents as tokens of peace, but were received with prodigious clamour, and had much difficulty in pressing their way to the centre of authority. They were conducted through a doorway up a narrow street into the palaver house, and were there confronted by a little old decrepid kingkin, and surrounded almost to suffocation by an excited crowd of 354 BOAT AND STEAM-SHIP Tlie trade < Acoono- Coouo. CHAP, xvill. " nobles" and spectators. They pointed to their own unarmed state, and expressed a hope that their show of friendly confidence would be reciprocated ; and imme- diately muskets and cutlasses disappeared. They then said they had come from a far away country to inquire what things Acoono-Coono could trade in, and were answered, — " Fowl, goat, yam, bullock, slave, and every thing." They afterwards learned that a small exchange trade of palm-oil for tobacco and European goods was conducted, through the medium of the Eboes, with New Calabar and Bonny, at the mouths of the Niger. Acoono- Coono was the state with which Omun was at feud, and it had been intercepted, by that feud, from trading The scenerj- above Acoono- Coono. voyage, Mr. Becroft had the happiness of evincing the high power of civilization, by peacefully and peremp- torily bringing that feud to an end. The town extends like a crescent about three-quarters of a mile along the left bank of the river, but consists of miserable houses, and has only about four thousand inhabitants. The people are finer looking than those of Omun, wuth less of the negro grossness of feature, and resemble the natives of the valley of the Niger between Rabba and Iddah. Both sexes wear a piece of cloth round the middle, and sfi-ings of beads round the neck, wrists, and ankles ; and many of the females wear bracelets and anklets of cowries, and dress their hair into a remark- able seiies of knots. The banks of the river above Acoono-Coono con- tinued to be beautiful and diversified in both form and vegetation. At first, stretches of meadow alternated with knolls and hills and escarpments, all arrayed in grass and coppice, and crowned with bombax and fan- palm ; farther on, an undulated low tableau expanded on one side, while rocky tabular hills, with precipitous faces, extended awaj-^ on the other, — both richly clothed with brushwood, bananas, and cocoa-trees ; and farther Still, a comparatively low, level, and thickly wooded EXPLORxVTIONS IN THE WEST. 355 country receded, in waving floods of tropical verdure, to CHAP. XVIIt a distant horizon of the softest beauty. Many towns and villages were passed, but not visited. The inhabi- Numerous ° 11111. 1 towns and tants of the hrst two rushed to the banks in terror, and villages. brandished weapons of defence. Those of the next ran out from among a grove of palms, and gazed at the steamer without the slightest symptom of apprehension. Those of some villages among the hills climbed to the heights to see the passing wonder, and also seemed per- fectly free from fear. Those of three towns situated closely together on the bank, stood wedged along the beach, for the most part in arms. In one place, just as the steamer was approaching the mouth of a tributary stream, there darted thence into the river a large canoe, gaily dis- playing native flags of various colours, and seemingly belonging to some chief or grandee. The pull-away- boys instantl}' dropped their paddles, and changed their paddle-song into an exclamation of astonishment ; and on the steamer getting nearer them, they pulled rapidly to the bank, leaped almost in a body on the shore, rushed headlong among the brushwood, and left the canoe to proceed uncared-for down the current. At a bend of the river, on the 16th, a range of moun- tains burst into view, directly ahead. The officers, on examining them through a glass, perceived them to be A ran^e of wooded to the summits ; and as they could just distin- guish some palms on a ridge to the eastward of a rounded peak of seemingly about 3000 feet high in the centre, they supposed them to be distant from fifteen to twenty miles. The banks were as luxuriant and lovely as ever, and continued to be profusely dotted with villages and small towns. Some of the inhabitants of one place went spontaneously in canoes to the steamer to offer articles for sale ; and the chief, at the same time, proved so confiding as to let his son go up the river with her, in the capacity of interpreter. On the 19th, a point was reached where the channel suddenly naiTowed, and was swept by an impetuous current, and became S56 BOAT AND STEAM-SHIP CHAP, xvill. soon and rapidly impracticable. The steamer tried to stem it, but got into a most perilous position, and did not, without great difficult}^, drop back to calmer water. A cataract. A party now manned and armed the long galley, and struggled, with prodigious effort, to ascend the rapids. They succeeded, and found the river above to expand gradually into fine proportions, and pushed onward, between curving and thickly-wooded banks, to the vici- nity of a town ; but were there fiercely fired at by the in- habitants, and compelled to retreat. A thought was enter- tained of making another attempt to go on, but the river- flood was discovered to be rapidly falling, and the thought was abandoned. The party now made all prudent haste back to Duke Town, and arrived there on the 2Sth. General view They thus spent, altogether, nineteen days in that year's Eiver. ^*^*^ expedition, and they traced the Cross River, including its great windings, altogether a distance of about 200 miles, and found its course over the upper half of that distance to be north-westerly and westerly, and over thu lower half to be southerly'. Not the least interesting circumstance about this fine stream is, that. In its long north-westerly reach, it flows within forty miles of the Niger's main affluent — the Tchadda. The district of Old Calabar, and the region around it, have recently become well known in Britain through The Scottish the medium of the Scottish Presbyterian Mission. This WisSon.^^'^° was established there in 1846, and aims at no less than eventually to shed civilization, education, and Chris- tianity up the Cross River, across to the Niger and the Tchadda, and on to the gorgeous regions of Central Africa. May it rapidly and gloriously prosper ! But we refer to it here only in connexion with the light it has thrown on the moral and physical condition of the country. An appalling instance occurred, in May 1847, of the African practice of making human sacrifices at the death of a monarch. Eyamba of Duke Town then died. He was but a trivial king, and both he and his courtiers had welcomed and patronised the missionaries. Yet at EXPLORATIONS IN THE WEST. 357 his death, thirty of his " queens," and probably about chap. XVIT seventy other persons, were immolated for his soul's re- pose. The "queens" were murdered, not in a mass, but one by one; and when each was devoted to slaughter, she received a message, " King calls you." She well Siiperstitions knew the fatal import of this ; and, instantly calling Duke Town, for her court-dress and her ornaments, she arrayed her- seli in the best, drank a large quantity of rum, followed the messenger to the outer yard, and was there stran- gled with a copper wire, or a piece of fine twisted cloth. Many of the meaner victims were slain like wild beasts in the woods, and others were seized, under night, in their houses, loaded with irons, and flung into the river. Perhaps the most startling circumstance in the whole tragedy — one, at all events, which flung a lurid glare of illustration upon the infernal tenacity with which a bloody superstition maintains its grip upon the savage heart — was, that some of the very actors in the scene, and the directors of it, viewed it with shame and horror. Toward the end of 1849, Mr. Waddell, the senior Old Calabar missionary, sent home from Bonny, at the mouth of one of the outlets of the Niger, an account of an interesting territorial discovery. Four ship-masters whom he met there had, three weeks before, made an excursion in their boats up the Bonny river, to find out the places in the Eboe country whence the Bonny traders obtained their supplies of palm-oil. They pro- ceeded onward, during two days, and went in a direc- Discovery in tion, not toward the Niger, but toward Old Calabar, and co^Jyf arrived at limpid streams, pure air, high cultivated grounds, and large clean towns. They spent a day and a night at the greatest trading-place, and saw there about two hundred canoes engaged in the work of com- merce. The natives everywhere welcomed them, and vied with one another to make them comfortable, and to win their fcxvour. No white men had ever been seen there before, and could the strangers have prolonged their stay, they were assured that the whole country Y 358 BOAT AND STEAM-SHIP CHAP. XVIII. would have flocked to see them. Thus is there at least one health}^, friendly, trafBc-loving district, accessible, by light craft, through only a wing of the pestiferous delta ; and that, together with communication by the upper reaches of the Cross River, may possibly, at no distant period, lead on to others. Tiie Govern- In 1841, the British Government sent an expedition HoT to^he^^' to the Niger. It comprised three steam-vessels, and Kiger. ^^s put under the command of Captain Henry Trotter. The vessels were constructed for the purpose, and had a light draught, and were called Wilberforce, Albert, and Soudan ; and they were accompanied by a transport. The main object of the expedition was to establish such friendly relations with the chiefs on the Niger as might promote general commerce, and lead to the extinction of the slave-trade. Instructions were given to take the steamers as far as practicable up the Niger and its tribu- tary streams, and afterwards to visit, in open boats, any countries which could be conveniently reached, and to send exploring parties overland in any direction which might be thought advisable. Much discovery, there- fore, was anticipated, particularly up the valley of the Tchadda. But, on this occasion, as on many a former one in the affairs of African geography, hope was hurled back, by disaster and death, trom the very threshold of the region which it sought to penetrate. The expedition sailed from Portsmouth on the 27th of April, 1841, but did not get fairly out to sea till the TlieXim 12th of May ; and they ariived off" the Nun mouth of ^ 11 -IT- -ii course 01 tlie he was the first after Bruce who described it ; and he Abai thermometrically estimated its elevation at 8,975 feet. He approximately ascertained the upper course of the Abai by reaching it at various points around Gojam and Damet ; and he discovered a second bridge over it, de- scribed by no previous traveller. During a long stay in the neighbourhood of Baso, in the hope of becoming able to penetrate thence to the south, he collected informa- tion respecting the region south of the Abai, whence he constructed a rough map, comprising nearly seventy thousand square miles of country. And in his way from Gojam to Massowa, he travelled by routes which had never before been trod by an European, and was enabled to make important corrections on previous maps. Captain Harris, now Sir W. C. Harris, arrived in Sir w. C. Shoa, in July 1841, and remained there till February ^^"■'^" 1843. His visit was political, and arose out of propo- sals of friendship made by the king of Shoa to the Go- vernment of India. He enjoyed high advantages of observation, and turned them to good account; and afterwards gave the fruits of them to the world in his well-known work, entitled "The Highlands of Ethi- opia." He made no such additions to our geographical knowledge as those of D'Abaddie, Beke, and some other previous travellers ; but he contributed rich information in the departments of manners, customs, religion, and statistics. His work, however, is written in a style of orientalism, which throws a false glare over dull scenes and dreary subjects. Numerous as are the recent travellers we have named, they by no means comprise the whole list. We might have noticed also Messrs. Ferret and Galinier, two offi- 400 EXPLORATIONS IN THE CHAP. XX. cers of engineers, who were employed by the French government to survey all Northern Abyssinia, from Hamazen to Gondar ; the priests of the Roman Catho- lic mission, who went into Abyssinia to attempt to nego- tiate it into union witli the See of Rome ; M. Linant, who, in 1827, ascended the White Nile as far as Al-leis ; M. Holroyd, who, in 1837, visited the capital of Kordofan, and travelled thence through the desert of Sakrah to the White Nile; M. Blondeel von Koelmbroeck, the Belgian Consul-general in Egypt, who traversed Abyssinia and Sennaar, from 1839 to 1842, in search of markets for other the manufactures of Belgium ; Mr. Bell, a young offi- AbjiS/'^ cer of the Indian navy, who almost fell a victim to exploration, and was for a long time believed to have died from excessive maltreatment near Lake Fzana, but nevertheless rallied, and started on a second explora- tory enterprise, in 1843; M. Even, a Frenchman, who went through Lasta into Shoa, in 1841, and was robbed in his way by the Prince of Waag; Mr. Inglish, who specially compared the volumes of the Blue Nile and the White Nile, and showed the latter to be the larger,- M. Russegger, who made a searching and astute exami- nation of the river-system of the Blue Nile, and gave the results in a German work of "Travels in Europe, Asia, and Africa ;" Mr. Charles Johnston, who went up to Shoa in 1841, returned thence in company with the mission of Sir W. C. Harris, and afterwards published two volumes of " Travels in Southern Abyssinia ;" M. Lafargue, who ascended the vallej' of the White Nile to a great height, in 1845 ; M. Castelli, who, in the same year, in company with a body of Egyptian troops, pene- trated a good Way up the river- system of the Godjeb ; The Church the Church Missionaries on the east coast of Africa, who in the east of settled there some time after their exclusion from Shoa, Africa. j^j^(j y^,Y\Q have recently made astounding conjectural addi- tions to the geography of the Nile's basin, bj' approaching its south-eastern buttress from without ; several parties, connected in some way or other with the Egyptian explo- BASIN OF THE UPPER ^'ILl- . 401 ration of the Upper Nile, who have given their sentiments chap. xx. separately to the world, — particularly JM. Werne, wlio has given interesting details of the scenery and botany of the White Nile, and of the character and customs of its inhabitants, up to the head of navigation ; and M. Jomard, who, in a pamphlet, entitled "Observations sur le Voj^age an Darfour," makes a kind of mental exploration of the unknown region of Central Afi-ica, visited by Browne in 1794, and arrives at a firm opinion, that one of the sources of the White Nile exists far west in Darfour, and others in the south-west. An exploring river expedition was got up, in 1839, The first by the Pasha of Egypt. It consisted of three or four efpediTion sailing liarques and some small boats, and was com- "^ -^'^Vi, manded by Selim Bimbashi, of the Alexandrian navy, and managed by a body of intelligent officers, and ac- companied by 100 men from the garrison of Sennaar. It started from Khartum in December, and was actively employed during seventy-two days. It did its work well. Every day's proceedings were carefully noted ; the names of the tribes along the banks vrere ascer- tained ; and the breadth of the stream, the depth of the soundings, the velocity of the current, the states of the temperature, and the appearance of the country, were recorded. The exploration of the main stream to the utmost attainable point, was steadily kept in view. Only one affluent, and that a very large stream, was ascended to any considerable distance. Few other affluents were attended to; and probably some large ones, possibly some one of size enough to dispute the honour of being the parent river, escaped notice. The men scarcely ever went ashore, — and when they did go, tiiey went but a Comparative short distance; and the banks on both sides, down into of thJmain the very water, are extensively sheeted with' tall and f^tream and rank vegetation, and even with shrubs and trees ; so that, in large flat alluvial expanses, some great affluents may readily have stolen in unobserved. The valley, even up to the furtliest point reached, was found to be 402 EXPLORATIONS IN THE The second l^Kvptian expedition. CHAP. XX. of surprising breadth. None of the mountain ranges which flank it were in sight. Not many hills, and only unimportant, disjointed, and not very high ones, were seen. Numerous ponds and lakes were found on both banks, — the remains no doubt of the inundations of the river during the rainy season. The expedition turned at a point in about north latitude 6° 30^ A very ample account of it was published, first in the Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie of Paris, and next in a work en- titled '"Premier Vo^-age a la recherche des Sources du Bahr-el-Abiad ou Nil Blanc." Another Egyptian expedition was got up in 1840, and had the advantage of being accompanied by two intelligent Europeans, Messrs. D'Arnaud and Sabatier. It left Khartum in November 1840, returned thither after a time, and set out thence again in September 1841. It had much more success, and penetrated to a much further extent than the preceding expedition. M. D'Arnaud, too, constructed a map, which gave precision and distinctness to the information it obtained. The direction of ascent from Khartum to about the 14th parallel of north latitude, was found to be about west- southwest, — from that point to about the 11th parallel, nearly due south, — and from the latter point to about 9° lO', generally southwest. A delta of about a hun- dred miles each way flanks the right bank between the 11th and the 9th parallels, and brings in the Sobat, or terminating system of the Godjeb ; and this was ascended upwards of eighty miles in an east-southwest direction, and ascertained to have nearly as much volume of water as the parent stream. At about 9° 10' north latitude, the ascent turned off due west ; and in about 29° east longitude a lake was reached, measuring from fifteen to twenty miles each way, abounding in fish, studded with islands, ane' profusely fringed with sedges and shallows. M. Werne says that the name of it could not be ascer- tained ; but M. Lafargue, in 1845, ascertained it to be called No, — a name which singularly accords with some Mouths nnd streams of the Sobat. BASIN OF THE UPPER NILE. 403 ancient designations in connection with the Nile ; and CHAP. XX Dr. Beke asserts it to be evidently the Kura of the Ara- bian geographers, and the Cuir or Cura of our maps. The lake occurs at the confluence of two large streams. One of these comes from the west or northwest, and was supposed by M. D'Arnaud to be the Keilah or Misselad of Browne ; and the other comes from the south, and was regarded as the main stream of the Nile. The direc- tion from this point to the furthest one readied, is gene- rally about southeast. For a considerable way above the lake, the river is called by the natives Kiti or Kiiti ; but in the country of Behr or Bari, higher up, it is called Tubiri. All the portion explored above the point reached Tiie urrer by the former expedition, continued to wind among ^^fches of marshes and swamps, and to be free from rapids or tiie AVJiitc cataracts, though occasionally beset with shallows. For a long distance, also, the breadth and expansiveness of the valley continued to be similar; but at about the 5th parallel of north latitude, it begins to be confined between mountains, and to assume the same kind of alpine character as the great valleys of Abyssinia. At about the same point also the river begins to lose its sluggishness ; and soon after, it accelerates into a pre- vailing velocity of about two miles an hour. The expedition was stopped in 4° 42' 42" north lati- tude, and 31° 38' east longitude, by a ridge of gneiss, extending directly across the stream. But an opinion was formed, that, in the flooded season, the river may probably be navigable to about the 3d parallel of north latitude. Several tribes were met, who difrer widely The tribes from one another, and from all the known tribes of the expio?eT^^'^ circumjacent regions. Some were believed to be quiet reaches, and peaceful ; and one very far up possessed various arti- cles of Indian merchandise. The king of Behr lives en- tirely insulated on the waters, in a residence which can be approached only by swimming. His guards are two batallions of women, armed with spears; and his minis- ters never enter his residence, except when he is sup- 404 EXPLORATIONS I>T THE CHAP. XX. The third Esryptian expedition. Dr. Beke's argument respecting tl'-e source of tlie White Nile. posed to be dangerously ill ; and then they perform the extraordinary duty of strangling him, in order to pre- vent the disgrace of his dying a natural death! M. D'Arnaud made valuable collections ; but, being wrecked in the river, he lost everything except his journal, and escaped with life only by swimming for upwards of two hours. The results of the expedition were published by M, D'Arnaud in the Bulletin de la Societe de Geo- graphic of Paris, and by M. Werne in the Allgemeine Preussische Zeitung. A third Egyptian expedition was undertaken ; but it did not ascend so far as the second, and became compa- rativ^ely worthless. A doubt exists whether the second itself was not vitiated by deflexion from the main stream. The rule of preferring the larger body of water at a bifurcation, may more than once have been uninten- tionally violated ; for at a confluence of rivers, the ono -which looks to be the smaller is sometimes really and even greatly the larger. And the rule of rather going straight on than making a deflexion, may lead to error in any part of the world, but in none more than in the basin of the Upper Nile ; for there such great affluents as have been well explored are singularly characterised by serpentine sinuosity of course, winding and doubling and returning upon themselves in comprehensive sweeps and mazy folds. But even assuming the stream of the second Egyptian expedition to be the veritable White Nile, Dr. Beke argues that its upper reaches must de- scend from regions on the south side of the equator. His argument is quite as likely to turn out coincident with fact as not ; and even though it should prove mis- taken, it is abundantly interesting enough to challenge perusal. Here it is : — " Respecting the river further up, the particulars furnished by M. D'Arnaud and IM, Wcrne, from native information, differ materially. The former says, 'When the waters are high, the river is still navigable for at least some thirty leagues,' to a point where * several BASIN OF THE UPPER NILE. 405 branches unite, of which the most considercible one comes chap. xx. from the east, and passes below a large country named Berry, situate a fortniglit's journey to the east of the mountains of BelJenia ;' which mountains are shown in that traveller's map as lying at a distance of twenty or thirty miles to the east of the extreme point of the ex- pedition. This branch of the Nile is, in the same map, The upper named Shoaherri (Choa-Berry) ; and the Godjeb is laid Si whtte''^ down as tributary to it. On the other hand, M. "Werne ^^i^e. informs us, that, in the country of Berri, which lies ten days to the east of Bari, ' there is no river, but the people obtain their water from wells.' And he adds, that they were informed by Lakono, the reigning matta (king) of Bari, that the river continues ' a month's journey further south before reaching the country of Auyan (Aujan), where it divides into four shallow brooks ; but whether these come from the mountains, or out of the earth, he was unable to say.' Notwith- standing the apparent discrepancy of these two rela- tions, the accuracy of loth may, subject to certain qualifications, be admitted, if we suppose that, in the case of M. D'Arnaud, that traveller was induced to con- sider the Shoaberri to be the principal arm by the par- ticulars furnished to him in Egypt by Messrs. Blondeel and Bell resj)ecting the Godjeb, which river was de- scribed to them by their native informants as being the main stream of the Bahr-el-Abyad. This information Opinions of must, however, be viewed in the same light as various J-espeSng'* other native reports, which are founded on the belief of tiie several the people inhabiting the banks of each successive '^^^ ^^ branch of the Nile, that their river is the continuation of the principal stream. By this observation, it is not intended to express any doubt respecting the existence of a large eastern arm of the Bahr-el-Abyad, above the furthest point reached by the expedition. The particu- lars subsequently furnished by M. D'Arnaud to M. Jomard — namely, that ' almost all the natives concur in stating that the river continues in a south-east direc- 2 b 406 EXPLORATIONS IN THE CHAP. XX. tion for 50 or 100 miles, but afterwards turns to the east and northeast,' do not allow this fact to be ques- TheShoa- tioned. All that is contended for is, that the river bferriadis- thus described is neither the Godieb nor, in its upper tinct ana , , ■,. <• ./ -ktm a greatbrancii portion at least, the direct stream of the JNiJe. As respects the former of these points, the real course of the Godjeb is, it is apprehended, sufficiently established by what we have written ; and as to the latter, its cor- rectness must be admitted, unless we altogether discard M. Werne's information, which we certainly are not justified in doing. And, indeed, M. D'Arnaud himself was informed of a river which comes from the south, by the people of Comboh, a place distant a day and a half's journey beyond the furthest point reached by the expe- dition. " It appears, therefore, to result that the Shoaberri of M. D'Arnaud's map, is another great arm of the Nile, having its course below and round, consequently heyond, the country of Berri, but not in it, since M. Werne expressly tells us the people of that country obtain their water from wells, and not from a river. The distance at which it makes this circuit round Berri, namely, fif- teen days journey, may be estimated at from 180 to 200 miles to the east ; so that the course of the river will be carried to about the thirty-fifth meridian east of Green- wich, and its source may be conjecturally placed some- where between the fourth and fifth parallels of north The course of latitude. Thus the Shoaberri will be seen to form a thcShoa- curve similar to that of the Abai and of the Godjeb; while towards the Nile its lower course will have pre- ciselj'' the same bearing as those two rivers and the Tak- kazie, namely, from south-east to north-west. Indeed, from the general fall of the western slope of the moun- tain-chain of Eastern Africa, towards the valley of the Nile, this last condition is indispensable; for it may be regarded as physically impossible, that any river joining the main stream on its right bank, should have a course of 350 miles from north-east to south-west, as the Shoa- BASIN OF THE UPPER KILE. 407 berri is made to have in M. D'Arnaud's map, evidently chap, xx. fi'om a desire to connect it with the Godjeb. " As regards the direct stream of the Nile above the The direct confluence of the Shoaberri — assuming the Tubiri to be upper White that direct stream — our guide must be ]\I. Werne, on ^^^®- whose authority, or rather on tliat of his informant Lakono, we have to carry it a month's journey further to the south. If, now, the day's journey be roughly estimated at twelve geographical miles, this gives 360 geographical miles as the length of the river above 4° 42' 42" N. lat. ; and this distance, measured in a direction due south, brings us to about 1° 20' S. lat., and 31° 40' E. long. Here, in the country of Any an, the river is said to divide into four shallow brooks, and beyond this point our information, imperfect as it is, ceases altogether. " Let us now see into what portion of Africa the head of the Nile has thus been brought. In Mr. Cooley's valuable memoir on ' The Geography of N'yassi, or the Great Lake of Southern Africa' — the Lake Zambeze of the Portuguese — published in the fifteenth volume of tlie ' Royal Geographical Society's Journal,' public attention is again directed to the country of Mono- Moezi, which, as early as the end of the sixteenth cen- tury, was described by the Portuguese as an important empire in the interior of Africa. Since that period, TheMdno- however, as Mr. Cooley observes, * our acquaintance ^^^'^^ '^°""' with it has not only not gone on increasing, but the very name has sunk into obscurity. . . . The information which we at present possess respecting it is of but a vague and general character. The country seems to be an elevated plain, the ascent to which lies cliiefly in the territories of the M'sagara and of the Wohaha ;' similar, in its general character, to the ascent from the low country of the Adal, or Danakil, to the Abyssinian plateau, of which this * elevated plain ' is manifestly a continuation. "The country of Mono-Moezi appears to lie to the north and north-east of Lake Zambeze; and, from a con- 408 EXPLORATIONS IN THE CHAP. XX. sideration of the positions of the adjoining districts, Mr. — ■ Cooley concludes that its northern limit may be ' rudely fixed in the third or fourth parallel of south latitude ;' and in the map accompanying his memoir it is laid down as extending from the 30th to the 35th meridian of east The position longitude. But, in his ' Further Explanations in refer- zimbeze^^ ence to the Geography of N'yassi,' contained in the suc- ceeding part of the journal, that gentleman, at the same time that he shows, from information subsequently ob- tained, the general correctness of his previous results, admits that he has ' fallen short of the truth of about 150 miles' with regard to the position of certain points t on which those of the central portion of his map mainly depend, the deficiency in distance being on a line bear- ing about north-west. This variation necessarily affects, though perhaps not to the whole extent, the position pre- viously attributed to the N'yassi, or Lake Zambeze, and consequently that of the country of Mono-Moezi also ; and hence the approximate northern limit of that country has probably to be advanced to within two degrees south of the equator, while it may at the same time be neces- sary'- to move it westwards to within the 29th and 84th meridians of east longitude. Now, this brings us pre- cisely to the spot to which, on the authority of M. Werne, we have already carried the head of the Nile ; so that it results that this river has its origin in the coun- Supposed tiy ^^ Mono-Moezi. . . . And such being the case, oi?sin of the there is nothing unreasonable in the opinion maintained in the Lake by the early Portuguese, that that river issues from Zambeze. Lake Zambeze, situate in that country. Indeed, that such is actually the case, is repeated at the present day by a native of Zanzibar, but born of Mono-Moezi parents — one of ' the Manmoise tribe/ as he is styled by Mr. M'Queen, who communicated the information. This individual. Lief ben Saied by name, states that it is well known by all the people there that the river v:hich goes through Egypt takes its source and origin from the lake, named Zambeze or N'yassi." BASIN OF THE UPPER NILE. 409 A conjecture has recently arisen, that the alpine basin CHAP. XX.] of the head-streams of the White Nile, not only extends fully as far south as Dr. Beke supposes, but is of great breadth, and projects its eastern buttress to within three hundred miles of the Indian Ocean. Mr, Rebmann, one of the members of thje East African Church mission, lately made a journey westward from Mombas, meeting with little or no opposition from the natives ; and, after ten or twelve daj's' distance from the coast, he arrived at a range of alpine heights, one of which, called Killi- mandjaaro, or Mountain of Greatness, was covered with The Moun- perpetual snow. " Mr. Rebmann," remarked the Presi- ^!"^/'' dent of the Royal Geographical Society, in his address at the Anniversary Meeting of that Society in 1850, " does not state how far the summit of this mountain rises above the limits of perpetual congelation ; but he clearly intimates that a considerable portion of its height is covered with eternal snow. In that latitude the line of constant low temperature may be estimated at about 17,000 feet, so that the supposed height of the culmi- nating point, 20,000 feet, may be for the present rea- sonably assumed. This circumstance really gives a shade of probability to the hypothesis, which suggests a mountainous chain of 300 miles from and parallel to the eastern coast ; and from which the upper affluents of the Nile would issue. But even if this assumption were proved as a fact, it would not at all prevent the existence of other distant affluents in the southwest and south." And in another part of the same address, the President says, " Baron von Miiller has communicated Baron von to us his intention to carry an expedition up the White p^ditio'^ ^^' Nile, with the view of determining its source, and form- ing a settlement on its banks. In the event of his efforts proving so far successful, the Baron has deter- mined to quit the Nile and to proceed westwards, en- deavouring to reach the coast. This, if it is of possible accomplishment, will be a splendid triumph, for inde- pendent of the chorography of the several districts, re- 410 EXLORATIONS. CHAP. XX. ports — but certainly vague ones — from that part of the interior indicate an unexpected degree of civilization ; Civilization for we are even told of there being schools of instruction, upiandr^*^*^ where their written characters are peculiar, and perhaps more ancient than even those of the Arabs." RECENT DISCOVERIES. 411 CHAPTER XXI. Recent Discoveries in the East and South. Condition of tbe East — Discovery of the Haines River — Explora- tion of the Jubb — Discoveries west of Mombas — Progress in the South — Adventures of the Modern Nimrod — The Country of Bamangwato — The Valley of the Limpopo — Discovery of Lake Ngami — Supposed Central Plateau — Explorations northward of Lake Ngami — LiTingston's journeys througli the centre of Southern Africa, All the vast region between Abyssinia and the equa- chap. xxi. tor, though possessing an enormous sweep of coasts ~~: along the Indian Ocean, and in the near vicinity of our ranee of the Eastern territories, continued till a few years ago to be ' ^^*^ ^''^*'^- almost entirely a terra incognita. It was believed to be the ancient Regio Cinnamonifera, to have undergone great revolutions, to be now possessed by numerous in- dependent tribes or small nations of Gallas and Soumalis, and to teem with aromatics, spices, myrrh, aloes, ivorj', ostrich feathers, indigo, cotton, and other valuable arti- cles of commerce ; yet still it was not explored. Many Recent con- a mishap upon its coast had given it a truculent name. ^J^^^^^^ °^ ^^''^^ uitrocities perpetrated upon parties of European seamen going a-shore on it for water, even so recently as the period of the expedition to the Red Sea, had proclaimed it to be pre-eminently savage. Few persons were so hot with bravery or so fired Avith adventure as to have any wish for rambling into its interior. Its inhabitants, at different points along the coast, too, had surprisingly little knowledge of one another, and could give almost no information about their country. To go even a very 412 RECENT DISCOVERIES CHAP, XXT. short distance into any part of this great region, there- fore, was in many respects as interesting an exploration as to make a laborious and perilous journey into the very centre of Nigritia. Christopher's In the spring of 1843, Lieutenant Christopher, in the^Haiues command of the Honourable East India Company's Paver. war-brig Tigris, made two or three short descents upon parts of it a little north of the equator, and discovered there a large, beautiful, and curious river. This comes down in gi-eat volume, seemingly from the south-eastern buttress of Abyssinia, approaches within four or five miles of the sea in lat. 1° 40' JST., and long. 44° 33' E., runs thence about fifty miles parallel with the coast, diverges then a little inland, and finally empties itself, at about seventy miles north of the equator, and about thirty from the sea, into a great lake which has not any known outlet. A range of sand hills, from about 150 to about 200 feet high, extends between its lower reaches and the coast, at a distance of about two miles from the sea. A large portion of the river's water in- filtrates through this long and curious isthmus into the sea, and everywhere either oozes out at the surface or is easily reached in copious wells by digging. The coast, as seen from the sea, has a barren aspect ; but all the inland country, as seen from the summit of the sand hill range, appears carpeted and tufted with lux- uriant vegetation. Lieutenant Christopher sailed northward from Zanzi- bar, and landed at a series of places along the coast. He got a general hint of the existence of the river from a native of Zanzibar, but did not obtain any intelligence of it which could guide him till he landed at Bravah. Visit to Bra- This place is situated in north latitude I'* 5' 17", and is the seat of a Soumali chief or sheikh. Lieutenant Christopher was cordially received by the chief, and favoured with his company to the river, and found him to be a harmless, hearty, very amusing boaster. A pic- nic refreshment was eaten by the way, in a style of IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 413 extraordinary medium between the Turkish and the chap. xxL savage. " The meat, after the Abyssinian fashion, was crammed into the mouth, and then a knife passed through it close to the nose and lips, no man taking time to consider how much his mouth would hold, but incessantly putting it to the proof." Slaves were seen at work on the fields ; but they had no other implement than a common short hoe ; and they appeared to b singularly docile and abject. An elbow of the river The country was reached about eight miles due north of Bravah. ^"^^^1^^^^^"^ The stream there was from 70 to 150 feet broad, andBravah. from ten to fifteen feet deep, with a velocity of about one and a half mile an hour, and was haunted by numerous alligators. The banks to the breadth of a mile or more, were swamps ; and all the country in- land, as far as the eye could discern, was level, and spotted with trees. Lieutenant Christopher next landed about fifty miles farther north, opposite the place where he was told the river makes its nearest approach to the sea, and where it is overlooked by a town of the name of Galwen. But The town and he got sm*e intelligence that the people of that place aTlwen. were as wild as lions at the thought of white strangers ; and he did not think it prudent to beard them in their den. A few of them were met on the shore ; and some of these had never before seen a white man, and looked on him and his party with astonishment and fear. He saw there the ruins of an Arab settlement which had once been of considerable extent, but whose inhabitants had suffered so much from the petty wars of rival Soumali chiefs, that they abandoned it and retired to Bravah. He next landed at Merkah, about fifteen miles farther Tf^^.^^T^ °' north. This is a stone-built town, evidently of Arab origin, but now inhabited by about three thousand of a mongrel population, principally Soumali, and under the dominion of a chief who calls himself a sultan. Both chief and people received the stranger well, and had no 414: RECENT DISCOVERIES CHAP. XXI. other feeling about his going inland than fear for his safety. He went direct across the isthmus, and found the river to be there about ten miles distant. The The country country passed through seemed exceedingly fertile, and fromMer- exhibited some evidence of industry. In one part, kah. many thousands were employed in cultivation, and their only homes throughout the year were conical huts, con- structed with the loose straw of the common millet, and quite pervious to the rain. But on the banks of the river stood a village of about a hundred huts, of a much better description, environed w^ith a strong palisade and a close hedge of cactus ; and its inhabitants received the exploring party with a curious mixture of ceremony and merriment and hospitality. The stream there was about 150 feet broad and 17 feet deep, with a current of two or three miles an hour. Cocoa-nut trees were in full bearing on its banks, and palms and fig-trees swarmed with birds of the most brilliant plumage. When the exploring party approached Merkah on their return, the whole population were out to welcome them ; the women and children on the tops of the houses, and the men in a dense body along the road. All had been in a stew of terror during the day lest the slaves or outlaws in the interior should intercept the explorers, and they themselves be called to account for it by the gun-brig. The town of Lieutenant Christopher landed next at Makadisho or Makdeesha. This place is situated about forty-five miles north-east of Merkah, and is noticed on page 340 of the present volume. It was now found to be half in ruins, and inhabited by about thirty families of Arab origin and between 3000 and 4000 Soumalis. The sovereign of it was sheikh also of a territory comprising about 150,000 persons, but had his seat at Giredi, on the banks of the river about twenty-six miles inland. The people of Makadisho liad a record of three white men having landed at their town ; but all said that the shiekh and the people of the interior had never seen IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 415 one, A native was despatched to Giredi with a message CHAP, xxi, asking permission to a party from the ship to land, and came back with a permission in writing and an escort of ten spearmen. Lieutenant Christopher proceeded with these, and seventeen musketeers of his own, and nearly thirty other persons to Giredi ; and on entering Tiie town and the town, his musketeers fired a salute of three volleys Gi?edL ^^ °^ in presence of about seven thousand spectators. The sheikh was an open-faced, intelligent-looking man, in middle life, plainly enveloped from head to foot in a large white sheet ; and he received the strangers with all honour and hospitality ; and readily gave them a written paper sanctioning traffic and trade by English- men in any part of his dominions. He could levy an array of at least twenty thousand spearmen, and was about to set out on a warlike expedition against the neighbouring state of Barderh. The cause of hostilities was Moslem wrath against the " Kafir" practices of smoking tobacco and allowing women to move about with uncovered faces and arms ; and this had already, in the course of a five years' war, occasioned the loss of at least ten thousand men. The river at Giredi was much larger than lower down, and gorgeously beautiful. Both banks, for some dis- tance, were cleared and cultivated ; and all parts which escaped the dominion of the hoe were sparkling with flowers, or magnificently tufted with shrubs and trees. Lieutenant Christopher, in company with the shiekh's brother, travelled up the banks for ten miles, and was The river s eveiy where delighted both with the opulence of the^^j^^g^fj^^^"'® soil and the good humour of the people. The land teemed with many kinds of esculents and luxuries, and seemed capable of producing large crops of anything which will grow within the tropics. The natives turned out from the villages in wondering crowds, and vied with one another in hearty, officious, but not obtrusive display of kind feeling. Such real politeness as Lieu- tenant Christopher and his party experienced among 416 RECENT DISCOVERIES CHAP. XXI. them — such absence of brutality, such freedom from rudeness, such anxiety to give pleasure — are not always shown to odd-looking strangers by the peasantry or Conduct and towns-people of our own land. The reputed ruffians of tiif GirecU^ Eastern Africa proved to have better conduct than not people. a few of the street gentlemen of Britain ; and at the same time, in the important article of costume, they are in some sense their rivals! ''Some young fops among them," says the Lieutenant, " dress their hair most tastefully, or at least elaborately, approving very much of our naval cocked-hat form ; or sometimes bag- wigs and mops in turn receive the same approving imi- tation. None but the interweaving curled hair of the negro could maintain the form into which they arrange their heads of hair. The neck-support, which is univer- sally carried by the men when absent a few hours from their houses, supports the head comfortably five or six inches off the ground when repose is desired." The villages occurred at short intervals, and were usually situated about a mile or so from the river, amid clumps or groves of lime-trees and fig-trees. Many rich and rare articles of suitable exchange for European mer- chandise abounded. The whole country continued flat, and spread away to the horizon like a garden. The river above Giredi descends nearly from due north. Lieutenant Christopher did not find it to be known bj' any general name_, and called it the Haines River, in honour of Captain Haines, General descriptive geography has always said that no stream of any note occurs on the east coast of Africa, from a good way south of the equator on to the isthmus Tiie river of Suez. But the mouth of a large river in the imme- '^^^^' diate vicinity of the equator, began to be obscurely known some years ago, and was recently explored. This river is the Jubb or Juba. It has great volume even in the dry season, and may prove to possess considerable commercial value, and has been thought by some high geographical authorities, though clearly without good IX THE EAST AND SOL'TH. 417 reason, to be identical with some of the streams which chap. xxt. rise near the furthest source of the Blue Nile — in fact, to be the Godjeb. The Jubb was first explored in Januarj^ 1844, by Henry C. Arc Angelo. The coast all around it has a most sterile appearance, and exhibits very small land- marks. The mouth of the river lies thirteen miles south The moiuh of the equator, but is not easily found. The entrance ^"^pl^g^'^Jf is very narrow ; but the reach immediately within has tiie Jubt. a breadth of about a quarter of a mile, and a depth of from two and a half to four and three quarters fathoms. About three miles up, stands the town of Juba, on a high and steep hill. It is walled, and has about two hundred stone or coral houses, and two or three mosques. The countrj' hitherto and all around, as well near the river as at a distance, is a sterile dreary expanse of sandy Hats, variegated with sand hills, and relieved only along the edges of the water by masses of wood and |^ vestiges of inundation. Mr. Angelo's narrative is almost as dull as this sea- board portion of the landscape, containing scarcely an incident of any kind, and not one dash of adventure. Still the region which it depicts was entirely new, and revealed incomparably more interesting features than the central and northern deserts, whose exploration has furnished so many a page of tragedj^ and awful romance. For sixty miles up, except in the vicinity of the stream. The inland the country had a parched appearance, and an abrupt j^!"^ °^ ^*^® low hilly contour, and was occasionally marked with columns of smoke rising from villages of outlaws or runaway slaves. After 125 miles up, it became gener- ally flat and open, with a rather fertile aspect, and was screened in the distance by seemingly well-wooded hills. At 150 miles, the river continued pretty broad and deep, the banks were luxuriant, and the animated crea- tion made stirring displays of hippopotami, ducks, guinea- fowls, and antelopes. Fifteen miles farther up, occurred some luscious tracts — spots and patches of paradise amid 418 RECENT DISCOVERIES CHAP. XXL comparative desert ; and higher still, were good lands, appearances of cultivation, stretches of pasture, indica- tions of herds, and a pleasant peopled range of hills. *' About 2ii0 or 240 miles up," says Mr. Angelo, " I saw the remains of three or four huts : near these huts I saw a body of people coming down a hill with cattle : I did not think it safe to go to them. Sometimes in the day the current would be so strong, that it was im- possible to get 300 yards in four hours. I imagine a small steamer would do. Some considerable distance up, there are several falls, one of which was %aid to be a very high one." The inhabit- Three races of people inhabited the flanks of the Jubb, Jubb"s^vaney. ^^^ w^ere very often embroiled in petty war. The Gallas had main possession of the interior, and were chief mas- ters of its produce, but felt perfect readiness to take portions of this down for barter on the coast. The Mi- sagoras were a community of self-liberated slaves, about 1500 strong, inhabiting a group of villages on the river, having a sort of king of their own, and acting generally in alliance with the Gallas. The Soumalis lived nearest the coast, and maintained a constant fitful alternation of trade and war with the Gallas — sometimes almost starved to death by a prolonged interception of supplies from the interior — and never an hour scarcely at peace, ^ insomuch that whenever they travelled at all, they travelled in parties, and fully armed. Yet their feuds with their neighbours were simply matters of intense mutual spite and hatred, and did not involve any ill-will to strangers ; for a hot one was going on at the very time of Mr. Angelo's visit, and does not seem to have materially embarrassed his movements. Theresei-voir The large lake at the termination of the Haines river, river" ^ '^^^ commences only about ninety miles from the Jubb, and might almost be expected to communicate with that stream. Mr. Krapf, the Church missionary, visited the seaward side of it in 1843, and found it to extend nearer the sea than the discoverers of it supposed. Lieutenant IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 419 Christopher got information from natives who spoke on CHAP. xxL personal observation, that the Jubb is comparatively shallow in February and March, but becomes very deep when the rains commence, or toward July ; and he ex- presses a confident belief that it is open to British en- terprise. The Church missionaries of the East African mission Expiora- haye evinced the same zeal to explore the countries he- JjjJ^^^^J'-jjt^^® tween the Jubb and Zanzibar, and backward thence into sionaries. the interior, which they and their brethren previously evinced to explore Abyssinia : and at one time, Mr. Krapf was so long absent on an adventurous excursion, that very serious apprehensions began to be entertained about his safety. But the only things of high interest which they have hitherto discovered, are the snow- capped Alpine peaks already alluded to in the chapter on the Basin of the Nile, and a beautiful country situated north of a range of uplands called the Taita mountains. Another zealous explorer in the same region, M. Maizan, an officer of the French navy, set out about six years ago to penetrate direct into the terra incognita west- ward of Zanzibar, and made considerable progress, but was murdered by the natives. The south of Africa, both within and beyond the re- gions formerly known, has recently made disclosures of its geography to the full as interesting as those of the east. Adventure in it has ever been abundant. Two The stirrins: , other Caffre wars, quite as eventful as that recorded in a southern ^^ former chapter, the latterof them peculiarly stubborn and Africa, just ended, subjected a large portion of it to violent com- motion and momentous change. The whole life of many of the civilized inhabitants, to say nothing of the savage ones, continues to be a continual excitement. Excur- tions of curiosity, and peril, and philanthropy, through wilds and recesses, have been increasingly numerous, and often very romantic. An exploratory journey was performed, a few years ago, by M. Adolphe Delagorgue of Douay, from Port Natal to the tropic of Capricorn ; 420 EECEXT DISCOVERIES CHAP. XXI. and some others of not greatly inferior conse([uence, have been done in other quarters. Many of the mission- ary tours from the multitude of missionary stations along the borders of civilization, and within the terri- tories of the savages, have almost equalled some of the explorations through the Sahara into Nigritia, in both Moffat's daring and incident. The published journeymgs of journeyings. g^QJjgj.^ Moffat, in particular, read like a romance, and, at the same time, emit the radiance, and wield the electricity, of Christian truth. Whoever wishes to see African adventure in the dress of an apostle, should read Robert jNIoffat. But the grand recent adventurer in South Africa is Roualeyn Gordon Gumming, Esq. of Altyre. That gentleman was a gi-eat hunter and a passionate admirer of wild scenery from hisj'outh. He indulged his moods for a time in the Scottish Highlands, but soon found these too tame for him ; and he then tried one distant country after another, till at last he plunged headlong Cnmmings into the unexplored regions of Southern Africa. There, huntings. jj^ 1843 and the four following years, he got such sport as never before was enjoyed h-^ man. The whole coun- try figures in his narrative like an immense zoological garden, with all the dens broken up and all the menag- erie set free. Springboks, gemsboks, blesboks, wilde- beests, oryxes, gnoos, buffaloes, antelopes, giraffes, leo- pards, rhinoceroses, lions, and elephants, to say nothing of smaller or gentler creatures, w-ere almost as common on the wilds, as cattle are on a pasture ; boa-nonstrie- tors, ostriches, and flying birds of many a feather, gave variety to the scene ; and sea-cows of enormous size, together with alligators and crocodiles, haunted the waters. Mr. Gumming ran riot among them all, to tlie full as freely as they ran riot among one another. He gave chase to everything which could rouse his blood or put him in peril. He fought many a duel with the biggest monsters of the forest. He became as familiar T^-ith lions as ordinary British sportsmen are with moor- IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 421 fowl; and often ran after elephants as dauntlessly as chap. xxi. ploughboj's run after hares ; and generally " bagged" the terrific gij^antic " game" quite as numerously and readily as if they had been x>artri(lges or trout. IlisCumming's perils, of course, were constant and awful ; many of his ^'^^^^^ escapes were hair-breadth and wonderful ; and while all prove him to be one of the bravest of mortals, and as mighty a hunter as Nimrod, some excita sickening horror, and provoke sharp questionings as to the moral character of such sport. If mere adventures be wanted, Cumming's " Five Years of a Hunter's Life in the Far Interior of South Africa," is certainly, take it all in all, the completest book of them which was ever written. In discovery, too, Mr. Gumming accomplished some- thing. He was the first to penetrate into the interior of the Bamangwato country ; he travelled nearly 300 miles beyond Koulobeng, the most inland missionary station ; and he made large examination of the great and beautifnl valley of the Limpopo. Koulobeng is situated nearly 380 miles north of the Orange River, and about the same distance west-north-west of Delagoa Bay. It stands naked and deformed on one of the head- streams of the Limpopo, with the mission-house crown- ing a little rocky eminence. About 160 miles north- east of it, Mr. Cumming's party reached the Baman-The Baman- gwato Mountains. They had to cut much of their way fa|n& "^^" through jungle and thickets ; and then they entered a broad level strath, picturesquely studded with trees, and grandly overhung on both sides by steep, bold, rocky, mountainous acclivities. Piles of rock rose away to the clouds, so loose and dislocated that a small earth- quake would have tossed them down in a torrent ; rib- bons and scarfs of brushwood and cacti adorned the smoother ascents ; and some wild and bushy ravines clove the mountains into groups, and nestled far into their bosom. Sicomy, the king of the great territoi-y of Baman- gwato, was in daily ajinrehension of an attack from a 2c 422 RECENT DISCOVERIi:S Kins Sico- my's war- riors. CHAP. xxr. powerful neighbouring tribe ; and, together with all his people, had fled for refuge to the caves and recesses of these mountains ; and three of his men went down to welcome and conduct the strangers. " They led us," says Mr. Gumming, " round the base of a bold project- ing rock and then up a wild and well wooded rocky ravine, bearing no traces of men. On raising our eyes, however, we perceived the summits of the rocks covered with women and children ; and very soon detached parties of Sicomy's warriors came pouring in from differ- ent directions to gaze upon the white man, I being the first that many of them had seen. They were all armed and ready for action, each bearing an oval shield of ox, buffalo, or cameleopard's hide, a battle-axe, and three or four assagais. They wore karosses of jackal's and leopard's skins, which depended gracefully from their shoulders ; and many of them sported a round tuft of black ostrich feathers on their heads, while others had adorned their woolly hair with one or two wavy plumes of white ones. Both men and women wore abundance of the usual ornaments of beads and brass and copper wire." Sicomy himself was an astute savage, perfectly keen and ready for trade in defiance both of the alarms of war and of the entire novelty of a white man's visit ; and he drove some hard bargains with Mr. Cumming, giving him ivory in exchange for muskets. " The manner in which he obtained this ivory," we are told, " was by sending a party of his warriors to the Bush- men, who first obtained the tusks in barter for a few beads, and then compelled some of the poor Bakela- hari, or wild natives of the desert, over whom Sicomy conceives he has a perfect right to tyrannize, to bear them on their shoulders across extensive deserts of burning sand to his head-quarters at Bamangwato. So great is the fatifjue endured by the poor Bakelahari on these occasion^, that many of them die from ex- haustion before reaching Bamangwato." The Limpopo probably rises 250 miles or so east of King Sico- niys traffic. IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 423 Koulobeng ; and after making a long westerly and north- CHAP. XXL erl y sweep, it runs north-eastward, and was traced about 180 miles in that direption by Mr. Gumming, and is sup- posed to debouch to the sea at or near Delagoa Bay. Its The river „ p , . 1 •c " L k Limpopo and valley, so far as known, is everywhere magnificent. A its valley. range of mountains, very bold and rocky, with towering summits, and seemingly about one hundred miles long, extends across the upper part of its basin. Some of the lateral vales which open into the valley are romantic and luscious, and bring down gushing streams of limpid water. The embouch of one of these, about 110 miles north-east of Sicomy's Town, is pronounced by Mr. Gumming one of the loveliest spots he had seen in Southern Africa. Seleka's Town, the chief seat of a tribe, about seventy miles farther down, stands on the sides and top of a precipitous hill of bare quartz rocks, and commands a gorgeous view of the valley, spreading away in a sheet of forest to a back ground of moderately high mountains. A lateral vale farther on, and in- habited by another tribe, deflects far to the left, and dispreads into broad and beautiful cultivated grounds, overhung by woods, and terminating at the head in a bold ravine. And beyond the furthest point reached by Mr. Gumming, some copious streams are known to come into the Limpopo on the left, and a mass of mountains, bold in outline and sublime in height, soars upon the right, and no doubt commands brilliant Extensive and distant views of the onward course of the river. Limp'opo.'^ '^' " In company with Mr. Oswell," said a correspondent of the Atheneeum in January 1850, " I followed the beautiful Limpopo to a considerable distance beyond the furthest point attained by any white man ; and when we reluctantly quitted it, we could distinctly, from the summit of a neighbouring mountain called Linguapa, trace its course some thirty or forty miles to the north- east. The country was healthy, and highly favour- able for w'aggon travelling. "Wood, water, and game abounded ; and there was apparently no danger to be 424 RECENT DISCOVERIES CHAP. XXI. apprehended from the native tribes. What is to hinder us from following this interesting river to the sea ?" Very soon after Mr. Gumming completed his ex- ploits, a discovery was made worth millions of them, and a long way farther in the interior. The discoverer was Mr. Livingston, the missionary at Koulobeng, and the son-in-law of Robert JMofFat ; and the thing dis- Lake Xgami. covered was the great lake Ntrami. — a magnificent, in- land, fresh water sea. This lake was known by hear- say to the earliest Portuguese settlers in South Africa, and found a place on their maps ; and was frequently mentioned, in recent years, by wandering natives to ex- ploring missionaries and adventurous travellers. But a terrible desert barred it from the civilized world. No European had ever seen it or approached it ; and the tribes on the hither side of the desert reached it only with great difficulty, and under strong temptations of gain. Mr. Livingston, wath high daring and the noblest motives, had long wished to penetrate to it, and waited only the means ; and at length, ]Mr. Oswell of the jMadras Civil Service, and iNIr. Murray of Lintrose in Scotland, with a nobleness equal to his own, both furnished the means and volunteered their company. Expedition The three tiavellers, with all due appointments of guides, waggons, and appurtenances, set out from Kou- lobeng on the 1st of June 1849. They soon entered the desert ; and though they found it only 300 miles or less in width, they did not reach its further side till the 4th of July. It is a dismal arid plain, yet is not destitute of trees or grass, or of brute and human in- habitants. Several remarkable species of succulent roots grow on it, and serve as a benign providential allevia- tion of the want of springs. One of these sends up a stem not thicker than a crow quill, and only about three or four inches high, yet lies about a foot below the sur- face, and is as large as a child's head, and consists of spongy cells full of pure cold water. The brutes of the desert, too. are said to be so constituted that they can IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 425 live and thrive for months without getting a drink ; and chap, xxi the\' seem generally to be in good condition. But the human population, the Bakelahari, whom the Baman- gwato monarch so cruelly oppresses, and who suffer dreadfully from many natural privations and hardships, are abject creatures, with sunken visage, large protrud- ing abdomens, and small thin limbs, and look like out- casts on the earth. ♦ The travellers needed all possible exertion and con- Progress trivance, and heroism and patience, to get through the J|J[g).\^'^ ^^® desert. They met no obstructions from man, indeed ; but they found plenty, and these both severe and con- stant, in the climate and the ground. The want of water was terrible ; and the track almost everywhere was either dense bush or heavy sand. The oxen waddled rather than walked ; the waggons seemed ever ready to stick fast ; the drivers wearied themselves with voice and whip ; and long before the desert was half crossed, the travellers began to feel sadly doubtful of success. The guides also were incompetent, and more than once aggravated the disasters by losing the way. But at the very crisis of calamity, deliverance was ob- tained ; for, at a moment when thirst, and bewilder- ment, and exhaustion were doing their utmost, the cavalcade debouched on a large river. " We had been two full days without water," says Mr. Oswell, " and were going in any but the right direction, when I cap- tured a Bushwoman whom I saw skulking off in the long grass. A few beads and mortal terror induced her to confess that she knew of a spring, and offered to con- duct us thither. After passing through a very thick Illusion from belt of trees, we came suddenly on an enormous salt-pan, ^'^ "-"P^"^- or rather succession of salt-pans. It was evening, and the setting sun cast a blue haze over the white incrus- tations, making them look so much like water, that though I was within thirty yards of the edge, I made sure that I had at last reached the lake, and throwing up my hat in the air, shouted till the Bushwoman and 426 EECENT DISCOVERIES CHAP. XXL Bakuains thought I was mad. I soon discovered my mistake, — many made it after me. By the side of the first pan was a small spring of very brackish water. Our oxen reached it next morning. From this point, toward the west-north-west and north-east, we could see dense columns of black smoke rising, and were as- sured that it was the reeds of the lake on fire ! Little thought we that the lake was still some 300 miles from us. Livingston and myself had been clambering up the little hillocks in vain to get a first view for the last three days ; but all doubts of seeing it eventually van- ished on the 4th of July, when riding out from our night's resting place, a little beyond Chakotsa, to search for a path, we came upon the real water river (the Zouga) running, as we struck it, towards the north-east." Tiie river The Zouga proved to be the efflux of the lake, and afforded the travellers a pleasant route to their destina- tion. Their troubles on reaching it were at an end. It was about thirty yards wide where they struck it ; but, unlike other rivers, it became wider and deeper as they ascended it. Its water was clear as crystal, soft, and very cold. Its banks in some parts are flat and rather swampy, but in others are high and picturesque, and in most are lined with palms, baobabs, and other large and beautiful trees. It is augmented by several affluents, particularly a very large one called Tamunakle on the left bank, about forty-five miles from the lake. It has periodical or seasonal floods, and then brings down large shoals of fish. It flows at first eastward and then south-eastward; and is believed to be dissipated, at no great distance, in a sandy desert. Its banks abound with wild beasts, and are profusely indented with well- concealed pitfalls for catching elephants. Progress up The travellers learned at once from the natives that the Zouga, the Zouga effluxes from the great lake ; and they went merrily up its banks, but were much retarded by tumbling into the pitfalls, and working through the jungle. After proceeding for about ninety miles, they IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. " 427 selected one wag'^on and some of the best of the cattle : chap. xxi. and leaving all the rest of the cavalcade to remain there till they returned, they set off with increased energy and speed. This \v?s on the 16th of July ; and twelve days after, they stood on the shore of the lake. But they Arrival at the were prevented there by a projecting piece of land, *^^^' either island or peninsula, from getting a fair view of its expanse ; and they rode about six miles south-west- ward along the beach, and then they were fully and exultingly satisfied. The lake spread before them in one direction about fourteen miles, and in another di- rection away to the horizon like the boundless ocean. What was the real extent of it they had not time nor opportunity to ascertain, but could only conjecture, roughly and dimly, from the statements of the natives. No canoes cross it ; but some coast along it and round it. A man takes two days to walk to the south-west extremity, and one day more to walk to the north-west, and then finds a river called the Teoge, entering from the north-north-east. So at least said the natives ; and on these data the lake is supposed to be about seventy or seventy-five miles long. Its elevation above the level of the sea w-as thermometrically ascertained to be about 2825 feet ; and its position at the efflux of the Zouga was thought to be 20° 19' south la^Hude, and about 24° east longitude. The distance travelled to it from Koulobeng was 603 miles, but probably could have been shortened by a knowledge of short cuts to abont 550 miles. The inhabitants of the country along the lake, and The natives all the upper parts of the Zouga called themselves 1^.1^2. Bayeiye, or very manly persons ; but are ealled by their neighbours Bakoba, or slaves. They are much larger and darker than the Bechuanas, and in every respect superior to them, and have an intelligent appearance, and a frank manly bearing. Their canoes are roughly hollowed out of the trunks of single trees ; and are either straight or crooked according to the natural 428 RECENT DISCOVERIES Produce of the lake. HAP. XXI. configuration of the trunks ; and they are never pro- pelled by sails, but always either by paddling or punt- ing. The fish of the waters are very numerous, and of great size, and form the chief food of the inhabitants. One species of fish with a fiat head, and likewise a fly which is dangerous to cattle and horses, have not been yet found in any other part of the world ; and speci- mens of these, as also of the enormous tusks of the wild boar, and of a native cloth dyed with the wild indigo of the country, were welcomed in Britain as rare curiosities. Mr. Livingston and Mr. Oswell were anxious to make farther exploration ; and the former wished to visit a great chief whom he supposed to live about two hundred miles to the north-north-east. But they found themselves confronted by serious obstacles, and reluctantly resolved ior the present to retrace their steps; in the hope, however, of returning, under more favourable circumstances, in the following year. The lake, though a noble object in itself, seemed incompar- ably nobler as a door of access to vast, unexplored, in- teresting populous regions beyond. Mr. Livingston thought of it as likely to present a way to the aggression of civilization and Christianity among many millions of men in Central AfTJca ; and Mr. Oswell conjectured that it might possibly give practicability to an overland route to the Portugese settlements on the Zambezi, and help on to a solution of the earnest questions which have been raised respecting the far remoteness of the sources of the Nile, And the chief Sebitaone whom Mr. Living- ston wished to visit, and whom he had good reason to believe friendly, was ascertained to have communication with the country round the Zambezi, not directly in- deed, but through the medium of only one other tribe. The news of the discovery of the lake Ngami, made a sensation among the savans and the scientific geo- graphers of Europe and America. A suspicion had been gaining ground that the central region of Africa is a great and lofty plateau ; and this suspicion was now Connection of the lake ■with further discovery. IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 429 materially increased. The great elevation at which the CIIAP. nnl lake lies, and the influx to it, and to the upper part of the Zouga, of large rivers from the north, decidedly in- dicate the existence of extensive, lofty, central moun- tains, not many degrees south of the equator. And to Supposed few persons who had heen watching the progress of pine^piate'm. African discovery, could the query fail to present itself. Is there not a grand alpine plateau, whose culminating ridges are the birth-place of the Congo on the west, the Teogo and the Tamunakle on the south, the Jubb on the east, and the White Nile on the north ? Delight about the discovery of the lake itself, therefore, was at once merged in desire for exploration up its feeding rivers. Mr. Francis Galton, an ardent and energetic African Several geographer, had formed a plan of penetrating far into expluiatiuiL the interior, either from the north or from Port Natal, and was just about to carry it into execution ; but now he resolved to go by the shortest route from the south right to Lake Ngami, and to attempt to penetrate thence to Abyssinia. He furnished himself with all desirable appliances, and sailed in April 1850 for the Cape of Good Hope. Another explorer, Mr. Anderson, a Swede, accompanied him ; and a third, Mr. Charles Johnston, went about the same time from Port Natal. Mr. Os- well, also, before commencing his return from the dis- covery of the lake, resolved that he would next year take up a boat at his own expense from the Cape, and sail in it to the north end of the lake. But, in the meantime, Mr. Livingston himself got Livingston's up and away. Accompanied by his wife and children, ney'to Lake and by a friendly chief and a native teacher, he left '^S'^^i. Koulobeng in April 1850, to renew his acquaintance with the lake, and to penetrate beyond it. He profited well by the experience of the former journey, and tra- versed the desert with little difficulty and not much privation. He at first intended to go right, up the Tamunakle, but afterwards saw cause to go first to the 430 RECENT DISCOVERIES IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. CHAP. NXI. old ground at the efflux of the Zouga from the lake. The venomous fly was reputed to be ruinously abundant in the valley of the Tamunakle ; and he must leave his family, and his teams and waggons, at the efflux of the Zouga, and go up the Tamunakle alone. The chief at the lake, though he had been shy or churlish on the former occasion, was now as kind as any civilized gen- tleman, and engaged both to furnish Mr. Livingston with guides for his expedition, and to make provision Endemic dis- for his family during his absence. But just when the ease round , . . . . " \ i. . j the lake. enterprismg missionary was about to proceed, an en- demic fever broke out with violence among his party, and compelled him once more to desist from further exploration. The fever was caused by exhalations from marshes on the banks of the lake and tlie river, and is common among the natives at the time of the year when the water is lowest, and the evaporation most abundant ; and it may possibly prevent Europeans from settling on the lake, in the same way in which a similar evil repels European intercourse from the delta of the Kiger. Livingston's In the spring of 1851, Mr. Livingston and Mr. Oswell }.tory|mir-'" "lade another exploratory journey. They jiroceeded ^^7- by the same route as on their first journey as far as to Chakotsa, in the vicinity of the Zouga, and then directed their course nearly due north. The first region which they entered beyond the Zouga is largely occupied by salt-pans, one of which they computed to be at least fifteen miles broad, and perhaps 100 miles long. The next tract is " perfectly level and hard," rich in springs, and comparatively fertile ; and is inhabited by a considerable population of Bushmen, who are subject to Sicomy, and display more intelligence than most of the tribes of South Africa. " These people," says Mr. Livingston, '' are remarkabh^ unlike their more southern brethren, though speaking a dialect of the same language, and bearing the same name. They are fine, tall, strapping fellows, and nearly as black as the Caffres, and are also the most daring Bushmen in the IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 431 country, frequently killing the elephant both by day chap, xxi and during moonlight nights. The entire Bushman nation, as scattered over the Kalahari desert, around and westward of the lake, and likewise in the regions to the north of that, must be very large. The theory that Bushmen are Hottentots, driven to their present The Bush- position and habits by the encroachments of the whites, Desert ^"*^ receives no confirmation from any tradition existing among themselves, nor from the actual and immemorial condition of the more distant hordes." After leaving Sicomy's country, IMessrs. Livingston raid Oswell for some days traversed " the worst country they had seen in Africa," parched with excessive drought, producing only low arid shrubs, and pervaded by a deathy stillness which not a bird or an insect seemed ever to disturb. But beyond this they entered the country of Sebitaone, the great chief whom they vainly sought to visit in their first journey, and found it to be fertile in soil, abundant in waters, and teeming with population. They sojourned about two months on the Chobe river, in south latitude 18° 20', and east longitude 26° ; and made a trip thence to the Seshehe river, in south latitude 17° 28', and east longitude 26° 50'. These rivers, which are very large even to- ward the end of the dry season, they believed to belong to the system of tlie Zambeze. " The extensive region The country to the north, north-east, and north-west of the Chobe °^ Sebitaone. and Seshehe rivers," say they, " is for hundreds of miles nearly a dead level. In passing along a hundred miles from the part where our waggons stood on the Chobe to the river Sesheh^, we saw no rise higher than an ant-hill. The country is intersected by numerous deep rivers ; and, adjacent to each of these, immense reedy bogs or swamps stretch away in almost every direction. Oxen cannot pass through these swamps, but sink in ; and, on looking down into the holes thus made, the parts immediately under the surface are seen to be filled with water. These rivers are not like many which bear the 432 RECENT DISCOVERIES CHAP. XXI. name of such in South Africa, mere 'nullahs,' contain- ing nothing hut sand and stones. On the contrary, all those which came under our ohservation here contained large volumes of water, and that too flowing with con- siderable rapidity at the end of an extraordinarily dry The liver season. Yet on sounding the Chobe, we found it to ^^ ^' have a regular depth of fifteen feet on the side to wliich the water swung, and twelve feet on the calm side. The banks below the lowest water-mark were nearly per- pendicular, and the water was as deep a foot from the bank as in the middle of the stream ; the roots of the reeds and coarse grass seeming to prevent it from wear- ing away the banks, — which, however, in many parts are undermined and overhang the water. The lands in this region are raised only a few feet above the pre- vailing level on which the people pasture their cattle, make their gardens, and build their towns. The rivers overflow their banks annuallj' ; and when they fill, the whole country is inundated, and must present the ap- pearance of a vast lake with numerous islands scattered over its surface." Sebitaone received the travellers most hospitably, but died about a fortnight after their arrival. His succes- sor in authority seemed equally hospitable, and it was hoped would give countenance to Europeans either for the purpose of trade or for that of Christian missions. The slave The slave-trade had never been known there till only a few months before, — when some dealers in it had penetrated through the interior from the west; and even that most atrocious traflfic, so horrible to the veriest savages, had been tolerated, — the authorities giving it no opposition, and many of the people being easily induced to part with young persons under their protection in exchange for gaudy European goods. The country abounds in natuial productions suitable for commerce, which the natives could easily collect and would readily dispose of; and Mr. Livingston suggests that British merchants, by sending articles to be bar- trude. IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 433 tered for these, might both earn fair profits, and prevent chap. XXL the growth of the traffic in slaves. Mr. Francis Galton, who is mentioned on our 429th Mr. Gaiton's page, was induced by the Governor of the Cape Colony explorations. to commence his explorations on the west coast at Wal- fisch Bay. He landed there in August 1850, travelled thence westward and northward, and did not return thither till December 1851 ; and, though not penetrat- ing to Lake Ngami, he discovered a great extent of country lying between that lake and the coast. *' Hav- ing journeyed about 1600 miles between Walfisch Bay on the south, and Ondonga in south latitude 17° 58' near the Nourse River on the north," says Sir R. J. Murchison, in his presidental address to the Royal Geographical Society, " and extending his explorations inland to the 21st degree of east longitude, Mr. Galton has made a very important addition to our acquaintance with the geography of Southern Africa. Through this joui'ney, accomplished entirely at the expense and by the energy of Mr. Galton, we obtained a desciiption of the Dammara people, who, though a race of fine stature, The Dim- are in a low moral state, and likely to be extinguished ™'"'^ peoi.ie. by the more powerful and enterprising Namaquas. The high table-land, which was traversed to reach the Ovampo, is cut through by deep ravines, the chief of which serve as escapes for the periodical floods of the rivers. Like his contemporaries on the eastern side of the African water-shed, Mr. Galton passed over a great saline deposit, as if the residue of a desiccated lake, and met with a brackish, a tepid, and a very hot spring. " In delineating the moral character as well as the physical conformation of the different tribes or nations of South Africa, it is interesting to observe, from the observations of j\Ir. Galton, how their differences are connected with the form, subsoil, and vegetation of their respective lands. Thus, the arid, inland plateaux, covered only with thick jungles and short brushwood, 434 RECENT DISCOVERIES. ^^^ ^ZlI"^^ hold the dwarfed and sinewy Bushman ; the more open, hilly, and undulating pasture lands, the Dam- maras, a nation of independent herdsmen, each chief of a family heing supreme in his own little circle; whilst the rich corn lands on the north are occupied by the race which is the most civilized and advanced, the TheOvainpo. Ovampo. Ondonga, the capital of this people, (whose king would not permit our traveller to proceed north- wards), is estimated to be about seventy or eighty miles to the south of the great river Amorongo-Achilunda, the Nourse of our maps. " This journey, together with other excursions towards the interior of Southern Africa, whether undertaken from the south or from the west, have led us to conclude that, whilst plateaux of some altitude fringe the coasts and advance some distance into the interior, (rising, as in the Dammaia country, according to Mr. Galton, to heights of about 5,000 and 6,000 feet above the sea), the more central country, instead of being a mountainous region, is a watershed of little greater elevation; whilst the most central region of all is of no great altitude, and is occupied by a succession of lakes, of which Ngami is the southernmost." Mr. Anderson, the Swede, who is alluded to in our 429th page, accompanied Mr. Galton throughout his journey from Walfisch Bay to Ondonga and back; and Mr. Ander- when ]\Ii\ Galtou returned to Europe, Mr. Anderson remained in Africa, in order to repeat the exploration and to extend it. He reached Ondonga a second time in June 1853, and he proceeded thence in a journey of about two hundi'ed miles, to Lake ISTgami. He con- sumed 'about four weeks in that journey, but was in- active during more than half of the time, in consequence of a severe wound received from a black rhinoceros. Much of the new country traversed by him was arid wilderness, but much also was good pastiu-e, alive with wild flocks, though but thinly inhabited by men ; and son's explor ations. IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 435 most was dense, tliorny thicket, almost impenetrable chap. xxi. by waggons, and so harassing to our traveller and his attendants as to tear their clothes, their carosses, and even their strong ox-hide saddle-bags, into ribands. Lake Ngami, as it first burst upon Mr. Anderson's view, looked magnificent. But, on his becoming better acquainted with it, he felt disappointment as to both its size and its character. He went nearly quite round Hisexamina- it, and otherwise closely examined it ; and he was led ^^g"j°f ^^^® to the conclusion, that it does not exceed eighty-two miles in circumference, and nine miles in extreme breadth : but, much of its shore being low, sandy, and without tree or bush, he saw it, as the discoverers of it had seen it, stretching away to the horizon. He ob- served it to undergo a considerable daily rise and fall on either shore, similar to a flow and ebb ; and he in- ferred, from indications round its shores, as well as from some accounts of the natives, that about sixty years ago it was much larger than at present, and was at a previous time smaller. The former of these phenomena he ascribes to diurnal change in the local winds, push- ing the waters dming one part of the day in one direc- tion, and in the other part of the day in the opposite du'ection ; and the latter he ascribes to the prevalence of excessive rains in one continuous series of seasons, and to the prevalence of unusual droughts in another series. The lake was found by him to extend, not north and south, but in an east-north-easterly direction, and to be contracted in the middle and expanded at the ends. Two species of antelopes, new to science, and a Products of great variety of game, occur in its neighbourhood ; but *'^? l^!^^^ the only marketable articles yet ascertained are ostrich hood, feathers, various kinds of skins, rhinoceros-horns, and elephant and sea-cow ivory. Mr. Anderson borrowed two canoes from tlie chief of the Bayeiye to explore the River Teoge. This stream has a southerly course, and enters the north-west cor- 436 RECENT DISCOVERIES CHAP. XXI. ner of the Lake Kgami. He ascended it for thirteen days, but found it so tortuous that, at the end of that time, he had made only about one degree of northing. Ti'.e Mnks of Its bauks, for some days, were dreary and monotonous, Teoge"*^^ frequently expanding into miles and miles of reedy marshes, relieved only by occasional groups of palm- trees; but farther up, they became diversified and higher, richly feathered with wood, and teeming ^vith the beasts of the forest. On the ninth day our traveller diverged into an affluent which he describes as " merely one of those small branches of the main stream so fre- quently met with which are formed by the Teoge over- flowing its banks, which not unusually rejoin it after a day or two." He found this locality a continuous series of streams, lakes, and swamps, dotted or fringed with pieces of most luxuriant vegetation ; and, spend- ing two nights in it, " found himself early and late im- mersed in water, sometimes swimming, at other times The richness wading up to his ucck." This profusion of water, aC' of theTeoge's compauied "«ith equal profusion of organic life, in the near vicinity of arid regions, is all the more remarkable that the time of IMr. Anderson's visit to it was in the middle of the dry season of the year. He learned that the appearances farther north were similar to those around him; but he was hindered from proceeding farther by the sudden, capricious withdi'awal from him of all requisite assistance for continuing his exploration. He got sure intelligence, however, of the existence, at six days' farther travel up the river, of a thickly-peopled district, rich in native products, beautiful in scenery, and largely frequented by neighbouring tribes as a centre of great inland traffic. Mr. (now Dr.) Livingston, in the meanwhile, was away on the grandest exploration which had yet been undertaken anywhere in Southern Africa. He deter- mined to carry out the design of his own former ex- plorations with the utmost fire of his zeal, and to the IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 437 extremity of liis strengtli. He disencumbered himself chap. xxi. of all other cares, aud went with singleness of heart to the execution of his purpose. Having, in June 1852, sent off his family to England, to abide there the results of his enterprise, he once more set his face toward the uvingsion-s country of the Chobe River, accompanied only by a ^°"''^'^ ^^" small number of native attendants, with the least pos- j'oumey. sible amount of travelling ecpiipage. His intention was to obtain a better acquaintance vvith the regions he had last visited, and to attempt to discover an easy or at least practicable route of communication between them and either the western or the eastern coast. For some distance he pursued the same direction as on his previous journey; but afterwards he went in a direction more to the left. His new path led him into a densely wooded country, thickly overgrown with vines, showing plenteous clusters of dark purple grapes, but offering such resistance to progress that in many parts he was obliged to cut his way through it with the axe. On reaching the region of the rivers described on our 431st page, he found the whole country in the condi- tion of a vast lake, variegated with islets and with tufts of wood. The rivers w^ere not now, as at his former visit, within their ordinary channels, but had all over- flown their banks. His attendants, also, with only one exception, were all now struck with sickness, and could not proceed. Abandoning everything except a small His approach pontoon, and accompanied by only one person, he ^? *^® ^^^^^ " splashed through twenty miles of inundated plain " in search of the channel of the Chobe ; and on approach- ing this, he found himself intercepted by a broad bar- rier of reeds, flags, papyrus, and what he calls a " horrid sort of grass, about six feet high, having serrated edges, which cut his hands most cruelly, and wore his strong moleskin unmentionables quite tiirough at the knees." Three days did he spend in working his w^ay through this barrier, constantly wading up to his waist, and 2d 438 RECENT DISCOVERIES CHAP. xxr. dragging tlie pontoon after him, yet sleeping soundly at night. On reaching the open current of the Chobe, he launched out in his pontoon, and, sailing down about twenty miles, reached a water-girt village of the Mak- ololo, the tribe of the deceased chief Sebitoane. The His arrirai "villagers, who Supposed themselves intrenched by the among the outsprcad watcrs from all possible invasion by man, i. a 0. -yrQ^Q thunderstruck at his appearance ; but on ascer- taining who he was, under their profound veneration for his character, they accounted for his appearance by alleging that " he had fallen as from a cloud, and came riding on a hippopotamus." Intelligence of his arrival soon spread by canoe among other villages of the tribe, and brought out an assemblage of well-manned canoes to convey him to the capital, and to go in quest of the invalids and the waggon he had left behind. Sekeletu, the successor of Sebitoane, and then nineteen years of age, gave him a cordial welcome, exclaiming, " I have now got another father instead of Sebitoane." All the people also, in their own rude way, celebrated his arrival as a brighter event, and far fuller of promise, than any they had ever Imown. His residence Dr. Livingston remained several months at Linyanti, at Linyanti. ^^^ capital of the Makololo, promoting the welfare of chief and people, and obtaining information respecting the surrounding country. He doubted nothing that the rich country around him lay within the basin of the Zambeze, and probably extended eastward, in its beauty and luxuriance, all the way to the Indian Ocean ; but he soon became satisfied that, in both breadth and wealthiness, it also extended far in the upward direc- tion, toward the north-west ; and he resolved to explore experimentally in that direction, with the view of test- ing his hopes as to the probability of discovering a good route of communication westward to the Atlantic Ocean. He left Linyanti in July 1853, accompanied by a strong escort of the Makololo. His path was on the waters, IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 439 up a grand channel, bearing the name of the Lecambye, chap. xxi. which he came to regard as the main head-stream of the Zambeze. This river, as he ascended it, realized his highest anticipations. " It is often," he says, " more His expiora- than a mile broad, and adorned with numerous islands J*°" *^^*'^® of from three to four miles in length. These, and the ^^ ^'" banks too, are covered with forest ; and most of the trees on the brink of the water send doT\Ti roots from their branches, like the banian. The islands at a little distance seemed rounded masses of sylvan vegetation of various hues, reclining on the bosom of the glorious stream. The beauty of the scene is greatly increased by the date-palm and the lofty palmyra towering above the rest, and casting their feathery foliage against a cloudless sky. The banks are rocky and undulating, and many villages are situated upon them, inhabited by a poor but industrious people, who are expert hunters of hippopotami and other animals, and cultivate grain extensively." From about fifty miles up, or more, on to about south latitude 16'^, the river has a rocky, declivi- tous bed, causing it to form a succession of cataracts ; but north of this, it traverses a rich plain about a hun- dred miles long from north to south, bounded by two hill-ranges which diverge from the vicinity of the river till they attain a distance from each other of about twenty or thirty miles. The plain is inhabited by an His account industrious tribe, called the Barotse, who practise vig- °5 ^^'^ ^°''^^- orously, in their own rude way, the arts of both tilling Barotse.^^ and depasturing, and who have formed numerous mounds for the inhabitation of both themselves and their cattle during the yearly season of the floods. Bu'ds aboimd on the river, and the beasts of the forest swarm in every place not occupied by man. "The herds of large animals," says Dr. Livingston, " surpass anything I ever saw. Elands and buffaloes, 'their tameness was shocking to me.' Eighty-one buffaloes defiled slo^^y before oiu* fire one evening, and lions 440 RECENT DISCOVERIES His explora tion of the Leeba. CHAP. XXI. were impudent enough to roar at us." A little above the plain of the Barotse, the river was found to fork into two channels, the larger of which comes down from the east-north-east, while the smaller, called the Leeba, comes down from the north-north-west. Dr. Li\ing- ston pursued the latter to a point in south latitude 14° 11'. Its banks for some distance were low and tree- less, but afterwards became densely covered with forest, and eventually rose into such elevated country as seemed to debar any farther progress. From this point, how- ever, he hoped to open a route across the country to the Portuguese settlement of Loanda, on the coast of the Atlantic ; and, in the meanwhile, he retraced his way to Linyanti, to recruit himself there, and to make what preparations he could for his purposed farther adven- tm'e. Dr. Livingston remained at Linyanti tiU the com- mencement of the rainy season. This was the earUest period suitable for his proceeding up the rivers, though necessarily a disadvantageous one for the part of his route between the rivers and the coast. He started on the 10th of November 1853. The principal Makololo, and especially their chief, Sekeletu, provided him well with travelling aj^phances, and twenty-seven of the Barotse volunteered to accompany him as assistants. He reached -^-ith ease his former point on the Leeba ; and there he commenced to penetrate the country west- His journey ward on ox-back. His journey from the beginning onwards was a constant struggle through floods and drenching rains. He made detours to avoid the most flooded parts of the coimtry ; he traversed several ex- tensive plains which were entirely under water, in some parts to a depth which reached his saddle ; he succeeded in crossing river-courses chiefly by means of rustic bridges, which were submerged to the depth of several feet, but could be distinctly seen through the clearness of the water ; he felt compelled to carry his chronometer toward the west coast. IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 441 in liis armpit, as the only place wliicli could preserve it chap, xxl from being ruined; and night after night he lay in his drenched clothes on the satiu-ated ground, suffering re- peated attacks of intermittent fever, till at length he became so weak and giddy as to be scarcely able to sit on his ox or maintain full command of his mind. Yet, in spite of all disasters, he made good observation of the regions which he traversed, and performed keenly and constantly the work of a wise, benevolent, scientific explorer. The country traversed by him between the Leeba His passape and the rivers which run to the Atlantic is inhabited ^^^^'J^^; *^'^ by a tribe called the Balonda. It seemed principally the Baionda, an elevated tableau of great breadth, with a sudden de- scent of about two thousand feet on its west flank. Its general surface is a series of undulations, each four or five miles broad, disposed lengthwise from north-north- east to south-south-west, and separated from one another • by troughs or valleys, each about a mile wide, and either watered by a stream or occupied by a marsh. Dense forests cover all the undulations, and fine meadows, variegated by the dwellings and gardens of the inhabi- tants, overspread the valleys. All the country is thickly peopled. Villages were passed every few miles, often so many as ten in a day. Some were extremely neat ; while others stood amid such rank vegetation that only the tops of them, even when they were close at hand, could be seen by our traveller from his place on the ox-saddle. The inhabitants obtain abundant food by an easy working of the ground, favoured by conditions of soil and climate which render planting or reaping suitable at every season of the year ; and they behaved His hospita- most kindly to Dr. Livingston and his assistants, lavish- J^'^f^^Pf^^^ -. .n -, . 1 -,1 J -^1 bytheBalon- mg the produce of their crops upon them without either ^.^^ entreaty or reward. And well was it fOr our travellers to be thus supplied, for they found no game in the country of the Balonda, and little or no wild fruit. 442 RECENT DISCOVERIES CHAP. XXI. On proceeding farther west, among another tribe called Chiboqui, Dr. Livingston received very different His passage treatment. These people live near enough the coast to through the j^^^yg learned avaricious practices from the remote traffic coujitrv of -^ . , . theChiboquL 01 the Portuguese, without at the same time learning anything good. They demanded from Dr. Livingston, on the most frivolous pretences, payments of whatever he possessed, or even of " a man, an ox, or a gun ;" and on meeting a refusal, they sometimes congregated or followed in great multitudes, brandishing their weapons and uttering the most menacing cries. Our travellers vainly tried to satisfy them by parting with nearly everything they possessed, and at last were obliged to assume appearances of stolid indifference, antl to push on in silence. But on reaching the Portuguese terri- tory, they were suddenly befriended by a settler, who made cordial efforts to supply their wants ; and thence, till they reached Loanda, they experienced unbounded kindness and hospitality both from the general popula- His amrai at tion and from the authorities. Dr. Livingston entered Loanda. Loanda in a state of utter exhaustion. He could sit on his ox not longer than ten minutes at a time, and was reduced almost to a skeleton. But there, in the manner of the warmest friendship, he and his twenty- seven assistants were at once received into the house of Mr. Gabriel, Her Majesty's Commissioner for the sup- pression of the slave trade. " I shall never," says he, "forget the delicious pleasure of lying down on his bed after sleeping six months on the ground, nor the unwearied attention and kindness, through a long sick- ness, which Mr. Gabriel invariably showed." Dr. Livingston's native companions patiently awaited his recovery. They were struck with awe at the sight of a city. The ships in the harbour looked to them to be objects of a totally different nature from their o^vn simple canoes. Coals discharged from one of the ships seemed to be " stones that burn." But what most of IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 443 all surprised them was the expanse of ocean spreading chap. xxi. away to the horizon, and blending there into the sky. " Our fathers told us," said they, " that the world had The notions no end, but they were wrong ; for as we travelled on, °^ ^^^ "^^^^'® all at once we came to the world s end, and the world said to us, ' I'm done ; there's no more of me, — there's nothing but sea.' " Dr. Livingston, on recovering from liis sickness, felt bound to conduct these simple crea- tures back to their own country. He was convinced, too, that neither the route by which he had reached Loanda, nor probably any other, was sufficiently facile to be a line of regular communication between the Atlantic coast and the regions around Linyanti ; so that he felt constrained to retiu-n to these regions with the view of attempting to explore a suitable line of com- munication from them to the Indian Ocean. Dr. Livingston set out on his return journey at the * close of 1854. He took advantage of his retraversing the province of Angola to mark as well as he could the advantages which it ojffers for colonization. The im- his return mediate seaboard, except in the vicinity of streams, Joiii""ey presents a rather arid appearance, with plenty of hard, loia^°^^ '^^" coarse grass, but not many trees. Yet even here the " lands along the streams, to the breadth of several miles, are Ioav, alluvial, and fertile, yielding fine crops of sugar- cane, manioc, esculent vegetables, oranges, bananas, and mangoes. The country more inland is mountainous, well watered with perennial springs, and mollified by dense vapours brought regularly up at difierent hours of the day by western winds. Dense forests cover the mountains, umbrageous with huge branches and large climbers, resonant with the calls of tropical birds, and similar in tone and character to the great forests of Brazil. The palm which yields the oil of commerce everj^where abounds ; pine-apples, bananas, and several kinds of South American fruit-trees, first introduced by the Portuguese missionaries, flourish wild in the 444 KECENT DISCOVERIES CHAP. XXI. woods ; and most excellent coffee, which originated from a few seeds of tlie celebrated Mocha, propagates itself spontaneously and profusely in the forests. Dr. Livingston's return journey through the regions between Angola and Linyanti was attended hv some adventiu-es, but did not elicit much additional information, lyroffat's ex- The Rev. Robert Moffat, Dr. Livingston's father-in- ?!°yf^,'"'!/? law, in the meantime made a remarkable exploration Matlokotloko „ ' . . -^7- i r- tt- i i from his station at Kuruman, south ot Koulobeng, to Matlokotloko, the town of a great chief called Mosele- katse, situated to the east of the country of the Mako- lolo, at the distance of only ten days' journey from the Zambeze. His object, in this exploration, was partly to open the way for a missionary settlement in Mosele- katse's country, and partly to engage that chief to send forward papers and supplies to Dr. Livingston, to await him in the course of his expected progress do^NTi the Zambeze. Mr. Moffat's journey occupied seven months, and lay chiefly through a beautiful, wooded, well- watered country. Moselekatse's dominions were ascer- tained to extend from the Limpopo to the Zambeze; and his subjects to comprise several tribes, one of whom speaks a language into which Mr. Moffat had already His reception translated the Bible. Moselekatse welcomed Mr. Moffat by Moseie- j^Qg|. cordially, formed a strong friendship with him, undertook at once to send a party of twenty-one men onward with the supplies to Dr. Livingston, and gave Mr. Moffat himself an escort and supplies for his o^m re- turn journey to Kuruman. The party sent forward with Dr. Livingston's supplies carried seventeen boxes and other packages ; and on arriving at the Zambeze they laid these down on the bank of the river, and hailed some Makololo on the opposite bank to come over and receive them. The Makololo were at war with Mosele- katse, and suspected treachery ; but after the party went away, they crossed the river, conveyed the packages to an island, put them under protection from the weather, IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 445 and so left tliem that Dr. Livingston, upwards of a chap. xxi. year after, when on his way to the east, found them all in perfect safety. Dr. Livingston, after returning from the west to Lin- yanti, abode there nearly two months. No fewer than one hundred and fourteen picked men of the Makololo volunteered to accompany him to the east coast. He Livingston's resolved to proceed on ox-back down the left side of the jouiney to- Zambeze. His route would lie, for a long distance, coast, through the dominions of Sekeletu, and was likely to receive rather help than hinderance from any influence which might be made to bear upon it by the neighbour- ing great chief, Moselekatse. Dr. Livingston proceeded on his joiu-ney amid constant demonstrations of joy and welcome. The natives everywhere received him with respect or veneration, and did all they could, gracefully and gratuitously, to give food and shelter to himself and his attendants. He readily availed himself of their hospitality, yet found the country so exceed- ingly rich in game and esculents that he could have had no difficulty in obtaining all necessary supplies by mere foraging. Pigs, zebras, antelopes, spring-boks. Profusion giraffes, buff'aloes, and elephants, everywhere abounded. °5 same ?,.',,' ^ ' '^ , throughout Sprmg-boks alone were so numerous as to appear, upon his jom-ney. a plain of twenty or twenty-five square miles, like a tremulous mass, sometimes in sprinklings and at other times in dense crowds. Geese, ducks, and other birds, lay like clouds within the view, insomuch that nearly a score of them would fall by a single shot. ISTor was fish much less plentiful than flesh and fowl. Dr. Livingston, throughout the early part of his journey, kept in sight of the Zambeze, and took note of its sinuosities. In south latitude 17° 57', and east longitude 26° 6', he came in view of the most striking object which he has anywhere seen in Africa. This is a stupendous cataract of the Zambeze, very diff'erent in style from the famous falls of Niagara, but fully equal 446 RECENT DISCOVERIES CHAP. XXI. to them in scenic power. The river contracts from a width of about 3,000 feet, rushes into a fissure in basal- tic rock only about 75 feet wide, shoots down a deep gorge not much wider, and falls thenCe about 105 feet into a trough of 90 feet in diameter, disengaging vapours The falls of which asccud to the height of 300 or 400 feet, forming the Zambezi c^jj outspread cloud, and condensing into perpetual rain. So was the cataract seen, in the dry season, by Dr. Livingston. But in the rainy season the river, though swollen beyond its ordinary bed to a breadth of many miles, still forces its augmented volume through the same fissure into the same trough; and then, as the natives report, the roar and the spray of its fall are perceptible at the distance of ten or twelve miles. On leaving the falls, Dr. Livingston deflected from the Zambeze and travelled one hundred and forty miles through a very rocky country to a point where the Zambeze is joined on its left bank by the Kafue. This tributary is a majestic stream, broad and deep, water- ing a well-peopled region, inhabited by tribes who have The hills of somo peculiar usages. A fine range of hills, which Dr. the Kafu^. Livingston ascertained to have an altitude of about four thousand feet above the level of the sea, stretches along the east flank of the Kafue, far away to the north. This range, together with a considerable territory to the eastward of it, is much higher than most other parts of the basin of the Zambeze and of its tributaries which oiu' traveller had seen. It is likewise free from both marsh and forest. The surface of it is open and imdu- lating, carpeted with short grass, looking like an exten- sive park, and well suited to the purposes of either tillage or pastui-e. The cKmate of it likewise is good, — free alike from the inflaming heats of the desert and the feverish damps of the flooded countries, and seem- ingly well adapted to maintain botl* the health and the cheerfidness of European settlers. Dr. Livingston, therefore, hailed it as the very tract of which he had IN THE EAST AND SOUTH. 447 been in search in oil liis Tvauderings, as an excellent chap. xxi. great seat of Christian missions to the central parts of Southern Africa. Our traveller, pursuing his way clown the left side of the Zambeze, arrived, about a hundred miles farther on, at the mouth of another large tributary, called the Loangula. There he saw some ruins of a town called Zumbo, built by the early Portuguese colonists, but long ago deserted. He thence pursued his course The country through a difficult countrj-, covered with brushwood, J*^^*^^^ ^"'^" swarming with beasts of prey, and inhabited by a most ferocious tribe of savages. He had no longer an ox, and was obliged to go through this country on foot. His sufferings and exhaustion, therefore, became very great, insomuch that, on arriving within eight miles of Tete, a Portuguese town on the Zambeze, where he confidently expected to receive a most hospitable wel- come, he sank on the ground as if to die, and could not, till refreshments were brought to him from the town, be induced by his companions to arise and make another effort. But at length, on the 2d of March 1856, he en- tered Tete, and there, in the house of the governor, he enjoyed such kindness and repose as speedily restored him to strength. Tete stands on the Zambeze, at the distance of three hundred miles from the sea. All the course of the river below it is through a pestilential delta of similar character to that of the Niger. The time of Dr. Living- ston's arrival and recovery being an unhealthy one for traversing the delta, he resolved to remain some weeks at Tete to make inquiry into the capacities and re- The country sources of the surrounding country. These proved to ^^'^'^^^ ^ete. be rich, up to his highest point of expectation ; and, at the same time, are such as to render Tete an effective entrepot of facile commimication from the ocean, up the Zambeze, to all the countries explored by Dr. Liv- ingston as far west as to the Leeba. Coal is abundant ; 448 EECENT DISCOVERIES. The naviga tion of the Zambeze. CHAP. XXI. excellent iron ore is plentiful ; gold in large quantity lias been found ; vegetable productions of the kinds common to Southern Africa, together with senna and cinchona, aboimd ; sugar and indigo might be raised to almost any extent ; and all the valuables of the waste or the forest, such as bees' wax and ivory, can be largely ac- cumulated. The navigation of the Zambeze also, both for ships up its delta and for vessels of various kinds up its trunk-stream and its main tributaries, promises to be easy. This great river, in fact, viewed in con- nection vrith Dr. Livingston's discoveries, looks to be a patent highway perfectly prepared by Divine Providence for the triumphant entrance of Christianity, civilization, and trade, to all the interior of Southern Africa. Dr. Li\^ngston, before leaving Tete, made arrange- ments for his fellow-travellers of the Makololo to re- main there during a year or more, till he should proceed to England and return. They could have no difficulty in supporting themselves dming his absence on the game and wild fruits of the neighbom'ing forests ; and they would need both his counsel as a friend and his guidance as an astronomical observer to conduct them safely back through the trackless regions to theu' home. LivJiTgstf^n^s He left them, therefore, under a mutual understanding that, before the close of the year 1857, he would return. He reached Quillimaue on the coast on the 26th of May, but ascertained that that town, contrary to all previous belief, stands, not at one of the mouths of the Zambeze, but upon an insignificant stream some distance to the north. Thence he set sail to England, to make known his discoveries, and to invite the directors of the gi^eat missionary society Avith which he is connected to send out a colony of missionaries to the high, healthy tract of country at the confluence of the Kafue and the Zambeze, vUit to En laud SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFKICA. 449 CHAPTER XXII. Social Condition of Africa. I)istinction between Native and Foreign Tribes — Natives — Agri- culture — Manufactures — Internal Trade — Exports and Iniport3 between Great Britain and Western Africa — Domestic Accom- modation — Intellectual Character — Superstitions — AVar and Slavery — Amiable Features — Forms of Government — Foreign Races — Mohammedan Converts — European Colonization — Cape of Good Hope — Albany District — Natal — Effects of Missionary Enterprise — Sierra Leone — Settlements on the Gambia — The Gold Coast — Tbe Origin, History, and Present Condition of Liberia — Steam Navigation to Africa. Having commenced this work by a general survey of CHAP. nxii Africa as it came from Nature's hand, we shall con- elude by giving a rapid sketch of the changes made by man, — the societies formed on its immense surface ; its arts, its industry, its social and moral institutions ; and noticing, finally, the attempts of Britain and the United States to establish colonies within its borders. A special distinction must be made in the outset be- Distinction tween the native inhabitants and the several foreign l^atiVe^umi races from Arabia and other Asiatic countries, by whom foreign a very large portion of it has been occupied. This dis- tinction we shall rest, not upon supposed resemblances of form and figure, or faint analogies between the lan- guage of distant nations, but upon the introduction, within the period of authentic history, of a people, manners, and religion, belonging to another continent. The changes now mentioned were effected, in a great measure, by the inroads of the Arabs or Saracens, and afterwards by the conquests of the Turks, — events which 450 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. CHAP. XXII. have difiFused over the northern half of Africa a social character every way different from that of the tribes by whom it was formerly inhabited. We shall begin, how- ever, by considering the native races who at present people this quarter of the globe. Condition of Generally speaking, they still exist in that stage of races.^'^'^'^ Society which is denominated barbarian ; being only elevated above the hunting or savage state by the power of subjecting the lower animals, and by a certain rude agriculture which the fertility of the soil renders pro- ductive. Yet few of them are nomadic like the Arabs or the Tartars, having generally fixed dwellings, to which they cling with the strongest attachment. Even the tenants of the desert, who roam to a great extent in pursuit of plunder, have their little watered valleys, or a circuit of hills, in which they make their peimanent abode. Agriculture, including pasturage, forms the most im- portant branch of industry in every society, and more especially in one where all the finer arts are yet in their infancy. In Africa, however, the extent of cultivation is still limited, while the processes employed are ex- tremely imperfect. This is manifest from the fact that no private property in land has yet been any where The distribu- established. Every city or village is encircled by an tion of land, extensive common, which, being marked by no indivi- dual appropriation, may be said to belong to the king or the state, and of which a portion is granted to any one who will undertake the labour and expense of cul- tivating it ; while the remainder is pasture-ground, on A^hich all the inhabitants have the liberty of feedmg their cattle, which must be watched by night as well as by day. There are no country seats, no rural farms, such as embellish the a'^pect of a European landscape ; and which, in fact, could not exist in safety, where each little state is begirt with hostile neighbours, and so many predatory bands are moving in every direction. The population is collected in towns or large villages, which are surrounded with such fortifications as may SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 451 v>'ard off the attack of a rude enemy. The space within CHAP. XXII- the walls is usually pretty extensive, where the houses are interspersed with cultivated fields, and the low roofs are seen rising amidst ears of corn. All the processes of preparing the ground, sowing, and reaping, are slight and simple. The plough has not passed the limits of The practices Barbary ; and perhaps, in tropical climates, the deep ^^j^^g^^^^^^" furrow which it lays open might expose the soil too much to the parching effects of a burning sun. Grain is raised only by means of profuse moisture, which of itself softens the earth. After the periodical floods have deluged the ground, and when the temporary river- inundation has retired, the labourers walk forth ; one slightly stirs the earth with a hoe, while another, close behind, deposits the grain. In most cases this duty is lightened, from being performed by all the inhabitants in common, when it appears less a scene of toil than of pastime. The village musician plays the most lively airs ; the workers keep time to his tune ; and a specta- tor at a little distance would suppose them to be dancing instead of labouring. Irrigation in all tropical climates is the chief source of fertility ; and wherever industry has made any progress, pains are taken to collect and distribute the waters, which cither fall in rain or are conveyed by river-channels. In all the more arid regions, the prevailing grains are ^^ ^^ of inferior character, coarse and small, — rather, as Job- cuitivatiiO. son says, like seeds than corn, and fitted less for bread than for paste or pottage. The dhourra is the most common, extending over all Eastern Africa ; while mil- let in the west, and teff in Abyssinia, are productions nearly similar. In the latter country and Houssa, both wheat and rice are raised, but only in favourable situa- tions, and for the tables of the more opulent. Perhaps the greatest exertion of agricultural industry is that be- stowed upon the culture of the manioc, -^'hich is the main article of food in Congo and some of the insular territories. Considerable care is required in rearing it, especially in cleaning the ground round the plants ; and 452 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. CRAP. XXII Manufa( - tuies. Nej;roes Preparing the Manioc Root. after the root, which is the valuable part, iias been dug up, it must be p^round in a species of mill, and dried in small furnaces, before it can be used as flour. The pro- cess is represented in the accompanying plate. Manufactures, in a country where men are contented with the simplest accommodations, cannot attain any high importance. There are, however, certain fine fabrics peculiar to Central Africa ; of which the most general is cotton cloth, produced in several districts, of a beautiful texture, dyed blue with fine indigo, and it- ceiving from the method employed a brilliant glos^. Leather in Houssa is dressed and dyed in the same rich soft style as is practised in Morocco ; and probably, in both cases, the process is native. Mats, used for sitting SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 453 and sleeping on, are the staple manufacture in many CHAP, xxil parts of Western Africa. Gold and silver ornaments are made with some taste, and iron is generally fabricated, though with an imperfect degree of skill. The tribes of Africa have scarcely in any instance commerce, arrived at the first rudiments of maritime commerce. The circuit of that continent presents no spacious inlets of the sea, — no deep bays to cherish the growth of infant navigation. ]\Iany even of tlie great rivers are little it at all subservient to the purposes of mercantile com- munication ; and hence almost all the trade, with the exception of that on the lower part of the Niger, is carried on by land. Caravans, kafilas or coffles, connect the extremities of the continent. These are formed by a union of travellers, — an arrangement necessary for mutual aid amid the difficulties and perils by which almost every track is beset. The native merchants do not employ camels, which have been introduced by a foreign race from Arabia into the northern deserts, for which they are perfectly adapted. The wagon, and indeed every species of draught, is nearly unknown, and would be ill suited to the roads, the best of which are narrow paths cut through thick and entangled forests. In the hilly and central districts, either the backs of asses or the heads of slaves serve as the ordinary vehicle. The salt The largest branch of their trade originates in the ^^^ ^' urgent demand for salt in all the provinces southward of the Great Desert. This commodity is chiefly brought from the coast, from large pits in the west, and also from the lakes or ponds in the country of the Tibboo. In like manner, from the shores of the Atlantic are transmitted cowries, the usual currency of the interioi kingdoms, and goora-nuts, a favourite luxury, which, on account of the agreeable taste they impart to the water drunk after them, are called African coff'ee. The returns are made in gold, ivory, fine cloths, and too often in slaves. The commerce with Northern Africa across the Waste consists in foreign commodities. The principal imports are gaudy glittering ornaments ; for the power 2E 454 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. caAF. XXII. of distinguisliing between the genuine and the false in finery does not exist beyond the Sahara. Captain Lyon enumerates as articles of merchandise, nine kinds of beads, silks and cloths of bright colours especially red, copper kettles, long swords, powder and ball. Antimony to blacken the eyes, with cast-off clothes and old armour, find also a ready market. The returns are the same as those sent to the shores of the Atlantic. Exports. The exports of British manufactures to the western coast of Africa have varied of late years, but, on the whole, greatly increased ; thus, the amounts were in 1835 £292,540 1836 467,186 1837 312,938 1827 £155,759 1828 191,452 1829 244,253 1830 252,123 1831... .....£234,768 1832 290,061 1833 329,210 1834 326,483 The following were the chief articles in 1837 : — Value. Cottons, 4,973,412 yards £135,323 Woollens, 1405 pieces, 373G yards, «&c 3,340 Linens, 126,441 yards 4,288 Appai-el 7,400 Arms and ammunition 88,828 Hardware and cutlery, 43.50 cwts 11,182 Iron and steel, 955 tons . 12,512 Brass and copper, 1228 cwts 7,172 Earthenware and glass 5,770 Salt, 180,119 bushels 4,333 Miscellaneous 32,790 Foreign Commodities. India Cottons, 50,042 pieces 77,000 — Silks, 2154 pieces 2,000 Spirits, Rum, 64,015 gallons 22,000 — Brandy, 7209 2,500 — Geneva, 19,760.. 7,300 Wine, 9815 gallons 2,200 Minor articles, say 3,000 Total exports £428,938 The following is a list of the principal imports. As the Tables of the Board of Trade, for what reason we know not, contain no official estimate of their value, or of the exports of foreign commodities, we have endea- voured to form an approximation, by com.Tsaring the SOCIAL COXDITIO.N OF AFRICA. 455 total quantities with the total value stated in the Finance chap, xxu Accounts for the year. — Value. Elephants' teeth (ivory), 2244 cwts £13,300 Palm oil, 223,292 cwts 223,292 Teak timber, 23,251 loads, about 30,000 Bees' was, 4600 cwts 21,300 Pepper, 109,565 lbs 2,600 Giuger, rice, wine, &c. say 2,000 Total £292,492 This is independent of gold-dust, estimated by Mr Buxton at £260,000 ; and although the whole amount be small, it is increasmg. _ „ mi . A i? ^1 ^ • • ^ The Jlone- ihe monetary system oi the negro countries is most tary system.; imperfect ; for shells, of which it requires several thou- sand pieces to make a pound sterling, must be extremely inconvenient. The only metallic form of currency ap- pears in Loggun, where it consists of rude bars of iron. In Bornou and several countries on the coast, cloth, mats, or some other article in general demand, is made the common measure of value. All the accommodations of life are simple and limited in the greatest degree. There does not "probably exist in Africa a stone house built by a native, or one which rises two stories from the ground. The materials of the very best habitations are stakes of wood plastered with earth, built m a conical form like bee-hives, and resem- bling the first rude shelter which man framed against the Houses, elements. In many of these mansions it is hardly possible to stand in an upright position, and indeed they are resorted to chiefly for sleep and shelter ; while the court before the door, shaded by the family tree, is the scene of social intercourse, and of all meetings for the purposes of business or gayety. Greater efforts indeed are made to form a commodious state-room or public hall, called the palaver-house ; yet this too consists merely, as shown in the annexed plate, of a large apartment, raised on posts fixed in the ground, and roofed with sloping planks, which leave the interior open to the air on every side. 456 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. CHAP. XXII. Palaces. Negro Palaver-liouse. The houses and yards of the more opulent are enclosed by an outer wall or hedge, sometimes pretty high, serving the purposes both of privacy and defence. The palaces of the grandees, and even of the monarchs, consist of a cluster of hovels, forming a little village, with large open spaces, and surrounded by a wall. The state-hali of the Sultan of the Fellatas, the greatest of African princes, is an apartment to which, in Captain Clapperton's op in, ion, the term shed would in Europe be properly applied. Tliese edifices, however, are amply adorned, especially in the larger cities, both with carving and painting. If African houses be of mean construction, the mternal accommodations are equally scanty. Except the state- chairs of the sovereigns, ascended only on solemn occa- sions, there is not among the natives a seat to sit upon. Furniture. The people squat on the ground in circles ; and if the chief can place under him the skin of a lion or leopard, he is at the height of his pomp. For a table there is at best a wooden board, whereon is neither plate, knife, fork, nor spoon ; the fingers being supposed fully ade- quate to the performance of every function. If it be necessary to separate into parts a large joint, or even a sheep roasted whole, the dagger or sword of the warrior speedily accomplishes the operation-, SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 457 In regard to intellectual acquirements the natives chap. xxii. present a remarkable deficiency ; for if we except the Ethiopia language, which is seemingly of Arabic origin, and the unknown characters, probably Phoenician, in- Letters. scribed by the Tuaricks on their dark rocks, there is not a tincture of letters or of writing among all the abori- ginal tribes of Africa. There is neither hieroglyph nor s^anbol, — nothing corresponding to the painted stories of Mexico, or the knotted quipos of Peru. Oral communi- cation forms the only channel by which thought is trans- mitted from one country and one age to another. The lessons of time, the experience of ages, do not exist for the nations of this vast continent. Notwithstandmg so great a deficiency, it must not be imagined that the African is sunk in entire mental apathy. The enterprise of a perilous and changeful life develops energies which generally slumber among a civilized people. Their public meetings and palavers exhibit a fluent and natural oratory, accompanied often with much good sense and shrewdness. Above all, the passion for poetry is nearly universal among them. As soon as the evening breeze begins to blow, the song resounds through- out all the land, — it cheers the despondency of the wan- derer through the desert, — it enlivens the social meeting, Poetry, — it inspires the dance, — and even the lamentations of the mourner are poured forth in measured accents. Their poetry does not consist in studied and regular pieces, such as, after previous study, are recited in our schools and theatres ; they are extemporary and spontaneous effu- sions, in which the speaker gives utterance to his hopes and fears, his joys and sorrows. All the sovereigns ar^ attended by crowds of singing-men and singing- women, who, whenever any interesting event occurs, celebrate it in songs, which they repeat aloud in public. Flattery, of course, must be a standing reproach against this class of bards — an imputation from which their European brethren are not altogether exempted ; while, by Major Laing's report, it appears that there is often present a sable Tyrtaeus, who reproaches the apathy of both prince 458 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. CHAP. XXII. and people, and rouses them to deeds of valour. Specimens are wanting of the African muse ; yet, considering that its effusions are numerous, inspired by nature, and ani- mated by national enthusiasm, they seem not unlikely to reward the care of a collector. The few examples actually given favour this conclusion. How small a number among our peasantry could have produced the pathetic and affecting lamentation which was uttered in the little Bambarra cottage over the distresses of Park ! These effusions, handed down from father to son, con- tain all that exists among them of traditional history. From the songs of the Jillemen of Soolimani, Major Laing was enabled to compile the annals of this small kingdom for more than a century. religion. In their religion the negroes labour under the disad- vantage of being left to unassisted reason, and that, too, very little enlightened. Man has perhaps an instinctive sentiment that his own fate and that of the universe are • ruled by some supreme and invisible power ; yet he sees this only through the medium of his wishes and imagi- nation. He seeks for some object of veneration and means of protection, which may assume an outward and tangible shape. The African reposes his faith in the doc- trine of charms, which presents a substance stamped with a supernatural character, capable of being attached to himself individually, and of affording a feeling of security amid tne many evils that environ him. The majiitou of the native American is founded upon the same principle ; and the similar use of images, beads, and relics, pervertedly employed under a pure and ex- Fetisherie alted religion, shows the strength of this propensity in the human mind. In all the Moorish bordeVs where writmg is known it forms the basis oifetisherie ; and its productions, enclosed in golden or ornamented cases, are hung round the person as guardian influences. The very circumstance of the characters being unintelligible gives to them the power of exciting ideas more myste- rious and supernatural. Where this art is unknown, a bow, a horn, a feather, the beaks and the claws of birds, SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 459 with other frivolous and insignificant objects, are em- chap, xxil- ployed and fully relied on. But grossly absurd as are the observances of the negro, he is a stranger to the bigotry of his Moslem neighbour. He neither persecutes nor even brands as impious those whose religious views differ from his own. There is only one pomt on which his faith assumes a savage character, and displays horrors still darker than those of the Inquisition. The hope of an immortal destiny, dimly working in the human heart, Funeral leads to the wildest errors. As the despot, the object of ^^^^^' boundless homage on earth, seeks to transport all his pomp and the crowd of his attendants to his place in the future world, his death must be celebrated by the corresponding sacrifice of a numerous band of slaves, of wives, and of courtiers. Their blood must moisten his grave ; and as the sword of the rude warrior, once drawn, does not readily stop, a general massacre often takes place, and the palaces of these barbarian chiefs are seen to stream with blood. This horrid system is not ex- clusively African ; but it elsewhere exists on a smaller scale, and is attached to a state of society much more decidedly savage. In regard to the social aspect of this continent, the unimproved condition in which it appears may be re- garded as that in which violence and wrong have the widest field, and cause the most dreadful calamities to the human race. The original simplicity, founded on the absence of all objects calculated to excite turbulent desires and passions, has disappeared, while its place is not yet supplied by the restraints of law and the refine- Uta^^ee oi' ments of civilisation. War, the favourite pursuit, is there- ^^''• fore carried on with the most unrelenting fury ; and the treatment of captives is often very cruel. Lander mentions that when, in a contest with Lagos, Bombanee a chief of Badagry was taken prisoner, one hand was ' nailed to his head, the other lopt off ; and in this con- dition he was conducted in triumph through the enemy's capital. His head was afterwards severed from his body, dried in the sun and ground to powder, which was in- 460 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. CHAP. XXII sultingly transmitted to his master. Robbery, on a ■ " great scale, is generally practised. Brilliant and costly articles are distributed with an inequality which the needy warrior seeks by his sword to redress. Nor is African depredation perpetrated by concealed or pro- scribed ruffian;^, who shrink from the eye of man, and are the outcasts of social life. It is not even confined to the poor tribes of the Desert, who see caravans laden with wealth pass along their borders. Princes, kings, and distinguished leaders, consider it a glory to place themselves at the head of an expedition undertaken solely for the purposes of plunder. Slavery seems also to belong to the barbarian state. Man has emerged from the limited wants of savage life, and sees productions of art, which he eagerly covets, without having acquired those habits of steady industry by which he might earn them for himself. His remedy is to compel those whom his superior strength, or any other advantage, enables him to bring under subjection, to labour for the gratification of his desires. In many instances, it is true, the blind veneration of those tribes for their chiefs, induces them to submit to voluntary servitude ; many again are made captive in war ; and generally a great part of the population of every such society is placed in a state of bondage. Lander is con- vinced that in Boussa and the neighbouring countries, the proportion is not less than four -fifths. At the Man- stealing same time, in their native land, they are by no n^eans harshly treated ; they enjoy much freedom, and are re- quired to devote only a certain portion of their tune to the service of their masters. From the two evils now described arises a third, still greater, — the stealing of human beings in order to make them slaves ; a crime which is perpetrated throughout Africa, and attended with every circumstance of cruelty and horror. It is an enormity also in which the great- est sovereigns do not scruple to participate. Their troops surround a town in the dead of night, watching till the first dawn, when the gates are opened ; — they then rush SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 461 in, set fire to it, and while the victims, with shrieks and CHAP. XXII. cries, are seeking to escape, hind and carry them off into slavery. It must be confessed, at the same time, that the atrocious spirit of this warfare has been in a great measure produced by foreign connexion, either with the European powers, or with Northern Africa, Turkey, and other Mohammedan states. The rankest department of the slave trade for a very Transatlantic 1 . - - , - . ^ . *^ sliive trade. long period has been the conveyance ot the captives across the Atlantic. This, till very recently, formed the chief bond of European connexion with all the extensive coast of Guinea. But at length it came to be prohibited effectually by Britain, France, and the United States, and nominallj'^by Spain and Portugal. The British government, on their own account, instituted extraor- dinar}' exertions for suppressing it, and likewise obtained from the Court of Madrid permission to seize all vessels engaged in it under the Spanish flag, A considerable number of British cruisers were regularly stationed along the African coast to seize slave ships, and to carry them to Sierra Leone, where the captives on board of them were landed and set free. Verj'- soon, however, under this stern surveillance, and in defiance of it, the atrocious traffic increased to a greater extent, and was carried on in circumstances of more aggravated cruelty, than at any former period. The price of slaves rose with the peril of conveying them ; and this tempted the cupidity of the slave dealers, increased their bold- ness, and drew out their ingenuity to the invention of new methods for evading detection. The extension of Transatlantic culture in Brazil and Cuba, too, created a smart demand market for as many slaves as could possibly be obtained ; while the governments of these countries, though outwardly prohibiting the trade, secretly encouraged it. The number of captured negroes carried across the Atlantic during a considerable number of years was probably never less than 100,000 a-year. Multitudes also were maimed or killed in the course of the ruffianly efforts 462 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. CHAP XXII. to bring them to the seaboard ; multitudes more were destroyed by disease or suffocation in the small swift vessels which were specially constructed for the trade ; and not a few, even in entire cargoes, were uncere- moniously thrown into tlie sea, at times of close pursuit by the British cruisers. Suppression About two years ago, however, the greater part of this trad^^ ^'*^^^ horrid traffic became extinct. At only two points north of the equator, Lagos and Porto Novo, did it still con- tinue vigorous, and even there it was soon afterwards suppressed. Lord Palmerston, speaking officially of the suppression, even before the intelligence respecting Lagos was received, said : "The propensity only survives among the chiefs. The people are learning to t<%de with us, and are anxious to extend the legitimate traffic in the pro- ducts of the country. Besides oils, ivory, &c., hitherto exchanged, a good species of cotton has lately been reared with such success as to promise a large supply to this country. The Portuguese government has co- operated with us heartily. At Leando and the other chief Portuguese stations on the coast, the slave-trade is so paralyzed, that most of the slave-traders have suspended their business, and many have altogether transferred their ships, their capital, and their energies to trade of a legitimate character. On the eastern coast of Africa, the Imaum of Muscat has given us Anti-slavery facilities never before conceded. The consequence has movements been, that in the rivers towards the southern extremi- m Zanzibar. <. , i . ties of his dommions, where a great slave-trade has hitherto been carried on for the supply of Brazilian and Portuguese traders, barracoons have been lately de- stroyed capable of holding several thousands of slaves. On the coast of Africa, then, by the vigilance of our cruisers, by the effect of our treaties with native chiefs (treaties, I am happy to say, observed almost univer- sally with the greatest fidelity), by the progress made by Liberia within the extensive territories of which country the slave-trade was suspended, and by the SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 463 hearty co-operation of the Portuguese, French, and chap. xxil. American officers, very much indeed has been done towards effecting the great object for which this country has so long and so energetically laboured." In Brazil, Anti-slavery too, an intelligent, active, powerful anti-slavery party S^'Sfr' has of late years arisen, supported by the newspapers, represented in the legislature, acknowledged by the government, and carrying everything before it. Hence has indignation against the slave-trade become only a few degrees less strong and general in Brazil than in Britain ; many of the Brazilian slave-dealers have been banished ; most of the others have openly transferred their capital to legitimate trade ; the Brazilian govern- ment has for several years employed cruisers to destroy barracoons and to sweep the seas ; and almost at the same moment, when the great cutlet markets for slaves in Africa were shut up, the great inlet markets for them in Brazil were destroyed. Though the social evils of Africa are so great and numerous, we may repeat that they are not without some mixture of good. The native character is even Amiable distinguished by some features unusually amiable, b}" a the negroes. peculiar warmth of the social affections, and by a close adherence to kindred ties. Maternal tenderness mani- fests itself in a way not the less touching that it is at the same time mingled w'ith feelings indicative of deep superstition. Lander in his journey frequently met with mothers who carried about their persons little wooden images of their deceased infants, to whose lips they presented a portion of food whenever they partook of it themselves ; and nothing could induce them to part with these inanimate memorials. Some children belong- ing to the colony of Liberia, who, during an imbittered war, fell into the hands of the natives, were treated with such kindness, that on the conclusion of peace their parents were obliged to employ force to separate them from the females by whom they had been adopted. If some travellers have been ill treated and plundered, 464 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. Forms of Government CHAP. XXII. others have been relieved with the most generous hos- — pitality. The negro, unless when under the influence of some violent excitement, is, on the whole, more mild and liberal than the Moor ; it is by the latter race that the atrocities against European strangers liave been chiefly perpetrated. In the political arrangements of the African states there occur some singular anomalies. A bold and inde- pendent spirit has been supposed to characterize man in his uncivilized condition ; and, accordingly, a num- ber of petty communities are found to exist under a republican form of government. But all the great king- doms are subject to the most complete and abject des- potism. Thousands of brave warriors bend down to one of their fellow-mortals with a servile abasement never witnessed in polished, or, as they are sometimes called, corrupted societies. Examples so frequent and striking have occurred in the course of this narrative, that we need not adduce any farther illustration. It deserves, however, particular notice that the nations in this de- graded condition are the most numerous, the most power- ful, and most advanced in all the arts and improvements of life ; and that, if we except the human sacrifices to which superstition prompts them, tliey display a charac- ter more amiable, manners more dignified and polished, and moral conduct more correct, than prevail among the citizens of the free states, who are usually idle, turbu- lent, quarrelsome, and licentious. Bad, therefore, as despotic power is in itself, there appears, nevertheless, in the disposition shown by man to submit to it in this uncultivated state, something salutary, and which tends to his ultimate improvement. In many of these ab- solute governments, too, the sovereign and his subjects appear to be on a friendly and even familiar footing. The inhabitants of Eyeo were eager to learn what presents had been made by Lander to their monarch, were gra- tified by the sight of them, and exhibited their own in return. The same traveller heard the King of Boussa address to liis people a long and animated discourse, ex- Mitigation of their despotism. SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 465 liorting them to be temperate and industrious ; and, in chap, xxii order to promote their good humour, he condescended to amuse them by a display of his powers in dancing, which, though they afforded much delight to his dutiful subjects, were by no means equal to those of the neigh- bouring King of Wawa. The foreign races, who have found their way to Africa The Moham- by migration or conquest, are principally established in HI Afdc^'^^'' the fine country along the Mediterranean. The inroad of the Arabs or Saracens, and the subsequent triumphs of the sultans, have completely stamped the character of that people on this vast region. The Turkish sabre and the Moslem creed now lord it over these ancient seats of light and civilisation. The remnants of the na- tive tribes are either, like the Copts, sunk in degradation, or lurking in the recesses of the mountains and wander- ing over desert plains, like the Berebbers, the Tibboos, and the Tuaricks. The original face of society, at once lively and various, is now moulded into gloomy mono- ton}', such as is always produced by the influence of Mussulman habits. Turkish cities exhibit every where a uniform aspect ; high walls of earth, without windows, border on narrow and dirty streets ; and the nakedness and desolation of the exterior often form a striking con- I!^,!!L^,?^''^' trast with the barbarian splendour within. A deep solemnity, the absence of all gay and social meetings, and the entire seclusion of females, produce an effect wholly different from that of European society. In the country, the Arab population is simple and patriarchal ; yet, unhappily, they are no strangers to violence and plunder in their very worst forms. The two races, thus strikiiigly distinguished, native and foreign, Mohammedan and Pagan, are mingled in Central Africa, on the banks of the Niger, and on the other great rivers which water that region. Major Ren- nell considers the stream now named as the boundary between the Moors and negroes, as Pliny conceived it to separate the Afiicans from the Ethiopians ; and the division, though not strictly correct, is yet, in a general maimex's. 466 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. CHAP. XXII sense, conformable to fact. The Moors have made ex- — tensive conversions, and have introduced all that is known of letters or writing into the interior regions ; but the lurid gleam thus shed over benighted Africa serves little more than to deepen the surrounding dark- Their abuse ^^^S- ^'^^^^ Sublime art is prized, not as the principal of literature, means of enlightening and enlarging the human mind, but as a tool of the magic art, — an instrument for manu- facturing charms and fetishes, to be sold at high prices to the deluded natives. Only a few of the great sheiks and doctors read even the koran. The most approved mode of imbibing its contents, as was formerly stated, is by tracing the characters on a smooth board with a black substance, then washing them off and swallowing the water. Others, having enclosed the sacred book in a large silver case, bear it constantly about, groaning under the burden, but expecting from it the greatest benefits. Bigotry among these negro converts rises to a still higher pitch ; and the future doom of the unbeliever is considered even more certain than on the shores of the Mediterranean. Meantime they subject him to the earthly miseries of foreign and distant bondage ; for, Tiieir native while it is unlawful to enslave a follower of Mohammed, converts. ^j-^g -yyhole property, nay, the person of the Caffre, are considered as rightfully belonging to the children of the prophet. This very circumstance causes a secret abate- ment in that eager spirit of proselytism which burns so fiercely among the adlierents of the Moslem creed. They cannot be insensible that, if the eyes of this ignorant multitude were enlightened, they themselves would for- feit the ground on which they rest their only claim, now in full exercise, of driving them by thousands to the markets of Kano and Tripoli. In general we may observe, that while the Mussulman converts in Central Africa are so intensely bigoted in respect to opinions, they are more lax in practice than their brethren of Cairo and Tunis. The females are not so closely immured ; and the men seldom adhere to Mohamme- danism. SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 467 that precept of tlie koraii wliicli enjoins abstinence from chap, xxil fermented liquors. The l30oza, or acid beer, circulates — briskly in Moslem as well as in Pagan circles. It is true that the sovereigns, who are usually zealous believers, are occasionally seized with a paroxysm of zeal, and denounce dreadful penalties against all who indulge in that beloved liquor. But this proceeding, being ex- tremely unpopular, produces only a temporary effect, and affairs soon resume their wonted course. The Mohammedan religon, wherever it is established, Effects ot has abolished the horrors of human sacrifice, — a great and important good. In all other respects the introduc- tion of this foreign race with their intolerant creed seems only to have aggravated the evils which Africa formerly suffered. Colonization, which in America has been carried to so great an extent as to fill that continent almost entirely with European inhabitants, has never been attempted in Africa except on a limited scale. By much the largest settlement is that founded by the Dutch at the Cape of Good Hope, wliich was transferred to the British by the The coionyot events of the last European war. An outline of its Gm)d"Hopef history from the earliest time till 1840 has been given in the chapter on Southern and Eastern Africa. Its subsequent history, though extending through only a few years, is so full of facts, so various from one another, and many of them so momentous, that any satisfactory outline of it which we could write would far exceed our limits, and at the same time, in several of its particulars, would belong nearly as much to a general history of tlie British empire as to a work on Africa. The chief subjects of it are the wars with the Caffres ; important changes, political, social, and commercial, in the colony's depen- dencies ; a variety of features in the development of the colony's own internal resources; the effects produced upon its commerce, adversely by the opening of the highway from Britain to India through Egypt, and favourably by the rapid recent increase in the traffic from Britain to Aus- 468 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. CHAP. XXII. Recent his- tory of the Cape colony. The state of trade at the Cap'e. tralia and New Zealand ; the strong tumultuous resist- ance of its European population to an attempt of the British government to constitute it a penal colony ; the discontentment and eventual insurrection of many of the Hottentots ; the turbulence of the boors, together with the emigration of large numbers of them to regions beyond the old northern boundaries of the colony ; the erection of an extensive separate sovereignty in these regions beyond the old northern boundaries; the exercise of strong political influence by the colony's government upon the independent chiefs, in the remote interior of Southern Africa, nearly up to the limits of geographical discovery ; and the granting to the colony of a free constitution and a local parliament, with administration by a governor, a legislative council, and a house of assembly. The only point connected with the colony which we can notice in detail is the state of its agriculture and commerce ; and even this we are precluded by great recent fluctuations from treating historically, or with reference to steady progress. For example, the total value of exports and imports in 1844 was respectively .£350,735 and £424,451, while that of the exports and of the imports in 1836 was respectively £384,229 and £819,270. In order, therefore, to furnish a fair sum- mary view of the Cape's general trade in recent years, we need only to give statistical tables of it as it stood in 1836, under the three heads of agriculture, exports, and imports. AGRICULTURE. Acres in wheat, — barley, .10' Bushels ,206 produce 466,299 jye, oats, maize and millet,... pease, beans, &c.,.. potatoes, 35,680 13,592 36,352 444 1,781 201 218,409 34,258 241,186 7,333 9,254 8,948 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFKICA. 469 Leggers,* CPIAP. XXIL Acres in vines and gardens, ....20,554t |- j, ^^ ,' i 'oso* No. Acres cultivated, 215,810 — in pasture, producing 4,480,774 lbs. of hay, 15,368,616 — uncultivated, 5,466,146 Horses, 63,301 Homed Cattle, 224,549 Sheep, 1,510,194 Goats, 306,785 EXPORTS. Value. Wine, 928,226 gallons, £84,598 Expovtsfrora Hides, 57,848 ; skins, calf, 519 ; goat, 236,403 ; *''^ ^"P^ seal, 6,489; sheep, 179,669; other sorts, 1,298, 67,634 Horns, 188,745, 7,451 Butter, 277,622 lbs., 11,340 Live stock, 406 horses, 149 mules, 87 neat cattle, 1420 sheep, 14,325 Beef and Pork, 3091 barrels, 7,153 Com, viz., 28,962 bushels wheat, 6,693 barley, 26,328 oats, 6,570 other grain, 4,969 barrels wheat flour, 23,640 Wool, 373,817 lbs., 26,219 Oil, spermaceti and train, 63,652 gallons, 5,992 Tallow, 627,154 lbs., 10,228 Nutmegs, 119,270 lbs., 33,387 Ivory, 21,908 lbs., 3,733 Tea, 259,890 lbs., 43,413 Sundries, 45,112 £384,229 IMPORTS. Cotton manufactures, 6,935, 352 yards, &c.,... £198,273 imports to Woollens, 13,994 pieces, 86,444 yards, &c.,... 50,880 *^^ ^^^^"^ Linens, 654,489 yards, &c., 26,421 Silks, 19,421 Leather and saddlery, 17,710 Carry forward, £312,705 * Of 152 English wine gallons each, or about 126^ Imperial. t The amount in the tables is 597,091; but as this is manifestly eiTO- ceous, we have taken that for 1833, though there was probably a little Increase. 2 F 470 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. CHAP. XXII. Brought forward £312,705 Apparel, 20,379 Haberdashery, 23,177 Hats, 7,458 Iron, unwrought, 1,741,152 lbs. British, 7,297 — wrought, 12,674 Hardware and cutlerj, 14,217 Glass, 389,023 lbs. bottles, 51,998 flmt, 21,430 window, &e., 7,790 Books and stationery, 19,275 Soap, 496,604 lbs., 8,323 Spii-its, 210,411 gallons, 25,565 Wine, 32,619 gallons, 9,461 Wood and lumber, 13,498 Sugar, raw, 1,731,705 lbs., 17,623 Kutmegs, 112,148 lbs., 29,799 Tea, 596,833 lbs., 70,296 Coffee, 1,248,651 lbs., 21,729 Tobacco, 12,447 Rice, 2,365,952 lbs., 9,690 Specie, 71,550 Miscellaneous, 104 317 Imports to the Cape. £819,270 The following is a statement of transactions in refer ence to the countries with which they were carried on :— Exports. Imports. Great Britam, £254,549 £685,702 France, 398 9,420 Eest of Europe, 116 5,969 Distribution Mauritius, 49,855 24,661 'H^ST^' St. Helena, 18,021 2,851 Other African Islands, 638 215 East coast of Africa, 1,096 3,830 British India, 10,655 16,566 Oriental Islands, 627 2,107 Cliina 3,141 Australia, 25,242 3,337 United States, 28,509 38,679 British America, &;c., 3,815 3,965 Brazil, &c., 708 18,827 commerce. £384,229 £819,270 In 1820, during a severe depression in the manu SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFlilCA. 471 factuving trade of Britain, about 5000 emigrants, con- chap. XXII. sisting of unemployed workmen and their families, were sent out, at a public expense of about £120,000, to occupy the district of Albany, in the eastern part of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope. They landed at Port Elizabeth, in Algoa Bay, which had then only Tiie seitic- four houses, — made their way to Graham's Town, which ^li^.^uy. was then a mere military post of twenty houses and huts, — and were soon scattered thence over a great extent of country, each family on a farm of its own, and obliged to devote itself chiefly to the pasturing of cattle. They at once became prosperous, and in eighteen months had created a profitable trade with the Caffres, receiving hides, horns, and ivory, in ex- change for beads, buttons, and brass wire, and had penetrated with their waggons on the one side to Natal and on the other beyond Lattakoo. But some who attempted to live chiefly by tillage suffered dreadful distress from droughts and bad harvests: and all, as soon as they were fairly established on their land, and had acquired considerable property in cattle, began to be harrassed by plundering forays of the Caffres. These - forays were a main cause of the wars which followed, and have kept more or less of Albany district, together with tracts adjacent to it, in constant commotion from 1822 till the present hour. Notices of this state of things, sufficient to show its nature down to the recent close of the last war, have already been given in the chapter on Southern and Eastern Africa. The colonists, for two or three years, were overpowered The progress and disheartened, — insomuch that a number of them ^gn^* ^'^'*''^' left the settlement ; but they afterw^ards rallied, multi- plied, and prospered. The perilousness of their posi- tion taught them courage ; detachments of British troops gave them aid ; and the ample resources of the country invited them onward, many to competency and a fair proportion to wealth. In 1834, the popula- tion of the district had risen to about 11,000, that of 472 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. CHAP. XXII. Graham's Town to about 3000, and that of Port Eliza- beth to about 1200. In the same year, the value of the yearly exports of Port Elizabeth was £89;888, and that of its imports £131,697. In 1846, the population of Graham's Town amounted to about 6000, and that of Port Eliazbeth to about 3000. In 1849, the European population of the whole district was ascertained by census to exceed 34,000 ; and in the preceding year, the property possessed by that population, which had been accumulated by their industry, was estimated by Sir Henry Young at considerably more than four mil- lions and a half. The rise of Graham's Town now ranks next in importance in Graham S-^ /-im t r Town. Southern Africa to Cape Town. It was formerly de- scribed as an " ugly, ill-built, straggling place, con- taining a strange mixture of lounging officers, idle tradesmen, drunken soldiers, and still more drunken settlers;" but it now deserves a better character. Its houses are interspersed with gardens. It has an Episco- palian Church, a Wesleyan Chapel, an elegant Roman Catholic Church in the Gothic style, a public sub- scription library, three weekly newspapers, barracks, breweries, tanneries, spacious stores, and a daily mar- ket. Its situation is romantic, being a deep hollow surrounded with high green hills, separated by glens overhung by steep and wooded precipices. These glens form the roads, which branch off like rays from a centre ; and through them are seen slowly moving heavy waggons, drawn by oxen, frequently coming from a The trade of great distance. They bring not only provisions and tJw)^"^'^ necessaries, but the rude products of the surrounding districts, — skins of the lion and leopard, horns of the buffalo, eggs and feathers of the ostrich, tusks of the elephant and hippopotamus, and rich fur mantles. The annual amount of this trade so early as several years preceding 1834 was estimated, by Sir James Alexander, at £35,000. Port Elizabeth, is now the most frequented port between Cape Town and Port Natal. It has a SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFEICA. 473 pier, which projects 350 feet into the sea, and an chap, xxil arsenal, which was constructed at the cost of £12,000. Natal is a rival settlement to Albany, in many respects similar to it, and in some respects superior. An account of its origin, and the chief incidents in its history, has already been given in the chapter on Southern and Eastern Africa. Its area comprises about 18,000 square The settle- miles. Its surface is undulating ; its soil is more fertile ^l^^^^ than that of any of the Cape districts ; and its climate is remarkably healthy. The land is cheap, plenty being procurable for five shillings an acre. Cotton and indigo grow wild ; cotton of fine quality may be advantageously cultivated by British capitalists ; and wheat, oats, beans, tobacco, cofi"ee, and sugar are important crops. Iron abounds ; building-stone everywhere prevails ; and ex- cellent coal has been found. The exports in 1844 amounted in value to £11,094, and consisted chiefly of butter, hides, tallow, wool, ivory, and natural curiosities ; and the imports in the same year amounted to £40,864 from Cape Town, and to £277 from all other quarters. The sale of land, till the close of 1846, yielded to the Government £24,683, and during 1847 yielded £10,312. The settlement was erected strictly as a dependency of the Cape of Good Hope, under the administration of a lieutenant-general, assisted by a board of ofiicers. The expense of governing it previous to 1846 rested chiefly on the treasury of the Cape of Good Hope, and on the military chest, but since 1846 has been defrayed by a revenue raised within the settlement's own limits. Since 1846, also, the causes of previous vexation respect- ing the tenure of land have been removed, and a rapid increase in the influx of settlers has taken place. The Protestant missions of Southern Africa have Th? missions exerted a powerful influence both on the reclamation Africa. of the natives, and on the improrement of the colonists. They belong severally to most of the missionary societies and missionary boards of Europe, yet have generally worked together in a co-operation of brotherhood, and 474 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. CHAP. XXII. in a rivalry of liienevolence. Their stations are scattered ~ through all the backward region of the old Cape colony, through all that colony's dependencies, through great part of the east across all Caffraria, and great part of the interior northward to Koulobeng. They have not only communicated to the people the light of true religion, but have successfully laboured to improve their temporal circumstances, and to encourage habits Tiiereciama- of order, cleariliness, and industry. The Griquas, a Griqua&^^ mixed race whose lands stretch along the northern border of the colony, iiave been brought almost entirely under their influence, and have thus been weaned from turbulent and disorderly habits, to which tliey had been greatly addicted. A considerable number of the missionaries established themselves in Caffreland, and were beginning to acquire a certain influence over that , rude race, whose ferocity was so far mitigated, that, in their plundering career, they spared women and chil- dren, who in former times had usually fallen victims. The stations and schools were broken up at the com- mencement of the wars, the pupils being compelled in many cases to join the invading force. The mission- aries themselves endured rough treatment, and even violent threats, though they were never exposed to any actual outrage. Great efforts have since been made to restore the missions ; and Government seem now con- vinced, that the best mode, both of improving and conciliating these savage tribes, is by encouraging the exertions of this valuable body of men. Like the Christian Church in all times of pei-secution, too, the missions in South Africa, the more they liave been obstructed by difl&culty or shaken by disaster, have only become the more firmly vigorous and the more extensively useful. The colony of By far the most persevering effort made by Britain ""^* to form a colony in Africa, has been bestowed on that at Sierra Leone, — an undertaking which originated in the most benevolent motives, and was long conducted under SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 475 highly distinguished patronage. Its object was the im- chap, xxil provement of the continent, as well as the diminution and final abolition of the slave-trade. In 1772, a cele- brated decision by Lord Mansfield established the prin- Negro eman- ciple, that a negro, from the moment he sets foot on cipation. British ground, becomes free. A strong interest was thus excited on the subject ; and a great number of black servants having, in consequence, left their masters, were wandering in a destitute condition in the streets of the British metropolis. On learning their circumstances, Mr Granville Sharp, an individual of unwearied benevolence, with the advi^ of Mr Smeathman, who had spent a con siderable time in Africa, formed the plan of transporting them into their native countr}^, to lay the foundation of a settlement. Government having concurred in the undertaking, emigrants were sent out in the Nautilus, Captain Thompson, and landed, on the 9th May 1787, upon a district of about twenty square miles, purchased from Naimbanna, the king of Sierra Leone. Unfortunate- ly, these negroes, as well as about sixty whites, chiefly females, sent along with them, were of very indifferent characters. A great proportion, accordingly, soon fell a sacrifice to the climate, — the others showed themselves destitute of all industry, and were besides severely harassed by the hostility of the neighbouring tribes ; so that, by the year 1791, the whole number was reduced to sixty-four. But the philanthropic zeal which pre- vailed in Britain for the colonization of Africa suffered no abatement. An association was formed under the title of the St George's Bay, and afterwards of the Sierra ^ g. Leone Company, with a capital of £250,000, for the Leone Com- prosecution of this interesting object ; and there was P'*"^" soon opened up another source whence a supply of co- lonists might be drawn. During the American war, a number of negro slaves in the revolted colonies, on the invitation of the British government, had deserted their masters and joined her standard. After the unfortunate issue of that contest, these fugitives claimed the fulfil- ment of a promise said to have been given, that they 476 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. Disasters of the Sierra Leone COlOU}'. CHAP. xxir. should have lands allotted for their subsistence ; and the proffer now made of grants on their native shore, in a more congenial climate, was cordially accepted. In March 1792, they were landed at Sierra Leone, to the amount of 1131, in addition to 100 Europeans who had arrived in the preceding mouth. A fever, however, which the negroes had brought with them, aggravated by the unhealthy atmosphere, carried off a considerable number ; and to this latter cause of mortality half of the European settlers fell victims. The improvement of the colony was also much retarded by a very general spirit of insubordination ; and, in 1794, it w^ barbarously plundered by a French squadron, which caused losses amounting to upwards of £50,000. However, the estab- lishment had gradually recovered, and was beginning to make some progress, when, in 1800, it received an addition of 550 maroons, or revolted blacks from Jamaica, who had been originally transported to Nova Scotia. They arrived at a very seasonable moment, during a disturbance just broken out among the original body of negroes, which the British crews were busily employed in suppressing. Notwithstanding all that was done for the improve- ment of Sierra Leone, which had more than absorbed the original capital of the Company, very little progress was yet made towards fulfilling its objects. No spirit of industry had been infused into the inhabitants, and no amicable connexions formed with the neighbouring states. The subscribers had scarcely the means of sup- porting it any longer ; but there appeared reason to hope that the more influential efforts of government might overcome the obstacles which had hitherto baffled the most strenuous endeavours of individuals. Accordingly, by mutual agreement, concluded on the 8th August 1807, and carried into effect on the 1st January following, the settlement was surrendered into the hands of the crown, and placed on the same footing with the other British colonies. From this time a new and much more copious source Establish- ment of it as a crown colony. SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 477 of population was opened. In the year just mentioned, chap, xxir Britain prohibited her own subjects from carrying on — tlie slave-trade, and the government afterwards obtained an assurance from other countries, that they too would discontinue it along all the coast northward of the Line. Our Admiralty even received permission to capture such of their vessels as within those limits might be found employed in the conveyance of slaves ; and in her zeal for the abolition of this odious traffic, England has maintained a number of ships constantly watching the The locating seas, and taking every vessel thus unlawfully laden, of liberated mi Ti 1 1 [>•• T 1 negroes m It. ihe liberated negroes are brought to feierra Leone, where they are located in the surrounding villages. For some time they receive rations, and are kept in strict sub- ordination ; but, after a certain period, they obtain assignments of ground, from which to earn their own subsistence. The population of the colony amounted in 1840 to about 60,000. The climate of Sierra Leone is singularly baneful to Europeans; and this circumstance has always, in various waj's and very powerfully, impaired the effici- ency of the colony. The unhealthiness of the climate, it is supposed, is owing not so much to the heat, as to noxious exhalations arising from an ill-regulated town and an uncultivated country covered with such a mass of brushwood and jungle as to impede the necessary ventilation. The result is a remittent fever, so malig- nant that almost all white persons recentlj^ arrived are The insaiu- attacked by it, and not one in three recovers. Accord- cuSt°e. ^^^ ing to Sir James Alexander, the salubrity of the settle- ment has been greatly improved by the clearing away of a large quantity of wood. That gentleman attributes many of the deaths either to rash and reckless exposure, or to the opposite extreme of a timid and dispiriting caution. He especially recommends regular exercise, guarding against extremes of heat and moisture, with a temperate but not abstemious diet. By these means he preserved perfect health during a long tropical voyage. 478 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. The charac- ter of its population. CHAP. XXII. The liberated negroes have, for many years, formed about four-fifths or more of the whole population. Multitudes of them, at landing, have been little or nothing different from savages ; yet most have Vtry soon acquired the habits and feelings of civilized life ; while some, in a few years, have even become qualified for important lucrative situations. They are remark- able, especially, for their love of learning. The rising generation are generally very emulous at school ; the adults, for the most part, are fond of displaying know- ledge, and therefore anxious to acquire it; and many of the best instructed are not a little zealous to act as voluntary teachers, both in schools and in religious meetings. What renders this fine spirit more striking is that, in consequence of the extreme insalubrity of the climate, there has often been a great scarcity of European instructors. Very many indeed, have gone out from Britain,^-but have suddenly fallen beneath the stroke of the malignant fever ; and equally many successors, series after series, have followed to the colony and to the grave, — displaying an amount of moral heroism scarcely anj^where paralleled in the his- tory of missions. In 1851, the Church Missionary Society had within the colony 12 ordained European missionaries, 3 ordained native mi.'^sionaries, 1 Euro- pean catechist, 5 native catechists, 3 European female teachers, 48 native teachers and schoolmasters, 4 native schoolmistresses, 15 stations, 2061 communicants, 6950 adult attendants on public worship, 3 superior semi- naries, 45 ordinary schools, and 6250 seminarists and scholars ; and in the same year, the Wesleyan Mis- sionary Society had in the coluny 7 missionaries, 6 catechists, 46 day-school teachers, 71 local preachers, 123 sabbath-school teachers, 31 chapels, 2 other preaching places, 5162 accredited church members, 9114 attend- ants on public worship, 20 day-schools, and 3144 scholars. Earl Grey, in his work just published on the Colonial Policy of Lord John Russell's government, expresses The state of missions in it. GOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 479 an opinion that Sierra Leone lias been much injured chap. XXIL by a system of extraneous support too lavish and pam- pering to afford sufficient play for the development of self-sustaining power. And he adds — '"' Comparing its actual condition with the length of time that has elapsed since the colony was established, and with the very large amount of the expenditure which fur many years Earl Grey's was incurred there by this country, I fear it must be ^P^"^^""^ " admitted to have disappointed the expectations of its philanthropic founders. The parliamentary grant for the civil establishment of 1851 was only ^4,465, exclu- sive of the cost of the liberated African department, amounting to .£3,545, a charge arising from the measures adopted for the suppression of the slave-trade. Here the experiment of direct taxation upon an uncivilized population has been tried, in the form of a house and land-tax ; but the law did not finally come into operation until the 1st of January 1852, and I have no informa- tion as to the effects, except that in the Governor's annual report, dated 26th June last, I observe it to be stated that this tax has been prolific beyond his most sanguine expectations, and promises to be a most fruit- ful source of levenue." Two settlements on the same footing as Sierre Leone, and peopled chiefly by liberated negroes, were formed at a later period, on islands in the river Gambia. The one is Bathurst, on the island of St. Mary's, in the The settle- mouth of the river. It comprises several villages, Gambia." and contained, in 1836, a population of 2,825. The island is low, swampy, narrow, and only about four miles long, but occupies a commanding situation, in reference to both the estuary and the river. The other settlement is on McCarthy's Island, 127 miles above Bathurst. It contained, in 1836, a population of 1,600. But though small, it has been eminently successful. So early as 1842, just ten years after the formation of the settlement, the British governor of the Gambia, on occasion of a personal visit of inspection to it, pro- 480 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA, CHAP. XXII. nounced the change which had taken place upon its people, " an almost incredible change from savage life to one of comparative refinement." Some of the liber- ated negroes were very prosperous ; many of the natives had become decent and industrious; and most of both classes seemed to be as well-behaved as the ordinary peasantry of Britain, and much more polite. These two settlements, from their perfect command of the communication between a large rich region of The com- Senegambia and the sea, are most favourably situated these^settie- ^^r commerce. They enjoy tolerable protection from ments. ^]^q presence of a small British force, and have of late been much aided by the plying of a steamer on the river. But even in their early years, they were visited by merchants from remote parts of the interior, even Tim- buctoo, the Great Desert, and the country of gold. The value of exports rose from £91,000 in 1835 to £147,700 in 1836. The chief articles were wax, £35,183 ; hides, £17,533; gum, £20,809; teak timber, £12,355; corn, £12,848; gold, £5,010; rice, £4,084. The imports of various European articles amounted to X114.772. The trade is thus considerably superior to that of Sierra Leone. The following statement exhibits a combined view of both for the year 1836: — EXPOETS. Value. Timber (teak), 2780 loads, 17,225 pieces, £39,218 Camwood, 565 tens, 5,645 Exportsfrom Bees' wax, 562,898 lbs., 35,255 Hides, 94,029 No., 18,397 Palm oil, 103,116 gallons, 11,023 Eice, 1,247,167 lbs., 5,268 Grain, African, 75,055 busbelg, 12,849 Gum, Senegal, 480,491 lbs., 20,809 Ivory, 43,759 lbs., 7,572 Guns and Gunpowder, 7,704 Tobacco, 148,977 lbs., 4,534 Gold bullion, 5,010 Sundi-ies, 24,332 £197,616 them. SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 481 IMPORTS. Value. cHAP. XXJL Cotton manufactures, 1,615,732 yardp, &c., £44,652 India piece good?, 28,597 Guns, 29,417, 16,741 Gunpowder, 477,618 lbs., 9,779 Apparel, beads, amber, 17,652 Tobacco, 1,080,317 lbs., 22,319 Spirits, 85,394 gallons, 9,558 Iron and hardware, 8,568 Gum, Senegal, 369,737 lbs., 15,890 Rice, 1,443,546 lbs., 6,710 Wax, 226,254 lbs., 7,006 Sundries, .- 45,218 £232,688 The following list contains the countries with which Distribution this intercourse was carried on : — bia's^com™" merce. Exports. Imports. Great Britain, 123,659 165,027 EestofEurope, 2,506 Cape Verd Islands, 760 996 Senegal, 37,103 24,368 Leeward coast, 18,681 21,224 Windward coast 1,619 1,628 British North America 974 1,946 United States. &c., 14,820 14,993 197,616 232,688 Of late years, ground nuts have hecome the principal arti'.'le of export from the Gambia. These are raised on the low tracts of country adjacent to the lowei reaches of the river. But the chief cultivators of them :ire natives of districts far in the interior, who come down for two or three years as emigrants, hire land The trade in from the local chiefs, sedulously raise crops of the g™i"i'i i^^te. ground nuts, barter them for such European goods as they severally fancy, and then return with their pur- • chased commodities to their far inland homes. Hence does the trade in ground nuts serve not merely to develope the commercial resources of Senegambia, but also to transmit considerable and increasing knowledge 482 SOCIAL CONDITION OP AFRICA CHAV. XXII. The British forts on tlie Gold Coast. British influ ence on the Gold Coast, of civilized arts and manners far into the interior of Africa. This trade has grown with great rapidity. In 1837, the quantity of ground nuts exported from Bathurst was only 47 tons; but in 1851, including 1000 tons sent from the French factory of Albreda, it amounted to 12,094 tons, valued at £145,133. The old British forts on the Gold Coast are now as valuable to Western Africa as the modern British settlements. They were originally formed, indeed, for carrying on the slave trade; but they have latterly been a chief means of suppressing that infamous traffic, and at the same time have done vast and varied service in the promotion of general civilization. The only proper British territory connected with them does not extend farther than a cannon-shot around each fort; yet a region lies around them, in entire voluntary subjection to British sway, comprising not less than 8000 square miles, and occupied by not fewer than 400,000 inhabitants. This region is divided among numerous chiefs, and was once as rife as any other part of Africa with petty warfare, slave raids, fetish super- stitions, and all the other desolating characteristics of the negro race. But the moral ascendency of Britain, operating through a slowly established custom of bring- ing all disputes to the arbitration of the governors of . the British forts, has put a complete end to the warfare, so that the whole region now reposes in perennial peace. The public administration of justice by the British magistrates also, the more so as it has usually been accompanied with explanations of the principles of equity and of the grounds of the decisions, has served to mitigate oppression, to abolish some unjust punish- ments, and to diffuse comparatively right, though still • rude, notions of general jurisprudence. Even so late as 1849, the punishing of witchcraft and the perse- cuting of despisers or neglectors of the fetish were publicly acknowledged to be wrong. So great a change among so large a population involves SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFllICA. 483 scope, incitement, and security for a vast development chap. XXIL of social well-being. Hence have ieelings of brother- jiiest^eoi hood and co-operation extensively taken the place of society on » ■, n ■, -. Ti .<., .1 ■ 1 ± c i. the Gold feelmgs of hatred and hostility ; the ngiits ot property coast. are respected; the arts of civilized lite are springing up ; the services of the schoolmaster and of the Christian missionary are welcomed ; and a healthy, happy, mar- ketable industry is already common. The region is well adapted to the jjroduction of commodities which are always sure to sell well in the markets of Europe ; and therefore appears a very promising field fur the application of British capital. Even the desideratum of a general local government to consolidate its interests, develope its resources, open up its communications, direct its enterprise, and insure its stability, has just been supplied. The British forts on the Gold Coast were lately considered a kind of dependency of Sierra Leone, and were governed by an officer who held only the rank of Lieutenant-governor, and had no legislative power. But her Majesty, by advice of Lord John Russell's Ministry, constituted them a separate colony, New colonial with a governor of their own, and a legislative council ; jJJI^he Gold and gave authority to the governor and council to make Coast. the utmost possible prudent use of the voluntary sub- mission of the native chiefs. Major Hill, the first governor, was eminently successful. " He succeeded," says Eavl Grey, "in inducing the chiefs and people throughout the countries under the British protection to agree to a poll-tax of one shilling per head for each man, woman, and child, by which he calculates that a revenue of £20.000 a-year will be obtained, to be expended in extending the judicial system, educating the children, affording increased medical aid to the population, opening and improving the internal com- munications, and other measures of utility. For this purpose, and with a view to future legislation, the governor thought it advisable to form the native chiefs, with his council and himself, into a legislc.tive assembly, 484 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. Anierican colonization in Afiica. CHAP. XXII. reserving the power to the governor to assemble, pro- rogue, and dissolve this meeting at pleasure. On the 19th April last (April 1852), Major Hill had a general meeting of the kings and chiefs of the protected terri- tory at Cape Coast Castle, when they unanimously agreed to resolutions by which the authority of the new assembly was recognised, and its constitution settled." The Americans have pursued, to a certain extent, a scheme of colonization, wliich also has done good ser- vice to "Western Africa. Several of the States labour under the disadvantages arising from a continually in- creasing slave population, who, though treated with less severity than the negroes were in the West India islands, are in every other point of view kept in a con- dition equally degraded. It is a heavy additional evil, that even after obtaining their liberty, they, as well as all in whom can be traced any mixture of negro blood, are regarded as beings of an inferior order, and held almost as outcasts from society. To relieve the Union from a class who, being so much wronged, are neces- sarily discontented, and to employ them as instruments in the civilization of Africa, was to accomplish a double benefit. The design was first entertained in 1816 by Dr. Findlay, Mr. Caldwell, and other gentlemen, who instituted a private society for this purpose ; and the President, i\Ir. Monroe, having sanctioned their views, appointed two government agents to co-operate with them. The persons emploj'ed repaired in 1818 to Sierra Leone, and with some difficulty obtained a pro- mise of land on the island of Sherbro', which appeared the most eligible spot. In 1820, eighty-eight colonists were transported thither; but this commencement was most inauspicious. The three agents and twenty of the settlers died of a disease incident to the climate; and it was judged expedient to remove the remainder to Sierra Leone. There they were joined by twenty- eight new emigrants; and the superintendent fixed AT) furtive settlement in the island oi Sherbro'. SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 485 upon another station, which, being fertile, elevated, chap, xxil and healthy, afforded a better promise of success to the undertaking. It is a long, narrow pi-omontory, called Cape Mesurada, projecting between a river of the same The settle- name and the ocean by which it is washed. The pur- Mesmada.^^^ chase was effected for about 300 dollars ; and in the beginning of 1822 the people were located upon it. But the various disadvantages of a new settlement, joined to the hostility of the natives, soon reduced them to such difficulties, that Dr. Ayres was obliged to set out for America to represent their condition to the society, and obtain supplies. He was succeeded as director by Mr. Ashmun, under whose prudent manage- ment the colony was enabled to pass through those trying circumstances which it soon encountered. The rude natives, while the transaction consisted merely in receiving a quantity of valuable commodities, found it extremely agreeable, and were little disposed to con- template the consequences. But when the payments were completed, and they saw a portion of their terri- tory occupied by strangers, who were proceeding to form a new state within their own, a feeling of decided hostility took the place of their previous cordiality. Many of the fierce and warlike tribes who bordered Hostility to- upon the station felt equal jealousy, or were inspired amon^\he by the hope of plunder. The settlers were at first ni^tives. much indebted to the protection of King Boatswain, a powerful chief who ruled over this part of Africa ; but at length the monarchs, George, Tom, Peter, Ben, Willy, Jimmy, with their auxiliaries, united in a con- federacy to overpower the foreigners. On the 11th of November 1822, a general attack w^as made by about 1000 barbarians, while the colony possessed only twenty- seven men able to bear arms, and who were imperfectly trained to the use of them. They suffered severe loss, and were reduced to great extremity; but at length the assailants were completely repulsed. The attack, afterwards renewed, was resisted with a still more de- 2G 486 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. The colony ot Liberia- CHAP. XXII. cided success ; and since that time no farther hostilities have occurred. On the 20th February, the settlement was named, not perhaps in very good taste. Liberia, and the town Monrovia. A political constitution was formed, accor- ding to which the agent was to exercise the sovereign authority, subject to the directions of the Board; but the colonists were secured in equal rights, and in such privileges as might prepare them ultimately to govern themselves in a manner entirely independent. No white person was allowed to become a resident, the establishment being destined solely for the benefit of free men of colour. As the territory originally occupied was found too small for the occupany of the increasing population, and for the development of their commercial enterprise, additional purchases were from time to time made by the Colonization Society, till it acquired an extent of about 320 miles along the coast, with an average breadth of 80 miles. Neither the climate nor the soil was found to be so favourable as the promoters of the settlement expected ; the want of natural facili- ties for penetrating into the interior, and for effecting easy transport of commodities, proved a grievous obstruc- tion to progress ; and at the same time, the divided state of public feeling in the United States on all subjects connected with slavery, so embarassed the Colonization Society as to prevent them from making adequate efforts for the settlement's prosperity — the Abolition Society offering firm opposition to the whoJe scheme, on the principle of seeking to improve the condition of the negroes at home rather than to send them to Africa. Captain Lynch, too, who explored Liberia and its vicinity, with particular reference to the rivers, from early in January to late in March 1853, found no stream of the region navigable to a greater distance than twenty-one miles from the sea, and reported, on his retui-n to the United States, that no very favourable idea could be entertained of white Embarrass- iiieutsof that colony. SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA. 487 colonization on the coast of Guinea, even in a temporary chap, xxil way, and merely for purposes of commerce. Yet, in spite of all difficulties, physical and political, in spite also of a long season of doubt and perplexity, Liberia has prospered and is likely to prosper. In July 1848, it was recognised as an independent Erection of republic. The government is vested in a president, a "|j"[°'*'^^' vice-president, a senate of six members, and a house of representatives of twenty-eight members, elected by all possessors of a real estate to the value of thirty dollars. The revenue is derived from the sale of land, and from duties on spirits, and amounts to about 20,000 dollars a-year. The population in 1827 was only 1,200, and in 1830 not more than ahout 1,500 ; but chiefly through the ingress of settlers, and the extensions of the terri- tory, it amounted in 1848 to about 80,000, nearly or quite one-tenth of whom were free coloured settlers from America, while the rest were principally natives, who cordially acknowledged the republic's authority. So many as about 50.000 of the population are said to speak or to understand the English language ; and the inhabitants of the adjacent states, even to the distance of 400 or 500 miles, have begun to be affected bj'' the republic's policy, not only to the extent of imbibing its hostility to the slave-trade, and of adopting its principles of commerce, but even in some instances to the extent of sending their children to be educated in its schools. The population of Monrovia rose from -ji^e town of about 700 in 1830, to about 9,000 in 1848. The town Monrovia. occupies the sides and summit of a hill, but has a vastly nearer resemblance to the infant cities of the new parts of the United States than to any ancient town of the old world. Its area is largely rural, being extensively occupied by herbage and trees; and its houses stand among gardens, and are dispersed more in the manner of villas than of street-lines. The town contains Pres- byterian, Wesleyan, and Baptist places of worship, issues two public journals, and has a number of appli- 488 SOCIAL CONDITION OF AFRICA, Tlie trade of Liberia. CHAP. XXII ances suitable for trade and government. The climate of the tracts around it has been much improved by the draining of marshes and the clearing of woods. The principal exports are palm-oil, cam-wood, arrow-root, indigo, coffee, ivory, and gold-dust ; but other produc- tions in large quantities, particularly cotton, cocoa, and sugar, are likely soon to be added. The value of palm- oil exported in 1847 vvas 150,000 dollars; and that of the other exports of that year was 450,000 dollars. The interior traffic, in the exchange of imported goods for native productions, is estimated to be carried on with about two millions of population. Still the com- mercial progress of the republic has to contend with serious difficulties. The coast is not easily accessible to ships ; the harbours are few and fickle ; the rivers, besides being generally short and shallow, have intricate inlets ; the facilities for road-making are not of the first order; no draught animals are found to succeed; and hitherto much of the cam-wood exported has been brought 200 miles from the interior on men's backs. All these evils, however, as well as some others, may in course of time be well obviated by judicious perse- vering enterprise. An excellent general remark of Earl Grey respecting the British settlements in Western Africa applies as truly, though not so strongly, to Liberia: " I will only say that the actual condition of these settlements seems to be such as to warrant the belief that this country is destined at length to see the fruit of the persevering efforts it has so long made to render these settlements the means of diffusing Christianity, civilization, and commerce among the degraded inhabitants of that great continent. The first and really difficult steps toward the accomplishment of this high and worthy object have been gained, and there now remain no apparent obstacles of any kind to the progress of improvement, which by the favour of Providence, may henceforth be reasonably expected to proceed at a rate becoming con- Earl Grey's remarks ou Western Africa. SOCIAL COiNDITION OF AFRICA. 489 tinually faster, r.s each successive advance which is chap, xxil effected renders the next more easy.'* A very powerful auxiliary to social improvement round the entire periphery of the African continent is the recent establishment of steam-navigation. The grand highway between Britain and India now lies steam navi- through Egypt and the Red Sea ; and at the same time iftlcl^'' government mail-steamers regularly ply between Lon- don and Calcutta, calling at the Cape de Verde Islands, Ascension Island, and the Cape of Good Hope ; while a large screw steamer sails from London on the first day of every month for all the places of^ chief note on the west coast of Africa, Madeira, Teneriffe, Goree, Bathurst, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cape Coast Castle, Accra. Whidah, Badagry, Lagos, Bonny, Old Calabar, Cameroons, and Fernando Po. The smoke of a steam vessel has been the signal of sudden happy change in many a seques- tered nook of even the British Isles. May it be so also along all the shores of Africa ! INDEX, Abai, the river, p. 391, 399. Abd-el-Kader, 383, 384. Abyssinia, highlands of, 390. Acacia tree, forests of, 21. Acoono-coono, the town of, 353, 354. Adafoodiah, the town of, 371. Adams, his shipw reclc and captivity, 135. Journey through the desert, 13(;. His liberation and anival in England, ib. His account of Tim- buctoo, 136-138. Adams, Captain, his account of Be- nin, Waree, and Bonny, 295, 296. Africa, natural features of, 17-27. Its situation on the globe, 17. Ex- tensive deserts, IS. Mountains and rivers, 20. Vegetable life, 20, 21. Animal life, 22-26. Social aspect, 26, 27. Knowledge of, among the ancients, 28-47. Africa, Central, recent political changes in, 24.;;. Great expedi- tion from Tripoli to, 374-379. Africa, Eastern, 400. 411, 419. Africa, "Western, 2&5-297. General view of the coast, 285. Afi-ica, South and East, 298-340. Africa, social condition of, 449-489. Distinction between native and foreign tribes, 449. Domestic ac- commodation, 455. Intellectual character, 457. Superstition, 350. War and slavery, 459-463. Go- vernment, 464. Foreign races, 465. Jlohammedan converts, 466. European colonization, 467. Africa, Southern, 419-421. African Association, early proceed- ings of, 93-98. Africans, manners of, 72-77. Agriculture of Africa, 450-452, Ahguay, 367. Air, the kingdom of, 378. Albany district, 470-473. Alburlia Island, 351. Alexander, Sir James, his expedi- tion in the Cape Territory, 330- 335. Algiers, the Fiench possession of, 380-386. Difficulties of the con- quest, 380. Allen, Lieut., his hj'pothesis of the Tchadda and the Yeou, 281. Amboises, the bay of, 365. Anderson, Mr., the Swede, 429. His explorations in the south, 434-436. Angola, Livingston's account o^ 443. Antelopes, 24. Ants, white, 28. Arabs, migration of, 48-55. Ashantee, Jdngdom of, 288. War with, 294, Assal Lake, 395. Atlas, the greater, 384. B. Bajiebo, 345, 346. Bakelaliari, desert of, 424, 425. Balonda, the country of the, 441. Bamangwato country, 421. Bambouk, gold mines of, 88-91. Baobab tree, 21. Barotse, the country of the, 439, Barrow, Mr., his tour in the Cape territory, 302-307. Barth, Dr. Heinrich, 374. Bathurst, settlement of, 479. Batuta, Ibn, his travels through In- tel ior Africa, 52-54. Bedouins, attacks by the, 385 Belir, the king of, 403. Beke, Dr., 397-399. His argument respecting the source of the White Nile, 404-408. INDEX. 491 Bell, Mr., 400. Benin, town of, 343. Court of; 343. Biobboo, village of, 351. Bonny, towTi of, 296. Bornoii, description of, 167-170. Boshuanas, 307, 312. Bosjesmans, 305-307, 332. Boussa, town of, 126. BowcUch and Dupuis, their embas- sies to the Ashantees, 290-295. Brava, 412. Bruce, character of as a traveller, 391, 392. Brue, voyages of, up the Senegal, 84-SS. Burchell, Mr., journey of, 314. Caffres, 304, 305. Great irruptions b}', 319-326. Caillie's journey into Interior Africa, ■ 217-229. Camelopard, 24. Cameroon's River, ascent of the, 362, 363. Campbell, Captain, advances into the Foulah territory, 146. Campbell, John, his missions into Southern Africa, 310-314. Cape of Good Hope colonj-, 298-335, 453-457. Statistics of, 453-455. Albany district, 456-459. Mis- sionary Exertions, 459, 4G0. Central Alpine platan, supposed, 429. Chiboqui, the country of the, 442. Chobe', the river, 431, 432, 437. Christopher, Lieut., 412. Church Missionaries, 392, 400, 419. Clapperton, his first journey. See Denham and Clapperton. Clapperton, his second journey, 19S- 216. Sickness and deatli, 214. His servant Lander returns, partly by a new route, 215, 216. Combes and Tamisier, ^Messrs., 394. Congo, river, 61. Captain Tuckey's expedition to, 142-145. Cowan, Dr., assassination of, 308. Creek Town, 349. Crocodile, 23. Cross Eiver, exploration of the, 350- 356. Cumming, his huntings in South Africa, 420, 421. His discoveries, 421-423. D'Abaddie, Messrs., 395. Dahomey, kingdom ot 286. Capital and court of, 370, Dammara country, the, 433, 434. Davidson, Mr., expedition bj', 282. Murdered in the desert, 283. Denham and Clapperton's expedi- tion, 149-197. Arrival at Tripoli, 150; atMourzoulc, 151. Difficul- ties; agreement with Boo Khal- loom, 152. Excm-sion to Mandara, 170. Cross gi-eat range of moun- tains, 175. Disastrous issue of the expedition, 176-179. Accompany the Bornouese against the Mun- gas, 179-183. Excursion to Log- gun, 183. Proceed with the ex- pedition against the La Salas, 186. Biddoomahs, 187. Journey into Houssa, 188. Sultan Bello, 194. Return of the travellers, 197. Desert See Sahara. Desert, invaders in the lesser, 385. D'Hericourt, M. Rochet, 397. Diodorus, his description of Northern Africa, 33, 34. Duke Town, 348, 356, 357. Euncan, Mr., his explorations in the west, 367-372. Dupuis and Bowdich, their embas- sies to the Ashantees, 290, 295. Dutch settlement of, at the Cape, 299. Emigration of, to Natal, 328- 330. Eboe country, discovery in the, 357. Elephant, 22, 23. English, early discoveries by, 68-81. Ephraim Town, 296. Ethiope, despatch of the, 341. Re- sults of the exploration of the, 347. Thoughts about the, 353. Ethiopia, knowledge of, among the ancients, 36. Eudoxus, voyages of, 43-46. Eyeo, the capital of Yarriba, 202. 492 INDEX. F. Fezzan, oasis o^ 375. Fisheries, native, 351, 364. Foota Jallo, 2S3. Formosa, ascent of the, 342. French, discoveries by, 82-92. Funda, town of; described, 275. G. Galton, Mr. Francis, 429. His ex- plorations in the south, 433, 434. Gahven, to^^-n of; 413. Gambia, river, company formed in England to explore, 69. British settlement on, 464-463. Garian Pass, district around the, 375. Ghat, country around, 377. Giraffe or camelopard, 24. Giredi, the town and state of, 415, 416. Gobat, Mr., 393. Godjeb, the river, 396. Gold Coast, British forts on the, 463- 470. Gold mines, 89, 90. Graham's Town, 457, 458. Gray, Captain, his amval in Bondou, and return to Senegal, 147. Guinea-Company, towns of, 349. Gum-trade, 91, 92. H. Hahotia, the river, 369. Haines river, discovery of the, 412. The reservoir of the, 413. Hamada, table-land o^ 375. Hanno's voyage of discovery, 41-43. Harris, Sir W. C, 399. Herodotus, his description of North- em Africa, 30-33. Hippopotamus, 23. Holroyd, M., 400. Horneman, his travels, 128. His death, 134. Hottentots, 299-301, 302, 454. Houghton, Major, 96. His death, 97. Hyena, 22. I. Iddah, town and king of; 36a Innieong, the king of, 351. Insect race, 25. Iserberg and Krapf, Messrs., 393. J. Jannequin, voyage of; up the Sene- gal, 83, 84. Jobson, voyage o^ up the Gambia, 70-77. Johnston, Mr. Charles, 400. Jomard, M. 401. Jubb, the river, 416. Month and lower reaches of, 417. Inland basin of, 417. Inhabitants of the valley of; 418. K, Kabyles, French struggles with the, 232. Massacre of a \illage of the, 333. Kafue' River, and its hills, 446. Xalte, Baron von, 395. Kano, the chief city of Hoossa, 190- 193, 21L Kiama, town of, 205. Killimandjaaro, 409. Kolben's accovmt of the Hottentots, 299-301. Kong Mountains, the, 370, 371. Koolfu, town of, 209. Kouka, the capital of Bomon, 163. Koulobeng, 421. Kureechane, a Hottentot town, 313. Laing, Major, his mission to Central Africa, 147. His second expedi- tion to, 216. Reaches Timbuctoo, 217. Assassinated, ib. Laird, Mr., expedition by, 267. Voy- age up the Niger, 263. Ascent to Eboe, 269. Attempts to ascend higher up the river, 271. Pro- ceeds to Fmida, ib. Adventures there, 272-275. Returns to Eng- land, 231. Lander, Richard and John, discovery of the termination of the Niger by, 230-2(J6. Their arrival at Cape Coast, 231; at Badagry, 232. JoiUTiey to Eyeo, 233. The Fel- latas, 236. Journey to Kiama, 237. Boussa, 238. Voyage up the Niger to Youri, 240-242. Re- turn to Boussa, 243. Attempts to recover Park's journal, 245. Voyage to Patashie, 246. Aspect INDEX. 493 of the Niger, 247. Egga, 250. Kirree, 255. They are attacked and plundered, 256. Escorted to Eboe, 258. King Boy, ib. Voy- age to Brass Town, 260. Convey- ed to an English ship, 261, 263. Arrival at Fernando Po, 264. Voyage to England, ib. Death of Richard, 280. Lattakoo, 307, 309, 310, 314, 315. Destroyed by the Mantatees, 317. Lecambye I'iver, the, 439. Ledyard, the traveller, 94. His death, 95. Leeba river, the, 440. Leechee, town of, 345. Lefevre, Dillon, and Petit, Messrs., 386. Leo, Africanus, his description of Africa, 54, 55. Liberia, settlement of, 484-487. Re- public of, 487-489. Lichtenstein, Dr., journey of, 308, 309. Limpopo, the river, 422, 423. Linyanti, Livingston's visits to, 438, 440. Lion, 22, Li\'ingston, Mr., his discoveiy of Lake Ngarai, 424-428. His second journey to Lake Ngami, 429, 430. His third exploratory journey, 430-433. His fourth exploratoiy journey, 437-448. His visit to England, 448. Loanda, Livingston's arrival at, 442. Locusts, 25. Lucas, Mr., travels of, 95, 96, M. M'Caithy's Island, settlement of, 479, 480. M'Leod, Mr,, his residence at Wlii- dah, 287. Magadosa, on the eastern coast, 340, Makadisho, to^vn of, 414. Makololo, the, 438, 444, Mangrove tree, 21, Mantatees, invasion of, 315-319, Manufactures of Afiica, 452. Massacre at Duke Town, 356, 357. Massaia, the Pass of the Col de, 384 Merkah, town of, 413. Misselad, the, 403. Moffat, the Missionary, 420. His exploration to Matlokotloko, 444. Slombaza, town of, 340. Monkey tribe, 25. Monrovia, the to\vn of, 485, 487, 488. Monomoezi country, 407. ]\ron-ison, Mr., death of, 199. Moselekatse's dominions, 444. Mountain of Greatness, 409. Mourzouk, description of, 376. iiiiller. Baron von, 409. N. Nasamones, journey of the, 40. Natal, settlement of, 326-330, 473. Necho, king of Egypt, expedition of discovery, sent by, 38-40. Ngami Lake, 424. Expedition to, 424-426. Description of, 427. Natives around, 427. Produce of 428. Connection of with further discovery, 428. Livingston's second expedition to, 429. En- demic diseases round, 430. An- derson's examination of, 435. Products of its neighbourhood, 435. Niger, river, Mr. Park's voyage down, 126. Its course described, 140, 141. Supposed to be identi- fied with the Congo, 142. Ac- counts of, received by Denham and Clapperton, 196. The Lan- ders' discovery of the termina- tion of, 230-266. Laird's expedi- tion to, 207-281. Delta of, 297. Continued interest in the, 341. Ascent of the, above Rabba, 344, 345. TrafBc on the, 346. Facili- ties for commerce on the, 347, Government expedition to the, 358-361. Nun mouth of the, 358. Intricacy of the channel of the, 359. Population of the swamps of the, 359, 360. Nile, river, ancient accounts of, 35, 36. Ancient inquiry for the source of the, 387. Special interest in the basin of the Upper, 388. Pe- culiar character of the, 388. The 494 INDEX. 406. The direct stream of the Upper "N^Tiite, 407. Supposed origin of the Wliite, 408. Norris, Mr., journey to Dahomey, 286. Nourse, the river, 433. Kun, mouth of tlie Niger, 358. N'yassi, 407, 408. Xyffe, country of, 209. Old Calabar and Cross Rivers, im- portance of the, 348, 349. Old Calabar River, ascent of the, 348. Old Calabar, explorations south-east of; 362. Scottish Presbyterian Mission at, 356. Oldfield, Mr., ascends the Tchadda, 276. Visits Rabba, 277. Returns to England, 281. Omun, town of, 352. Orang-outang, 24. Oswell, Jilr., 424, 429, 430. Ovampo, the, 434. Overweg, Dr., his expedition to Central Aftica, 374-379. His death, 380. P. Park, Mungo, his first journey, 99- 118. Ill treatment at Bondou, 100, and at Joag, 101. Captivity among the Moors of Benowm, 102-104 His escape, 105. The Niger, 107. Arrival at Sego, 108. Sansanding, 109. Silla, 110. Is obliged to re- turn, 111. Various misfortunes, 112-116. Finds relief at Kamalia, 116. Arrival in England, 118. His second journey, 119-127. His departure, 120, Overtaken by the rainy season, 121. Great sick- ness and distress, 123. Embarks (in the Niger, ib. Negociations with the king of BambaiTa; ob- tains permission to build a vessel, 124. Sansanding, 125. Voyage down the Niger, 126. Accounts of his death, 126, 127, 372. Patta, town of, 340. learce, Captain, death of; 199. Peddle, Major, arrives at Kakundy, 146. His death, ib. Periplus of the Erythraean sea, 46, 47. Pirate Isle, population of the, 365. Popoe, slave dealers at, 368. Port Elizabeth, 457, 458. Porto-Sagoora, exploration inward from, 369. Portuguese, discoveries by, 56-67. Rise of the spirit of discovery, 56. Voyages along the western coast, 57-59. The Senegal; Prince Be- moy, 59. Discovery of the Congo, 61. Numerous missionaries sent out, 62-65. Decline of their mari- time power, 68. Their conquests, 336. R. Rabba, city of, 249, 278-280. Traffic at, 386. Regio Cinnamonifera, 411. Rhinoceros, 23. Richardson, his travels in the Sahara, 372-374. His expedition to Cen- tral Africa, 374-379. His death, 380. Riley, James, his ship^v^eck, and journey through the Desert, 138, 139. An-ival at Jlogadore, 140. Ritchie and Lyon, expedition by, its disastrous termination, 147, 148. Riippell, Dr. Edward, 394. Russegger, M., 400. S. Sackatoo, 193-195. Death of Clap- perton at, 214. Sahara, or Great Desert, 18-20. Denliam and Clapperton's journey through, 155-161. Newly dis- covered route in the, 372, 373. Mr. Richardson'3 wanderings in the, 373. Ancient sculptures in the, 277. Salt, Mr., 392. Sataspes, voyage of, 41. Scottish Presbyterian Mission at Old Calabar, 356. Seleka's Town, 423. Selufiet, 378, 379. INDEX. 495 Blue, S89. Tlie White, 389. Theories as to the source of the White, 389. Great tableau of the upper basiu of the, 390. Head streams of the, 391. Egyptian expedition up the White, 401. Second Eg\-ptian Expedition, 402. Upper explored reaches of the White, 403. The third Egyptian expedition, 404. The Shoaheni, a great branch of the White, 406. The direct stream of the Upper White, 407. Supposed origin of the White, 408. Norris, Mr., journey to Dahomey, 286. Nourse, the river, 433. Xun mouth of the l^iger, 358. N'yassi, 407, 408. Nyflfe, country of, 209. 0. Old Calabar and Cross Rivers, im- portance of the, 348, 349. Old Calabar Eiver, ascent of the, 348. Old Calabar, explorations south-east of, 362. Scottish Presbyterian Mission at, 356. Oldfield, Mr., ascends the Tchadda, 276. Visits Rabba, 277. Returns to England, 281. Omun, town of, 352. Orang-outang, 24. Oswell, Mr., 424, 429, 430. Ovampo, the, 434. Overweg, Dr., his expedition to Central Africa, 371-379. His death, 380. Park, Mungo, his first journey, 99- 118. Ill treatment at Bondou, 100. and at Joag, 101. Captivity among the Moors of Benowm, 102-104. His escape, 105. The Niger, 107. Arrival at Sego, 108. Sansanding, 109. Silla, 110. Is obliged to re- turn, 111. Various misfortunes, 112-116. Finds relief at Kamalia, 116. AiTival in England, 118. His second journey, 119-127. His departure, 120. crertaken by the rainy season, 121. Great sick- ness and distress, 123. Embarks on the Niger, ib. Negotiations with the king of Bambarra; ob- tains permission to build a vessel, 124. Sansanding, 125. Voyage down the Niger, 126. Accounts of his death, 126, 127, 372. Patta, town of, 340. Pearce, Captain, death of, 199. Peddie, Major, arrives at Kakundy, 146. His death, ib. Periplus of the Erythrasan Sea, 46, 47. Pirate Isle, population of the, 365. Popoe, slave dealers at, 368. Port Elizabeth, 471, 472. Porto-Sagoora, exploration inward fiom, 369. Portuguese, discoveries by, 5C-67, Rise of the spirit of discovery, 56. Voyages along the western coast, 57-59. The Senegal; Prince Be- moy, 59. Discovery of the Congo, 61. Numerous missionaries sent out, 62-65. Decline of their mari- time power, 68. Their conquests, 336. R. Rabba, city of, 249, 278-280. Traffic at, 386. Regio Cinnamonifera, 411. Rhinoceros, 23. Richardson, his travels in theSahara, 372-374. His expedition to Cen- tral Africa, 374-379. His death, 380. Riley, James, his shipwreck, and journey through the Desert, 138, 139. Arrival at Mogadore, 140. Ritchie and Lyon, expedition by, its disastrous termination, 147 148. Ruppell, Dr. Edward, 394. Russegger, M., 400. Sackatoo, 193-195. Death of Clap- perton at, 214. Sahara, or the Great Desert, 18-20. Denham and Clapperton's journey 496 INDEX. through, 155-161. Newly dis- covered route in the, 372, 373. Mr. Richardson's wanderings in the, 373. Ancient sculptures in the, 277. Salt, Sir., 392. Sataspes, voyage of, 41. Scottish Presbyterian Jlission at Old Calahar, 356. Seleka's Tovm, 423. Selufiet, 378, 379. Senegal, river, French settlement on, 82. Voyages up, 83-88. Serpent tribe, 34. Seshehe, the river, 431. Shoa, 399. Shoaberri, the river, 405, 406. Sicomy, king, 421, 422. Sierra Leone, colony o^ 474-479. Population, 477, 478. Baneful in- fluence of the climate, 477. Slave trade, 460-463. Smith, Dr. Andrew, his tour along the eastern coast, 330. Sobat, the river, 402. Souba country, 342. Soudan, contrast betn^een the Desert and, 387. Spamnan, travels of, 302. Stibbs, Captain, his voyage up the Gambia, 78, 79. Strabo, his description of Northern Africa, 34, 35. Tamunackle, the river, 426-430. Taradshit, 378. Tawat, 373. Tchad, Lake, 161, 374, 380. Tchadda. river, 276, 280, 281. Tekut, mount, 375. Teoge river, Anderson's explora- tion of the, 436. Tete, the town of, and the country around it, 447. Thompson, Mr., his visit to Lattakoo, 315. Tibboos and Tuaricks of the Desert, 156. Timbuctoo, accoun,t of, by Adams, 136-138, by Riley, 140, by Major Laing, 217, by CailUe', 224-227. Tin-Tellus, 378, 379. Trade of Afi-ica, 453. Exports and imports of Western Africa, 454; of the Cape Colony, 468-470 ; of Sierra Leone and Bathurst, 480, 481. Trutter and Sommenille, expedi- tion of, 307. Tuckey, Captain, his expedition to the Congo or Zaire, 142. Voyage up that river, 143. Difficulties encoimtered, 144. Great sickness, and disastrous issue, 144, 145. Vaillant, Le, travels of, 30 2. Valentia, Lord, 392. Vermuyden, expedition o^ 77, 78. W. Warree, river, ascent of the, 344. "Watt and Winterbottom, their as- cent of the Rio Nimez, and excur- sion to Foota Jallo, 288. Wawa, city of; 205, 243. Weme, M., 401. ^\'hLdah, serpent worship at, 368. Wuri Islands, the, 363. Tabiang, 364. Yarriba, kingdom of, 200-204. Yeou river, 162, 281. Young Town Creek, 343. Youri, city of, 240-242. Z. Zagoshi, 249. Zambezi, lake, 407, 408, 428. Zambezi, river, English Expedition up, 338. Livingston's explora- tion of, 445-448. The falls of, 445, Zanzibar, island of, 339. Zaria, town of, 210. Zebra, 24. Zoolas, a warlike and powerful race, 317. Massacre of the Dutch set- tlers at Natal by, 329. Zouga, the river, 426. Zumbo, ruins of the town of, 447. UCSB LIBKART