As the Landers were carried down the river, the country on the banks completely changed its appearance, being low and swampy, covered with vast entangled forests, which completely concealed the towns and villages, of whose existence the travellers were nevertheless apprised by the number of inhabitants who came to the beach to trade with the canoemen. The people subsisted chiefly on the produce of the banana, the plantain, and the yam, and on the fish which they caught in the river. The chief article of traffic was palm-oil.

As they drew near to Eboe, they sailed through a large lake on the river, which branched out into three broad streams, which take different directions towards the south-west; whence they felt assured that they were rapidly approaching the termination of the river's course in the Gulf of Guinea. The pleasure which they felt in the hope of soon solving the mysterious problem which had been hid for so many ages, was however damped by the thought of their precarious situation, and the hostile reception which they might meet with at Eboe.

They came to an extensive morass, intercepted by narrow channels in every direction. Passing through one of these, they got into clear water, and arrived in front of Eboe town. Here they found hundreds of canoes, some of which were much larger than any they had hitherto seen, being furnished with sheds and awnings, and affording habitations to a great number of the people, who constantly reside in them. The travellers say that one of these canoes, hollowed out of a single trunk, may accommodate seventy individuals. The houses of the people of Eboe are of a superior kind, and are constructed of yellow clay plastered over, thatched with palm leaves, and surrounded by plantations. The people are a savage and dissolute race, and the bad expression of their countenances is a true index of their character.

King Obie determined to detain the Landers till he could extort a large sum for their ransom. He demanded the sum of twenty bars (each equal to one slave or a cask of palm oil). The travellers had the prospect of being detained for an indefinite period, had not King Boy of Brass-town, Obie's son-in-law, undertaken to pay the amount, and convey them to the coast, on condition of receiving a guarantee for thirty-five bars, being determined to retain the difference as profit for his trouble. King Boy then went to the mouth of the river with Richard Lander, John being left at Brass-town. The English brig Thomas, commanded by Captain Lake, was then lying at anchor in the Nun, and Richard Lander went on board, in the hope that Lake would advance the sum, which was sure to be repaid by the British Government. He, however, had no sympathy towards his distressed countrymen, and peremptorily refused to grant them any assistance, and King Boy was with difficulty prevailed upon to bring John Lander to the brig, Richard trusting that the hard-hearted captain would by that time relent. Both brothers were now on board, and were employing all the means in their power to induce Lake to consent to the arrangement; but in place of doing so, he set sail, leaving King Boy to exclaim against what he no doubt considered the treachery of the travellers. The British Government, however, afterwards caused King Boy to be paid more than the sum which he had stipulated for.

The Landers suffered much discomfort on board the vessel from the tyrannical and harsh behaviour of Lake; and they encountered a severe storm in crossing the bar of the river Nun. On the 1st of December, they landed at Fernando Po, where they experienced great friendship and hospitality from the British residents. Thence they found a passage home in the Carnarvon, and arrived at Portsmouth on the 10th June 1831.

The great problem of African geography was now solved, and the enterprising travellers met with the praise so justly due to their sagacity, prudence, and fortitude. "For several hundred miles of its lower course, the river was found to form a broad and magnificent expanse, resembling an inland sea. Yet must the Niger yield very considerably to the Missouri and Orellana, those stupendous rivers of the new world. But it appears at least as great as any of those which water the old continents. There can rank with it only the Nile, and the Yang-tse-Kiang, or Great River of China. But the upper course of neither is yet very fully established; and the Nile can compete only in length of course, not in the magnitude of its stream, or the fertility of the regions. There is one feature in which the Niger may defy competition from any river, either of the old or new world. This is the grandeur of its Delta. Along the whole coast, from the river of Formosa or Benin to that of Old Calabar, about 300 miles in length, there open into the Atlantic its successive estuaries, which navigators have scarcely been able to number. Taking its coast as the base of the triangle or Delta, and its vertex at Kirree, about 170 miles inland, we have a space of upwards of 25,000 square miles, equal to the half of England. Had this Delta, like that of the Nile, been subject only to temporary inundations, leaving behind a layer of fertilizing slime, it would have formed the most fruitful region on earth, and might have been almost the granary of a continent. But, unfortunately, the Niger rolls down its waters in such excessive abundance, as to convert the whole into a huge and dreary swamp, covered with dense forests of mangrove, and other trees of spreading and luxuriant foliage. The equatorial sun, with its fiercest rays, cannot penetrate these dark recesses; it only exhales from them pestilential vapours, which render this coast the theatre of more fatal epidemic diseases than any other, even of Western Africa. That human industry will one day level these forests, drain these swamps, and cover this soil with luxuriant harvests, we may confidently anticipate; but many ages must probably elapse before man, in Africa, can achieve such a victory over nature."[29]

[29] Edinburgh Review, vol. 55.



CHAPTER XXXVI.

The Steam Voyage of the Quorra and Alburkah.

The peculiar characteristic of British enterprise is in general its practical tendency; wherever a way is opened which promises to afford a competent return for labour and even hazard, the path is pursued; and though the advantage may not be immediately held out, the experiment is nevertheless made. Notwithstanding that the remarkable voyage of which we are about to give some account, failed in effecting the desired end, enough was done to shew the possibility of establishing commercial intercourse between Britain and Interior Africa, when due care and management are employed in the choice of that season of the year when the influence of the climate is comparatively little felt.

Some Liverpool merchants being desirous of opening a trade with the countries on the banks of the Niger, by the exchange of British manufactures for native produce, fitted out two steam boats: one of which, the Quorra, was of 150 tons, and of the ordinary construction; while the other, the Alburkah, was only of 57 tons. The latter vessel was entirely iron-built, with the exception of her decks; her bottom was 1/4 of an inch in thickness, her sides from 3/18 to 1/8 of an inch. She was seventy feet in length, 13 in beam, 6-1/2 in depth, and had an engine of 16-horse power. The great inconvenience apprehended from the vessel was, that from her construction, the crew would suffer much from heat; but so far from this having been the case, the iron, being an universal conductor, kept her constantly at the same temperature with the water. To these vessels was added the Columbine, a sailing brig of 150 tons, which was intended to remain at the mouth of the river, to receive the goods brought down by the steam-boats.

Richard Lander volunteered his valuable services to this expedition,—the last in which he was destined to take part; Messrs. Laird and Oldfield, with a considerable number of Europeans also embarked. They left England about the end of July 1832, and arrived off the Nun on the 19th of October, after having touched at Sierra Leone, Cape Coast Castle, and other settlements, to lay in provisions, and secure the services of some Kroomen.[30]

[30] The Kroomen inhabit the country which extends along the coast, from Simon River to Capes Palmas and Lahoo; they voluntarily engage themselves in bands to aid the crews of vessels.

Having safely moored the brig, they proceeded to unload the merchandize on board of her, and to transfer it to the steam-vessels. They then began to sail up the Nun branch of the Niger. This part of the river is most unhealthy; it is one entire swamp, covered with mangrove, cabbage, and palm trees. "The fen-damp rose in the morning cold and clammy to the feeling, and appeared like the smoke of a damp wood fire." The bodies of the natives are covered with ulcers and cutaneous eruptions; they spend a short and miserable life in profligacy. After they had gone up about thirty miles, the banks had an appearance of greater consistency, and the beautiful, but deadly mangrove tree was no longer visible. The river was now about 300 yards broad, and from four to five fathoms deep. They met with no obstruction from the natives, till they came to Eboe, where an unfortunate quarrel took place, which seems to have arisen from a mere misunderstanding. The discharge of a gun had been agreed upon as the signal from the Alburkah for the Quorra to anchor; which being fired after dark, before the village, alarmed the natives, who opened a brisk discharge of musketry from the banks. The voyagers found it necessary to put a stop to this attack, by the discharge of their great guns, and in about twenty minutes the musketry from the shore was silenced. At day-break they made farther reprisals, and in order to terrify the natives, landed and set fire to the village—an act of barbarity which appears to have been entirely gratuitous and uncalled for. After they had passed the scene of this unfortunate rencontre, the river increased in breadth to one thousand yards; the banks were higher, and the woods were more frequently diversified with plantations of bananas, plantains and yams. Soon after they anchored off Eggaboo, to take in a supply of wood; it was the first town which they had observed built at a short distance from the river, and not upon its margin. It contained about two hundred houses, each of which was surrounded with a bamboo fence about nine feet high. They gratified King Obie by a visit, who gave them various presents, and also visited the steamers in state, escorted by upwards of sixty canoes, seven of which were of great size, and were each manned by crews of seventy men. Palm oil is produced in large quantities at Eboe; but the people are chiefly occupied in slave-hunting. As may be expected, their disposition is cruel and revengeful,—they live in the daily practice of the most flagrant vice and immorality.

On the night of the 9th November, they departed from Eboe, and were guided through the intricate and dangerous navigation by the light of a brilliant moon. After two days they anchored about 15 miles from the town. The river was here at least 3000 yards broad; and afterwards when it had thrown off its two great branches, the Benin and the Bonny, was about 1500 yards wide, divided by sandy islands overgrown with grass. One of the vessels grounded, but after half-an-hour's hard labour was got off. In the course of the same evening they were surrounded by canoes, which brought goats, yams, plantains, and bananas for sale.

The effect of the climate and of their stay near the swamps now became fatally manifest. In the Quorra, fourteen men died, and three in the Alburkah. The disproportion of mortality in the two vessels, at this period, is ascribed to the superior coolness of the Alburkah, which was rendered more healthy in consequence of her iron hull diffusing through her interior the coolness of the surrounding water.

They next anchored off Attah, a picturesque town, situated on the top of a hill which rises nearly 300 feet above the river. The view from the town is said to be grand and extensive. Here Mr. Laird saw an alligator captured by two natives, in an ingenious and daring manner. "He was discovered basking on a bank in the river, a short distance ahead of the vessels. Two natives in a canoe immediately paddled to the opposite side of the bank, and having landed, crept cautiously towards him. As soon as they were near the animal, one of the natives stood up from his crouching position, holding a spear about six feet long, which with one blow he struck through the animal's tail into the sand. A most strenuous contest immediately ensued; the man with the spear holding it in the sand as firmly as his strength allowed him, and clinging to it as it became necessary to shift his position with the agility of a monkey; while his companion occasionally ran in as opportunity offered, and with much dexterity gave the animal a thrust with his long knife, retreating at the same moment from, without the reach of its capacious jaws, as it whirled round upon the extraordinary pivot which his companion had so successfully placed in its tail. The battle lasted about half an hour, terminating in the slaughter of the alligator, and the triumph of his conquerors, who were not long in cutting him into pieces and loading their canoes with his flesh, which they immediately carried to the shore and retailed to their countrymen. The success of the plan depended entirely on the nerve and dexterity of the man who pinned the animal's tail to the ground; and his contortions and struggles to keep his position were highly entertaining."

They were now within the district of the Kong Mountains, which are of a tabular form, and rise on both sides to between 2000 or 2500 feet. The change of prospect was most grateful to those who had spent two months in a flat, marshy, and uninteresting country. These mountains lie in the direction of W.N.W. and E.S.E., where they are intersected by the Niger. Their outlines are extremely bold, and they appear to be chiefly composed of granite. The navigation of the channel between them is full of danger, as large fragments of granite have fallen into the stream, and produced eddies and shoals. At a little distance beyond this point, a noble prospect opened before the Voyagers. "An immense river, about three thousand yards wide, extending as far as the eye could reach, lay before us, flowing majestically between its banks, which rose gradually to a considerable height, and were studded with clumps of trees and brushwood, giving them the appearance of a gentleman's park; while the smoke rising from different towns on its banks, and the number of canoes floating on its bosom, gave it an aspect of security and peace." Here the vessel ran aground with a violent shock, and they experienced the greatest difficulty in relieving her.

A great misfortune happened to the expedition a little above Attah. The Quorra again ran aground, near the confluence of the Tshadda with the Niger, and all their efforts to extricate her proved vain; she was stopped for four months, after which the rising of the water lifted her up.

Mr. Laird, accompanied by Dr. Briggs, visited Addakudda, which was the largest town in sight from the vessel on the western bank of the river; it is situated on an eminence of granite, which gives it the appearance of a fortified place. It contains about 5000 inhabitants, but like most African towns, is dirty and ill-constructed. Here they saw the method used by the natives for dying cloth with indigo, which is extremely rude and inartificial; and the effect seems to be produced solely by the superior quality of the indigo, and the quantity employed. Little ivory is exposed for sale in the market, cloth, and provisions forming the chief articles of traffic.

As any farther progress was for a time entirely prevented, Mr. Laird resolved to travel towards Fundah, in order to ascertain whether any opening for commerce could be found there. After journeying about forty miles, by land and water, he arrived in a state of great debility, and experienced a most inhospitable reception from the king, who pilfered from him as much as he could, and detained him in his own residence for some time, threatening to put him to death if he attempted to escape. He was only allowed to depart in consequence of several devices, which operated powerfully upon the superstitious fears of the king and his subjects.

The town of Fundah, which is very extensive, is situated on the western extremity of an immense plain, about nine miles distant from the northern bank of the river Shary. To the eastward the country is rich and beautiful. The town is built in the form of a crescent, and is surrounded by a ditch, and a wall about twelve feet high. A considerable space intervenes between the houses and the walls. The streets are narrow and dirty, with the exception of one a mile in length, and about two hundred feet wide; where the market is held every Friday. "The houses are all circular with conical huts built of clay, with the exception of the chief Mallam's, which has a gable end to it. The verandahs in the front give them a cool and pleasant appearance." The king's residence would appear to be the citadel, as it is surrounded by a wall pierced with many loopholes. Mr. Laird estimates the population at 15,000, who are chiefly employed in extensive dye-works, and in the manufacture of iron and copper utensils.

Soon after this, Mr. Laird having resolved to abandon the expedition, returned to Fernando Po in the Quorra. Dr. Briggs, the medical officer attached to the expedition, had died in February; and only three or four of the original crew of the vessel survived.

We shall now follow Mr. Oldfield's narrative. As Mr. Laird was on his return to Fernando Po, he passed the Alburkah, with Messrs. Lander and Oldfield on board, on their way to Boussa. They entered the Tshadda on the 2d August, and sailed 104 miles up the stream, till the want of provisions compelled them to return to the Niger. They remained for some time at Kacunda, Egga, and Rabba, but their efforts to open a trade with the natives were by no means successful. At Rabba, they were compelled to return, in consequence of the steamer's engine having sustained some damage. They returned to the sea-coast, but had scarcely arrived when Lander departed to Cape Coast Castle to procure a supply of cowries. Mr. Oldfield proceeded with the Alburkah to meet him. The voyage was slow, for the machinery had got out of order; great mortality prevailed on board the vessel; the Kroometi began to disobey orders; and there were rumours abroad, that the natives, knowing their weakness and diminished numbers, intended to attack and plunder the vessel. On the 28th of March, Mr. Oldfield received a letter from Richard Lander, which stated that his boat had been attacked, three of the crew killed, and himself wounded; that the other three men who were with him had been seriously hurt; that they had been plundered of every thing, and had with difficulty escaped. This fatal accident happened when he was opposite to the towns called Hyamma and Ikibree. The natives tempted by the value of the goods which he carried with him in several canoes, opened a fire of musketry upon him. Lander and his men defended themselves as long as they could, but they were at length compelled to flee. Their pursuers continued to fire; and as Lander stooped to take up some ammunition, he received a musket shot, and the ball lodged in the upper part of his thigh. The wound at first seemed slight, and he was enabled to reach Fernando Po; but all efforts to extract the ball were useless, and mortification of the muscles having ensued, he expired on the thirteenth day after the attack.

The Alburkah proceeded up the river no farther than Attah, where Mr. Oldfield procured a considerable quantity of ivory. The greater part of the crew had been cut off by fever and dysentery, four only being fit for duty. As soon, therefore, as Mr. Oldfield heard of Mr. Lander's death, he resolved to return to the coast, which he reached in July 1834.

We have now completed the sketch of those discoveries in Central Africa, which have taken place since the time of Park, and have endeavoured to make it as interesting as our restricted limits permitted. The scenery through which we have passed has been varied and sometimes beautiful; but the beauty has been wild and uncultivated, and has been more than counterbalanced by the oft-times stern aspect of nature, darkened by the frowns of an ungenial and unhealthy sky, in too faithful keeping with the actions of savage men, cruel and revengeful, sunk in vice and immorality. The narrative has been one of suffering and untimely death; one adventurer after another has gone forth, while scarcely one has returned from his toilsome and perilous wanderings; and the melancholy list has been closed by the fate of him who had the proud honour of tracing the termination of the mysterious river. Though each has displayed high and peculiar qualities of mind, not one has surpassed him whose energy and force of character in a great measure paved the way for succeeding travellers. Yet none will have fallen in vain, inasmuch as each has done something to point out the way whereby the blessings of civilization may be conveyed to the natives of Africa. The time may yet be distant, but it will assuredly come, when commerce and enlightenment shall be conveyed by the great channel of the Niger; when slavery shall be finally and for ever destroyed; and when, above all, the same blessed influence shall pervade Central, which had already done so much good in Southern Africa; when the voice of the missionary, which has been already blessed in raising up from the ground the degraded Hotentot, shall be heard in the huts that border the great river; when the natives shall cast away their idols, and with them, those vices which degrade and sully their character.

THE END.