Chapter III: Part 3

While he taught Angelo’s sword-exercise on board the Asia, he volunteered his services for the lakes of Canada, in the expedition which was sent to that novel scene of naval enterprise towards the beginning of the year 1814. In the voyage from England to Bermuda[10] he continued to act as a drill-master on board the Asia; and though, as yet, he had obtained no higher rank than that of midshipman, such was the respect in which he was held, and the deference paid to him, that in most respects he was treated as if he had been a lieutenant. He was now a tall and handsome young man, with great breadth of chest and expansion of shoulders, and possessing withal a mild temper and the kindest dispositions. Along with his other duties he drilled the young officers and men on deck, whenever the weather permitted, and when amusement was the order of the day, he was the life and soul of the crew; he was an excellent table companion, he could tell humourous tales, and his conversation was extremely amusing; he painted scenes for the ship’s theatricals, sketched views, drew caricatures, and so he was much beloved and respected by all, to whose amusement he so largely contributed.

The following incident affords a striking proof of the almost invincible hardiness of his constitution, for which he was indebted partly to the bounty of nature, and partly to the privations and habits of his early life. Having bidden adieu to the flag ship, on which he had acted so conspicuous a part, and taken his passage to Halifax, with the view of thence proceeding to the lakes, he was sent along with others to perform some service on the horrid coast of Labrador, and being there cast away while in a long boat, all the individuals who were along with him at the time were so severely frost bitten that some of them died, and the rest were lame for life, while he escaped with only losing the power of the first joint of his left hand thumb, which ever after continued crooked, and on that account used to be called “Hooky,” both by himself and his friends.

He was sent, along with a party of five hundred men, from Halifax to join Sir James Yeo, who, at that time, had the command upon the Lakes. As this journey was performed in winter, when the river St. Lawrence is frozen over, and of course when the water communication is suspended, it was both tedious and toilsome. The men marched on foot, first to Quebec, and then to the lakes, while the baggage was dragged after them in _sleighs_. Soon after his arrival on the lakes, he and a small party of men were appointed to defend a blockhouse on the coast of Lake Ontario; but he had not been long in this situation when the blockhouse, which had only one small gun for its defence, was attacked by a superior American force, by which it was speedily demolished; and when Clapperton and his men were left no other alternative but to become prisoners of war, or to cross the ice to York, the capital of Upper Canada, a distance of sixty or seventy miles. Frightful as the attempt was, in their destitute and forlorn circumstances, the journey was instantly resolved upon. But the party had not advanced more than ten or twelve miles, when a boy, one of the number, lay down on the ice unable to proceed farther, on account of the cold, and his previous fatigue. The sailors declared, each in his turn, that they were so benumbed with cold, and so exhausted by wading through the newly fallen snow, that it was with difficulty they could support themselves, and so could afford no assistance to the poor unfortunate boy. On this trying occasion the strong benevolence of Clapperton’s character was strikingly manifested. His nature was too generous to suffer him for a moment to endure the idea of leaving a fellow-creature inevitably to perish under such appalling circumstances; for as it was snowing at the time, it was quite evident that the boy would, if left, have been quickly overwhelmed by the drift. Clapperton, therefore, took the boy upon his own back, and carried him about eight or nine miles, when he found that he had relaxed his hold, and on examining the cause, he was perceived to be in a dying state, and very soon after expired. The party then proceeded on their journey, and endured very great sufferings before they could reach York. Their shoes and stockings were completely worn off their feet; and the want of nourishment had dreadfully emaciated their bodies, as they had no provisions during the journey except a bag of meal. According to his uncle’s account, it was, while he was making generous efforts to save the boy, who fell a victim to the cold, that Clapperton lost the first joint of his thumb. His uncle says, “he took the boy upon his back, holding him with his left hand, and supported himself from slipping with a staff in his right;” and adds, “that from the long inaction of his left hand in carrying the boy upon his back, he lost, from the effects of the cold, his thumb joint.”—This is certainly a very probable account of the matter, and assigns a cause sufficiently adequate for effecting a greater bodily injury than the loss of part of a thumb. But, as we have great confidence in the information which we have received on the subject, we are inclined to adhere to the account which we have given above, namely, that Clapperton lost the joint of his thumb on the coast of Labrador, when his companions in distress lost their limbs and their lives. It is evident, moreover, that his uncle’s information on many points was neither very extensive nor very accurate. A glaring instance of inaccuracy is abundantly apparent in his account of this very journey over the ice, from the demolished blockhouse to York, the capital of Upper Canada. He asserts that this journey was performed from the coast of Lake Huron, across Lake Michigan, to the town of York—an exploit which any one, by slightly inspecting a map of North America, will instantly see is impossible to be accomplished.

After Sir Edward Owen was appointed to the command of the British naval force upon the Canadian lakes, he gave Clapperton an acting order as a lieutenant, and appointed him to the command of the Confiance schooner. This was a situation, which, as it implied more responsibility than any he had hitherto held, likewise allowed him a greater degree of liberty than he could have enjoyed, had he been assigned a birth on board of a vessel commanded by a superior officer. When, therefore, he had the command of the Confiance, he was in the habit of making excursions into the forests on the coast, both of lake Huron and lake Erie, for the purpose of shooting game. While engaged in these excursions, he cultivated an acquaintance with several of the Indian tribes. The romantic turn of his mind led him not only to delight to associate with those aboriginal inhabitants of America, but also to adopt their manners and customs, and even to acquire their language. He became a great favourite among them; for he sometimes treated them with feasts, and on these occasions they used to fire a _feu de joie_ in honour of him as their benefactor. At one time, indeed, he entertained serious intentions of uniting himself to the Indians, marrying a princess, and thereby becoming a chief among them; and actually assumed the distinctive badge of the Huron nation. This romantic and foolish design was, however, soon relinquished; but the feasts which he had given to the chiefs led to deficiency in his accounts to the victualling department; and this deficiency was afterwards deducted from his half pay, and was the means of involving him in pecuniary difficulties, from which he was not altogether relieved till after his return from his first expedition from Africa.

But notwithstanding this fact, he was a most active, diligent, and efficient officer, while he served upon the lakes; so that it was the wish of Sir Edward Owen that the acting order which he had given him should be confirmed by the Board of Admiralty; and for this end Clapperton sent it to his uncle in London; but as the Board of Admiralty had just promoted a great number of naval officers, they refused to confirm his commission at that time. It was the feeling of disappointment arising from this refusal which made him form the design of permanently connecting himself with the Indians. When he went on shore to visit his friends among these tribes, he did not always order a boat to be in attendance upon him to bring him on board; but when he regarded it as time to return, he used to plunge into the water with his clothes on, swim along side of the schooner, and hail the people on board to take him up. This rash mode of proceeding, however, nearly cost him his life; for on one occasion he encountered a strong current which bore him away from his own schooner, the Confiance; and it was with difficulty he could make himself be heard, as in distress, and unable to bear up against the stream, by the men on board the schooner commanded by Lieutenant Adam Gordon, who sent a boat to fetch him on board. This adventure put an end to the exploits of swimming to and from the vessel, when he had occasion to be on shore. While he served on the lakes, he was distinguished by another singular practice. In the midst of winter he was in the habit of causing the ice to be broken daily for the purpose of making an opening in which he might bathe. He used to say, he felt a shock when he first plunged into the cold water, but that this was followed by a pleasant glow. The place which was broken in the ice, for the indulgence of this luxury, was with great propriety designated “Clapperton’s bath,” as no one else chose to participate with him in this species of pleasure. Yet amidst all these singularities he never neglected his duty as an officer; he loved to keep the sailors upon the alert; and when he _rowed guard_, he delighted to surprise the sentinels.

Like most other Scotsmen, when at a distance from their native land, he displayed a strong feeling of _amor patriæ_, and was particularly attentive to any of his countrymen he happened to meet with abroad, a fact which perhaps laid the foundation of his attachment to Mackenzie. At any rate, when he was on the lakes, there happened to be some species of merry-making among the officers, when he met, for the first time, a gentleman from Edinburgh, belonging to the medical department. As he had a very youthful appearance, Clapperton supposed that he must be inexperienced, and from a sincere desire to be serviceable to him, he took him aside and advised him always to maintain his rights, gave him some sage advice about his dress, and decorated his right thigh with a brilliant, scarlet-coloured watch ribbon. This gentleman took all in good part, assumed the aspect of the greenhorn which Clapperton supposed him to be, and allowed him both to direct and decorate him as he pleased. But when he understood that he was of considerable standing in the service, he came to him and apologized for his mistake—a thing which was of course accepted, and the curious incident proved the commencement of a sincere and firm friendship on both sides.

SECT. VII.—HIS SECOND STEP OF PROMOTION, AND HIS CONDUCT WHILE AN OFFICER ON HALF-PAY.

When Sir Edward Owen returned to England towards the end of 1816, he got Clapperton’s commission confirmed. Previous to this he had been examined as to his knowledge of naval tactics, and the information which he had displayed both as a theoretical and practical seaman was highly satisfactory to his examinators. The manner especially in which he had kept his log-book, was the cause of procuring for him the greatest encomiums. It is the practice of the officers of his majesty’s ships to note down at noon, in their log-books, what sails the ships to which they respectively belong, then carry. And as Clapperton had a natural talent for drawing, which he had cultivated with care, instead of doing this in the ordinary way, he represented the state of his ship’s canvass, at the hour required, by a spirited sketch. He likewise shewed, by the ingenious efforts of his pencil, the different headlands and the peculiar appearance of the coasts, together with their harbours, noting at the same time their soundings, and the mode of approaching them. This log-book was so highly approved by his examinators, that they asked him to allow them to transmit it to the Admiralty—a request which being readily granted, it was sent there, where it still remains. As Great Britain was now at peace with the whole world, Lieutenant Clapperton like many others was put on half pay, and soon afterwards returned to Edinburgh in 1817.

He had not been long in Edinburgh after his return from the Lakes, till he was surprised to hear himself inquired after by the attendants of an elegant equipage, which had stopped at his lodgings. This equipage proved to be that of Lady Seaforth, the mother of his respected friend Mackenzie, whom he had met in India. This lady, prompted by the feelings of gratitude with which she had been inspired by the account which her beloved son had given her with his dying breath, of the unremitting kindness and attention which he had experienced from Clapperton during his illness in India, had been very anxious to have a personal interview with him, that she might have an opportunity of expressing to him the obligations which his friendship for her son had laid upon her. For this end she had made many inquiries respecting him even at the Admiralty, and at length she discovered where he was to be found through means of her relative, Lieutenant Proby, and had come to call upon him. The name of Lady Seaforth speedily brought to his recollection the imputation of the interested motives to which his friendship for her son had been attributed, and at first he refused to see her. He however, at that time lived with a gentleman—the same he had been so anxious should cut a respectable appearance among the officers on the Lakes—who represented to him the ill breeding and absurdity of refusing to see her ladyship, when she had done him the honour of waiting upon him. He then went into her ladyship’s presence, who being overpowered by her feelings, almost overwhelmed him with her kindness. After the occurrence of this scene, Clapperton was persuaded by the same gentleman, to accept of Lady Seaforth’s invitations to visit her at her own house. And from that period, during all the time he was in Edinburgh, he was a frequent guest and inmate there, and was uniformly treated with the greatest kindness, but he steadily and even resolutely refused to be in any way indebted to her ladyship beyond the common forms of hospitality. It was needless for the grateful lady to offer to exert her influence in his behalf in reference to promotion in his profession. Clapperton would not hear of such a thing. It was in vain that both she and her daughters urged him to accept of a gold watch, chain, and seals, to be worn by him as a token of the sense they entertained of his kindness towards the son and the brother of whom they had been bereaved. Our hero positively declined their generous offer, declaring that he had already a most capital watch, and had no occasion for another. Sometime afterwards her ladyship sent him a large package of books, chiefly on religious subjects; these likewise he was determined to return, till it was represented to him that he must not only retain the books, but thank Lady Seaforth for sending them, with a promise to peruse them diligently, otherwise he would be regarded by her and her family as a downright heathen. The only other thing which he would accept from Lady Seaforth, was a lock of her son’s hair, which he received as a token of affection, and ever after wore in a locket about his person. He always declared that he had a sincere regard for Lady Seaforth, and was very much affected with her kindness, but such was the morbid sensitiveness of his nature on this point, cherished by the rankling recollection of what his messmates had unjustly said of him, that he was of opinion he could accept of nothing either from herself, or procured through her interest, without compromising his principles of honour and independence. How different is all this from the common ways of the world!

During the greater part of the year 1818, and part of 1819, Clapperton lived with an aunt in Lochmaben, Dumfries-shire. While domesticated with his aunt, who was a sister of his mother’s, and of whom, in his letters to his friends, he speaks with much affection, he applied himself to the study of the French language; his open and frank manners likewise procured him many friendships, and many curious anecdotes are told of his sailor-like conduct, in paying little regard to the ordinary _etiquette_ of social intercourse. Like other sailors on shore, he seemed to be of opinion that nothing should obstruct the gratification of his whims and oddities. Hence he was sometimes disposed to pay unseasonable visits to his friends, and not to be particularly ceremonious as to the mode in which he entered the houses of those with whom he lived in terms of intimacy; but he was much beloved while he resided in Dumfries-shire, by all to whom he was known.

Clapperton, however, soon tired of the dullness of a country life; and so returned to Edinburgh, and went to live with the gentleman with whom he had resided when he was so much embarrassed by the kindness of Lady Seaforth. Here, being an entirely idle man, fond of adventures withal, and in a place where they might easily be found, he soon had a hand in some curious scenes. Having little idea of economy, and not being well acquainted with the value of money, and indeed caring nothing for it whatever, provided he got enough to serve his purposes at the time when it was wanted, the quarterly items of his half pay did not last him long. Indeed, he entertained some singular notions on the subject of borrowing money, and when he had recourse to his friends for a supply, he gave them to understand that he was doing them a favour by becoming their debtor. As an instance of the careless way in which he parted with his money when in Edinburgh, we may mention the following incident. At this time a young man, the son of a staunch anti-patronist, was figuring away in this town as a popular preacher, in which capacity he became so notorious, that week after week he was puffed in the newspapers, and was attended by vast crowds on Sunday, when he held forth in a well known chapel of ease. This person happened to meet Clapperton one day just after he had drawn his quarter’s pay; and he immediately laid a plan, and forthwith commenced the putting of it in practice, for the purpose of getting possession of a considerable share of it. He said to Clapperton that he had that day met with a great disappointment, in not getting from his friends a remittance of money which he had expected; that now he would not get it before Monday; nor would he have cared for the delay of a day or two, had he not promised to pay his tailor’s account, and regretted exceedingly that he should not be able to do it, as he was a lover of punctuality, and was anxious above every thing to keep his word. At the end of this fair speech, Clapperton asked his reverend friend how much money would serve his purpose, and was told that ten pounds would do all he wanted, till he heard from his friends on Monday. Clapperton, believing the man to be honest, gave him the sum specified, when the reverend gentleman asked him to go to Barclay’s hotel and he would treat him to his dinner. Away they went. An excellent dinner was set upon the table and discussed. Madeira, champaign, and other expensive wines were called for, and the two got cheerful, joyous, happy, glorious. At length the swindler, as he proved to be, made some pretence for going out for a little. He went, but never returned, and Clapperton, in addition to the ten pounds which he had given him, never to see again, had a bill of between two and three pounds more to pay before he could leave the house.

Barclay’s was the place where Clapperton and his friends generally met for _enjeuement_; and though, with the exception of a single individual, none of them were addicted to intemperance, sometimes very curious scenes occurred, of which a specimen or two may serve both to amuse our readers and to develope our hero’s character. He was told of a swaggering fellow, who generally sat at the bar, and boasted of his extraordinary strength, and his profound knowledge of the _fancy_ science; Clapperton walked up to him one night, and said in a loud determined tone, “Sir, I am told you are a bully; I should like to try a round or two with you.” The poor man was so much terrified that he walked off, and never returned to the house again. One night, as he was going home, with another of his friends, and the individual, who was apt to take a cup too much, and whom, perhaps from the circumstance that he was too frequently in a state of imbecility, they were accustomed, by the rule of contraries, to call Able; the difficulty they found in keeping Able steady threw the other gentleman into a fit of laughter which he could not restrain. Clapperton, thinking it was cruel to laugh at poor Able’s infirmity, placed him against the railing, in front of the College, and fairly knocked the laugher down, and then apologized to him for what he had done. On the same occasion, when he had Able in tow, the latter fell down on the curb stone of the pavement, and Clapperton found that he could not raise him up again, and so, though it was eleven o’clock at night, he said, “My dear fellow, I cannot set you on your feet again, but I shall do all that man can do, I shall sit down beside you,” and so fairly sat down beside him till more assistance was procured. But the most amusing of his frolics, of which we have heard any account, was the method he took to get into his lodgings one night when he happened to be rather late out. He had rung the door bell several times without being answered; so he went and brought a long heavy ladder, belonging to a house painter, and reared it in front of the house in which he lodged. Then he mounted it, opened the window of his own room, went in, and then hurled the ladder down, the rubbing of which on the wall made a loud and uncommon noise which disturbed the neighbourhood. This latter part of our hero’s proceeding was observed by the watchman, who called some of his companions, and came to reconnoitre. On seeing the ladder lying on the pavement, they naturally imagined that it was the instrument by which thieves had broken into some of the upper flats. Immediately a tremendous ringing commenced at the door of the house into which Clapperton a few minutes before had entered by the window. The door was opened, and in came the policemen, who insisted that they had seen some person enter the house through a window, with the aid of a ladder, which was still lying below. By this time Clapperton was in bed, and had found means to request the people in the house not to betray him. But the policemen were not to be satisfied with the assurance that there was no person in the house but such as belonged to it. They searched every hole and corner, and at length they found wet clothes; and as the night was rainy, they naturally conjectured that they must belong to the man who had come in by the window. On this Clapperton, laughing heartily, raised himself up in his bed, and told the vigilant policemen how the matter stood, and on giving them his name, and his promise to pay any expenses which might be incurred by this frolic, they departed. The ladder was carried to the police office, and was with difficulty conveyed thither by three stout men. At the police office, the whole was viewed as a piece of sailor-like humour, and Clapperton got off on paying a trifling sum, and the house painter was ordered to chain his ladder to his premises in future.

SECT. VIII.—HIS FIRST EXPEDITION TO AFRICA.

By this time our hero had become acquainted with Dr. Oudney, at whose house we have had the pleasure of occasionally meeting him; and when the Doctor was appointed to his exploratory expedition to Africa, he expressed, through the medium of the common friend of both, and to whose information we have been much indebted in drawing up our memoir of their lives, his desire to be attached to the mission. Clapperton could not boast the possession of much either of the literary or the scientific knowledge requisite to constitute the intelligent traveller; but he was distinguished for other qualities fitted to render him a valuable acquisition to any mission similar to that to the accomplishment of which Dr. Oudney had been appointed. The portrait prefixed to the “Journal of his second Expedition,” shows that his figure was tall, strong, and manly. He had a fine bust, and his whole frame combined length of arm, great strength, weight, and agility—circumstances which the portrait does not sufficiently represent, and is also deficient in expressing his fine lion-like forehead and eye. We have seen that he was endowed with a constitution of almost invincible strength, that he possessed a most enterprising disposition of mind, great conscientiousness in the discharge of duty, and a heart alive to the kindly impressions of compassion, and capable of strong and steady friendship. Such a travelling companion was likely to be a treasure to a man like Dr. Oudney; and he had the pleasure to be informed that his application to have Clapperton attached to the mission was granted.

Accordingly, in the autumn of 1821, the travellers left Scotland for London, with the view of then commencing their expedition to the interior of Africa. In a letter to a friend dated London, September 1, 1821, Clapperton says, he had been supplied with arms, and had got instruments of his own choosing, and mentions the sextant as the most complete he had ever seen; he states to his friend that he had had several agreeable interviews with his uncle; and adds, that he was just on the eve of setting off for Falmouth. His next letter to the same gentleman was written at Mourzuk, May 20, 1822, in which he tells his friend that his health had continued vigorous, although the heat was 106 degrees of Fahrenheit, in the shade; and says, that Oudney was much admired by the ladies for the blackness of his beard, and himself for the strength of his mustachoes. Oudney in a postscript on the same sheet, says, “Clapperton is just the old man. He is a strange-looking figure with his long sandy coloured beard and mustachoes. You would smile were you to see him smoking his pipe, and calling to his servant, _Waddy ama simpri_, or fill my pipe.” In a subsequent letter from the same place, to the same correspondent, Clapperton speaks in praise of the Tuaricks, whom by this time, (Sept. 1822) he had visited. He says they are a fine warlike race, who fear nothing but the devil and his agents, that they offered to convey both him and Oudney to Timbuctoo; and adds, “They wished me much to take a wife amongst them, but I said she would have to go to Bournou and England with me, which got me out of the scrape with a good grace, as their women never leave their country, and those who marry them must stay with them.” And the fact is that our hero very soon found himself as much at home among the wild Tauricks, who traverse the sandy deserts of Sahaara, as he had formerly done among the Indians who dwell in the midst of the forests of Canada.

It would seem that Clapperton did not regard it as any part of his duty to keep a separate journal while Oudney lived; nor was it necessary, as they were generally together in all the excursions which they made in Fezzan, and their joint observations were combined by the Doctor into the same narrative, to which he put his own name. But the case was greatly altered after the arrival of the travellers in Bournou, where Oudney was seized with the illness which terminated in death, upon the 12th of January, 1824. After this mournful event, Clapperton, sick and sorrowful as he was, proceeded onward to Kano, with the view of visiting Sackatoo, as was originally intended. He reached this city, (as may be seen in his printed journal) upon the 16th of March, and had many interviews and long conversations with the sultan, Bello. He remained at Sackatoo till the 4th of May, when he began to retrace his steps,—again reached Kuka upon the 8th of July, and arrived in London in the summer of 1825. Clapperton and Denham came from Tripoli to Leghorn, sent the animals and baggage home by sea, under the charge of Hillman, their only surviving companion, while they themselves crossed the Alps, and on the 1st of June, 1825, they reported their arrival in England to Earl Bathurst, under whose auspices the mission had been sent to Africa.

SECT. IX.—HIS SECOND EXPEDITION TO AFRICA.

The result of the expedition was upon the whole favourable, and afforded encouragement to make farther researches in the interior of Africa; and especially a letter from Bello, the sultan of the Fellatahs, addressed to our King, George IV. and brought to England by Clapperton, was the occasion of his second expedition. In that letter Sultan Bello proposed “The establishment of a friendly intercourse between the two nations, by means of a consul who was to reside at the seaport of Raka;—the delivery of certain presents described, at the port of Funda, (supposed to be somewhere near Whidah);—and the prohibition of the exportation of slaves by any of the Houssa merchants, to Atagher, Dahomy, or Ashantee.” These proposals of the Fallatah sultan led to the resolution forthwith to send out a second expedition to Africa, and our hero, now Captain Clapperton, immediately volunteered his services on the occasion, with whom were associated in the same hazardous enterprise, Captain Pearce, Dr. Morrison, and Dr. Dickson, with their respective attendants.

Soon after Clapperton’s return to London from his first expedition to Africa, he wrote to the friend with whom he had lived during his residence in Edinburgh, expressing the pleasure which he felt in being again in Britain, and informing him, that since his arrival in London, he had been so busily employed in making out reports to government, that he had not a moment’s leisure to attend either to pleasure or friendship. In a subsequent letter, he told him, that along with his other duties and avocations, he had to prepare his part of the “journal of the expedition,” that it might be ready for publication before his departure on the second mission. “I have got,” says he, “no sinecure in this new appointment. I have to see the whole of the presents sent off without any one to assist me. My Journal will scarce be complete before I go, and the necessary attendance at the public offices is truly harassing.” In a letter of a later date, he says “You cannot have any idea of the infinite trouble and anxiety I have had since I have been in London. If I receive honour and praise, they are assuredly earned with labour and pain. The whole of the arrangements for the new mission have fallen upon me. To give you an outline of what I am to do, or where I am to go, is at present impossible, but when I get to sea I shall write to you more fully.” From Portsmouth, 27th August, 1825, he tells the same correspondent, “We leave England this morning; and as far as I am concerned, I have experienced nothing but misery and trouble since my arrival, and look forward to our voyage for peace and rest.” In this letter, he mentions that Mr. Brown of the Linnæan Society had called one of the plants in Dr. Oudney’s collection by the name of that lamented gentleman, and after sending compliments and remembrances to several of his intimate acquaintances, he bids an affecting, and, as it proved, a final farewell to his “dear friend.”

On the 27th of August 1825, Captain Clapperton and his associates of this second expedition, with their servants, embarked in his Majesty’s ship Brazen, at Portsmouth, and arrived off Whidah on the 26th of November thereafter. Here Dr. Dickson landed for the purpose of proceeding into the interior, along with a Portuguese named De Seusa. The design of their journey is not unfolded in any of the journals which have been published by the travellers; but the agreement between Dr. Dickson and Captain Clapperton was, that after the former had traversed the kingdom of Dahomy and the adjacent countries, he should rejoin his friend, the Captain, at Jennah. Lander, in his recently published “Records of Captain Clapperton,” says the parting between the friends was tender and affecting, and seemed to intimate that they should meet again no more. “Study the natives well,” said the Captain to the Doctor, “respect their institutions, and be kind to them on all occasions; for it is on paying proper respect to these rules, and these only, that you must ground your hope of being successful in your progress through the country; and the conduct of the people to you will be guided by your behaviour towards them. Set a guard upon your temper, my dear Dickson, and never, let it lead you into error.” “We meet at Jennah, then,” said the Doctor, with an inquiring eye, and anxious half doubting look. “We meet at Jennah,” answered Captain Clapperton, solemnly. “Once more adieu, my dear Dickson, and may God bless and protect you.” Lander adds, that it was reported that Dr. Dickson was slain in a quarrel with the natives, about two days’ journey from Shar; and so was the first of the mission who fell a victim to African research.

The Brazen proceeded with the other members of the mission to the river Benin or Formosa; and on the advice of Mr. Houtson, an English merchant whom they met there, they relinquished the plan of ascending that river, and went into the interior from Badagry. They could hear no tidings at Whidah either of Sultan Bello or of his messengers, and as for Funda and Raka, such towns were wholly unknown at that place.

Besides the gentlemen of the mission, whose names have been already mentioned, there were in the capacity of servants, Columbus, a West Indian mulatto, who had accompanied Major Denham in the previous journey; Pasko, a black native of Houssa, who had served on board an English man-of-war, and though a great scoundrel, was useful as an interpreter; George Dawson, an English sailor, engaged at Badagry, as servant to Dr. Morrison; and Richard Lander, Captain Clapperton’s own confidential servant. This man had been a wanderer from his youth. When only eleven years of age, he accompanied a mercantile gentleman to the West Indies. He was absent three years; and on his return went to France and other places on the continent, as a gentleman’s servant, and continued abroad in that capacity till his nineteenth year. On his return home, he did not stay long in his native country, but went to South Africa with Major Colebrook, and traversed, along with that gentleman, the whole of the Cape colony, from one extremity to the other. The reason why he left Major Colebrook has not been made public, but, on his return to England in 1824, he heard of Captain Clapperton’s second expedition to the interior of Africa, and regarding the adventure as something peculiarly suited to his roving disposition, he went to the Captain and tendered his services, which were accepted. His own account of the matter is as follows:—“The Captain listened to me with attention, and after I had answered a few interrogations, willingly engaged me to be his confidential servant. In this interview the keen penetrating eye of the African traveller did not escape my observation, and by its fire, energy, and quickness, depicted, in my own opinion at least, the very soul of enterprise and adventure.” This man continued faithful and attached to Clapperton to the last; and to him we are indebted for the preservation of his beloved master’s journal, from which, in connexion with his own recently published “Records” of the Expedition, we derive all that can now be known of the last stage of Captain Clapperton’s short but eventful career.[11]

Clapperton and his associates commenced their journey from Badagry upon the 7th of December 1825; and, regardless of what they could not but know either from the information of others, or—as was the case with some of them at least—from their own personal experience, that an African climate was most unfriendly to European constitutions, they were guilty of the great imprudence of sleeping the first night of their journey upon the low and swampy banks of the river, or rather creek, named Bawie, under the open canopy of heaven. Lander says they had previously been drinking; and adds, that next morning they found themselves wet to the skin with the heavy dew which had fallen during the night. And, as he remarks, after the Quarterly Review, “in all probability were thus sown the seeds of those disorders which subsequently broke out with such fatal virulence, and produced suffering, disease, and death to almost the whole of the little party.” The second night after that was likewise spent in the open air, and, in the morning, the clothes of the party were saturated with dew. This exceedingly imprudent conduct was speedily followed by its natural consequences. On the 10th Clapperton was seized with ague, from which it would appear he never perfectly recovered. Dr. Morrison and Captain Pearce soon after became very unwell, and died before they had proceeded far on their journey. About the same time one of the servants died, and Lander was so ill that no hopes were entertained of his recovery. The loss of Captain Pearce is thus bewailed by his friend and companion in danger, Captain Clapperton: “The death of Captain Pearce has caused me much concern; for, independently of his amiable qualities as a friend and companion, he was eminently fitted, by his talents, his perseverance, and his fortitude, to be of singular service to the mission, and on these accounts I deplore his loss as the greatest I could have sustained, both as regards my private feelings and the public service.” One day about this time, when our traveller was sick and sorrowful, as he reposed under the shade of trees which skirted the way, unable to proceed, a native, on horseback, moved by the kindness of a generous nature, quickly dismounted, and offered the invalid the use of his horse—a proffer which was gratefully accepted. Both Clapperton and Lander speak with rapture respecting the beauty and fertility of the country through which they passed, from the western coast to the City of Sackatoo, where their journey and the life of the former were unhappily terminated. The country is represented by them as extremely populous, and the inhabitants, unless when selfish feelings intervened, as possessing very kind, and even generous dispositions. Our traveller did all in his power to recover the books, papers, and other property, which might have been left by the unfortunate and lamented Mungo Park, as well as to ascertain an accurate account of the manner of his death, but with little success. The chiefs in the neighbourhood of Boussa, where the event occurred, were anxious to avoid all communication on the subject; and some of them were greatly embarrassed when they were questioned respecting it. He received the following account of the death of that unfortunate traveller from an eye-witness:—“He said, that when the boat came down the river, it happened unfortunately just at the time that the Fellatahs first rose in arms, and were ravaging Goobur and Zamfra; that the Sultan of Boussa, on hearing that the persons in the boat were white men, and that the boat was different from any that had ever been seen before, as she had a house at one end, called his people together from the neighbouring towns, attacked and killed them, not doubting that they were the advance guard of the Fellatah army then ravaging Soudan, under the command of Malem Danfodio, the father of the present Bello; that one of the white men was a tall man, with long hair; that they fought for three days before they were killed; that the people in the neighbourhood were very much alarmed, and great numbers fled to Niffé and other countries, thinking that the Fellatahs were certainly among them. The number of persons in the boat was only four, two white men and two blacks; that they found great treasure in the boat; but that the people had all died who eat of the meat that was found in her.” “This account,” Clapperton adds, “I believe to be the most correct of all that I have yet got; and was told to me without my putting any questions, or showing any eagerness for him to go on with his story.”

At Wawa, or according to Lander’s orthography of the town, Waw Waw, Clapperton had a singular adventure with a rich widow of Arabian extraction. This lady was between 30 and 40 years of age, and being fairer than the natives of the city of her residence, was anxious to be regarded as a white woman. She was the richest person in Wawa, having the best house in town, and a thousand slaves; and was withal a “perfect Turkish beauty—just like a walking water-butt.” Her great riches, and her intriguing disposition, had prompted her oftener than once to rise in rebellion against her rightful sovereign, who always had the gallantry generously to pardon her on her submission. Though it might have been supposed that the age of the tender passions was over with the widow, yet she fell violently in love with Lander, and tried all the female arts and winning ways her ingenuity could suggest to induce him to visit her at her own house, but without success. She, however, visited him; and on these occasions Clapperton humoured the joke, and fanned the love-sick widow’s flame by sounding the praises of his servant. He sat with as much _non challance_ as if he had been at home in a Scottish cottage, with his arms folded, rolling out great volumes of smoke from his pipe, enjoying this singular scene of African courtship, and saying at intervals, to induce the widow to persevere in her suit, “See what beautiful eyes he has,—if you were to search from Badagry to Wawa, and from Wawa to Badagry, you would not find such eyes.” While all the time poor Lander was embarrassed with the amorous attentions of the widow, and was afraid lest he should be squeezed to death by the closeness of her tender embraces. At length he mustered courage fairly to tell her that he could not return her passion; and though she afterwards ceased to persecute him farther, she was not, as many of her sex in similar circumstances would have been, actuated by the least feeling of revenge. On the contrary, she continued to regard him with kindness to the last, but forthwith transferred her love to Clapperton.

To ingratiate herself with him, she sent him rich and abundant store of provisions ready cooked, and endeavoured to gain his black rascal of a servant, Pasko, to her interests, by bribing him with a handsome female slave for a wife. She invited the captain to pay her a visit, which he accepted, and has given us, in his journal, the following graphic account of his entertainment:—

“Not being much afraid of myself, and wishing to see the interior arrangement of her house, I went and visited her. I found her house large, and full of male and female slaves; the males lying about the outer huts, the females more in the interior. In the centre of the huts was a square one of large dimensions, surrounded by verandahs, with screens of matting all around, except in one place, where there was hung a tanned bullock’s hide; to this spot I was led up, and, on its being drawn to one side, I saw the lady sitting cross-legged on a small Turkey carpet, like one of our hearth-rugs, a large leather cushion under her left knee; her goora-pot, which was a large old-fashioned pewter mug, by her side, and a calebash of water to wash her mouth out, as she alternately kept eating goora, and chewing tobacco snuff, the custom with all ranks, male or female, who can procure them; on her right side lay a whip. At a little distance, squatted on the ground, sat a dwarfish hump-backed female slave, with a wide mouth, but good eyes; she had on no clothing, if I except a profusion of strings of beads and coral round her neck and waist. This personage served the purposes of a bell in our country, and what, I suppose, would in old times have been called a page. The lady herself was dressed in a white clean muslin turban; her neck profusely decorated with necklaces of coral and gold chains, amongst which was one of rubies and gold beads; her eyebrows and eyelashes black, her hair dyed with indigo, and her hands and feet with henna; around her body she had a fine striped silk and cotton country cloth, which came as high as her tremendous breasts, and reached as low as her ankles; in her right hand she held a fan made of stained grass, of a square form. She desired me to sit down on the carpet beside her, which I did, and she began fanning me, and sent hump-back to bring out her finery for me to look at; which consisted of four gold bracelets, two large paper dressing-cases, with looking-glasses, and several strings of coral, silver rings, and bracelets, with a number of other trifling articles. After a number of compliments, and giving me an account of all her wealth, I was led through one apartment into another, cool, clean, and ornamented with pewter dishes and bright brass pans. She now told me her husband had been dead these ten years, that she had only one son and he was darker than herself; that she loved white men, and would go to Boussa with me. I thought this was carrying the joke a little too far, and began to look very serious, on which she sent for the looking-glass, and looking at herself, then offering it to me, said, to be sure she was rather older than I was, but very little, and what of that? This was too much, and I made my retreat as soon as I could, determined never to come to such close quarters with her again.”

A short time after this interview with the beautiful and amorous widow Zuma, Clapperton went to Boussa, leaving Lander and his baggage in Wawa; and though the widow did not actually accompany him in his journey thither, as she had intimated her intention of doing; yet she followed very speedily after him. On this occasion, Lander informs us, she was dressed in a mantle of scarlet silk and gold, and loose trowsers of scarlet silk, with red morocco boots, and an ample white turban on her head; she rode astride on a noble horse decorated with brass plates and bells, with a profusion of charms or amulets in green, red, and yellow leather. Her saddle-cloth was of scarlet, and both widow and horse were singularly imposing. In her train were many spearmen and bowmen on horseback, with a band of musicians furnished with drums, fiddles, guitars, and flutes.

The romantic intention of Zuma was to accompany Clapperton wherever he went. The Sultan, however, was anxious, for the sake of his revenue and the security of his throne, to counteract the widow’s designs; and his first step for that end was to put an embargo on Lander and Clapperton’s baggage, and his next was to despatch a strong party in pursuit of the fugitive widow, with strict injunctions to bring her back. This was accomplished, and, on her submission, she was pardoned. The travellers saw the widow no more, and the serious consequences by which this singular adventure was likely to be followed, made them resolve to be more cautious in future in giving encouragement to the advances of the African ladies. But Zuma was not the only belle of distinction who wished to attach herself to Clapperton. He was, while at Wawa, haunted even to annoyance by another lady of high rank. “I was pestered,” he says, “for three or four days by the governor’s daughter, who used to come several times in the day, painted and bedizened in the highest style of Wawa fashion, but always half tipsy; I could only get rid of her by telling her that I prayed and looked at the stars all night, never drank any thing stronger than _roa in zafir_, which they call my tea—literally hot water: She always departed in a flood of tears.”

As Clapperton and Lander proceeded on their journey towards Sackatoo, the latter was seized with dysentery, and while he continued ill and weak, he experienced the kindness of his generous master in a very marked manner. Though his own strength was fast declining, Lander says of him, “whenever we came to a stream which was too deep to ford, and unfurnished with a ferry-boat, being too weak myself to swim, my generous master used to take me on his shoulders, and often times at the imminent risk of his own life, carry me in safety to the opposite bank.”

On their arrival at Kano, Lander was left in that town while Clapperton proceeded to Sackatoo, the capital of Bello, Sultan of the Felathas, on whose account chiefly this second mission had been undertaken. Bello at this time happened to be at war, and with his army encamped before Coonia, the capital of Goobur. Clapperton went there to join him, was most kindly received by him, and had an opportunity of witnessing the African mode of fighting in a furious assault which was made upon the city of Coonia the day after his arrival in the camp. Soon after this event he reached Soccatoo, where for about six months he inhabited the same house which he had occupied during his first visit to that city. The Sultan sent to Kano and brought Lander and the baggage to his capital, and on their arrival the baggage was seized, under pretence that Clapperton was conveying guns and warlike stores to the Sheik of Bornou, with whom Bello was then at war. He was next ordered to deliver up Lord Bathurst’s letter to the Shiek, and indeed every thing which was supposed to form a part of the intended present to him was seized upon. Clapperton remonstrated against these nefarious proceedings with the utmost earnestness, but without effect. He was stript of every thing, and detained himself as a prisoner. The effect of this treatment upon his spirits was so great, that Lander declares he never saw him smile afterwards.

He was strongly impressed with the idea that the Arabs had stirred up the Africans against him and his companions. By their insinuations against them in the hearing of Bello, they succeeded in undermining their reputation with that monarch. Clapperton had not been perfectly well from the day of his arrival in Africa, and the entire failure of his mission, and the ungenerous treatment he had experienced at Soccatoo, were the means of bringing on his last illness and hastening his death.