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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 276 of 282
Words from 144815 to 145347
of 148366
