You are hereby
empowered to enlist with you, for this expedition, any number you think
proper of the garrison at Goree, not exceeding forty-five, which the
Commandant of that island will be ordered to place under your command,
giving them such bounties or encouragement as may be necessary to induce
them cheerfully to join with you on the expedition.
"And you are hereby authorised to engage, by purchase or otherwise, such
a number of black artificers at Goree as you shall judge necessary for
the objects you have in view.
"You are to be conveyed to Goree in a transport, convoyed by his
Majesty's sloop Eugenie, which will be directed to proceed with you, in
the first instance, to St. Jago, in order that you may there purchase
fifty asses for carrying your baggage.
"When you shall have prepared whatever may be necessary for securing the
objects of your expedition at Goree, you are to proceed up the river
Gambia, and thence crossing over to the Senegal, to march, by such route
as you shall find most eligible, to the banks of the Niger.
"The great object of your journey will be to pursue the course of this
river to the utmost possible distance to which it can be traced, - to
establish communication and intercourse with the different nations on the
banks, - to obtain all the local knowledge in your power respecting
them, - and to ascertain the various points stated in the memoir which you
delivered to me on the 4th of October last.
