You Come To Us Under Our Honour As An Ambassador, And An Ambassador Is Always Protected By Us. There Is No Harm In The King's Ministers Sending You To The Sheik Kanemi, Of Bornou, Nor Do We See Any Harm In Your Coming, When Thus Sent.

But when you formerly came to us from Bornou, peace was then between us and the sheik; whereas there is now war between him and ourselves; we cannot perceive any blame in our preventing warlike stores being sent to him.

We continue to maintain our faith with you, and are ready to attend to all your wishes, because we consider you as a trusty friend, and one who enjoys a high degree of esteem with us. Do not encroach upon us, we will not encroach upon you; we have rights to maintain, and you have also rights to be respected. And Salam be to you."

(Signed as usual.)

It is difficult to conceive, why so reasonable and friendly a letter should have failed to subdue the irritation of the traveller; this cannot be accounted for only by his ill health, or by supposing that he was not exactly conversant with its contents. It appears, however, that the conduct of Bello had such an effect upon the spirits of Clapperton, that Lander reports, he never saw him smile afterwards. The strong constitution of Clapperton, had till this period enabled him to resist all the baneful influence of an African climate. He had recovered, though perhaps not completely, from the effects of the rash exposure which had proved fatal to his two companions, but subsequently when overcome with heat and fatigue he had lain down on a damp spot in the open air, he was soon after seized with dysentery, which continued to assume more alarming symptoms. Unable to rise from his 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 Lander, who devoted his whole time to attendance on his sick master. At length he called him to his bed-side, and said, "Richard, I shall shortly be no more; I feel myself dying." Almost choked with grief, Lander replied, "God forbid, my dear master - you will live many years yet." Clapperton replied, "don't be so much affected, my dear boy, I entreat you, it is the will of the Almighty, it cannot be helped. I should have wished to live to have been of further use to my country - and more, I should like to have died in my native land - but it is my duty to submit." He then gave particular directions as to the disposal of his papers, and of all that remained of his property, to which the strictest 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 but 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 return with you, you should have been placed beyond the reach of want, but God will reward you.'" He survived some 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 the bed-side found him sitting up, and staring wildly around; some indistinct words quivered on his lips, he strove but ineffectually to give them utterance, and expired without a struggle or a sigh.

Bello seems to have repented in some degree of his harsh conduct, especially after the news arrived of a great victory gained by his troops over the sultan of Bornou. He allowed Lander to perform the funeral obsequies with every mark of respect, agreeably to the sultan's own directions at Jungavie, a small village on a rising ground, about five miles to the S. E. of Sockatoo. Lander performed the last sad office of reading the English service over the remains of his generous and intrepid master; a house was erected over his grave;

"And he was left alone in his glory."

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Lander may now be said to be in the interior of Africa, a solitary wanderer, dependent entirely on his own resources, at the same time that he received from sultan Bello, all the requisite means to enable him to return to his native country, allowing him to choose his own road, though advising him to prefer that which led through the great Desert, but Lander having already had many dealings with the Arabs, preferred the track through the negro countries.

On arriving at Kano, on his return route, Lander formed a spirited and highly laudable design, which proved him to be possessed of a mind much superior to his station, and this was nothing less than an attempt to resolve the great question, respecting the termination of the Niger, which he hoped to effect by proceeding to Funda, and thence to Benin by water. Striking off to the eastward of the route, on which, in company with his late master, he had reached Kano, he passed several walled towns, all inhabited by natives of Houssa, tributary to the Fellatas, and early on the third day from Bebajie, (as he spells it,) arrived at the foot of a high craggy mountain, called Almena, from a ruined town said to have been built by a queen of the Fantee nation, some five hundred years ago. Mahomet, Lander's servant, who had travelled far and near, and knew all the traditions of the country, gave the following story: - About five hundred years ago, a queen of the Fantee nation having quarrelled with her husband about a golden stool, in other words, we presume about the throne, probably after her husband's death, fled from her dominions with a great number of her subjects, and built a large town at the foot of this mountain, which she called Almena, from which it took its name. The town, according Lander, was surrounded with a stone wall, as the ruins plainly attest.

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