The Party Sailed From The Downs On The 1st January 1832, And Arrived At Bathurst St. Mary's On The Gambia

On the 28th of the same month. Both travellers were somewhat indisposed during the voyage, and the sun after their

Arrival so seriously affected Mr. Tyrwhitt, that he here yielded to the repeated representations of his companion and others, and returned home. The following is an extract of a letter received from Mr. Coulthurst, dated Bathurst, 1st February 1832, and the style is clearly indicative of the superior qualifications of his mind:

"After a conference and palaver with some of the native chiefs, amongst whose grotesque forms and equipments you would have laughed to have seen me perched this morning, sipping palm wine; I have made up my mind to take the southern bank of this river, through Fooladoo to Sego. A messenger from the Almana of Bondou, who has undertaken to bring the gum trade here from the Senegal, is now at Bathurst, and the merchants are willing to assist in making up a coffila, which will enable us I trust to prosecute our journey in safety. Though I shall not thus reach the main object of Funda so directly as if I had had the good fortune to overtake the Pluto, it would be scarcely possible for me to do this now before the rainy season; and though I shall be a few weeks later in reaching my destination, I shall have the satisfaction of tracing the whole river, and giving the position of all the remarkable places, which neither Caillie nor Lander were able to do. There is now no earthly chance of the observations made by Park seeing the light, for Mr. Ainslie showed me yesterday his last letter from Sansanding, which I perused with much interest. You are aware that nothing but the unfortunate occurrence of the Fellatas' conquests with the period of his expedition, and his being mistaken for one of their parties, occasioned its unhappy result; and by striking across the mountains, which we shall do at Baranco, about four hundred miles up, we shall have only twenty-four days' land journey to the mighty Niger, where he has scarcely command of water enough to float a canoe.

"The climate here is so very superior to that in the Bights of Benin and Biafra, that after Barbadoes, where shade is unknown, it really seems comparatively cold; I took a stroll of half a dozen miles to-day before breakfast, which I could not have done, without feeling languid afterwards, in the West Indies, but Tyrwhitt never could have borne the breathing oven of the Gold Coast. Everything reminds me here of the near neighbourhood of the desert; the toke and turban very general, every man, not a Christian, a Musselman, and what seems strange to European eyes, persons in the coarsest checks with gold ornaments to the value of hundreds of dollars.

"The beautiful harnessed antelope, which it is really a sin to shoot, is common in the bush, and milk, honey, and rice, are to be had in most of the negro villages, this being quite the dairy country of Africa. But then there are mosquitoes, that madden the best-tempered folk, and holy men with their eyes on the Koran, ready to dirk you for the slightest subject of difference, and it is curious to see the strangest characters of this sort well received and admitted to a familiarity at government house, because they have much interest in the country, and it is politic just now to speak them fair."

Having concluded his arrangements for proceeding through the Enyong and Eboe countries, he intended to proceed up the Calebar River, and thence over land to Funda. He arrived without any particular accident in the Eboe country, but the king of that people refused to let him pass, and he was, therefore, obliged to return to Calebar, and thence it was his intention to take a passage on board the Agnes for Fernando Po. The refusal of the king of the Eboe country, did not proceed from any distrust or jealousy on his part, but a most sanguinary war was raging in the interior, and he, therefore, considered the life of the traveller to be in danger. He had not been exposed to any very severe fatigue, but his disappointment was great, and he laboured under considerable debility and depression of spirits. He died without much suffering on the second day after embarking on board the Agnes.

Thus perished another victim in the cause of African discovery, but still there are hearts to be found, who are willing in the cause of science to brave every peril, for the purpose of enlarging our knowledge of the interior of the African continent, and opening fresh sources to the skill and industry of our merchants. The Rev. Mr. Wolf is now on his journey to Timbuctoo, and Lieutenant Wilkinson is following up the discoveries of Lander; of them we may say with the poet: -

"Fortuna audaces juvat."

FINIS.

End of Lander's Travels, by Robert Huish

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