The Former, However, Who Had Almost Crippled Himself The Preceding Day, With A Pair Of New Boots, And Could Only

Wear slippers, became so galled by riding without a saddle, that he was soon reduced to walk bare-foot, and

Whenever he crossed an ant path, his feet felt as if on fire, these insects drawing blood from them and his ankles.

After a most toilsome and distressing march, part of which wound through thick and dark woods, the morning proved raw, cold and hazy; the travellers had nothing to eat, and when at noon they reached the town of Humba, Captain Clapperton had a slight fit of ague. On the following day, bearers were with some difficulty procured, and he was carried forward in a hammock. At Bedgie, which they reached on the 12th, Dr. Morrison became very unwell with symptoms of fever. This place stands on the banks of a river about a quarter of a mile in width, full of low swampy islands and floating reeds. On the 14th, Captain Pearce and Richard Lander were taken ill.

They had by this, time reached Laboo, a town situated on a rising ground, where the country begins to undulate in hill and dale. Its distance from the coast is not specified, but it can hardly be so much as fifty miles, as Lagos can be reached in one day by a messenger, yet the journey had occupied the travellers no fewer than seven days. The delay seems partly to have been occasioned by the heavy baggage and stores, and by the difficulty of obtaining bearers. The Eyeo people, as they were afterwards told, are unaccustomed to carry hammocks, and they ought to have proceeded on horseback, in fact, Lander did not hesitate to express himself in rather severe terms, in regard to the manner in which the early part of the expedition was conducted; for, had the plan been adopted of making use of horses for the conveyance of the baggage, and not have allowed themselves to be delayed by the difficulty of procuring human assistance; had the whole party pressed forward to Laboo, and there attempted to recruit their strength, it is highly probable that they would have altogether escaped the poisonous effects of the miasmata.

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