The Association, When Their Expectations From Horneman Had Failed, Began To Look Round For Other Adventurers, And There Were Still A Number Of Active And Daring Spirits Ready To Brave The Dangers Of This Undertaking.

Mr. Nicholls, in 1804, repaired to Calabar, in the Gulf of Benin, with the view of penetrating into the interior by this route, which appeared shorter than any other, but without any presentiment that the termination of the Niger was to be found in that quarter.

He was well received by the chiefs on that coast, but could not gain much information respecting that river, being informed that most of the slaves came from the west, and that the navigation of the Calabar stream, at no great distance was interrupted by an immense waterfall, beyond which the surface of the country became very elevated. Unfortunately, of all the sickly climates of Africa, this is perhaps the most pestilential, and Mr. Nicholls, before commencing his journey, fell a victim to the epidemic fever.

Another German named Roentgen, recommended also by Blumenbach, undertook to penetrate into the interior of Africa by way of Morocco. He was described as possessing an unblemished character, ardent zeal in the cause, with great strength both of mind and body. Like Horneman, he made himself master of Arabic, and proposed to pass for a Mahommedan. Having in 1809 arrived at Mogadore, he hired two guides, and set out to join the Soudan caravan. His career, however, was short indeed, for soon after his body was found at a little distance from the place whence he started. No information could ever be obtained as to the particulars of his death, but it was too probably conjectured that his guides murdered him for the sake of his property.

CHAPTER X.

We are now entering upon the narrative of a series of the most extraordinary adventures which ever befel the African travellers, in the person of an illiterate and obscure seaman, of the name of Robert Adams, who was wrecked on the western coast of Africa, in the American ship Charles, bound to the isle of Mayo, and who may be said to have been the first traveller who ever reached the far-famed city of Timbuctoo.

The place where the Charles was wrecked was called Elgazie, and the captain and the whole of the crew were immediately taken prisoners by the Moors. On their landing, the Moors stripped the whole of them naked, and concealed their clothes under ground; being thus exposed to a scorching sun, their skins became dreadfully blistered, and at night they were obliged to dig holes in the sand to sleep in, for the sake of coolness.

About a week after landing, the captain of the ship was put to death by the Moors, for which the extraordinary reason was given, that he was extremely dirty, and would not go down to the sea to wash himself, when the Moors made signs for him to do so.

After they had remained about ten or twelve days, until the ship and its materials had quite disappeared, the Moors made preparations to depart, and divided the prisoners amongst them. Robert Adams and two others of the crew were left in the possession of about twenty Moors, who quitted the sea coast, having four camels, three of which they loaded with water, and the other with fish and baggage. At the end of about thirty days, during which they did not see a human being, they arrived at a place, the name of which Adams did not hear, where they found about thirty or forty tents, and a pool of water surrounded by a few shrubs, which was the only water they had met with since quitting the coast.

In the first week of their arrival, Adams and his companions being greatly fatigued, were not required to do any work, but at the end of that time, they were put to tend some goats and sheep, which were the first they had seen. About this time, John Stevens arrived, under charge of a Moor, and was sent to work in company with Adams. Stevens was a Portuguese, about eighteen years of age. At this place they remained about a month.

It was now proposed by the Moors to Adams and Stevens, to accompany them on an expedition to Soudenny to procure slaves. It was with great difficulty they could be made to understand this proposal, but the Moors made themselves intelligible by pointing to some negro boys, who were employed in taking care of sheep and goats. Being in the power of the Moors, they had no option, and having therefore signified their consent, the party consisting of about eighteen Moors, and the two whites, set out for Soudenny.

Soudenny is a small negro village, having grass and shrubs growing about it, and a small brook of water. For a week or thereabouts, after arriving in the neighbourhood of this place, the party concealed themselves amongst the hills and bushes, lying in wait for the inhabitants, when they seized upon a woman with a child in her arms, and two children (boys), whom they found walking in the evening near the town.

During the next four or five days, the party remained concealed, when one evening, as they were all lying on the ground, a large party of negroes, consisting of forty or fifty made their appearance, armed with daggers, and bows and arrows, who surrounded and took them all prisoners, without the least resistance being attempted, and carried them into the town; tying the hands of some, and driving the whole party before them. During the night above one hundred negroes kept watch over them. The next day they were taken before the governor or chief person, named Muhamoud, a remarkably ugly negro, who ordered that they should all be imprisoned. The place of confinement was a mere mud wall, about six feet high, from whence they might readily have escaped, though strongly guarded, if the Moors had been enterprising, but they were a cowardly set.

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