'Les fleuves sont de grands chemins qui marchent.'--_Pascal._
The interest which was felt in a portrait of Henry Bone, R.A., which I
had the pleasure of presenting to the Royal Institution of Cornwall,
induced me to offer for the acceptance of that Society the portraits
of two other Truro worthies; which I thought (though the engravings
possess no great merit as works of art) might at least serve as
reminders of the energy, skill, and determination possessed by two
Truro men--half a century ago;[95] and, almost as a matter of course,
Richard Lander's name found a place among the Cornish Worthies, whose
stories I am attempting to write. I am just old enough to remember the
commencement, on the 16th June, 1835, of the erection of the column
designed by P. Sambell, jun., to the memory of Richard Lander, which
stands at the top of Lemon Street, and (owing to bad workmanship) the
fall of a considerable portion of it on the 21st of May, 1836. Amongst
other reminiscences I may perhaps also mention that my father has told
me that, on the occasion of laying the foundation-stone of the column,
he was one of those who formed the procession, and that he and the
late Mr. Humphry Willyams, of Carnanton, then led by the hand Richard
Lander's child. On that occasion, as on a more recent one of higher
importance at Truro, viz., the laying of the foundation-stone of the
new Cathedral, the Masonic ceremony was followed by a religious service.
Although generally spoken of as the Brothers Lander, it should be
borne in mind that to Richard, the elder brother, the world is mainly
indebted for the discovery of the course of the lower portion of 'the
lordly Niger' (as Longfellow calls the river). John, the younger
brother, had considerable powers of observation and some poetic
taste, and was by trade a printer. He accompanied Richard simply from
affectionate motives (and certainly without promise of any pecuniary
reward), on the _second_ of Richard's three expeditions to Africa, from
which the brothers returned safely; but John will appear no further
(except incidentally) in the remarks which I have to offer. He was born
in 1807, and died in 1839 in consequence of illness contracted during
his one voyage to Africa.
_Richard Lemon Lander_, the heroic but unfortunate traveller, whose
name will ever be associated with the splendid discovery of the course
and termination of that mysterious and fatal river, which some of the
ancients confounded with the Nile, and which the Moors of Northern
Africa still call 'the Nile of the Negroes,'[96] was the fourth of six
children, and was born at his father's house, the 'Dolphin Inn,' Truro
(then called 'The Fighting Cocks'), on the 8th February, 1804, the
day on which Colonel Lemon was elected M.P. for the town. Hence his
second name; and hence also a certain appropriateness in the site which
was chosen at the top of Lemon Street for his statue, the work of a
Cornish sculptor, the late N. N. Burnard. In the midst of his unfeigned
humility in his account of his parents, he nevertheless boasts that,
as his father's name began with a _Lan_ and his mother's maiden name
(Penrose) with a _Pen_, no one could deny his claim to being a right
_Cornishman_. But Colonel J. Lambrick Vivian informs me that Lander
came from an older and a better stock than he was himself aware of. The
family can be traced, in St. Just at least, as early as 1619, at which
time a Richard Lander married Thomasine Bosaverne, one of a good old
Cornish family. The Polwheles and Landers also intermarried. Richard's
grandfather, a noted wrestler, lived near the Land's End.
Of Lander's early life in Truro I can learn little further than that he
went to "old Pascoe's" school in Coomb's Lane, and was one of those few
favourites of his master, who was thought worthy to receive one of the
then newly-coined 1s. 6d. pieces. Richard seems to have been a merry,
bright-eyed lad, somewhat below the usual height,[97] but he was always
of a roving, adventurous spirit, and, when only eleven years old,
accompanied a merchant to the West Indies, whence, after a residence
there of three years, and having been attacked by fever in St. Domingo,
he returned to England in 1818, and lived as a servant in various
wealthy families, with some of whom he visited the continent of Europe.
In 1823 he went with Major Colebrook (one of the Royal Commissioners
of inquiry into the state of the British Colonies) to the Cape of Good
Hope, and returned to England in the following year. In 1825, when
Captain Clapperton and Major Denham returned from their travels in the
interior of Africa, Lander, charmed, as he says, by the very sound
of the word 'Africa,' and impelled by his inborn love of adventure,
offered to accompany the former officer in a second expedition to that
continent, notwithstanding the efforts of all his friends to dissuade
him. Amongst these may be mentioned Mr. George Croker Fox, who offered
Lander, by way of a counter-temptation, a more lucrative post in South
America. However, Lander's proposal was gladly accepted by Clapperton,
and the adventurous youngster remained with his employer up to the hour
of the Captain's death at Soccatoo, in the interior, in April, 1827.
He then made his homeward-way, alone, by land to Badagry on the coast,
and arrived at Portsmouth with Clapperton's papers in April, 1828,
much debilitated by fevers contracted during his long sojourn in a
pestiferous climate.
In the December of the following year Richard Lander published a most
entertaining account of his travels, dating the first part of the
introduction to the book, 'Truro, Oct. 29th, 1829.' To this work is
prefixed his portrait, in his Eastern travelling costume.
Now comes his most important voyage of discovery. Having arranged,
under the auspices of the Government, a second expedition to West
Africa, not only with a view to commerce, but also in the hope of doing
something which should lead to the suppression of the slave-trade
and of human sacrifices, he embarked with his brother John in the
merchant-vessel _Alert_ at Portsmouth, on the 8th January, 1830.
He says the party went out 'with the fixed determination to risk
everything, even life itself, towards the final accomplishment of
their object. Confidence in ourselves and in the natives will be our
best panoply, and an English Testament our best fetish.' The Colonial
Secretary granted an allowance of £100 a year to Mrs. Richard Lander
during her husband's absence, and the traveller was himself to receive
a gratuity of £100 on his return to England. The little expedition
arrived at Cape Coast Castle on the 22nd February, 1830, and was
conveyed thence on board H.M.'s Brig _Clinker_ to Accra, where they
landed on the 22nd March. On the 17th June, after a toilsome and
dangerous journey overland, they reached Boussa on the West bank of the
Niger, the place where, it will be remembered, Mungo Park met with a
similar fate to that which was ultimately to befall Lander. Thence they
ascended the river to Yaoorie, a distance of about 100 miles; and this
place, the extreme point of the expedition, they reached on the 27th
June. On the 2nd August they returned to Boussa, where they embarked in
canoes in order to descend the stream--considering that such a method
must at last solve the mighty problem somehow--though of course in
utter uncertainty as to whither the stream might lead them.
As they proceeded, difficulties and dangers increased. At Kirree they
were plundered and cruelly ill-treated; and at Eboe they were made
prisoners by the Negro King, who demanded a large sum for their ransom,
which, after long delay, was procured. At length they reached the mouth
of the Nun branch of the Niger; and on the 1st December, 1830, they
were put on shore at Fernando Po; and ultimately, after first visiting
Rio Janeiro, they reached Portsmouth on the 9th June, 1831.
So triumphant a result naturally excited the public interest; and it
is stated that Murray, the eminent publisher, offered the Landers 1000
guineas for their papers; the offer was accepted, and the task of
blending the brothers' two journals into one, and of constructing a
map of their route, having been performed by Lieutenant Beecher, R.N.,
the work, in three volumes, was published in 1832 as No. 28 of the
Family Library, and has been translated into French, German, Dutch, and
Swedish. For his valuable discoveries Richard Lander received from the
Royal Geographical Society its first annual premium of fifty guineas,
presented by King William IV.
It may be interesting to note here the following description of the
scenery of the lower Niger, translated from a recent work by a Belgian
traveller--Adolphe Burdo:--
'It is a grand and beautiful river, as it rolls majestically along,
widening at every step, while its banks display all the splendours of
the African flora. The birds have re-appeared, and enliven us with
their songs or cries; in the distance the proud cocoa-nut palms lift
their superb heads against the azure sky; the dwarf date-palms bathe
their curious foliage in the waters; sitting motionless on the young
green trunks the pale blue kingfishers keep watch for incautious fish
or wandering flies; a thousand birds with variegated plumage, some
yellow with a black necklace, others with gay crests, flutter joyously
among the trees; great _bombax_ or cotton-trees sway to and fro, their
thick foliage forming clusters; manchineels, whose red blossoms set
off the verdure; and finally the bananas, whose large leaves reveal
the existence of a negro village behind the screen which they form.'
Commerce with the rich interior of Africa now at length seemed
practicable; and accordingly, with this view, early in 1832 several
Liverpool merchants formed a company, and arranged a trading expedition
up the Niger, which was placed under the direction of Richard Lander.
This expedition consisted of two iron steam-vessels, the _Quorra_
('Shining River'), of 145 tons, and the _Alburka_ ('Blessing')
measuring only 55. They were accompanied as far as the Gulf of Guinea
by a brig laden with coals for the steamers, and a variety of articles
for presents or barter. The little squadron sailed from Milford Haven
on 25th July, 1832, and reached Cape Coast Castle on 7th October.
After innumerable mishaps, and fearful prostrations by illnesses
caused by the unhealthy climate, but having succeeded in tracing the
Niger (this time _upwards_) for a considerable portion of its course,
Lander returned for a short time to Fernando Po for further supplies of
cowries,[98] etc., leaving the steamers in charge of Surgeon Oldfield.
Having obtained what he required, he started on his return and final
voyage, of which the following is a summary.
Early in 1834 Lander left Fernando Po in the _Craven_ cutter with four
hundred pounds' worth of goods to rejoin the _Alburka_. On arriving
at the Nun mouth of the Niger he quitted the _Craven_, and with his
companions began ascending the river in two canoes of different sizes.
All the party were in excellent spirits. With them were two or three
negro musicians, who, when the labours of the day were over, cheered
their countrymen with their instruments, to the sound of which they
danced and sang in company, while the few Englishmen belonging to
the party amused themselves with angling on the banks of the stream;
thus, stemming a strong current by day, and resting from their toil
at night, Lander and his little band, totally unapprehensive of
danger, and unprepared to overcome or meet it, proceeded slowly up
the stream. At some distance from its mouth they met King Jacket,
a relation of King Boy, one of the heartless and sullen chiefs who
ruled over a large tract of the slimy, poisonous marshes which border
the Brass River. This personage was hailed by our travellers, and a
present of tobacco and rum was offered him: he accepted it with a
murmur of dissatisfaction, and his eyes sparkled with malignity as
he said in his own language: "White man will never reach Eboe this
time." This sentence was immediately interpreted to Lander by a native
of the country (a boy, who afterwards bled to death from a wound
in the knee); but Lander made light of the matter, and attributed
King Jacket's prophecy (for so it proved to be) to the petulance and
malice of his disposition. Soon, however, he discovered his error;
but too late to evade the danger which threatened him. On ascending
the river sixty or seventy miles further, the Englishman approached
an island near Ingiamma, near where the progress of the larger canoe
was effectually obstructed by the shallowness of the stream. Amongst
the trees and underwood which grew on this island, and on both banks
of the river in its vicinity, large ambuscades of the natives had
previously been formed, and shortly after the principal canoe had
grounded, its unfortunate crew, busily occupied in endeavouring to
get it into deeper water, were saluted with irregular but heavy and
continued discharges of musketry. So great was Lander's confidence in
the sincerity and goodwill of the natives that he could not at first
believe that the destructive fire by which he was literally surrounded
was anything more than a mode of salutation they had adopted in honour
of his arrival. But the Kroomen who had leaped into the boat, and who
fell wounded by his side, convinced him of his mistake, and plainly
discovered to him the fearful nature of the peril into which he had
fallen so unexpectedly, as well as the difficulty he would experience
in extricating himself from it. But, encouraging his comrades with
his voice and gestures, the traveller prepared to defend himself to
the last; and a loud and simultaneous shout from his little party
assured him that they shared his feelings, and would follow his
example. Meanwhile, several of the savages having come out from their
concealment, were brought down by the shots of the English; but Lander,
whilst stooping to pick up a cartridge from the bottom of the canoe,
was struck near the hip by a musket-ball. The shock made him stagger;
but he did not fall, and he continued cheering on his men. Soon,
however, finding his ammunition expended, himself seriously wounded,
the courage of his Kroomen beginning to droop, and the firing of his
assailants instead of diminishing become more general, he resolved to
attempt getting into the smaller canoe, afloat at a short distance,
as the only remaining chance of preserving a single life. For this
purpose, abandoning their property, the survivors threw themselves into
the stream, and with much difficulty (for the strength of the current
was enormous) most of them succeeded in accomplishing their object. No
sooner was this observed by the natives in ambush than they started
up and rushed out with loud and hideous yells; some Bonny, Brass, and
Benin canoes that had been hidden behind the luxuriant foliage which
overhung the river were, in an instant, pushed out into the middle of
the current, and pursued the fugitives with surprising velocity; while
numbers of savages, with wild antics and furious gesticulations, ran
and danced along the beach, uttering loud and startling cries. The
Kroomen maintained on this occasion the good reputation which their
countrymen have deservedly acquired: the lives of the whole party
depended on these men's energy and skill, and they impelled the slender
barque through the water with unrivalled swiftness.
The pursuit was kept up for four hours; and poor Lander, with only
wet ammunition, and with no defensive weapons whatever, was exposed
to the straggling fire, as well as the insulting mockery of his
pursuers. The fugitives, however, outstripped their pursuers, and when
they found the chase discontinued altogether, Lander stood up, _for
the last time_, in the canoe; and, being seconded by his remaining
associates, he waved his hat and gave a last cheer in sight of his
adversaries. He then became sick and faint from loss of blood, and sank
back exhausted in the arms of those who were nearest to him. Rallying
shortly afterwards, the nature of his wound was communicated to him by
Mr. Moore, a young surgeon from England, who had accompanied him up
the river, viz., that the ball could not be extracted; it had worked
its way into the left thigh, and Lander felt convinced that his career
would soon be terminated. When the state of excitement to which his
feelings had been wrought gave place to the languor which generally
succeeds powerful excitement of any kind, the invalid's wound pained
him exceedingly, and for several hours afterwards he endured, though
with calmness, the most intense sufferings. From that time he could
neither sit up nor turn on his couch; but while he was proceeding
down the river in a manner so melancholy, and so very different from
the mode in which he was ascending it only the day before, he could
not help indulging in mournful reflections: he talked much of his
wife, his child, his friends, his distant home, and his blighted
expectations. It was a period of darkness, distress, and sorrow to him;
but his natural cheerfulness soon regained its ascendency over his
mind, and, freely forgiving all his enemies, he resigned himself into
the hands of his Maker. At length, having succeeded in escaping down
the stream, Lander reached Fernando Po on the 27th of January. After
his arrival he was doing so well, that, on the very day previous to
his death, which occurred on the 6th of February, 1834,[99] he took
food with appetite, and no doubt was entertained of his recovery. But
mortification of the wound suddenly set in, and all hope was abandoned.
So rapid was his prostration, that he died soon after midnight; having
given such directions respecting his affairs as the shortness of the
last fatal warning permitted. While on his sick-bed, every needful and
possible aid was afforded him. In the airiest room of Colonel Nicholl's
residence, receiving the unremitting attention of that humane and
gallant officer (the Governor of Fernando Po), with the best medical
assistance, and the most soothing services, his pains were alleviated
and his spirits were cheered. He was conscious of his approaching
dissolution, talked with calmness to those around him, and anticipated
the termination of his career with composure and with hope. His body
was laid in the grave at the Clarence Cemetery amid the vivid regrets
of the whole population, who accompanied the funeral.
An account of this voyage, which Lander had promised should be his
_last_--though he did not anticipate its _fatal_ termination--was
published by Messrs. Laird and Oldfield, the only surviving officers
of the expedition, in 1835; but I have been obliged to obtain the
foregoing account of the attack at Ingiamma, and the death of Richard
Lander, from other sources. Messrs. Laird and Oldfield's work is
illustrated by another, containing eleven views and maps by Commander
W. Allen, R.N., published by Murray in 1840.
Though the subject of these notes seems to have been in every sense
the life and soul of the expedition, yet, as the French writer Lanoye
tartly pointed out, at the time of his writing poor Lander's grave in
the cemetery of Fernando Po was undistinguished by any monument; nor
do I know whether or not this omission has even yet been rectified.
'A solitary palm tree,' says Baikie,[100] 'marks the spot where this
heroic traveller and most intrepid pioneer of civilization fell;' but
the village itself from which the attack was delivered has, I believe,
been moved about a quarter of a mile farther up the river.
The Royal Geographical Society, however, has not been unmindful of
Lander's claim to a place in the front rank of discoverers, and have
fixed in the Chapel Royal, Savoy, a stained glass memorial window, the
subjects of which are the Transfiguration and the Last Supper, with the
following inscription:
'In memory of Richard Lemon Lander, the discoverer of the source of
the Niger, and the first Gold Medallist of the Royal Geographical
Society.[101] He was born at Truro, in 1804, and died in the Island of
Fernando Po in 1834, from wounds inflicted by the natives. This window
is inserted by her Majesty's permission by some of his relations and
friends, and by some of the Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society.'
This was in substitution for the tablet erected in 1834, and destroyed
by the fire of 7th July, 1864.
His native place has not forgotten his fame, as the Doric column
at Truro surmounted by his statue testifies. The plate on the
foundation-stone bore this inscription: 'To honour the enterprise and
sufferings of the brothers Richard and John Lander, natives of this
town, and to commemorate the early fate of Richard, who perished on the
Quorra, Ætat. 30.' And his name has been given to two places on the
Niger. That he did not himself forget his Cornish home is clear from
his having named an island on the river '_Truro_ Island,' and one of
the high hills on its banks, '_Cornwall_ Mountain.'
A writer in the 'Annual Biography and Obituary' for 1834 says of him
that 'Richard Lander was of short stature, but he possessed great
muscular strength, and a constitution of iron.' No stranger could help
being 'struck (as Sir Joseph Banks was with Ledyard) with the breadth
of his chest, the openness of his countenance, and the restlessness of
his eye. He was gifted in an eminent degree with that passive courage
which is so requisite a qualification in an African traveller. His
manners were mild, unobtrusive, and highly pleasing, which, joined to
his cheerful temper and ingenuous handsome countenance, rendered him a
favourite with everyone that knew him, by most of whom he was beloved
in the fullest sense of that word.'
So greatly was Richard Lander beloved by the untutored Africans, that
at various places in the interior where he had remained some time, as
at Katunga, Boussa, Yaoorie, numbers of the inhabitants ran out of
their huts to embrace him on his leaving, and with hands uplifted, and
eyes filled with tears, they blessed him in the name of their gods.
The _Literary Gazette_ for 3rd May, 1834, had the following
observations on Lander's death: 'Thus has another sacrifice to African
discovery been made: a man whose character was of the highest human
stamp. Calm and resolute, steady and fearless, bold and adventurous,
never did there exist a more fit instrument for the undertaking of such
exploits as those which have shed a lustre over his humble name. We
cannot express the sorrow with which the sad calamity has filled us--it
is a deep _private_ affliction, and a lasting _national_ regret.'
A pension of £70 a year was granted by the Government to Lander's
widow, and a donation of £50 to his daughter; and a sum of 80 guineas
which had been collected in Truro (with a view to presenting the
Landers with a piece of plate) was diverted towards the cost of
erecting the Lander column. An infant son of the same name died the
same year as his father, and was buried in the churchyard of the Savoy.
I do not know that I can more suitably conclude these imperfect remarks
than by quoting the following touching letter--I believe the last he
ever wrote--as an illustration of his amiable, unselfish character:
'River Nun,
'Jan. 22, 1834.
'DEAR SIR,
'Having an opportunity of writing to you by King Boy (who will give
it to King Obie to forward to you) I will avail myself of it. I was
coming up to you with a cargo of cowries and dry goods worth £450,
when I was attacked from all quarters by the natives of Hyammah off
the fourth island from Sunday Island (eighty-four miles from the mouth
of the Nun). The shot were very numerous both from the island and
shore, Mrs. Brown and child were taken prisoners, whom I was bringing
up to her husband, as well as Robert the boy. I have advanced King Boy
money to go and purchase them; the vessel will call here immediately,
as I am going to Fernando Po to get _the people's_ wounds attended to.
'We had 3 men shot dead: Thomson, second mate of the cutter, one
Krooman, and one Cape Coastman. I am wounded, but I hope not
dangerously, the ball having entered close to the "bottom of the
spine," and struck the thigh bone: it is not extracted yet. Thos.
Oxford is wounded in the groin, two Kroomen wounded dangerously and
one slightly. I am sorry to say I lost all my papers and everything
belonging to me, the boat and one canoe; having escaped in one of
the canoes barely with a coat to our backs, they chasing us in their
war-canoes; and all our cartridges being wet, we could not keep them
off. They attacked us at 3 p.m. on the 20th January, and left us at 8
at night. We pulled all night and reached the cutter on the 21st. We
are now under weigh for Fernando Po.
'I remain,
'Your most affectionate Friend,
'R. L. LANDER.
'To Surgeon Oldfield,
'_Alburka_ Steamer,
'River Niger.'
Such was the fate of one who may be not unfairly described as one
of the chief, if not the chief, of the pioneers of West African
exploration. It is evident that access to the interior of the Dark
Continent continues to engage the attention of travellers; for,
according to the comments of a recent writer on the meeting of the
Royal Geographical Society in May, 1883:
'Africa has at no period of its history been so flooded with eager
seekers after the unknown as at the present hour. Apart from the
explorations for commercial and political purposes that are being
carried out by French officers in Senegambia and on the Upper Niger
and Congo, a Russian expedition under Rogozinzki, and an Italian one
under Bianchi and Licata, have been planned to enter the country at
the Bight of Biafra. These expeditions will probably be absent several
years, for they are organized with the object of crossing through
the unknown region between the Congo, the Benueh, and Lake Tchad,
and of so eventually reaching Abyssinia. Numerous other travellers
are either in the interior or making for the goal as best they can;
and Mr. Stanley, in pursuance of his mission on the Upper Congo, is
understood to have made a voyage up one of its greatest tributaries,
and discovered a hitherto unsuspected lake of considerable magnitude.
Another such sheet of water is believed to be not far from the Welle;
and now that Mr. Joseph Thomson and Dr. Fischer are far on their way
to examine the country between the sea and the northern end of Lake
Nyassa, the snow-capped Mounts Kenia and Kilimandjaro promise before
long to be removed from the region of myth. Messrs. O'Neill, Johnson,
and Stewart's explorations in the same quarter are adding much to our
acquaintance with a country hitherto little known, and as soon as the
steamer can be carried in sections across the road cut between Nyassa
and Tanganyika, the latter lake will become almost as well surveyed
as Lakes Huron or Superior. Holub intends boring from one end of
Africa to another, and without doing more than mentioning a few of the
names which most readily suggest themselves, Böhm, Kaiser, Stecker,
Giraud, Aubrey, Hamon, Revoil, and Schuver are among the many eager,
and in most cases tried, explorers whose efforts or achievements
in different parts of Africa during the past year deserve special
remark. The scheme of international stations, started and carried out
by the committee presided over by King Leopold, is rapidly joining
the East and West Coast by a chain of civilized settlements, where
the rude tribes can learn the arts of peace, and the weary explorers
find the succour and assistance denied to their predecessors from the
hour they entered the Dark Continent. Africa must before long become
permeated with what Europeans call light, and, though the accounts
of later travellers do not confirm the sanguine estimates of the
earlier pioneers, the resources of its great forests, rich valleys,
and mineral veins are at least capable of supporting a vastly greater
trade than the country at present enjoys.'
Whatever may be the future of Africa, Richard Lander's name will
always be remembered as that of one of the earliest and bravest of her
explorers.
[Illustration: (end of chapter vignette.)]