_THE TERMINATION OF THE NIGER--(Continued)._
Among the many valuable results arising from Clapperton and Denham’s
expedition, not the least important was the great encouragement it gave
to renewed enterprise. With the successes of these two explorers the
tide of evil fortune seemed to have turned, and they had shown that
death or failure did not necessarily meet whomsoever had the temerity
to seek to unlock the secrets of Ethiopia.
Clapperton, moreover, had brought back with him from Sokoto the most
friendly messages from Bello, the Sultan, expressive of his desire
for direct intercourse with the British, and pointing out how that
intercourse might best be established by way of the Niger and the West
Coast, to which, he asserted, his dominions extended. To take advantage
of this more hopeful state of affairs, the British Government organised
another expedition, once more with the object of settling the vexed
question of the Niger termination, and at the same time opening up a
way to the rich provinces of Sokoto, Bornu, &c.
Clapperton was again selected as leader, and with him were associated
Captain Pearce and Surgeon Morrison.
The Gulf of Benin was chosen as the landing point, the reason being
that there they hoped to find the entrance to the river and follow it
to Bussa. On their arrival, however, it was deemed advisable not to
lose time and health among the interminable creeks and fatal mangrove
swamps known to distinguish the probable delta of the Niger. It was
known that Haussa caravans were in the habit of annually descending
overland to the coast at Badagry, a point a few miles to the west
of what is now known as Lagos. With much wisdom and common sense
Clapperton and his companions therefore elected to penetrate to the
Niger by this route, and after completing their business with Sokoto,
to descend the river in canoes.
On the 7th December 1825 the party left the coast. Hardly, however,
had they got beyond earshot of the Atlantic rollers, when it seemed as
if the fate which had befallen so many earlier ventures was about to
overtake Clapperton’s also. Through imprudently sleeping in the open
air, they were all attacked by fever. Undismayed and unsubdued, they
nevertheless pushed on, staggering forward as best they might. But
there were limits to their defiance of disease. Morrison gave in first,
and turning to retrace his way to the coast, died on the road. Captain
Pearce was the next victim, and he, like the soldier who falls in
battle with his face to the foe, dropped on the road, struggling onward
to the last.
Though now deprived of both his friends, Clapperton was not yet
absolutely alone. He had with him an English servant named Richard
Lander, who, with a spirit worthy of such a master, faced all the
perils and hardships of the route. Happily, however, by the end of
the month the deadly coast belt was safely passed, and healthier
lands lay before them. They entered the populous country of Yoruba,
with its teeming population, its well cultivated fields, enormous
towns, and general air of prosperity. Through Yoruba they passed in a
semi-triumphal procession, with no greater trouble to face than the
anxiety of the king to keep the white men in his own capital, or the
siren wiles of the widow Zuma, who, with her colossal charms, sought
to woo them from the path of danger and toil to the flower-strewn
haunts of love and ease. Heedless alike, however, of kingly favours and
full-fed charms--the widow being fat and twenty--Clapperton held on
his way, as also did Lander, who was as little to be seduced from his
master’s side as his master from the path of duty.
Clapperton had hoped to reach the Niger at Nupé, but news of war and
bloodshed in that region caused him to deviate from his intended route
and strike the great river somewhat higher up. As the fates would
have it, he reached the Niger at the very point where Park had ended
at once his voyage and his career. Clapperton’s reception seemed to
belie the story of Amadi Fatuma as to the manner of Park’s death, but
a little investigation proved beyond a doubt the truth of its chief
particulars. The natives had attacked him under a misconception as
to his nationality, and every one spoke with regret of the unhappy
catastrophe. The place was pointed out where the boat and crew were
lost.
At this point the river is divided into three channels, none more
than twenty yards broad when the water is low. The left branch is the
only safe one for canoes, the other two being broken up by rocks into
dangerous whirlpools and rapids. Bussa itself stands on an island about
three miles long by one and a half broad.
From Bussa, Clapperton passed through Nupé and across the Haussa States
to Kano. Thence he proceeded to join Bello at Sokoto. He arrived,
however, at an unfortunate time. Civil war and rebellion were rife on
all hands, and it seemed as if the great Fulah Empire was about to fall
to pieces as quickly as it had been built up. Bello, in consequence,
was in a fit state to listen to all sorts of insinuations as to the
causes which brought the Europeans into his country, and the results
that were likely to follow. Accordingly, Clapperton’s reception
was anything but friendly, and under the worries consequent on his
treatment, and the fevers by which he was attacked, he at length
succumbed on the 13th April 1827.
Of the members of the expedition there now remained only Richard
Lander, who had attached himself to Clapperton with such remarkable
fidelity. Three courses were open to him--to return to England by
way of the desert and Tripoli, to go back by the way he had come, or
thirdly, to attempt to carry out his late master’s intention of tracing
the Niger to its mouth. Lander was a man of no ordinary intelligence
and character, notwithstanding his subordinate position in life, and
as if Clapperton’s mantle had fallen on him, he elected to do what he
could to complete the unfinished work.
With this object in view he returned to Kano from Sokoto, and thence
started south to reach the Niger, being under the belief that the great
river in that direction was the object of his search--while in reality
it was another.
In this, however, he failed. He had almost reached the great town of
Yakoba, when his progress was stopped, and he was compelled to return
to Kano. Thence he made his way back as he had come through Yoruba to
Badagry, which he reached on the 21st November 1827.
The unhappy issue of Clapperton’s second expedition somewhat chilled
African enterprise for the time being. Our knowledge of the course
and termination of the Niger was left exactly where it had been
before--though it was made more and more clear that from Bussa it
flowed south to Benin. Still the river seemed to lie under some charm
fatal to whomsoever should brave it and seek to lift the veil.
The Government began to lose hope, or to conclude that the deadly
nature of the climate rendered the discovery of the mouth of the Niger
one only of geographical importance. But though they wavered and felt
disposed to give up the task, there were still plenty of volunteers
eager to make one more attempt.
No matter what the dangers were, Africa had a strange power of
fascination which irresistibly drew men under its influence; not those
merely who had never set foot on its deadly shore, and who consequently
could not fully realise all that travel in Africa meant, but men who
had seen their companions die beside them on the road, struck down by
disease or the weapon of the savage, and who had themselves known what
it was to be at death’s door. It is a species of mesmeric influence
this of African travel, irresistibly compelling him who has once come
beneath its spell to return again and again, even though at last it be
to his death.
Lander was no exception to the rule. He went out to Africa knowing
nothing, and probably caring less, for the objects of his master’s
expedition. But he was of the right sort to come beneath the fatal
charm; and with the death of his master he felt himself consecrated
to the work of exploration. In this spirit he returned to England with
Clapperton’s journal, only to offer himself for one more effort to
complete the task the death of the writer had left unfinished. Such
an offer the Government could not very well refuse, though the terms
promised by them showed that they had but little faith in a favourable
outcome.
[Illustration: RICHARD LANDER.]
But Lander was no longer the servant. African travel had ennobled him
and placed him in the roll of her knight-errantry. He knew no sordid
motives, asked no pay or other remuneration. Success should be his only
reward. His enthusiasm infected his brother John with a like spirit,
and caused him to throw in his fortunes with him.
The 22nd March 1830 saw the gallant fellows landed at Badagry. They
followed practically the same route as Clapperton’s expedition to Eyeo,
from which they were compelled to take a circuitous northerly course to
the Niger at Bussa, which they reached in three months from the coast.
After having paid a visit to the King of Yauri some distance up the
river, preparations were commenced for the voyage down to the ocean.
With difficulty two canoes were obtained, but at length, on the
20th September, everything was ready for departure. Before pushing
clear of the land, the Landers “humbly thanked the Almighty for past
deliverances, and fervently prayed that He would always be with us and
crown our enterprise with success.” Having thus placed themselves under
Divine protection, the word was given to push off, and away the canoes
glided towards their uncertain bourne.
The first part of the voyage lay through a narrow valley bounded by
metamorphic hills, through which the river wound its way in broad
curving reaches, broken up at times by inhabited islands, which rose
precipitously from the dark waters, and gave variety to the scene.
Majestic trees lined the banks, and lent their own peculiar charm to
the panoramic landscape, while village and cultivated field spoke of
industrious inhabitants. From the latter they had nothing to fear--on
the contrary, the travellers were everywhere received hospitably, and
sent on their way with prayers for their safety and food for their
wants. A more instant danger lay in the numerous rocks which thrust
their crests above the water, or more treacherously lay hid beneath,
requiring constant watchfulness.
Soon this rocky section was passed, and the district of Nupé entered.
Here the river, emerging from the metamorphic hills, turns eastward and
widens, flowing through a broad valley whose precipitous sides form the
escarpments of a low sandstone plateau-land. This section is scantily
inhabited and sparsely wooded, on account of the fact that while the
river is in flood, the great plains which form the bottom of the valley
are submerged, and the river assumes the aspect of a lake.
Sixty miles further down is a picturesque range of mountains--now
called Rennell’s--shortly after passing which comes the town of Egga.
From thence the broad valley begins to narrow, and the river to wind in
sharp curves through the low sandstone gorges, till, turning sharply
to the south, it enters a lake-like expanse, where the Landers found
that a large tributary from the east, which they conjectured to be the
Tchadda or Benué, joined the main stream. This was the river which
Clapperton had confounded with the Shari, though M‘Queen had worked out
its true relationship to the Niger system.
Immediately beyond the point of junction, the Niger leaves the
sandstone plateau and passes through a series of bold picturesque
mountains by a narrow gorge, guarded on either side by isolated peaks
and table-topped mountains, which frown over the waters in defiant,
barren ruggedness. As if to stop all ingress or egress, small islands
and hidden rocks rise in mid-stream, round which the swift currents of
the contracted river angrily sweep and swirl.
This natural gateway passed, the river expands again into majestic
reaches, sunning its full bosom under the tropic sun, unbroken by rock
or island. The mountains fall into gentle undulations, and these
again into a limitless, flat expanse, but little raised above the
level of the river. With every mile the vegetation grows more and more
luxuriant, more and more prodigal, till the primeval forest lies before
the traveller in all its height and depth and solemnity. Never before
had the brothers Lander seen such trees, such a profusion of shrubs,
such a tangle of varied creepers.
Here and there villages, charmingly adorned with nodding palms, peeped
cosily from their bosky corners in the dark protecting forest. Near the
houses stood or lolled groups of scantily clothed natives, passing the
lazy hours away in dreamy idleness, as became the lords of creation.
Children, naked as the day they were born, gambolled in the river like
frogs; and women, ever at work, busied themselves with domestic cares.
At some places battle had been given to the rank luxuriance of nature,
and small clearings made in the forest for the raising of yams, beans,
or sugar-canes.
Not least inviting in the scene was the Niger itself. Now it spread
before the voyagers like a beautiful lake, ringed with fringing
festooned trees, and flashing brilliantly under the rays of the
tropic sun. Again, far ahead, the forest frame opened and displayed
the serpentine course of the silvery river, edged with yellow banks
of sand. Canoes were seen gliding swiftly down stream, or with more
laborious paddling were forced upward against the current. On the banks
left by the falling waters, crocodiles disposed their repulsive length
like rotting logs of wood, while in the deeper pools the hippos snorted
defiance. Waterfowl in great numbers skimmed along the surface of the
water, fished in the shallows, or rested on _terra firma_.
The scene was arcadian and fascinating seen from the river. A closer
acquaintance did not enhance its attractiveness. The voyagers were now
among a people far different from those above the confluence of the
Niger and the Benué (Tchadda). Here were only Pagan savages, steeped in
the lowest barbarism, and ruled by the grossest superstition. Murder
and plunder were in congenial union with fetishism and cannibalism,
and hospitality was unknown. Only by force could Lander get his men
to venture into this dangerous region. That their fears were not mere
fancies was speedily proved on the very first occasion of landing,
and again later on they only escaped utter destruction, to fall into
semi-captivity to a party of men in large canoes who were up river
ready to trade with the strong, and to attack and plunder the weak.
The travellers now found themselves among people who came from near
the sea, and who had not only heard of, but had actually traded with
Europeans. It was therefore in no despondent mood that they submitted
to their fate, and proceeded on their way, the captives of the Ibo.
Soon it was clear that the delta of the river had been reached. From
being a united volume of water it began to break up into numerous
branches, running in all directions. At the apex of the delta the
land was dry, and clad with palm oil groves and silk cotton trees.
Gradually, however, these disappeared, and as the dry land gave
place to hybrid swamp, the mangrove asserted its ownership. Nature
then showed as repulsive an aspect as is to be met with in any other
region on the face of the globe--what was swamp when the tide was out
resembling a submerged forest when the tide was in, and both then
and at all other times, reeking with pestilential vapours from the
slimy mud oozing from between the octopus-like roots of the mangrove.
[Illustration: AKASSA.]
In passing through this foul region the travellers had little reason to
wonder that no one had ever ventured to explore the labyrinthine creeks
and river branches which penetrated the mangrove in all directions, but
seemed to lead to nowhere in particular.
On the 24th November 1830 the dull thunder of the Atlantic rollers
breaking on the shore came like sweetest music to the travellers’ ears,
growling a gruff but hearty welcome, and soon the sea itself lay before
them--its cool healthy breezes fanning them with delicious touch, its
gleaming limitless expanse fair as a glimpse of heaven.
The Niger mystery was solved at last, and the river portals thrown wide
open to the world, never again to be closed.