The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1818-06-18 00:00:00

AFRICAN DISCOVERIES.

This country lies been long distinguished :drove
ilie other nations of Europe fir the seal rod en-
trrpr:xe with which it has prosecuted discoveries in
Africa, and no opportunity has been omitted
whereby ashy knowledge may be acquired of the
geography stud moral condition of tint vast and in.
terming portion of the earth. It is distressing,
however, to confer:white the number of victims
that kayo hitherto been sacrificed to this object,
and still more distressing, when we consider that
those who have thus devoted themselves to extend
the limits of science, and to promote the welfare of
their most isijored fellow-creatures, were uoifortisly
men of the most ardent and generous minds, and
posseoseil of talents and courage of she proudest
to el most distinguished charecter. The fate of
Park is the subject of getter's' sorrow, but it did
not droop the ardour of those who composed the
late Congo expedition, whose melancholy catas-
trophe has aided so largely to the catalogue of
martyrs to the spirit of African discovery. Of the
object and result of that ill-fated expedition, the
public aro sheerly apprised. There are some cir-
cumstances connected with it *Via might perhaps
prove aninsieg to our readers.
Oa anchoring of Mdembo, they were visited by
an officer called a Me.fotit, or Ktng's merchant ; he
was aislewowed by a IWWWII Will. said " Ile was a
gentleman, and that his name Was Tom Liverpool.'
They were asked if they wanted slaves ; and on
!woo; answered its the negative, and that stone but
the Portuguese were now allowed to carry ou that
truffle, the mafook poured tenth a volley of abuse
ell till the Sllleeteiglllt of Europe, and snore cape-
(laity the King England—said he was over-run
with captives, which he would sell at half their
v Joe ; and added that, with one exception, it was
tire yeas' sitter a single veseel bad visited Maletislia ;
admittisig, however, that stow and thee, lie had a
demai.d from Caliendo, *here, at that moment, he
bald, there were slue ve-sels under Portuguese, and
one under Spanish colours.
It was several slays before the vessels succeeded
in furring their passage it.tu the Zaire, on account
if the streigth of the curfew ; but no sooner were
tr. v atichored within the river, than they were as-
soled by numerous r-itois, of which those from
the !MMUS'S of Smiio, on the south bank, who were
" Clurssiaus after the Portuguese fashion," are re-
presetited as by fey the aunt people they had met
tlts hctwg. " aluin4 wit hoot exception, sulky-
boating vagabninlo, dirty, bWarming with lice, and
sealed over with the itch, all strong ir•nytorns of
their having been cirili:ed by the Portuguese."
One of them ass a pita, who had been ordained
b) the Capuchin monks of Loomis): he could just
write ma name and that of St. Antonio, and read
the Monists ritud ; he was, however, hut an Melt&
ferelit Catholic, fur his rosary, hie relics, tool his
Crosses were mixed se.th his domestic fetiches :
" this bare-footed apostle," as Dr. Smith calls Irian,
bea,teil of hating nu fewer than five wives.
The difficulty of gr sling the transport up the
firer induced Ceptims Turkey to put together his
double boats, with *lnch and the Congo he pro-
ceeded upwards on the 18th of Jul'., and 0,, the
.26.11 realised Lonthee, the market-town of the Cite.
two ur K tog of Embsouina. Here &maims, a black
man, who had beets takes) oat hoard the Congo at
Deptford, first met with his hither and brother, who
received him with
shore with his friends, the toots malamuted the
whole night " wish the drum and the sotto of re.
jOiCOlg." 'flie adventures of Simmons afforded a
iirestomptiou that the tale of °moue° oily not be a

" The story of this man, which I bad before tboVight
imptiriug into, and which was poi tly related by his father,
add, our Mut more to the character of European stave
triolers His father, who is called Minigora Seki, a Prince
ul the Wood, and Couisoillor to the King of EIIIbOMUIV,
intrumeil him, wbeu tight or tea years ohi, to a Liverpool
(ifit'floi of the name of -" (we wish we knew it), " to
Le educated (or, artonitutr to his espressiun, to learn to
snake England but his cumeieutious goardiau
baud it leas trouhltsuine to have him taught to make sugar
at St. Kitts, where he accordingly sold him; asset ?rum
trisector be coots awed to make his escape and gel ow board SA
Englishship of war, from chub he was paid off on the re-
dm-him of the fiat. Durisig our pillage, he pi amused,
without any signs of impala-wet or di►gust, the St ial of-
See of tools's•mate."

A cerensokial visit was here paid to the Chen°.
of Ellsbosoms, who was with diliculty made to
comprelieud the nature of the voyage. After a te-
dious conversation, they sat down to an elitertati.
nient is a large apartment, where SWIM chests
covered with carpets served at come for seats sod
tables. The repast cousirted of a soup of plan-
tains end goats' flesh, a fowl cut in pieces and
broiled, sod roasted plautaius it' lieu of bread ;
11,0111 e sweet palm wine, in a large silser tatikar•',
was the only beverage,. When dinner was ended,
the King awl his chiefs still appeared doubtful as
to the real motives of the visit ; at length an old
tout), starting up, plucked a leaf !NM a tree, si.d

hOlding it to Captaii. Tocters said. " If yeti come
to trade, swells' by rise Owl and broil' the leaf;"
sit his refusing to do so, 1w said, 4, Swear by your
God you closet come to make war, and break the
I, af:" this Captain Turkey immediately did. on
whirl' the whole company performed a grand
eukilla, a kind of measured dance, expressive of
approbstion; mid thoassembly then broke up, op-
'amenity quite satisfied.
The Chenoo hail about fifty women for his own
use; these, as well as his daogliters, he offered,
watt equal liberality. to the visitors ; and the exam-
ple was not lost upon his courtiers. " The lan-
guage of the info," Captain Tuckey says. at
in
offering them, was most disgusting and obscene,
being composed of the vilest words picked up
from English, French, and Portuguese. As 'so
such offers were made farther up the river, it is but
fair to presume that they were trained to this offen-
sive custom by the Europe ti slave-dealers, who
used to frequent Ein!Houma as the principal mart
ois the 'Lein.. In returning to the ships, tlw party
observed a hut in which tlw corpse of a female was
lying 'loot as when alive : within were four women
howling, to whom two men on Ilw outside respond-
ed in • kind of cadence, producing a concert not
unlike the yell of an bolt funeral. la passing
through the buryisig-grounil, they observed two
graves, not 1.6 s than use feet by five ; fur the ex-
traordinary size of which the following passage its
Captain Tockey'a Journal eitab'es us to &recount :
" Simmons requested • olive of doth to envelope his
oast, who had hers dead nel/Ctl years, and was to leo buried
Is two asoads.,twine slow strierit at atom- to mike a genteel
funeral. The manner of preserving corpses, for OW long a
time, is by enveloping shim in dolls of the tummy
or in European cottons, the swill of putrefartios tieing
only kept in by the quantity of wrappers, which are suc-
cessively multiplied as they can be prim-unit by the ri latious
of the deceased, or according to the rank of the person ;
is tee case of a rich and very great man, the took aronired
being only limited by the power of couveyaure to the grave;
SO that the first hut is which the body is elleiesited. becoming
too small, • second, a third, even to a sixth, auceeasing to
dimensions, is placed over it."
The hanks of the Zaire are not the part of
Africa where the slave trade est present is carried on
with much activity ; on the first arrival of the ex-
pedition, three Portuguese schooners and four pin-
naves were at &Mamma ; and a schooner older
Spanish colours. with an Eat:Olds mate on board of
the name of Sherwood, slipped Out of the river as
the Cove entered it. The chi. fs were all iutenl
on trade. and were angry and disappointed when
they learned that slaves were tint the objects of the
expedition ; and one of them, on being told that
they neither came to trade nor snake war, asked,
" what then come for; only to take walk and
make book 1" It would seem, however, that the
saleable slaves are chiefly confined to such as have
been taken in war, or kidnapped in the interior, or
such as may have had a sentence of death com-
muted into that of foreign slavery. It is stated by
Mr. Fitzmaurice, that, while he MIA at Ein!rotiona,
a man had beets condemned to sutler sleuth ; that
he was taken to Sherwood, the spate of the slave-
ship before mentioned, and offered for stele ; but
that, 011 bring rejected, tio.sc et 110 had charge of
him bound hl. hands told feet, and without further
ceremony threw hint into the river.
The expedition did not proceed for up the Z tire,
but was soon counselled to return, from the state
of extreme debility to which the party were re-
duced, and of the original crew of the Coop, coo-
pistil% of 56 lemons, including Captain
Turkey, Lieutenant Hawley. Mr. Eyre (Purser).
Professor Smith, Mr. Crat.ch, Mr. Tudor, and
Mr. Galwers (a volunteer), died within the short
spate of three mouths. Freon this unfortunate
expedition. we turn to present our readers with an
account of another enterprising traveller, whose
life has beets devoted to the cause of African dis-
covery. The account is extracted flints The Quar-
terly Review.
Mr. J. L. Burckhardt, a cadet of one of the
nriocipal families of Switzerland, was a native of
Zurich. At the time when the despotism of France
had closed every avenue. but one, of distinction to
the youth of the Co:annul, our young traveller,
unwilling to engage in the career of a military life,
came over to Euglatiel, with ass introduction to Sir
Joseph Banks, and, after a few months residence in
London, offered his services to the African Assucia-
tioii. The result of Park's first attempt bail snore
rff.-ct in kindling his hopes of li sal dlieetki. than
the fae of Wright's's, Horsiemao, and Leslyarde in
depressing thew. Possessed of a good cenis:itution
and an unimpeached moral cluirat ter, well educat-
ed, and capable of improving his totems by appli-
cation in whatever pursuit might be found :woes-
sary to qualify him fur the undertaking lie was im-
mediately enlisted into the service of the Associa-
tion, and received from various quitters every as-
sistance he required in the ditfirent branches of
science, to winch his atteution was directed.
Mr. Burckhardt left England on the 21 of
March, 1809, for Malta, whence he set out for
Aleppo, which lie reached on the 61h of July fol-
lowing. Here, and at Damascus, be spent a prin-
cipal part of the next three years ; during which lie
made • variety of excursions iota the Ilaurati and
the Lesge, visited the ruins of Palmyra and Baal-
bec, passed souse time amongst the Twist:mos of
the northern provinces of Syria, and perfected him•
self its the knowledge of the religion, manners., and
language of the 31ahommedati Arab., by frequent
and loug residences among the Bedouins of the
desert. The result of his researches in that part of
the world, which he considered as merely preps.
ratory to his great etsterprise, the Africa's Association
now possess, in the form of journals, and of poli-
tical, geographical, and statistical notices. On the
18th of Julie. 1812, lie set out from Damascus for
Cairo, avoiding the usual route of the sea coast and
desert betwteu El Arish and the borders of EzYpts
and directing his course, in the disguise of the
poorest of the Bedouins, from the Holy Land. east
of the Jordan, by Szalt, into Arabia Petrsea, and
across the great desert El Ty : he reached Cairo on
the 4th of September, with the intention of availing
himself of the first opportunity of penetrating into
Africa, which the departure of a Fezzes' or a Dar.
four caravan might afford him.
Finding, however, that this was not likely soon to
take place, he determined to loess the iatermediete
time in exploring Egypt and the country above the
Cataracts, and was thus enabled to perform two
very arduous and interestiog jourisies into the au-
mod 4Etlaiopits ; one of them along the banks of the
Nile. from Asuman to Dar El Mahan, on the
ft-matters of Dongola, in the mouths of February

and March 1813, during which be discovered many
remains of ancient Egyptiait and Nubian aichitee.
tore, with Greek inscriptions. such es tire found in
the temples of Phila—the other, between Mardi
and July is the following year, through Nubia. to
Souakisn and Djedda. The details of this journey
contain the best notices ever received in Europe of
the actual state of society, trade, manufactures, and
government, in what was ouce the cradle of all the
knowledge or the Egyptians.
Our traveller's next eiteursion appears to have
been from Cairo into the peninsula of Arabia, for
the purpose of visiting the holy cities of Mecca and
Medina; in the former of which he resided between
four and five months, making his observations se-
cure under the character of a Mahommedan Hadje
or pilgrim, and with all the advantage of the per-
fect knowledge which lie had now acqiiired in ,the
language, and rummers of the inhabitants.
His residence in this pert of the east necessarily
brought him iota contact wills the %V..bribers; and
the Association have received from him, besides a
full description of Mecca, and of the early and
recent superstotions of that part of the world, a very
elaborate uccotint of the rise and progress of thii
extraordinary sect of Nlalioninterlini puritans, com-
prehending the whole of their political history from
the fonndatton of the sect, between fifty and sixty
years ago, by Alla El IVehab and Mohammed Ibir
SI I, to the peace between Abdodab him Siond
mill Turmoil Pasha, on the part of 510Iniaiiiied Ali,
Pashaw of Egypt, in 1815.
The last excursion of Mr. Burckliardt was from
Cairo to 51.intit Sinai and the eastern Lead of the
Red Mrs. The jouriial of this interesting tour is
iriterspersed will a variety of historical notices on
the former state of the country, anti annexed to it
is 4 Inctilotr of the wanderings of the Israelites on
their departure from the land of Ploiroati.
The close of Mt.. Burckharili's last work, we
understand, is brought down to the March,
1817, when the epproaching snantner seemed to
offer to him the prospect of tt Ci 11111,411
destined to M.. 0 souk, a route which hr had
long before decided an as the most I kely to
conduct toward. that irmat which had now fur in any
years been the principal object of his life. Ills
expressions on this occasion, and which we copy
front one of the last letters he was destined to write,
c t be contemplated, at the present moment,
without feelings of deep regret.

" 1 write to Air Joelepli Daubs, and repeat to yon, that I
em in anxious expectation of • caravan (,r Libya, and I
hare been long prepared to start on the shortest notice. I
shall leave Egypt with more pleasure, bemuse I shall now
no melee have to regret leaving my juurtials la a rude slate,
which would hive been the ease If I had started last v. nr ;
and it will affo.d me •o small cuusulation upon my future
travels, to think that, whatever nmy he my fate, sour► profit
has, at least, hitherto ell from me nu: units, and Ilia the
Association are tww iu possess:on of several journals of
mine, treating of new aud interesting conutsies."

SICII was the eager and hvrlc 1 with which
he I.•oked fot ward to joining the deporting care•
van ; hut Providence ordained totherwitic. On the
sth of October, 1817, lie was suddenly armed with
a slyaeistery, which, in spite of tlio attendance of an
English physician, hurried Idiu to an untimely end
un the 15th of that month,

(T• •a ent(nred.)