The Sun.
London, England, 1837-07-26 00:00:00

Ll'

NARRATIVE OF AN EXPEDITION INTO
THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA, 2 Vols.
Bentley, London, 1837.
The object of this expedition, says Mr. Macgregor
Laird in his preface, was two-fold—first, to open a
direct commercial intercourse with the inhabitants of

Central Africa ; and secondly, to ascertain whether the
main artery of the country (the Niger) could be as-
cended and descended with perfect safety, in moderately-
.

sized vessels from the sea to Boussa.

As regards the

last point, the expedition was perfectly successful ;
but it failed in the former, owing to a variety of un-
foreseen causes, among which we may mention the

mpracticable character of the chiefs of the native
ribes who dwell on the banks of the Niger, and
,he dreadful mortality that prevailed in the

steam-boats, in their passage through the swamps
and low grounds. Up to the period when
it reached these pestilential spots, which stretch
for a considetable distance along the river's hanks, in

the neighbournood of the Eboe country, the expedition
enjoyed excellent health ; but the poisonous effluvia
constantly exhaling from the swamps, induced disorders
of the most frightful kind, to which many of the crew
of the Quorra—and among them Dr. Briggs, an in-

telligent young Scottish physician—fell vi Aims
Alluding to this subject, Mr. Laird says,—

" The horrid, sickening stench of this mia msi must be
experienced to be conceived ; no description of it can con-
vey to the mind the wretched sensation that is felt for some
time before and after day-break. In these accursed swamps
one is oppressed, not only bodily, but mentally, with an
indescribable feeling of heaviness, languor, nausea, and dis-
gust, which requires a considerable effort to shake off. The
application of a blister over the head seemed to afford the
greatest relief and in my own case and that of Mr. Briggs, was,
under Providence, the means of saving us. .After this is done,
I do not think that medical skill can go further• ; the ques-
tion becomes a pitched battle between the fever and the
constitution of the person attacked with it ; and medicine,
after the first necessary emetics and purgatives, does more
harm than good. In recovering, the greatest caution is
necessary ; excitement of any kind must .be avoided, and
great care niust be taken that the patient does not give way•
to his voracious appetite ; a relapse is generally fatal, and
always more dangerous than the first attack."
After remaining for some days in the neighbourhood
of the swamps, the steam•boats not having healthy
men enough to work them, the Expedition, slowly
and with great difficulty, managed to get up as far
as Attab, a populous town, situated at the entrance of
the valley of the Niger, and commanding the whole
trade of the interior, " which trade," observes the
author, '' although trifling at present, it requires no
prophet to foresee will hereafter be immense." While
lying at anchor off Attah, Mr. Laird was an eye-
witness of the way in which the natives kill alligators;
and gives us the following amusing description of it :
" One day, while we lay at anchor off the town of At-
tali, I witnessed one of the most ingenious ways of killing
an alligator that could be imagined. One of these huge
creatures was discovered basking on a bank in the river, a.
short distance ahead of our vessels. He was observed by
two natives in a canoe, who immediately paddled to the
opposite side of the bank, and, having landed, crept cau-
tiously towards him. As soon as they were near the ani-
mal, one of the natives stood up from his crouchay
position, holding a spear about six feet long, which
with one blow he struck through the animal's tail
into the sand. A most strenuous contest immediately
ensued ; the man with the spear holding it in the
sand as firmly as his strength allowed him, and clinging
to it as it became necessary to shift his position with the
agility of a monkey ; while his companion occasionally rata
in as opportunity offered, and with much dexterity gave the
animal a thrust with his long knife, retreating at the same
moment from within reach of its capacious jaws as it
wheeled round upon the extraordinary pivot which his
companion had so successfully placed in its tail. The battle
lasted about half an hour, terminating in the slaughter of
the alligator, and the triumph of his conquerors, who Were
not long in cutting him into pieces and loading their canoes
with the flesh, which they immediately carried to the shore
and retailed to their countrymen. It is evident thi.t the
success of this plan depended on the nerve and dexterity of
the man who pinned the animal's tail to the ground ; and
his contortions and struggles to keep his position were highly
ridiculous and entertaining.
Mr. Laird describes the scenery of the Niger as
being in many places of the most magnificent descrip-
tion. Towns and villages, populous as bee-hives,
abound on its banks, some on a level with its waters,

and some perched on high table-lands, or nestled
among steep crags, so as almost to bid defiance to at-
tack. Generally speaking, he found the natives of the
mountain districts active, bold, intelligent, and as
straitforward as it is possible for savages to be ; but the
inhabitants of the lowlands, quite the reverse, being
made up of fraud, cunning, and cowardice, so that it
was next to impossible to trade with them o'n' any 'sa-
tisfactory basis. The following is one of the many
striking landscapes that the Expedition beheld in the
course of their long and troublesome voyage up the
Niger :

In the morning we were again under weigh, and a few
minutes afterwards opened one of the noblest reaches that
the imagination could have conceived. An immense river,
about three thousand yards wide, extending as far as the
eye could reach, lay before us, flowing majestically between
its banks, which rose gradually to a considerable height,
and were studded with clumps of trees and brushwood,
giving them the appearance of a gentleman's park ; while
the smoke rising from different towns on its banks, anal
the number of canoes floating on its bosom, gave it an
aspect of security and peace tar beyond any African scene
I had yet witnessed. The confluence of the Sharry was
just in sight, and a range of low hills on the northern bank
trended east-north-east ; while on the western bank of the
Niger, were two remarkable, isolated table-lands of a re'
mantic and beautiful appearance, giving a finish to a pie-
ture to which no description can do adequate justice."
The whole population of the Niger is, it seems, of *
commercial character, men, women and children being
all busily engaged in carrying on trade.. The traffic ill
slaves, cloth, and gold, howeVer, is confined to the
men, but everything else is managed by the wothen,
who are as expert as Jews in the art of overcharging,
Our readers may perhaps desire to know how Mr.
Laird beguiled his leisure-hours when the steam-boats
were at anchor in the river, and there was no press-
ing necessity for active exertion. He relieved, he tells
us, the cheerlessness of his condition by the pert'
sal cf Scott's novels and Blackwood's Magazines °
perfect copy of which he had taken' care to bring out
with him I Here is a compliment to Christopher
North I Well may that " old man eloquent" chuckle
to think that he has been read and admired on the
banks of the Niger, in the heart of vast regions never
before explored by Europeans. After paying a visit
to one or two native Kings, by whom he was Inc°
scurvily treated ; tracing the river up many hull';
Bredbeing milesnea rly of
eatenit
nn;
b course ; catching an African itch ;
flies and musquitoes, Mr. Lail'
retraced his road home, and after numerous difficulties,
c u
arrived in safety at the European station in Fernand°
Po. His volumes are penned in a simple, flowing
style, are replete with various incidents, some of the
most amusing, and others of the most romantic. characi
ter ; and possess the additional recommendation °
being embellished with excellent engravings from de-
signs made on the spot.

_
Yesterday, the Society for the Promotion °I
Christian Knowledge held a meeting at their house in Li?;
coin's Inn-Gelds, for the purpose of addressing her mJjesd';
the Queen and her Majesty the Queen Dowager. The Bb,
dresses were agreed to, and it was arranged ti.lat the Aret.e
bishop of Canterbury should be respectfully rsquested to tSW
measures for their presentation.
The Duke of Beaufort is to give thirty thonsar
pounds for the Marquis of Camden's mansion in the Gures
Park. It has three bow-fronts neat the canal, and vies "%,
by the father of the late Lord Eardley, Sir Sampson Glue°
Baronet. i"
t
A short time since, the parish church of air t
stone, in the Isle of Wight, was robbed of a considera':,,,
quantity of black cloth. Last week, the thief was OP,'
hended,
hended, having on a suit of sables made out of the materivg's
Late on the night of Friday the 14th instant, id
house at Stackallen, bolonging to Mr. Edward Brown, of
place, was maliciously burned by some person or ersorts •
P prog
known. No cause can be assigned for this outrage.--
/oda Journal. -