The Sun.
London, England, 1833-07-04 00:00:00

It is now many months since the Quorra and
Elburka left this port on commercial and scien-
tific expedition up the river Niger, under the
direction of Mr. Richard Lander, whose arduous
attempt to trace it to its termination had shortly
before been crowned with success. About the
middle of October, after a prosperous voyage, the
expedition arrived in the Nun river, previous to
which, however, we regret to state that the death
of the commander of the Quorra, Capt. Harris,
deprived the travellers of the advantage of his
admirable judgment and ability. He was a naval
officer of great talents, perseverance, and skill,
he had spent several years on that coast in sur-
/eying, and being an excellent draftsman, was
every way qualified to have facilitated the suc-
cess of the undertaking. The expedition pro-
ceeded to Brass, which consists of two towns,
governed by King Boy and 'King Jacket. The
former is an old acquaintance of Mr. Lander's,
a confinement in his territories having terminated
the list of the misfortunes of himself and his
brother on their previous route. As they were
approaching the close of their toils, they were
attacked and plundered by the Kiree people, and
carried to the King of Eboe, from whom they
were purchased by King Boy, who counted on
transferring them at a handsome profit to the
English. In his dominions they did not experi-
ence much harsh treatment, beyond an equal scan-
tiness of civility and food ; in some respects this
chief scents not to be without his good qualities.
At one of his interviews with the King of Eboe,
Lander describes him as being "dressed in a style
far superior to any of his countrymen, and wearing a
jacket and waistcoat over a neatshirt of striped cot-
ton, to which was annexed a silk pocket-handker-
chief which extended below the knees. Trousers,
I believe, are not permitted to be worn, either by
natives, or strangers of the same hue with them-
selves, the King alone being an exception to this
rule. Strings of coral and other beads encircled
his neck, and a pretty little crucifix of seed beads
hung on his bosom. He commenced a long
narrative of his greatness, power, and dignity,
in which he excelled all his neighbours ; and to
convince me of his veracity, he produced a
pocket-book, containing a great number of re-
commendatory notes, or characters,' as a do-
mestic would call them, written in the English,
French, Spanish, and Portuguese languages,
and which had been given him by the various
European traders who had visited the Brass
river.' These testimonials, it seems, sometimes
tell too much, the ignorance of the bearers, and
their turn for ostentation, being made the in-
struments of revenge for past impositions and
roguery. Amongst the certificates of King
Boy was one under the hand of a Captain Dow,
stating, that he alone deserved his confidence,
for he had not abused it, and possessed more
honesty and integrity than either his father or King
Jacket. When the Landers last left the country,
they parted on. very ill terms with King Boy ;
they had given i,i.m an order on an English
captain, then, in the river, for the articles
stipulated for their ransom ; hut, after car-
rying them on board the vessel, the demand
was refused in a peremptory and uncourteous
manner by the captain, and King Boy, in a
transport of passion and disappointment, re-
turned in his canoe to escape being carried to sea.
By the news received from the present expe-
dition, Boy appears to have got over his chagrin,
and to have visited the vessels with the most
friendly disposition. His sable Majesty was
treated with the greatest kindness and respect
by the officers of the expedition, and on his part
received them with a liberality which augured
favourably for the ulterior objects of the voyage,
and in order to improve the good understanding
thus commenced, he was presented with a splen-
did Highland dress, with cap and feathers, by
Mr. Macgregor Laird (whD, we are glad to
hear, was in excellent health and spirits), the
custom already alluded to forbidding the con-
cealment of his ebony hue beneath the lower
parts of the European costume. This new array
seemed to give him a still greater admiration for
his proper self than he even usually exhibited ;
he anticked, chuckled, and surveyed himself in
it with as much complacency and delight as a
boy just put into breeches.
The expedition proceeding forward in the
prosecution of its grand object, King Boy vo-
lunteered his company, and took considerable

interest in the affair, the idea of the steamers
" walking the waters like things of life," putting
all his wits to the stretch. The expedition hao
succeeded in reaching the Eboe country, and
King Obie was staying on board the Quorra
when King Boy despatched a canoe to Brass, to
announce their safe arrival. Respecting the
character of the natives it is said, in Lander's
former journal, " The Eboe people, like most
Africans, are extremely indolent, and cultivate
yams, Indian corn, and plantains only. They
have abundance of goats and fowls, but few
sheep are to be seen, and no bullocks. The
city, which has no other name than the
Eboe country,' is situated on an open
plain : it is immensely large, contains a
vast population, and is the capital of a king-
dom of the same name. It has, for a se-
ries of years, been the principal sea-mart for
native traders from the coast, between the Bonny
and Old Calabar rivers ; and for the production
of its palm-oil it has obtained equal celebrity.
Hundreds of men from the rivers mentioned
above come up for the purpose of trade, and
numbers of them are at present residing in
canoes in front of the town. Most of the oil
purchased by Englishmen at the Bonny and ad-
jacent rivers, is brought from hence as are nearly
all the slaves which are annually exported from
those places by the French, Spaniards, and
Portuguese."
We have conversed with two seamen who
happened to be in Brass river at the time the
expedition arrived, from whom we have learned
the above particulars. Their information, it will
be seen, completely disproves the reports of va-
rious kinds which have been abroad, that the
natives had risen in hostility against it ; on,
report even pretending to know the manner in
which they had expressed their alarm that "devil
ship had gone up the river to set the towns on fire."
Much progress, we hope, will be made du-
ring this voyage towards establishing a good
i un-
derstanding with the respective chiefs. It s to
be lamented that the conduct of individuals
trading to the coast has not always been such

A curate residing in Leicestershire, one of
those inveterate Malthusians vulgarly called Old Bache•
lora, on retiring to bed one night last week, had his anti-
population theories sadly disturbed by finding a cat with a
fine litter of kittens between the sheets. Like Squire
.Allworthy, as chronicled in " Tom Jones," he ordered
the little intruders to be forthwith provided for.
THE TRAVELLERS' PRIVILEGE.—The fol-
lowing, which we extract from " Andrew, the Savoyard,"
one of PAUL DE Koex's novels, just published, would have
seemed too farcical a month ago; but after the recent con-
trover.y on the child discovered in the belly of a codfish,
the gentleman of the great coat may pass for a matter-
of-fact person :—" Make yourself quite at home,' said
PIERRE. Why do you keep on that immense coat ? you
must be suffocated in ir.' Ala, my friend, I was about
to tell you. You see I have had a pain in my back,
and I tear through drafts ; besides I set a high value on
this coat ; it was left me by an uncle who had passed his
whole life at sea.' It doesn't strike me as being very
handsome; it is lined with leather.' Exactly so, my
friend, that's just what a mariner wants when he is keep-
ing watch on deck; wraps up in this; he cares not whether
it is rain or sunshine.' So you had an uncle a sailor ?'
And a famous sailor, too, I flattter myself ! he discovered
three new worlds, and was about discovering half-a-dozen
more, when he was swallowed by a shark.' Good God !
swallowed by a shark !' Exactly as I have the honour of
telling you ; let us drink.' Poor man !' Ah, sailors'
are accustomed to those every day events ; they don't
think half as much of them as we do.' But how did
you get back the coat ?" That is just what I was going
to tell you. A short time after the shark was taken, and
as it was opened with a view of preserving it for the
Cabinet of Natural History, the great coat was found in
him, whole and sound, and with a letter directed to me in
one of the pockets! It seems sharks cannot digest leather.
As for my poor uncle, there remained nothing of him but
two fingers and an ear,which I have preserved in brandy !"
AFFECTING SCENE.—On the third of No-
vember, Captain LECHMERE came off from the Observa-
tory in a low f ver, and during the night was so ill that
he was hardly expected to survive until morning; but ati
daylight approached, the dangerous symptoms abated and
he felt better. Yet the flattering change, however it re-
lieved his bodily sufferings, did not deceive his mind with
false hopes ; he was perfectly aware of the inveteracy of
the disease under which he laboured ; and, from the
moment tit his attack, fully anticipated the fatal result to
which it might lead. Capt. LECHMERE had excited so
general a feeling of respect and esteem amongst all on board,
that the details of his illness will be readily pardoned.
This int-rest in his fate was strongly exemplified in the
attachment of his attendant, Wm NORMAN, a mariner,
who was as much concerned as if he had been his nearest
relative; he carried him from place to place like a child,
as poor LECIImERE's fevered fancy dictated ; sang to him,
fanned him, moistened his lips, and was silent or still as
his patient directed, and at last brought him by his special
desire into the captain's cabin, where there was already a
young midshipman in almost the same hopeless state. As
the bell was striking the midnight hour, he sank into the
dreamiesa sleep of death. His last moments `rare attended
with a romantic interest. The fever being very high a
short time before his decease, every means were tried to
calm him, but in vain; the same impatient, painful rest-
lessness still prevailed. At length Captain OWEN, who
knew front experit ore that singing had a powerful effect
in soothing extreme pain, by diverting the mind from
its sufferings, and fearful that the heart-rending ex-
pressions and cries uttered by Captain LECHMERE
might produce an injurious effect upon the other
object of his solicitude, commenced that pathetic bal-
lad, " Here a sheer bulk lies poor Tom Bowling.'
The first note produced a cessation of his frenzy; from rav-
ing madness lie sunk into almost total insensibility, which
continued until Captain OWEN came to the words, " His
soul is gone aloft !" when a long guttural sound announced
that his spirit was fled, which was instantly confirmed
by his attendant saying in a melancholy tone. " He's
gone, Sir!" " And aloft, I hope !" replied the Captain,
as he concluded his song.—Captain Omen's Voyages.
ORIGIN OF ONE OF KEAN'S " POINTS:'
—KEAN one day accompanied a brother actor, named
GILES, on a fishing excursion in the immediate neighbour-
hood of Stroud, some duzen miles from Cheltenham.
They had, it seems, unintentionally trespassed on the
grounds of a farmer, who was of a churlish, quarrelsome
disposition ; and, happening to encounter them as they
crossed a ditch, he began to abuse them in the coarsest
terms. GILES, in the hope of moderating his warmth of
temper, apologised to him, assured him they were quite
unconscious of having done wrong, and added, that, as
they were strangers in the neighbourhood, being mem-
bers of the company of pl iyers, he trusted that
they might be excuse,l. Upon hearing that they
were " player-folks," the insolence of the farmer became
unbounded; he even threatened to have " the vagabonds
put in the stocks." GILES, though one of the best-
tempered fellows in the world, unable any longer to
endure such unprovoked and scurrilous abuse, struck the
farmer, and, instantly stripping off his coat and waistcoat,
charged KEAN rot to interfere, as the quarrel was entirely
his, and he was the more equal match fir the rufflan,
and, moreover, the per son directly abused. KEAN
was thus compelled, though sore'y against his incli-
nation, to remain a passive spectator of the fight,
which the muscular prowess of the farmer soon de-
cided, by beating GILES to a stand-still. But,
though physically overpowered, his spirit was unsub-
dated ; paroxysm of defeated wrath, which convulsed
his whole frame, and seemed all but suffocating him, he
dragged open his shirt collar, and tore it almost to ribands.
This incident was not lost upon Kem, who was at that
rime studying Sir Giles Overreach ; and in the terrific
struggle of the last scene, when all his energies are pa-
ralysed by passion, he profited by the observance of Na-
ture in a similar trial, by adopting the phrensied action
of GILES in the most appalling coup de theatre that the
modern stage has witnessed. And yet, strange as it may
seem, to this very incident sonic of his critics have ob•
jected, as being strained and unnatural : although, as we
have shown, it was suggested by Nature.
THE BEDFORD MISSAL.—ThIs celebrated
object of Bibliomania was knocked down by Mr. Evaers,
on Friday, for tile unprecedented sum of 1,100!., to Mr.
COCHRAN, the tatekseller, as the sgent, as was said, of
Sir JOHN TOBYN, of Liverpool. Inistic): book is eleven
incl,es, by seven and a half wide, and two and a half
thick, bound in crimson velvet, with gold clasps, on which
are engraved the arms of HARLEY, CAVENDISH, and
flows, quarterly. It was the property of EDWARD,
Lord HARLEY, Earl of OXFORD and MORTIMER, Who
bought it of Lady WORSLEY, great-granddaughter to W.
SEYMOUR, second Duke of SOMERSET, who was appointed
governor to the Prince of Wales, by King CHARLES the
First. It descend, d from Lord OXFORD to his daughter,
the Duchess of PORTLAND, and was purchased at h r sal
by Mr. EDWARDS, May 24, 1786. At Mr. EnwAstrd,
sale, in 1815, it was bought by the Duke of Maims
BOROUGH (fur 6871. 155.), from whom the present pro-
prietor obtained it, and has since had a Russia leather
case, with a lock and key, made for it. This last-named
price was generally considered so enormous, that little
expectation existed of its being reached upon the present
occasion—none of its being exceeded. After as intro-
ductory flourish of trumpets from the auctioneer, the
different combatants entered the lists, the biddings coin
nerving at 300 guineas, and proceeding with scarcely
any pause till they arrived at the final sum we have men-
.

tioned. The room was crowded with spectators, who,
when the bidding, reached 1,000/., testified their approba-
tion by a distinct round of applause. As soon as the price
and the purchaser were announced, several of the most
elger Bit)humanists rushed out of the room, carrying with
them no unapt illustration, that—

" Bedlam and Parnassus were let louse."