The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-28 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 1842.

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_EVENING SUN.

strutted of two old patched and worn-out canoes,
manned only by a few negroes and four European 3.
From Sandansing, Park embarked with the in-
tention of descending the river to its mouth ; but,
on reaching Boossa, was attacked by the natives
and killed, after having previously suffered impri-
sonment more than three months.
The strong determination of Park to persevere
his design of tracing the course of the river to its
termination, is thus expressed in one of his letters
from this place :—" Though all the Europeans
who are with me shall die, and though I myself
were half-dead, I would still Persevere ; and if I
could not succeed iii the object, of my journey, I
would at least die in the Niger.

M. Hornemann, a German traveller, was sent
out by the Association, hut he contributed little to
the knowledge on the Niger. At the same time,
and by tie same parties, another Gerraan,
Roeutzen set out, but he is supposed to have been
rhurdered by his servant, a person of suspicious
character.

The next person who is supposed to have visited
Timbuctoc, was an American seamen, named
Adams, hut his narrative throws no additional
light on the course of the Niger.
In 1816, Captain Tuckey, of the Royal Navy,
with an expedition under his direction, was sent
out to penetrate into Africa by the river Congo,
and so to arrive at the Niger. The fate of this
expedition was the counterpart of its followers ;
2SO miles from the coast was the extent of its
progress, and the question was as far as ever from
being decided. At the same time, another party,
consisting of 100 men, were placed under the di-
rection of Major Peddie, to reach the Niger by
Park's route from the Gambia; this party ascended
the river Nunez, but were equally unfortunate with
the Congo expedition.
11 Captain Clapperton's expedition was disastrous
at its very outset. Himself, Captain Pearce, and
Dr. Morrison, had the imprudence to sleep in the
open air for two successive nights, on the swampy
and unwholesome coast, by which they were all at-
tacked with fever, and the two latter fell victims in
the course of a fortnight, leaving Captain Clap-
perton to proceed alone. Clappetton, accompanied
by Lander, visited Boossa, the place of Park's
death. lie had imbibed a strong aversion to des.
cending the Niger, and made no secret of it to
Lander. His ti; in conviction was, that whoever
attempted to t;o down this river would fall by the
attacks of the natives. Clapperton crossed the
river at Comiex, below Boossa, and arrived soon
after at Soeatoo.

The successful progress of Clapperton through
the interior thus far is well known ; but, sad to say,
the first lesson that led to the death of his two
friends was quite disregarded, and though athletic
of frame, vet, on his arrival at Socatoo, being
overcome with fatigue, he laid down unguardedly
on a damp spot in tiv.: open air, giving rise to an
attack of dysentery, which became aggravated, and
ended io his death. This occurred in the presence
of his attached se: van t Richard Lander. " Richard,"
said Clapperton, I shall shortly he no more ; I
feel myself dying." Almost choked with grief,
Lauder replied, " God forbid, my dear master, you
will live many years vet." " Don't be so much
affected, my dear ho), I entreat you," said he, '' it
is the will of the Almighty, it cannot be helped."
He then delivered to Lauder his papers, with di-
rections for his guidance, and shortly after died.
M. Lacaille's safety, who, inspired by the pre-
mium proposed by the French Society of Geogra-
phy, has since penetrated to Timbuctoo,and thence
to Morocco, appears to have been insured by his
following the example of Horuemann and Burek-
hardt, in assuming the character of a Mahometan.
Major Laing was anotLr victim to these expe-
ditions ; and he met with a more tragical fate than
any of his predecessors. The bigotry and rapacity
of the Moors first put him in peril of his life.
Laing was first surprised in the Desert by a party
of Tilaricks, who plundered and left him for dead,
having inflicted twenty-four sabre-wounds on him,
from which he almost miraculously recovered. At
Timbuctoo lie found a kindly reception from the
Sheik Boubokar, so long as he had power to pro-
tect him, but the fortune of war had thrown this
city into the ha!lds of another chief, to whom
Boubokar was obliged to act as viceroy, and who
dispatched him an order which compelled him to
send off Major Laing as expelled from the country.
The good old chief accordingly put Major Laing
undCr the charg,!., of Barbooski, an Arab chief,
who undertook to conduct him in safety as far as
Arawan ; but that traitor, on finding Major Laing
completely in his power, murdered him, fld took
possession of all his property.
The spirit of intolerance displayed by some of
the African tribes is not, however, unrelieved by
instances of genuine pity. Once, when Lander
was lying at the foot of a tree, almost expiring with
fatigue and thirst, he implored numerous pas-
sengers for a drop of water, but they said to each
other, He is a KafTer—let him die." Yet there
was found at last a good Samaritan, who, amid
the reproaches of his countrymen, relieved a suffer-
ing fellow-mortal.
The Lander expedition is of too recent date to
need our entering into particulars. The mournful
assassination of Richard Lander was coupled with
strange circumstances. " White man will never
reach Eboe this time," was an exclamation that
greeted his ears from King Jacket, a relative of
King Boy, and one of the heattless and sullen
chiefs who ruled over the marsh country on the
banks of the Brass River, uttered while his eyes
sparkled with malignity. The subsequent am-
buscades of the natives lower down the river, and
the murderous discharges of musketry while the
boats were pushing off, fully showed the meaning
of the threat, and, from the effects of the musket-
wounds he received, Lander died on his arrival at
Fernando Po.

The last expedition, the lamentable accounts of
which have just reached us, adds to these records
of fatality perhaps a more frightful instance than
any that have preceded it. In former cases, a
single and valuable life has been sacrificed, or in
cases where numbers constituted the expeditious,
the largest average of lives sacrificed was in the
second expedition under Park ; but when souls,
exceeding more than half a hundred, have been
rashly hazarded and sacrificed, as in the present
case, it is to be feared that so appalling an instance
will, from its alarming nature, be the strongest.
preventive, both on the minds of individuals and
the feeling of this or future Governments, towards
attempting a similar undertaking.

• .
THE LATE Fl HE AT TH TowEn.-4p7
official return has just been made to' the Board of Ortl
insure of the exact amount of military and naval storeS,
destroyed in the great armoury during the late fire.
From this it appears that at the period of the fire the.
number of arms in the armoury was considerably below
the average amount, which is 600,000 stand. The num-'
her of percussion muskets destroyed were 11,000 ; with
.t
bayonets, 26,000. Flint locks, 22,00 ; percussion -
7,000. 12,158 pistols, 75 doubh4arrelled pistols.
with moveable butts, 1,378 swords, 2,41 sword blades,
2,026 plug bayonets, 192 spears, 95 pikes, 210 mus-
ketoons, 709 carbines, 3 wall pieces, 279 cuirasses, 276
helmets, and 52 drums. Amongst the relics destroyed
was a military tri pity erected under the directions of
Mr. Stacey, the keeper of the stores in the armoury,
only two days prior to the fire, consisting of Chinese.
arms, &c., taken by the British troops at capture of
Chusan. Several of the large pieces of ordnance still
remain in the ruins, and in the south-west portion some
have become so amalgamated with the other metal by
the fire as to form a mass of such magnitude as to render
its removal next to an impossibility. The west end wall
of the armoury is razed to the ground. The Board of
Ordnance have determined on preserving to the public
most of the large cannon and other trophies of England's
navy which are in any way whole, and orders have been
issued that those which are injured or broken shall be
sent to Woolwich, where models will be taken, and the
same metal recast into their original form. The loss
sustained by the fire is now estimated to be a quarter of
a million of money. The Crown jewels have not yet
left the custody of Messrs. Itundell and Bridge. .
A poor widow, named Azimont, of the com-
mune of Brax, near Toulouse, was condemned to pay a
small flue an some slight offence against the Forest-laws,
but being unable to raise the money was liable to impri-
sonment. A gendarme named Alarteau, and one of his
comrades, were sent to arrest her. Her distress was
great, and her pleadings for mercy strengthened by the
cries of her four children. This made such impression
upon the humane feelings of Marteau, that leaving lier,
in charge of his comrade, he hastened to the Receiyer,tooi
the Domains, paid the fine with the costs,
23E, and then returned to the widow with the discharge.
This benevolent act coming to the know
nist lePif War, sent
Soult, he immediately,
aware that
of Mar-
orders for the appointment of 7%a4r7eitili-titoeisorthealfinrosutntviaargagnet.
brigadiership in his Legion, and being
t his pay, remitted
the gendarme possessed nothing but
him all he had paid for the widow.
DEATH OF MR. DUCHow.—We regret to
have to announce the deathmh
of Mr. Drruicierow,lvhichhtoopoek
placeit a quarter to nine o'clock last night,
greatest
at his resi-
dence, in the York-road, Lambeth.
were entertained of his recovery until the last paralytic
attack.