San Andreas independent., 1861-06-22

above and below, by the largest class of river
steamers.
Assoon as it was ascertained that the Niger
reached the ocean in the Blight of Benin, and
that its upper waters had been navigated by
Park and Caillie, a private association aided
by the British Government, fitted out n brig
and several steamers, with a large party OF
scientific men, who in 1889 entered the Niger
from the sea.
The expedition of 1888 was deficient in
many things. The power and speed of the
steamers were insufficient, their draught of
water too great and they were so long delay
ed in their outfit and in their sea-voyage that
they found the river falling, and were detain-
ed by shoals and sand bars The accommo-
dations were unsuitable and the men, expos
ed to bad atmosphere among the mangroves
at the mouth of the river, and confined in the
holds of the vessels, were attacked by fever,
and but ten of them survived. The expedition,
however, succeeded in reaching Raboa, on the
Niger, five hundred miles from the sea- ascend
ed the Benue, eighty miles above the conflu-
ence, and charts were made and soundings
taken for the distance explored.
In 1912 the British government made new
effort to explore the Niger, and built for that
purpose three iron steamers, the Wilberforce
y
one hundred and thirty-nine feet in length
The error committed in the first expedition, of
too great draught, was avoided but the
steamers had so little power and keel that their
voyage to the Niger was both tedious and
hazardous, and their speed was found INSULT
cient to make more than three knots per hour
against the current ct the river. Arriving on
the coast late in the season, they were unable
to ascend above the points already explored,
and the officers and men, suffering from the
tedious navigation, close cabins, and effluvia
from the falling river, lost one fourth of their
number by fever, while the African Kroomen,
accustomed the climate and sleeping On the
open deck, enjoyed perfect health. 1t was the
intention of the government to establish
model farm and mission at the confluence of
the Niger and Benue; but the officers, dis
couraged by sickness, abandoned their origi-
nal purpose, and the expedition proved anoth-
er failure, involving loss of at least sixty
thousand pounds.
After the lapse of twelve years, it was as
certained that private steamers and sailing
vessels were resorting to the Niger, and that
an active trade was springing up'in palm-oil,
the trees producing which fringe the banks of
the river for some hundreds of miles from the
sea and in 1858, Liverpool merchant Nc
Gregor Laird, who had accompanied the for
mer expedition, fitted out, with the aid of gov
ernment, the Plead steamer for voyage up
the Niger
One would imagine that by this time the
British government would have corrected their
former errors; and part were corrected. The
speed of this steamer surpassed that of her
predecessors, and her draught did not exceed
five feet She was well provided with officers,
-. IL.
and she was supplied with ample stores of
quinine. But, singular as it may appear this
steamer, destined to ascend the great rivers up
(which the former expedition found strong
breeze flowing daily, was not furnished with a
sal; and although the banks of the Niger
were lined with forest-trees, and the supply Of
coal was sufficient for few days only, not
a single are or saac was provided for cutting
wood and the Kroomen hired from the coast
were compelled to trim off with shingle- hatch
cts nearly all the fuel used in ascending the
river,-and in descending, the steamer was
obliged to drift down with the current More
over, she was but one hundred feet in length,
with an engine and boiler occupying thirty
feet of her hold d,-thus leaving but thirty-ive
feet at each end for officers, men, and stores.
Neither state-room, cabin, nor awning was
provided on deck to shelter the crew from an
African sun.
With all these deficiencies, however, they
achieved q partial triumph. Entering the
river in July, they ascended the southern
branch now known as the Benue, for dis
tance Of seven hundred miles from the sea-
reaching Adamawa, a Mahometan state of the
Soudan. Or the fifteenth of August they en-
countered the rise of waters, and found the
Benue nearly mile in width and from one to
three fathoms in depth. They observed it
over1owing its banks for miles and irrigating
extensive and fertile plains to the depth of
several feet, and saw reason to. believe that
this river which flows westerly from the in
terror, may be navigated at least one thousand
miles from the sea. As DR.. Barth visited it
at city several hundred miles above the
point reached by the Pleiad, and found it flow
| ing with wide and deep current, it may be
regarded as the gateway into the interior OF
Africa.
One of our light Western steamers, manned
nv our Western boatmen and axemen, with its
three decks, lofty state-rooms, superior speed,
and light draught, would have been most ad-
mrably fitted for this exploration
But the expedition, with all its dshciencies,
achieved further triumph. DR.. 6airke, BY
using quinine freely, and by removing the
beds of the officers from the sitting cabins to
the deck. escaped the loss of a single man, al
though four months on the river, thus demon
trating that the white man can reach the ln-
terror of Africa in safety, problem quite as
! important to be solved as the course and ca
pacity of the Niger and its branches.
Thus have been opened to navigation the
waters of the Mysterious River.
When the Landers first foated down the
| stream in their canoe, thirty years since, they
found vast forests and little cultivation, and
the natives seemed to have no commerce ex-
cent in slaves and yams for their support
| But an officer who accompanied the several
/ steam expeditions was astonished IN his last
visit to see the change which few years had
produced. New and popnlous towns had
sprung up. extensive groves of palm-trees ana
gardens lined the banks, and vessels laden with
oil, vans, ground nuts, and ivory indicated 'ne
progress of legitimate commerce
The narrative of Dr. Bairke, a distinguishes
German scholar, who has written an account
of the voyage of the Pleiad. will be found potn
interesting and instructive and we may some
day expect another volume, for be has return
ed to the scene of his adventures.
i Another German in the service oil Great
Britain has given us vivid picture OF Central
Africa north of the equator. DR.. Henry Barth
has recently published, in four octave vol
i umes narrativa of hi, troveIs in A frica for