San Andreas independent., 1861-06-22
From the Atlantic Monthly.1
THE NIGER AND ITS EXPLORERS.

THE NIGER AND ITS EXPLORERS.
A century ago the interior of Africa was
sealed book to the civilized world. Candace,
Queen of the Ethiopians, had been noticed in
Holy Writ; the Nile with Thebes and Men,
phis on its banks, and ship canal to the Red
Sea with triremes on its surface, had not esca-
ped the eye of Herodotns; but the countries
which gave birth to Queen and River were
alike unknown. The sunny fountains, the
golden sands, the palmy plains of Africa were
to be traced in the verses of the poet but he
dealt neither liz latitude nor longitude. The
maps presented a terra incognitd, or sterile
mountains, where modern travellers have found
rivers, lakes and alluvial basins-or exhibited
barren wastes, where recent discoveries find
rich meadows annually flowed. studded with
walled towns and cities, enliyened by herds of
cattle, or cultivated in plantations of maize or
cotton.
Although the northern coast of Africa had
once been the granary of Carthage and Rome,
cultivation had receded, and the corn-ship of
antiquity had given place to the felucca of the
corsair preying upon the commerce of Europe.
few caravans, laden with a little ivory and
gold-dust or a few packages of drugs and sp-
ces, crept across the Desert, and the slave
trade. principally, if not alone drew to Africa
the attention of civilized nations. Egypt, Tr-
poll and Tunis, Turkey and the Spanish Prov
inces, the West India Isles and the Southern
States, knew it as the mart where humsn be-
ings were bought and sold and Christians
were reconciled to the traffic by the hope that
it might contribute to the moral, if not physi-
cal welfare of the captive, by his removal to a
more civilized region.
During the last three centuries, millions of
g.. |. II. 81
slavery or in exhausting toll under tropical
sun; and the flag of England has been the
most prominent in this demoralizing traffic
But it is due to England to say, that, since she
withdrew from it, she has aimed to atone for
the past by noble and persevering devotion
to the improvement of Africa. By repeated
expeditions, by missions, treaties, colonies, and
incentives to commerce, she has spread her
light over the interior, and is now recognized
both by the tribes of the Desert and by CIV
ilized nations, as the great protector of Africa,
and both geography and commerce owe to her
most of their advances on the African conti-
nent.
So little was Africa known, that, when Mum
go Park made his report in 1898, of the dis
covery of the Niger, and described large cities
on its banks, and vessels of fifty tons burden
navigating its waters, the world was incredu-
lous; and his subsequent fate threw a cloud
over the subject which was not entirely dis
PEELED until his course was traced and his
statements verified by modern travellers.
The route of DR.. Park was from the west
coast, near Sierra Leone, to the upper branch
es of the Niger. On his second expedition he
took with him a detachment of British soldiers,
and number of civilians fresh from England,
none of whom survived him. 1t appears from
his journal that his men followed the foot
paths of the natives, slept in the open air, were
exposed to the dews at night, and were over
taken by the rainy season before they embar-
ked on the Niger. Unacclimated, with no
proper means of conveyance, no suitable clo-
thing, and no precautions against the fever of
the country, they nearly all became victims to
their indiscretions. Park, however, at length
launched his schooner on the Niger, passed
the city Of Timbuctoo, and, with two or three
Englishmen, followed the river more than
thousand miles to Boussa. Reaching the ra
pids at this point in low stage of the water,
be was so indscreet as to fire on the natives,
and was drowned irDhis attempt to escape
from them; but his fate remained in uncer-
tainty for eighteen years.
In 1921, a third attempt to explore the Nj
ger was made by Mayor Laing, who failed in
his efforts to reach Timbuctoo, and fell a vic
tim to Mahometan intolerance.
In 1922, new effort was made by England
to reach the interior, and Messrs Denham and
Clapperton Joined the caravan from Tripoli,
and crossed the desert to the Soudan. They
explored the country to the ninth degree of
north latitude, found large Negro and Mahom-
etan states in the interior, and visited Sacca-
too, Kano, Murfeia, Tangalra and other large
towns, some of which contain thirty thousand
people.
In their journey we find vivid sketch of a
negro army marching from Bornou to the
South, with horsemen in coats of mail, as in
the days of chivalry, and armed as in those
days with lances and bows and arrows. A
glowing description is given of the ravages
that attended their march. When they enter
| ed an enemy's country desolation marked their
path, houses and corn fields were destroyed,
all the full-grown males were put to death,
and the women and children reduced to servi-
tude
| 1t was obvious that an incessant struggle
was in progress between the Mahometan and
the Negro states, and that the Mahometan
faith and Arab blood were slowly gaining an
ascendancy over the Negro, even down to the
equator. The ccnquering tribes by intermar-
riage with the females were gradually chang
/ my Vuc IdCc, anu introducing SlCdtci tuCi ~
and intelligence.
In 1925 Clapperton made bis second expe-
dition to the interior, accompanied by Rich
ard Lander. In this journey the adventurous
travellers landed at Badagry, and crossed thro'
Yarrba to the Niger. On their way they spent
several days at Katunga, the capital of Yarri-
/ ba, city so extensive that one of its streets
is described as five miles in length. The town
of Koofo, with twenty thousand inhabitants,
as also large cotton plantations, are mention
ed by these travellers and some idea of the
territory they explored may be gained from the
following extract from their narratives
The further we penetrate into the country
the more dense we find the population to be,
and civilization becomes at every step more
strikingly, apparent. Large towns at dis
tance of only few miles from each other we
were informed, lay on all sides of us, the in
habitants of which pay the greatest respect to
the laws, and live under regular form of go
i vernmentS
At Boussa they obtained the first authentic
information of the death of Parke, and recoy-
cred bis gun, robe and other relics. Here
emharking in canoes, they ascended the river
through its rapids to Yaouri, and thence tra-
ced it to the sea in the Blight of Benin. On
their way they discovered the Benue, which