May 25, 1857.] AFRICA— NIGER EXPEDITION. 445 



where poor Clapperton died, and there present to the Mahomedan 

 Sultan, to whom they are accredited, a firman from the Porte. After 

 a short stay at Sakatu it is proposed that they should march 

 westerly to Isai on the Kwara, a populous town visited by Barth 

 in 1854, and thence descend the river by Busah in canoes and rejoin 

 the vessel at Eabbat, a tract which may, I apprehend, prove rich in 

 mineral contents. Now, whilst parts of this region have before 

 been traversed by the travellers Park, Clapperton, Lander, and 

 Barth, the first of whom was killed at Busah, the country is still 

 much too imperfectly known to be accurately mapped, though, as 

 we have just seen, Yogel has fixed the site of some adjacent places. 

 Still less are we acquainted with its mineral constitution. 



As this expedition, well equipped and well found in provisions, 

 medicines, and presents for the natives, will consist of 12 Europeans 

 and 40 liberated black seamen, opportunities will be afforded of 

 dividing the force and of exploring regions on either bank of the 

 great river. Thus, the Government attaches great importance to 

 the ascertainment of a safe route from Lagos and Abeokuta 

 to Eabbat on the Niger, by which the liberated Africans can return 

 to their homes, and extend their commercial habits to the places of 

 their birth. During the period of the next year, when the river is 

 low and the heat great, the party is to seek high and healthy ground 

 near the confluence of the Benue or Chadda and the Kwara, 

 where it is understood that Mr. Macgregor Laird will establish a 

 commercial station. 



When in the interior, however, the leader of the expedition is 

 specially charged to impress upon the natives that the British Go- 

 vernment is far from having any desire to establish colonies or 

 settlements which might give umbrage and provoke quarrels, but is 

 solely desirous of promoting such legitimate trade as, in enriching the 

 natives and our own merchants, may effectually check the slave-trade. 



A second rainy season will be devoted to the exploration and 

 ascent of the Chadda or Benue, and, as the Day-Spring draws 

 less water than the Pleiad did, it is hoped she may reach a higher 

 point than was attained on the former occasion. It is possible that 

 the fertile region of Adamawa, on the one hand, and Hamarrawa, on 

 the other, may be explored, and even, if opportunity offers, that the 

 higher part of the Old Calabar river in a more westerly meridian 

 may be reached at some point above that to which Oldfield ascended 

 in a steamer in 1836. 



Heartily must this Society wish success to such a well-planned 



2n 



