2g8 EARLY EXPLORERS OF AFRICA 



at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1794. Being sent in 1822 on an embassy 

 to Gambia and the Mandingo country, to study the conditions existing 

 in those regions, he gained a deep interest in Africa and its people. 

 His mission being well performed, he was sent on another embassy 

 with the purpose of procuring the liberation of a chief in friendly rela- 

 tions with the British, who was held a prisoner by Yarradee, a warrior 

 of the king of Soolima. On arriving at the camp of the Soolima army, 

 he was informed that Sannassee had been set at liberty, after his town' 

 had been burnt, and that his life had been spared only from the fear 

 of offending the British governor. While upon this mission he had 

 observed that many of the men who accompanied the Soolima army 

 possessed considerable quantities of gold; and having learned that 

 ivory abounded in Soolima, he suggested to the governor the advan- 

 tages which would result to the colony from the opening up of inter- 

 course with these people, intimating his opinion that the effort would 

 not be attended with much hazard or expense, and that a great object 

 would be attained in the knowledge of many countries to the eastward 

 of the colony, of which, like that of the Soolimas, little was known 

 besides the name. This suggestion was submitted to the council, who 

 approved of the undertaking, and left it to Laing's own judgment to 

 carry out his plan. 



His third mission, upon which he started from Sierra Leone on 

 the 1 6th of April, 1822, led him to penetrate through a far more 

 extensive tract of country than before, much of it previously unex- 

 plored. During his absence he was promoted to the rank of captain. 

 It was immediately after his return that he was ordered to join his 

 regiment on the Gold Coast, where he was employed in the command 

 of a considerable native force on the frontier of the Ashantee country, 

 and was frequently engaged with detachments of the Ashantee army. 

 In October, 1824, an opportunity presented itself, which he had long 

 desired, of proceeding, under the auspices of government, on an expe- 

 dition to discover the termination and course of the Niger. He was 

 promoted to the rank of major, and left London on that enterprise 

 early in February, 1825, intending to leave Tripoli for Timbuctoo in 

 the course of the summer. He reached that city, but soon after, while 

 engaged in a further exploration, he was treacherously murdered by 

 an Arab sheikh. 



