INTRODUCTION. xxxi 



their baggage, instruments, &c. (which persons you are to bear on a supernu- 

 merary list for victuals only) ; and having taken under your orders the trans- 

 port Dorothy, laden ^vith certain stores and p-o\ i^5ions, for the use of the expe- 

 dition, you are to put to sea without delay, and make the best of your way 

 into the river Zaire, commonly called the Cong-o, in southern Africa, and having 

 proceeded up that ri\er to some convenient place for transhipping the stores> 

 and provisions abovementioned, you are to direct the master of the transport to 

 return to Spithead, sending by him an account of your proceeding-s, for our 

 information. 



On the departure of the transport, you will proceed up the Zaire, and use 

 your utmost endeavours to carry into execution the instructions contained in the 

 memorandum, which accompanies this order ; and on your return to the mouth 

 of the river, you are either to proceed to England, to the Isle of St. Thomas, 

 or to St. Helena, as you may judge most expedient for the safety of yourself, 

 and people entrusted to your charge, after a due consideration of the state of 

 the vessel and of your provisions ; reporting to our Secretary, for our informa- 

 tion, your arrival, and transmitting an account of your proceedings. 



Given under our hands, the 7th of February, 181b'. 



(Siffned) MELVILLE. 



GEO. I. HOPE. 



H. PAULET. 



To James K. Tpckey, Esq. Commander of 



Jiis Majesti/s Sloop Congo, (if Dcptford, 



By Command of their Lordships, 



{Signed) John Barrow. 



Memorandum of an Instruction to Captain Tuckey. 



Although the expedition, about to be undertaken for exploring the course of the 

 river Zaire, which flows through the kingdom of Congo, in southern Africa, was 

 originally grounded on a suggestion of its being identical with the Niger, it is 

 not to be understood, that the attempt to ascertain this point is by any means 

 the exclusive object of the expedition. That a river of such magnitude as the 

 Zaire, and offering so many pecuharities, should not be known with any degree 

 of certainty, bevond, if so far as, 200 miles from its mouth, is incompatible with 

 the present advanced state of geographical science, and little creditable to those 

 Europeans, who, for three centuries nearly, have occupied various parts of the 

 coast, near to which it empties itself into the sea, and have held commuuication 



