4H8 SKETCH OP AFRICAN DISCOVERY. 



of the people he intended to visit, and, like Mr. Boentzen, 

 assumed the characteristics of a Mussulman. He died at 

 Cairo in 1817, his travels having been chiefly confined to 

 the Abyssinian countries. 



In 1816, an expedition was sent out by the Government, 

 under the command of Captain Tuckey, to the river Congo, 

 under the idea, in which Park coincided, that it and the 

 Niger were the same river. Captain Tuckey ascended the 

 Congo for about two hundred and eighty miles. At the 

 same time, Major Peddie, and, after his death, Captain 

 Campbell, proceeded from the mouth of the river Senegal 

 as far as Kakundy. In 1817, Mr. Bowdich explored the 

 countries adjoining Cape Coast Castle. In 1820, Mr. Jack- 

 son communicated an interesting account of the territories 

 of Timbuctoo and Houssa, from details which he had col- 

 lected from a Mussulman merchant. In 1819 and in 1821, 

 the expeditions of Messrs. Eitchie and Lyon, and of Major 

 Laing, showed the strong and general interest on the sub- 

 ject of African geography. In 1822, the important expedi- 

 tion under Major Denham and Lieut. Clapperton set forth. 

 After crossing the Desert, the travellers reached the great 

 inland sea or lake called the Tchad, the coasts of which to 

 the west and south were examined by Major Denham. 

 This lake, from four hundred to six hundred feet above the 

 level of the sea, is one of the most remarkable features in 

 the physical geography of Africa. Lieut. Clapperton, in 

 the mean time, proceeded through the kingdom of Bornou 

 and the country of the Fellatahs to Sockatoo, situated on a 

 stream supposed to run into the Niger. A great mass of 

 information respecting the countries eastward of Timbuctoo 

 was the result of his expedition. As to the course of the 

 Niger, very little intelligence was obtained which could be 

 depended upon : the natives stated that it flowed into the 

 sea at Funda, though what place on the coast was meant 

 still remained a conjecture. Soon after his return to Eng- 

 land, Clapperton was sent out by the Government to con- 

 duct a new expedition, and was directed to proceed to the 



