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APPENDIX V. 
COPY OF A DESPATCH FROM LORD PALMERSTOK 
"Foreign Office, October 7th, 1851. 
" Sir, 
" I am directed by Viscount Palmerston to acknow- 
ledge and to thank you for your letter of the 19th of April 
last, from Kouka, in the Bornou country, in which you an- 
nounce the lamentable event of the death of Mr. Richardson, 
on the night of the 2nd and 3rd of the preceding month of 
March, at Ungurutua, between Zinder and Kouka. 
" The expedition being thus deprived of its head, just before 
the conclusion of that principal stage of its proceedings which 
was to terminate in the exploration of Lake Tchad, it appears 
to Her Majesty's Government that the completion of that 
exploration is alone wanting to enable them to consider as 
accomplished the main objects of Mr. Richardson's expedi- 
tion. 
•* I am, therefore, directed by Lord Palmerston to state 
to you that, whenever you may have finished your survey of 
Lake Tchad and its shores, his Lordship wishes that you and 
Dr. Overweg should carry out the remainder of your pro- 
jected proceedings in Africa exactly as you would have done 
if Mr. Richardson were still living, and you had separated 
from him as contemplated in the memorandum signed in 
triplicate in December, 1849, of which yourself and Dr. 
Overweg possess each a copy. 
" At the period of your signature of that memorandum, 
you appear to have entertained the thought of pushing your 
further researches eastward towards the Nile, or south-east- 
ward towards Mombaz. 
" Whether you may still adhere to that project, or may 
now see reason to prefer a westerly course in the direction of 
