18 PERILOUS ENTERPRISE OF THE LANDERS. 
torrents of the tornado, they fearlessly descended the 
unknown stream. In passing the confluence of the 
Chadda, they ascertained, by paddling for some time 
against the strong current of that river, that their course 
could not be in that direction. On arriving near the 
commencement of the Delta, where the numerous 
diverging branches would have offered a choice of route 
to the sea, they were captured by the Ibu traders at the 
Kiri market ; and taken to the chief. Obi ; who 
delivered them for a ransom to “ King Boy” of Brass- 
town, near the mouth of the principal branch of the 
Niger. This may be considered as a Providential 
circumstance ; since, if they had passed unmolested, they 
might have selected a channel more promising in appear- 
ance than the Rio Nun ; which would have led them by 
an unfrequented outlet, to the wide Atlantic Ocean ; 
where they must inevitably have been lost, and their 
glorious achievement would have perished with them. 
Thus the solution of the problem which has excited 
the Interest of so many ages, has been accomplished by 
the most modest of means, while many costly and more 
imposing undertakings have failed. A solitary pedes- 
trian discovered the long hidden Niger in its course 
through hitherto almost unheard of countries ; and two 
unpretending young men, committing themselves in a 
frail barque to its mysterious bosom, were borne by 
it through unknown regions, a distance of more than 
six hundred miles, to its termination in the vast and 
“ multitudinous” ocean. 
