EARLY EXPLORERS OF AFRICA 
297 
dition against the natives of the interior. In the fight that followed 
he was wounded, and it was only after great peril and suffering that 
he rejoined his command at Kuka. He afterwards continued his 
explorations in the interior and returned to England in 1826. 
While Denham was engaged as above stated, Clapperton and 
Oudney set out on an expedition to Soccatoo, the capital of Houssa. 
Oudney died on the way and Clapperton found his journey’s purpose 
prevented by the Arabs. In a subsequent journey, in which he wasj 
accompanied only by his faithful servant, Richard Lander, he reached 
Katunga, within thirty miles of the Niger, but was not permitted to 
visit that river. His explorations in other directions met with similar 
hindrance, and, depressed by his disappointment, he died of dysentery 
in 1827 at a village near Soccatoo. 
It is to Richard Lander, the servant of Captain Clapperton, whom 
he attended faithfully until his death, that we owe the important dis¬ 
covery of the source of the Niger. On his return to England after 
the death of his master, he suggested a plan for this exploration which 
was accepted by the government and he appointed to attempt it. 
In company with his youngest brother, John, he set out from 
Badagry in 1830, intending to reach Lake Tsad. They encountered 
many dangers, and were finally taken prisoners at Eboe; and only 
after the promise of a high ransom succeeded in getting arrangements 
made for conveying them to the sea. This they reached by the Niger; 
and thus was solved one of the greatest problems in African 
geography. This important discovery, opening a water communica¬ 
tion into the interior of Africa, made a great impression upon the 
mercantile world; and soon after the brothers arrived in England an 
association was formed for the purpose of establishing a settlement 
^upon the Upper Niger. But the expedition fitted out for this purpose 
unfortunately proved a failure; and the Landers, together with nearly 
all who joined it, fell victims either to the unhealthiness of the climate, 
or in combats with the natives. Richard died on February 2, 1834, 
at Fernando Po, from the wounds which he had received. The Brit¬ 
ish government granted a pension of £70 a year to his widow, and of 
£50 a year to his infant daughter. 
The last of the explorers of early date whom we need here men¬ 
tion was Alexander Gordon Laing, an army lieutenant, who was born 
