Chapter XII: Construction of the Map of Africa 211 (1)

* * * * *

~_ERRATA._~

Page 81, line 1, for _whathe_ read _what he_

84, line 10, for _vilge_ read _village_

91, line 8, for _loose_ read _close_

99, line 11, for _laying down_ read
_lying down_

153, line 15, for _it has made more_ read
_it has more_

157, last line but one, for _preparation_ read
_perspiration_

174, last line but three, for _double_ read
_combined_.

~_INTRODUCTION._~

The Narrative of the Proceedings of the SOCIETY that was formed in the year 1788, for the purpose of Promoting the Discovery of the Inland Districts of Africa, was written, at the request of his Colleagues, by one of the Members of the Committee of that ASSOCIATION; and is now printed at the desire, and for the use of the Society: but as it may also be read by persons unacquainted with the Origin and Object of the Undertaking to which it relates, the following Paper, as descriptive of both, is republished for their information.

PLAN
OF THE
~_ASSOCIATION._~

Of the objects of inquiry which engage our attention the most, there are none, perhaps, that so much excite continued curiosity, from childhood to age; none that the learned and unlearned so equally wish to investigate, as the nature and history of those parts of the world, which have not, to our knowledge, been hitherto explored. To this desire the Voyages of the late Captain Cook have so far afforded gratification, that nothing worthy of research by Sea, the Poles themselves excepted, remains to be examined; but by Land, the objects of Discovery are still so vast, as to include at least a third of the habitable surface of the earth: for much of Asia, a still larger proportion of America, and almost the whole of Africa, are unvisited and unknown.

In Asia there are few extensive districts of which we are wholly ignorant; but there are many of which we are imperfectly informed; and to our knowledge of several of these, the expected publication of the Travels of Mr. Forster, in the service of the East India Company, may bring material improvement. For, about three years since, in returning from Hindostan to Europe, he travelled by the way of Laldong, Jummoo, Cashmire, Cabul, Herat, and the Caspian Sea; and though the character of a Moorish Merchant, a disguise which the nature of the journey compelled him to assume, would not permit him to depart so far from the usage of Asia, as to make a draught of the country, or to write any other than short memorandums as he passed, yet, if we may judge from the opportunities he had of information, his Narrative must be important. It will probably shew the manners and customs, and military strength of the populous tribes that inhabit the mountains on the North of Lahore: it promises to gratify the eagerness which all men express to acquire a knowledge of the sequestered and unexplored, though celebrated Country of Cashmire: and there is reason to suppose, that it will also describe the rising Empire of the Seiks, the conquerors of Zabeta Cawn, and the rivals of Abdalla. Should this be the case, we shall learn the history of an Empire that already extends from the river Attok, the western branch of the Indus, to the banks of the Jumma; and possibly too we may also be told the particulars of a Religion, which, according to the accounts received, professes to bring back the Hindoos from the idolatrous veneration of images to the purity of their primitive faith, the worship of One God: a Religion, which is said to ascribe to its Founder, Nanock, who died about 200 years since, a sacred character, by supposing that he was Brimha, and that this was his last appearance upon earth: a Religion, which its Followers, in contradiction to the former uniform practice of the Believers in the Shaster, endeavour to make universal, and, with a zeal which resembles the Mahometan, constantly enforce by the sword.

To our knowledge of America, a large and valuable addition may soon be expected; for several of the inhabitants of Canada had the spirit, about two years since, to send, at their own expence, different persons to traverse that vast continent, from the river St. Lawrence westward to the opposite ocean.

While, in this manner, the circle of our knowledge with respect to Asia and America is gradually extending itself, and advancing towards perfection, some progress has been made in the discovery of particular parts of Africa: for Dr. Sparman’s Narrative has furnished important information, to which will soon be added that of Mr. Patterson, whose account of his Travels and Observations in the Southern Parts of Africa is already in the Press; and if a description of the still more extended Travels of Colonel Gordon, the present Commander of the Dutch Troops at the Cape of Good Hope, should be given to the Public, the southern extremity of the African peninsula may perhaps be justly considered as explored. Mr. Bruce also, it is said, is preparing for the Press an account of the knowledge which he has obtained on the eastern side of that quarter of the globe.

But notwithstanding the progress of discovery on the coasts and borders of that vast continent, the map of its Interior is still but a wide extended blank, on which the Geographer, on the authority of Leo Africanus, and of the Xeriff Edrissi the Nubian Author, has traced, with a hesitating hand, a few names of unexplored rivers and of uncertain nations.

The course of the Niger, the places of its rise and termination, and even its existence as a separate stream, are still undetermined. Nor has our knowledge of the Senegal and Gambia rivers improved upon that of De la Brue and Moore; for though since their time half a century has elapsed, the Falls of Felu on the first of these two rivers, and those of Baraconda on the last, are still the limits of discovery.

Neither have we profited by the information which we have long possessed, that even on the western coasts of Africa, the Mahometan faith is received in many extensive districts, from the Tropic of Cancer southward to the Line. That the Arabic, which the Mussulman Priests of all countries understand, furnishes an easy access to such knowledge as the western Africans are able to supply, is perfectly obvious; as it also is, that those Africans must, from the nature of their Religion, possess, what the Traders to the coast ascribe to them, an intercourse with Mecca. But although these circumstances apparently prove the practicability of exploring the Interior Parts of Africa, and would much facilitate the execution of the Plan, yet no such efforts have hitherto been made. Certain however it is, that, while we continue ignorant of so large a portion of the globe, that ignorance must be considered as a degree of reproach upon the present age.

Sensible of this stigma, and desirous of rescuing the age from a charge of ignorance, which, in other respects, belongs so little to its character, a few Individuals, strongly impressed with a conviction of the practicability and utility of thus enlarging the fund of human knowledge, have formed the Plan of an Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa.

The nature of their Establishment will best appear from the following account of their proceedings.

* * * * *

At an ADJOURNED MEETING of the SATURDAY’S CLUB, at the _St. Alban’s Tavern_, on the 9th of _June_, 1788,

_PRESENT,_
* * * * *

EARL OF GALLOWAY,

LORD RAWDON,

GENERAL CONWAY,

SIR ADAM FERGUSSON,

SIR JOSEPH BANKS,

SIR WILLIAM FORDYCE,

MR. PULTNEY,

MR. BEAUFOY,

MR. STUART:

_ABSENT MEMBERS,_
* * * * *

BISHOP OF LANDAFF,

LORD CARYSFORT,

SIR JOHN SINCLAIR:

RESOLVED,

That as no species of information is more ardently desired, or more generally useful, than that which improves the science of Geography; and as the vast Continent of Africa, notwithstanding the efforts of the Ancients, and the wishes of the Moderns, is still in a great measure unexplored, the Members of this Club do form themselves into an Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Inland Parts of that Quarter of the World:

That, for the said purpose, each Member do subscribe Five Guineas a year, for three years; and that at, or after that period, any Member, on giving a year’s notice, may withdraw himself from the Association:

That during the first twelve months from the present day, each of the Members of the Club be allowed to recommend, for the approbation of the Club, such of his Friends as he shall think proper to be admitted to the new Association; but that after that time all additional Members be elected by a Ballot of the Association at large:

That a Committee, consisting of a Secretary and Treasurer, and of three Assisting Members, be chosen by Ballot:

That the said Committee do prepare and submit to the consideration of the Members, at their next meeting, such Rules as they shall think requisite for the effectual attainment of the object of the new Institution, and for its good government:

That the Committee be entrusted with the choice of the persons who are to be sent on the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, together with the Society’s Correspondence, and the Management of its Funds:

That the Committee shall not disclose, except to the Members of the Association at large, such intelligence as they shall, from time to time, receive from the persons who shall be sent out on the business of Discovery:

That on the receipt of any interesting intelligence from any of the said persons, the Members of the Association shall be convened by Letters from the Secretary; and that such parts of the said intelligence as, in the opinion of the Committee, may, without endangering the object of their Association, be made public, shall be communicated to the Meeting:

That an Account of all Monies paid and received shall, on the last Saturday in the month of May in each year, be submitted to the consideration of the Society at large, by the Treasurer:

That the Members of the Committee be chosen by Ballot, on the first Saturday in the month of May in each year.

* * * * *

The preceding Resolutions having been agreed to by all the Members present, they proceeded on the same day, the 9th of June, 1788, in pursuance of their Fourth Resolution, to chuse a Committee by Ballot, and the following persons were elected:

LORD RAWDON,

BISHOP OF LANDAFF,

SIR JOSEPH BANKS,

MR. BEAUFOY,

MR. STUART.

~CHAPTER I.~

_Proceedings of the Association from the Time of its Establishment,
to that of the Departure of_ Mr. LEDYARD.

* * * * *

The Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Regions of Africa was formed on the 9th of June, in the year 1788; and on the same day a Committee of its Members was invested with the direction of its Funds, the management of its Correspondence, and the choice of the persons to whom the Geographical mission should be assigned.

Naturally anxious for the speedy attainment of the important object thus recommended to their care, an object made doubly interesting by the consideration of its having engaged the attention, and baffled the researches of the most inquisitive and the most powerful nations of antiquity, the Managers proceeded with the utmost ardour to the immediate execution of the Plan.

Two Gentlemen, whose qualifications appeared to be eminent, proposed to undertake the Adventure.

One of them, a Mr. LEDYARD, was an American by birth, and seemed from his youth to have felt an invincible desire to make himself acquainted with the unknown, or imperfectly discovered regions of the globe. For several years he had lived with the Indians of America, had studied their manners, and had practised in their school the means of obtaining the protection, and of recommending himself to the favour of Savages. In the humble situation of a Corporal of Marines, to which he submitted rather than relinquish his pursuit, he had made, with Captain Cook, the Voyage of the World; and feeling on his return an anxious desire of penetrating from the North Western Coast of America, which Cook had partly explored, to the Eastern Coast, with which he himself was perfectly familiar, he determined to traverse the vast Continent from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean.

His first Plan for the purpose was that of embarking in a vessel which was then preparing to sail, on a Voyage of Commercial Adventure, to Nootka Sound, on the Western Coast of America; and with this view he expended in sea stores, the greatest part of the money which his chief benefactor Sir Joseph Banks (whose generous conduct the Writer of this Narrative has often heard him acknowledge) had liberally supplied. But the scheme being frustrated by the rapacity of a Custom-house Officer, who had seized and detained the vessel for reasons which on legal inquiry proved to be frivolous, he determined to travel over land to Kamschatka, from whence to the Western coast of America the passage is extremely short. With no more than ten guineas in his purse, which was all that he had left, he crossed the British Channel to Ostend, and by the way of Denmark and the Sound, proceeded to the capital of Sweden, from whence, as it was Winter, he attempted to traverse the Gulph of Bothnia on the ice, in order to reach Kamschatka by the shortest way; but finding, when he came to the middle of the sea, that the water was not frozen, he returned to Stockholm, and taking his course Northward, walked into the Arctic Circle; and passing round the head of the Gulph, descended on its Eastern side to Petersburgh.

There, he was soon noticed as an extraordinary man.—Without stockings, or shoes, and in too much poverty to provide himself with either, he received and accepted an invitation to dine with the Portugueze Ambassador. To this invitation it was probably owing that he was able to obtain the sum of twenty guineas for a bill on Sir Joseph Banks, which he confessed he had no authority to draw, but which, in consideration of the business that he had undertaken, and of the progress that he had made, Sir Joseph, he believed, would not be unwilling to pay. To the Ambassador’s interest it might also be owing that he obtained permission to accompany a detachment of Stores which the Empress had ordered to be sent to Yakutz, for the use of Mr. Billings, an Englishman, at that time in her service.

Thus accommodated, he travelled Eastward through Siberia, six thousand miles, to Yakutz, where he was kindly received by Mr. Billings, whom he remembered on board Captain Cook’s ship, in the situation of the Astronomer’s Servant, but to whom the Empress had now entrusted her schemes of Northern discovery.

From Yakutz he proceeded to Oczakow, on the coast of the Kamschatka sea, from whence he meant to have passed over to that peninsula, and to have embarked on the Eastern side in one of the Russian vessels that trade to the Western shores of America; but finding that the navigation was completely obstructed by the ice, he returned again to Yakutz, in order to wait for the conclusion of the Winter.

Such was his situation, when, in consequence of suspicions not hitherto explained, or resentments for which no reason is assigned, he was seized, in the Empress’s name, by two Russian soldiers, who placed him in a sledge, and conveying him, in the depth of Winter, through the Deserts of the Northern Tartary, left him at last on the Frontiers of the Polish Dominions. As they parted they told him, that if he returned to Russia, he would certainly be hanged, but that if he chose to go back to England, they wished him a pleasant journey.

In the midst of poverty, covered with rags, infested with the usual accompaniments of such cloathing, worn with continued hardship, exhausted by disease, without friends, without credit, unknown, and full of misery, he found his way to Koningsberg.—There, in the hour of his uttermost distress, he resolved once more to have recourse to his old Benefactor, and he luckily found a person who was willing to take his draft for five guineas on the President of the Royal Society.

With this assistance he arrived in England, and immediately waited on Sir Joseph Banks, who told him, knowing his temper, that he believed he could recommend him to an adventure almost as perilous as the one from which he had returned; and then communicated to him the wishes of the Association for Discovering the Inland Countries of Africa.

LEDYARD replied, that he had always determined to traverse the Continent of Africa as soon as he had explored the Interior of North America; and as Sir Joseph had offered him a Letter of Introduction, he came directly to the Writer of these Memoirs. Before I had learnt from the note the name and business of my Visitor, I was struck with the manliness of his person, the breadth of his chest, the openness of his countenance, and the inquietude of his eye. I spread the map of Africa before him, and tracing a line from Cairo to Sennar, and from thence Westward in the latitude and supposed direction of the Niger, I told him that was the route, by which I was anxious that Africa might, if possible, be explored. He said, he should think himself singularly fortunate to be entrusted with the Adventure. I asked him when he would set out? “To-morrow morning,” was his answer. I told him I was afraid that we should not be able, in so short a time, to prepare his instructions, and to procure for him the letters that were requisite; but that if the Committee should approve of his proposal, all expedition should be used.

Such is the history, and such were the qualifications of one of the persons whom the Committee engaged in its service.

The other, Mr. LUCAS, had been sent, when a boy, to Cadiz, in Spain, for education as a merchant, and having the misfortune on his return to be captured by a Sallee Rover, was brought as a slave to the Imperial Court of Morocco.

Three years of captivity preceded his restoration to freedom, and his consequent departure for Gibraltar; where, at the request of General Cornwallis, he accepted the offices of Vice-Consul and Chargé d’Affaires in the Empire of Morocco; and had the satisfaction to return, as the Delegate of his Sovereign, to the very kingdom in which, for so long a period, he had lived as a slave. At the end of sixteen years he once more revisited England, and was soon appointed Oriental Interpreter to the British Court, in which situation he was when he became known to the Committee, and expressed his willingness, with His Majesty’s permission, to undertake, in the Service of the Association, whatever Journey his knowlege of the Manners, Customs, and Language of the Arabs might enable him to perform. His Majesty, with that liberal attention to the Progress of Knowledge which at all times has distinguished his reign, signified his pleasure, that Mr. LUCAS should proceed on the business of the Society; and that his salary as Oriental Interpreter should be continued to him during his absence.

Having thus obtained the assistance of two persons so eminently qualified to facilitate the attainment of its object, the Committee proceeded to prescribe to them their respective routs.

To Mr. LEDYARD they assigned, at his own desire, as an enterprize of obvious peril and of difficult success, the task of traversing from East to West, in the latitude attributed to the Niger, the widest part of the Continent of Africa.

To Mr. LUCAS, in consideration of the knowledge which he possessed of the Language and Manners of the Arabs, they allotted the passage of the Desert of Zahara, from Tripoli to Fezzan; for they had learned from various information, that with this kingdom, which in some measure is dependent on Tripoli, the traders of Agadez and Tombuctou, and of other towns in the Interior of Africa, had established a frequent and regular intercourse; and their instructions to him were, that he should proceed directly to Fezzan; that he should collect and transmit by the way of Tripoli, whatever intelligence, respecting the Inland Regions of the Continent, the people of Fezzan, or the traders who visited their country, might be able to afford; and that he should afterwards return by the way of the Gambia, or by that of the Coast of Guinea.

One obstacle to the departure of these Geographical Misionaries was still to be removed; and that was, the smallness of the Fund; for the Members of the Association, which had not yet passed the second month of its existence, were extremely few, and the Committee were too conscious of the importance and dignity of their undertaking, to canvass for subscriptions.

In this dilemma, the Committee resolved to advance the money that was requisite; and they accordingly raised among themselves the sum of 430l. which enabled them to provide for their travellers the means of immediate equipment, and the letters of necessary credit.

Mr. LUCAS, detained by illness, did not leave England till the 6th of August.

~CHAPTER II.~

_Mr._ LEDYARD’_s Arrival at Cairo. — His Remarks on the
Inhabitants, &c. — His Death and Character._

* * * * *

Mr. LEDYARD took his departure from London on the 30th of June, 1788; and after a journey of six and thirty days, seven of which were consumed at Paris, and two at Marseilles, arrived in the city of Alexandria.

His Letters of Recommendation to the British Consul secured him from the embarrassments that the want of inns would otherwise have occasioned; and procured for him the necessary instructions for assuming the dress, and adopting the manners that are requisite for an Egyptian Traveller.

Forcibly impressed by the objects which he saw, and naturally led to compare them with those which other Regions of the Globe had presented to his view, he describes with the energy of an original Observer, and exhibits in his Narrative the varied effect of similarity and contrast: but as the travellers who preceded him, have obtained and transmitted to Europe whatever knowledge, either ancient or modern, the Lower Egypt affords, and as the examination of that country was no part of the business which was given him in charge, his descriptions, generally speaking, would add but little to the instruction which other Narratives convey.

The following Extracts from different parts of his Journal are given in his own words.

“A traveller, who should, by just comparisons between things here and in Europe, tell his tale; who, by a mind unbewitched by antecedent descriptions, too strong, too bold, too determined, too honest, to be capable of lying, should speak just as he thought, would, no doubt, be esteemed an arrant fool, and a stupid coxcomb.—For example, an Englishman who had never seen Egypt, would ask me what sort of a woman an Egyptian woman was? If I meant to do the question as much justice by the answer, as I could in my way, I should ask him to take notice of the first company of Gypsies he saw behind a hedge in Essex; and I suppose he would be fool enough to think me a fool.

“August 14th. I left Alexandria at midnight, with a pleasant breeze North; and was, at sun-rise next morning, at the mouth of the Nile, which has a bar of sand across it, and soundings as irregular as the sea, which is raised upon it by the contentions of counter currents and winds.

“The view in sailing up the Nile is very confined, unless from the top of the mast, or some other eminence, and then it is an unbounded plain of excellent land, miserably cultivated, and yet interspersed with a great number of villages, both on its banks and as far along the meadows as one can see in any direction: the river is also filled with boats passing and repassing—boats all of one kind, and navigated in one manner; nearly also of one size, the largest carrying ten or fifteen tons. On board of these boats are seen onions, water-melons, dates, sometimes a horse, a camel, (which lies down in the boat) and sheep and goats, dogs, men and women.—Towards evening and morning they have music.

“Whenever we stopped at a village, I used to walk into it with my Conductor, who, being a Musselman, and a descendant from Mahommed, wore a green turban, and was therefore respected, and I was sure of safety:—but in truth, dressed as I was in a common Turkish habit, I believe I should have walked as safely without him. I saw no propensity among the inhabitants to incivility. The villages are most miserable assemblages of poor little mud huts, flung very close together without any kind of order, full of dust, lice, fleas, bed-bugs, flies, and all the curses of Moses: people poorly clad, the youths naked; in such respects, they rank infinitely below any Savages I ever saw.

“The common people wear nothing but a shirt and drawers, and they are always blue. Green is the royal or holy colour; none but the descendants of Mahommed, if I am rightly informed, being permitted to wear it.

“August 19th. From the little town where we landed, the distance to Cairo is about a mile and a half, which we rode on asses; for the ass in this country is the Christian’s horse, as he is allowed no other animal to ride upon. Indeed I find the situation of a Christian, or what they more commonly call here a Frank, to be very, very humiliating, ignominious, and distressing: no one, by a combination of any causes, can reason down to such effects as experience teaches us do exist here: it being impossible to conceive, that the enmity I have alluded to could exist between men;—or, in fact, that the same species of beings, from any causes whatever, should ever think and act so differently as the Egyptians and the English do.

“I arrived at Cairo early in the morning, on the 19th of August, and went to the house of the Venetian Consul, Mr. Rosetti, Chargé d’Affaires for the English Consul here.

“After dinner, not being able to find any other lodging, and receiving no very pressing invitation from Mr. Rosetti, to lodge with him, I went to a convent. This convent consists of Missionaries sent by the Pope to propagate the Christian Faith, or at least to give shelter to Christians. The Christians here are principally from Damascus: the convent is governed by the Order of Recollets: a number of English, as well as other European travellers, have lodged there.

“August 21st. It is now about the hottest season of the year here; but I think I have felt it warmer in the City of Philadelphia, in the same month.

“August 26th. This day I was introduced by Rosetti to the Aga Mahommed, the confidential Minister of Ismael, the most powerful of the four ruling Beys: he gave me his hand to kiss, and with it the promise of letters, protection, and support, through Turkish Nubia, and also to some Chiefs far inland. In a subsequent conversation, he told me I should see in my travels a people who had power to transmutate themselves into the forms of different animals. He asked me what I thought of the affair? I did not like to render the ignorance, simplicity, and credulity of the Turk apparent. I told him, that it formed a part of the character of all Savages to be great Necromancers; but that I had never before heard of any so great as those which he had done me the honour to describe; that it had rendered me more anxious to be on my voyage, and if I passed among them, I would, in the letter I promised to write to him, give him a more particular account of them than he had hitherto had.—He asked me how I could travel without the language of the people where I should pass? I told him, with vocabularies:—I might as well have read to him a page of Newton’s Principia. He returned to his fables again. Is it not curious, that the Egyptians (for I speak of the natives of the country as well as of him, when I make the observation) are still such dupes to the arts of sorcery? Was it the same people who built the Pyramids?

“I can’t understand that the Turks have a better opinion of our mental powers than we have of theirs; but they say of us, that we are “_a people who carry our minds on our fingers ends_:” meaning, that we put them in exercise constantly, and render them subservient to all manner of purposes, and with celerity, dispatch, and ease, do what we do.

“I suspect the Copts to have been the origin of the Negro race: the nose and lips correspond with those of the Negro. The hair, whenever I can see it among the people here, (the Copts) is curled;—not close like the Negros, but like the Mulattoes. I observe a greater variety of colour among the human species here than in any other country; and a greater variety of feature than in any other country not possessing a greater degree of civilization.

“I have seen an Abyssinian woman and a Bengal man—the colour is the same in both; so are their features and persons.

“I have seen a small mummy;—it has what I call wampum work on it. It appears as common here as among the Tartars. Tatowing is as prevalent among the Arabs of this place as among the South Sea Islanders. It is a little curious, that the women here are more generally than in any other part of the world tatowed on the chin, with perpendicular lines descending from the under lip to the chin, like the women on the North West Coast of America. It is also a custom here to stain the nails red, like the Cochin Chinese, and the Northern Tartars. The mask or veil that the women here wear, resembles exactly that worn by the Priests at Otaheite, and those seen at Sandwich Islands.

“I have not yet seen the Arabs make use of a tool like our axe or hatchet; but what they use for such purposes as we do our hatchet and axe, is in the form of an adze, and is a form we found most agreeable to the South Sea Islanders. I see no instance of a tool formed designedly for the use of the right or left hand particularly, as the cotogon is among the Yorkertic Tartars.

“There is certainly a very remarkable affinity between the Russian and Greek dress. The fillet round the temples of the Greek and Russian women, is a circumstance in dress that perhaps would strike nobody as it does me; and so of the wampum work too, which is also found among them both.

“They spin here with the distaff and spindle only, like the French peasantry and others in Europe; and the common Arab loom is upon our principle, though rude.

“I saw to-day (August 10th) an Arab woman white, like the White Indians in the South Sea Islands, Isthmus of Darien, &c. These kind of people all look alike.

“Among the Greek women here, I find the identical Archangel head-dress.

“Their music is instrumental, consisting of a drum and pipe, both which resemble those two instruments in the South Seas: the drum is exactly like the Otaheite drum; the pipe is made of cane, and consists of a long and short tube joined: the music resembles very much the bagpipe, and is pleasant.—All their music is concluded, if not accompanied, by the clapping of hands. I think it singular, that the women here make a noise with their mouths like frogs, and that this frog-music is always made at weddings; and I believe on all other occasions of merriment where there are women.

“It is remarkable, that the dogs here are of just the same species found among the Otaheiteans.

“It is also remarkable, that in one village I saw exactly the same machines used for diversion as in Russia.—I forget the Russian name for it. It is a large kind of wheel, on the extremities of which there are suspended seats, in which people are whirled round over and under each other.

“The women dress their hair behind exactly in the same manner in which the women of the Calmuc Tartars dress theirs.

“In the History of the Kingdom of Benin in Guinea, the Chiefs are called Aree Roee, or Street Kings. Among the Islands in the South Sea, Otaheite, &c. they call the Chiefs Arees, and the great Chiefs Aree le Hoi. I think this curious; and so I do that it is a custom of the Arabs to spread a blanket when they would invite any one to eat or rest with them.—American Indians spread the beaver skins on such occasions.

“The Arabs of the Deserts, like the Tartars, have an invincible attachment to Liberty: no arts will reconcile them to any other life, or form of government, however modified. This is a character given me here of the Arabs.

“It is singular that the Arab Language has no word for Liberty, although it has for Slaves.

“The Arabs, like the New Zealanders, engage with a long strong spear.

“I have made the best inquiries I have been able, since I have been here, of the nature of the country before me; of Sennar, Darfoor, Wangara, of Nubia, Abyssinia, of those named, or unknown by name. I should have been happy to have sent you better information of those places than I am yet able to do. It will appear very singular to you in England, that we in Egypt are so ignorant of countries which we annually visit: the Egyptians know as little of Geography as the generality of the French; and like them, sing, dance, and traffic without it.

“I have the best assurances of a certain and safe conduct by the return of the caravan that is arrived from Sennar; and Mr. Rosetti tells me that the letters I shall have from the Aga here, will insure me of being conveyed, from hand to hand, to my journey’s end.

“The Mahometans in Africa are what the Russians are in Siberia, a trading, enterprizing, superstitious, warlike set of vagabonds, and wherever they are set upon going, they will and do go; but they neither can nor do make voyages merely commercial, or merely religious, across Africa; and where we do not find them in commerce, we find them not at all. They cannot (however vehemently pushed on by religion) afford to cross the Continent without trading by the way.

“October 14th. I went to-day to the market-place, where they vend the Black slaves that come from towards the interior parts of Africa:—there were 200 of them together, dressed and ornamented as in their country. The appearance of a Savage in every region is almost the same!—There were very few men among them: this indicates that they are prisoners of war. They have a great many beads and other ornaments about them that are from the East. I was told by one of them that they came from the West of Sennar, fifty-five days journey, which may be about four or five hundred miles. A Negro Chief said, the Nile had its source in his country. In general they had their hair plaited in a great number of small detached plaits, none exceeding in length six or eight inches—the hair was filled with grease, and dirt purposely daubed on.

“October 16th. I have renewed my visit to-day, and passed it more agreeably than yesterday; for yesterday I was rudely treated. The Franks are prohibited to purchase slaves, and therefore the Turks do not like to see them in the market. Mr. Rosetti favoured me with one of his running Chargé d’Affaires to accompany me: but having observed yesterday among the ornaments of the Negros a variety of beads, and wanting to know from what country they came, I requested Mr. Rosetti, previously to my second visit, to shew me from his store samples of Venetian beads.—He shewed me samples of fifteen hundred different kinds: after this I set out.

“The name of the country these Savages come from is Darfoor, and is well known on account of the Slave Trade, as well as of that in Gum and Elephants teeth.

“The appearance of these Negros declares them to be a people in as savage a state as any people can; but not of so savage a temper, or of that species of countenance that indicates savage intelligence. They appear a harmless, wild people; but they are mostly young women.

“The beads they are ornamented with are Venetian; and they have some Venetian brass medals which the Venetians make for trade. The beads are worked wampum-wise. I know not where they got the marine shells they worked among their beads, nor how they could have seen white men. I asked them if they would use me well in their country, if I should visit it? They said, “Yes:”—and added, that they should make a King of me, and treat me with all the delicacies of their country. Like the Egyptian women, and like most other Savages, they stick on ornaments wherever they can, and wear, like them, a great ring in the nose, either from the cartilage, or from the side: they also rub on some black kind of paint round the eyes, like the Egyptian women. They are a sizeable well-formed people, quite black, with what, I believe, we call the true Guinea face, and with curled short hair; but not more curled or shorter than I have seen it among the Egyptians; but in general these Savages plait it in tassels plaistered with clay or paint. Among some of them the hair is a foot long, and curled, resembling exactly one of our mops. The prevailing colour, where it can be seen, is a black and red mixed. I think it would make any hair curl, even Uncle Toby’s wig, to be plaited and plaistered as this is. This caravan, which I call the Darfoor caravan, is not very rich.—The Sennar is the rich caravan.

“October 19th. I went yesterday to see if more of the Darfoor caravan had arrived; but they were not. I wonder why travellers to Cairo have not visited these slave markets, and conversed with the Jelabs or travelling Merchants of these caravans: both are certainly sources of great information.—The eighth part of the money expended on other accounts, might here answer some good solid purpose. For my part, I have not expended a crown, and I have a better idea of the people of Africa, of its trade, of the position of places, the nature of the country, manner of travelling, &c. than ever I had by any other means; and, I believe, better than any other means would afford me.

“October 25th. I have been again to the slave market; but neither the Jelabs (a name which in this country is given to all travelling Merchants) nor the slaves are yet arrived in town—they will be here to-morrow. I met two or three in the street, and one with a shield and spear.

“I have understood to-day, that the King of Sennar is himself a Merchant, and concerned in the Sennar caravans. The Merchant here who contracts to convey me to Sennar, is Procurer at Cairo to the King of Sennar: this is a good circumstance, and one I knew not of till to-day. Mr. Rosetti informed me of it. He informed me also, that this year the importation of Negro Slaves into Egypt will amount to 20,000.—The caravans from the interior countries of Africa do not arrive here uniformly every year—they are sometimes absent two or three years.

“Among a dozen of Sennar slaves, I saw three personable men, of a good bright olive colour, of vivacious and intelligent countenances; but they had all three (which fist attracted my notice) heads uncommonly formed: the forehead was the narrowest, the longest, and most protuberant I ever saw. Many of these slaves speak a few words of the Arab language; but whether they learned them before or since their captivity I cannot tell.

“A caravan goes from here (Cairo) to Fezzan, which they call a journey of fifty days; and from Fezzan to Tombuctou, which they call a journey of ninety days. The caravans travel about twenty miles a day, which makes the distance on the road from here to Fezzan, one thousand miles; and from Fezzan to Tombuctou, one thousand eight hundred miles. From here to Sennar is reckoned six hundred miles.

“I have been waiting several days to have an interview with the Jelabs who go from hence to Sennar. I am told that they carry, in general, trinkets; but among other things, soap, antimony, red linen, razors, scissars, mirrors, beads; and, as far as I can yet learn, they bring from Sennar elephants teeth, the gum called here gum Sennar, camels, ostrich feathers, and slaves.

“Wangara is talked of here as a place producing much gold, and as a kingdom: all accounts, and there are many, agree in this. The King of Wangara (whom I hope to see in about three months after leaving this) is said to dispose of just what quantity he pleases of his gold—sometimes a great deal, and sometimes little or none; and this, it is said, he does to prevent strangers knowing how rich he is, and that he may live in peace.”

Such are the most material of those remarks on the people of Africa, which Mr. LEDYARD was enabled, by his residence at Cairo, to send to the Committee.—The views which they opened were interesting and instructive; but they derived their principal importance from the proofs which they afforded of the ardent spirit of inquiry, the unwearied attention, the persevering research, and the laborious, indefatigable, anxious zeal with which their Author pursued the object of his Mission.

Already informed that his next dispatch would be dated from Sennar; that letters of earnest recommendation had been given him by the Aga; that the terms of his passage had been settled; and that the day of his departure was appointed—the Committee expected with impatience the description of his journey. Great was therefore their concern, and severe their disappointment, when letters from Egypt announced to them the melancholy tidings of his death. A bilious complaint, the consequence of vexatious delays in the promised departure of the caravan, had induced him to try the effect of too powerful a dose of the acid of vitriol; and the sudden uneasiness and burning pain which followed the incautious draught, impelled him to seek relief from the violent action of the strongest Tartar emetic. A continued discharge of blood discovered the danger of his situation, and summoned to his aid the generous friendship of the Venetian Consul, and the ineffectual skill of the most approved physicians of Cairo.

He was decently interred in the neighbourhood of such of the English as had ended their days in the capital of Egypt.

The bilious complaint with which he was seized has been attributed to the frowardness of a childish impatience—Much more natural is the conjecture, that his unexpected detention, week after week, and month after month, at Cairo, (a detention which consumed his finances, which therefore exposed to additional hazard the success of his favourite enterprize, and which consequently tended to bring into question his honour to the Society) had troubled his spirits, had preyed upon his peace, and subjected him at last to the disease that proved in its consequences the means of dragging him to his grave.

Of his attachment to the Society, and of his zeal for their service, the following Extracts from his Letters are remarkably expressive:

“Money! it is a vile slave!—I have at present an œconomy of a more exalted kind to observe. I have the eyes of some of the first men of the first kingdom on earth turned upon me. I am engaged by those very men, in the most important object that any private individual can be engaged in: I have their approbation to acquire, or to lose; and their esteem also, which I prize beyond every thing, except the independent idea of serving mankind. Should rashness or desperation carry me through, whatever fame the vain and injudicious might bestow, I should not accept of it;—it is the good and great I look to: fame from them bestowed is altogether different, and is closely allied to a well-done from God: but rashness will not be likely to carry me through any more than timid caution. To find the necessary medium of conduct, to vary and apply it to contingencies, is the œconomy I allude to; and if I succeed by such means, men of sense in any succeeding epoch will not blush to follow me, and perfect those Discoveries I have only abilities to trace out roughly, or, a disposition to attempt.

“A Turkish sopha has no charms for me: if it had, I could soon obtain one here. I could to-morrow take the command of the best armament of Ishmael Bey.—I should be sure of success, and its consequential honours. Believe me, a single well-done from your Association has more worth in it to me, than all the trappings of the East; and what is still more precious, is, the pleasure I have in the justification of my own conduct at the tribunal of my own heart.”

To those who have never seen Mr. LEDYARD, it may not, perhaps, be uninteresting to know, that his person, though scarcely exceeding the middle size, was remarkably expressive of activity and strength; and that his manners, though unpolished, were neither uncivil nor unpleasing. Little attentive to difference of rank, he seemed to consider all men as his equals, and as such he respected them. His genius, though uncultivated and irregular, was original and comprehensive. Ardent in his wishes, yet calm in his deliberations; daring in his purposes, but guarded in his measures; impatient of controul, yet capable of strong endurance; adventurous beyond the conception of ordinary men, yet wary and considerate, and attentive to all precautions, he appeared to be formed by Nature for atchievements of hardihood and peril.

They who compare the extent of his pilgrimage through the vast regions of Tartary with the scantiness of his funds, will naturally ask, by what means he obtained a subsistence on the road? All that I have ever learned from him on the subject, was, that his sufferings were excessive, and that more than once he owed his life to the compassionate temper of the women. This last remark is strongly confirmed by the following Extract from his account of his Siberian Tour:

“I have always remarked, that women, in all countries, are civil, obliging, tender, and humane; that they are ever inclined to be gay and chearful, timorous and modest; and that they do not hesitate, like men, to perform a generous action.—Not haughty, not arrogant, not supercilious, they are full of courtesy, and fond of society: more liable, in general, to err than man; but in general, also, more virtuous, and performing more good actions than he. To a woman, whether civilized or savage, I never addressed myself in the language of decency and friendship, without receiving a decent and friendly answer. With man it has often been otherwise.

“In wandering over the _barren_ plains of _inhospitable Denmark_, through _honest Sweden_, and _frozen Lapland_, _rude_ and _churlish Finland_, _unprincipled Russia_, and the _wide spread regions_ of the _wandering Tartar_, if hungry, dry, cold, wet, or sick, the women have ever been friendly to me, and uniformly so; and to add to this virtue, (so worthy the appellation of benevolence) these actions have been performed in so free, and so kind a manner, that if I was dry, I drank the sweetest draught, and if hungry, I eat the coarse morsel with a double relish.”

But though the native benevolence, which even among Savages distinguishes and adorns the female character, might sometimes soften the severity of his sufferings, yet at others he seems to have endured the utmost pressure of distress.

“I am accustomed—(said he, in our last conversation—’twas on the morning of his departure for Africa)—I am accustomed to hardships. I have known both hunger and nakedness to the utmost extremity of human suffering. I have known what it is to have food given me as charity to a madman; and I have at times been obliged to shelter myself under the miseries of that character to avoid a heavier calamity. My distresses have been greater than I have ever owned, or ever _will_ own to any man. Such evils are terrible to bear; but they never yet had power to turn me from my purpose. If I live, I will faithfully perform, in its utmost extent, my engagement to the Society; and if I perish in the attempt, my _honour_ will still be safe, for death cancels all bonds.”

~CHAPTER III.~

_Arrival of_ Mr. LUCAS _at Tripoli. — His Reception by the Bashaw. — His Journey to Mesurata with the Shereefs Fouwad and Imhammed. — His Mode of obtaining from the latter an Account of his Travels in the Interior Countries of Africa. — His Return to England._

* * * * *

Mr. Lucas, having taken his passage at Marseilles, on board the St. Jean Baptiste, a small vessel belonging to that port, embarked on the 18th of October, 1788; and on the 25th of the same month arrived in the harbour of Tripoli.

The date trees, which spread themselves like a forest behind the town, and the hills beyond them, which bound the prospect on the South, are interesting objects; but the town itself is built in too low a situation to compose a part of the general scene: for it is scarcely visible at the distance of a mile.

The first appearance of Tripoli may disappoint, by its meanness, the expectations of the traveller; but if he reflects on the nature of a despotic government, ever incompatible with permanent prosperity, he will not be surprized when he finds, on a nearer view, that the city, though the capital of an empire, exhibits through all its extent, the marks of a rapid decay; that its scanty limits, though scarcely four miles in circumference, are too great for its present population; and that its antient castle, though once the pride, and still the residence, of the reigning family, is now a mouldering ruin.

The expected ceremonial of announcing to the Bashaw, which is the title of the Sovereign, and to the Consul of the State, to whom the vessel belongs, her arrival in the harbour, having been regularly observed, Mr. LUCAS, accompanied by Mr. Tully, the British Resident, waited on Hadgee Abdrahaman, the Tripoline Minister for Foreign Affairs, who had formerly resided in England as Ambassador from the Bashaw; and having known Mr. LUCAS there, received him now with the joy of an old acquaintance, and the cordiality of an intimate friend. Encouraged by this kindness, Mr. LUCAS explained to him the object of his mission, and requested that he would present and recommend him to the Bashaw, and to the Prince, his eldest son, who is distinguished by the title of the Bey. The Minister consented; and the next morning was, accordingly, appointed by the Bashaw for the first of these audiences: the morning after was fixed on by the Bey for the latter.

The Bashaw, a short and robust old man, of a fair complexion, a pleasing countenance, and an affable, joyous disposition, received Mr. LUCAS with great complacency, and accepted, with much satisfaction, his present of a pair of double-barrelled pistols, mounted with silver; but expressed his surprize, when leave was asked to visit his kingdom of Fezzan: for the journey, he said, had never been attempted by a Christian. Mr. LUCAS replied, that he was led to undertake it by the report which he had heard of various Roman antiquities in different parts of the kingdom, and by the hope of collecting a variety of medicinal plants that are not to be found in Europe. The Bashaw appeared to be satisfied, and promised that, on the first opportunity of a safe conveyance, he would give him such aids for the journey as his countenance and protection could afford.

On the next morning Mr. LUCAS was presented to the Bey, the Bashaw’s eldest son, a tall and well shaped, but dark complexioned man, in the middle period of life; and was received by him with the engaging politeness for which he is eminently distinguished. The present that was made to him, except that its value was inferior, was similar to that which had been given to his father; and the assurances of the protection and friendship, which he offered in return, were the same in effect with those which the Bashaw had expressed.