The presents intended for the Sultan of the Fellatas, and also for the Sheik of Bornou, being all ready, the four gentlemen, with their servants, embarked in his majesty’s ship Brazen on the 27th August, 1825, and, after touching at Teneriffe and St. Jago, arrived in the Bight of Benin on the 26th November, 1825. Mr. Dickson being desirous of making his way alone to Soccatoo, for what reason it does not appear, was landed at Whidah, where a Portuguese gentleman, of the name of De Sousa, offered to accompany him as far as Dahomey, where he had resided for some time in the employ of the king. The offer was accepted, and Dickson, taking with him a mulatto of the name of Columbus, who had been a servant to Lieutenant-Colonel Denham on the former expedition to Bornou, departed on the 26th November, arrived safe at Dahomey, where he was well received, and sent forward to a place called Shar, seventeen days’ from Dahomey, under a suitable escort, where he also arrived safely, and had an escort given him from thence on his intended journey to Youri, since which no account of him whatever has been received. By some Dahomey messengers, which Clapperton met with at Wawa, he sent a letter to Dickson; but it is evident they did not fall in with him, as the letter was some months afterwards sent down to the coast. It may here be observed, that though Whidah was the port to which Bello was ultimately understood to say he would despatch his messengers to convey the travellers, and their presents and baggage, to Soccatoo, it did not appear that any inquiries had been made there respecting them; nor did any person there seem to know more about Bello or Soccatoo, than was known, further on, of Funda or Raka.
The rest of the travellers proceeded towards the river of Benin, where they encountered an English merchant of the name of Houtson, who advised them by no means to think of ascending that river, in their way into the interior, as the king of that country was well known to bear a particular hatred to the English, for their exertions in endeavouring to put a stop to the slave-trade, by which his greatest profits had been derived: nor had he any knowledge how far, or in what direction that river might convey them; he mentioned Badagry as a place far more preferable, as being equally near to Soccatoo, and the chief of which was favourable to the English; said that he would, no doubt, afford them protection and assistance on their journey, as far as his country extended, which was to the frontier of the kingdom of Yourriba. As Mr. Houtson had resided on this part of the coast for many years, and was well acquainted with the customs of the people, Captain Clapperton engaged him to accompany the party as far as the city of Eyeo or Katunga, the capital of Yourriba. Having, therefore, arranged matters with Captain Willis of the Brazen, as to sending after them the heavy baggage, and keeping up, for a certain time, a communication with them, they landed on the 29th November at Badagry; and, under the sanction of the king, commenced their long journey on the 7th December, the details of which will be found in the following Journal.
On his arrival at the encampment of Bello, at a short distance from Soccatoo, Clapperton had every reason to be satisfied with his reception. While at Kano, he had received a letter from that chief, congratulating him on his first arrival there, and inviting him to Soccatoo; and when he discovered, soon after his arrival at that city, that Clapperton had left at Kano the presents intended for the Sheik of Bornou, he again wrote to him, in a friendly manner, very civilly informing him of the impossibility of his allowing the warlike stores to be sent to one with whom he was in a state of hostility: he told him, also, that he had letters from a most respectable quarter, putting him on his guard against Christian spies. These circumstances seem, by the servant’s account, to have preyed very much on Clapperton’s mind; and that, when seized with dysentery and inflammation of the bowels, which, after thirty-six days’ illness, carried him off, Bello’s coolness and suspicion tended very much to depress his spirits and increase his disorder.
To Clapperton’s Journal is appended that of his servant, Richard Lander, giving an account of his return journey from Kano, after his master’s death, a great part of the way by a more easterly route. This journal of a very intelligent young man will be read with interest. Accompanied by two or three slaves, and a black man of Houssa, of the name (English) of Pascoe, who once belonged to a British ship of war, and had been engaged to attend Belzoni as interpreter, with a scanty supply of money, and without presents of any kind (so necessary in this country), he not only made his way among the various tribes he had to pass through, but brought with him, in safety, a large trunk belonging to his master, containing his clothes and other property; three watches, which he secreted about his person, to preserve from the rapacity of Bello; and all his master’s papers and journals, with which, after a journey of nine months, he arrived in safety on the sea-coast.
The friendship and kind feeling which Clapperton entertained for this valuable servant is evinced in various letters written to him while he remained in Kano, with the presents intended for the Sheik of Bornou; but which were first decoyed to Soccatoo, and afterwards meanly seized by the Sultan Bello, on the pretext of their being, many of them, arms to be put into the hands of his enemy, he being then in a state of war with the sheik. In one of these letters he says, “I hope you ride out every day, and amuse yourself in shooting and stuffing birds, as this will tend to keep you in good health. Attend strictly to the duties of religion; rely firmly on the assistance and mercy of Heaven; and, in all your difficulties and distress, this will bear you up like a man;” and he signs himself, “his sincere friend and master.” In another letter, dated from Soccatoo, he says, “Pray to Heaven night and morning, and read the church service every Sunday; for a firm reliance on the justice and mercy, and assistance of Heaven, will bear you up with cheerfulness and courage, when all earthly friends and things fail. Farewell, and believe me your sincere friend and master.”
Clapperton was, in fact, a kind-hearted and benevolent man, of a cheerful disposition, not easily put out of temper, and patient under disappointments; a virtue, indeed, which was frequently put to the test in the course of his long peregrinations in Africa. Both he and his servant suffered much from frequent attacks of fever and dysentery. His last illness continued for thirty-six days, during which he was attended by his faithful Richard; who has given a painful and interesting account of his death, of the mode in which he had him interred, of his own affliction, and the mournful state of solitude in which he was left among a set of unfeeling wretches, who regarded Christians in no better light than their dogs. His own situation is described in a letter which he addressed from Kano, after the death of his master, to Mr. Consul Warrington, of Tripoli. It is as follows:—
“Kano, 27th May, 1827.
“Honoured Sir,
“With sorrow I have to acquaint you of the death of my master, Captain Clapperton. He departed this life at Soccatoo, on the 13th of April, at six o’clock in the morning, after thirty-six days’ illness, with a severe inflammation in the inside, much regretted by me, as he had always behaved like a father to me since I left England. I buried him at Jungavie, a small village five miles east of Soccatoo, at three o’clock in the afternoon of the same day, according to the rites of the church of England. He was carried on one of his own camels, and followed by no one but myself, and five people who went with me to dig the grave.
“We arrived at this place (Kano) on the 20th of July, 1826, and were treated with the greatest respect, and the persons in power were well pleased with their presents, until master asked to go to Bornou: after this we were treated like spies. I was left in Kano to take care of the baggage, and my master proceeded to Soccatoo, with the presents to Bello. When master asked permission to go to Bornou, Bello despatched a messenger off to Kano, with orders to bring me, with all the things, instantly to Soccatoo. I left Kano on the 25th of November, and arrived at Soccatoo the 20th of December. On the 21st, the sultan demanded the Sheik of Bornou’s letters. Master gave them to him. He desired master to open them. He said it was more than his head was worth, to open his king’s letters. He said, ‘Then I will.’ He then told him that he had received letters, from several respectable persons, to say that we were spies. Master said he must see those letters; but he would not show them. He waved his hand for us to go. We went home, and in the afternoon of the same day, the king’s head men came, and demanded the Sheik of Bornou’s present and the spare arms. My master said, ‘There is no faith in you; you are worse than highway robbers.’ They said, ‘Take care, or you will lose your head.’ He said, ‘If I do lose it, it is for the rights of my country.’ They then took the presents and arms, and went off; and, soon after, the sultan sent to say we must go by the desert, or by the way we came; we must not go to Bornou.