4.
"A voice from the desert!
My wilds do not hold him;
Pale thirst doth not rack,
Nor the sand-storm enfold him.
The death-gale pass'd by
And his breath failed to smother,
Yet ne'er shall he wake
To the voice of his mother
Alas! for the white man! o'er deserts a ranger,
No more shall we welcome the white-bosomed stranger!
5.
"O loved of the lotus
Thy waters adorning,
Pour, Joliba! pour
Thy full streams to the morning?
The halcyon may fly
To thy wave as her pillow;
But wo to the white man
Who trusts to thy billow!
Alas! for the white man! o'er deserts a ranger,
No more shall we welcome the white-bosomed stranger!
6.
"He launched his light bark,
Our fond warnings despising,
And sailed to the land
Where the day-beams are rising.
His wife from her bower
May look forth in her sorrow,
But he shall ne'er come
To her hope of to-morrow!
Alas! for the white man! o'er deserts a ranger,
No more shall we welcome the white-bosomed stranger!"
CHAPTER XXX.
Tuckey, Peddie, and Gray's Expeditions.
The fatal termination of Park's second journey by no means damped the ardent desire of acquiring fresh knowledge concerning the interior of Africa. The question as to whether the Niger finally proved to be identical with the Congo, was undetermined; and Government resolved to organize a large expedition for the purpose of deciding it. To attain this object, there were to be two parties sent out, one of which was to descend the Niger, and the other to ascend the Congo or Zaire river; and if the hypothesis proved to be true, it was expected that both would form a junction at a certain point. The expedition excited much interest, and from the scale on which it was planned, and the talents of the officers engaged in it, seemed to have a fair promise of success.
Captain Tuckey, an experienced officer, was to command the Congo expedition; his party consisted of fifty seamen, marines, and mechanics, with several individuals skilled in the various branches of natural history. They sailed from Deptford in the middle of February 1816, and arrived at Malemba about the end of June. The mafouk, or king's chief minister of the place, gave them at first a cordial reception, but soon showed hostility, when he learnt that they had no intention of purchasing slaves. Soon after, they entered the Congo, which much disappointed their expectations, on account of the shallowness of its channel. The river, however, was then at a low ebb; its banks were marshy, and its waters moved slowly and silently between forests of mangrove trees. The air was filled with the discordant croak of innumerable parrots, diversified somewhat by the notes of a few singing birds. As they proceeded, the river, instead of diminishing, seemed to increase in volume. At Embomma, much interest was excited among the natives, by the discovery that their cook's mate was the son of a native prince. His arrival was the signal for general rejoicing, and the enraptured father hastened to welcome his heir. During the night the village resounded with music and songs. "Next day the ci-devant cook appeared in all the pomp of African royalty, with a tarnished silk embroidered coat, a black glazed hat with an enormous feather, and a silk sash; he was carried in a hammock by two slaves, with an umbrella over his head."