On the following morning, the remains of this lamented officer were interred, in the presence of all the principal people of the town. The grave was staked round by the inhabitants, and a shed built over it. An inscription was carved on a board, and placed at the head of the grave by Lander, Captain Clapperton being unable to sit up, or to assist in any manner in the mournful ceremony. Thus did Captain Clapperton see himself bereft of his comrades, and left to pursue his journey in very painful and distressing circumstances, with only Richard Lander as his servant, who stood by him in all his fortunes, and Pascoe, not a very trusty African, whom he had hired at Badagry. Two days after the interment of Captain Pearce, Mr. Houston joined Captain Clapperton from Jannah, bearing the intelligence of the death of Dr. Morrison.
These unfortunate officers had been conveyed thus far, about seventy miles, in hammocks, by the people of the country, every where experiencing the kindest attention, lodged in the best houses, and supplied with every thing that the country afforded. The fear, however, that continually preyed upon the mind of Lander was excessive; for the general appearance of Captain Clapperton indicated that he would soon join his comrades in the grave; he was able occasionally to ride on horseback, and sometimes to walk, but he was greatly debilitated, and subject to a high degree of fever. By anticipation, Lander saw himself a solitary wanderer in the interior of Africa, bereft of all those resources with which Clapperton was liberally supplied, and his only hope of deliverance resting on his being able to accomplish his return to Badagry, literally as a Christian mendicant. Lander describes the country between Badagry and Jannah, the frontier town of the kingdom of Youriba, as abounding in population, well cultivated with plantations of Indian corn, different kinds of millet, yams, plantains, wherever the surface was open and free from the noxious influence of dense and unwholesome forests.
The old caboceer of Jannah was, according to the report of Lander, a merry, jocose kind of companion. On one occasion, when he was surrounded by a whole crowd of the natives, and was informed that the English had only one wife, they all broke out into a loud laugh, in which the women in particular joined immoderately. The vanity of this old negro almost exceeded belief; during the ceremony of the reception of Captain Clapperton and Mr. Houston, he changed his dress three different times, each time, as he thought, increasing the splendour of his appearance.
The whole court in which they were received, although very large, was filled, crowded, and crammed with people, except a place in front, where the august strangers sat, into which his highness led Captain Clapperton and Mr. Houston, in each hand, followed by Lander, who, ever and anon, first to the right, and then to the left, felt a twitch at the tail of his coat, and on looking to ascertain the cause, found it to have proceeded from the fair hands of a bewitching negress, who, casting upon him a look of irresistible fascination, accompanied by a smile from a pair of huge pouting lips, between which appeared a row of teeth, for which one of the toothless grannies at Almack's would have given half her dowry, seemed to be anxious of trying the experiment of how far the heart of an Englishman was susceptible of the tender passion, especially when excited by objects of such superlative beauty. It may be supposed that neither Clapperton nor Houston had as yet taken any lessons in the art and mystery of African dancing, and as to waltzing, neither of them felt any great inclination to be encircled in the arms of a negress, who, although she might be young and graceful in her attitudes, had a scent about her of stinking rancid oil, which was not very agreeable to the olfactory nerves of the delicate Europeans. However, it was the etiquette of the court,—and every court, from the Cape of Good Hope to the country of Boothia, that is, if a court were ever held in the latter place,—is cursed with the ridiculous forms of ceremony and etiquette; it must be repeated, that at the court which his highness the caboceer of Jannah, in the plenitude of his official importance, held at that place, it was a rule of etiquette, that every stranger, of whatever rank or nation, should choose for himself a partner, wherewith to dance an African fandango or bolero; and it may be easily supposed that, when the Europeans looked around them, and saw the African beauties squatting on their haunches, or reclining, in graceful negligence, on banks of mud, a great difficulty existed as to whom they should select to be their partners in the African quadrille. We have ourselves been in a ball-room where the beating of the female heart was almost audible, when the object of its secret attachment approached to lead out the youthful beauty to the dancing circle; and although it cannot be supposed, that, on so short an acquaintance, the heart of any beautiful negress palpitated at the approach of Captain Clapperton, Mr. Houston, or the more timid and bashful Lander, yet it was evident that the negresses, who were selected as their partners, testified their unqualified delight at the honour conferred upon them by a grin, which in a civilized country would be called a smile, but which happened to be of that extent, as if nature had furnished them with a mouth extending from ear to ear, similar to the opening of the jaws of a dogger codfish. The Taglionis and Elsters of the court were present; and although a latitude of a few degrees to the northward of the line is not exactly suitable for pirouetting and tourbillons, which, in a negress in a state of almost complete nudity, could not fail to attract the doting eyes even of the bishop of London, or of Sir Andrew Agnew, particularly on the Sabbath; yet, on this occasion, the beauties of the court attempted to outvie each other in the gracefulness of their attitudes, and the extraordinary height of their salutations. There is very little doubt but that the tout ensemble would have formed an excellent subject for a Cruickshanks, and particularly to take a sketch of the old black caboceer, sailing majestically around in his damask robe, with a train-bearer behind him, and every now and then turning up his old withered face, first to one of his visitors, and then to the other; then whisking round on one foot, and treading without ceremony on the shoeless foot of his perspiring partner, then marching slow, with solemn gait, like the autocrat of all the Russias in a polonnaise, then, not exactly leading gracefully down the middle, but twining the hands of his visitors in his, which had very much the appearance of a piebald affair, showing at the same time an extraordinary inflation of pride, that a white man should dance with him. But the fate of Lander was the most to be commiserated; for although it might be the etiquette of his country, that master and servant should not be quadrilling at the same time, yet as no such distinction existed in the court of the old caboceer of Jannah, as far as the sentiments of the female beauties were concerned, poor Lander led the very devil of a life of it. He certainly, as it would have been highly unbecoming in him, did not solicit the hand of any of the expectant beauties, and therefore, giving him all due credit for his extreme bashfulness and insuperable modesty, they were determined to solicit his; he was first twirled round by one beauty, then by another; at one moment he found himself in a state of juxta position with the old caboceer; at another, his animated partner was nearly driving him into a state of positive collision with his own master; in fact he was, like Tom at Almack's, putting the whole of the dancers into confusion, from his ignorance of the intricacies of the African dance, and his total inability to compete with his partner in her gymnastic evolutions. One of the most graceful movements, according to the opinion of the natives, consists in a particular part of the body, situated, as the metaphysicians would term it, a posteriori, coming into contact with a similar part of the body of the partner, with as much violence as the physical strength of the female dancer can effect; and if on any of these occasions the equilibrium should be lost, and the weaker individual laid prostrate upon the ground, the laugh then sounds throughout the whole assembly, and the beauty is highly extolled, who by her prowess could have so well effected the prostration of her partner. Now it is very possible, that when a person knows of an evil coming over him, he will be so upon his guard as to prevent any disastrous consequences arising from it; but Lander not being aware that any accident could befall him from any movement of the lady who had selected him, much against his will, as her partner, was footing it away very composedly and becomingly, when a tremendous blow was inflicted on a certain part of the hinder portion of his body, which being as irresistible as if it had come from a battering-ram of the Romans, laid him prostrate on the floor, to the infinite delight of all the fashionables of the court, particularly the female part, who testified their joy by the utterance of the loudest laughs and clapping their hands in an extacy of mirth. In fact, the travellers entered into all the humours of the day, and thus, as Captain Clapperton expressed himself, "cheered we our old friend, and he was cheered."
The country between Tshow and Engwa, where the ground has been cleared, is described by Lander as excessively beautiful, diversified by hills and dales, a small stream running through each valley. All the towns, however, are situated in the bosom of an inaccessible wood. The approach is generally through an avenue, defended by three stockades, with narrow wicker gates, and only one entrance. Beyond Engwa, the state of the atmosphere becomes much improved, the country being clear and gradually rising, and on the high grounds, large blocks of grey granite cropped out, indicated their approach to a range of primitive mountains. The plains were covered with the female cocoa nut, and with long high grass. Walled towns occur at the end of short stages, each containing from five to ten thousand inhabitants. Those at which the travellers halted were called Afoura, Assula, Assonda, and Chocho. At Afoura, the granite formation began to show itself. Assula is surrounded with a wall and a ditch, and contains about six thousand inhabitants. At these places, the travellers were abundantly supplied with provisions, and regaled with dancing and singing the whole night, by the apparently happy natives.
On leaving the town of Chocho, the road wound through beautiful valleys, planted in many places with cotton, corn, yams, and bananas and on the tops and hollows of the hills were perched the houses and villages of the proprietors of these plantations. At this very time, however, "a slaving war," was being carried on at only a few hours ride from the route taken by the travellers; such is the withering curse that hangs over the fairest regions of this devoted country.
The next stage from Bendekka to Duffoo, lay through mountain scenery of a still wilder character. Rugged and gigantic blocks of grey granite rose to the height of between six and seven hundred feet above the valleys, which now contracted to defiles scarcely a hundred yards in breadth, then widened to half a mile, and in one part the route crossed a wide table land. The soil is rich, but shallow, except along the fine streams of water which run through the valleys, where large tall trees were growing. The sides of the mountains are bare, but stunted trees and shrubs fill all the crevices. The valleys are well cultivated with cotton, corn, and yams. This cluster of hills is said to rise in the province of Borgoo, behind Ashantee, and to run through Jaboo to Benin, in a direction from W.N.W. to E.S.E. The width of the range is about eighty miles.
From a summit overlooking the town of Duffoo, a grand and beautiful view was obtained of mountains, precipices, and valleys in every direction. The top of the hill was covered with women grinding corn. This mount might be almost called a large corn mill. Here and in every other place, the king of Eyeo's wives were found trading for his majesty, and like women of the common class, carrying large loads on their heads from town to town. The town of Daffoo is said to contain a population of 15,000 souls. On leaving it the road wound between two hills, descending over rugged rocks, beneath impending masses of granite, which seemed ready to start from their base, to the destruction of all below. It continued to ascend and descend as far as the town of Woza, which stands on the edge of a table-land, gently descending, well cultivated, and watered by several streams. The stage terminated at another fortified town called Chradoo, containing upwards of seven thousand inhabitants.
On leaving this town on the following morning, they were attended by the worthy caboceer, and an immense train of men, women, and children; the women singing in chorus, whilst drums, horns, and gongs, formed a barbarous and discordant accompaniment to their agreeable voices. A difficult and dangerous road over broken rocks, and through rugged passes, where the natives were perched in groups to see the travellers pass, led in five hours to the large and populous town of Erawa. Here they were received with drums, the people as usual curious beyond measure, but very kind. The next day a mountain pass led through a thickly populous tract, to a town called Washoo, beyond which place they entered a second range of mountains, more elevated and of a more savage character, than any they had hitherto passed; they appeared as if some great convulsion of nature had thrown the immense masses of granite in wild and terrific confusion. The road through this mountain pass, according to the information of Lander, was grand and imposing, sometimes rising almost perpendicularly, then descending in the midst of rocks into deep dells; then winding beautifully round the side of a steep hill, the rocks above overhanging them in fearful uncertainty. In every cleft of the hills, wherever there appeared the least soil, were cottages, surrounded with small plantations of millet, yams, and plantains, giving a beautiful variety to the rude scenery. The road continued rising, hill above hill, for at least two miles, until their arrival at the large and populous town of Chaki, situated on the top of the very highest hill. On every hand, on the hills, on the rocks, and crowding on the road, the inhabitants were assembled in thousands, the women welcoming them with holding up their hands, and chanting choral songs, and the men with the usual salutations, and every demonstration of joy. The caboceer was seated on the outside of his house, surrounded by his ladies, his singing men, and singing women, his drums, fifes, and gong-gongs. He was a good-looking man, about fifty years of age, with a pleasing countenance. His house was all ready for the reception of the strangers, and he immediately procured for them a large supply of goats, sheep, and yams, pressing them strongly to stay a day or two with them. He appeared to consider them as messengers of peace, come with blessings to his king and country. Indeed a belief was very prevalent, and seems to have gone before them all the way, that they were charged with a commission to make peace wherever there was war, and to do good to every country through which they passed. The caboceer of this town indeed told them so, and said he hoped that they would be enabled to settle the war with the Nyffee people and the Fellatas, and the rebellion of the Houssa slaves, who had risen against the king of Yariba. When Lander shook hands with him, he passed his hand over the heads of his chiefs, as confirming on them a white man's blessing. He was more inquisitive and more communicative than any one whom they had yet seen. He sat until nearly midnight, talking and inquiring about England. On asking, if he would send one of his sons to see England, he rose up with alacrity, and said, he would go himself. He inquired how many wives an Englishman had. On being told only one, he seemed much astonished, and laughed greatly, as did all his people. "What does he do," said he, "when one of his wives has a child? Our caboceer has two thousand!!"
On leaving Chaka, the caboceer escorted them several miles, attended by upwards of two hundred of his wives, one of whom was young and handsome. The country was now extremely beautiful, clear of wood, and partly cultivated; and a number of Fellata villages were passed, the inhabitants of which live here as they do in most other parts of Soudan, a quiet and inoffensive pastoral life, unmolested by the black natives, and not interfering with their customs.