Soon after Clapperton’s return to London from his first expedition to Africa, he wrote to the friend with whom he had lived during his residence in Edinburgh, expressing the pleasure which he felt in being again in Britain, and informing him, that since his arrival in London, he had been so busily employed in making out reports to government, that he had not a moment’s leisure to attend either to pleasure or friendship. In a subsequent letter, he told him, that along with his other duties and avocations, he had to prepare his part of the “journal of the expedition,” that it might be ready for publication before his departure on the second mission. “I have got,” says he, “no sinecure in this new appointment. I have to see the whole of the presents sent off without any one to assist me. My Journal will scarce be complete before I go, and the necessary attendance at the public offices is truly harassing.” In a letter of a later date, he says “You cannot have any idea of the infinite trouble and anxiety I have had since I have been in London. If I receive honour and praise, they are assuredly earned with labour and pain. The whole of the arrangements for the new mission have fallen upon me. To give you an outline of what I am to do, or where I am to go, is at present impossible, but when I get to sea I shall write to you more fully.” From Portsmouth, 27th August, 1825, he tells the same correspondent, “We leave England this morning; and as far as I am concerned, I have experienced nothing but misery and trouble since my arrival, and look forward to our voyage for peace and rest.” In this letter, he mentions that Mr. Brown of the Linnæan Society had called one of the plants in Dr. Oudney’s collection by the name of that lamented gentleman, and after sending compliments and remembrances to several of his intimate acquaintances, he bids an affecting, and, as it proved, a final farewell to his “dear friend.”
On the 27th of August 1825, Captain Clapperton and his associates of this second expedition, with their servants, embarked in his Majesty’s ship Brazen, at Portsmouth, and arrived off Whidah on the 26th of November thereafter. Here Dr. Dickson landed for the purpose of proceeding into the interior, along with a Portuguese named De Seusa. The design of their journey is not unfolded in any of the journals which have been published by the travellers; but the agreement between Dr. Dickson and Captain Clapperton was, that after the former had traversed the kingdom of Dahomy and the adjacent countries, he should rejoin his friend, the Captain, at Jennah. Lander, in his recently published “Records of Captain Clapperton,” says the parting between the friends was tender and affecting, and seemed to intimate that they should meet again no more. “Study the natives well,” said the Captain to the Doctor, “respect their institutions, and be kind to them on all occasions; for it is on paying proper respect to these rules, and these only, that you must ground your hope of being successful in your progress through the country; and the conduct of the people to you will be guided by your behaviour towards them. Set a guard upon your temper, my dear Dickson, and never, let it lead you into error.” “We meet at Jennah, then,” said the Doctor, with an inquiring eye, and anxious half doubting look. “We meet at Jennah,” answered Captain Clapperton, solemnly. “Once more adieu, my dear Dickson, and may God bless and protect you.” Lander adds, that it was reported that Dr. Dickson was slain in a quarrel with the natives, about two days’ journey from Shar; and so was the first of the mission who fell a victim to African research.
The Brazen proceeded with the other members of the mission to the river Benin or Formosa; and on the advice of Mr. Houtson, an English merchant whom they met there, they relinquished the plan of ascending that river, and went into the interior from Badagry. They could hear no tidings at Whidah either of Sultan Bello or of his messengers, and as for Funda and Raka, such towns were wholly unknown at that place.
Besides the gentlemen of the mission, whose names have been already mentioned, there were in the capacity of servants, Columbus, a West Indian mulatto, who had accompanied Major Denham in the previous journey; Pasko, a black native of Houssa, who had served on board an English man-of-war, and though a great scoundrel, was useful as an interpreter; George Dawson, an English sailor, engaged at Badagry, as servant to Dr. Morrison; and Richard Lander, Captain Clapperton’s own confidential servant. This man had been a wanderer from his youth. When only eleven years of age, he accompanied a mercantile gentleman to the West Indies. He was absent three years; and on his return went to France and other places on the continent, as a gentleman’s servant, and continued abroad in that capacity till his nineteenth year. On his return home, he did not stay long in his native country, but went to South Africa with Major Colebrook, and traversed, along with that gentleman, the whole of the Cape colony, from one extremity to the other. The reason why he left Major Colebrook has not been made public, but, on his return to England in 1824, he heard of Captain Clapperton’s second expedition to the interior of Africa, and regarding the adventure as something peculiarly suited to his roving disposition, he went to the Captain and tendered his services, which were accepted. His own account of the matter is as follows:—“The Captain listened to me with attention, and after I had answered a few interrogations, willingly engaged me to be his confidential servant. In this interview the keen penetrating eye of the African traveller did not escape my observation, and by its fire, energy, and quickness, depicted, in my own opinion at least, the very soul of enterprise and adventure.” This man continued faithful and attached to Clapperton to the last; and to him we are indebted for the preservation of his beloved master’s journal, from which, in connexion with his own recently published “Records” of the Expedition, we derive all that can now be known of the last stage of Captain Clapperton’s short but eventful career.[11]
Clapperton and his associates commenced their journey from Badagry upon the 7th of December 1825; and, regardless of what they could not but know either from the information of others, or—as was the case with some of them at least—from their own personal experience, that an African climate was most unfriendly to European constitutions, they were guilty of the great imprudence of sleeping the first night of their journey upon the low and swampy banks of the river, or rather creek, named Bawie, under the open canopy of heaven. Lander says they had previously been drinking; and adds, that next morning they found themselves wet to the skin with the heavy dew which had fallen during the night. And, as he remarks, after the Quarterly Review, “in all probability were thus sown the seeds of those disorders which subsequently broke out with such fatal virulence, and produced suffering, disease, and death to almost the whole of the little party.” The second night after that was likewise spent in the open air, and, in the morning, the clothes of the party were saturated with dew. This exceedingly imprudent conduct was speedily followed by its natural consequences. On the 10th Clapperton was seized with ague, from which it would appear he never perfectly recovered. Dr. Morrison and Captain Pearce soon after became very unwell, and died before they had proceeded far on their journey. About the same time one of the servants died, and Lander was so ill that no hopes were entertained of his recovery. The loss of Captain Pearce is thus bewailed by his friend and companion in danger, Captain Clapperton: “The death of Captain Pearce has caused me much concern; for, independently of his amiable qualities as a friend and companion, he was eminently fitted, by his talents, his perseverance, and his fortitude, to be of singular service to the mission, and on these accounts I deplore his loss as the greatest I could have sustained, both as regards my private feelings and the public service.” One day about this time, when our traveller was sick and sorrowful, as he reposed under the shade of trees which skirted the way, unable to proceed, a native, on horseback, moved by the kindness of a generous nature, quickly dismounted, and offered the invalid the use of his horse—a proffer which was gratefully accepted. Both Clapperton and Lander speak with rapture respecting the beauty and fertility of the country through which they passed, from the western coast to the City of Sackatoo, where their journey and the life of the former were unhappily terminated. The country is represented by them as extremely populous, and the inhabitants, unless when selfish feelings intervened, as possessing very kind, and even generous dispositions. Our traveller did all in his power to recover the books, papers, and other property, which might have been left by the unfortunate and lamented Mungo Park, as well as to ascertain an accurate account of the manner of his death, but with little success. The chiefs in the neighbourhood of Boussa, where the event occurred, were anxious to avoid all communication on the subject; and some of them were greatly embarrassed when they were questioned respecting it. He received the following account of the death of that unfortunate traveller from an eye-witness:—“He said, that when the boat came down the river, it happened unfortunately just at the time that the Fellatahs first rose in arms, and were ravaging Goobur and Zamfra; that the Sultan of Boussa, on hearing that the persons in the boat were white men, and that the boat was different from any that had ever been seen before, as she had a house at one end, called his people together from the neighbouring towns, attacked and killed them, not doubting that they were the advance guard of the Fellatah army then ravaging Soudan, under the command of Malem Danfodio, the father of the present Bello; that one of the white men was a tall man, with long hair; that they fought for three days before they were killed; that the people in the neighbourhood were very much alarmed, and great numbers fled to Niffé and other countries, thinking that the Fellatahs were certainly among them. The number of persons in the boat was only four, two white men and two blacks; that they found great treasure in the boat; but that the people had all died who eat of the meat that was found in her.” “This account,” Clapperton adds, “I believe to be the most correct of all that I have yet got; and was told to me without my putting any questions, or showing any eagerness for him to go on with his story.”
At Wawa, or according to Lander’s orthography of the town, Waw Waw, Clapperton had a singular adventure with a rich widow of Arabian extraction. This lady was between 30 and 40 years of age, and being fairer than the natives of the city of her residence, was anxious to be regarded as a white woman. She was the richest person in Wawa, having the best house in town, and a thousand slaves; and was withal a “perfect Turkish beauty—just like a walking water-butt.” Her great riches, and her intriguing disposition, had prompted her oftener than once to rise in rebellion against her rightful sovereign, who always had the gallantry generously to pardon her on her submission. Though it might have been supposed that the age of the tender passions was over with the widow, yet she fell violently in love with Lander, and tried all the female arts and winning ways her ingenuity could suggest to induce him to visit her at her own house, but without success. She, however, visited him; and on these occasions Clapperton humoured the joke, and fanned the love-sick widow’s flame by sounding the praises of his servant. He sat with as much non challance as if he had been at home in a Scottish cottage, with his arms folded, rolling out great volumes of smoke from his pipe, enjoying this singular scene of African courtship, and saying at intervals, to induce the widow to persevere in her suit, “See what beautiful eyes he has,—if you were to search from Badagry to Wawa, and from Wawa to Badagry, you would not find such eyes.” While all the time poor Lander was embarrassed with the amorous attentions of the widow, and was afraid lest he should be squeezed to death by the closeness of her tender embraces. At length he mustered courage fairly to tell her that he could not return her passion; and though she afterwards ceased to persecute him farther, she was not, as many of her sex in similar circumstances would have been, actuated by the least feeling of revenge. On the contrary, she continued to regard him with kindness to the last, but forthwith transferred her love to Clapperton.
To ingratiate herself with him, she sent him rich and abundant store of provisions ready cooked, and endeavoured to gain his black rascal of a servant, Pasko, to her interests, by bribing him with a handsome female slave for a wife. She invited the captain to pay her a visit, which he accepted, and has given us, in his journal, the following graphic account of his entertainment:—
“Not being much afraid of myself, and wishing to see the interior arrangement of her house, I went and visited her. I found her house large, and full of male and female slaves; the males lying about the outer huts, the females more in the interior. In the centre of the huts was a square one of large dimensions, surrounded by verandahs, with screens of matting all around, except in one place, where there was hung a tanned bullock’s hide; to this spot I was led up, and, on its being drawn to one side, I saw the lady sitting cross-legged on a small Turkey carpet, like one of our hearth-rugs, a large leather cushion under her left knee; her goora-pot, which was a large old-fashioned pewter mug, by her side, and a calebash of water to wash her mouth out, as she alternately kept eating goora, and chewing tobacco snuff, the custom with all ranks, male or female, who can procure them; on her right side lay a whip. At a little distance, squatted on the ground, sat a dwarfish hump-backed female slave, with a wide mouth, but good eyes; she had on no clothing, if I except a profusion of strings of beads and coral round her neck and waist. This personage served the purposes of a bell in our country, and what, I suppose, would in old times have been called a page. The lady herself was dressed in a white clean muslin turban; her neck profusely decorated with necklaces of coral and gold chains, amongst which was one of rubies and gold beads; her eyebrows and eyelashes black, her hair dyed with indigo, and her hands and feet with henna; around her body she had a fine striped silk and cotton country cloth, which came as high as her tremendous breasts, and reached as low as her ankles; in her right hand she held a fan made of stained grass, of a square form. She desired me to sit down on the carpet beside her, which I did, and she began fanning me, and sent hump-back to bring out her finery for me to look at; which consisted of four gold bracelets, two large paper dressing-cases, with looking-glasses, and several strings of coral, silver rings, and bracelets, with a number of other trifling articles. After a number of compliments, and giving me an account of all her wealth, I was led through one apartment into another, cool, clean, and ornamented with pewter dishes and bright brass pans. She now told me her husband had been dead these ten years, that she had only one son and he was darker than herself; that she loved white men, and would go to Boussa with me. I thought this was carrying the joke a little too far, and began to look very serious, on which she sent for the looking-glass, and looking at herself, then offering it to me, said, to be sure she was rather older than I was, but very little, and what of that? This was too much, and I made my retreat as soon as I could, determined never to come to such close quarters with her again.”
A short time after this interview with the beautiful and amorous widow Zuma, Clapperton went to Boussa, leaving Lander and his baggage in Wawa; and though the widow did not actually accompany him in his journey thither, as she had intimated her intention of doing; yet she followed very speedily after him. On this occasion, Lander informs us, she was dressed in a mantle of scarlet silk and gold, and loose trowsers of scarlet silk, with red morocco boots, and an ample white turban on her head; she rode astride on a noble horse decorated with brass plates and bells, with a profusion of charms or amulets in green, red, and yellow leather. Her saddle-cloth was of scarlet, and both widow and horse were singularly imposing. In her train were many spearmen and bowmen on horseback, with a band of musicians furnished with drums, fiddles, guitars, and flutes.
The romantic intention of Zuma was to accompany Clapperton wherever he went. The Sultan, however, was anxious, for the sake of his revenue and the security of his throne, to counteract the widow’s designs; and his first step for that end was to put an embargo on Lander and Clapperton’s baggage, and his next was to despatch a strong party in pursuit of the fugitive widow, with strict injunctions to bring her back. This was accomplished, and, on her submission, she was pardoned. The travellers saw the widow no more, and the serious consequences by which this singular adventure was likely to be followed, made them resolve to be more cautious in future in giving encouragement to the advances of the African ladies. But Zuma was not the only belle of distinction who wished to attach herself to Clapperton. He was, while at Wawa, haunted even to annoyance by another lady of high rank. “I was pestered,” he says, “for three or four days by the governor’s daughter, who used to come several times in the day, painted and bedizened in the highest style of Wawa fashion, but always half tipsy; I could only get rid of her by telling her that I prayed and looked at the stars all night, never drank any thing stronger than roa in zafir, which they call my tea—literally hot water: She always departed in a flood of tears.”