Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 2.djvu/251

Rh verting telescope was an object of immense astonishment ; and I had to stand at some little distance, to let the sultan look at me through it, for his people were all afraid of placing themselves within its magical influence. I had next to show him how to take an observation of the sun. The case of the artificial horizon, of which I had lost the key, was sometimes very difficult to open, as happened on this occasion : I asked one of the people near me for a knife to press up the lid. He handed me one quite too small, and I quite inadvertently asked for a dagger for the same purpose. The sultan was immediately thrown into a fright; he seized his sword, and half-drawing it from the scabbard, placed it before him, trembling all the time like an aspen leaf. I did not deem it prudent to take the least notice of his alarm, although it was I who had in reality most cause of fear; and on receiving the dagger, I calmly opened the case, and returned the weapon to its owner with apparent unconcern. When the artificial horizon was arranged, the sultan, and all his attendants had a peep at the sun; and my breach of etiquette seemed entirely forgotten." The courage and presence of mind of Clapperton are most strikingly displayed in this anecdote.

Clapperton was very anxious to have pressed westwards in order to fall in with the Niger, which he was told was within five days' journey, and the course of which was described to him by the sultan. But owing to some of those malign jealousies which the slave trade inspires into the African mind, he was not permitted to proceed. He set out, May 4, on his return to Kouka, which he reached on the 8th of July. Here he was rejoined by Denham, who scarcely knew him, on account of the ravages which illness had committed upon his once manly frame. The two remaining travellers then set out on their return to Tripoli, which, after a harassing journey across the desert, they reached, January, 26, 1825, about three years after they had first set foot in Africa. They returned through Italy to Europe, and arrived in England on the 1st of June.

The result of this expedition was a work published in 1826, under the title of "Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa, in the years 1822, 1823, and 1824, by Major Denham, F.E.S., Captain Clapperton, and the late Dr Oudney," of which a third edition was published in 1828. The greater part of this work was the composition of Denham, Clapperton only writing a minor part, respecting the excursion to Jackatoo, which, however, is not the -least interesting in the book. The subject of our memoir wrote in a plain, manly, unaffected style, as might have been expected from his character. The work was published under the immediate superintendence of major Denham; and it was not the fate of Clapperton ever to see the result of his labours in print.

This enterprising person was solicited, immediately after his return, to undertake the management of another expedition to Africa, in company with captain Pearce of the royal navy, Dr Morrison, and Mr Dickson. On this occasion it was projected, that he should enter the continent, with his companions, at the Guinea coast, and thence endeavour to reach Jackatoo in a north-easterly direction, so as to make sure of intersecting the Niger. An enterprising youth, named Richard Lander, applied to Clapperton for permission to join the expedition in any capacity he might think proper. "The captain," we are informed by this individual, in his Narrative subsequently published, "listened to me with attention, and, after I had answered a few interrogations, willingly engaged me to be his confidential servant. In this interview," adds Mr Lander, "the keen, penetrating eye of the African traveller did not escape my observation, and by its fire, energy, and quickness, denoted, in my own opinion at least, the very soul of enterprise and adventure." After being entrusted with