Page:Enterprise and Adventure.djvu/82

64 highly, looked well, and completely won the people of all ranks from the Sultan to the slave. The clothes of the whole expedition became, in consequence, stripped of their buttons, after which they had to depend for support on a quantity of livery and soldiers' buttons, which were very dull and dirty, and required many hours' labour to polish them to the suitable degree of brightness.

The Landers returned from their expedition completely successful, and obtained handsome rewards both from the Government and the Geographical Society. The unhappy fate of Richard Lander is well known. Descending the Niger on a subsequent visit in 1834, his canoe was attacked by a party of natives armed with muskets. Lander defended himself gallantly, and the party escaped, but in the engagement, the manly, kindhearted, indefatigable explorer received a wound from a musket ball in the thigh, which, thirteen days later, proved fatal. He died at Fernando Po, at the mouth of that river which he had identified with his name.