Travels Of Richard And John Lander Into The Interior Of Africa For The Discovery Of The Course And Termination Of The Niger By Robert Huish
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We Cannot Trace Any Record, Stating The Period Or The Manner In Which
The Portuguese And Their Officious Missionaries Were
Expelled from
Congo; it is, however, supposed that they at length carried their
religious innovations to such a length, as
To draw down upon them the
vengeance of the people, and that some bold and decisive steps were
taken to liberate the country from its usurpers. It is, however,
certain, that Capt. Tucky, in his late expedition, did not find a
single trace of either the Portuguese or their missionaries on the
banks of the Zaire.
The traveller has ever found much greater difficulty in making
discoveries in Mahometan than in Gentoo or Pagan countries, and from
this cause the great continent of Africa is much less known to
Europeans than it was in ancient times. Until the present age, and a
very recent part of it, our knowledge of that immense portion of the
globe extended but very little way from the coast, and its
enterprises have made great advances to a knowledge of that interior
before unexplored. The design of examining on land Africa, to find
out the manners, habits, and institutions of its men, the state of
the country, its commercial capabilities in themselves, and relative
to this country, formed the African Association. From the liberal
sentiments, knowledge, and comprehensive views of that society, were
the courage and enterprise of adventurers stimulated to particular
undertakings of discovery.
CHAPTER II.
We are now arrived at the period when England, aroused by the
commercial advantages, which Portugal was deriving from her African
possessions, determined, in defiance of the pope of Rome and "the
Lords of Guinea," to participate in the treasures, and to form her
own settlements on the African coast, although it must be admitted,
that one of the motives by which the English merchants were actuated,
was not founded on humanity or patriotism. The glorious and splendid
results, which had arisen from the discovery of the East and West
Indies, caused the ocean to be generally viewed as the grand theatre
where wealth and glory were to be gained. The cultivation of the West
India Islands by the labour of Europeans, was found to be a task
almost impracticable, and the attention was thence drawn to discover
a source, from which manual labour could be obtained, adapted to the
climate, and this resource was soon found in the black population of
Africa. It is not to be doubted, that many of our African settlements
were formed for the purpose of procuring a supply of slaves, for the
West India possessions, at the same time, the attention of others was
excited by a far more innocent and brilliant prospect. It was in the
beginning of the seventeenth century, that an unbounded spirit of
enterprise appears to have been excited amongst the British
merchants, by vague reports of an Africa El Dorado. The most
flattering reports had reached Europe, of the magnitude of the gold
trade carried on at Timbuctoo, and along the course of the Niger;
despatches were even received from Morocco, representing its
treasures, as surpassing those of Mexico and Peru, and in 1618, a
company was formed in London, for the express purpose of penetrating
to the country of gold, and to Timbuctoo. Exaggeration stepped in to
inflame the minds of the speculators, with the enormous wealth which
awaited them in the interior of Africa. The roofs of the houses were
represented to be covered with plates of gold, that the bottoms of
the rivers glistened with the precious metal, and the mountains had
only to be excavated, to yield a profusion of the metallic treasure.
From the northern part of Africa, impediments of almost an
insuperable nature presented themselves, to the attainment of these
great advantages; immense deserts, as yet unexplored by human foot,
and the knowledge of the existence of tribes of barbarous people on
the borders of them, were in themselves sufficient to daunt the
spirit of adventure in those quarters, and ultimately drew the
attention to the discovery of another channel, by which the golden
treasures of Timbuctoo could be reached, without encountering the
appalling dangers of the deserts, or the murderous intentions of the
natives.
The existence of the great river Niger, had been established by the
concurrent testimony of all navigators, but of its course or origin,
not the slightest information had been received. The circumstance of
its waters flowing from the eastward, gave rise to the conjecture,
that they flowed through the interior of the continent, and emptied
themselves either by the Senegal or the Gambia, into the Atlantic. It
was, therefore, considered probable, that by ascending the Senegal or
the Gambia, which were supposed to be merely tributary streams of the
Niger, of which they formed the estuary, that Timbuctoo and the
country of gold might be reached; and so strongly was this opinion
impressed upon the minds of the merchants, and other adventurers,
that a journey to Timbuctoo became the leading project of the day,
and measures were accordingly taken to carry it into execution.
The first person sent out by the company established for exploring
the Gambia, was Richard Thompson, a Barbary merchant, a man of some
talent and enterprise, who sailed from the Thames in the Catherine,
of 120 tons, with a cargo valued at nearly two thousand pounds
sterling. The expedition of Thompson was unfortunate in the extreme,
but the accounts received of his adventures and death, have been
differently recited. It is certain, that Thompson ascended the Gambia
as far as Tenda, a point much beyond what any European had before
reached, and according to one account, he was here attacked by the
Portuguese, who succeeded in making a general massacre of the
English. Another account states, that he was killed in an affray with
his own people, and thence has been styled the first martyr, or more
properly the first victim in the cause of African discovery.
The company, however, nothing daunted by the ill success of Thompson,
despatched another expedition on a larger scale, consisting of the
Sion of 200 tons, and the St. John of 50, giving the command to
Richard Jobson, to whom we are indebted for the first satisfactory
account of the great river districts of western Africa.
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