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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Dr. Morrison, After Being Carried In A Hammock
As Far As Tshow, Finding Himself Grow No Better, Was Left Behind,
Under The Charge Of Mr. Houston, Who Was To See Him Safe Back To The
Coast.
He, however, expired at Jannah on the 27th.
On the same day,
at a town called Engwa, Captain Pearce breathed his last. On this
occasion, Captain Clapperton says, "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,
perseverance, and fortitude, to be of singular service to the
expedition, 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."
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.
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