In The Year 1788, The African Institution Was Formed:

Its object was to send persons properly qualified to make discoveries in the interior of Africa.

The first person engaged by them was Mr. Ledyard; and, from all accounts of him, no person could have been better qualified for such an arduous enterprise: he was strong, healthy, active, intelligent, inquisitive, observant, and undaunted; full of zeal, and sanguine of success; and, at the same time, open, kind, and insinuating in his looks and manners. At Cairo he prepared himself for his undertaking, by visiting the slave market, in order to converse with the merchants of the various caravans, and learn all the particulars connected with his proposed journey, and the countries from which they came. But be proceeded no farther than Cairo: here he was seized with an illness, occasioned or aggravated by the delay in the caravans setting out for Sennaar, which proved fatal.

Mr Lucas was the next person employed by the African Institution. In October, 1788, he arrived at Tripoli, from whence he set out with two shereefs for Fezzan, by the way of Mescerata. On the fourth day after his departure, he reached Lebida, on the sea coast, the Leptis Magna of the Romans. He found, on his arrival at Mescerata, that he should not be able to procure the number of camels necessary to convey his goods to Fezzan; and was obliged to abandon his enterprize. From the information which he derived, at Mescerata, confirmed as it was by what the Association had learnt from the narrative of a native of Morocco, the geography of Africa was extended from Fezzan, across the eastern division of the Desert, to Bornou, Cashna, and the Niger.

In a year or two after the return of Mr. Lucas, the African Association, who were indefatigable in endeavouring to obtain information from all sources, learnt some interesting and original circumstances from an Arab. This person described a large empire on the banks of the Niger, in the capital of which, Housa, he had resided two years: this city he rather vaguely and inconsistently described as equalling London and Cairo in extent and population. As it was necessary to scrutinize the truth and consistency of his narrative, what he related was at first received with caution and doubt, but an incidental circumstance seemed to prove him worthy of credit; for in describing the manner in which pottery was manufactured at Housa, which he did by imitating the actions of those who made it, it was remarked that he actually described the ancient Grecian wheel.

In order to learn whether the accounts of this man were true and accurate, the African Institution sent out Major Houghton: he was instructed to ascertain the course, and, if possible, the rise and termination of the Niger; to visit Tombuctoo and Housa, and to return by the Desert. Accordingly he sailed up the Gambia to Pisania, and thence he proceeded to Medina, the capital of the Mandingo kingdom.

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