John Lander

“ However, they were all as timid as hares, and if the Landers happened to look fixedly in their faces for a moment, most of them, more especially the females and the junior classes of both sexes, started back with terror, as if they had seen a serpent in the grass; and when the Landers attempted to walk near any of them, they ran screaming away, as though they had been pursued by a lion, or were in danger of falling into the jaws of a crocodile, so horrified were these poor people at the bare sight of a white man, and so frightful did their imaginations picture him to be. ”

“ This occasioned Richard Lander to return to his hut for another knife, for he easily foresaw that were he to make any distinction in the value or the number of the articles to the head men, it might be the cause of exciting jealousy and ill blood, and be greatly detrimental to his own interests, for as they were the advisers of the king, they were sure to make that one their enemy, who might look upon his present as less valuable, than those presented to their companions. ”

“ Henry said to Lander. "It was machine guns...."
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Lander had obtained a permit for him, so that he could go to England, and in a little while, he would leave the Club and go to Westland Row to catch the train to Kingstown. There was a strange quietness in his heart. He had lived through a terror and had not been afraid. He had seen men immolating themselves gladly because they had believed that by so doing they would make their country a finer one to live in.
"It was the wrong way," he said to himself, "but in the end, nothing matters but that a man shall offer his life for his belief!" ”

“ Richard Lander was comparatively inured to the climate, but his brother now begun to feel it severely, he was sore, tired, and feverish, and longed to be down in a hut, but they were obliged to remain under a tree for three hours, before they could be favoured with that opportunity, because the chief of that town was engaged in making a fetish, for the purpose of counteracting any evil intentions that the white men might entertain towards him. ”

“ Never was a spectacle more wild and terrific. When this sally of passion to which they had worked themselves, had subsided into calmer and more reasonable behaviour, the Landers presented each of the war-men with a number of needles, as a farther token of their friendly intentions. The chief sat himself down on the turf, with one of the Landers on each side of him, while the men were leaning on their weapons on his right and left. At first, no one could understand what the Landers said, but shortly after an old man made his appearance, who understood the Houssa language. ”

“ In the generality of cases, however, it is to be found that the hostility on the part of the natives was more easy to be quelled by a show of forbearance and an inclination to enter into terms of amity with them, than by an open desire to meet force by force. Lander was by no means ignorant of the African character, he came not amongst them as a perfect stranger, and in all his former transactions with the natives, he had invariably found that he ultimately obtained their good will by a show of forbearance and lenity, more than by a determined spirit of resistance and reprisal. ”

“ The Landers were extremely anxious to expedite their departure from Egga, for although the old chief was extremely kind and hospitable, yet the annoyance from the natives was more than could be borne; for they never could have a moment of rest, their windows and doorways being blocked up by visitors, so that they were literally prevented from inhaling the fresh air, but were like prisoners in a cage to be examined and quizzed by every one, who thought they could pass their jokes with impunity. ”

“ A company of merchants travelling through the country has always a drummer in their pay, who walks at the head of the party, and performs on his instrument continually, be the journey ever so long, for the purpose of animating the slaves to quicken their steps.
Their route lay through a vast and lonely forest, infested by a band of robbers and in which there is not a single human habitation. John Lander went unarmed before the fatakie, and travelled alone, whilst Richard remained behind to defend the carriers, in case of necessity. ”

“ One of the first steps which government adopted on the arrival of Richard Lander, was to issue an order to the authorities at Cape Coast Castle, to pay to King Boy the whole of his demand for the ransom of the Landers, and thereby re-establishing that faith and good opinion with the natives of the country, touching the honour and integrity of the English character.
This journey by individuals who make no pretensions to science, has not afforded materials for the illustration of any of its branches, but previously to the loss of the instruments, the range of the thermometer is recorded. ”

“ After some little consideration, the Landers knew not whether they ought to feel pleasure or regret, thankfulness or indifference, at the arrival of these men, and the occasion which brought them thither; at the time, they could only foresee that they would be a heavy burden on their funds, and as it happened, that they had the utmost difficulty in the world to support themselves, it would cause them additional trouble, expense, and uneasiness, to provide them with the bare necessaries of life. ”

“ They were glad to get out of the Thomas, for the unfeeling commander, notwithstanding that Lander's men had rendered him every service in getting his brig out of the river, and had done every thing required of them, afterwards employed every means he could think of to annoy them, and to make them uncomfortable, while they were with him. At night, while the people were sleeping, he would make his men draw water, and throw it over them, for mere amusement. There are many commanders as bad as he is on the coast, who seem to vie with each other in acts of cruelty and oppression. ”

“ In a postscript, John Lander says, "The fact of the merchants' instructions to the masters of their vessels may be safely depended on. Nothing can be more true. They have gone even farther than I have ventured to hint. They have taken measures to prejudice the minds of the natives against the expedition." ”

“ After cracking fingers a hundred times, and grinning as often, they were informed, that the chief's messenger had returned from Jenna, but for some reason, which Lander could not define, the man was almost immediately sent back again, and they were told that they could not quit Badagry until he again made his appearance. It is the custom in this place, that when a man cannot pay his respects in person to another, he sends a servant with a sword or cane, in the same manner as a gentleman delivers his card in England. ”

“ Unfortunately every one here styled himself a great and powerful man, and Hooper himself calls a host of ragged scoundrels "noblemen and gentlemen," each of whom he advised Lander to conciliate with presents, and especially spirituous liquors, in order to do away any evil impression they might secretly have received, and obtain their suffrages, though it should be at the expense of half the goods in their possession. ”

“ Thus equipped, they are ready to perform the mysteries of their profession, which Lander had not sufficient opportunity to inquire into, but which are quite enough to enslave the minds of the people. They seem to believe in a good and evil spirit; that the good spirit dwells in the river, which accounts for their sacrifices being made on it, and that the evil spirit dwells in a tree, which being full of human skulls, keeps him away from them.
On the morning of the 26th, the duke's principal man came on board the Portia to receive payment for some bullocks, which Mr. Becroft had purchased. ”

“ There might have been generations of Landers, with lives devoted to the cause, the sole reward of which would have been the discovery of a river's source and termination, but now there was combined with that end, the cheering hope of extending civilization, of strangling the hydra, slavery, in its cradle, and of diffusing comfort and happiness over a wide quarter of the globe. Assuredly it is a glorious thing to be signally and prosperously engaged in laying the foundation for a consummation so devoutly to be wished. ”

“ Human beings carrying burthens are the only persons who pay the turnpikes, for as to a horse or a carriage passing through them, it would be a scene of the greatest wonder. The Landers, however, enjoyed the same privilege as the royal family of England, for being under the protection of the government, they as well as all their suite and baggage passed toll free.
On Sunday, April 4th, they arose at sunrise to make the necessary arrangements for leaving Bidjie, which was no easy task, and shortly after they sent to signify their intention to the chief. ”

“ His strength was broken, and he died in a small circular clay hut at Chungary, near Sokota, on 13 April 1827. His body, carried on camelback, was followed to the grave by Lander and five slaves only, and a wooden hut built over it. Lander returned to England after much difficulty in 1828. In 1830 was published ‘Records of Captain Clapperton's Last Expedition to Africa,' by Richard Lander, with the author's subsequent adventures, London, 2 vols. ”

“ Fowls one penny each, and other things in proportion, so that the victualling of thirty men was not more than eighteen pence a day, including yams and rice.
On the 18th May, Lander left Fernando Po in a native canoe as before, in order to rejoin his companions, who were no doubt anxiously awaiting his return. Richard Lander returned to Attah on the 21st July, in high health and spirits, and immediately made preparations for ascending the river in the Alburkha, accompanied by Lieutenant Allen, and a medical man. His voyage from the coast in a canoe, occupied him thirty-two days. ”

“ Not being able to soften the obdurate heart of Clapperton, nor to wean him from the unsociable habit of looking at the stars at night, she always left him with a flood of tears.
In this part of Borgoo, as well as in the neighbourhood of Algi, and in all the countries between them and the sea, that Lander passed through, he met with tribes of Fellatas, nearly white, who are not moslem, but pagan. "They are certainly," he says, "the same people, as they speak the same language, and have the same features and colour, except those who have crossed with the negro. ”

“ At Fernando Po, Mr. Lander was evidently very ill, though he was rapidly recovering from an attack of the dysentery, with which he had been afflicted for some months. His object in returning alone to Fernando Po, was to procure medicines, as well as tea and other condiments, for the use of the invalids on board the steam boats. The reports of the grievous mortality which had prevailed on board the steamers were confirmed by the arrival of Lander; the number of deaths on board the vessels had indeed been frightfully great ”

“ The Landers, however, found that the old chief was not so punctual to his word as they had a right to expect, for he was every day consulting his fetish and his mallams, and they were all unanimous in their opinion, that the departure of the white men should be delayed for a short time. ”

“ The Landers wished to be more particular in their observations of this interesting part of their journey, but were constrained to forego that gratification, on account of the superstitious prejudices of the natives, who were so infatuated as to imagine, that the Landers had not only occasioned the fog, but that if they did not sit or lie down in the canoe, for they had been standing, it would inevitably cause the destruction of the whole party, and the reason they assigned, was, that the river had never beheld a white man before ”

“ On his arrival at his residence, Clapperton could not refrain from laughing at his adventure with the African widow, and informed Lander, that he had now an opportunity of establishing himself for life; for although he had rejected the matrimonial advances of the widow, there was little doubt, that, rather than not obtain a husband, she would not hesitate to make the offer of her hand to any other white man, who might present himself. ”

“ There are seasons and periods in our life-time, in which we feel a happy complacency of temper and an inward satisfaction, cheerfulness, and joy, for which we cannot very well account, but which constrain us to be at peace with ourselves and our neighbours, and in love with all the works of God. In this truly enviable frame of mind, Richard Lander says he awoke on this morning, to proceed onwards on horseback. ”

“ In pursuance of these instructions, Richard Lander and his brother embarked at Portsmouth, on the 9th January 1830, in the brig Alert, for Cape Coast Castle, where they arrived on the 22nd of the following month, after a boisterous and unpleasant passage. Here they were fortunate enough to engage old Pascoe and his wife, with Jowdie, who had been employed on the last expedition, with Ibrahim and Mina, two Bornou men, who were well acquainted with English manners, and could converse in the Houssa language. ”

“ The Brass people, therefore, would have a very plausible reason for taking them entirely out of the hands of Obie and the Damaggoo people.
In the evening, Antonio and five other Bonny people came to their hut with tears in their eyes. On asking them, what was the matter, "The chief," they said, "is determined to sell you to the Brass people, but we will fight for you, and die rather than see you sold." "How many of you Bonny people are there?" Richard Lander asked. "Only six," was the reply. "And can you fight with two hundred Brass people?" ”