government a fair opportunity of effecting every practical amelioration before they resorted to the hazardous alternative of an appeal to the public. The West India proprietors, on the other hand, have been, in a great measure, silent, and whatever may be the imperfection, or, in some points, the error of their views, they have given comparatively little cause of interference to the guardians of the press. Still we have said enough to show, that we by no means contemplate the present system of negro labour as conformable to the enlightened spirit of the age; and to those among the colonists who appear to dislike or dread free discussion, we would add that if the word emancipation, so needlessly and injudiciously brought forward, be omitted, our opinion is that their case cannot fail to gain by continued discussion. Among other results of free inquiry would probably be a conviction, on the part of both the planters and the public, that the security of West India property rests on a firmer basis than is generally supposed in this season of disquietude and alarm. ART. IX.-Sketches taken during Ten Voyages to Africa, between the Years 1786 and 1800; including Observations on the Country between Cape Palmas and the River Congo, &c. &c. &c. By Captain John Adams. 8vo. pp. 265. London. 1823. THE two great problems which have long divided the attention of the world, namely, the course and termination of the Niger and the North-west Passage, we may now pronounce, with some confidence, are both in a fair way of being speedily solved; events which, whenever they happen, will overthrow many a beautiful theory, many a plausible speculation. Yet the labours of the speculative geographer are not to be despised, even though they should eventually prove erroneous; we should always remember that we owe the discovery of America to false conclusions drawn from a true theory;* and that the belief in a Terra Australis incognita led to the brilliant discoveries of Cook. The speculations to which we allude have at least kept alive the spirit of inquiry. It was enough indeed, of late years, for a traveller to get within the Arctic circle, to raise a theory on the existence of the one; or to inhale the warm breezes of Africa, to discuss the mystery of the other. Even Captain Adams, who traded for slaves and palm oil in the year 1786, long before the Niger had risen to importance among the learned, or been heard of by the vulgar, * Columbus knew the earth to be a globe; he knew that to the westward of Europe was a great sea, and to the eastward of the Moluccas, a great sea; and he therefore concluded, that he should be able to reach the Indies, and greatly shorten the distance, by sailing westerly. asks, asks, for the first time, in 1823, Where does the Niger terminate?' That it does not terminate in the bight of Biafra or Benin, his knowledge in the slave koffilas and the negro physiognomy may, for aught we know, enable him to decide; though his ground will scarcely be deemed tenable by those who have adopted the contrary hypothesis. Had these Sketches' been given to the public when first taken, they might have been found sufficiently interesting; but so much has been said of this part of Africa within the last twenty or thirty years, that they no longer possess the advantage of novelty; and we suspect that few readers will now turn for amusement to the trite details of blind and brutal superstition, or wanton and promiscuous slaughter. To the African trader, however, who may be interested in the customs of King Cootry, King Pepple, and King Cole; or who may wish to know the relative value which a certain quantity of gold-dust, ivory or palm-oil may bear to a given portion of Bejulapauts, Neganipauts, Sastracundies, or Calawapores, the little volume of Captain Adams will, we doubt not, prove a valuable guide, and obtain for the writer's commercial speculations more credit than we incline to allow him for his geographical ones. Leaving the work, therefore, to be studied by those whose occupation leads them to the coast of Africa, between Cape Palmas and the River Congo,' we hasten to lay before our readers some authentic information respecting a portion of the interior of Africa, hitherto unexplored and untrodden by Christian foot; the perusal of which, we think, will not only be highly interesting, but will be found very considerably to add to the present state of African geography, as well as to correct many errors in it. It may be recollected that, after the death of Mr. Ritchie and the return of Lieutenant (now Captain) Lyon, his Majesty's government, with the laudable intention of promoting science, and extending the British name and character, and eventually its commerce, into countries little known and difficult of access, as well as to encourage that spirit of enterprise which has tended in no small degree to raise this country to the proud eminence on which it stands, resolved to follow up that unsuccessful mission. The Bashaw of Tripoli had signified to the British consul his readiness to escort as far as Bornou, with the Sultan of which he was in strict alliance, any British travellers who might be accredited by their government. Of so good an opportunity Lord Bathurst readily availed himself, and three gentlemen volunteers were appointed for this serviceDoctor Oudney, a well-informed North Briton, and a naval surgeon; Mr. Clapperton, a lieutenant in the navy, and Lieutenant * See the Quarterly Review, No. XLIX. Art. II. LL 2 (now (now Major) Denham, who was educated at the Royal Military College, and served in the Peninsular war. To these was added a carpenter from the dock-yard at Malta, by name John Hillman. From the private correspondence of these gentlemen with their friends, we shall be able to glean some little account of their proceedings. They were kindly received by the Bashaw, and, after the usual delay in preparing for the journey, set out with an escort for Mourzouk. They had been advised by the Bashaw to clothe themselves, as all former travellers had done, in Moorish or Arab dresses; but this disguise is so easily seen through, that they determined to wear their own dress, and openly to avow themselves Englishmen and Christians wherever they might go and the result has been, that they have never experienced the slightest insult or inconvenience among any of the numerous tribes with whom they have had inter course. Another tedious delay of a whole year at Mourzouk had at least one good effect, that of enuring them to a still warmer climate; while their frequent journeys to various parts of Fezzan brought them acquainted with the manners, the language, and the disposition of the natives. During their long residence here, they experienced no ill effects either from climate, want of provisions, or badness of water. The doctor's fame spread rapidly into every part of Fezzan and beyond it, and patients poured in from every side to enjoy the benefit of his advice and his physic. At length the time of their departure arrived; and Boo Khaloom, a particular friend of the Bashaw of Tripoli, was appointed to command the escort, consisting of 300 Arab horsemen—far more than were necessary, but ordered out of the abundant care of the bashaw for the subjects of his cousin of England. In the month of November, 1822, they left Mourzouk, following the route laid down by Captain Lyon, as far as Tegherry. From this place they crossed a dreary desert, occasionally somewhat enlivened by little hollows or valleys, in which wells were found for themselves and their cattle, consisting of a multitude of camels in addition to the horses. In the course of four or five hundred miles, they passed a few villages and several towns inhabited by the Tibbos, whose territories cover a large extent of this wild region, and who consider themselves entitled to a certain tribute for keeping the wells in repair. These people, the most harmless perhaps of the numerous tribes whom a life of precarious subsistence has thrown upon this miserable country, treated our travellers with great kindness, and in their whole conduct fully justified the character given of them by Captain Lyon. Yet they are not safe nor unmolested even in their deserts, being subject to the depredations of the Tuaricks, a fiercer race, race, who plunder the unprotected villages situated in the valleys, or little Oases; but seldom venture to attack the larger towns, erected on the tops of detached and naked brown hills, which here and there rise out of the gray surface, like rocks out of the sea. Of these towns our travellers passed four, whose names are Kishbee, Ashanumma, Dirkee, and Bilma. Bilma is the great mart of salt for a considerable part of Soudan, 30,000 camel loads of which are said to be carried away yearly by the trading part of the Tuaricks. This is not dug out of the earth in masses, as has been represented; but manufactured by a very simple process: shallow pits, banked round with sand and mud, are dug, after the rains, which soon fill by water oozing in from below. The heat of summer evaporates the water, and leaves behind an incrustation of good culinary salt. From Bilma to Agades one desert of sand succeeded another, with here and there ridges of dark sandstone peeping out of the dreary surface, exhibiting neither plant nor living creature, nor any other object to rest or relieve the wearied eye. One single wadey, or valley, near Bilma, about half-way between Mourzouk and Bornou, produced grass and shrubs, and a few date trees. There was no want, indeed, of frequent wells, the water of which was tolerably good; and near these generally were found a few tufts of grass; great numbers of their camels, however, perished for want of food. On the 4th February, twenty days after their departure from Bilma, they reached Lari, the frontier town of Bornou. Here the country suddenly changed for the better. Large herds of antelopes were bounding over the plains; guinea fowls and turtle-doves were most abundant, and grass and accacia trees clothed in some degree the surface. Several villages also made their appearance, the houses of which, like those of Lari, consisted of bell-shaped huts formed of the straw of dhurra. Lari is situated in about 14° 40′ north latitude, and nearly on the same meridian with Mourzouk. Here our travellers suddenly got sight of the great lake of Bornou, called the Tsaad, which, extending easterly, receives the little streams of those northerly valleys in which most of the Kanem villages are situated. Hence they continued their route in a southern direction for seven days, without leaving the Tsaad at any great distance, the road mostly lying within sight of its waters or banks; the former presenting numerous bays and inlets, and islands covered with thickets and tall reeds; the latter was low, though a sandy embankment of forty or fifty feet in height ran parallel to the margin of the lake at the distance of one and sometimes two miles from it, having apparently formed, at one time, the bank of the lake, and still, perhaps, forming it in the rainy season; as the ground LL 3 ground between this and the lake was in many places observed to be overflowed, even from the effect, as it appeared, of the northeast wind. Several elephants were seen among the accacia woods, and two or three were observed browsing among the reedy islands. The whole neighbourhood was well stocked with villages, among which was one of a larger kind, named Burwa, with mud walls, whose houses and huts were observed to be neat and clean, and all its inhabitants decently clothed. Leaving Lari, and at the distance from it of about sixty miles beyond the commencement of the lake, they crossed the river Yaou (the Zad of Hornemann and the Tsad of Burckhardt), flowing from the westward into the lake, being now a stream of about á hundred feet wide, and running at the rate of a mile an hour, between high sandy banks from two to three hundred feet apart. It is this river which is said to overflow in the rainy season, and into which Burckhardt says a female slave is thrown on the occasion by order of the king. At the ford where our travellers crossed, twb rude ill-shapeh boats were lying on the bank. Their gratification in theeting with such a river, after a thousand miles nearly of desert, will readily be imagined. In all their letters they speak warmly of its beauties, the calmness and sweetness of its waters, the comfort it seemed to add to the numerous little villages scattered along its banks, and the possibility of its being the far famed Niger, which it unquestionably is. A walled town of the same name, Yaou, stood on its banks. From this place to Kouka, the residence of the Sheik, is a fine beaten track, covered with kofilas of bullocks transporting merchandize, and with foot passengers mostly armed with spears, and cheerfully trooping along. Approaching within one day's journey of the residence of the Sheik, our travellers received a message from him, in answer to one announcing their arrival, that he would receive them at Kouka the next day. The accounts of this personage had been so contradictory, that they approached his capital in an interesting state of uncertainty, whether they should find him at the head of thousands, or whether he would receive them under a tree, surrounded by a few negroes. They were soon, however, relieved from their suspense; for, on arriving within a few miles of Kouka, they were astonished with the appearance of about four thousand cavalry drawn up to receive them, well armed with spears, and a body of negroes, called the Sheik's guard; these latter were clothed in coats of iron chain-work, closed at the neck and drawn over the head like a Guernsey frock, which, dividing both before and behind, fell on each side of the horse, and protected the thighs also. On their heads they wore skull-caps of iron or brass, fastened on with turbans, |