INTRODUCTION. xm

proposals made or assented to by this chieftain. In this letter he says, “ We

agreed with him upon this (the prohibition of the exportation of slaves), on

account of the good which will result from it, both to you and to us ; and that a

vessel of yours is to come to the harbour of Ilaka, with two cannons, and the

quantities of powder, shot, &c. which they require, as also a number of

muskets: we will then send our officer to arrange and settle every thing with

your consul, and fix a certain period for the arrival of your merchant ships

;

and when they come, they may traffic and deal with our merchants. Then,

after their return, the consul may reside in that harbour (namely, Raka) as

protector, in company with our agent there, if God be pleased.”

It is clear, from this letter, that Bello understood what was proposed and

accepted, but, with regard to the geographical position of his two sea-ports, he

was evidently most grossly ignorant ; for, admitting the ambiguity of the Arabic

word bahr, which signifies any great collection of water, whether sea, lake, or

river, merchant ships could not get up to Raka, which is an inland town, not

situated on any coast or river. Be this as it may, an expedition, as already

stated, was planned without loss of time, at the head of which Clapperton was

placed. He was allowed to take with him, as a companion, a fellow-countryman

of the name ofDickson, who had been brought up as a surgeon, in which capacity

he had served in the West Indies, but had recently been studying the law. This

person considered himself to be inured to a tropical climate, and was supposed

to have a sufficient knowledge of medicine to take care of himself and the

rest of the party.

In an enterprise of this novel and hazardous nature, it was deemed

advisable to unite two other gentlemen to those above-mentioned; in order

that, when once at Soccatoo, two of them might be spared to set out from

thence, and explore the country of Soudan m various directions. For this

purpose, Captain Pearce of the navy, and Dr. Morrison, a naval surgeon, were

selected; the former an active and accomplished officer, and a most excellent

draughtsman ; the latter well versed in various branches of natural history. Un-

happily, it was not their good fortune to live long enough to put their respective

talents in practice for the benefit of the public, or the gratification of their

friends; having each of them, on the same day, fallen a sacrifice to the pesti-

lential climate, at a very early period of their journey in Africa.

The presents intended for the Sultan of the Fellatas, and also for the

c