XY1 INTRODUCTION.

valuable servant is evinced in various letters written to him while he remained in Kano, with the presents intended for the Sheik of Bornou ; but which were first decoyed to Soccatoo, and afterwards meanly seized by the Sultan Bello, on the pretext of their being, many of them, arms to be put into the hands of his enemy, he being then in a state of war with the sheik. In one of these letters he says, “ I hope you ride out every day, and amuse yourself in shooting and stuffing birds, as this will tend to keep you in good health. Attend strictly to the duties of religion ; rely firmly on the assistance and mercy of Heaven ; and, in all your difficulties and distress, this will bear you up like a man and he signs himself, “ his sincere friend and master.” In another letter, dated from Soccatoo, he says, “ Pray to Heaven night and morning, and read the church service every Sunday ; for a firm reliance on the justice and mercy, and assistance of Heaven, will bear you up with cheerfulness and courage, when all earthly friends and things fail. Farewell, and believe me your sincere friend and master.”

Clapperton was, in fact, a kind-hearted and benevolent man, of a cheerful disposition, not easily put out of temper, and patient under disappointments ; a virtue, indeed, which was frequently put to the test in the course of his long peregrinations in Africa. Both he and his servant suffered much from frequent attacks of fever and dysentery. His last illness continued for thirty-six days, during which he was attended by his faithful Richard ; who has given a painful and interesting account of his death, of the mode in which he had him interred, of his own affliction, and the mournful state of solitude in which he was left among a set of unfeeling wretches, who regarded Christians in no better light than their dogs. His own situation is described in a letter which he addressed from Kano, after the death of his master, to Mr. Consul Warrington, of Tripoli. It is as follows: “ Kano, Tlth May , 1827. “ Honoured Sir, “ With sorrow I have to acquaint you of the death of my master, Captain Clapperton. He departed this life at Soccatoo, on the 13th of April, at six o’clock in the morning, after thirty-six days’ illness, with a severe inflammation in the inside, much regretted by me, as he had always behaved like a father to me since I left England. I buried him at Jungavie, a small village