XV111 INTRODUCTION.

by an Arab, whom I have told that, on delivering them safe, you will give him thirty dollars. I remain, &c.

(Signed) “ Richard Lander,

“ Servant to the late Captain Clapperton.

“ Mr. Consul-General Warrington.”

With regard to the Journal of Clapperton, it may be necessary to observe,

that it is written throughout in the most loose and careless manner ; all

orthography and grammar equally disregarded, and many of the proper names

quite impossible to be made out ; full of tautology, so as to have the same

thing repeated over and over again daily, and even on the same day. Much,

therefore, has been left out, in sending it to the press, but nothing whatever

is omitted, that could be considered of the least importance ; and the only

change that has been made is that of breaking it into chapters, which is always

a relief to the reader. Clapperton was evidently a man of no education ; he

nowhere disturbs the progress of the day’s narrative by any reflections of his

own, but contents himself with noticing objects as they appear before him,

and conversations just as they were held; setting down both in his Journal

without order, or any kind of arrangement. This may, perhaps, in one respect

be considered as an advantage. The reader sees the naked facts as they

occurred, and is left free to draw his own inference from them. There is no

theory, no speculation, scarcely an opinion advanced throughout the whole of his

Journal. He has not contributed much to general science, but, by his frequent

observations for the latitude and longitude of places, he has made a most valuable

addition to the geography of Northern Africa ; and it may now be said of him,

what will most probably never be said of any other person, that he has traversed

the whole of that country, from the Mediterranean to the Bight of Benin.

The map that accompanies the Journal was constructed entirely from the

latitudes and longitudes in a table annexed to that document. That portion

of it which shows the route pursued by Richard Lander on his return, till

stopped by the Fellatas at Dunrora, and from thence back again to Zegzeg,

was laid off from the bearings and distances marked down by this intelligent

young man ; and no better proof is wanting of its general accuracy than

that of his return route closing in with the fixed point Zaria, or Zegzeg,

within ten miles.