INTRODUCTION. XXlll for the sake of keeping clear of the belligerent parties who were ravaging the country in that direction. Perhaps he thought that, not being furnished with a letter to the sultan of that country, he would not have given up the papers to him. And, after all, it is not quite certain, from what he afterwards learned, that the Sultan of Yaoury has in his possession any thing more than some printed books; for on Clapperton inquiring of one of the sultan’s people, if there were any books like his own Journal, the man said there was one, but that his master had given it to an Arab merchant ten years ago ; but that the merchant was killed by the Fellatas on his way to Kano, and what had become of that book afterwards he did not know.

The death of Dr. Morrison, at an early period of the journey, deprived the scientific world of all information on the subject of natural history, of which, as might well be supposed, neither Clapperton nor his servant had any knowledge. It will be matter of regret to some, that they had not, which they might easily have done, collected specimens of the language of the several districts through which they passed. The little that is added to the Appendix is all that was found among the papers of the deceased commander on this subject ; and the state of the thermometer and barometer at different hours of the day, as observed on the journey, and also by Lander at Kano and Soccatoo, is not quite complete. J. B.