My dear Warrington,
As it is an object of the highest importance to me to get my son John abroad for some time . . . I know not any one so proper to make an application to on this occasion as yourself. . . . He has been very wild and extravagant. . . . He is now out of the Navy. . . . I wish him to have the least possible pocket money as he has a great propensity to extravagance. . . .
[It appears that Col. Warrington owed Mr. Tyrwhitt, Senr., £500, on which he had to pay interest at the rate of 14% per annum. Mr. Tyrwhitt asks Warrington to take his son into his family and keep an eye on him: in return he is willing to waive the 14% per annum, i.e. about £70. The son remained with Col. Warrington for three years, to whom he appears to have been a source of considerable expense.]
Extract of letter from Tyrwhitt to Warrington, dated Mourzouk, July 25, 1822.
I am not much disappointed at not being confirmed. . . . However, to make the best of it, it is a long way to come for nothing, not even thanks. I suppose the Doctor will pay my expenses down. I must not return to Tripoli empty-handed, for there are some fine ostrich feathers here, and I had promised both my Mother and Sister to send them some. . . .
Extract of letter from Consul Warrington to Robert Wilmot, Esq., M.P., Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated Tripoli, August 26, 1822.
. . . I conclude Dr. Oudney will take Mr. Tyrwhitt along with him as a volunteer, as from his easy good-natured Disposition, ever alert to make Himself useless [sic], I feel persuaded Dr. Oudney could not have a better person. . . .
Extract from letter of Consul Warrington to Robert Wilmot, Esq., dated Tripoli, Nov. 4, 1822.
. . . Two more Gentlemen would be of very important advantage to Dr. Oudney, as he has a wide Field indeed to act upon. . . . I can send them from Tripoli to Bornou for 100£ provided they travel as Mr. Tyrwhitt did from Mourzouk. I believe that Gentleman would be happy to make one of such a Party, and Dr. Oudney wishes to have him with the Mission. . . .
[Tyrwhitt, however, returned to Tripoli and went for a trip to Italy.]
Extract from letter of Consul Warrington to Lieut. Clapperton, dated Tripoli, July 11, 1823.
. . . I hope to send Tyrwhitt off immediately, as I am in daily expectation of seeing him, unless Spider-like he may possibly entangle himself in his own Webb, as it is said a lady of that name has a little influence. My patience is near exhausted, and if he does not come, I shall be much displeased with him. . . .
Extract from letter of Consul Warrington to Robert Wilmot Horton, Esq.,[576] Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office.
Tripoli, 18 July, 1823.
Sir,
I have the honor to refer you to No. 1, being a copy of a Letter from Mr. Tyrwhitt, who from sickness is prevented repairing to Bornou to join the Mission.
I consider myself fully authorized by the Earl Bathurst to send one Person as an Assistant to Major Denham in lieu of Lieutenant Clapperton, who is now attached to Dr. Oudney, and conceiving it is perfectly immaterial who is sent provided he is equal to the respective duty required of Him, I shall therefore send this dispatch to the Government of Malta and solicit His Honor the Lieutenant Governor will be pleased to nominate a Gentleman for the appointment. . . .
Extract from letter of Major Denham to Consul Warrington, dated Kouka, Jan. 20, 1824.
. . . I am sorry for the cause of Tyrwhitt’s declining the appointment, but he has certainly acted the wisest part in so doing. Strictures and gout, or indeed either of them, would afford strong reasons why a man should not wish to embark in a service of this nature.
Malta, August 10, 1823.
Dear Toole,
I have received to-day a letter from Mr. Consul Warrington at Tripoli, stating that Mr. Tyrwhitt, who was to have proceeded to Bornow to join Major Denham as his Assistant on the African Mission, is prevented doing so by illness, and requesting that some young Gentleman, who would volunteer in so arduous an undertaking, may be sent over from this to take Mr. Tyrwhitt’s place.
Colonel Warrington mentions that the Person sent should possess some knowledge of the sextant and of the Artificial Horizon, and further must be prepared to encounter some dangers, much fatigue and many privations. He must be a young man of strong constitution and inured to fatigue and fasting, and above all must possess great ardor and zeal in the undertaking.
Being well aware of the many qualifications you possess for a Mission of this kind, viz. that you are an excellent linguist—speaking French, Italian and German fluently, and that you understand the Maltese perfectly which is nearly Arabic, that you are a good Draughtsman—can survey, understand the use of the sextant, and also that you are healthy and stout and inured to fatigue at all times, and having often heard you express the greatest thirst and ardor for travelling in remote countries, and besides being fully convinced that there is no one in Malta so well qualified as you are for the object proposed by Colonel Warrington, I have written you this, that you may volunteer to go, if you should feel inclined to embrace an undertaking, which I must impress upon you necessarily involves in it many dangers and immense fatigue.
I must also state to you that Colonel Warrington in appointing an Assistant to Major Denham acts under the instructions of Earl Bathurst, but he does not mention in his letter that he is authorized to hold out any specified prospects of future advantage, but you may depend upon this that my Lord Bathurst can never fail to give due consideration to your services, provided you make yourself useful to the Mission.
Your necessary Expenses will all be defrayed, and in these you must pay every attention to the strictest economy, and I understand also that a small personal allowance is given, but what it is I do not know.
If you accept this proposal, you must be ready to start for Tripoli in 48 hours, as there is a Vessel on the point of sailing, and it is absolutely necessary that you proceed to Tripoli without delay,—and in that case you had better lose no time in applying for leave of absence for a twelve-month in a regular way through your Commanding Officer to the Major General Commanding.
I am, &c.
H. Greig.[577]
Malta, August 10, 1823.
2 p.m.
Dear Greig,
In answer to your note of this morning, I hasten to assure you that I embrace the proposal of going as an Assistant to the African Mission with the greatest delight, and I shall be ready to start for Tripoli in 48 hours, having obtained the necessary leave of absence from my Commanding Officer and Major General Sir Manley Power.
I do not mean to say, that I accept this situation without the prospect of encountering both danger and fatigue, but I have no fear of either, and I look forward to the journey with real pleasure.
The opinion you are good enough to express of my qualifications for the Mission is much too partial, but I promise you, that neither zeal, industry, nor a Constant desire to make myself useful will be wanting.
It is far from my intention to allude to any remuneration for my Services, but I trust, that if I make myself useful to the Mission, that my Conduct will be favourably considered by Earl Bathurst.
I have now been six years an Ensign in the 80th Regiment,[578] and I may mention that my Ensigncy was given to me by H.R. Highness the Duke of York at the request of my revered friend and Patron, Sir John Stewart, by whom I was brought up and educated. And I trust it is not asking too much, that if sickness or other causes should prevent my return from this expedition, that my Lord Bathurst may be entreated to interest himself to procure my Ensigncy for one of my younger Brothers, and you are aware that I have four, all of whom are under the age of 18 and quite unprovided for.[579]
I am, &c.
E. Toole.
Extract from letter of J. Maclean, Major Commanding 80th Regt. to Hector Greig, Esq., Acting Chief Secretary to the Government of Malta, dated August 12, 1823.
. . . Major Denham (whom I have the pleasure of knowing) will, I am persuaded, consider himself fortunate in the selection you have made, as he will find in Mr. Toole a zealous and able Assistant as well as a most Gentlemanly Companion.
Did I not consider the present Undertaking as likely to prove of advantage to Toole, I should particularly regret his departure from the Regiment at this time, as, in consequence of the intended departure of Lieutenant Penny for the Continent, it was my intention to have appointed him to do the duty of Adjutant during the absence of that Officer.
Extract from letter of Consul Warrington to Robert Wilmot Horton, Esq., dated Tripoli, August 25, 1823.
Sir,
I have had already the honor to inform you that in consequence of Mr. Tyrwhitt’s Health not allowing him again to join the Mission, that I had applied to the Lt. Governor of Malta to send a Gentleman instead of Him, and He has accordingly been pleased to approve of Ensign Toole of the 80th Regiment joining the Mission as Assistant to Major Denham.
I have no hesitation to declare that the Public Service will be the gainer by the Exchange, as I can safely say I never saw a finer young man, or one more calculated for the undertaking. . . .
Extract from letter of Consul Warrington to R. Wilmot Horton, Esq., dated Tripoli, December 20, 1823.
. . . This Morning I have been informed Mr. Tyrwhitt is in Malta on his way here. I am most happy to hear it, as I am confident there is full Employment in the Interior for the whole Mission. The Road is as free as I always said it was, and the Inst. Mr. Tyrwhitt arrives I will send Him off. . . .
Extract from letter of Consul Warrington to Dr. Oudney, dated January 17, 1824.
My Dear Sir,
The arrival of Mr. Tyrwhitt and his appointment to the Mission will afford you all, without doubt, much satisfaction. As it will be about three weeks before he leaves this, I forward a Courier with copies of Dispatches for you and Major Denham, which I have received from the Colonial Office. . . .
Your little godson, Walter Bornow,[580] is now under the Vaccine Inoculation, from whose Arm I send you the Matter, and Buttabel[581] writes to state its introduction here and the efficacy of it. I know no one whose Natural Disposition and extensive Ability is so devoted to the benefit of our Fellow Creatures as your own, and I think you will evince it by endeavouring to introduce the Vaccine. . . .
Extract from letter of Consul Warrington to Mr. Toole, dated Tripoli, January 21, 1824.
. . . His Lordship, I am glad to say, approves of your appointment, and has ordered £100 per annum salary being allowed you as well as Mr. Tyrwhitt. . . .
Extract from letter of Consul Warrington to R. Wilmot Horton, Esq., dated Tripoli, February 24, 1824.
. . . 28 Feb. I took leave of Mr. Tyrwhitt at Melra yesterday morning, fifty miles from this. . . .
Extract from letter of Major Denham to Consul Warrington, dated Kouka, April 16, 1824.
. . . My amiable and clever companion and friend, Ernest Stuart Toole, who really deserved all that his Friends at Malta wrote about him, has fallen a victim to that Fever of this Country with which I have seen so many attacked.[582] He died at Angala, a town about 60 miles South East of where I am now writing, on the 26th of last February. . . .
He was most generally beloved here, particularly by the Sheikh, with whom we used sometimes to pass an hour together in his Garden; and indeed I believe we all might have died without creating the sensation that my poor friend’s death has occasioned. . . .
Assisted by the Sultan’s slaves, Columbus[583] and myself laid him in a deep grave to the N.W. of the Town.[584] . . .
A few more details of Toole’s death are given below.
Extract from letter of Denham to H. Greig, Esq. [who from an endorsement on the back we learn was Toole’s brother-in-law], dated Kouka, March 10, 1824. [R. G. S.]
. . . He swallowed a little tea and seemed revived; about 6 he attempted to speak, but could articulate intelligibly nothing but the word Mother two or three times, and from that time until half-past 11 on the same day, when he breathed his last, he scarcely moved, and expired without even a struggle or a groan. . . . Almost the last words he uttered were requests that his papers . . . should in case of any accident befalling him be delivered by me into your hands. . . . His request I shall, please God, comply with. . . . His sketches will, I think, be valuable, very valuable, and should I not be permitted to return myself, I do hope that with any notes of mine that may be considered worthy of publishing, they may be given to the world, for any literary fame that my exertions may entitle me to will lose half its value in my estimation if the name of my amiable colleague is not coupled with my own. . . .
[I have not been able to trace these papers or sketches, in spite of kind assistance from E. L. Bonavia, Esq., of the Chief Secretary’s Office, Malta, and from the Crown Agents. Mr. A. C. Maberly of Eccles, whose wife was a great-niece of Greig, informs me that none of Greig’s papers have been preserved.]
Extract from letter of Major Denham to Consul Warrington, dated Kouka, May 23, 1824.
My Dear Sir,
Mr. Tyrwhitt arrived here on the 20th in good health, after performing the journey with great Expedition. Nothing can be more satisfactory than the Letters of which he was the Bearer, and the Presents for the Sheikh were everything that could be wished.
I send you, according to an Old Promise, a Bottle of the Niger Water. . . .
Extract from letter of Consul Warrington to R. Wilmot Horton, Esq., dated Tripoli, August 18, 1824.
. . . I shall send four Spears and a Shield and a Bottle of Niger Water (which I had the whim to request might be sent me) to you, and I shall feel flattered if you accept. Of no value but as curiosities. I have another bottle, and in drinking success to the Mission I hope I shall find its efficacy in inspiring me with additional zeal for the Promotion of Discovery. . . .
[There seems to have been a craze for Niger water. Barth promises to drink a friend’s health in Niger water, vid. Benton, Notes on Some Languages, &c., p. 298.]
Extract from letter of Denham to Lord Bathurst, dated Kouka, May 23, 1824. [R. G. S.]
. . . I have filled and secured in the best way that I am able, a stone bottle with the Niger water; it was taken from a spot about two miles from the embouchure of that River.
[In the same letter he suggests that the R. Yo or Wobe is the continuation of the Niger. This water was probably therefore bottled somewhere near where the Yo flows into Lake Chad.
Even at the present day it is a common saying that if you have once drunk from the River Niger, you will always return to the Coast.]
Extract from letter of Mr. Tyrwhitt to Consul Warrington, dated Woodi, Sept. 6, 1824.
My Dear Consul,
The Travellers having at last determined on returning to England, I have accompanied them thus far on their road, it having been settled that I should remain at Kouka as Vice-Consul in compliance of the wishes of the Sheik till Lord Bathurst’s pleasure shall be known. . . .
I must confess that the remaining behind does not afford a very pleasant or very cheering Prospect, but I hope under all circumstances I have acted for the best, and that the step I have taken may meet with approbation. . . .
[Tyrwhitt died at Kuka on October 22, 1824, and his death was reported to Warrington by the Sheikh, who also sent an inventory of his effects (which included 52 books), cf. Denham, vol. ii, p. 434. It does not appear what eventually became of his property. It was to be handed over to Capt. Pearce, who accompanied Clapperton on his second expedition, and who seems to have been intended to be Consul in Bornu. Pearce, however, died soon after landing on the Coast. War had broken out between Sokoto and Bornu, and Clapperton was unable to revisit the latter country. No attempt to re-establish the consulship appears to have been made until the expedition of Richardson and Barth in the ’fifties.]
(c) Hillman
Another member of the expedition was a naval shipwright named William Hillman, a native of Somersetshire. He appears to have been a typical old salt, but in spite of constant ill health reached England again in safety. His pay was £120 per annum (vid. Denham, Introductory Chapter).
Extract from letter of Major Denham to Consul Warrington, dated ‘Kouka in the Kingdom of Bornou, 4 April 1823, Thermr 104 in the Hut’.
. . . Old Chips sometimes causes me to laugh, which does my heart good, he has such a knack of rallying from Death’s door almost that his illness seems to have no danger in it. Drink Grog he will whenever he can get it, tho’ it kills him. He told me the other evening that he had made up his mind not to learn ‘Harribik’. ‘I can’t make no hand on it,’ said he, ‘so I get Columbo to teach me a little Hitalian, for I tell you, B—— the Navy Board. I hope the Colonial Board will provide for me, who knows but what I may be a King’s Messenger, and the King, God Bless him, may say, Hillman or Mr. Hillman, here take this letter to Hitaly, why I must know Hitalian for that. . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
Sunday, April 6, 1823.
Oh for a glass of the Bashaw’s cold punch. We had yesterday a most suffocating day with Therm. at 104. This bids fair to be just such another. The water here is worse than at many places on the Road, altho’ here it is a little Cooler, for there we drank it about the heat of tea. I found but about three bottles of Rum on my return to Mourzouk, and Hillman, when I complained, tho’ Grogy at the time, said, ‘Why I’m not the man to say a word against another, No, No, but that are little Tyrwhitt did drink, by G—— like Winkins—for myself I can’t touch liquor now.’
Extract from letter of Consul Warrington to R. Wilmot Horton, Esq., dated Tripoli, June 13, 1824.
. . . In one of Earl Bathurst’s Dispatches he suggested the propriety of Mr. Hillman’s constructing a Boat to explore the outlet of the Great Lake.
The idea was so good and so obviously beneficial for the object of the Research, that I followed up His Lordship’s suggestion by requesting the Boat may be built at Malta in that Portable way to be carried on two Camels, and taken to Pieces and put together without difficulty. The Government of Malta kindly acceded to my wishes, and Mr. Simonds, a most scientific gentleman, is now engaged in constructing one. . . .
[We hear no more of this boat, but it is interesting in view of Barth and Overweg’s famous boat. From a letter of Columbus[585] to a friend in Tripoli it appears that some of the members of the expedition did embark in boats (presumably native canoes) and navigate the waters of Chad for a short distance.]
Denham’s views are given in the following:
Extract from fragment of a letter from Denham to Lord Bathurst, dated June 18, 1824. [R. G. S.]
. . . Without two boats could be built to carry fifty men each with fire-arms they would stand but a bad chance with the Biddoomy on the Lake. Hillman says that one shipwright alone could not build a boat of any kind, and he has certainly never since our arrival here enjoyed a sufficiently good state of health for him to make the attempt had it been requisite.
The following is a description of the Sheikh’s victory over the Baghirmi invaders:
Extract from letter of Major Denham to Consul Warrington, dated Kouka, April 16, 1824.
Dear Sir,
Our minds have been greatly relieved within the last ten days by a victory obtained by the Sheikh’s people over a very large force of the Sultan of Baghermi, headed by two hundred of the principal persons in his Kingdom, including nine of his sons, seven of whom are amongst the killed and one a prisoner. . . .
The two Guns[586] for which Hillman had made Carriages and myself Cartridges with Canisters holding 16 Musket balls each, appear to have done great execution, altho’ only fired once, and have greatly alarmed the people, even in whose defence they were levelled. . . .
A fuller account of the battle is contained in the following:
Extract from letter of Denham to his brother Charles, dated Kouka, April 18, 1824. [R. G. S.]
. . . The Sheikh advanced to within 200 yards before he unmasked his little guns, supported by about fifty slaves and Arabs with fire-arms, who were formed to the right and left, while immediately in the rear he appeared himself at the head of his Kanemboo infantry with the double barrelled English gun in his hand and an ammunition belt on his shoulders dressed in a simple barracan like an Arab. He had told the Chiefs previously that it was his intention to fight on foot, that he expected all the Arabs to follow his example, and to encourage the slaves who were but young at the use of the firelock. . . . He placed his two Chiefs, Barca Gana and Ali Gana, on each flank with the Bornou and Shouaa horse, with orders if attacked, to make the best of it, but on no account to assist him. The Baghermi, who made for his Green Flag in one solid mass, were not a little alarmed at the effects of the guns at such a distance, . . . and a volley from the Arabs added to the confusion. They now fell back on the Bornou horse, who as usual gave way, and the attack of the Kanemboo with the Sheik at their head alone decided the fate of the day. . . . The little stream, called Gambalarou, near which the battle was fought . . . is said to have run red.
Again, Denham, vol. ii, p. 415, it is recorded that Hillman made a covered cart, to be used as a carriage or conveyance for the Sheikh’s wives; the wheels were hooped with iron, and it was extremely strong, though neither light nor handsome.
Extract from letter of Hillman to Consul Warrington, dated Tripoli, Feb. 11, 1825.
Hond. Sir.
After many difficulties I have got safe and sound once more in Tripoli, thank God. . . . I have taken the Liberty of sending a Lion’s Skin, which I trust you will be pleased to accept . . .
With every due respect
Your most obliged
& very humble
servt.
W. Hillman.
Hillman was sent home in charge of the animals and baggage, via the long sea route (vid. Nelson, p. 94).
(d) Sheikh El Kanemy [Shehu Lamino]
The enlightened character of this ruler is made very clear in Denham’s book and in the Correspondence. The two following extracts are only quoted to show the style in which he was addressed by the British Consul at Tripoli, and the type of articles he valued as presents. Bornu is very deficient in fruit and vegetables, and even the efforts of the British Administration have not been very successful in inducing the present native authorities to take serious steps to remedy the deficiency.[587]
Letter from Consul Warrington to Sheikh Lamino [El Kanemy].
Most Excellent and Noble Sir,
May the Great God who directs the Prosperity and happiness of all Mankind reward you for the Kindness and attention which you have been pleased to show my Countrymen, and that you will continue the same and extend your Powerful Protection to any place they may wish to go is my fervent Prayer.
Your three Sons, I am most happy to say, are about to return to their most respected Parent, and I sincerely hope they may arrive safe and find you in good health.[588]
My August King and Master has been pleased to order some Presents to be sent you as a small token of that respect He feels towards you for your great liberality and kindness towards his Servants . . .
I send you by this opportunity a Saddle, Bridle, &c., as a Personal Mark of my great esteem and respect towards you.[589]
I beg you will at all times command me whenever you may send any Person or Persons down here and that you may enjoy Health, Strength, and Happiness is the ardent wish of your Sincere Friend and Servant
Hanmer Warrington.
Extract from letter of Major Denham to Consul Warrington, dated Kouka, April 26, 1824.
. . . The Sheikh begs you will send him by the earliest opportunity the following articles, and for which he says he shall pay me.
Seeds, both flower and vegetable.
Fifty locks of guns.
Tea.
Winter melon seeds.
A set of small Cairo coffee cups.
Two or three Glass cups with handles, holding a pint or thereabouts.
4 Turkish Coffee pots.
[Two boxes were sent to the Sheikh by Denham after his return to Tripoli; the extract printed below concerns them. The presents brought by Tyrwhitt are mentioned in Denham and included swords, pistols, gold watches, and rockets.]
Extract from a letter of Denham to the Sheikh, dated December 4, 1824, apparently from somewhere in Fezzan.
. . . Ibrahim will give you a box in which is Tea, Sugar, Coffee, the glass cups you wrote for, two Coffee Pots and some Flints, and my friend Said will give you 50 Gun Locks and a small box containing coffee cups and seeds. You will also find two Musical snuff-boxes which my sister begs you will accept for the kindness you have shewn her brother . . .
[The Sheikh sent presents to the King of England.]
Extract from letter of Denham to Mr. Wilmot Horton, dated 44 Lower Brook Street, June 1, 1825.
. . . A horse from about the 10th Parallel of North Latitude with the ‘Libida’ or cloath covering wadded with cotton, which they use in battle as a defence from the poisoned arrows; four parrots, one of which died on the journey across the desert, two ostrich skins, a large box of ‘zibet’ or musk from the civet cat, and twelve specimens of the manufactures of Soudan and the towns in the interior of the Kingdom of Bornou, to which he added one of his largest tents entirely of Bornou manufacture. These were all embarked on board the Brig Britannia previous to my leaving Leghorn, with several animals and birds, with all the minerals, plants, and other articles we had collected in the country.’[590]
(e) Cost of the Mission.
Extract from letter of Consul Warrington to Earl Bathurst, dated Tripoli, September 11, 1825.
. . . In my office the sums drawn for amount to £8575 17s. 7d. The £5000 to the Bashaw[591] reduces this sum to £3790, out of which must be deducted the 2500$,[592] say £530, will leave the expenditure at £3260 17s. 7d. Say the mission existed for three years and a half, which would make £931 13s. 7d. per annum . . .
[556]Obituary notices appear in Georgian Era, iii. 75, 82; Annual Register for 1828, pp. 210, 495; and Gentleman’s Magazine for 1828, pt. i, p. 568.
[557]i.e. Marshal Beresford, in command of the Portuguese armies.
[558]The battle of Toulouse was fought on April 10, 1814. The 8th is now The King’s (Liverpool Regt.). I have not been able to trace at what period Denham was transferred to it. Perhaps it is a clerical error of the General’s. The Army List never shows him as in the 8th Regt.
[559]7th Portuguese Brigade, attached to 6th British Division. Vid. Oman, Wellington’s Army, p. 372.
[560]Now 2nd Batt. Dorsetshire Regt. Denham’s diary during the Waterloo campaign and afterwards in Paris is in the R. G. S.
[561]Now the Leicestershire Regt. His original commissions, now among the Denham papers in the possession of the Royal Geographical Society, show him as Captain in the 17th Foot and Major in the Army.
[562]For an interesting account of the duties of this post and for the evidence given by Mr. Reffell, Denham’s predecessor, vid. Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the state of Sierra Leone, 2 parts, 1827. A few sentences are printed on p. 14 of H. C. Lukach, Bibliography of Sierra Leone, Oxford, 1910.
[563]In the four-volume edition of Denham, vol. iv, p. 256, it is mentioned that Clapperton’s grandmother was a daughter of Col. Campbell of Glenlyon, the officer in command of the troops who committed the massacre of Glencoe.
[564]Thus Nelson, but, according to M‘Diarmid, Clapperton wrote to Mr. Scott, a banker of Annan, who applied to General Dirom [i.e. Lt.-Gen. Alexander Dirom, vid. Dict. Nat. Biog.], whose wife applied to her cousin, Capt. Briggs of the Clorinde.
[565]Thus Nelson, but I have been unable to trace it either at the Admiralty or the Record Office, in spite of the kind assistance of the Admiralty Librarian, W. G. Perrin, Esq. Cf. Appendix XX.
[566]For details of his death vid. p. 277 of the account of his expedition. His grave has never been identified, but a brass memorial tablet has been put up in the Sokoto Provincial Office by Major Alder Burdon, C.M.G., first British Resident of Sokoto Province.
[567]There is a very fine portrait of him in the quarto edition of the account of his expedition to Sokoto. From this and frequent references in the Tripoli correspondence, it is obvious that he was an exceptionally handsome and powerful officer. Cf. Appendix XVII.
[568]p. 176: ‘At no time am I possessed of a sweet and passive temper.’
[569]Sir John Barrow, who edited Clapperton’s journal of his second expedition, remarks on p. xviii that Clapperton was evidently a man of no education. This is too severe. His letters are not ill-expressed, though occasionally somewhat incoherent.
[570]i.e. Lamino.
[571]Denham came to the conclusion that the Bashaw of Tripoli was wilfully delaying the Mission. He therefore returned from Mourzouk to Tripoli and embarked for Europe, in order to get the Home Government to expedite matters. He was overtaken, however, at Marseilles, by an urgent message from the Bashaw, returned to Tripoli, and was soon able to get matters settled to his satisfaction. His action was both prompt and successful, but it would have been more tactful to have informed his companions of his plans.
[572]When Mr. Hanns Vischer was in Tripoli in 1906, he was presented by the heir of Col. Warrington with a book on Geometry, bearing on the fly-leaf the inscription, ‘Walter Oudney, M.D., Surgeon R.N. and H.B.M.’s Col. at Bornou’. The book is by Leslie, published by Constable in 1817. Mr. Vischer presented the book to the Bornu Provincial Library.
[573]In a letter to Warrington, dated Kuka, March 31, 1823, Clapperton says: ‘He has been at the Royal Military College and Greenwhich Observatory, I never was.’
[574]The Arab merchant who was head of the ‘Kaffila’ or caravan in whose company the travellers journeyed from Tripoli to Bornu.
[576]He appears to have assumed the additional surname of Horton about this time.
[577]Mr. Greig was Acting Chief Secretary to the Government of Malta. He retired in 1846, and died in 1873.
[578]Now the 2nd Batt. South Staffordshire Regt.
[579]This was also his dying request (vid. Denham, vol. ii, p. 26), and it was granted by Earl Bathurst.
[580]I do not know what became of little Walter Bornow. I fear he must have died young, as he does not appear among the numerous Warringtons in the Tripoli Consular Correspondence in the ’fifties.
[581]Head Marabout of the Bashaw of Tripoli.
[582]He arrived in Kuka on Dec. 23, 1823—‘a robust, healthy-looking young man, with a double-barrelled gun slung at his back’ (vid. Denham, vol. i, p. 461).
[583]Alias Adolphus Simkins, a native of St. Vincent, and a sort of dragoman to the Mission. He signs himself A. A. Simkins, but Denham, Introductory Chapter, spells it Sympkins. He accompanied Clapperton on his second expedition. There was also a Gibraltar Jew named Jacob attached to the Mission as ‘store-keeper’.
[584]Cf. Denham, vol. ii, pp. 23-6. Toole was only twenty-two when he died.
[585]The letter is in dog-Italian, which I am unfortunately unable to read.
[586]Vid. Denham, vol. i, p. 429. They were four-pounders, presented to the Sheikh by the Sultan of Fezzan. Denham also relates that Hillman made a large chair, ‘which pleased the Sheikh excessively’. The Sheikh sent him some ‘gabaga’ [i.e. cotton strips, used at that time as currency in Bornu], but Hillman returned them, saying: ‘No! the King of England pays me—I don’t want that: but I am much obliged to the Sheikh, nevertheless.’
John Belford, Lyon’s shipwright, made gun-carriages and a ‘coach’ for the Sultan of Mourzuk. Vid. Lyon, p. 179.
[587]For presents sent to Shehu Omar vid. Benton, Notes, &c., pp. 195 and 210.
[588]They had been detained in Mourzouk as hostages by the Governor of Fezzan.
[589]This was a present to Warrington from the Bashaw of Tripoli and was worth $1,000. It appears to have been rather a white elephant, for in one letter Warrington hints to Horton that he would like to present it to him. Presumably Horton intimated he had no use for it.
[590]In charge of Hillman.
[591]Paid to secure and retain the goodwill of the ruler of Tripoli. Without this the Mission could not have succeeded.
[592]Drawn but not expended. Warrington’s arithmetic is obscure.
APPENDIX XVI
BREEDS AND VARIETIES OF CATTLE, SHEEP AND GOATS[593]
Colours
| Cattle. | |
| White ox or cow | bida |
| Coal-black | balle (Koiyam, kolliu) |
| Black and white | yāmi (Shuwa, yabbe) |
| Red | hamra |
| Yellow | ole |
| Strawberry roan | boni |
| White belly | saje |
| Deep red | mera |
| Dapple grey | bage |
| Goats. | |
| White | bullam, ke̥ri |
| Coal-black | tselimma |
| Lightish black | keara |
| Black and white | kari |
| White with black neck | mallam |
| White and red | bururu, tosuno |
| Dapple grey | kurguma |
| Sheep | |
| White | bida |
| Coal-black | billa |
| White with black ears | batinge |
| White bellied | kordi |
| Speckled | ngangala |
| Half white and half red or black | wuda |
| Big ears and head | bellani |
| White with black neck | balo |
| Chestnut | ke̥ngar |
| White tail and stern | dubulu |
Breeds
Cattle.
- Bare—Big-horned Bornu cattle, no hump; derived from Arabic Bahr = water, because these cattle came from Chad.
- Kuri—Ditto: name of tribe living in Chad.
- Wadare—Small (wada = dwarf) humped, short-horned.
- Jawai—Very small, short-legged, from Mandara.
- Abore—Spreading horned, humped Fulani cattle.
Sheep.
- Wagare—Large Bornu sheep.
- Bellani—Big-headed, big-eared.
- Wuda—Short-haired Asben sheep.
- Yeriram—Long-haired sheep from the North: wool is manufactured.
Goats.
- Kani Ke̥nji—Common Bornu goat.
- Kani Tukshi—Long-haired goat.
- Kani Musgu—Small, short-legged pagan goat.
Note. On p. 193 of the Appendix to Denham’s book, first edition, it is recorded that he brought home a pair of ox-horns measuring 42½ inches in length and 23¼ inches in circumference.