Denham and Clapperton then returned to Tripoli[174]. The British Government sent Clapperton back to discover the outlet of the Niger. He landed at Badagri, in what is now the British colony of Lagos. He lost his companions one by one, with the exception of his invaluable servant Richard Lander. Clapperton passed through Yorubaland, and actually struck the Niger at the Busa Rapids, near where Park and his company perished. From Busa Clapperton and his party travelled through Nupe and the Hausa states of Kano and Sokoto; but he arrived at an unfortunate time, when Sokoto was at war with Bornu, and the Fula sultan was much too suspicious of Clapperton’s motives to help him in the exploration of the Niger. From fever and disappointment Clapperton died at Sokoto on the 13th of April, 1827. It was a great pity that he went there at all. What he should have done on reaching Busa was to work his way down from Busa to the sea. All his companions, except his servant Lander, had predeceased him. Lander now endeavoured to trace the Niger to the sea, but the Fula sultan still opposed him, and he was stripped of nearly all the property of the expedition before he could leave Sokoto. Eventually he made his way back to Badagri by much the same route that Clapperton had followed. Lander was a Cornishman, a man of short stature, but pleasing appearance and manners. He had had a slight education as a boy, but learned a good deal more in going out to service as page, footman, and valet. In this last-named capacity he had journeyed on the continent of Europe and in South Africa before accompanying Clapperton. When he returned to England his story did not arouse much interest, as Arctic explorations had replaced Africa in the mind of the public. Moreover, the ultimate course of the Niger had by a process of exhaustion almost come to be guessed aright.