Clapperton's second journey--Arrival at Badagry--Yariba and its capital Katunga--Boussa--Attempts to get at the truth about Mungo Park's fate--"Nyffe," Yaourie, and Zegzeg--Arrival at Kano--Disappointments-- Death of Clapperton--Return of Lander to the coast--Tuckey on the Congo--Bowditch in Ashantee--Mollien at the sources of the Senegal and Gambia--Major Grey--Caillie at Timbuctoo--Laing at the sources of the Niger--Richard and John Lander at the mouth of the Niger--Cailliaud and Letorzec in Egypt, Nubia, and the oasis of Siwah. So soon as Clapperton arrived in England, he submitted to Lord Bathurst his scheme for going to Kouka _via_ the Bight of Benin--in other words by the shortest way, a route not attempted by his predecessors--and ascending the Niger from its mouth to Timbuctoo. In this expedition three others were associated with Clapperton, who took the command. These three were a surgeon named Dickson, Pearce, a ship's captain, and Dr. Morrison, also in the merchant service; the last-named well up in every branch of natural history. On the 26th November, 1825, the expedition arrived in the Bight of Benin. For some reason unexplained, Dickson had asked permission to make his way to Sockatoo alone and he landed for that purpose at Whydah. A Portuguese named Songa, and Colombus, Denham's servant, accompanied him as far as Dahomey. Seventeen days after he left that town, Dickson reached Char, and a little later Yaourie, beyond which place he was never traced.[1] [Footnote 1: Dickson quarrelled with a native chief, and was murdered by his followers. See Clapperton's "Last Journey in Africa."--_Trans._] The other explorers sailed up the Bight of Benin, and were warned by an English merchant named Houtson, not to attempt the ascent of the Quorra, as the king of the districts watered by it had conceived an intense hatred of the English, on account of their interference with the slave-trade, the most remunerative branch of his commerce. It would be much better, urged Houtson, to go to Badagry, no great distance from Sackatoo, the chief of which, well-disposed as he was to travellers, would doubtless give them an escort as far as the frontiers of Yariba. Houtson had lived in the country many years, and was well acquainted with the language and habits of its people. Clapperton, therefore, thought it desirable to attach him to the expedition as far as Katunga, the capital of Yariba.