Journal of a second expedition into the interior of Africa, from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo : $b To which is added, the journal of Richard Lander from Kano to the sea-coast, partly by a more eastern route. — John Shaqi
Journal of a second expedition into the interior of Africa, from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo : $b To which is added, the journal of Richard Lander from Kano to the sea-coast, partly by a more eastern route.Clapperton, Hugh
History
Journal of a second expedition into the interior of Africa, from the Bight of Benin to Soccatoo : $b To which is added, the journal of Richard Lander from Kano to the sea-coast, partly by a more eastern route.
Clapperton, Hugh
Sudan (Region) -- Description and travel
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.
It is greatly to be regretted, that the premature deaths of Captain
Pearce and Dr. Morrison have deprived the world of many beautiful
specimens of art, and many valuable acquisitions to the stores of
natural history. Among the vegetable products of the tropical regions
of North Africa, which, from the general descriptions here and there
given, are of great beauty and fertility, there are no doubt to be
found many new and valuable species; the whole line from the Bight of
Benin to Soccatoo being entirely untrodden ground, consisting of every
variety of feature, mostly left in a state of nature, and a great
portion of it covered with magnificent forests.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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