Enterprise and Adventure/Hugh Clapperton, the African Explorer

by Ralph Temple and Chandos Temple

ENTERPRISE AND ADVENTURE.

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HUGH CLAPPERTON, THE AFRICAN EXPLORER.

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Captain Hugh Clapperton, the first discoverer who traversed the vast continent of Africa, from the Gulf of Guinea to Tripoli in the Mediterranean, was placed, in 1815, during the war with America, in command of a blockhouse on Lake Huron in Canada, with a party of sailors. An anecdote is related of him here which strongly illustrates that goodness of heart which is attributed to him by his faithful servant, and companion of his African travels, Richard Lander. Vigorously attacked by an United States schooner on the lake, the blockhouse had but one small gun for its defence, and was soon demolished by the superiority of the enemy's fire. In this situation, Clapperton perceived that himself and his party had no alternative but to become prisoners of war, or to take the resolution of immediately crossing on foot the frozen waters of Lake Michigan, a distance of nearly sixty miles, on to York, the capital of Upper Canada, the nearest British depôt. The difficulty and danger of such a journey was felt by all; but the unfortunate garrison had faith in their young leader, and finally, taking with them what little relics of property had been spared by the fire, they set out to cross the lake. Cold fogs hovered over the dismal scene, the sky was heavy, and, to add to their misery, a blinding snow-storm overtook them, making it very difficult to maintain their way, though guided by the compass which they had fortunately got with them. For food on this wearisome journey they had nothing but a solitary bag of meal, which was served out in handfuls and eaten raw. They had scarcely proceeded more than ten or twelve miles, when a boy who was one of the party was found to be too much exhausted to walk further. Every one of the sailors declared that they were unable to carry him, as they were so benumbed by the cold, that they had scarcely strength sufficient to support themselves. It was at this time that the first snow began to fall, and Clapperton's generous nature could not bear the idea of the boy being left to perish under these circumstances. He therefore, though himself exceedingly weak and faint, took the boy upon his back, holding him with his left hand, while supporting himself from slipping on the rugged surface of the frozen waters with a staff in his right. Thus the mournful and silent procession moved on, getting no rest, for they feared to lie down. Meanwhile, the good Clapperton, sheltering his young companion from the cold as well as he could, manfully supported him, till, to his great grief, he felt the lad's hold relax, and found that he was dying from the cold, from which he afterwards expired. The sufferings of the whole

CLAPPERTON CARRYING THE DYING BOY.

party, before reaching their destination, were terrible in the extreme. Their shoes were worn from their feet; their bodies woefully emaciated from their want of nourishment; while Clapperton, from the effects of the frost, and the long inaction of his left hand while carrying the boy on his back, lost the first joint of his thumb.

The extraordinary energy and love of enterprise of Clapperton fitted him admirably for encountering those perils of African discovery which had consumed the lives of so many illustrious discoverers. The history of his entry into the navy is interesting. The youngest son of a Dumfries apothecary with a large family, Clapperton went to sea in a merchant ship when a boy, and was one day seized by a press-gang, and conveyed aboard a king's ship. Here he made the best of his position, and being remarkable for his great strength and agility, he was one of those who were selected to learn the new sword exercise, then taught by the famous Angelo, with a view to their afterwards teaching it to the sailors of the fleet. The boldness and decision displayed by him in his retreat from the Canadian blockhouse brought him into notice, and interesting the Admiralty in his favour, led to his promotion from the grade of midshipman to that of acting lieutenant, and finally to that of captain. Placed on half-pay by the termination of the war in 1817, his great delight was in shooting, fishing, and other out-door exercises; till, becoming acquainted in Edinburgh with Dr. Oudney, the African explorer, his mind became captivated with the idea of travel in that little-explored continent; and in 1823 he became employed by Lord Bathurst, in conjunction with Oudney and Major Denham, to make a journey to Timbuctoo. Dr. Oudney soon fell a victim to the climate; but Clapperton and his surviving companion kept on their way, and, in spite of incredible hardships, penetrated from Tripoli on the Mediterranean to Lake Tchad, and finally to Saccatoo. But he failed to discover the termination of the Niger, which was the chief object of the expedition.

In his next journey, Clapperton started from the Bight of Benin, on the Atlantic coast, and proceeding northward, again reached Saccatoo, thus completing the journey across the heart of Africa. It is said that some of his Scottish friends, with the superstitious regard for family tradition which distinguishes their countrymen, remembered as an ominous fact that the traveller belonged to the Campbell family, a family on whom rested, in popular language, the curse of Glencoe, his grandmother having been a daughter of Colonel Campbell, of Glenlyon, the officer by whom the soldiers who committed the massacre of Glencoe were commanded. But assuredly if there was one man who ought to have been exempted from the ill fortune which the superstitious believed to wait upon the Campbells, it was the good, the heroic, and the kind hearted Clapperton. Nor was there anything in his end, though untimely, to justify the warnings of the old legend. His fate was the common one of African explorers. His friend and leader, Dr. Oudney, had died in his first expedition; and in his second expedition he had the misfortune to see his companions, Captain Pearce, Mr. Dickson, and Dr. Morrison, a naturalist, one by one succumb to the unwholesome climate. Left now with only the servants which accompanied the expedition, the indomitable Clapperton pursued his way, and had the happiness to reach the spot at which his previous journey, commenced from the other side of the continent, had ended. Here, as if the work allotted to him in this world was ended, this brave man gave way under the effects of toil and privation. Nothing can convey a more touching testimony to the character of Clapperton than the narrative of his end, given by his faithful serf ant, Richard Lander. Sleeping on the reedy banks of a stagnant stream had brought on dysentery. "Twenty days," says Lander, "my poor master remained in a low and distressed state. His body, from being robust and vigorous, became weak and emaciated, and indeed was little better than a skeleton."

Lander himself was in a fever and almost unable to stir, but he was assisted by an old black slave. Meanwhile his patient's sleep was always short and disturbed, and troubled with frightful dreams. Lander read to him daily from the New Testament, till, one day calling him to his bedside, Clapperton told him that he should shortly be no more, and that he felt himself dying. "God forbid, my dear master!" exclaimed Lander; but the dying man only answered by bidding him not be so much affected, as it was the will of the Almighty. He then gave some minute directions for the return of the survivors, for the care of his journals and other things, and soon afterwards breathed his last. Lander obtained permission to bury the body, and himself performed the mournful task of reading over it the funeral service.

"Then," continues Lander, in his beautiful narrative of this event, "I returned, disconsolate and oppressed, to my solitary habitation; and leaning my head on my hand, could not help being deeply affected with my lonesome and dangerous situation—a hundred and fifteen days' journey from the sea coast, surrounded by a selfish and cruel race of strangers, my only friend and protector mouldering in his grave, and myself suffering dreadfully from fever. I felt, indeed, as though I stood alone in the world, and earnestly wished I had been laid by the side of my dear master." Having, with the assistance of two slaves, erected a small house over the grave as a memorial of the spot, Lander was soon afterwards sufficiently recovered to take the command of what remained of the expedition. After a tedious journey, and numerous privations, he arrived at Cape Coast, where he embarked in a sloop-of-war, from which he landed in England in April, 1828.

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