BOOKS.
BAIRIE'S EXPLORING VOYAGE UP THE BITERS WoR A AND DI NUE.* THE African discoveries of the last thirty years have shown that the Niger is a nonexistent river, either according to native ter- minology or the realization of European conceptions. The Niger of Park is (after the latest spelling) the KwOra : a river which unites with it in about 8 degrees of North latitude and 7 degrees of East longitude, is, according to Dr. Baikie, the Binue, formerly known (after the present spelling) as the Tgada. The united streams form the well-known river Nun ; the comparatively small volume of whose waters prevented theory from fixing ,upon it as the outlet of the mighty and mysterious river of ancient and modern times ; the fact being that the waters of the Niger dis- charge themselves through many channels from the River dos Escravos to the Bonny. The main stream has been ascended seve- ral times. Mr. Macgregor Laird soon after Lander's discovery reached the confluence, and passed some distance up both branches. He was followed by a Government expedition under the auspices or orders of Sir Fowell Buxton, to found a model farm and for other philanthropic objects, which, as all the world knows, la- mentably failed. The late Mr. Beecroft ascended the river several times ; but till this occasion no one proceeded farther than Laird. The great feature of the present expedition is the impunity with which it was performed. The Europeans, twelve in number, can scarcely be said to have suffered in health; at least not more than in an aguish district in Europe, if so much. Of the persons of colour, fifty-four in number, some Kroomen were affected with scurvy and general derangement ; but this was owing to a want of proper provisions. The progress made by Dr. Baikie up the Binue beyond Mr. Macgregor Laird contains some curious pictures of the country and the people, but is still more remarkable for the apparent safety with which it was effected. Dr. Baikie and lus assistant Mr. May were for some time living and sleeping in an open boat day and night, faring hardly, and perpetually ex- posed to weather,yet -without ill effects or at least serious illness. Dr. Baikie is justly proud of the comparative immunity from sickness among sixty-six people, which he attributes to passing promptly through the Delta of the river, to the free use of quinine as a preventive, and to the season. We must demur to his con- clusion, " that under proper precautions Europeans may not only live quietly but even commit with impunity what sonic years ago would have been considered as terrible indiscretions.' The ex- pedition arrived at the mouth of the Nun about the close of the dry season, when all writers agree that the malaria is -least noxious ; as the river was ascended the waters began to rise; during the boat-excursion the country though comparatively high was nearly submerged, and malaria (as usually understood.) powerless ; the waters began-to fall during the descent, but the country was still inundated ; so that a hot sun acting upon a moist soil and decaying vegetation was as yet inoperative. Dr. Baikie, however, did not escape eventually. At Fernando Po he had a touch of malaria fever, which he has not yet shaken off. " During the earlier part of our voyage [home], both Mr. May and I suffered much from frequent accessions of remittent fever; but our stay at Sierra Leone had a very beneficial effect on us. It seemed quite to cure him but I had a fresh seizure at Goree, and during the remainder of the time had repeated paroxysms. Even after my arrival in England they. continued ; and to this day I am liable to troublesome ague, keeping me well in mind of my morning visit to the swamp at Angiruna."
If Dr. Baikie's opinion of the cause of his illness is correct, it shows how deadly must be the poison of the Delta, and how promptly its victims are stricken. This is the morning call that did the mischief as the expedition was returning.
" The morning brought with it no refreshing breeze, and all around us was enveloped in mist. During the night there had been heavy rain, and occasional showers continued until daybreak. As soon as we could see we weighed anchor, and dropping down about two miles were abreast of Angi- &ma ; where, as the water was deep, we hauled alongside the bank. Mr. Crowther and I immediately landed, and found the place intolerably wet and muddy. The moist ground was yielding abundant malarious exhala- tions, and the sun's rays had not yet succeeded in penetrating through the murky atmosphere. Por the first time I was conscious of a disagreeable sickly smell, and after a short time felt so faint that I had to return on board and get something to revive myself."
The main objects of the expedition were to assist Dr. Barth and Dr. Vogel—who it was supposed might be in the neighbourhood of the Tsadda or Binue, and to ascend the last-named stream, as
high as The junction of Fero, (which Dr. Barth had seen ) and if possible to the limits of navigation. Neither attempt succeeded. The travellers were not in the neighbourhood ; various causes pre- vented the steamer from proceeding so far as had been hoped for. Some of these were incidental to the, nature of the expedition : it is impossible to guard against the unforeseen difficulties of a new attempt. Others in a measure arose from the mixed character of the plan. There were two masters, Mr. Macgregor Laird and the Admiralty. The ship' Pleiad, a vessel admirably adapted for the navigation, was built for Mr. Macgregor Laird ; who in fact man- ned and stilled her for commercial purposes, nominating his own sailing-master, supercargo, &c. The officers of the expedition were appointed by the Admiralty, which appears to have had some sort of contract with Mr. Laird, and to have been masters over the sailing-master. Mr. Beecroft died before the arrival of the ex- • Narrative of an Exploring Voyage tip the Rivers %worn and Binue, (com- monly known as the Niger and 7'sarltia,) in 1854. With a Map and Appendices. Published with the sanction of her Majesty's Government. By William Balfour Baikie, M.D., R.N., 4.c. Comm and of the Expedition. Published by Murray. pedition at Fernando Po, and Dr. Baikie, in the absence of in- structions, assumed the post of leader. The loss of Beecroft, with his great experience of the Niger, and his consequent authority, was a heavy drawback. According to Dr. Baikie, the sailing- master was unfit for his peculiar position ; he was not up to his work. Mr. Laird had provided ample stores and given ample au- thority, rbut things were left behind. at Fernando Po ; tea and candles were on board, and only discovered by accident, when the officers had been sitting in darkness and their tea was nearly out. The-master did not push the voyage up the river with sufficient vigour ; and the vessel was often aground, which caused. delay. At last, Dr. Baikie " relieved " the master, and took the com- mand himself. The illness of the Kroomen, caused in part by want of rum, of which none was on board, and the badness of the tools for cutting wood, which deprived the engine of fuel, com- pelled the steamer to anchor near Wuzu, (in about 90 23' of North latitude, and about 11° of East longitude,) leaving Dr. Baikie to proceed as far as he could by boat navigation. The voyage has added something to our previous knowledge of the people and languages of the Nun or Niger, as well as furnished a more correct map of the river. It has also opened up the pros- pect of a possible extension of commerce, proper regard being had to times and seasons ; though we think Dr. Baikie sanguine both as regards health and wealth. Upon the former subject we have already intimated an opinion. Upon the commercial pros- pects we would observe, that the capabilities of a country and its actual products are two distinct things ; and the produce which seems large for the transactions of a single vessel would not be much for a national trade. However, this is undoubtedly the most hopeful expedition that has come back from the Niger. The absolutely new information is between Dagbo, on the Tad& or Binue, Macgregor Laird's most Easterly point, and Dillti, whence our explorer had to return. The direct distance is above two hundred miles, but more space was passed over owing to the wind- ings of the river. For some time the people were much the same as lower down—civil, plausible, and willing to trade. As the party proceeded up the river, the natives got more barbarous in appearance and manners, and seemed to prefer taking to trading. Dr. Baikie proceeded quite as far as prudence justified, and only turned back when necessity imperatively commanded a retreat. This was the latest advance.
"About half-past ten we entered a creek on the North side, running nearly parallel with the river, and shortly afterwards sighted a village, at which we soon arrived. To our astonishment, the first thing which brought us up was our running the bow of the gig against a hut, and on looking around we found the whole place to be flooded. We advanced right into the middle of the village, and found no resting-place ; right and left, before and behind, all was water. People came out of the huts to gaze at the ap- parition; and, standing at the doors of their abodes, were, without the smallest exaggeration, immersed nearly to their knees, and one child I par- ticularly observed up to its waist.
" A little distance from us we espied a large tree, round the foot of which was a patch of dry land, towards which we pulled ; but grounding before reaching quite to it, Mr. May and I waded to it, instruments in hand, to take observations. We were barely allowed to conclude, when nearly the entire population of the place, half-wading half-swimming across a small creek, came upon us, and stared at us in -wild astoniahment. A hurried set of sights being taken, we carried our things back into the boat; and as we wished to get another set about three-quarters of an hour after noon, we tried to amuse ourselves and to spend the intervening time as we best could. We were now able to look a little more attentively at our new friends, who in large numbers crowded round, mid who, male and female, were nearly all equally destitute of a vestige of clothing. One young man understood a few words of Hausa, and by his means we learnt that this was the Ddlti of which we have heard at Djin, and that the inhabitants were of the same stock as at the other villages ; but they were by far more rude, more savage, and more naked, than any of the other Baibai whom we had encountered. A canoe came near us, lying in the bottom of which was a curious large fish, of which I had just time to make a rough eye-sketch, when I had to retreat to the boat, and' Mr. May, who had been exploring in another direction, also returned. The behaviour of these wild people now attracted our notice ; the men began to draw closer around us, to exhibit their arms, and to send away the women and children. Their attentions became momentarily more and more familiar, and they plainly evidenced a desire to seize and plunder our boat. A sour-looking old gentleman, who was squatting on the branch of a tree: was mentioned as their king ; but if so, he made no endeavours to re- strain the cupidity of his sans-culottes. Part of a red shirt belonging to one of our Krilmen was seen peering out from below a bag, and some advanced to lay hold of it, when suddenly, my little dog, who had been lying quietly in the stern-sheets, raised her head to see what was causing such a commo- tion. Her sudden appearance startled the Thilti warriors, who had never seen such an animal before; so they drew back to take counsel together, making signs tome to know if she could bite, to which I replied in the affirma- tive. Matters were beginning to look serious ; our crew, as usual, were timid, and Mr. May and I had only ourselves to depend upon in the midst of three or four hundred armed savages, who were now preparing to make a rush at us. There was no help for it;. we had to abandon all hopes of our remaining ob- servations, and of so fixing an exact geographical position. As at Djin, I seized a few trinkets, and, handing them hastily to those nearest to us, we shoved off while the people were examining these wondrous treasures. " Still anxious if possible to get some further observations not far re- moved from the spot where the former ones were taken, we pulled about among trees and bushes, but without any success. At length we shoved in among some long grass, hoping to find dry land ; but after having proceeded until completely stopped by the thickness of the growth, we still found up- wards of a fathom of water. At this moment, Mr. May's ear caught a voice not far behind us ; so we shoved quietly, back, and found a couple of canoes trying to cut off our retreat. Seeing this, we paddled vigorously back, there not being room for using our oars ; and the canoes did not venture to molest us. We. were quickly paddling across the flooded plain, when suddenly a train of canoes in eager pursuit issued out upon us. There were ten canoes, each containing seven or eight inch, and they were sufficiently close to Milo allow us to see their stores of arms. Our Krdboys worked most energeti- cally, and we went ahead at such a rate that our pursuers had complete oacupationlound them in paddling, and could not use their weapons. At this moment "We were about a couple of hundred yards from the river, towards whieh we made AS straight a course as possible. Not knowing how matters might terminate, we thought it advisable to prepare for defence ; I took our revolver to load it; but now, when it was needed, the ramrod was stiff and quite immoveable. Mr. May got a little pocket-pistol ready, and we had if required a enthuse, and a ship's musket, which the Krilmen,.by this time in a desperate fright, wished to see prepared, as they kept calling out to us, Load de big gun, load de big gun r Could an unconcerned spectator have witnessed the scene, he would have been struck with the amount of the ludicrous it contained. There were our Krtiboys, all as pale as black men could be, the perspiration starting from every pore, exerting to the utmost their powerful muscles ' - while Mr. May and I were trying to look as unconcerned as possible, and, to lessen the indignity of our retreat, were smiling and bowing to the Will people, and beckoning to them to fol- low us. Their light canoes were very narrow, and the people were obliged to stand upright. The blades of their paddles, instead of being of the usual lozenge shape, were oblong and rectangular, and all curved in the direction of the propelling stroke. It was almost a regatta, our gig taking and keep- ing the lead. Ahead we saw an opening in the bush, by which we hoped to make our final retreat ; but we were prepared, should the boat take the ground, to jump out at once and shove her into deep water. Fortune fa- voured us ; we reached the doubtful spot, and with a single stroke of our paddles shot into the open river. Here we knew we were comparatively safe, as if the natives tried to molest us in the clear water, all we had to do was to give their canoes the stein and so upset them'; our only fear had been that of being surrounded by them while entangled among the bushes. Our pursuers apparently guessed that we had now got the advantage, as they declined following us into the river, but, turning, paddled back to their watery abodes : and so ended the grand Ddlti chase.'
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