Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London/Volume 1/Extracts from the Journal of an Expedition undertaken by order of his Majesty's Government, to determine the Course and Termination of the Niger
Richard Lander, who had accompanied the late Captain Clapperton on his second expedition into the interior of Africa, embarked, with. his brother John, at Portsmouth, on the 9th of January, 1830, on board the brig Alert, and arrived at Cape Coast Castle on the 22d of the following month. From this settlement they were conveyed to Badágry in his Majesty's sloop Clinker; and on the 31st of March they commenced their journey into the interior. The orders they had received from the secretary of state were to make their way overland to Boosà by the former route; thence to proceed to Yáoori; to embark on the river; and, following the stream, not to quit it till they reached its termination. Pursuing a route through the Yarriba country, varying in some parts from that which Captain Clapperton had taken, they reached the city of Kiáma on the 28th of May. In the course of their route, they passed through forests of large trees, morasses, and a wilderness of stunted trees, interrupted at intervals by patches of cultivated land. The approach to Kiáma is thus described:—
'Our path lay through a rich country covered with luxuriant grasses and fine trees, but very little underwood. It abounds plentifully with deer and antelopes, and other wild animals of a more ferocious nature, such as the !ion, the leopard, the elephant, and the wild ass. We saw no buffaloes, but now and then heard their lowing. On the 28th May, the jingling of bells announced the approach of a body of horsemen, who rapidly galloped up to our hut, and saluted us, one after another, with a martial air, by brandishing their spears within a few feet of us. To display their horsemanship, they caused their steeds to prance and rear; and when they imagined we were convinced of their abilities, they dismounted to prostrate themselves before us, and acquaint us of the welfare of their prince.'
'We continued our journey at noon: the warmth of the weather, and the loads of the horses, obliged us to travel slowly. At five p.m. we reached the ruins of a small town. The path was through the same forest as the preceding day, but less thickly wooded. At one place we remarked two immensely largely trees, springing up almost close together; their mighty trunks and branches twisted and firmly clasped round each other. Ant-hills were numerous in the road, and a few paces from it we observed, as we rode along, little cone-shaped mud buildings, erected by the natives for the purpose of smelting iron ore, which is found in abundance in different parts of the country. After passing Bennikenni, our course still lay through the forest, whose trees, shrubs, and plants spread around a delicious fragrance; and, as night came on, the polished spears and silver-topped caps of our escort, with the luminous firefly, a brilliant firmament of stars, and the bright moon, animated the scene around us, till, at about eight o'clock p.m. we reached Kiáma, and were immediately conducted to the king's residence.'
Proceeding onwards through the city of Wouwou, the two travellers reached Boosslà on the 17th June. After passing along some vallies, in which a heavy shower during the night had filled the paths with water, and crossing a magnificent plain, partially wooded with very old and ornamental trees, they descried, at the distance of two or three miles, the city of Boossà, formed of clusters of scattered huts. This city does not stand upon an island, as described by Captain Clapperton, but is on the main land, on the right bank of the river. At ten a.m. they entered the city by the western gateway, and discharged their muskets as the signal of their arrival.
June 18.—This morning,' says one of the brothers, 'I visited the far-famed Niger, or Quorra, which flows at the foot of the city, about a mile from our residence; and I was greatly surprised at its reduced breadth. Black rugged rocks rose abruptly from the centre of the stream, and its surface was agitated by whirlpools. At this place, in its widest part, (the end of the dry 
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The king afterwards exhibited to the travellers one of Mr. Park's books, which is described as a nautical book containing tables of logarithms.
On the 23d of June they set out from Boossá, for Yáoori. Only one of the branches of the river which meet at Boossà flows by Kagogie, a small village about six miles north of Boossà, yet this of itself is a mile in width; but large sand-banks are in the centre of the stream, and it is so shallow that, except in one very narrow place, a child might wade across it without difficulty.
'June 26.—We had passed the island whereon we had slept last night but a few minutes, and had just entered the main river, when we came to a spot where it spreads again, and each channel was full of dangerous rocks, sand-banks, and low islands covered with tall rank grass. We were conducted up the main channel; but were soon obliged to get out of the canoe to lighten her. During the greater part of the forenoon our canoe was continually striking against concealed rocks, or running on sandbanks, which obliged us to be constantly getting out and in.
'On the 27th of June we arrived at Yáoori. With the exception of the dangerous rocks opposite Boossà, we were informed that, during our four days' passage thence, we had passed almost all the difficult places in the river, there being, as is said, neither rocks nor sand-banks either above Yáoori or below Boossà. We have said nothing of the direction of the river, because it is pretty well understood that this city lies nearly due north of Boossà; and also, that notwithstanding its windings, and the number and variety of its channels among the islands, the Quorra flows past Boossà in a single undivided channel. In its natural bed, when uninterrupted by rocks, the river appears to run at this time of the year (June) between one and two miles an hour: whenever it is obstructed by them., the current is, of course, considerably greater.
'Although, during the dry season, no communication is maintained by water between Boossà and the countries lower down the river, by reason of the dangerous rocks which have been already alluded to, yet, in the wet season, after the "malca" (or fourteen days' incessant rain) has set in, when all the rivers which are dry during the remainder of the year pour their overflowing contents into the "Great Father of Waters," as the Quorra is emphatically styled, these canoes, we were told, pass to and fro between Yáoori, Nyffe, Boossà, and Funda. It is immediately after the malca, also, that the river, by the depth and velocity of its current, sweeps off the rank grass which springs up annually on its borders. Every. rock and every low island are then completely covered, and may be passed over in canoes without difficulty, or even apprehension of danger. Many years ago a large boat arrived at Yáoori, on a trading voyage from Timbuctoo; but when they had disposed of their merchandise, the boatmen returned to their country by land, because they asserted that the exertion of working their vessel back so long a way against the stream was too great for them, and therefore they left it behind at Yáoori. The journey from hence to the city of Soccatoo, when no stoppage is made on the road, may easily be accomplished in five days, and this is the regular time the natives take to go there. Coulfo[1] is two days' journey from Yáoori.
'Yáoori is a large, flourishing kingdom. It is bounded on the east by Haussa, on the west by Burgoo, on the north by Cubbie, and on the south by the kingdom of Nouffie. The crown is hereditary; the government an absolute despotism. The former sultan was deposed by his subjects for his violent measures and general bad conduct; and the present ruler, who has succeeded him, has reigned for the long period of thirty-nine years. The sultan has a strong military force, which, it is said, has successfully repelled the continued attacks of the ever-restless Falatahs: it is now employed in a remote province in quelling an insurrection, occasioned partly by the inability of the natives to pay their accustomed tribute, and partly from the harsh measures adopted by the sultan to compel them to do so. The city of Yáoori is of great extent, and very populous. It is surrounded by a high and strong wall of clay, and may be between twenty and thirty miles in circuit. It has eight large entrance gates or doors, which are well fortified after the manner of the country. The inhabitants manufacture a very coarse and inferior sort of gunpowder, which, however, is the best, and we believe the only thing of the kind made in this part of the country: they also make very neat saddles, cloth, &c. &c. They grow indigo, tobacco, onions, wheat, and other varieties of corn and rice of a superior quality, and have horses, bullocks, sheep, and goats; but, notwithstanding their industry, and the advantages which they enjoy, they are very poorly clad, have little money, and are perpetually complaining of the badness of the times. A market is held in the city daily, under commodious sheds; yet it is but indifferently attended, and the articles which are exposed for sale have been already mentioned.'
'July 29.—At this time Yáoori is little better than one complete swamp; and, if possible, it will be worse after the malca shall have set in, which is daily looked for.'
'August 2.—On leaving the city, it was literally covered with water, and the deep hollows formed by the rains were very numerous, and also dangerous, from being invisible. Owing to the reputed badness of the path by which we had entered Yáoori, it was rejected for a more northerly one, leading, in almost a direct line, to the river Cubbie, on which we embarked to return to Boossá. On entering the Quorra from this river, it was found running at the rate of two or three miles an hour. The banks of the river on the way down to Boossà, as well as its islands, were covered in many places with vast quantities of corn, which grows to the height of ten or twelve feet. The people on both sides are mostly of the Cumbrie race, who are poor, despised, and abused, but industrious and hard-working; in fact, they are considered as slaves by their more powerful neighbours. The river we found much swollen, its current much more impetuous than when we came up to it from Boossà, and many of the shoals and rocks which then annoyed us, were now under water, and completely hidden.
'Sept. 20.—This day we left Boossà, on our voyage down the river. Having taken leave of the old king and queen, on our way towards the river we found our path lined with people, some of whom saluted us on one knee, some on both, and we received their benedictions as we walked along. We embarked at noon. At a small island called Melalie, at which we were obliged to stop to repair our canoe, the current was running three or four miles an hour, and the bed of the river was full of rocks, some of which were shooting up within a few inches of the surface, which occasioned the water to make a loud rushing noise. Owing to the skilfulness of our pilot, we succeeded in crossing one or two reefs, which, in the dry season more especially, must be highly perilous; even as it was, we experienced considerable difficulty in getting over them. At two o'clock we passed the boundaries of Boossà, and entered the dominions of the King of Nouffie. At night we stopped at a large island, called Patáshie. The banks of the river near this place appear fertile and well inhabited: the river was much swollen by the rains, and in some places almost on a level with its banks. Patáshie is about a mile in width, and several miles in length. Opposite the town of Lēver (also called Layaba), the river becomes very narrow and deep. This town has an extensive population of Nouffie people.
'After leaving Layaba, we ran down the stream for twelve or fourteen miles, the Quorra, during the whole distance, rolling grandly along—a noble river, neither obstructed by islands, nor deformed with rocks and stones. Its width varied from one to three miles, the country on each side very flat, and a few mean, dirty-looking villages scattered on the water's edge. Just below the town of Bajiebo the river is divided by an island. At this town, which we left on the 5th of October, for the first time, we met with very large canoes having a hut in the middle, which contained merchants and their whole families. At the island of Madjie, where we were obliged to stop for canoe-men, we found trees of hungry growth and stunted shrubs, whose foliage seemed for the most part dull and withering: they shoot out of the hollows and interstices of rocks, and hang over immense precipices, whose jagged summits they partly conceal; they are only accessible to wild beasts and birds of prey. The river below Madjie takes a turn to the east by the side of another range of hills, and afterwards flows for a number of miles a little to the southward of east. On leaving the island, we journeyed very rapidly down the current for a few minutes, when, having passed another, we came suddenly in sight of an elevated rocky hill, called Mount Kēsey by the natives. This small island, apparently not less than 300 feet in height, and very steep, is an object of superstitious veneration amongst the natives.
'The island of Zegozhee[2], which we reached on the 7th of October, is opposite to Rabba, and so low, that the houses and trees appeared to be springing from the water. Rabba, which is two miles from this island, appears to be a large, populous, and flourishing town: it is built on the slope of a gentle hill, almost entirely destitute of trees. The Quorra, both yesterday and to-day, has flowed in a direction to the south of east. Rabba market is very celebrated, and considered by traders as one of the largest and best in the whole country, of which it may be styled the emporium. A variety of articles, both of native and foreign manufacture, are sold there; and it is generally well supplied with slaves of both sexes. Yesterday one of our men counted between 100 and 200 men, women, and children, exposed for sale in ranks. These poor creatures have for the most part been captured in war; and it is said the Falatahs rarely treat them with unkindness, and never with brutality. The price of a healthy, strong lad is about 40,000 cowries (8l. sterling); a girl fetches as much as 50,000, and perhaps more, if she be at all good-looking; and the value of men and women varies according to their age and abilities. Slaves are sometimes purchased at Rabba by people inhabiting a country situated a good way down the Quorra; and from thence they are delivered from hand to hand, till they at length reach the sea. Ivory is also sold here, and large tusks may be had at 1000 cowries each, and sometimes cheaper. We had eleven elephants' tusks of our own, which were presented to us by the Kings of Wouwou and Boossà, but we were unable to dispose of them at Rabba, because no strangers were then in the city.
'On leaving Rabba, we made no stop down the river all day, not even at meal-times, our men suffering the canoe to pass down the stream, whilst they were eating their food. At live in the afternoon they all complained of fatigue, and we looked around us for a landing-place, but could find none. Every village which we saw was behind large thick morasses and bogs, through which, after various provoking and tedious trials, we found it impossible to penetrate; we were therefore compelled to continue our course on the river. The day had been excessively warm; but, as we saw signs of an approaching storm, we endeavoured to land. This was impossible, in consequence of the swampy banks; and we were buffetted about during the whole night, in imminent danger from the water, and also from the herds or shoals of hippopotami which came snorting about the boat.'
'At ten a.m. on the 17th of October, we passed several mountains of singular and picturesque appearance, which are situated a few miles beyond the borders of the fiver to our left, and shortly after we came in sight of other mountains yet more interesting and romantic; but these were very elevated, and so far a-head of us, that they could hardly be distinguished from faint blue clouds. At the island of Gungo, which we had Passed, the natives were in their canoes, and leaving it, in consequence of their village being overflown, so high was the water of the river. At the island of Tofó, where we stopped on the 18th October, we found the cocoa-nut (not the tree, but the fruit) for the first time since leaving the Yarriba count On the 19th we observed and passed a river of considerable size, which entered the Quorra from the north-west.' (This was the Coodoonia, which Richard Lander had crossed on his former return journey from Soccatoo; and it may be observed, as a remarkable instance of the accuracy of the present and former route, that the coincidence falls within a mile or two.) 'Very elevated land appeared on each side of the Quorra as far as could be seen.'
'Egga, the next town we came to, is upwards of two miles in length, and we were struck with the immense number of bulky canoes which lay off it, filled with trading commodities, and all kinds of merchandize common to the country. The course bf the fiver was here about E.S.E. Benin and Portuguese clothes are worn at Egga by many of its inhabitants; so that it would appear some kind of communication is kept up between this place and the sea-coast. The people are very speculative and enterprising, and numbers of them employ all their time solely in trading up and down the river. They live entirely in their canoes, over which they have a shed, which answers completely every purpose for which it is intended; so that, in their constant peregrinations, they have no need of any other dwelling or shelter than that which their canoes afford them. Cocoa-nuts are sold about the streets in great quantities, and various little parcels of them were sent to us; but we understood that they are imported from a neighbonring country. Egga is of prodigious extent, and has an immense population. Like many other towns on the banks of the river, it is not unfrequently inundated, and a large portion of it was at that time actually overflowed. The soil in the vicinity of the town consists of a dark heavy mould, uncommonly productive; so that, with trifling labour, all the necessaries of life are obtained in plenty, and cheaply. The inhabitants eat little animal food, but live principally on fish, which are sold at a reasonable rate. Hyenas are said to abound in the woods in great numbers, and are so bold and rapacious as to have lately carried away nearly the whole of the sheep in the town. Near this place is a considerable market-town on the opposite side of the river. A few miles below Egga the dominion of the chiefs or kings of territories is no longer acknowledged, and each town or city has its own ruler.'
Oct. 25.—At five in the morning we found ourselves nearly opposite a very considerable fiver entering the Quorra from the eastward. We first supposed it to be an arm of.the river running from us; but the strong opposing current soon proved our mistake. We had now many hills to our right and left, close to the banks; others at a greater distance. At seven o'clock the river seemed free of islands and morasses, and its banks were well wooded, and much higher than we had observed them for a long time previously, nevertheless it ran over a rocky bottom, which caused its surface to ripple exceedingly. At ten a.m. we passed a huge and naked white rock, in the form of a perfect dome, arising from the centre of the river, which we named the Bird Rock, from its being covered with them. The course of the river this morning was S.S.W.; and its width varied, as usual, from two to five or six miles.'
'At Bocqua, 26th Oct., we were informed that directly opposite to it, on the eastern bank, is the common path to the city of Funda, which is situated three days' journey inland from the Quorra; that the large river we observed yesterday falling into the Quorra from the eastward is the celebrated Shar, Shary, or Sharry, of travellers; or, as it is more commonly called than either, the Tshadda; indeed, it is universally so called throughout the country. The interpreter further said, that the small river we had passed on the 19th, flowing from the same direction, is the Coodoonia.'
'At Bocqua some iron hoops were found, and staves of casks. Bocqua possesses four markets. The chief of Bocqua told us to avoid his enemy, the chief of Attà, and that in seven days we should reach the sea. Both banks of the river below Bocqua still continued hilly and well wooded. At eleven a.m. we were opposite a town, which, from the description that had been given of it, we supposed to be Attà. It was situated close to the water's edge, in an elevated situation, and on a fine green sward, and its appearance was highly beautiful. The town appeared clean, of great extent, and surrounded with fine trees and shrubs. A few canoes were lying at the foot of the town; but we escaped observation, and passed on. Afterwards, the margin of the river became more thickly wooded than before; and, for upwards of thirty miles, not a town or a village, or even a single hut, could any where be seen. The whole of this distance our canoe passed smoothly along the river: everything was silent and solitary; no sound could be distinguished, save our own voices and the splashing of the paddles, with their echoes. The song of birds was not heard, nor could any animal whatever be seen; the banks seemed to be entirely deserted, and the magnificent Quorra to be slumbering in its own grandeur.
'At noon to-day we passed the end of the high hills which had commenced above Bocqua. They were also at some distance from the banks of the river, and changed their direction to the S.S.E. The course of the river this day was nearly S.W., and the breadth varied from three to five miles.
Oct. 27.—At Abbazacca, about forty-five miles below the junction of the Tshadda with the Quorra, and the first town to the southward of the mountains, on the left bank, we saw an English bar of iron; and, for the first sime since leaving Jenna, in Yarriba, we beheld the graceful cocoa-nut tree, and heard the mellow whistling of grey parrots. The chief wished to know from whence we had come; and having told him we came from Yáoori, a great city on the banks of the river, he expressed surprise, never before having heard of the name. The banks between Attà and this place are low, and in some parts inundated. No towns or villages are to be seen on them for many miles, particularly on the western bank. Below Abbazacca, villages are seen every three or four miles on the eastern bank, but little cultivation. At Damuggoo, the natives have European muskets of English manufacture: the king had six small swivels. The natives are expert in the use of fire-arms, and shoot buffaloes, which, however, are not very numerous. The Quorra fell two feet in as many days, but was still overflowing the town. Here we saw a man dressed in a soldlet's jacket, and others partially clothed in European apparel, all of whom have picked up a smattering of English from the Liverpool palm-oil vessels in the Bonney river. Bonney is said to be four or five days' journey from hence.
Oct. 30.—A great part of the population of Damuggoo left the town this morning for the Bocqua market: they take thither powder, muskets, soap, Manchester cottons, and other articles of European manufacture, and great quantities of rum, or rather rum and water; for not more than one-third of it is genuine spirit, and even that is of the worst quality. These are exchanged for ivory and slaves, which are again sold to the European traders.'
Near Kirree a disaster befell the travellers on the morning of the 5th November, at a place about forty miles farther down the river, the details of which do not come within the purpose of the present memoir. It will be sufficient to observe that they were attacked by large parties in war canoes, some of which had forty paddles, containing fifty or sixty men. Their canoe was run down, and many of their effects lost.
Kirree is a large town and slave mart, frequented by people from the Eboe country for slaves and palm oil. Eboe is said to be three days' journey down the river. A small stream runs into the Quorra from the eastward, opposite to Kirree; but it is not improbable that it may be merely the re-union of a branch which runs off at Damuggoo. At Kirree, also, a considerable branch of the Quorra turns off to the westward, which is said to run to Benin. Being now on the great delta of the river, a change in the climate had been experienced at a short distance above Kirree. The nights were very cold, with heavy dews, and a considerable quantity of dense vapour covered the face of the country in the morning. The banks of the river were cultivated in some places where they were high, but in most places they were low, and the few villages that were seen were nearly concealed by thick jungle. Below Kirree the river is not so serpentine as above it; the banks are so low and regular that not even a simple rising can anywhere be distinguished: they are assuming a degree of sameness little different from that which prevails on many parts of the sea-coast, in the bight of Benin; and here, for the first time, the fibrous mangrove was seen, interspersed amongst the other trees of the forest. Both banks, however, are pretty thickly inhabited, and there are many scattered villages, which, though encompassed with trees, and invisible from the river, could easily be distinguished by the number of their inhabitants appearing on the beach to trade with the canoe-men.
Nov. 8.—Having embarked long before sunrise, a fog prevented our progress; and from fear of mistaking our way, it was agreed we should return to the land. In pursuance of this plan, we hung on by the shore till the gloom had dispersed, when we found ourselves on an immense body of water like a lake, having gone a little out of the bed of the main stream; and we were at the mouth of a very considerable river flowing out of the lake to the westward, being evidently an important branch of the Quorra. Another branch also ran hence to the S.E. whilst our course was in a south-westerly direction, on what we considered to be the main body,—the whole forming, in fact, three rivers of no small magnitude. We wished to be more particular in our observations of this interesting part of our journey, but were compelled to forego this gratification on account of the superstitious prejudices of the natives, who affected to be displeased with the attention with which we regarded the river. The opposite shores of the lake were not seen from our position, nor was the branch which runs to the S.E. Several small rivers are also said to fall in on its N.E. shore. Eboe is a large straggling town, one mile W. from the river. The branch of the river on Which we had now to proceed is narrower than above the lake, and at its issue from the lake is not more than two miles wide. The banks in many parts are low, swampy, and thickly wooded. At Eboe, which we reached ou the 12th November by a shallow canal, we found many large canoes frown the coast, with palm-oil puncheons in them, housed over, and each containing about fifty or sixty persons.'
Nov. 12.—At seven in the morning we left Eboe. King Boy and his wife also embarked. Our canoe, which was heavily laden, was paddled by thirty-eight men and two steersmen—one in the bow and the other in the stern. We had three captains with speaking-trumpets to give orders, one drummer, the king's steward, and his lady's waiting-maid, a cook, and two fellows for baling the boat. At seven a.m. we started; the captains calling out with all their might, through their speaking-trumpets, to their fetish, for a prosperous journey. We soon glided along, at a great rate, passing towns and villages at every two or three miles, and more cultivated land than we had seen for fifteen days past. It contained large plantations of yams, bananas, plantains, Indian corn, but no rice; nor did we see any kind of grain after leaving Kacunda, although the soil on the banks of this river would grow all kinds well. The river was not very wide, and narrowed fast: the widest part I do not think was more than two miles, and the narrowest not quite half a mile. At three p.m., its beauty was mostly gone. In many places it had overflowed its banks, through trees and thick underwood, and in the widest part was not more than a mile and a half across. Saw a small branch running off to the west.'
Nov. 14, 7 p.m.—We turned out of the main river, and proceeded up a small branch, towards Brass Town, which runs in a S.E. by E. direction from the main river. Our course this day was due south, and the river continued to run in the same direction when we left it, overflowing its banks, but much diminished in volume. In the widest part it was not more than half a mile across, aud the narrowest about 300 yards. As usual, we passed many towns and villages during the day, and where the banks were not overflown they were cultivated.'
'At half-past eight p.m. we found ourselves influenced by the tide, and at every ten or twenty miles we were either on a bank or stuck fast in the underwood; so that the men, as on former occasions, were obliged to get out and lift the canoe over. Our track was through avenues of mangroves: in many places the trees were arched over so thickly, that we could see no light through them. We continued on, winding in and out, through small creeks, until nine a.m. on the 15th, when we met three large canoes. In one of them was the old King Fourday, and several fetish priests; in another were the brothers of King Boy, and in the third those of Mr. Gun. They had been to the town of Brass, and had brought old King Fourday and the fetish priests to escort us into their country. A short time after our arrival at Brass we made fast to the trees, when the tide ebbed, and left us high and dry on black mud half an hour after.'
'After leaving Eboe we passed two small branches running to the west, and also two running in the east. The country through which the river winds is low, without a rising ground for many miles. The banks are for the most part swampy: where they are at all habitable, villages are seen, with patches of cultivated ground. On the 13th we passed a village on the right bank. where the stillness of the water and much white foam we imagined to be the effects of the tide. This place is about seventy or eighty miles from the sea. Near the mouth of the river, and in our way up to Brass Town, the banks were so much overflown, that the trees appeared to be growing out of the water.'
The accompanying sketch of the course of the Quorra is combined with Captain Clapperton's map on a reduced scale, and it is due to the Society to offer a few remarks on the method which has been adopted in tracing it. The only instrument possessed by the travellers was the mariner's compass, and even this was lost at Kirree, which is placed about 180 miles in a direct line from the mouth of the river; therefore, in the absence of all means of ascertaining, with any pretensions to certainty, a single geographical point, the position of Boossà, and that of the mouth of the river Nun, lying nearly at the two extremes of the whole journey, were adopted as limits within which the course of the river navigation between these places must necessarily fall. The daily progress of the travellers in course and distance, according.to their own estimation, was then subjected to rigorous scrutiny; and the probable distance supposed to have been travelled each day, in which allowance was made for the rate of the stream (never exceeding three miles, and decreasing downwards), was adopted and laid down on a large scale. This was next reduced into the five sheets that accompany the present paper, which, when joined together us they are marked, show the general course of the river, with such remarks from the journals relating to its banks as occurred during its construction. The materials, thus brought together, underwent a further reduction, on being copied in the general map, between the points before-mentioned; and it is with some satisfaction, even after the necessarily rough manner in which the whole has been put together, that the following particulars may be pointed out as throwing a degree of probability on the course now laid down being nearly that of the Quorra, which was scarcely to have been expected. The month of the river Nun in the map is nearly due south of Boosà, and the course of the river to the east is about the same as that to the west, which corresponds with that condition. The river Coodoonia fails into the Quorra nearly in the same place as before laid down. The great Tshadda was also found to enter the Quorra at about the point before reported. And with respect to Yáoori it may be added, that Soccatoo was said to be five days' journey from it; while the distance from the former as laid down by Lander, to the latter as given by Clapperton, is about 100 miles, which near!y corresponds with a journey of five days.
which rivers of the first magnitude might discharge their waters unseen and unknown. The whole of this coast is fronted with innumerable islands, with deep channels between them, through which, according to Captain King's expression, 'the tide rushes with frightful rapidity.' He suspects the great mass of land called Dampier's Land, extending from Cape Levique to Pointe Gantheaume, to be an island, behind which there is an opening of at least eight miles in width; and here, as well as in the Buccaneers' Archipelago, he found the rise and fall of the tides six and thirty feet, which on other parts of the coast did not exceed eight or nine feet. From these phenomena Captain King comes to the same conclusion with that excellent old navigator Dampier. 'From all that is at present known,' he observes, 'of this remarkable opening, there is enough to excite the greatest interest; since, from the extent of the opening, the rapidity of the stream, and the great rise and fall of the tides, there must be a very extensive gulf or opening, totally different from everything that has been before seen.' But in parts of the coast so dangerous, no survey can be made, except in boats, or by !and, along the shore.
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'It will not be necessary for me,' says Captain Stirling, in his official despatches to Government, 'to recapitulate the inconveniences we had to encounter on our first arrival. The winter season, the loneliness of our situation, and ignorance of the country, and of the navigation of the coast, and our anxiety as to whether we should succeed or fail, were sources of uneasiness which are happily passed away. It is our present condition that will interest yon most, and to that I shall confine myself.'
The first operation on arriving at Swan River, was to mark out the site of two towns, to one of which was given the name of Freemantle, close to the entrance of the river; to the other that of Perth, about nine miles higher up, on its right or northern bank. In August, 1829, the settlers began to crowd in; and having received their respective allotments, commenced the erection of temporary buildings. In November, the country on the banks of the Swan and Canning Rivers, extending between the sea and the mountains, and to the distance of fifty miles to the southward of Perth, was thrown open to them. And many at once established themselves on their lands, regardless of any danger from the natives, who indeed were found to be so harmless, that single individuals even, who had traversed the country, and particularly among the mountains, had never met with any interruption, nor sustained any insult or injury at their hands.
As settlers continued to flock in, towards the end of the year