portion, laying open sources of information concerning it which had hitherto been inaccessible to our travellers. But the sufferings he underwent in this journey were excruciating, chiefly owing to the old wound in his leg, that broke out afresh under the burning climate that had first occasioned it; and so serious at one time were his apprehensions of a mortification supervening, that in the absence of all medical aid, he had actually made preparations for cutting off the limb with his own hand. Happily, a favourable turn made such a desperate resource unnecessary; but the mere resolution shows of what sacrifices he was capable in the prosecution of his purpose. On returning to Cape Coast, much impaired in constitution, he resolved to start afresh on a new journey to Timbuctoo, but continuing ill health obliged him to forego his purpose, and return to England.
Our admiration of Duncan's persevering intrepidity is heightened by the fact, that he was neither a man of science, nor even a tolerable scholar, his early education having been both brief and defective; and thus he was deprived of those sources of enthusiasm which cheered onward such travellers as Bruce and Park to the source of the Nile or the parent streams of the Niger. But he had keen observation and solid sound sense, by which he was enabled materially to enrich our African geography, without the parade of learning; and as such, his communications were so justly appreciated, that after his return to England, her Majesty's Government appointed him to the office of British vice-consul at Whydah, in the kingdom of Dahomey. Nothing could be more grateful to his feelings, for besides being an honourable attestation to his services in behalf of science and humanity, the appointment furnished him with ample means for a third African expedition, in which all his previous attempts as a traveller might be perfected. He set sail accordingly, in H.M.S. Kingfisher, but was not destined to reach the expected port; for he sickened during the voyage, and died when the vessel had reached the Bight of Benin, on the 3d of November, 1849.
DUNCAN, Thomas, R.S.A., A.R.A.—This distinguished member of a class in which Scotland has of late been so prolific, was born at Kinclaven, Perthshire, on the 24th of May, 1807. In early life his parents removed to Perth, and there the education of the future artist was chiefly conducted. As the tendency towards painting, like that of poetry or music, is natural, not acquired, Thomas Duncan at an early age gave distinct indications of his future walk in life, by drawing likenesses of his young companions, or such objects as struck his fancy; and on one occasion, when himself and his school-fellows had resolved to perform the play of "Rob Roy" in a stable loft, he painted the whole of the scenery that was needed for the occasion. As it is not always that these juvenile predilections find favour in the eyes of prudent parents and guardians, the father of Thomas took the alarm, and hastened to remove his idle boy, as he reckoned him, to an occupation that would ultimately be more profitable; and, with this view, bound him as apprentice to a provincial writer; but such uncongenial drudgery only fostered the tendency which it was meant to cure, so that when Thomas Duncan had finished his time of servitude, there was less chance than ever of his becoming a country lawyer. A painter he would be, and his father was obliged to consent to his choice by allowing him to remove to Edinburgh, that he might cultivate the profession for which nature had designed him. He was so fortunate as to obtain entrance into the Scottish Academy as a pupil, and still more fortunate to have its president, Sir William
