Cameron obtained leave in September 1878 to make a journey through Asiatic Turkey with a view to determining the value of a route to India from a point opposite Cyprus, which had just been transferred to British keeping, through Turkish dominions and by way of the Persian Gulf. He received a passage in the troopship Orontes to Cyprus; thence he crossed to Beirut and travelled through Lebanon to Tripoli of the Levant; thence to Aleppo, where he encountered some small difficulties; got on by way of Diarbekir and Mosul to Bagdad; then to Bussora and Bushire, where he heard of the British disasters in Zululand. He then at once telegraphed for leave to proceed to Natal, but by some misunderstanding received a message at Karachi to detain him, and so returned to England . When he arrived there, on 29 May 1879, it was too late for him to proceed to the theatre of war, so he set himself to write a popular description of his late journey, called 'Our Future Highway.'
In 1882 Cameron made a journey of another kind. On 8 January he joined Sir Richard Burton [q. v. Suppl.] at Madeira, and travelled to the West Coast of Africa on a special mission initiated by certain mining companies to examine the gold-producing district of the Gold Coast. They touched at Bathurst and Sierra Leone, and finally disembarked at Axim on the Gold Coast, where they proceeded to explore the interior within some twenty miles of the coast. Cameron in particular, leaving Axim on 16 March, made a route-survey to Tarquah, which is now the centre of the gold district; he also plotted the course of the Ankobra river. He made various collections for Kew and the Natural History Museum, which were mostly spoiled or lost. He returned from this expedition at the end of April, and on 26 June 1882 lectured on the subject with Burton at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society,
In 1883 Cameron retired from the navy and thenceforward devoted himself to the study of African political questions, and the management or direction of various companies, chiefly connected with Africa. In 1890, immediately after the conclusion of the Anglo-German agreement for the delimitation of the possessions of the two powers in Africa, he embarked upon a project for exploration with commercial objects in West Africa; but, finding that the aims of those who had originated the idea would not be acceptable to the government, he withdrew from the project, and it fell through. The development of the Congo Free State was a matter of particular interest to him, and he was on various occasions consulted by the king of the Belgians on this subject. In a lecture delivered on 3 Feb. 1894 he claimed to have been the real originator of the idea of a railroad from the Cape to Cairo.
Cameron usually resided at Soulsbury, Leighton Buzzard, where he regularly hunted in the season. On 27 March 1894 he was thrown from his horse in returning from a day's hunting, and was killed. He was buried at Shoreham, Kent. At the time of his death he was chairman of the African International Flotilla and Transport Company, and of the Central African and Zoutspanberg Exploration Company. Besides the C.B., he received the order of the crown of Italy, and the gold medals of the Royal Geographical Society, the French Geographical Society, and a special medal from King Victor Emmanuel of Italy. The public sense of his services was further marked by the grant of a civil list pension of 60l. a year to his widow.
Cameron's character was remarkably unselfish; his exploration of Africa was marked by intense philanthropy, and his administration of companies by a disregard of personal profit. He was a great reader as well as a fluent writer; and his knowledge of languages was uncommon — he knew twelve in all, including French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, as well as some of the African tongues, as Swahili.
Cameron married, on 2 June 1885, Amy Mona Reid, daughter of William Bristowe Morris of Kingston, Jamaica.
Cameron was a fairly prolific writer, particularly of tales of adventure for boys. His more important works are: 1. 'Essay on Steam Tactics,' 1865. 2. 'Across Africa,' 1877, 2 vols. 8vo; 2nd edit. 1885. 3. 'Our Future Highway,' 1880, 2 vols. 8vo. 4. 'To the Gold Coast for Gold' (jointly with Sir Richard Burton), 1883, 8vo. 5. 'The Cruise of the Black Prince, privateer,' 1886. 6. 'The Queen's Land, or Ard al Malakat,' 1886. 7. 'Adventures of Herbert Massey in South America,' 1888. 8. 'The History of Arthur Penreath, sometime gentleman of Sir Walter Raleigh,' 1888. 9. 'Log of a Jack Tar,' 1891.
[Men of the Time, 1891; Times, 28 March 1894; Chums, 31 Aug. 1894 (an interview); Brown's Story of Africa, ii. 266; his own works; private information; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
CAMPBELL, Sir ALEXANDER (1822–1892), Canadian politician, born at the village of Heydon, near Kingston-upon-Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, on
