over to his enemy, more especially if he had the letters we have mentioned, and which we have not the least doubt he had received from that old rogue of Tripoli. Pressed as the sultan was, on the one hand, by the rebellious province of Ghoober, and on the other by the advance of the Sheik of Bornou ; calling to mind probably the slave-hunting expedition in which Denham was engaged, and finding that arms were a part of Clapperton's present for the Sheik of Bornou, it is not surprising that his jealousy should have been awakened; though it was not necessary to accompany it with acts of robbery and brutality, but Bello is an Arab, and the Arabs are, and always were, a cruel-hearted and treacherous race. had long been the fashion to praise these people for the simplicity of their manners, and their hospitality to strangers: but what did it amount to? The stranger whom they had caressed, protected, and nourished, if observed to have any thing of value about him, they would way-lay and murder within sight of their habitation, Whether Bello ever had any intention to murder Clapperton can only be matter for conjecture, but he is strongly suspected of being instrumental to the death of the unfortunate Laing, concerning whose fate we have now received authentic information, which it may not be amiss to give in this place.

It

Our readers may recollect the doubts we entertained of the reported murder of Major Laing, and our opinion that the story arose from the circumstance of his being attacked, plundered, and severely wounded by the Tuarics. From those wounds we now know he recovered, and actually reached Timbuctoo, where he was well received by the governor, and remained five weeks, about the end of which time his host received and communicated to him an order from Laboo, the Sultan of Massina (Laing himself says Bello), that he should forthwith be sent away; and that three days after he had left the city, he was basely murdered by his conductor. The following letters, written by Laing himself, will be read with interest: the first gives an account of the attack of the Tuarics; the other is dated from Timbuctoo.

6

• Blad Sidi Mahomed, May 10th, 1826.

My dear Consul,-I drop you a line only, by an uncertain conveyance, to acquaint you that I am recovering from my severe wounds far beyond any calculation that the most sanguine expectation could have formed; and that to-morrow, please God, I leave this place for Timbuctoo, which I hope to reach on the 18th. I have suffered much, but the detail must be reserved till another period, when I shall" a tale unfold" of base treachery and woe that will surprise you. Some imputation is attachable to the old Sheik (Babani), but as he is now no more, I shall not accuse him: he died very suddenly, about a month since.

When I write from Timbuctoo, I shall detail precisely how I was betrayed, and nearly murdered in my sleep. In the mean time, I shall acquaint you with the number and nature of my wounds, in all amounting to twenty-four, eighteen of which are exceedingly severe. I have five sabre cuts on the crown of the head, and three on the left templeall fractures, from which much bone has come away; one on my left cheek, which fractured the jaw-bone and has divided the ear, forming a very unsightly wound; one over the right temple, and a dreadful gash on the back of the neck, which slightly scratched the windpipe, &c., &c. I am, nevertheless, as I have already said, doing well; and hope yet to return to England, with much important geographical information. The map, indeed, requires much correction; and, please God, I shall yet do much, in addition to what I have already done, towards putting it right.'

The sudden illness of Sidi Mahomed Mocktar, and subsequent death, and the expected return of his son, Sidi Mocktar, detained Major Laing two months longer at the place from whence the foregoing letter was written; and he did not arrive at Timbuctoo till the 18th August, as appears from a letter to the Consul of Tripoli, of which the following is a copy.

Tinbuctù, Sept. 21st, 1826. 'My dear Consul,-A very short epistle must serve to apprise you, as well as my dearest Emma, of my arrival at, and departure from, the great capital of Central Africa; the former of which events took place on the 18th ult.-the latter will take place, please God, at an early hour to-morrow morning. I have abandoned all thoughts of retracing my steps to Tripoli, and came here with an intention of proceeding to Jenné by water; but this intention has been entirely upset, and my situation in Tinbuctù rendered exceedingly unsafe, by the unfriendly disposition of the Foolahs of Massina, who have this year upset the dominion of the Tuaric, and made themselves patrons of Tinbuctù, and whose Sultan, Bello, has expressed his hostility towards me in no unequivocal terms, in a letter which Al Saidi Boubokar, the Sheik of this town, received from him a few days after my arrival. He has now got intelligence of my being in Tinbuctù; and as a party of Foulahs are hourly expected, Al Saidi Boubokar, who is an excellent, good man, and who trembles for my safety, has strongly urged my immediate departure; and I am sorry to say that the notice has been so short, and I have so much to do previous to going away, that this is the only communication I shall, for the present, be able to make. My destination is Sego, whither I hope to arrive in fifteen days; but I regret to say the road is a vile one, and my perils are not yet at an end; but my trust is God, who has hitherto bore me up amidst the severest trials, and protected me amidst the numerous dangers to which I have been exposed.

I have no time to give you any account of Tinbuctù, but shall briefly state that, in every respect except in size, (which does not ex

ceed

ceed four miles in circumference,) it has completely met my expectations. Kabra is only five miles distant, and is a neat town, situated on the very margin of the river. I have been busily employed, during my stay, searching the records in the town, which are abundant, and in acquiring information of every kind; nor is it with any common degree of satisfaction that I say my perseverance has been amply rewarded. I am now convinced that my hypothesis, concerning the termination of the Niger, is correct.*

May God bless you all! I shall write you fully from Sego, as also my Lord Bathurst; and I rather apprehend that both letters will reach you at one time, as none of the Ghadamis merchants leave Tinbuctù for two months to come. Again, may God bless you all! My dear Emma must excuse my writing. I have begun a hundred letters to her, but have been unable to get through one. She is ever uppermost in my thoughts; and I look forward, with delight, to the hour of our meeting, which, please God, is now at no great distance.'

This letter was left behind at Timbuctoo, and appears to have been brought by the nephew of Babani, together with an important document in Arabic, of which the following is the substance :

'About a month after their safe arrival at Timbuctoo [Laing and young Moktar], the Prince of the Faithful, Sultan Ahmad Ben Mohammed Labo,† the lord and sovereign of all those countries, wrote a letter to his lieutenant-governor Osman, containing as follows:

"I have heard that a Christian intends coming to you; but whether he has already arrived or not, I do not know. You must prevent him from arriving, if he has not reached you; and if he has, you must expel him the country in such a manner as to leave him no hope of returning to our countries, because I have received a letter from the tribe of Foodah, containing a caution against allowing Christians to come into the Mussulman countries in Soudan; which letter was written in the East, and contained an account of the mischiefs and impieties by which they have corrupted Spain and other countries."

When Governor Osman received this letter, he could not but obey it. He therefore engaged a sheik of the Arabs of the desert, named Ahmed, son of Obeid-allah, son of Rehal, of Soliman Barbooshi, to go out with the Christian, and protect him as far as the town of Arwan. Barbooshi accordingly went with him from Timbuctoo; but, on arriving at his own residence, he treacherously murdered him, and took possession of all his property. This is within our knowledge-we who know the affair, and have seen the letter of the Prince of the Faithful, Sultan Ahmad Labo.'

The document is attested in Timbuctoo by fifteen signatures. The following examination, by the British consul, of Bungola, * His notion was, that it terminated in the river Volta, which Clapperton has completely disproved.

This person appears (Appendix, No. I.) to rule over Maséna, Timbuctoo, Jerri, Oonbori, and may be called Sovereign of the Gharb (West) in Soudan, He is a Fellata, to whom it is supposed Bello sent his instructions.

who

who represents himself as the servant of the late Major Laing, gives the catastrophe of this melancholy story.

What is your name?-Bungola.

Were you Major Laing's servant?—Yes; (and he produced the following paper :)

Azoad, 2d July 1826. • I promise to pay the bearer, Bungola, the sum of six dollars per month, from the 15th Dec. 1825, till my return to Ghadamis; or, on the failure of that event, till the 15th Dec. 1826; previously deducting fifty dollars, which I paid for his freedom. A. GORDON LAING.'

'Were you with Major Laing at the first attack?—Yes, and wounded.-(Showing his head.)

'Did you remain with him at Mocktar's?—Yes.

'Did you accompany him from thence to Timbuctoo?—Yes.

How was he received at Timbuctoo?-Well.

'How long did he remain at Timbuctoo?-About two months. 'Did you leave Timbuctoo with Major Laing ?—Yes.

'Who went with you?—A koffle of Arabs.

In what direction did you go?-The sun was on my right cheek. Do you know where you were going?-To Sansanding.

'Did you see any water, and were you molested?-We saw no water, nor were we molested till the night of the third day, when the Arabs of the country attacked and killed my master.

Was any one killed besides your master?—I was wounded, but cannot say if any were killed.

'Were you sleeping near your master?—Yes.

How many wounds had your master?-I cannot say; they were all with swords; and in the morning I saw the head had been cut off. 'Did the person who had charge of your master commit the murder?-Sheik Burbasch, who accompanied the Reis, killed him, being assisted by his black servants, by swords, when asleep.

What did the Sheik then do ?-He went on to his country. Arab took me back to Timbuctoo.

An

'What property had your master when he was killed?-Two camels: one carried the provisions; the other carried my master and his bags.

Where were your master's papers?-In his bag.

'Did you endeavour to preserve them ?—I was so stunned with the wound, I never thought of the papers.

'Were the papers brought back to Timbuctoo?-I don't know.' And this Arab thus deposes before the kadi of Tripoli :

Appeared before me, &c. &c., and maketh oath, according to the established form of the Mahomedan faith, Bungola, servant to the late Major Laing, who swears that he was with his master three days beyond Timbuctoo, and saw his master murdered, and that he actually saw the head separated from the body.

'Signed, &c. in presence of his highness's minister, '(Signed) H. D. GHIES.'

Thus

་

Thus perished poor Laing, by the hand of an assassin, after being the first to accomplish an object, the attainment of which has long been considered as a desideratum in geography, and the pursuit of which has cost so many valuable lives! But his death is still the more to be lamented, as the result of his successful enterprise is likely to be unavailing for the benefit of the living. There is, however, a faint hope that his journals may be recovered. An Arab, who carried a correct account of the murder to our consul at Mogadore, reported also, that a friend of his had books, not printed, but written, that belonged to the Christian, and thought he could get them, in which attempt we need scarcely say the consul gave him every encouragement.

We must now return to the poor desolate Lander, whose journal will be read with great interest. At first Bello seems to have made up his mind to detain him; but on the representation of one of his officers, of the impolicy as well as injustice of such a measure, he let him go, but threatened to detain the old Houssa negro. At length, however, they proceeded to Kano, and striking off to the eastward of the former route, passed several towns, at all of which they were kindly received. At Damoy, Lander was told that a range of hills, which appeared in the east, was inhabited by the ferocious Yamyams, who were declared by all to be cannibals. We are not apt to give credit to what one tribe of savages may say of another, especially when they touch on such horrors as the unnatural propensity to devour human flesh; but as Bello asserted to Clapperton, that he had ocular proof of the fact that these same people are in the constant habit of doing so, we shall at least give his account of them.

The sultan said, it was strange what people would eat: in the district of Umburm, belonging to Jacoba, they eat human flesh. I said I did not think any people existed on the face of the earth that eat their own kind as food; that certainly there were some savages in different parts of the world who eat their enemies. The sultan said he had seen them eat human flesh; that on the governor of Jacoba telling him of these people, he could hardly believe it himself; but on a Taurick being hanged for theft, he saw five of these people eat a part, with which he was so disgusted that he sent them back to Jacoba soon after. He said that whenever a person complained of sickness. amongst these men, even though only a slight headach, they are killed instantly, for fear they should be lost by death, as they will not eat a person that has died by sickness; that the person falling sick is requested by some other family, and repaid when they had a sick relation; that universally when they went to war, the dead and wounded were always eaten; that the hearts were claimed by the head men; and that, on asking them why they eat human flesh, they said it was better than any other; that the heart and breasts of a woman

were