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Life and Travels of Mungo Park in Central Africa by Mungo Park

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[29] Edinburgh Review, vol. 55.




CHAPTER XXXVI.


_The Steam Voyage of the Quorra and Alburkah_.

The peculiar characteristic of British enterprise is in general its
practical tendency; wherever a way is opened which promises to afford a
competent return for labour and even hazard, the path is pursued; and
though the advantage may not be immediately held out, the experiment is
nevertheless made. Notwithstanding that the remarkable voyage of which we
are about to give some account, failed in effecting the desired end,
enough was done to shew the possibility of establishing commercial
intercourse between Britain and Interior Africa, when due care and
management are employed in the choice of that season of the year when the
influence of the climate is comparatively little felt.

Some Liverpool merchants being desirous of opening a trade with the
countries on the banks of the Niger, by the exchange of British
manufactures for native produce, fitted out two steam boats: one of
which, the Quorra, was of 150 tons, and of the ordinary construction;
while the other, the Alburkah, was only of 57 tons. The latter vessel was
entirely iron-built, with the exception of her decks; her bottom was 1/4
of an inch in thickness, her sides from 3/18 to 1/8 of an inch. She was
seventy feet in length, 13 in beam, 6-1/2 in depth, and had an engine of
16-horse power. The great inconvenience apprehended from the vessel was,
that from her construction, the crew would suffer much from heat; but so
far from this having been the case, the iron, being an universal
conductor, kept her constantly at the same temperature with the water. To
these vessels was added the Columbine, a sailing brig of 150 tons, which
was intended to remain at the mouth of the river, to receive the goods
brought down by the steam-boats.

Richard Lander volunteered his valuable services to this expedition,--the
last in which he was destined to take part; Messrs. Laird and Oldfield,
with a considerable number of Europeans also embarked. They left England
about the end of July 1832, and arrived off the Nun on the 19th of
October, after having touched at Sierra Leone, Cape Coast Castle, and
other settlements, to lay in provisions, and secure the services of some
Kroomen.[30]

[30] The Kroomen inhabit the country which extends along the coast,
from Simon River to Capes Palmas and Lahoo; they voluntarily engage
themselves in bands to aid the crews of vessels.

Having safely moored the brig, they proceeded to unload the merchandize
on board of her, and to transfer it to the steam-vessels. They then began
to sail up the Nun branch of the Niger. This part of the river is most
unhealthy; it is one entire swamp, covered with mangrove, cabbage, and
palm trees. "The fen-damp rose in the morning cold and clammy to the
feeling, and appeared like the smoke of a damp wood fire." The bodies of
the natives are covered with ulcers and cutaneous eruptions; they spend a
short and miserable life in profligacy. After they had gone up about
thirty miles, the banks had an appearance of greater consistency, and the
beautiful, but deadly mangrove tree was no longer visible. The river was
now about 300 yards broad, and from four to five fathoms deep. They met
with no obstruction from the natives, till they came to Eboe, where an
unfortunate quarrel took place, which seems to have arisen from a mere
misunderstanding. The discharge of a gun had been agreed upon as the
signal from the Alburkah for the Quorra to anchor; which being fired
after dark, before the village, alarmed the natives, who opened a brisk
discharge of musketry from the banks. The voyagers found it necessary to
put a stop to this attack, by the discharge of their great guns, and in
about twenty minutes the musketry from the shore was silenced. At
day-break they made farther reprisals, and in order to terrify the
natives, landed and set fire to the village--an act of barbarity which
appears to have been entirely gratuitous and uncalled for. After they had
passed the scene of this unfortunate rencontre, the river increased in
breadth to one thousand yards; the banks were higher, and the woods were
more frequently diversified with plantations of bananas, plantains and
yams. Soon after they anchored off Eggaboo, to take in a supply of wood;
it was the first town which they had observed built at a short distance
from the river, and not upon its margin. It contained about two hundred
houses, each of which was surrounded with a bamboo fence about nine feet
high. They gratified King Obie by a visit, who gave them various
presents, and also visited the steamers in state, escorted by upwards of
sixty canoes, seven of which were of great size, and were each manned by
crews of seventy men. Palm oil is produced in large quantities at Eboe;
but the people are chiefly occupied in slave-hunting. As may be expected,
their disposition is cruel and revengeful,--they live in the daily
practice of the most flagrant vice and immorality.

On the night of the 9th November, they departed from Eboe, and were
guided through the intricate and dangerous navigation by the light of a
brilliant moon. After two days they anchored about 15 miles from the
town. The river was here at least 3000 yards broad; and afterwards when
it had thrown off its two great branches, the Benin and the Bonny, was
about 1500 yards wide, divided by sandy islands overgrown with grass. One
of the vessels grounded, but after half-an-hour's hard labour was got
off. In the course of the same evening they were surrounded by canoes,
which brought goats, yams, plantains, and bananas for sale.

The effect of the climate and of their stay near the swamps now became
fatally manifest. In the Quorra, fourteen men died, and three in the
Alburkah. The disproportion of mortality in the two vessels, at this
period, is ascribed to the superior coolness of the Alburkah, which was
rendered more healthy in consequence of her iron hull diffusing through
her interior the coolness of the surrounding water.

They next anchored off Attah, a picturesque town, situated on the top of
a hill which rises nearly 300 feet above the river. The view from the
town is said to be grand and extensive. Here Mr. Laird saw an alligator
captured by two natives, in an ingenious and daring manner. "He was
discovered basking on a bank in the river, a short distance ahead of the
vessels. Two natives in a canoe immediately paddled to the opposite side
of the bank, and having landed, crept cautiously towards him. As soon as
they were near the animal, one of the natives stood up from his crouching
position, holding a spear about six feet long, which with one blow he
struck through the animal's tail into the sand. A most strenuous contest
immediately ensued; the man with the spear holding it in the sand as
firmly as his strength allowed him, and clinging to it as it became
necessary to shift his position with the agility of a monkey; while his
companion occasionally ran in as opportunity offered, and with much
dexterity gave the animal a thrust with his long knife, retreating at the
same moment from, without the reach of its capacious jaws, as it whirled
round upon the extraordinary pivot which his companion had so
successfully placed in its tail. The battle lasted about half an hour,
terminating in the slaughter of the alligator, and the triumph of his
conquerors, who were not long in cutting him into pieces and loading
their canoes with his flesh, which they immediately carried to the shore
and retailed to their countrymen. The success of the plan depended
entirely on the nerve and dexterity of the man who pinned the animal's
tail to the ground; and his contortions and struggles to keep his
position were highly entertaining."

They were now within the district of the Kong Mountains, which are of a
tabular form, and rise on both sides to between 2000 or 2500 feet. The
change of prospect was most grateful to those who had spent two months in
a flat, marshy, and uninteresting country. These mountains lie in the
direction of W.N.W. and E.S.E., where they are intersected by the Niger.
Their outlines are extremely bold, and they appear to be chiefly composed
of granite. The navigation of the channel between them is full of danger,
as large fragments of granite have fallen into the stream, and produced
eddies and shoals. At a little distance beyond this point, a noble
prospect opened before the Voyagers. "An immense river, about three
thousand yards wide, extending as far as the eye could reach, lay before
us, flowing majestically between its banks, which rose gradually to a
considerable height, and were studded with clumps of trees and brushwood,
giving them the appearance of a gentleman's park; while the smoke rising
from different towns on its banks, and the number of canoes floating on
its bosom, gave it an aspect of security and peace." Here the vessel ran
aground with a violent shock, and they experienced the greatest
difficulty in relieving her.

A great misfortune happened to the expedition a little above Attah. The
Quorra again ran aground, near the confluence of the Tshadda with the
Niger, and all their efforts to extricate her proved vain; she was
stopped for four months, after which the rising of the water lifted her
up.

Mr. Laird, accompanied by Dr. Briggs, visited Addakudda, which was the
largest town in sight from the vessel on the western bank of the river;
it is situated on an eminence of granite, which gives it the appearance
of a fortified place. It contains about 5000 inhabitants, but like most
African towns, is dirty and ill-constructed. Here they saw the method
used by the natives for dying cloth with indigo, which is extremely rude
and inartificial; and the effect seems to be produced solely by the
superior quality of the indigo, and the quantity employed. Little ivory
is exposed for sale in the market, cloth, and provisions forming the
chief articles of traffic.

As any farther progress was for a time entirely prevented, Mr. Laird
resolved to travel towards Fundah, in order to ascertain whether any
opening for commerce could be found there. After journeying about forty
miles, by land and water, he arrived in a state of great debility, and
experienced a most inhospitable reception from the king, who pilfered
from him as much as he could, and detained him in his own residence for
some time, threatening to put him to death if he attempted to escape. He
was only allowed to depart in consequence of several devices, which
operated powerfully upon the superstitious fears of the king and his
subjects.

The town of Fundah, which is very extensive, is situated on the western
extremity of an immense plain, about nine miles distant from the northern
bank of the river Shary. To the eastward the country is rich and
beautiful. The town is built in the form of a crescent, and is surrounded
by a ditch, and a wall about twelve feet high. A considerable space
intervenes between the houses and the walls. The streets are narrow and
dirty, with the exception of one a mile in length, and about two hundred
feet wide; where the market is held every Friday. "The houses are all
circular with conical huts built of clay, with the exception of the chief
Mallam's, which has a gable end to it. The verandahs in the front give
them a cool and pleasant appearance." The king's residence would appear
to be the citadel, as it is surrounded by a wall pierced with many
loopholes. Mr. Laird estimates the population at 15,000, who are chiefly
employed in extensive dye-works, and in the manufacture of iron and
copper utensils.

Soon after this, Mr. Laird having resolved to abandon the expedition,
returned to Fernando Po in the Quorra. Dr. Briggs, the medical officer
attached to the expedition, had died in February; and only three or four
of the original crew of the vessel survived.

We shall now follow Mr. Oldfield's narrative. As Mr. Laird was on his
return to Fernando Po, he passed the Alburkah, with Messrs. Lander and
Oldfield on board, on their way to Boussa. They entered the Tshadda on
the 2d August, and sailed 104 miles up the stream, till the want of
provisions compelled them to return to the Niger. They remained for some
time at Kacunda, Egga, and Rabba, but their efforts to open a trade with
the natives were by no means successful. At Rabba, they were compelled to
return, in consequence of the steamer's engine having sustained some
damage. They returned to the sea-coast, but had scarcely arrived when
Lander departed to Cape Coast Castle to procure a supply of cowries. Mr.
Oldfield proceeded with the Alburkah to meet him. The voyage was slow,
for the machinery had got out of order; great mortality prevailed on
board the vessel; the Kroometi began to disobey orders; and there were
rumours abroad, that the natives, knowing their weakness and diminished
numbers, intended to attack and plunder the vessel. On the 28th of March,
Mr. Oldfield received a letter from Richard Lander, which stated that his
boat had been attacked, three of the crew killed, and himself wounded;
that the other three men who were with him had been seriously hurt; that
they had been plundered of every thing, and had with difficulty escaped.
This fatal accident happened when he was opposite to the towns called
Hyamma and Ikibree. The natives tempted by the value of the goods which
he carried with him in several canoes, opened a fire of musketry upon
him. Lander and his men defended themselves as long as they could, but
they were at length compelled to flee. Their pursuers continued to fire;
and as Lander stooped to take up some ammunition, he received a musket
shot, and the ball lodged in the upper part of his thigh. The wound at
first seemed slight, and he was enabled to reach Fernando Po; but all
efforts to extract the ball were useless, and mortification of the
muscles having ensued, he expired on the thirteenth day after the attack.

The Alburkah proceeded up the river no farther than Attah, where Mr.
Oldfield procured a considerable quantity of ivory. The greater part of
the crew had been cut off by fever and dysentery, four only being fit for
duty. As soon, therefore, as Mr. Oldfield heard of Mr. Lander's death, he
resolved to return to the coast, which he reached in July 1834.

We have now completed the sketch of those discoveries in Central Africa,
which have taken place since the time of Park, and have endeavoured to
make it as interesting as our restricted limits permitted. The scenery
through which we have passed has been varied and sometimes beautiful; but
the beauty has been wild and uncultivated, and has been more than
counterbalanced by the oft-times stern aspect of nature, darkened by the
frowns of an ungenial and unhealthy sky, in too faithful keeping with the
actions of savage men, cruel and revengeful, sunk in vice and immorality.
The narrative has been one of suffering and untimely death; one
adventurer after another has gone forth, while scarcely one has returned
from his toilsome and perilous wanderings; and the melancholy list has
been closed by the fate of him who had the proud honour of tracing the
termination of the mysterious river. Though each has displayed high and
peculiar qualities of mind, not one has surpassed him whose energy and
force of character in a great measure paved the way for succeeding
travellers. Yet none will have fallen in vain, inasmuch as each has done
something to point out the way whereby the blessings of civilization may
be conveyed to the natives of Africa. The time may yet be distant, but it
will assuredly come, when commerce and enlightenment shall be conveyed by
the great channel of the Niger; when slavery shall be finally and for
ever destroyed; and when, above all, the same blessed influence shall
pervade Central, which had already done so much good in Southern Africa;
when the voice of the missionary, which has been already blessed in
raising up from the ground the degraded Hotentot, shall be heard in the
huts that border the great river; when the natives shall cast away their
idols, and with them, those vices which degrade and sully their
character.

THE END.

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An intricate, kaleidoscopic, all-embracing history of 20th-century music from Mahler to La Monte Young is the winner of this year's Guardian first book award. Alex Ross's The Rest Is Noise was the clear and undisputed winner of the £10,000 prize, which has been presented at a ceremony in central London tonight.

The chair of the judging panel, Guardian literary editor Claire Armitstead, said: "In some quarters this book has been seen as not having a popular appeal. Our prize – which, uniquely, relies on readers' groups in the early stages of judging – proves that, on the contrary, there is a huge appetite among readers for clear, serious but accessible books."

According to one judge: "Where Ross lifts his book above the 'expert' and impressive to the 'good read' category is in the way he wears his learning lightly, never clutches for false or contrived ways of explaining music, and never dumbs down in order to explain."

One of the members of the Waterstone's reading groups, who helped in the judging process, said: "Every time I felt overwhelmed by the technicalities, along came a sublime metaphor or simile that would light up the prose."

Ross, who is the music critic of the New Yorker, has distilled a lifetime's enthusiasm and learning into a rich narrative of musical history, setting the works of Mahler, Schoenberg, John Cage and the rest into their cultural and political contexts – but also giving a vivid sense of what the music he describes actually sounds and feels like.

Of all the artforms, modern and contemporary classical music is often seen as the most rebarbative. Ross brushes aside the mythology of 20th-century music's "inaccessibility" as he charts its meandering histories. Along the way, fascinating connections are made: hip-hop has more in common with Janacek than you might think; Arnold Schoenberg and George Gershwin were tennis partners; Gershwin, in turn, was an ardent fan of Alban Berg and kept an autographed photo of the composer of Lulu in his apartment. If there is an overarching idea to the book, it is perhaps contained in Berg's pronouncement to Gershwin: "Mr Gershwin, music is music."

Ross, 40, was born in Washington DC, and studied English and history at Harvard. An enthusiastic teenage musician and student broadcaster, he began writing music criticism after university and in 1996 was appointed music critic of the New Yorker. His blog – also called The Rest Is Noise – has been a trailblazer in harnessing the internet as a way of amplifying (often literally) his writing on music.

The New York Review of Books described The Rest Is Noise as "by far the liveliest and smartest popular introduction yet written to a century of diverse music". The Economist noted: "No other critic writing in English can so effectively explain why you like a piece, or beguile you to reconsider it, or prompt you to hurry online and buy a recording."

Nicholas Kenyon, managing director of the Barbican and a former Observer music critic, said: "At a time when people are still talking about 20th-century music as if it were a problem, here is a lucid and entertaining book about what I regard as some of the greatest music ever written. It's a wonderful way to advance the cause of 20th-century music to an ordinary, intelligent general reader. It's the ideal mix of enthusiasm and information."

This year's judging panel comprised novelist Roddy Doyle; broadcaster and novelist Francine Stock; poet Daljit Nagra; the historian David Kynaston; novelist Kate Mosse and Guardian deputy editor, Katharine Viner. Stuart Broom of Waterstone's also joined the deliberations, speaking as the representative of the readers' groups.

The other books on the shortlist were Mohammed Hanif's A Case of Exploding Mangoes; Ross Raisin's God's Own Country; Steve Toltz's A Fraction of the Whole (which was also shortlisted for the Man Booker prize) and Owen Matthews's Stalin's Children.

Previous winners of the prize have included Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters (2005) and Zadie Smith's White Teeth (2000).

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