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(I now knew he addressed the first lieutenant of the flag-ship,) "Mr Clinch, it is not too late to prevent unpleasant consequences; I ask you again, at the eleventh hour, will you make an apology?" He seemed hurried and fidgety in his manner; which rather surprised me, as I knew he was a seasoned hand in these matters, and it contrasted unfavourably with the calm bearing of his antagonist, who by this time had thrown his hat on the ground, and stood with one foot on the handkerchief that marked his position, the distance, twelve paces, having already been measured. By the bye his position was deucedly near in a line with the grey stone behind which I lay hid; nevertheless, the risk I ran did not prevent me noticing that he was very pale, and had much the air of a brave man come to die in a bad cause. He looked upwards for a second or two, and then answered, slowly and distinctly," Captain Pinkem, I now repeat what I said before; this rencontre is none of my seeking. You accuse me of having spoken slightingly of you seven years ago, when I was a mere boy. You have the evidence of a gallant officer that I did so, therefore, I may not gainsay it; but of uttering the words imputed to me, I declare, upon my honour, I have no recollection." He paused. "That wont do, my fine fellow," said Pinkem. "You are unreasonable," rejoined Clinch, in the same measured tone, to expect farther amende for uttering words which I have no conviction of having spoken; yet, to any other officer in the service would not hesitate to make a more direct apology, but you know your credit as a pistol-shot renders this impossible."

I

Sorry for it, Mr Clinch, sorry for it." Here the pistols were handed to the principals by their respective seconds. In their attitudes, the proficient and the novice were strikingly contrasted; (by this time I had crept round so as to have a view of both parties, or rather, if the truth must be told, to be out of the line of fire.) Pinkem stood with his side accurately turned towards his antago nist, so as to present the smallest possible surface; his head was, as it struck me, painfully slewed round, with his eye looking steadily at

Clinch, over his right shoulder, whilst his arm was brought down close to his thigh, with the cock of the pistol turned outwards, so that his weapon must have covered his opponent by the simple raising of his arm below the elbow. Clinch, on the other hand, stood fronting him, with the whole breadth of his chest; holding his weapon awkwardly across his body, with both hands. Pinkem appeared unwilling to take him at such advantage, for, although violent and headstrong, and but too frequently the slave of his passions, he had some noble traits in his character.

"Turn your feather edge to me, Mr Clinch; take a fair chance, man." The lieutenant bowed, and I thought would have spoken, but he was checked by the fear of being thought to fear; however, he took the advice, and in an instant the word was given-" Are you both ready?"

Yes." "Then fire!" Clinch fired without deliberation. I saw him, for my eyes were fixed on him, expecting to see him fall. He stood firm, however, which was more than I did, as at the instant, a piece of the bullion of an epaulet, at first taken for a pellet of baser metal, struck me sharply on the nose, and shook my equanimity confoundedly; at length I turned to look at Pinkem, and there he stood with his arm raised, pistol levelled, but he had not fired. He stood thus whilst I might have counted ten, like a finger-post, then dropping his hand, his weapon went off, but without aim, the bullet striking the sand near his feet, and down he came headlong to the ground. He fell with his face turned towards me, and I never shall forget the horrible expression of it. His healthy complexion had given place to a deadly blue, the eyes were wide open and straining in their sockets, the upper lip was drawn up, showing his teeth in a most frightful grin, the blood gushed from his mouth as if impelled by the strokes of a force pump, while his hands griped and dug into the sand.

Before the sun set, he was a dead man.

"A neat morning's work, gentlemen," thought I. The two surgeons came up, and opened his dress, felt his pulse, and shook their heads the boats' crews grouped around

them-he was lifted into his gig, the word was given to shove off, and I returned to my broom-cutters. When we got on board, the gunner who had the watch was taking his fisherman's walk on the starboard side of the quarter-deck, and kept looking steadily at the land, as if to avoid seeing poor little Duncan's coffin, that lay on a grating near the gangway. The crew, who were employed in twenty different ways, repairing damages, were bustling about, laughing, joking, and singing, with small regard to the melancholy object before their eyes, when Mr Douglas put his head up the ladder -"Now, Transom, if you please." The old fellow's countenance fell as if his heart was wrung by the order he had to give. "Aloft there! lie out, you Perkins, and reeve a whip on the starboard yard-arm to lower Mr" The rest stuck in his throat, and, as if ashamed of his soft-heartedness, he threw as much gruffness as he could into his voice as he sung out" Beat to quarters there!-knock off, men !" The roll of the drum stayed the confusion and noise of the people at work in an instant, who immediately ranged themselves, in their clean frocks and trowsers, on each side of the quarterdeck. At a given signal, the white deal coffin, wrapped in its befitting pall, the meteor flag of England, swung high above the hammock net tings between us and the clear blue sky, to the long clear note of the boatswain's whistle, which soon ending in a short chirrup, told that it now rested on the thwarts of the boat alongside. We pulled ashore, and it was a sight perchance to move a woman, to see the poor little fellow's hat and bit of a dirk lying on his coffin, whilst the of his boat. "Oh yes, get out of de body was carried by four ship boys, way, you black rascals," the fellow the eldest scarcely fourteen. I nowas as black as a sloe himselfticed the tears stand in Anson's eyes "make room for man-of-war buccra; as the coffin was lowered into the him leetle just now, but will be grave, the boy had been wounded admiral one day." So saying, the close to him,--and when we heard fellow who had thus appropriated the hollow rattle of the earth on the me, without more ado, levelled his coffin,-an unusual sound to a sailor head like a battering ram, and began -he shuddered.. "Yes, Master Cringle," he said, in a whisper," he was as kind-hearted, and as brave a lad as ever trod on shoe leather,thee of the larkings of the men' in

from under the lee of the boats in bad weather, to curry with the lieutenant, while he knew the look-outs were as bright as beagles,-and where was the man in our watch that wanted 'bacco while Mr Duncan had a shiner left ?" The poor fellow drew the back of his horny hand across his eyes, and grumbled out as he turned away, " And here am I, Bill Anson, such a swab as to be ashamed of being sorry for him.”

We were now turned over into the receiving ship the old Shark, and fortunately there were captains enough in port to try us for the loss of the Torch, so we got over our courtmartial speedily, and the very day I got back my dirk, the packet brought me out a lieutenant's commission, Being now my own master for a season, I determined to visit some rela tions I had in the island, to whom I had never yet been introduced; so I shook hands with old Splinter, packed my kit, and went to the wharf to charter a wherry to carry me up to Kingston. The moment my object was perceived by the black boat-men, I was surrounded by a mob of them, pulling and hauling each other, and shouting forth the various qualifications of their boats, with such vehemence, that I was nearly deafened. "Massa, no see Pam be Civil, sail like a witch, tack like a dolphin?"" Don't believe him, Massa, Ballahoo is de boat dat can beat him."-" Dam lie dat, as I am a gentleman!" roared a ragged black vagabond." Come in de Monkey, Massa, no flying fis can beat she.""Don't boder de gentleman," yelled a fourth." Massa love de

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the clear moonlight nights ever reached the cabin through him,-nor was he the boy to rouse the watch

Stamp-and-go-no, no, Massa," as he saw me make a step in the direction

to batter in breech all who stood in

his way. He first ran a tilt against

Pam be Civil, and shot him like a rocket into the sea; the Monkey faired no better; the Balahoo had to swim for it, and having thus opened a way by main force, I at length got safely moored in the stern sheets;

but just as we were shoving off, Mr Callaloo, the clergyman of Port Royal, a tall yellow personage, begged for a passage, and was accordingly taken on board. As it was high water, my boatmen chose, the five foot channel, as the boat channel near to Gallows Point is called, by which a long stretch would be saved, and we were cracking on cheerily, my mind full of my recent promotion, when, scur, scur, scur, we stuck fast on the bank. Our black boatmen, being little encumbered with clothes, jumped overboard in a covey like so many wild-ducks, shouting, as they dropped into the water, We must all get out we must all get out," whereupon Mr Callaloo, a sort of Dominie Sampson in his way, prompt ly leaped overboard up to his waist in the water. The negroes were

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thunderstruck. "Massa Parson Callaloo, you mad surely, you mad!"

2

Children, I am not mad,

but obedient-you said we must
all get out". "To be sure,
Massa, and you no see we all did
get out ?" "And did you not see
that I got out too?" rejoined the par
son, still in the water," Oh, lud,
Massa! we no mean you--we meant
poor niger, not white man parson."
"You said all, children, and there-
upon I leaped," pronouncing the last
word in two syllables" be more
correct in your grammar next time."
The worthy but eccentric old chap
then scrambled on board again,
amidst the suppressed laughter of
the boatmen, and kept his seat, wet
clothes and all, until we reached
Kingston.

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17th Dec. 1831

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To oppose thy passage, or pursue thy flight.

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DBE SO GEOGRAPHY OF AFRICA➡QUARTERLY REVIEW. D „DEM JON IS

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bib Sin, 992 on boy ban see
SIR,
99 your Nut
Number for July last E
drew the attention of the public
shortly to the course and termination
of the great river Niger, as pomted out
by me upwards of eleven years ago,
and the accuracy of which the recent
successful journey of Lander has so
amply confirmed. The last number
of
the Quarterly Review compels
me to turn again to this important
bisod no baldinsto
subject.

10

Describing, whether accurately or not, I know not, nor is it my business to enquire, a delineation of the course and termination of this river by a Ger man named Reichard, the written the Review, at page 79, says, "Mr M'Queen, almost as ingenious as M. Reichard, but a humble copyist, with equal poverty of facts, claims the merit of the discovery; which how ever is due, and solely due, to Richard Lander, on whom the y" (Royal Geographical) "has very properly bestowed his Majesty's royals premium of fifty guineas."999 There is a

of

ZR77 30 A bugod na 1945. passionate public may consider to be due, for the statement, and also for the manner in which it has been brought forward. Thirdly, The assertion, "with an equal poverty of facts," will be speedily put to the proof, by laying before your readers a portion of the facts" so many years ago submitted to a discerning public. 70 70

Previous, however; to entering upon this part of the subject, the following remarks appear necessary.

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Think not, Mr Editor, for a moment, that your humble servant grudges Mr Lander his reward, and the honour which has been bestowed upon him. He is entitled to all; nor were such things ever thought of or sought by me. That meritorious individual will forgive me when in my defence it becomes necessary to turn the Reviewer's arguments against himself. Mr Lander may rest assured that this is done not to lessen his merits, but to curb the arrogance of one who unnecessarily and unjustly attempts to depreciate the labours of labours of others in

contempt, and solence this important question, and who,

cer

tain modes of transacting business,
displayed in this passage, which
render it deserving of remark. To
this silly misrepresentation it
plied, first, Reichard,

the critic, has been according

to

in his view

edly and flatly deniedost

considering the erroneous theories which he has so long and so pertinaciously attempted to spread and to maintain, ought to have been the very last to pursue the course which he pursues.

the so

down a Ri(near the

of the important subject, but which Mr Lander has that critic never was; secondly, that ver from Yaoori to in my labours in this subject I was ocean in in a mi a minor branch,) but that his "humble copyist, is point that River which he did sail down is contra- the Niger of Ptolemy, the Joliba of dicted. When the map was con- Park, and the River of Timbuctoo, so structed, which was laid before his long sought and so much famed, he Majesty's Government in June 1820, knows no more t than I do, except and published with the volume on from the reports of other authorities the Geography of Central Africa, by and other travellers, and particularly Mr Blackwood, in March 1821, I from the important fact that Park, had not then, nor for several years who embarked on the upper Joliba, afterwards, heard of the name of Reichard or his theory; nor then, nor of passed Yaoori, and was lost in A RIVER at Boussa. All these latter facts till this moment, have I either seen were well known previously to the or made by Denham, Clappervidual has said, written, or publish- ton, and Lander. Now upon this fact,

therefore, is a

nent that Park sailed down the Niger, the

The statement,

69

ed, on the gratuitous assumption Joliba, or whatever name the critic ter in the Review, and he is welcomes he perished, I established the irreand assertion on the part of the wri- pleases to give it, to Boussa, where to the

entered the sea in the Bights of Benin and Biafra; because, by other authorities, I learned that the river which passed Yaoori and Boussa was navigable and navigated from these places to the Atlantic Ocean. The above is all the advantage which Lander has over me, and it is willingly yielded unto him, while, from more than one authority, I had, long before Lander's journey was undertaken, pointed out that the river on which he embarked at Yaoori and Boussa was the river which passes Kabra, the port of Timbuctoo, and that on which Park embarked at Sansanding.

There is more than one passage in the article contained in the Review alluded to, which deserves remark; but previous to going into these, it may be proper to adduce the "poverty of facts" with which I shewed that the Niger, or River of Timbuctoo, terminated in the Atlantic Ocean, in the Bights of Benin and Biafra.

First, there is the map drawn and submitted to his Majesty's Government in June 1820, delineating the course of the Rivers in Northern Central Africa, and more especially, and as a primary object, the course and termination of the Joliba or Niger. This cannot be denied. The writer, at least that gentleman whom I believe to be the writer in the Quarterly Review, saw this map at the time mentioned. As published on a reduced scale in 1821, it can be referred to, in order to shew how little difference there is in the great features, from those which have been subsequently ascertained by European ocular demonstration. The only data I had to determine the course of the rivers, more especially the Niger, as laid down in this map, were the bearings and days' journeys as confusedly given by Moor and Arab travellers and authorities. Still, with these deficient materials, Boussa is laid down on the map in question in about 11 deg. 40 min. N. Lat. and 8 deg. 20 min. East Long., with the observation in the volume subsequently published, that the portion assigned to it was believed to be about a degree and a half too much, both to the eastward and northward.

In 1826* these errors were, from subsequent research and information, corrected to a certain extent; and according to Clapperton's observations, Boussa is situated in 10 deg. 14 min. N. Lat. and 6 deg. 11 min. East Long., thus not differing above half a degree from the position as laid down by me (taking the reservation above alluded to into account) in the map constructed June 1820.

So far as concerns the map. Next comes the volume on the geography of Northern Central Africa, publish ed in 1821, and already alluded to.. The object of this volume was to bring forward the authorities and the facts on which the map was constructed, and to shew the course of the Niger, and its tributary streams, to the ocean; but, as has been already stated, the course and termination of the Niger were the grand points to make out-all the rest were of minor importance. In the course of the rivers in Eastern Sudan, there are, particularly in the middle and more northern of them, several errors, but which were corrected in 1826. These errors arose from the exceedingly confused accounts given by Moor and Arab travellers, and which were rendered still more unintelligible by the imperfect manner in which they were understood, and the despotic manner in which they were applied by the European authorities to which they were given, and by which they were adduced and referred to. The great cause of error, however, was in that source of information by which the intelligent and accurate Burckhardt was deceived, in stating the course of the Shary to be from N.E. to S.W. to the Bahr Lake, or River of Bornou, instead of the course being, as it is, towards its mouth, from S.W. to N.E. His authority was taken as the point to fix the course of the streams which traverse this part of Africa; but had the true course of the Shary been known, it would have at once enabled me to clear up the geographical features of this portion of Africa, so far as concern the rivers thereof, and to have reconciled, readily and accurately, what otherwise appeared to be irreconcilable and unintelligible in the narratives

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