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Denham and Clapperton, on the other hand, from the east side of Lake Tchad, in long. 17 degrees, to Sackatoo, in long. 5 degrees 30 minutes, explored a distance of 700 miles from east to west in the heart of Africa; a line of only 400 miles remaining unknown between Silla and Sackatoo.
This boat was expressly intended for the navigation of Lake Tchad. It has since been launched under the British flag, and has proved useful in the examination of the shores of the great lake of Central Africa. It was universally admired at Tripoli; and, as it will be useless to bring it back, will form a most acceptable present for the Sultan of Bornou.
Bornou taken altogether forms an extensive plain, stretching two hundred miles along the western shore of Lake Tchad, and nearly the same distance inland. This sea periodically changes its bed in a singular manner. During the rains, when its tributary rivers pour in thrice the usual quantity of water, it inundates an extensive tract, from which it retires in the dry season.
Our knowledge of the interior of Africa, however, was very imperfect; or, I may say, we knew nothing at all about it our only recollection of the Desert being a vast blank space, with a few spots upon it marked "oases," with Lake Tchad and Timbuctoo on its southern border, and a very indefinite line marked Algiers and Morocco.
They even watched him draw his finger across his throat in serious and energetic pantomime, and saw me nod in grave appreciation, when he was trying to make me understand what was his sympathy for the Christian conquerors of Sfax. I went outside the landward gate of the city, and looked out over the level of brilliant sand which stretched out from there to Lake Tchad. What a voyage! What a lure!
Toole, who had travelled across the desert to join the expedition, resolved to visit the Shary, a wide river flowing into the lake Tchad, through the kingdom of Loggun.
In company with this gentleman, Major Denham, eager to explore Africa, still further took advantage of another expedition, undertaken against a tribe of Shouaa Arabs, distinguished by the name of La Sala, a race of amphibious shepherds, who inhabit certain islands along the south-eastern shores of the Tchad.
At length, it opened into the wide expanse of the Tchad, after viewing which, they again ascended, and reached the capital of Loggun, beneath whose high walls the river was seen flowing in majestic beauty. Major Denham entered, and found a handsome city, with a street as wide as Pall-Mall, and bordered by large dwellings, having spacious areas in front.
Are we not tempted to explore it, to penetrate to the shores of its lake Tchad, and discover the source of its Nile, perchance the Mountains of the Moon? Who knows what fertility and beauty, moral and natural, are there to be found? In the Mountains of the Moon, in the Central Africa of the night, there is where all Niles have their hidden heads.
I. Peddie and Campbell in the Soudan Ritchie and Lyon in Fezzan Denham, Oudney, and Clapperton in Fezzan, and in the Tibboo country Lake Tchad and its tributaries Kouka and the chief villages of Bornou Mandara A razzia, or raid, in the Fellatah country Defeat of the Arabs and death of Boo-Khaloum Loggan Death of Toole En route for Kano Death of Oudney Kano Sackatoo Sultan Bello Return to Europe.
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