h Richard Lander met his
death, and which was subsequently corroborated by Mr. Moore, a
medical gentleman attached to the expedition, and who was himself an
eyewitness of the whole murderous scene. The particulars of the
mournful event of Lander's death are thus given:

"Richard Lander and his associates entered the Brass River, and began
ascending it in excellent spirits. With them were two or three negro
musicians, who, when the labours of the day were over, cheered their
countrymen with their instruments, at the sound of which they danced
and sang in company, while the few Englishmen be longing to the
party, amused themselves with angling on the banks of the stream, in
which, though not very expert, they were tolerably successful. In
this pleasing manner, stemming a strong current by day, and resting
from their toil at night, Richard Lander and his little band, totally
unapprehensive of danger, and unprepared to overcome or meet it,
proceeded slowly up the Niger. At some distance from its mouth, and
on his way thither, they met King Jacket, a relative of King Boy, and
one of the heartless and sullen chiefs, who rule over a large tract
of marshy country on the banks of the Brass River. This individual
was hailed by our travellers, and a present of tobacco and rum was
offered to him, he accepted it with a murmur of dissatisfaction, and
his eyes sparkled with malignity, as he said in his own language,
'White man will never reach Eboe this time.' This sentence was
immediately interpreted to Lander by a native of the country, a boy,
who afterwards bled to death from a wound in the knee, but Lander
made light of the matter, and attributed Jacket's prophecy, for so it
proved, to the petulance and malice of his disposition. Soon,
however, he discovered his error, but it was too late to correct it,
or evade the danger which threatened him. On ascending as far inland
as sixty or seventy miles, the English approached an island, and
their progress in the larger canoe was effectually obstructed by the
shallowness of the stream. Amongst the trees and underwood that grew
on this island, and on both banks of the river in its vicinity, large
ambuscades of the natives had previously been formed, and shortly
after the principal canoe had grounded, its unfortunate crew, busily
employed to heave it into deep water, were saluted with irregular but
heavy and continued discharges of musketry. So great was Lander's
confidence in the sinceri