en of it had died because it was human
flesh, which it was well-known white men eat. Another man, however,
asserted that the natives did shoot arrows because the people in the
boat had fired at them.

They all treated the affair with much seriousness, looking on the place
where the boat was wrecked with awe, and telling some most marvellous
stories about her and her ill-fated crew.

Boussa, Clapperton says in his journal, is a large town with extensive
walls, situated on an island in the Quorra, and that to reach it he had
to cross in a canoe, while his horse swam over.

After Clapperton had offered the sultan the presents he had brought for
him, he inquired about the white men who had been lost in the river. He
seemed _very_ uneasy at the question, and replied that he was a little
boy at the time, and had nothing belonging to them; indeed, Clapperton
found that any books and papers which had been saved were in the
possession of the Sultan of Youri.

Shortly afterwards a messenger arrived from that chief, inviting him to
his town, and offering to send canoes to convey him up the river; but
Clapperton, anxious to proceed on his journey, unfortunately declined
the offer.

He was here treated in the kindest way possible, and everyone was ready
to give him information on all points, with the exception of that
connected with Park's death.

The place, however, where the boat struck and the unfortunate crew
perished was pointed out to him. It was in the eastern of three
channels into which the river is here divided. A low flat island of
about a quarter of a mile in breadth lies between the town of Boussa and
the fatal spot. The banks are not more than ten feet above the level of
the water, which here breaks over a grey slaty rock, extending across to
the eastern shore.

The sultan made him a present of a fine young horse, and his brother,
with many of the principal people, accompanied him as he set out on his
journey.

As he rode towards the ford at Comie, he ascended a high rock
overlooking the river. From hence he saw the stream rushing round low
rocky and wood-covered islands and among several islets and rocks, when,
taking a sudden bend to the westward, the water dashed on with great
violence against the foot of the rock on which he sat. Below the
islands the river fell three or four feet, while the rest of the channel
was studded with rocks, some of which were above water. It seemed to
him, that even ha