Narrative of a Mission to Central Africa Performed in the Years 1850-51, Volume 1 | Page 3

of amity and
commerce with the most important states of Central Africa; and
although these treaties may not turn out to be of great immediate utility,
it is always worth while that future explorers should know, that on the
borders of Lake Tchad there is a power which professes to be united
with England in formal ties of friendship, and that the Sultan of Bornou
has never shown any disposition to break his promises or secede from
his engagements. As to the question, whether legitimate commerce can
advantageously be carried on across the Sahara, and substituted for the
frightful traffic in human beings, I do not consider that it is as yet
decided; but Mr. Richardson's researches will throw great light on this
interesting subject.
I do not intend here to attempt an account of the services rendered by
Mr. Richardson to the sciences of geography and ethnography during
his useful career. At some future period, no doubt, this task will be
performed; and it will not fail to be added, that he was always impelled
by a higher motive than the mere satisfaction of curiosity or ambition.
A profound conviction that something might be done towards
ameliorating the condition of the African nations, if we were only
better acquainted with them, seems to have early possessed him. This it
was that sustained and guided his footsteps; and all who knew him
unite in testifying that he concealed beneath a pleasant, cheerful
exterior, the character of a Christian gentleman, and an ardent crusader
against the worst form of oppression which has ever been put in
practice. The hope that the public will unite in this opinion must
certainly assist in consoling his widow for the loss which she has
sustained. Mrs. Richardson is alluded to in the narrative throughout. It
is necessary, therefore, to say, that that lady remained in Tripoli until
the news of her bereavement reached her, and that she then returned to

England to promote the erection of this best monument to her husband's
memory.
I have now only to add an account written by Dr. Barth (dated April 3,
1851) of the death of Mr. Richardson, in a letter addressed to Mr.
Crowe, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul-General at Tripoli. The German
traveller, as will be seen in the second volume of this work, had
separated from his English companions on the plains of Damerghou,
and proceeded to prosecute other researches, the results of which will
be looked for with great interest:--
"It was on the 25th of March," he says, "that I heard accidentally from a
Shereef, whom I met on the road, the sad news that my companion had
died, about twenty days before, in a place called Ungurutua, six days'
journey before reaching Kuka, when I hurried on as fast as my horse
would allow in order to secure his papers and effects from being lost or
destroyed.
"I now shall send you a short account of Mr. Richardson's death, as far
as I was able to make out the circumstances from his servant. Mr.
Richardson is said to have left Zinder in the best health, though it is
probable that he felt already very weak while he was there: for,
according to the man whom he hired in Zinder as his dragoman, he had,
while there, a dream that a bird came down from the sky, and when
sitting on the branch of a tree, the branch broke off and the bird fell
down to the earth. Mr. Richardson being very much affected by this
dream, went to a man who from a huge book explains to the people
their dreams. On the man's telling him that his dream meant death, he
seems really to have anticipated that he would not reach the principal
object of his journey. But, nevertheless, he seemed to be quite well,
mounting even the horse which the Governor of Zinder had made him a
present of, as far as Minyo, when he begged the Governor to give him a
camel, which he mounted thenceforward. He felt notoriously ill in
Kadalebria, eleven or twelve days' journey from here (Kuka); and he is
said by his servant to have taken different kinds of medicines, one after
the other: from which you may conclude that he did not know himself
what was his illness. Mr. Richardson never could bear the sun, and the

sun being very powerful at this time of the year, it must have affected
him very much. I think this to be the chief reason of his death; at least,
he seems not to have had a regular fever. He was happy to reach the
large town of Rangarvia after a journey of three short days, and had the
intention of returning from here directly to Tripoli, without touching at