A narrative of the expedition sent by Her Majesty's government to the River Niger, in 1841. Under the command of Captain H. D. Trotter
London: Richard Bentley, 1848. First edition, 2 volumes, 8vo, pp. xviii, 509, [1]; viii, 511, [1]; engraved portrait frontispiece, 3 maps (2 folding, 1 hand-colored in outline), 16 engraved copperplates (1 folding), 2 wood-engraved plates, a hand-colored geological cross-section, and numerous wood engravings in the text; old library rubberstamps on both title pages, otherwise a very good copy in modern brown buckram, gilt lettering and fillets on spines. "The expedition sailed in May 1841, and after recruiting 133 Africans on the west coast entered the Niger on [August 13]. The first death, of an instrument-maker, occurred the same day. In the delta the commissioners negotiated with the Obi ... and at Idah, 320 kilometers upstream, formed a treaty with the Attah, who agreed to 'sell' them a tract of land. By this time fever was beginning to take its toll and by [September 17] seven were dead and sixty were sick ... Although William Allen, in view of the number of sick, urged Trotter to return to the coast Trotter ... decided to push on up the Niger ... as far as Eggan where Bird Allen (no relation to William Allen) became so ill that on [October 3] they had to turn back" (Howgego, II, p. 594-95). Item #40163
Price: $575.00
