Another important feature of this expedition is, the circumstance that the travellers ascended the river Tchadda, as high as one hundred and fifty miles from its junction with the Niger.  At that point, and at some distance below and above it, the river was found to be intersected with islands, and comparatively shallow, alternately becoming broad and narrow in proportion as its channel was free from, or obstructed by these islands.  No traces of inhabitants appeared on the banks of this very interesting river, and Lander and his valuable coadjutor were compelled to return to the Niger for want of provisions.  All the natives in this part of the country agreed in the assertion, that the Tchadda communicates with Lake Tchad, the inland sea of Africa.  They do not hazard this as a mere conjecture, but state it with confidence, as a well-known and undisputed fact.  This being the case, though it be at variance with the opinion entertained of it by many of our scientific countrymen, the concurrent testimony of the natives, who, after all, are better acquainted with the geography of their own country, is entitled to respect.  It should also be remembered, that the Tchadda has not received its name, any more than its gigantic namesake, from Europeans, but from the natives themselves, who have never bestowed on it any other appellation.  On a small island, near Attah, Lander erected a kind of mud fort, which would answer the purpose of a depot for British goods.  This place has been named English island, and it possesses peculiar facilities for trading purposes in that part of the country.  The king of Attah, who seemed to have formed an attachment to Lander, presented him with four small but very beautiful horses, which he succeeded in conveying to Fernando Po.  Poor old Pascoe the black, who buried Belzoni, and whose name occurs so frequently in Clapperton’s journal, and the narrative of the Landers, as a faithful and brave servant, died at Attah.

For some time, no information which could be relied upon reached this country, relative to the progress of the expedition, although some sinister reports were afloat relative to the fatal termination of it.  At length, however, all suspense was extinguished by the arrival of an individual belonging to the expedition, who gave the following account of the melancholy manner in which 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: