PREFACE.

I

TALES of the perils and adventures of the intrepid men who have penetrated into new and unknown regions were the delight of my own boyhood. loved to sit and listen to the accounts of their achievements and discoveries, and grieved over their distresses and disasters. Even now I well remember how deeply I was affected, when I first heard of Park's cruel treatment by the Moors (then a thing of yesterday), and of his sufferings in the desert after his escape from the hands of those barbarians. The scene in which, descending from the tree into which he had climbed for the purpose of attempting to trace the vast extent of sandy desert which stretched out before him, he takes the bridle from his horse,

and, overcome by faintness, falls on the ground, with the persuasion that the hour of death is fast approaching, is imprinted on my mind as distinctly as if I had been his companion in the trying scene.

My own feelings and recollections, therefore, prompt me to think that a volume of Tales on so popular and interesting a subject cannot fail to recommend itself to the estimation of my young friends.

T. B.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

UNCLE THOMAS RESUMES HIS TALES, AND RELATES THE Adven-
TURES OF JOHN LEDYARD; HIS VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD
WITH CAPTAIN COOK; HIS TRAVELS IN LAPLAND, RUSSIA, AND
SIBERIA, AND HIS SUBSEQUENT MISSION TO AFRICA

CHAPTER II.

UNCLE THOMAS RELATES THE ADVENTURES OF MUNGO PARK,
DURING HIS TRAVELS IN AFRICA; HIS CAPTIVITY AMONG THE
MOORS; HIS ESCAPE AND SUFFERINGS IN HIS WANDERINGS IN
THE DESERT, UNTIL HIS ARRIVAL ON THE BANKS OF THE NIGER

CHAPTER III.

UNCLE THOMAS CONTINUES THE RELATION OF PARK'S ADVENTURES
AND SUFFERINGS; TELLS ALSO ABOUT HIS RETURN TO ENGLAND,
HIS SECOND JOURNEY INTO AFRICA, AND THE MELANCHOLY
FATE OF THIS EXPEDITION

PAGE

1

33

69

9

CHAPTER IV.

UNCLE THOMAS TELLS ABOUT BURCKHARDT'S TRAVELS IN SYRIA
AND ARABIA, AND HIS ADVENTURES AMONG THE ARABS OF
THE DESERT

CHAPTER V.

UNCLE THOMAS TELLS ABOUT THE TRAVELS OF DENHAM AND
CLAPPERTON; THEIR JOURNEY ACROSS THE DESERT; THEIR
ARRIVAL AT LAKE TCHAD; AND THEIR PRESENTATION AT THE
COURT OF THE SULTAN OF BORNOU .

CHAPTER VI.

UNCLE THOMAS CONTINUES HIS ACCOUNT OF THE TRAVELS OF
DENHAM AND CLAPPERTON; THEIR VARIOUS ADVENTURES IN
AFRICA, AND THEIR RETURN TO ENGLAND

CHAPTER VII.

UNCLE THOMAS TELLS ABOUT CLAPPERTON'S SECOND JOURNEY
INTO AFRICA, AND HIS DEATH AT SACKATOO; ALSO ABOUT THE
TRAVELS OF JOHN DAVIDSON; HIS ATTEMPT TO REACH TIM-
BUCTOO; AND HIS MELANCHOLY FATE

PAGE

97

126

145

167

TALES ABOUT TRAVELLERS.

CHAPTER I.

UNCLE THOMAS RESUMES HIS TALES, AND RELATES THE ADVENTURES OF JOHN LEDYARD; HIS VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD WITH CAPTAIN COOK; HIS TRAVELS IN LAPLAND, RUSSIA, AND SIBERIA, AND HIS SUBSEQUENT MISSION TO AFRICA.

VARIOUS circumstances occurred to prevent Uncle Thomas from entering on a new series of tales so early as he had anticipated, or as had been expected by his little auditors; it was, therefore, with unfeigned pleasure that they at length heard him announce that on the following evening he intended to relate to them the first of a series of TALES ABOUT TRAVELLERS, whose adventures and discoveries in various parts of the world had gained them the admiration of their fellow-men. "He delighted," he

B