1996
239 pp.
10 maps, 1 b/w photo, 9 illustrations, index
Text language: English
The present volume is dedicated to Hugh Clapperton’s journals, re-discovered, transcribed and revised by the author. It is not only a simple text edition but contains a comprehensive introduction where the Borno Mission (1822–1825) is described. Furthermore, Lockhart critically deals with Clapperton’s biography.
The author successfully combines the original text with comprehensive annotations without ever losing its orthographic and stylistic characteristics. Hugh Clapperton was one of the first British explorers to enter the central Sahara, but his journals were lost for over a hundred and fifty years, and have never been published before. They show him to be one of the most sensitive and sympathetic travellers, his observations untainted by any sense of moral superiority.
Hugh Clapperton has a sharp eye for detail, be it wind-stiller magicians, the effect of the evil eye, or slave skeletons round a well-head, and a gift for friendship, whether drinking palm wine with renegades, bantering with local women or delighting in the company of dignified tribal sheikhs. Numerous facsimile reproductions and maps illustrate the text.
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