In the year 1788, the African Institution was formed: its object was to
send persons properly qualified to make discoveries in the interior of
Africa. The first person engaged by them was Mr. Ledyard; and, from all
accounts of him, no person could have been better qualified for such an
arduous enterprise: he was strong, healthy, active, intelligent,
inquisitive, observant, and undaunted; full of zeal, and sanguine of
success; and, at the same time, open, kind, and insinuating in his looks
and manners. At Cairo he prepared himself for his undertaking, by visiting
the slave market, in order to converse with the merchants of the various
caravans, and learn all the particulars connected with his proposed
journey, and the countries from which they came. But be proceeded no
farther than Cairo: here he was seized with an illness, occasioned or
aggravated by the delay in the caravans setting out for Sennaar, which
proved fatal.
Mr Lucas was the next person employed by the African Institution. In
October, 1788, he arrived at Tripoli, from whence he set out with two
shereefs for Fezzan, by the way of Mescerata. On the fourth day after his
departure, he reached Lebida, on the sea coast, the Leptis Magna of the
Romans. He found, on his arrival at Mescerata, that he should not be able
to procure the number of camels necessary to convey his goods to Fezzan;
and was obliged to abandon his enterprize.
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