CLAPPERTON, HUGH, was born in 1788, at Annan, in Dum friesshire, N.B., where his father was settled as a surgeon and country practitioner. After receiving the rudiments of a plain education, with some instruction in mathematics, he went to sea at the age of thirteen, being bound apprentice in a merchant-ship that Failed between Liverpool and America. After making several voyages ho was impressed and sent on board a man-of-war as a common seaman. Fortunately Clapperton had an uncle, a captain of marines, through whose interest with the naval commanders then in commission in the Mediterranean, he was put on the quarter-deck and made a midship man. In this capacity he gave proofs both of fortitude and courage. In 1814 he went to Upper Canada, and some time after his arrival he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and appointed to the com mand of a schooner belonging to the British flotilla ou the lakes. In 1817, this flotilla having dismantled, Lieutenant Clapperton returned home on half-pay. He amused himself in his native district with shooting and fishing, until 1820, when he removed to Edinburgh and became acquainted with Dr. Oudney, whose mind was absorbed by the subject of African discovery. In 1823 he was employed by Lord Bathurst, in conjunction with Dr. Oudney and Major Denham, to make a journey to Timbuctoo, in central Africa. The doctor died at an early stage of the journey in January 1824. Proceeding south from Tripoli, on the Mediterranean, by Muefeia, and by Zangalia, on the cast of tho great Lake Tchad, Clapperton, after great sufferings, reached Saccatoo, where he was obliged to turn back. He and Deuharn determined the positions of the kingdoms of Mandara, Bournou, and Houses, and of their chief towns, but they were not able to ascertain the course and termination of the Niger—the main object of the expedition. Their description of Lake Tchad, with the huge hippopotami in it, and the elephants and other wild animals on its elfores, is exceedingly interesting. Ore the 22nd of June 1825, soon after his return to England, Clapperton was raised to the rank of commander, and engaged almost immediately to start afresh ou the same perilous journey. His companions were Captain Pearce, R.N.,
Mr. Dickson, and Dr. Morrison, a navy surgeon and naturalist ; the party was attended by Richard Lander, Dawson, and two or three other servants. This time Clapperton penetrated into Africa from the coast of the Atlantic. The party landed in the Bight of Benin on the 28th of November 1825, and proceeded inland from Badagry, December 7; but they had scarcely moved from the shore when they were attacked by the usual maladies of the country. Dawsou died at Tshow, not far from Badagry, and Captain Pearce soon after, at Engwa. Dr. Morrison, who had returned towards the coast, expired at Jannah. The survivors, meeting with great kindness and hos pitality from the natives, reached Katunga, the capital of Yariba, on the 15th of January 1826. They proceeded to the great commercial city of Kano, and thence, bearing to the west, went to Saccatoo, which Clapperton had reached from the side of the Mediterranean on his former journey. Here Bello, the king or chief of the country, detained his old acquandauce on account of wars carrying on, and (it is said) at tho jealous suggestions of the Dey of Tripoli, who represented the English as aiming at the possession of all Africa. Clapperton's vigorous constitution gave way under the effects of the climate and privation, and he died of dysentery on the 13th of April 1827, at Chungary, a village four miles from Saccatoo.
(Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in the years 1822, 1823, 1824, by Major Denham, Commander Clappertois sod the late Dr. Oudney, 4to., Lend., 1820.—Journal of a Second Expedition into the Interior of Africa. &c., by the lato Com mander Clapperton. 4to, 1829. To this volume a Memoir of his Life is of Captain Clapperton's Last Expedition to Africa, by Richard Lander, the only surviving member of the Expedition. 2 vols., small 8vo, 1830.)