Baikie
WILLIAM BALFOUR, an English explorer, born in the Orkney Islands, Aug. 27, 1825; joined the British navy, and was made Surgeon and Naturalist of the Niger Expedition, 1854. He took the command on the death of the senior officer, and explored the Niger for 250 miles. Another expedition, which started in 1857, passed two years in exploring, when the vessel was wrecked, and all the members, with the exception of Baikie, returned to England. With none but native assistants he formed a settlement at the confluence of the Benué and the Quorra, in which he was ruler, teacher, and physician, and within a few years he opened the Niger to navigation, made roads, established a market, etc. He died in Sierra Leone, Dec. 12,