On reaching the Niger a canoe was hired with a crew of rowers.

In this all the cases, filled with the objects they had collected, were placed, the whole being put in charge of the Houssas, Moses and King John, who had been seized with a fit of homesickness.

These were to deliver the cases to the charge of an English agent at Lagos or Bonny, to both of whom Mr.Goodenough wrote requesting him to pay the sum agreed to the boatmen on the safe arrival of the cases, and also to pay the Houssas, who preferred taking their wages there, as it was not considered advisable to tempt the cupidity of any of the native princes along the river.

Should they be overhauled the Houssas were told to open the cases and show that these contained nothing but birds' skins and insects, which would be absolutely valueless in the eyes of a native.
When the precious freight had fairly started, the party crossed the Niger in a canoe, arrangements having already been made with the potentate of a village on the opposite side for a fresh relay of carriers, twenty men being now sufficient, owing to the gaps which had been made in the provisions in the goods, by the payment of the carriers and presents, and, in the cases, by the despatch of eight of the largest of these to the coast.

They had still, however, ample space for the collections they might still make.