The brothers used two chests like this and 7 panniers of medicines; they are still celebrated in NigeriaRichard Lander (1804-34) and John Lander (d.1839) were explorers, who took this medicine chest to Africa in the early 1830s. Their journal tells how much they needed the potions, especially Epsom Salts - the one used to cure stomach upsets.
Rather than being typically upper class explorers, the brothers were sons of a Truro innkeeper. They found the course of the River Niger and introduced palm oil to Nigeria, thus setting up a new economy.
Truro's Richard Lander School is named after the older of these brothers. The Lander Monument - an impressive stone column at the top of Truro's Lemon Street - is another reminder of adventurous Cornish lives, cut short by musket balls and tropical illness. However the Landers are less famous here than they are in Nigeria, where every schoolchild learns about them.
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