Mungo Park was born on the 10th of September, 1771, the son of a
farmer at Fowlshiels, near Selkirk. After studying medicine in
Edinburgh, he went out, at the age of twenty-one, assistant-surgeon
in a ship bound for the East Indies. When he came back the African
Society was in want of an explorer, to take the place of Major
Houghton, who had died. Mungo Park volunteered, was accepted, and
in his twenty-fourth year, on the 22nd of May, 1795, he sailed for
the coasts of Senegal, where he arrived in June.
Thence he proceeded on the travels of which this book is the record.
He was absent from England for a little more than two years and a
half; returned a few days before Christmas, 1797. He was then
twenty-six years old. The African Association published the first
edition of his travels as "Travels in the Interior Districts of
Africa, 1795-7, by Mungo Park, with an Appendix containing
Geographical Illustrations of Africa, by Major Rennell."
Park married, and settled at Peebles in medical practice, but was
persuaded by the Government to go out again. He sailed from
Portsmouth on the 30th of January, 1805, resolved to trace the Niger
to its source or perish in the attempt. He perished. The natives
attacked him while passing through a narrow strait of the river at
Boussa, and killed him, with all that remained of his party, except
one slave. The record of this fatal voyage, partly gathered from
his journals, and closed by evidences of the manner of his death,
was first published in 1815, as "The Journal of a Mission to the
Interior of Africa in 1805, by Mungo Park, together with other
Documents, Official and Private, relating to the same Mission. To
which is prefixed an Account of the Life of Mr. Park."
H. M.
CHAPTER I - JOURNEY FROM PORTSMOUTH TO THE GAMBIA
Soon after my return from the East Indies in 1793, having learned
that the noblemen and gentlemen associated for the purpose of
prosecuting discoveries in the interior of Africa were desirous of
engaging a person to explore that continent, by the way of the
Gambia river, I took occasion, through means of the President of the
Royal Society, to whom I had the honour to be known, of offering
myself for that service. I had been informed that a gentleman of
the name of Houghton, a captain in the army, and formerly fort-major
at Goree, had already sailed to the Gambia, under the direction of
the Association, and that there was reason to apprehend he had
fallen a sacrifice to the climate, or perished in some contest with
the natives. But this intelligence, instead of deterring me from my
purpose, animated me to persist in the offer of my services with the
greater solicitude. I had a passionate desire to examine into the
productions of a country so little known, and to become
experimentally acquainted with the modes of life and character of
the natives. I knew that I was able to bear fatigue, and I relied
on my youth and the strength of my constitution to preserve me from
the effects of the climate. The salary which the committee allowed
was sufficiently large, and I made no stipulation for future reward.
If I should perish in my journey, I was willing that my hopes and
expectations should perish with me; and if I should succeed in
rendering the geography of Africa more familiar to my countrymen,
and in opening to their ambition and industry new sources of wealth
and new channels of commerce, I knew that I was in the hands of men
of honour, who would not fail to bestow that remuneration which my
successful services should appear to them to merit. The committee
of the Association having made such inquiries as they thought
necessary, declared themselves satisfied with the qualifications
that I possessed, and accepted me for the service; and, with that
liberality which on all occasions distinguishes their conduct, gave
me every encouragement which it was in their power to grant, or
which I could with propriety ask.
It was at first proposed that I should accompany Mr. James Willis,
who was then recently appointed consul at Senegambia, and whose
countenance in that capacity, it was thought, might have served and
protected me; but Government afterwards rescinded his appointment,
and I lost that advantage. The kindness of the committee, however,
supplied all that was necessary. Being favoured by the secretary of
the Association, the late Henry Beaufoy, Esq., with a recommendation
to Dr. John Laidley (a gentleman who had resided many years at an
English factory on the banks of the Gambia), and furnished with a
letter of credit on him for 200 pounds, I took my passage in the
brig Endeavour - a small vessel trading to the Gambia for beeswax and
ivory, commanded by Captain Richard Wyatt - and I became impatient
for my departure.
My instructions were very plain and concise. I was directed, on my
arrival in Africa, "to pass on to the river Niger, either by way of
Bambouk, or by such other route as should be found most convenient.
That I should ascertain the course, and, if possible, the rise and
termination of that river. That I should use my utmost exertions to
visit the principal towns or cities in its neighbourhood,
particularly Timbuctoo and Houssa; and that I should be afterwards
at liberty to return to Europe, either by the way of the Gambia, or
by such other route as, under all the then existing circumstances of
my situation and prospects, should appear to me to be most
advisable."
We sailed from Portsmouth on the 22nd day of May, 1795. On the 4th
of June we saw the mountains over Mogadore, on the coast of Africa;
and on the 21st of the same month, after a pleasant voyage of thirty
days, we anchored at Jillifrey, a town on the northern bank of the
river Gambia, opposite to James's Island, where the English had
formerly a small fort.
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