Besides The Three Who Died On The Gambia, And Six Or Eight While We Remained At Goree, Eleven Perished At Sea, And Many Of The Survivors Were Reduced To A Very Weak And Emaciated Condition.

In the midst of these distresses, the vessel, after having been three weeks at sea, became so extremely leaky, as to require constant exertion at the pumps.

It was found necessary, therefore, to take some of the ablest of the Negro men out of irons, and employ them in this labour; in which they were often worked beyond their strength. This produced a complication, of miseries not easily to be described. We were, however, relieved much sooner than I expected; for the leak continuing to gain upon us, notwithstanding our utmost exertions to clear the vessel, the seamen insisted on bearing away for the West Indies, as affording the only chance of saving our lives. Accordingly, after some objections on the part of the master, we directed our course for Antigua, and fortunately made that island in about thirty-five days after our departure from Goree. Yet even at this juncture we narrowly escaped destruction; for on approaching the north-west side of the island, we struck on the Diamond Rock, and got into St John's harbour with great difficulty. The vessel was afterwards condemned as unfit for sea, and the slaves, as I have heard, were ordered to be sold for the benefit of the owners.

At this island I remained ten days; when the Chesterfield Packet, homeward bound from the Leeward Islands, touching at St John's for the Antigua mail, I took my passage in that vessel. We sailed on the 24th of November; and after a short but tempestuous voyage, arrived at Falmouth on the 22d of December; from whence I immediately set out for London; having been absent from England two years and seven months.

[Here terminates Mr. Park's own narrative. The following chapters contain an account of his life from his return to England, in 1797, to his death on the Niger, in 1805; and also of the discoveries and adventures of succeeding travellers.]

CHAPTER XXVII.

_Attempts of Horneman, Nicholls, Roentgen, and Adams._

During the interval which elapsed between Park's first and second journey, several attempts were made to explore Central Africa. The first traveller was Frederick Horneman, a student of Gottingen, who was recommended by Professor Blumenbach to the patronage of the African Association. After spending some time in the study of Natural History, and the Arabic language, he went to Cairo, intending to join some caravan, under the assumed character of an Arab or Moslem. It was not till the following year, 1798, that he was enabled to find a caravan proceeding westward, and bound for Fezzan. On the 8th September, they left Egypt, entering upon a wide expanse of sandy desert, resembling what might be supposed to be the bed of the ocean after the waters had left it. It was covered with fragments of petrified wood, of a lightish grey colour and bearing a strong resemblance to natural wood. The Arabs travelled all day, and when they halted at night, each gathered a few sticks and prepared his own victuals. There were a few _oases_ in this waste. In ten days they came to Ummesogeir, a village containing one hundred and twenty inhabitants, who lived on a rock, subsisting on dates, and separated by immense tracts of sand from all intercourse with the rest of the world. In twenty-four hours they came to Siwah, an extensive oasis, about fifty miles in circumference, and the only inhabited spot of any considerable extent on the route to Fezzan. Here there were found some curious remains of antiquity; among the rest a monument, called by the natives Ummebeda, a large mass of dilapidated ruins, which some suppose to have been the celebrated shrine of Jupiter Ammon. Thence they travelled through sandy regions, diversified with numerous limestone rocks. Here Horneman was in considerable danger; for the caravan was met by several hundred inhabitants of Siwah, mounted on asses, who pointed to him and insisted that he and another of the caravan were Christians from Cairo, against whom they cherished a deadly enmity. But Horneman's coolness and courage disarmed their hostility; he insisted that he was a Moslem, took out the Koran and read passages from it aloud, and even challenged them to answer him on points of the Mahommedan faith.

Soon after the travellers entered the Black Harutsch, a range of dreary mountains, the long defiles of which presented the most dismal prospect imaginable. After sixteen days toilsome journeying they came to the great Oasis, or small Kingdom of Fezzan. The inhabitants were a commercial people, and received the caravan with joy. Much communication is held between this place and Central Africa. Here Horneman endeavoured to collect information concerning Tombuctoo and the Niger. He resolved to visit Tripoli before endeavouring to penetrate to the south. He set off on his journey southward on the 6th April 1800, along with two shereefs or descendants of Mahomed, who had promised to protect him. Two years elapsed before any more was heard of him; when a Fezzan merchant informed the Danish Consul at Tripoli, that he was still alive. He was afterwards reported to have resided in Kashna, about 1803. Major Denham heard that he had penetrated as far as Nyffe on the Niger, where he fell a victim to the climate.

The next traveller sent out to Africa was Mr. Nicholls, who resolved to land at Calabar, in the Gulf of Benin, and thence to proceed into the interior. He landed on the coast in January 1805, but speedily fell a victim to the fever of the country.

Roentgen, a German, endeavoured to reach the interior by the way of Morocco. He spoke Arabic fluently, assumed the Mahomedan garb, and entertained high hopes of success. Having procured two guides, he joined the Soudan caravan; but, a little distance from the spot whence he set out, his corpse was found lying on the road.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 106 of 146
Words from 107478 to 108489 of 148366