I Am
In Great Hopes Of Finishing This Journey With Credit In A Few Months; And
Then With What Joy Shall I Turn My Face Towards Home!" From These
Extracts, It Would Seem That Park Still Entertained The Prospect Of
Ultimate Success.
His situation appeared difficult, but not desperate.
He
had now traversed what he believed would be the most arduous part of his
route, with the loss of only one of his party; and hoped that, by dint of
strenuous exertion, the greater part of the distance which lay between
him and the Niger might possibly be gone over before the rainy season set
in. But the sad realities of suffering and death were soon to break in on
his dreams of success.
They had now arrived at Julifunda, the chief of which place extorted from
Park goods to the value of two hundred bars, before he would suffer the
party to proceed. The next day, being his Majesty's birthday, Park
halted, pitched one of the tents, and purchased a bullock and a calf for
the soldiers, who were drawn up in the afternoon, and fired a salute.
They made this as much a day of festivity as circumstances would admit
of, though they were under the necessity of drinking the king's health in
_water_, in the absence of any more stimulating and genial fluid. At
Baniserile, a Mahometan town, they met with a most hospitable reception
from the chief man, Fodi Braheima, to whom Park presented a copy of the
New Testament, in Arabic. On the 6th June, one of the carpenters, who had
been sick of the dysentery ever since they had crossed the Nerico, became
very ill. On the 7th the sick man was so ill that he had to be mounted on
an ass, which was driven forward by two soldiers; next day he threw
himself from the beast, and expressed a wish to be left alone to die, and
could only be held on by force. About noon they arrived at Medina, and
halted upon the banks of the Faleme, which the rain had discoloured, but
little increased in volume. At this place it ran over rocks, at the rate
of about four miles the hour. It abounded with fish of a great size. In
the afternoon the soldiers were quite worn out with carrying the baggage
across the river, and up the steep bank. The carpenter being in a dying
state was left with the Dooty, to whom Park gave ten bars, and also
directed a soldier to remain with him. Next morning the soldier came up
to the party at Sadadoo, and told them that the carpenter had died during
the night, and that he, with the assistance of some negroes, had buried
him. On the 9th, five of the soldiers, who had not gone into the tent,
but had remained during the rain under a tree, complained much of
headache and sickness. During the night some of the canteens had been
stolen. They left Sadadoo at sunrise, journeying over a hard rocky soil,
towards the mountains, and the advanced party reached Shrondo at sunset;
but Park did not come up to the place till eight o'clock, having mounted
one of the sick men on his horse, and assisted in driving in the wearied
asses, four of which he was compelled to leave in the woods. Here they
were overtaken by a dreadful tornado, which drenched them completely:
this proved to them indeed the "_beginning of sorrows._" Its dreadful
effects were immediately manifested in the sickness of the soldiers, many
of whom were, before the rain had fallen three minutes, seized with
vomiting; while others fell asleep, and looked as if they had been half
intoxicated. Next morning twelve of the party were sick. Before this Park
had fondly hoped that he would reach the Niger, with a moderate loss; but
now, for the first time, do we find stated in his journal, a feeling of
distrust and apprehension: "The rain," he says, "had set in, and I
trembled to think that we were only half way through, our journey." From
that period the horrors of fatal disease were superadded to those of
toilsome and dangerous journey. Many of the beasts of burden sank down or
strayed, so that an additional load had to be put upon those that
remained. The track was intersected by frequent torrents, and the sick
had to be placed upon the horses and spare asses; those whose strength
disease had not yet wasted, were worn out in endeavouring to urge on the
staggering beasts. Their footsteps were tracked by plunderers, who
watched every opportunity of pilfering. The sick soldiers would throw
themselves at the foot of a tree, declaring that they were content to
perish; even had they been suffered to remain, a quiet death could not
have been expected, as the beasts of prey were prowling about, and their
feverish rest at night was often broken by their distant howling. In the
midst of all this complication of difficulties, it is impossible not to
be struck with the nobleness of Park's conduct, facing boldly
difficulties however arduous, and endearing himself to his men by the
greatest attention and kindness, - himself enduring toil that they might
have rest, lingering behind the party to help on some exhausted soldier,
or mounting him upon his own horse, comforting the desponding, and in
their last hour consoling and soothing the dying.
The party rested a day at Shrondo, but the distressing circumstances in
which they were involved did not prevent Park from visiting the gold
mines in the neighbourhood, and he gives in his journal a curious account
of the method in which the gold is obtained. He was guided by a woman to
a meadow where there were dug about thirty pits. Beside these lay heaps
of sand and gravel, to be conveyed to circular wash-pits, which were
lined with clay. Two calabashes are used, one large, into which the
gravel is put; the other small, with which the water is poured in.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 116 of 146
Words from 117655 to 118669
of 148366