With Some Difficulty He Drew From The Natives An Account Of The
Circumstances, Which, However, They Ascribed To The Men Of Boussa,
Supposing Park To Be A Chief Of The Felatahs, Who Had Made A Hostile
Incursion Into Soudan, And Whom They Shortly Expected To Attack
Themselves.
In 1830, John and Richard Lander saw the place, and thus
described it; "On our arrival at this formidable
Place, we discovered a
range of black rocks running directly across the stream, and the water,
finding only one narrow passage, rushed through it with great
impetuosity, overturning and carrying away every thing in its course."
They also discovered a _tohe_ or cloak, a cutlass, a double-barrelled
gun, a book of logarithms, and an invitation-card, which had belonged to
Park. They heard at one time that his journal was still in existence; but
it turned out that this was only a feint used by the king of Yaour to
entice them into his dominions, and fleece them of some of their
property; and there appeared no reason to doubt that the journal, the
loss of which there is much reason to regret, sunk in the waters of the
Niger.
It seems unnecessary to enter into a lengthened estimate of the character
of Mungo Park. The biographical details which we have given, with his own
narrative of his first expedition, and the summary of the leading events
of his second, will have sufficiently enabled our readers to judge for
themselves. But we cannot quit the subject without a few brief remarks,
having frequently, while writing these pages, had our attention called
off from the events themselves to him who was the principal actor in
them. Amongst the numerous adventurers whose spirit of research has led
them into unknown countries, it would be difficult to find one better
qualified in every way than Park was. His frame was admirably adapted for
enduring toil. He was tall and muscular, and possessed great strength and
agility. In his first African journey he traversed three thousand miles,
for the most part on foot, through an unknown and barbarous country,
exposed to continued unremitting toil, to the perils of the way, to
storm, hunger, pestilence, and the attacks of wild beasts and savage
natives, supported by a dauntless spirit, and by a fortitude which never
forsook him. Amply did he possess the indispensable qualities of a
traveller, keenness of observation, mental energy, unflinching
perseverance, an ardent temperament, corrected and restrained by a cool
and sagacious judgment. Amid danger and disaster his character shone with
great lustre. It only remains to be added, that he was an exemplary model
in his faithful discharge of all the relative duties - a good son,
husband, and parent.
We entirely concur in the following observations of a writer in the
Edinburgh Review: "We bid a mournful farewell to the sufferings and
exploits of this illustrious man; - sufferings borne with an unaffected
cheerfulness of magnanimity, which must both exalt and endear him to all
who are capable of being touched with what is generous and noble in
character, - and exploits performed with a mildness and modesty and
kindness of nature, not less admirable than the heroic firmness and
ardour with which they were conjoined.
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