Park stated to be the extension of
British commerce, and the enlargement of geographical knowledge;
particular attention was to be paid to the state of the interior, the
course of the Niger, and the character and situation of the towns upon
its banks.
The means Park requested were thirty European soldiers, six
carpenters, fifteen or twenty Goree negroes, fifty asses, and six horses
or mules. Each man was to be provided with gun, pistols, and suitable
clothing. He gave in also a list of other articles which he required,
comprising harness and equipments for the asses, carpenters tools, and
cordage, with other stores, for building two boats of forty feet length,
to sail down the Niger, and a number of articles of commerce to procure
supplies from the natives, and for presents to their chiefs, such as
coloured cloth, amber, gold, and glass beads, arms and ammunition,
mirrors, knives, scissors, &c. Park's proposed route was to proceed up
the Gambia, cross the country to the Niger, when they were to sail down
the river till they came to its termination. If, as Park supposed, in
place of being lost, according to Major Rennel's theory, in some
imaginary lake called Margara, it took a southerly direction, and might
prove to be the river Congo; it was his intention to embark on board some
slave-ship, and return, either by the way of St. Helena or the West
Indies. Major Rennel earnestly advised Park against the expedition, but
without success, and indeed, upon the Major's theory, the plan was
utterly impracticable.
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