My compliments to Mrs. Anderson, George, Thomas, and Bell. I
suppose Andrew will be in the army by this time. When we return to the
coast, if we are lucky enough to find a vessel coming directly to
England, I think we may be in England by the month of December, but if we
have to go round by the West Indies, it will take us two months longer.
With best wishes for your health and prosperity, I am,
"Your affectionate friend,
"MUNGO PARK.
"_To Mr. Thomas Anderson, Surgeon, Selkirk, North Britain._"
[27] Elizabeth, his infant daughter.
[28] The Catechism.
In spite of all the confidence which these letters express, Park was so
well aware of the extreme danger of the expedition that his mind must
have been filled with the most harassing and anxious thoughts. We have
already said, that the soldiers who accompanied him were below the
ordinary standard even of African troops. Their constitutions were worn
out by the climate, and by debauchery; and they seem to have been utter
strangers to sobriety and good discipline. But Park had a still more
serious cause of alarm arising from the repeated delays which had taken
place before the expedition was sent out, which rendered it scarcely
possible for them to reach the Niger before the rainy season set in.
There was besides, the positive certainty of encountering the great
tropical heats and tornadoes, which invariably precede and follow that
time, and prove a source of the greatest inconvenience, and sometimes
even of danger, to caravans.
