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.
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