The Invitation Was Formally Sent To Him By Government, In October 1801, To Undertake An Expedition On A Larger Scale, Into The Interior Of Africa.

His mind had been brooding on the subject with enthusiastic ardour.

He had held much intercourse with Mr. Maxwell, a gentleman who had long commanded a vessel in the African trade, by whom he was persuaded that the Congo, which since its discovery by the Portuguese, had been almost lost sight of by the Europeans, would prove to be the channel by which the Niger, after watering all the regions of interior Africa, enters the Atlantic. The scientific world were very much disposed to adopt Park's views on this subject, and accordingly the whole plan of the expedition was adjusted with an avowed reference to them. The agitation of the public mind, by the change of ministry, and the war with France, delayed further proceedings till 1804, when Mr. Park was desired by Lord Camden, the colonial secretary, to form his arrangements, with an assurance of being supplied with every means necessary for their accomplishment. The course which he now suggested, was, that he should no longer travel as a single and unprotected wanderer; his experience decided him against such a mode of proceeding. He proposed to take with him a small party, who being well armed and disciplined, might face almost any force which the natives could oppose to them. He determined with this force to proceed direct to Sego, to build there two boats forty feet long, and thence to sail downwards to the estuary of the Congo.

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