Travels Of Richard And John Lander Into The Interior Of Africa For The Discovery Of The Course And Termination Of The Niger By Robert Huish
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It Is Impossible Not To View The Unquenchable Zeal And Intrepidity,
Which Park Evinced On His First Journey, Without Feeling For The
Individual The Highest Sentiments Of Admiration And Respect.
In
addition to those high qualifications, we witnessed an admirable
prudence in his intercourse with the natives, and a
Temper not to be
ruffled by the most trying provocations; a union of qualities often
thought incompatible, and which in our days we fear we cannot expect
to see again directed to the same pursuits. It may be further stated,
that to our own feelings, scarcely an individual of the age can be
named, who has sunk under circumstances of deeper interest than this
lamented traveller; whether we consider the loss, which geographical
science has suffered in his death, or whether we confine our views to
the blasted hopes of the individual, snatched away from his
hard-earned, but unfinished triumph, and leaving to others that
splendid consummation, which he so ardently sought to achieve. True
it is, that the future discoverer of the termination of the Niger,
must erect the structure of his fame on the wide foundation, with
which his great predecessor had already occupied the ground; but
although the edifice will owe its very existence to the labours of
Park, yet another name than his is now recorded on the finished pile;
Hos ego - feci, tulit alter honores.
The African Association, although enthusiastically attached to every
subject connected with the interior of Africa, soon found that,
unless the government would take up the subject as a national affair,
no great hope existed of arriving at the great objects of their
research; it was therefore proposed by Sir Joseph Banks, that a
memorial should be presented to his majesty George III, praying him
to institute those measures, by which the discoveries that Park had
made in the interior of Africa could be prosecuted, and which might
ultimately lead to the solution of those geographical problems, to
which the attention of the scientific men of the country were then
directed.
In the mean time Mr. Park had married the daughter of a Mr. Anderson,
with whom he had served his apprenticeship as a surgeon, and having
entered with some success in the practice of his profession, in the
town of Peebles, it was supposed, that content with the laurels so
dearly earned, he had renounced a life of peril and adventure. But
none of these ties could detain him, when the invitation was given to
renew and complete his splendid career. 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. Instructions
were accordingly sent out to Goree, that he should be furnished
liberally with men, and every thing else of which he might stand in
need.
Mr. Park sailed from Portsmouth, in the Crescent transport, on the
30th January 1805. About the 9th of March, he arrived at the Cape
Verd Islands, and on the 28th reached Goree. There he provided
himself with an officer and thirty-five soldiers, and with a large
stock of asses from the islands, where the breed of these animals is
excellent, and which appeared well fitted for traversing the rugged
hills of the high country, whence issue the sources of the Senegal
and Niger. He took with him also two sailors and four artificers, who
had been sent from England. A month however elapsed, before all these
measures could be completed, and it was then evident that the rainy
season could not be far distant, a period, in which travelling is
very difficult and trying to European constitutions. It is clear,
therefore, that it would have been prudent to remain at Goree or
Pisania, till that season had passed; but in Mr. Park's enthusiastic
state of mind, it would have been extremely painful to linger so long
on the eve of his grand and favorite undertaking. He hoped, and it
seemed possible, that before the middle of June, when the rains
usually began, he might reach the Niger, which could then be
navigated without any serious toil or exposure. He departed,
therefore, with his little band from Pisania, on the 4th May, and
proceeded through Medina, along the banks of the Gambia. With so
strong a party, he was no longer dependent on the protection of the
petty kings and mansas, but the Africans seeing him so well provided,
thought he had now no claim on their hospitality; on the contrary,
they seized every opportunity to obtain some of the valuable articles
which they saw in his possession.
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