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PVMLIRNBD WEEKLY BY TII0MA8 W. LORUAIN, ;-r>)T\/0 DOOR* BELOW TMr. IMSK, AMU WUT ABOVE CVRTOW'a, (;t% on Rica?NMQN aTMBBT. i tf'Term* SubteripiliH.? Three Dollars pw annum, p?y. "i able in advance....tto jwper to bo discontinued* but at (ho option of the Editor, until all arrearage* are paid. ..IhrriltrmeHtt not exceeding fourteen lines, inserted > tins flmt time for seirenljrvfive cents, ami forty cents for each *ubwj(iont insertion ? ami In tl>e ?ame proportion } y for a laryr number of lines. V BlOORAPHICAIi. [ .MUNtiO I'AHK'H 1 ,1FF, AND 1.A8T0OURNRY. f ? P.stracicrt from ft review of "The Journal of a Mission i to the interior of Africa, in the Ye*r 1805, by Mr xoo i PtRK i to which i? prefixed itn seoount o* to I?ifc of ? Mr. Qtiflr. /lev. .Ifir. 1815.] 'Hie story of Mr. Park1* life l? ?oon told.? Jle was horn in 1771, of rospectable parents, his father being * yeoman of Ettrick forest, ami was ttic seventh of thirteen children | he received his education at the grammar-school of Selkirk f w?h intended by his father for the Scottish church. fo? which hts serious turn of mind well fitted him, but made choice of the medical profession j served his time with Mr. Anderson, a surgeon in Selkirk | went through the usual course of studies, and attended the u anal lectures during three successive sessions at tht; University of Edinburgh ; and in the summer vacations, gave all his leisure to botan ical pursuits, in which he was assisted by his brotlmr-iii'law, Mr. James Dickson, a distin guislied botanist * was afterwards introduced v him to Sir Joseph Ranks, who recommended ,'hiin oa an assistant-surgeon to an Kast India V, man, in which he proceeded to llencoolen, in V j 1792. On his return from India the following %fyear,the Association for Promoting Discoveries pin the interior of Africa was looking out for a Improper person to supply tho place of Major * Houghton, who had been out to explore the course ? of the Niger, and to penetrate, if possible, to Tomhutio atul Haoussa ; ...id of whose death in* telligeuce had juHtl>ecn received. Park, caught with the prospect of such a mission held outfor gratifying his naBBion for travelling and his taste for natural history, and sensible of tho dis tinction which was likely to result from new & important discoveries in the geography of Afri ca, ollcred himself for this service i and, after ?ome enquiry into his qualifications, the offer war accented by the Association. lie Hailed: from Portsmouth in May, 1705, and arrived in Oainbiu on the first of tlie following month, proceeded to Pisania, a British factory , about ?00 miles up that river, where be was most kindly received by Dr. Laidly. Hoj* he Remained for several months, collecting infor ""on respecting hit intended journey, and caving rlsai*-. on tne ? the view of iroceedlng easterly towards the' er or JoHba, lie soon found it neceneatv in lequcnce of a war between two chide of the trior, to make a detour to the northward, to rds the territory of the Moors, and on the of March, was taken a prisoner bv AH, a lorish chieftain : after a series of unexam ill hardships he escaped with great difficulty, Ahe month of July following } and after wail ing for three weeks through an African wil aess, arrived at Hego, the capital of Hainbar-j lituated on the batik of tlie Niger, and said togontnin about 30,000 inhabitants. The first |t of this river, tho grand object of his jour \ amply repaid him for all his previous suf jgs. Few thing?! indeed, can be supposed irrv more gratiffcation to a mind ardent in ursuitof truth, than to have ascertained, id the possibility of a doubt, the extraordi* /act that the course oi this great stream pom west to cast, as Herodotus had pro Bed it, though controverted by tlie gcogra i of the middlo age, whoso opinions were veil by nlm ? t all' modern writers, Willi tho itlon of a few, and particularly those two nguixhed geographers, D'Anvillo and Maj. 'iell, who maintained the correctness of the nt opinion, now firmly established by Park, nding it unsafe to remain at Sepjo, he pro ed about seventy or eighty miles down tho to another large town, called Billa. Here >n discovered that tho obstacles to his fur progress, were insurmountable, and being ccd to the greatest distress, was reluctantly pelted to abandon the design of proceeding *tft?ard. He therefore left flilla on the .Id of Aftu?M70fi t pursued the line of the Niger, il? "dream, to the westward, and aljout i .i "J ? Ha'?c month, arrived at Bainha kOO, the frontier of Hambarra t at which place the river ceases to be navigable. From hence tie travel lt d over a mountainous and difficult f,;r "overal weeks on foot, encounter lSR;.i w T?? of thft1ra1?'v season, and on the Kith September reached Kamalia,in the ter ritory ol Mauding, worn down bv fatigue and In a reduced state of health, whirfi brought on a severe and dangerous fit of sickness, thafcohfln eahim at this placo for iriorctliana month, 'lie preservation of his life was entirely owing to the hospitality and benevolence of a negro of thOnsme of Karfa Knurs, who received him in IS/L .1 rP,,#r"1 ?.,,0hC fa,nib" attended Idm WjUl the kinilest stdicitutle. this humane ami Benevolent creature, on hearing of a white man travelling through the country, during Park's Uat mission, anil eont hiding ?{ to be his former lEffll ? Journey of sit days to meet him, MBfc PTfi a ? joy at seeing him again, llflfi*'' Ive hundred miles to traverse, the K.1' I'nr* a Resort, before he could reach any Idly country on tho hanks of the Gambia t a no opportunity occurred that afforded any ,l"c? of accomplishing so long and perilous a ! J* ? * l7,V APri,? joined ?ara\an of slaves moving to the westward, ami 7?r tt journey of great labor and difficulty, oji M (he 4th of June reached the banks of the Oam bid i and arrived at Pisaniaon the 10th, from whence he had departed eighteen mouths before, and wa? received nv Dr. Laidley, " at one risen from the grave.*' On the 15th of June he em barked iu a slave ship bound to America ) was driven by atreas of weather into Antigua) sail* ed from thence on the 24th November, and on the fifid of the following month arrived at Fal mouth, after an absence from Knglaud of two years and seven months. "Immediately on bU landing, lie hastened to l-owlon, anxious in the greatest degree about his family ft friends, of^whofo he luil heard nothing (br two yean. Ho ar rlvcd before day-light on the morn'-ng or Christmas-day, 1767 I and it boing too early an hour to go to liU brother in-law, Mr. Dickson, he wandered for sometime about in the atreeta in tlie quarter of tlie town where h)a house was. Finding one of the entrances into the gardens of Um British Museum accidentally open, lie went in and walked about there forsome time. Ithaopcned thatMr. Dickson, who hail the care of those garden*, went there early that morning upon some trifling business. What must have been hit emotions on beholding, at that extra* ordinary time and place, the vision, as it at flrstinuat have appeared, of hit long lost friend, the object of so many anxious reflections, and wliom he had so long numbered with the dead I"? Life, p. 14. Retiring to his native spot on the banks of the Yarrow, he commenced an account of liin tra vels, of which it is not neccssarjr to speak. It was received with applause, and is still, as his biographer observes, " a popular and standard book )" after its publication ho married the el dest daughter of Mr. Anderson, of Selkirk, with whom he had served his apprenticeship. For two years he appears to have lead an inactive lifo | and at longth with apparent reluctance, went to reside at Peebles, in order to exercise his profession ; where it would seem ho met full employment, but found a difficulty in reconcil ing himself to the humble drudgery of a coun try practitioner of medicine and surgery. He therefore eagerly caught at a hint from Sir Jos. Hanks that, in consequence of tho peace of 1801, another mission to Africa might be undertaken, and if so, that he would be recommended as tho proper person to be employed for carrying it into execution ) but nothing further transpired till the autumn of 1803, when he was summoned to attend the secretary of/ state for the colonial de partment, the result of which was an ofler from Lord Hobert to be employed on this service ? He requested a short time to consult with liis friends, and returned for that purpose to Scot land | but the point already decided to his own mind. Prom the roO'iasMIt of his interview with Lord Hobert hit deterauation *1* in fact taken) he hastily announced his acceptance of the proposal | employed a few days in seltlin his business and taking leave of his mends ; an in December* 1 809> leu fkotUnqn* L al^heloimd that the efcpeditL. Vnd of February, 1-,, ? jUtratlon taking place, olf till September* In (he mean time he employed himself in learning the Ara bac language and the use of astronomical in struments. Lord Camden having now succeed* ed to the office of secretary of state for the c#-> lonies, called on Mr. Park for a written statfe* ment of his opinions as to the plan and objects of the expedition, which' was accordingly deli vered on the 4th October ) but his instructions, grounded upon his own memoir, in the shape of a'letter, which could not have employed hall* an hour in writing, were not ready till the begin ning of January following-? a delay fatal to Park and to the expedition. On the 30th Jan. 1805, he left Portsmouth in tho Crescent trans - Krt, and arrived on the 8th March at Porta aya, in 8t. J ago, one of tho Cape de Verde islands, for the purpose of taking on board a supply of asses j left it on the 21st, arrived at Gorco on the 28th of the same month | where Lieut Marty n. of the royal artillery corps, and thirty-four soldiers of the garrison, volunteered their services on the expedition j the Captain ? *iiv VNJIMUIII of the Squirrel allowed two of his seamen to do tho same, which, with Mr. Anderson, his * it., i- ? ? ... -- " wwmwmw ???at ?W|f| 1199 brother-in-law, a respectable surgeon, M r. 8cott, a draughtsman, both from Selkirk, and four ship carpenters, who had volunteered from Knglancl, made up the number of forty-three KurOpeans. " They jumped,'* says Park, " into the boats in the highest spirits, and bado adieu to Ooree with repeated luu/,as. I believe that cverjr man in tlie garrison would have embarked with great cheerfulness j but no inducemeut could prevail with a single negro to accompany me," Prom Kaycc, a small town on the Gambia, he writes to his relation, Mr. Dickson, as follows:?-" Eve ry thing at present looks as favorable as I could wish) and if all things go well, this day six weeks 1 expect to <lrink aU your healths in the water of the Niger. The soldiers are in good health and spirits. They aro the most dashing mm 1 ever saw ) and if they preserve their health, we may keep ourselves perfectly securo from uny hostile attempt on thejpart of tho na tives. 1 have little doubt but that I shall be a hie, with presents and fair words, to pass thro* tho country to the Niger ) and if once we get fairly afloat, tho day is won." Notwithstand ing these apparent high spirits, he must have been fully aware of the positive certainty that he would have to encounter the excessive tropi cal heat?|t)ie violence of the tornadoes or hur ricanes which always precede and follow the rainy season, and that tnh would in all proba bility overtake him long before Iir reached the Kigtfr. It is greatly to be lamented, that the journey was not put oflftlll the rainy season was over. We cannot coneeive how the " expecta tions of government" could have been " disap pointed," much less how any " censure" could attach to another for a delay wh^ch its own tar diness alone had made necessary i Kvcry rea sonable man would not only have pronounced his justification, but applauded his resolution.? lie adopted, however, says his biographer, that alternative which was most congenial to his character aud feelings ) and having once form* ed this resolution, he adhered to it with tran quilitjr and firmness. The melancholy result of this expedition, of which 'the details are recorded in tne Journal, is summed up in the following letter addressed to Lord Camden. 44 On bard H. M. ScK?ner Mia, at .IncJUr Off Sanumding, JW?. IT, 10IS. 7 '* My Lord? I have herewith nent you mi account of each day'* proceeding* since wo left A'ayte. Many of the incident* related ate in Ihemvelves extremely tri fling', but are intended to recall to my recollect ion (if it plcues God to restore me again to my dear native land) other particular* illustrative of tlra manners and customs of the natives, which would have swelled this bulky communication to a moat unreasonable sise.? Your lordship will recolter.t that I always spoke of die rainy season with horror, m being extremely fatal to European* ; and our journey from the Gambia to the Niger will furnish a melancholy proof of it. We hod no oontcst whatever with the natives, nor was any one of us killed by wild anitqaU, or any other accidents, and yet 1 am sorry to say that of forty 'four Europeans, who left the Ganiuia in perfcct healtli, five only arc at [ (resent alive i namely, three soldiers, (one deranged in lis inind,) Lieutenant Murtyn, ami myself. From this account I am afraid that your lordship will be apt to consider mailers as in a very hopeless state, hut I assure you I am far from desponding. With tlie assistance of one of the soldiers 1 nave changcd n large canoe into u tolerably good schooner, on lioartl of which I this day hoisted the British flsg, and shall set sad to tlie Rait with the fixed resolution to discover the termination of the Niger, or perish in the attempt. I have heard no. thing that 1 can depend on respecting tlie remote coursc of this mighty stream i but I am more and more in* c lined to think that it can end no where but in the sea. My dear friend Mr. Anderson, ami likewise Mr. Scott, are both dead i but though all the Europeans who are with me should die, and though 1 were myself half dead, I would still persevere, and if I could not succeed in the object of my journey, I would at last die on the **>er. If I succeed in the object of my journey I ex'. to tie in England in tlie month of May or June by <y of the West-Indies. I request that your lordsh in will have tlie goodness to permit my friend 8ir Joseph Ranks to peruse the alwldgcd account of my proceed ings, and tluit it may be preserved in ease I should lose my jjapers. I have the honor to lie, 81c." To Mrs. Park, two days aflor, ho writes, ? " I am afraid that, impressed with a woman's fears, and the anxieties of a wife, you maybe led to consider iny situation as a great deal worse than it really is. It is true, my dear 1 friends, Mr. Anderson and Ucor^c Scott, linve both bid atlicu to tlie things of this world, and the greatest part of the soldiers have died on the march during the rainy season (but you may bclKve me I am in good health. The rains aro completely over, and the healthy season has commenced, so that there is no danger of sick, ncss, and I have still a sufficient force to protect tne from any insult in sailing down tlie river to sea. We have already embarked all our ngs, and shall sail the moment I have finished [$7et<er? I do not intend to atop or land any re till we reach the coast, which I suppose S some time in the end of January* We orninghave done with alt intercourse with ... ravel? ana the eaits are now hoUting for I our departure for tlie coast.11 ;?/ From this moment nil authentic information concerning the unfortunato traveller ends. ? letter# and hi# Journal were brought from Sansanding by Iaaaco the Mandingo i jvNumeroua reports, however, were I? ikbroad* and most of them of an unfa le nature. Colonel Maxwell, then govcr consfnt 0f government, to undertake a second journey Wccrtain the truth. Jle left Senegal in Ja nuary, 18t0, and retttrntd on the I alt September, 181 1, with a confirmation of the story of Park's death, thofiglt by no jftMiis satisfactory. He kept a journal in the Arabic language, the trans lation of which i? properly enough printed in tlie volume, though a ifatpdlove ana uninter esting document, excepting in that parf which relates to Park and hla companions after their departure from Sansanding. Near this nlace he meets with Amadou Fatouma, the guide he had recommended to Park, and the same, we E resume, whom Park, in a letter to Sir Joseph tanks, mentions as having hired at Sansanding to accompany him to Kaalma. 44 On seeing me," says Isaacu, "and hearing me mention Mr. Park, he began to weep, and his first words were 44 They are all dead j they are lost for ever, and it i* useless to make any further in quiry after them." I told lilin I was going back to SaiiHanding, and requested ho would como the next day there to meet me, to which he agreed." Ifere I saaco'a journal is interrupted, and this guide's account of their proceedings is inserted, Trom Hansandingto Yaour in HaousSa, whither, he says, ho had agreed to accompany Park, artd where he left him to nroceed on hu voyage. This part ia exceedingly interesting. " Next day Mr. N( departed, 8t |7 Amadou) aim in the village (Yaour.) Next morning I went to the King to pay my respect* to l?lm. On entering the house, I found two men who came on horseback i they were aent by l ho cKWr of Yaour. They aaid to the kiog." we are tent by the Chief of Yaour to let you know that the white men went him any thing? they _ ,v iv%^mai?ir/W U? went awiy without' giving >ou or him l ., ? ? ? , have a great many things witli them, and we have reeeiv. ed nothing from themi and thin Amadou Fatouma now before you ia a Iwd man, ami haa likewise made a fool of Jou both." Tlie kinBrimmctliatalwnir?lj?r??t rt irons I ha/1 taken M w miM ssieia IIJVCWIM3 TT1WMI % VOOI Of >i." Tlie king immediately ordered me to be put t which waa accordingly done, and every thing ken from me i aome were for killing me and some lir tnv life. Ttui tw?? i ????!<" >i'i mimiiiji 1 1 rv nf?M lOfDC fur aaving my life. The next morning early, the king aent an army to a village called Boussa, near the river side. There is lieforc thia village a rock across the whole hrc.'utth of the river. One part of the roek is very hijrh , ?there is a large opening in that rock in the form Of a door, which is the only passage for tlie water to pas* through ; the tide current is here very strong. This army went and look possession of the top of this open* in#. Mr. Park came tltcro after the army had poiried itaelf i he nevertheless attempted to pass. Tlie people liegnn to attack him, throwing lances, p'kev, arrows and stones. Mr. F^rk defended himself for a long time i two of the staves at tlie atorn of the canoe kilted i tiny threw every thing tltev had in the eanoe into the nver, and kept flrlnjr, but oeirig overpowered by miinliers and fatigue, and unable to keeftpp the c.?noc agiinst the current, and no probability of escaping. Mr. Park took liotd of one of the white men and jumped into the water t Martyn did the same, and they were drowned in the stream in attempting to escape. Tlie only slave rem lilting in tlie boa* , seeing tlie natives per sist in throwing their weapons at the o.uoe without casing, stood up ami ?aW to Ok at, " ?pnp wrw n| now, sc kill man jw, you see nothing in tl* canoe, and nobodv but my ?If, therefore cease. Take me a> the canoe, out don't ill inc." Tbey took possession of the canoe and the an, and carrel them to the king. " I wan W ?*pt in irons th;*c itkhiUu i the king released me and gave me a slave (woman.) I immediately went to tlie slave taken in the canoe, who told me in wliat manner Mr. Park and all of them had (Ltd, and What I hare related above. 1 asked him if he was sure nothiNg had been found in the canoe after its capture ? be saiu that nothing remained in the canoe but himself and a swortl-bclt. 1 asked him where the sword4>cU was * he said the king took it, and had made a girth for Jus horse with it." - Thus (he fact of Park'e death re its entirely on the credit that may be due to Isoaco, and to the statement made by Amadou Fatouma | that statement is called 44 a journal ?H but we appre hend it was verbally given to Isaaco six yeart? after the events it relates hid happened, and the most material of which Patouma himself had from the only surviving slave at an interval of three .nonths after the transaction, 'lite bio grapher observes that tho story is not ill told, but that some of the fncts aro very questionable ; and that the circumstance of Park and Lieute nant Marty n leaping hand in luftul with the sol diers into the river, is much too theatrical to l>? literally true. The Arahinns we know are the best story -tellers on earth, and the description of the scene of action is not unworthy of fin t>A'l the sailor. It is, however, but a translation from Arabic, and in all probability not the most pure. Of the main fact of Parle's death thorn can now he no doubt i and that he fell some where in the llaoussa country, to tho eastward of Yaour, is also probable, for Isanco, as ap pears from the continuation of his journal, con firmed the story of the belt. 44 I immediately sent a Poule to Yaour to get me the belt by any means, and at any nrice," and he staid at San sanding waiting eigfit months for his return.? 44 lie brought me the belt, and said that he had bribed ayuung slave girl belonging to the kins, who had stolen it from him, and that he could not get any thing more, as nothing else was to tie found which had belonged to Mr. Park or liis companions." 44 This Amadou," says Isnaco, 44 being a good, honest, and upright man, I had placed lum with Mr. Park j what he related to me being on his oath, having no interest, nor any hopes of reward whatever, after obtaining the belt, I thought it best to return to Senegal" with the belt we take for granted, though Go vernor Maxwell in sending the Journal neither transmits nor mentions it. Of the merits of a Journal written under every conceivable disadvantage, and never meant in its present shape for the public eye, we shall say nothing. Under "m-*i ? * which the writer surprised he pn any record of hi* 1 melancholy tale ? 1 tice must be brie! The party, we Kayee on tiio 271 first 400 miles \ Park's return from his first journey as uu a? Faukia ; the incidents are but few, and those not very interesting. At Jindey he observed tho natives dying very fine blues wit)) tl<c indigo leaves, by a very simple process, and without using any mordant whatever) it consisted chief ly of repeated dipping of the cloth in a lye called ?i i-gee, which is a solution of wood ashes made from two different species of mimosa filtrated through straw, with the leaves of indigo im mersed in it either fresh from the plant or dried i in tho aun. On approaching the Simbani woods, Isanco took alarm lest they should be attacked by some of the BomIm people, who were In a state of civil war, owing to a disputed euccession 5 but having laid a black ram attmittie road, repeat - fid It long prayer over it, ami then cut its thr>at, all apprenehMon wan at an end, and no further doubt entertained of a prosperous journey. ? The Gambia at Russia, near 300 miles from its mouth, in a hundred yards across, and had a re gular tide, rifting about four inches. It swarm ed with crocodiles and liippopotam, thirteen of the former being seen at once, and three of the latter. At this place, John Walters, one of the soldiers, fell down in an epileptic fit, and expir ed in about half an hour. At Hady they had some squabbling with the chief ami the people, who seised Isaaco, tied Jiim to a tree, and (lod ged him | but a little present, as usual, set all right* At Bee creek they met with a more se rious adventure, which had nearly been fatal to the expedition. u We had no sooner unloaded the aine# at the creek than ioim or Isaaeo's people, being in March of honey, unfortunately disturbed a large awarm of l>ec? nca? where the cattlc had halted. The hcea came nut ii immense numbers, and attacked men and beatU st the same time, luckily mort of the ante* were looxe, Mid galloped up the valley 1 hut tho horses and people were very much atunjf, ami obliged to acampor in alt direc tion*. The fire which had l>cen kindled for cook nr being dcvcrted, unread and ?et lite to the bamboo, and and our lonfage lisd like to haVe been burnt. In fact, for half an hour the bees aeemcd to have completely put an end to our Journey."? p. 8 T. The result of thia attack was three asses mis sing, two killed, and one unable to proceed, the horse of the guide lost, and many of the people very rftuch stung. At Dentita (hey smelt iron from the ore, and the flux used for this purpose is the ashes of the bark of tho Kino tree. This tree produces tho drug long known under tlm name of the gum kino, and used by Dr. Pother - gill as a specific in certain complaints j the ori gin of it was not known till the present journey t From a specimen sent home to Sir Joaeph Batiks it is now ascertained to be u new species of pte reocarpus. On (he 8th June, thoy encountered a heavy tornado with much thunder and lightning l l?no of the carpenters died in the nidii? and the next day flvoor the soldiers who hail slept under the tree, fell sick. On the 10th their had two toma. do*, accompanied with drenching rfdp. ' r To fa rortcfuffed In our Hffft-J