The telescope. (Columbia, S.C.) 1815-1818, February 20, 1816, Image 1
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