The Journal of a Mission to the Interior of Africa, in the Year 1805 Part 5

At Dindikoo beyond Shrondo, Park was much struck with the beauty and magnificence of that mountainous tract of country, as well as with the degree in which it was cultivated and the comparatively happy condition of the inhabitants. Proceeding a little farther, he quitted the track he had hitherto followed, by which he had formerly returned from Kamalia to the Gambia; and directed his course towards the north-east, with a view probably of avoiding the Jallonka Wilderness. But the difficulties of travelling were now become extreme; partly from the nature of the country, but princ.i.p.ally from the increasing prevalence of the disease produced by the continued rains.

On the 4th of July he was near losing Isaaco, his guide; who in crossing a river was twice attacked by a crocodile, and saved himself by extraordinary presence of mind, though not without some very severe wounds. This accident detained the caravan several days, and added to the numerous delays which had so unfortunately impeded the expedition.

Several of the soldiers had died during the course of the journey; and on the 6th of July the whole number of persons composing the caravan (except one) were either actually sick, or in a state of great debility.

Yet he still had considerable difficulties to encounter, in traversing a country, where he was obliged to be constantly on the watch against the depredations of the inhabitants, and occasionally, the attacks of wild beasts. Under such circ.u.mstances it is not wonderful that the few soldiers, not disabled by sickness, fell back; and it was with great difficulty that any of them could be prevailed on to continue their march. After a series of dangers and sufferings, such as have been experienced by few travellers, he at length reached the Niger (at Bambakoo, where the river begins to be navigable) on the 19th of August 1805.

This was more than seven weeks beyond the time, upon which he had calculated when he quitted the Gambia; and the effects of this protracted march, which had carried him far into the rainy season, were unfortunately but too apparent. Of the Europeans who composed the expedition, consisting of about forty at the time of quitting the Gambia, there were now only eleven survivors. Of these the princ.i.p.al persons, besides Park, namely Mr. Anderson, Mr. Scott, and Lieutenant Martyn, were all more or less affected by the disease; the two former very seriously, and Mr. Scott, in particular, to so great a degree that he had been obliged to remain behind, and died shortly afterwards without reaching the Niger.

It was fortunate that Park's health had hitherto been very slightly affected, since the whole burden of the expedition evidently rested upon him. He not only directed all the great movements of the caravan, but superintended its minutest details, and was foremost on all occasions requiring physical strength and great personal exertions. In these arduous services both of body and mind, Mr. Anderson and his other a.s.sociates, who might have been expected to share in his labours, were incapable of rendering him any useful a.s.sistance; and by their continued ill health, contributed in no small degree to the anxiety and embarra.s.sments attending the expedition.

Being thus arrived at the Niger, he embarked upon that river on the 21st of August, and the following day reached Marraboo; from whence he shortly afterwards dispatched Isaaco to Sego, the capital of Bambarra, to negociate with Mansong the sovereign, for a free pa.s.sage through his dominions and for such other facilities as might enable him to prosecute his journey into the interior. He remained at Marraboo, waiting Isaaco's return; and in the mean time was seized with the dysentery, which had been fatal to so many of his followers; but saved himself by a bold and vigorous course of medicine, which, aided by the great strength of his const.i.tution, restored him to health very speedily.

After much negociation and many difficulties with Mansong's ministers, he was at first permitted to go to Samee in the neighbourhood of Sego, and afterwards to Sansanding; in order to build a vessel and make preparations for his voyage down the Niger. In this negociation, which is fully detailed in the Journal, Park appears to much advantage. His speech to Mansong's messengers, explaining the purpose and objects of his expedition into Africa, is distinguished by great propriety and good sense; and affords a very favourable specimen of his talents for such transactions. [Footnote: Journal, p. 151.]

It may be recollected that when Park arrived at Sego during his former journey, Mansong sent him a present of five thousand cowries, but refused to admit him into his presence, and gave directions that he should immediately depart from that city. [Footnote: Park's Travels, p.

199.] This conduct in a sovereign apparently tolerant and liberal, was very reasonably attributed by Park to an apprehension on the part of Mansong, that he should be unable to protect him against the inveterate malice of his Moorish subjects. There is every reason to think that Mansong, on the present occasion, was actuated by similar feelings; since he neither saw Park, nor expressed any desire to see him; and his whole conduct, both during the negociation and afterwards, indicated great coldness and reserve. It appears also that many rumours unfavourable to the mission were industriously circulated; and that great jealousies, stimulated both by religious bigotry and the apprehension of commercial rivals.h.i.+p, were excited against Park among the Moorish inhabitants of Sego and Sansanding.

The anxiety and suspense produced in Park's mind by these rumours, were in some degree removed by the arrival of Bookari, the singing man or _bard_ of Mansong, with six canoes, being commissioned to attend him to the neighbourhood of Sego. Under this escort, he embarked at Marraboo on the 13th of September; and notwithstanding the unsatisfactory state of his affairs, his mind was sufficiently at ease to receive great delight from this short voyage down the Niger. "Nothing," he says, "can be more beautiful than the views of this immense river; sometimes as smooth as a mirror; at other times ruffled by a gentle breeze; but at all times wafting us along at the rate of six or seven miles an hour." [Footnote: Journal, p. 148] After the indifference shewn towards him by Mansong, he thought it not prudent to visit Sego; but went on to Sansanding, a place a little eastwards of Sego on the banks of the Niger, containing about ten thousand inhabitants. Here Park remained the greater part of two months, and traded to a considerable extent; and as this was the first African town distant from the coast, at which he had an opportunity of residing, he had the means of obtaining much information; which if it could be communicated to the public, would probably form an important addition to our knowledge of the internal state of Africa.

Fortunately the information thus acquired has not been entirely lost to the world; a few particulars, the fruit of his active and intelligent curiosity, still remain. The view which Park has given of the trade and population of Sansanding, must be considered as the most original and valuable part of his Journal. The information which he has collected concerning _prices_, is new in its kind, and in several points of view, highly curious and important. But there are other circ.u.mstances, which must strike every intelligent reader as being more peculiarly interesting and instructive; the existence of regular markets; the division of labour, appearing from the establishment of distinct branches of trade; the variety of articles exposed to sale; and the great extent of commercial transactions. These facts imply that industry is protected, and property in a certain degree secure; and fully confirm Park's former statements with regard to the comparative civilization and improvement of the _interior_ of Africa.

One of Park's princ.i.p.al objects at Sansanding was to provide a proper vessel for his farther navigation down the Niger; and it was with great difficulty that he procured two indifferent and decayed canoes; from which _by the labour of his own hands_, with some a.s.sistance from one of the surviving soldiers, he constructed a flat-bottomed vessel, to which he gave the magnificent t.i.tle of His Majesty's schooner the Joliba.

Previously to this time, Park had received intelligence of the death of Mr. Scott, whom he had been obliged to leave at Koomikoomi, on his march towards the Niger; and now whilst he was employed in building his vessel, he had to lament the loss of his friend Mr. Anderson, who died on the 28th of October, after a lingering illness of four months. He speaks of this severe blow in his Journal very shortly, but in a strain of natural eloquence, flowing evidently from the heart, "No event," he says, "during the journey, ever threw the smallest gloom over his mind till he laid Mr. Anderson in the grave; he then felt himself as if left a second time lonely and friendless amidst the wilds of Africa."

[Footnote: Journal, p. 163.]

Fancy can hardly picture a situation more perilous than that of Park at this time, nor an enterprise more utterly hopeless than that which he was now to undertake. Of the Europeans who had accompanied him from the Gambia, Lieutenant Martyn and three soldiers (one of them in a state of mental derangement) were all who now survived. He was about to embark on a vast and unknown river, which might possibly terminate in some great lake or inland sea, at an immense distance from the coast; but which he hoped and believed would conduct him to the sh.o.r.es of the Atlantic, after a course of considerably more than three thousand miles, through the midst of savage nations, and probably also after a long succession of rapids, lakes, and cataracts. This voyage, one of the most formidable ever attempted, was to be undertaken in a crazy and ill appointed vessel, manned by a few Negroes and four Europeans!

On the 16th of November the schooner being completed, and every preparation made for the voyage, Park put the finis.h.i.+ng hand to his Journal; and in the course of the succeeding days previous to the embarkation, which appears to have taken place on the 19th, he wrote letters to his father-in-law, Mr. Anderson, Sir Joseph Banks, Lord Camden, and Mrs. Park. Those addressed to the three latter, being the most interesting, are here inserted at length, and cannot be read without considerable interest. They all of them bear strong traces of that deliberate courage without effort or ostentation, which distinguished his whole conduct; and his letter to Lord Camden breathes a generous spirit of self-devotion, highly expressive of the character and feelings of the writer.

_To Sir Joseph Banks._

_Sansanding, November 16, 1805._

"MY DEAR FRIEND,

"I should be wanting in grat.i.tude, if I did not avail myself of every opportunity of informing you how I have succeeded in this enterprise. I have sent an account of each day's proceeding to Lord Camden, and have requested his Lords.h.i.+p to send it to you for your perusal.

"With respect to my future views, it is my intention to keep the middle of the river, and make the best use I can of winds and currents till I reach the termination of this mysterious stream. I have hired a guide to go with me to _Kashna_; he is a native of Ka.s.son, but one of the greatest travellers in this part of Africa, having visited _Miniana, Kong, Baedoo, Gotto, and Cape Corse Castle_ to the South, and _Tombuctoo, Houssa, Nyffe, Kashna, and Bornou_ towards the East. He says that the Niger, after it pa.s.ses Kashna, runs directly to the right hand, or the South; he never heard of any person who had seen its termination; and is certain that it does not end any where in the vicinity of Kashna or Bornou, having resided some time in both these kingdoms.

"He says our voyage to Kashna will occupy two months; that we touch on the Moors no where but at Tombuctoo; the north bank of the river in all other places being inhabited by a race of people resembling the Moors in colour, called _Surka, Mahinga, and Tuarick_, according to the different kingdoms they inhabit. I have as yet had only two conversations with my guide, and they were chiefly occupied in adjusting money matters; but I have no doubt that I shall find him a very useful fellow traveller.

"I have purchased some fresh _Shea nuts_, which I intend taking with me to the West Indies, as we shall probably have to go there on our way home. I expect that we shall reach the sea in three months from this; and if we are lucky enough to find a vessel, we shall lose no time on the coast. But at all events you will probably hear from me; as I mean to write from Kashna by my guide, and endeavour to hire some of the merchants to carry a letter to the north from that place. With best wishes for your health and prosperity I am, &c."

"P. S. Have the goodness to remember me most kindly to my friend Major Rennell."

_To the Earl Camden, One of His Majesty's Princ.i.p.al Secretaries of State, &c. &c. &c._

_On board of H. M. Schooner Joliba, at anchor off Sansanding, November 17, 1805._

"MY LORD,

"I have herewith sent you an account of each day's proceedings since we left _Kayee_. Many of the incidents related are in themselves extremely trifling; but are intended to recall to my recollection (if it pleases G.o.d to restore me again to my dear native land) other particulars ill.u.s.trative of the manners and customs of the natives, which would have swelled this bulky communication to a most unreasonable size.

"Your Lords.h.i.+p will recollect that I always spoke of the rainy season with horror, as being extremely fatal to Europeans; and our journey from the Gambia to the Niger will furnish a melancholy proof of it.

"We had no contest whatever with the natives, nor was any one of us killed by wild animals or any other accidents; and yet I am sorry to say that of forty-four Europeans who left the Gambia in perfect health, five only are at present alive, viz. three soldiers (one deranged in his mind) Lieutenant Martyn, and myself.

"From this account I am afraid that your Lords.h.i.+p will be apt to consider matters as in a very hopeless state; but I a.s.sure you I am far from desponding. With the a.s.sistance of one of the soldiers I have changed a large canoe into a tolerably good schooner, on board of which I this day hoisted the British flag, and shall set sail to the east with the fixed resolution to discover the termination of the Niger or perish in the attempt. I have heard nothing that I can depend on respecting the remote course of this mighty stream; but I am more and more inclined to think that it can end no where but in the sea.

"My dear friend Mr. Anderson and likewise Mr. Scott are both dead; but though all the Europeans who are with me should die, and though I 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 Niger.

"If I succeed in the object of my journey, I expect to be in England in the month of May or June by way of the West Indies.

"I request that your Lords.h.i.+p will have the goodness to permit my friend Sir Joseph Banks to peruse the abridged account of my proceedings, and that it may be preserved, in case I should lose my papers.

"I have the honour to be, &c."

_To Mrs. Park._

_Sansanding, 19th November, 1805._

"It grieves me to the heart to write any thing that may give you uneasiness; but such is the will of him who _doeth all things well_!

Your brother Alexander, my dear friend, is no more! He died of the fever at Sansanding, on the morning of the 28th of October; for particulars I must refer you to your father.

"I am afraid that, impressed with a woman's fears and the anxieties of a wife, you may be led to consider my situation as a great deal worse than it really is. It is true, my dear friends, Mr. Anderson and George Scott, have both bid adieu to the things of this world; and the greater part of the soldiers have died on the march during the rainy season; but you may believe me, I am in good health. The rains are completely over, and the healthy season has commenced, so that there is no danger of sickness; and I have still a sufficient force to protect me from any insult in sailing down the river, to the sea.

"We have already embarked all our things, and shall sail the moment I have finished this letter. I do not intend to stop or land any where, till we reach the coast: which I suppose will be some time in the end of January. We shall then embark in the first vessel for England. If we have to go round by the West Indies, the voyage will occupy three months longer; so that we expect to be in England on the first of May. The reason of our delay since we left the coast was the rainy season, which came on us during the journey; and almost all the soldiers became affected with the fever.

"I think it not unlikely but I shall be in England before you receive this--You may be sure that I feel happy at turning my face towards home.

We this morning have done with all intercourse with the natives; and the sails are now hoisting for our departure for the coast."

Here all authentic information concerning Park unfortunately terminates.

His letters and Journal were brought by Isaaco to the Gambia, and transmitted from thence to England. For some time nothing farther was heard of the expedition; but in the course of the year 1806 unfavourable accounts were brought by the native traders from the interior of Africa to the British settlements on the coast; and it was currently reported, but upon no distinct authority, that Park and his companions were killed. These rumours increasing, and no intelligence of Park being received, Lieutenant Colonel Maxwell, then Governor of Senegal (at present Governor of Sierra Leone), obtained permission from Government to send a proper person to ascertain the truth of the reports; and he was fortunate enough to engage Isaaco, Park's guide, to go upon this mission.

Isaaco left Senegal in January 1810, and was absent about twenty months.

He returned on the 1st of September 1811, with a full confirmation of the reports concerning Park's death. As the result of his enquiries into this subject, he delivered to the Governor a Journal of his whole proceedings kept by himself in the Arabic language, including another Journal which he had received from Amadi Fatouma, the guide who had accompanied Park from Sansanding down the Niger. A translation of this singular doc.u.ment was made at Senegal by the directions of Colonel Maxwell, and transmitted by him to the Secretary of State for the Colonial Department.

On the subject of this Journal, so far as it immediately relates to Park's death, very few remarks will be necessary. Being originally written by a native African, and translated by some person who probably had but a moderate knowledge of the Arabian dialect in which it is composed, it is far from being always clear or even intelligible; and in the state in which it now appears, it is open to much observation.

Neither indeed can it be considered in itself as a doc.u.ment of a very authentic or satisfactory description. But the account which it gives of Park's death appears on the whole to be probable and consistent; and is so far corroborated by other circ.u.mstances as to leave no reasonable doubt with regard to the fact. [Footnote: The genuine travelling Journal of a native African Merchant may in some respects be considered as interesting, simply from the circ.u.mstance of its singularity. But it must be acknowledged that for the mere purpose of gratifying curiosity very few specimens of Isaaco would have been sufficient. The sole reason for publis.h.i.+ng such a doc.u.ment at full length, is the circ.u.mstance of its containing the only direct evidence of Park's death. In every other point of view it is wholly dest.i.tute of interest, and cannot even be read through, without a strong effort; being inconceivably tedious, and having all the dry minuteness of a log book, without its valuable precision. There is great confusion as to places and times; and it is possible only in a very few cases, to identify the former by reference to the names of places given by Park. Incidents the most trifling are related exactly in the same tone and manner as those of the greatest importance. The account of Park's death is given with more details, and the story is not ill told. But some of the facts are very questionable; and the circ.u.mstance of Park and Lieutenant Martyn leaping hand in hand with the soldiers into the river, is much too _theatrical_ to be literally true.--What is most incredible, is the description of the place where the event happened, which is stated to be an opening in a rock "in the form of a door," forming the only pa.s.sage for the water; a fact so strange, that (if it were worth while to conjecture) one might suspect an error in the translation.]

It is true that the proof of Park's death according to this Journal, depends entirely upon the statement of Amadi Fatouma; but the nature of the case admits of no other direct evidence; and some regard must be had to the opinion of Isaaco, considered by Colonel Maxwell as a person ent.i.tled to a certain degree of credit, who, after full investigation, was satisfied as to the truth of Amadi's account. It may be observed also, as a circ.u.mstance which gives additional weight to Isaaco's judgment, that being well acquainted with the anxiety of his employers respecting Park's safety, he must naturally have been desirous of discovering reasons for believing that he was still in existence; and was therefore unlikely to admit the fact of his death upon any ground, short of his own positive conviction.