make his way amid scenes of peril and treachery. He began his journey early in 1791, and soon reached Medina, the capital of Woolli, where the venerable chief received him with extreme kindness, promised to furnish guides, and assured him that he might go to Timbuctoo with his staff in his hand. The only evil that befell him there, arose from a fire which accidentally took place, and spreading rapidly through buildings roofed with cane and matted grass, converted in an hour a town of a thousand houses into a heap of ashes. The Major ran out with the rest of the people into the fields, saving only such few articles as could be carried with him. He writes, that by trading at Fattatenda a man may make at least 800 per cent., and live in plenty on ten pounds a-year. Quitting the Gambia, he took the road through Bambouk, and arrived at Ferbanna on the Faleme. Here he met with an extraordinary degree of kindness from the king, who gave him a guide and money to defray his expenses. A note was afterwards received from him, dated Simbing, and which contained merely these words, -"Major Houghton's compliments to Dr Laidley; is in good health on his way to Timbuctoo; robbed of all his goods by Fenda Bucar's son." This was the last communication from him; for soon afterwards the negroes brought down to Pisania the melancholy tidings of his death, of which Mr Park subsequently learned the particulars. Some Moors had persuaded the Major to accompany them to Tisheet, a place in the Great Desert, and frequented chiefly on account of its salt-mines. In alluring him thither, their object, as appears from the result, was to rob him; for it was very much out of the direct route to Timbuctoo. Of this in a few days he became sensible, and insisted upon returning; but they would not permit him to leave their party until they had stripped him of every article in his possession. He wandered about some time in the Desert without either food or shelter, till, at length, he sat down under a tree and expired. Mr Park was shown the very spot where his remains were abandoned to the fowls of the air.

F

CHAPTER VIII.

Park's First Journey.

Park undertakes to explore Africa-Departure-Ill Treatment at Bondou and Joag-Kooniakary-Captivity among the Moors-Escape-The Niger-Sego-Sansanding —Silla — Obliged to return-Various Misfortunes-Distressed State Finds Relief at Kamalia-Arrival in England.

As soon as the Association were informed of the unhappy fate of Houghton, they accepted the services of Mr Mungo Park, a native of Scotland, who had been regularly bred to the medical profession, and just returned from a voyage to India. The committee were satisfied that he possessed the requisite qualifications, though they could not yet be aware of the full extent of his courage and perseverance, nor of the unrivalled eminence to which, as a traveller, he was destined to rise.

He set sail from Portsmouth on the 22d May 1795, and on the 21st June arrived at Jillifree on the Gambia. He then proceeded to Pisania, in the fertile kingdom of Yani, where he was detained five months by illness under the hospitable roof of Dr Laidley. While suffering from the fever of the climate, he acquired the Mandingo language, and obtained considerable information from the negro traders respecting the interior countries. The Gambia at this station was deep and muddy, overshadowed by impenetrable thickets of mangrove, and the stream filled with crocodiles and river-horses.

On the 2d of December, he again took his departure, attended only by a few negro servants. On the 5th he arrived at Medina, where the good old king received

him with the same hospitality he had so liberally shown to Major Houghton; but earnestly exhorted him to take warning from the fate of that too adventurous traveller, and go no farther. Mr Park was not to be thus discouraged; but immediately proceeded to enter the great forest or wilderness which separates this country from Bondou. He conformed to the example of his companions in hanging a charm or shred of cloth on a tree at its entrance, which was completely covered with those guardian symbols. In two days he had passed the wood and reached Bondou, a fine champaign country, watered by the Faleme. He had soon, however, to encounter the perils which cannot but await every single and defenceless traveller who, loaded with valuable goods, journeys through a succession of petty kingdoms where law is unknown. At Fatteconda, which he reached on the 21st December, he was obliged to wait upon Almami, the king, who had already disgraced himself by the plunder of Houghton. Being desirous to preserve a new blue coat, our adventurer deemed it the wisest plan to wear it on his person, fondly hoping that it would not be actually stripped off his back. However, after the introductory ceremonial, the monarch began a warm panegyric on the wealth and generosity of the whites, whence he proceeded to the praises of the coat and its yellow buttons, concluding by expressing the delight with which he should wear it for the sake of his guest. He did not add, that if these hints were disregarded, it would be seized by force; but the traveller, being thoroughly convinced that such was his intention, pulled off the coat, of which he humbly requested his majesty's acceptance. The barbarian abstained from farther spoil, and introduced him as a curiosity to his female circle. The ladies, after a careful survey, approved of his external appearance, with the exception of the two deformities of a white skin and a high nose; but for these they made ample allowance, being blemishes produced by the false taste of his mother, who had bathed him in milk when young, and, by pinching his nose, elevated it into its present

absurd height. Park flattered them on their jet-black skins and beautifully-flattened noses; but was modestly warned that honey-mouth was not esteemed in Bondou !

Another forest intervened between that kingdom and Kajaaga, which he crossed by moonlight, when the deep silence of the woods was interrupted only by the howling of wolves and hyenas, which glided like shadows through the thickets. Scarcely was he arrived at Joag in Kajaaga, when a party from Bacheri, the king, surrounded him, and declared his merchandise forfeited, in consequence of his entering the country without paying the duties. On this pretext he was stripped of his goods, except a small portion which he contrived to hide. Unable to procure a meal, he was sitting disconsolate under a bentang tree, when an aged female slave came up and asked if he had dined. Being told that he had not, and had been robbed of his property, she presented several handfuls of nuts, and went off before he could return thanks. Demba Sego, nephew to the King of Kasson, happening to be at Joag endeavouring to negotiate a peace between his uncle and Bacheri, who were at variance, now undertook to guide him into that district; he did so, but exacted duties and presents till Mr Park was deprived of half his remaining stock. Kasson is a level, fertile, and beautiful country. At Kooniakary, the capital, our traveller was well received by the king, and forwarded to Kemmoo, the principal town of Kaarta. Daisy, the sovereign of this state, likewise treated him with the utmost kindness; but, on learning his intention of taking the route to Timbuctoo through Bambarra, he declared this to be impossible, as he himself was then at war with the latter kingdom, and assured him that he would at once be killed if he attempted to enter it from his dominions. There remained therefore no alternative but to go by way of the Moorish kingdom of Ludamar, a perilous and fatal route, on which Major Houghton had already perished. Park, however, hoped, by proceeding along the southern frontier, to reach Bambarra without coming much into contact with the furious bigots by whom it was peopled.