Life and Travels of Mungo Park in Central Africa by Mungo Park

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On the morning of the 26th, as we departed from Tambacunda, Karfa
observed to me that there were no shea-trees farther to the westward than
this town. I had collected and brought with me from Manding the leaves
and flowers of this tree, but they were so greatly bruised on the road
that I thought it best to gather another specimen at this place. The
appearance of the fruit evidently places the shea-tree in the natural
order of _Sapotae_, and it has some resemblance to the _mudhuca_ tree,
described by Lieutenant Charles Hamilton, in the Asiatic Researches, Vol.
I. page 300. About one o'clock we reached Sibikillin, a walled village,
but the inhabitants having the character of inhospitality towards
strangers, and of being much addicted to theft, we did not think proper
to enter the gate. We rested a short time under a tree, and then
continued our route until it was dark, when we halted for the night by a
small stream running towards the Gambia. Next day the road led over a
wild and rocky country, everywhere rising into hills, and abounding with
monkeys and wild beasts. In the rivulets among the hills we found plenty
of fish. This was a very hard day's journey, and it was not until sunset,
that we reached the village of Koomboo, near to which are the ruins of a
large town formerly destroyed by war. The inhabitants of Koomboo, like
those of Sibikillin, have so bad a reputation, that strangers seldom
lodge in the village; we accordingly rested for the night in the fields,
where we erected temporary huts for our protection, there being great
appearance of rain.

May 28th. We departed from Koomboo, and slept at a Foulah town about
seven miles to the westward; from which, on the day following, having
crossed a considerable branch of the Gambia, called Neola Koba, we
reached a well inhabited part of the country. Here are several towns
within sight of each other, collectively called Tenda, but each is
distinguished also by its particular name. We lodged at one of them
called Koba Tenda, where we remained the day following, in order to
procure provisions for our support in crossing the Simbani woods. On the
30th we reached Jallacotta, a considerable town, but much infested by
Foulah banditti, who come through the woods from Bondou, and steal every
thing they can lay their hands on. A few days before our arrival, they
had stolen twenty head of cattle, and on the day following made a second
attempt, but were beaten off, and one of them taken prisoner. Here one of
the slaves belonging to the coffle, who had travelled with great
difficulty for the last three days, was found unable to proceed any
farther; his master (a singing man) proposed therefore to exchange him
for a young girl, belonging to one of the townspeople. The poor girl was
ignorant of her fate, until the bundles were all tied up in the morning,
and the coffle ready to depart, when coming with some other young women
to see the coffle set out, her master took her by the hand, and delivered
her to the singing man. Never was a face of serenity more suddenly
changed into one of the deepest distress; the terror she manifested on
having the load put upon her head, and the rope fastened round her neck,
and the sorrow with which she bade adieu to her companions, were truly
affecting. About nine o'clock, we crossed a large plain covered with
_ciboa_ trees, (a species of palm,) and came to the river Nerico, a
branch of the Gambia. This was but a small river at this time, but in the
rainy season it is often dangerous to travellers. As soon as we had
crossed this river, the singing men began to vociferate a particular
song, expressive of their joy at having got safe into the west country,
or, as they expressed it, _the land of the setting sun_. The country was
found to be very level, and the soil a mixture of clay and sand. In the
afternoon it rained hard, and we had recourse to the common Negro
umbrella, a large ciboa leaf, which being placed upon the head,
completely defends the whole body from the rain. We lodged for the night
under the shade of a large tabba tree, near the ruins of a village. On
the morning following, we crossed a stream called Noulico, and about two
o'clock, to my infinite joy, I saw myself once more on the banks of the
Gambia, which at this place being deep and smooth, is navigable; but the
people told me that a little lower down, the stream is so shallow that
the coffles frequently cross it on foot. On the south side of the river,
opposite to this place, is a large plain of clayey ground, called Toombi
Toorila. It is a sort of morass, in which people are frequently lost, it
being more than a day's journey across it. In the afternoon we met a man
and two women, with bundles of cotton-cloth upon their heads. They were
going, they said, for Dentila, to purchase iron, there being a great
scarcity of that article on the Gambia. A little before it was dark, we
arrived at a village in the kingdom of Woolli, called Seesukunda. Near
this village there are great plenty of nitta-trees, and the slaves in
passing along had collected large bunches of the fruit; but such was the
superstition of the inhabitants, that they would not permit any of the
fruit to be brought into the village. They had been told, they said, that
some catastrophe would happen to the place when people lived upon nittas,
and neglected to cultivate corn.

June 2d. We departed from Seesukunda, and passed a number of villages, at
none of which was the coffle permitted to stop, although we were all very
much fatigued: it was four o'clock in the afternoon before we reached
Baraconda, where we rested one day. Departing from Baraconda on the
morning of the 4th, we reached in a few hours Medina, the capital of the
King of Woolli's dominions, from whom the reader way recollect I received
an hospitable reception in the beginning of December 1795, in my journey
east-ward.[25] I immediately inquired concerning the health of my good
old benefactor, and learnt with great concern that he was dangerously
ill. As Karfa would not allow the coffle to stop, I could not present my
respects to the king in person; but I sent him word, by the officer to
whom we paid customs, that his prayers for my safety had not been
unavailing. We continued our route until sunset, when we lodged at a
small village a little to the westward of Koota-kunda, and on the day
following arrived at Jindey; where, eighteen months before I had parted
from my friend Dr. Laidley; an interval during which I had not beheld the
face of a Christian, nor once heard the delightful sound of my native
language.

[25] Vide pages 51 [Second half of chapter IV. Transcriber], 72
[Beginning of chapter VII. Transcriber.].

Being now arrived within a short distance of Pisania, from whence my
journey originally commenced, and learning that my friend Karfa was not
likely to meet with an immediate opportunity of selling his slaves on the
Gambia, it occurred to me to suggest to him that he would find it for his
interest to leave them at Jindey, until a market should offer. Karfa
agreed with me in this opinion; and hired from the chief man of the town,
huts for their accomodation, and a piece of land on which to employ them,
in raising corn, and other provisions for their maintenance. With regard
to myself, he declared that he would not quit me until my departure from
Africa. We set out accordingly, Karfa, myself, and one of the Foulahs
belonging to the coffle, early on the morning of the 9th; but although I
was now approaching the end of my tedious and toilsome journey, and
expected in another day to meet with countrymen and friends, I could not
part, for the last time, with my unfortunate fellow-travellers--doomed,
as I knew most of them to be, to a life of captivity and slavery in a
foreign land--without great emotion. During a wearisome peregrination of
more than five hundred British miles, exposed to the burning rays of a
tropical sun, these poor slaves, amidst their own infinitely greater
sufferings, would commiserate mine; and frequently of their own accord
bring water to quench my thirst, and at night collect branches and leaves
to prepare me a bed in the Wilderness. We parted with reciprocal
expressions of regret and benediction. My good wishes and prayers were
all I could bestow upon them; and it afforded me some consolation to be
told that they were sensible I had no more to give.

My anxiety to get forward admitting of no delay on the road we reached
Tendacunda in the evening, and were hospitably received at the house of
an aged black female, called Seniora Camilla, a person who had resided
many years at the English factory, and spoke our language. I was known to
her before I had left the Gambia, at the outset of my journey; but my
dress and figure were now so different from the usual appearance of an
European, that she was very excusable in mistaking me for a Moor. When I
told her my name and country, she surveyed me with great astonishment,
and seemed unwilling to give credit to the testimony of her senses. She
assured me that none of the traders on the Gambia ever expected to see me
again; having been informed long ago, that the Moors of Ludamar had
murdered me, as they had murdered Major Boughton. I inquired for my two
attendants, Johnson and Demba, and learnt with great sorrow, that neither
of them was returned. Karfa who had never before heard people converse in
English, listened to us with great attention. Every thing he saw seemed
wonderful. The furniture of the house, the chairs, &c. and particularly
beds with curtains, were objects of his great admiration; and he asked me
a thousand questions concerning the utility and necessity of different
articles, to some of which I found it difficult to give satisfactory
answers.

On the morning of the 10th, Mr. Robert Ainsley, having learnt that I was
at Tendacunda, came to meet me, and politely offered me the use of his
horse. He informed me that Dr. Laidley had removed all his property to a
place called Kaye, a little farther down the river, and that he was then
gone to Doomasansa with his vessel to purchase rice, but would return in
a day or two. He therefore invited me to stay with him at Pisania until
the Doctor's return. I accepted the invitation, and being accompanied by
my friend Karfa, reached Pisania about ten o'clock. Mr. Ainsley's
schooner was lying at anchor before the place. This was the most
surprising object which Karfa had yet seen. He could not easily
comprehend the use of the masts, sails, and rigging; nor did he conceive
that it was possible, by any sort of contrivance, to make so large a body
move forwards by the common force of the wind. The manner of fastening
together the different planks which composed the vessel, and filling up
the seams so as to exclude the water, was perfectly new to him; and I
found that the schooner with her cable and anchor, kept Karfa in deep
meditation the greater part of the day.

About noon, on the 12th, Dr. Laidley returned from Doomasansa, and
received me with great joy and satisfaction, as one risen from the dead.
Finding that the wearing apparel which I had left under his care was not
sold nor sent to England, I lost no time in resuming the English dress,
and disrobing my chin of its venerable incumbrance. Karfa surveyed me in
my British apparel with great delight; but regretted exceedingly that I
had taken off my beard; the loss of which, he said, had converted me from
a man into a boy. Dr. Laidley readily undertook to discharge all the
pecuniary engagements I had entered into since my departure from the
Gambia, and took my draft upon the Association for the amount. My
agreement with Karfa (as I have already related) was to pay him the value
of one prime slave, for which I had given him my bill upon Dr. Laidley,
before we departed from Kamalia: for, in case of my death on the road I
was unwilling that my benefactor should be a loser. But this good
creature had continued to manifest towards me so much kindness, that I
thought I made him but an inadequate recompence, when I told him that he
was now to receive double the sum I had originally promised; and Dr.
Laidley assured him that he was ready to deliver the goods to that
amount, whenever he thought proper to send for them. Karfa was
overpowered by this unexpected token of my gratitude, and still more so,
when he heard that I intended to send a handsome present to the good old
schoolmaster Fankooma, at Malacotta. He promised to carry up the goods
along with his own; and Dr. Laidley assured him that he would exert
himself in assisting him to dispose of his slaves to the best advantage,
the moment a slave vessel should arrive. These and other instances of
attention and kindness shown him by Dr. Laidley were not lost upon Karfa.
He would often say to me, "my journey has indeed been prosperous!" But,
observing the improved state of our manufactures, and our manifest
superiority in the arts of civilized life, he would sometimes appear
pensive, and exclaim with an involuntary sigh, _fato fing inta feng_,
"black men are nothing." At other times, he would ask me with great
seriousness, what could possibly have induced me, who was no trader, to
think of exploring so miserable a country as Africa? He meant by this to
signify that, after what I must have witnessed in my own country, nothing
in Africa could in his opinion deserve a moment's attention, I have
preserved these little traits of character in this worthy Negro, not only
from regard to the man, but also because they appear to me to demonstrate
that he possessed a mind _above his condition_; and to such of my readers
as love to contemplate human nature in all its varieties, and to trace
its progress from rudeness to refinement, I hope the account I have given
of this poor African will not be unacceptable.

No European vessel had arrived at Gambia for many months previous to my
return from the interior; and as the rainy season was now setting in, I
persuaded Karfa to return to his people at Jindey. He parted with me on
the 14th with great tenderness; but as I had little hopes of being able
to quit Africa for the remainder of the year, I told him, as the fact
was, that I expected to see him again before my departure. In this,
however, I was luckily disappointed; and my narrative now hastens to its
conclusion; for on the 15th, the ship Charlestown, an American vessel,
commanded by Mr. Charles Harris, entered the river. She came for slaves,
intending to touch at Goree to fill up; and to proceed from thence to
South Carolina. As the European merchants on the Gambia had at this time
a great many slaves on hand, they agreed with the captain to purchase the
whole of his cargo, consisting chiefly of rum and tobacco, and deliver
him slaves to the amount, in the course of two days. This afforded me
such an opportunity of returning (though by a circuitous route) to my
native country, as I thought was not to be neglected. I therefore
immediately engaged my passage in this vessel for America; and having
taken leave of Dr. Laidley, to whose kindness I was so largely indebted,
and my other friends on the river, I embarked at Kaye on the 17th day of
June.

Our passage down the river was tedious and fatiguing; and the weather was
so hot, moist, and unhealthy, that before our arrival at Goree, four of
the seamen, the surgeon, and three of the slaves, had died of fevers. At
Goree we were detained for want of provisions, until the beginning of
October.

The number of slaves received on board this vessel, both on the Gambia
and at Goree, was one hundred and thirty; of whom about twenty-five had
been, I suppose, of free condition in Africa, as most of them, being
Bushreens, could write a little Arabic. Nine of them had become captives
in the religious war between Abdulkader and Damel, mentioned in the
latter part of the preceding chapter; two of the others had seen me as I
passed through Bondou, and many of them had heard of me in the interior
countries. My conversation with them, in their native language, gave them
great comfort; and as the surgeon was dead, I consented to act in a
medical capacity in his room for the remainder of the voyage. They had in
truth need of every consolation in my power to bestow; not that I
observed any wanton acts of cruelty practised either by the master or the
seamen towards them; but the mode of confining and securing Negroes in
the American slave ships, (owing chiefly to the weakness of their crews,)
being abundantly more rigid and severe than in British vessels employed
in the same traffic, made these poor creatures to suffer greatly, and a
general sickness prevailed amongst them. Besides the three who died on
the Gambia, and six or eight while we remained at Goree, eleven perished
at sea, and many of the survivors were reduced to a very weak and
emaciated condition.

In the midst of these distresses, the vessel, after having been three
weeks at sea, became so extremely leaky, as to require constant exertion
at the pumps. It was found necessary, therefore, to take some of the
ablest of the Negro men out of irons, and employ them in this labour; in
which they were often worked beyond their strength. This produced a
complication, of miseries not easily to be described. We were, however,
relieved much sooner than I expected; for the leak continuing to gain
upon us, notwithstanding our utmost exertions to clear the vessel, the
seamen insisted on bearing away for the West Indies, as affording the
only chance of saving our lives. Accordingly, after some objections on
the part of the master, we directed our course for Antigua, and
fortunately made that island in about thirty-five days after our
departure from Goree. Yet even at this juncture we narrowly escaped
destruction; for on approaching the north-west side of the island, we
struck on the Diamond Rock, and got into St John's harbour with great
difficulty. The vessel was afterwards condemned as unfit for sea, and the
slaves, as I have heard, were ordered to be sold for the benefit of the
owners.

At this island I remained ten days; when the Chesterfield Packet,
homeward bound from the Leeward Islands, touching at St John's for the
Antigua mail, I took my passage in that vessel. We sailed on the 24th of
November; and after a short but tempestuous voyage, arrived at Falmouth
on the 22d of December; from whence I immediately set out for London;
having been absent from England two years and seven months.

[Here terminates Mr. Park's own narrative. The following chapters contain
an account of his life from his return to England, in 1797, to his death
on the Niger, in 1805; and also of the discoveries and adventures of
succeeding travellers.]

CHAPTER XXVII.

_Attempts of Horneman, Nicholls, Roentgen, and Adams._

During the interval which elapsed between Park's first and second
journey, several attempts were made to explore Central Africa. The first
traveller was Frederick Horneman, a student of Gottingen, who was
recommended by Professor Blumenbach to the patronage of the African
Association. After spending some time in the study of Natural History,
and the Arabic language, he went to Cairo, intending to join some
caravan, under the assumed character of an Arab or Moslem. It was not
till the following year, 1798, that he was enabled to find a caravan
proceeding westward, and bound for Fezzan. On the 8th September, they
left Egypt, entering upon a wide expanse of sandy desert, resembling what
might be supposed to be the bed of the ocean after the waters had left
it. It was covered with fragments of petrified wood, of a lightish grey
colour and bearing a strong resemblance to natural wood. The Arabs
travelled all day, and when they halted at night, each gathered a few
sticks and prepared his own victuals. There were a few _oases_ in this
waste. In ten days they came to Ummesogeir, a village containing one
hundred and twenty inhabitants, who lived on a rock, subsisting on dates,
and separated by immense tracts of sand from all intercourse with the
rest of the world. In twenty-four hours they came to Siwah, an extensive
oasis, about fifty miles in circumference, and the only inhabited spot of
any considerable extent on the route to Fezzan. Here there were found
some curious remains of antiquity; among the rest a monument, called by
the natives Ummebeda, a large mass of dilapidated ruins, which some
suppose to have been the celebrated shrine of Jupiter Ammon. Thence they
travelled through sandy regions, diversified with numerous limestone
rocks. Here Horneman was in considerable danger; for the caravan was met
by several hundred inhabitants of Siwah, mounted on asses, who pointed to
him and insisted that he and another of the caravan were Christians from
Cairo, against whom they cherished a deadly enmity. But Horneman's
coolness and courage disarmed their hostility; he insisted that he was a
Moslem, took out the Koran and read passages from it aloud, and even
challenged them to answer him on points of the Mahommedan faith.

Soon after the travellers entered the Black Harutsch, a range of dreary
mountains, the long defiles of which presented the most dismal prospect
imaginable. After sixteen days toilsome journeying they came to the great
Oasis, or small Kingdom of Fezzan. The inhabitants were a commercial
people, and received the caravan with joy. Much communication is held
between this place and Central Africa. Here Horneman endeavoured to
collect information concerning Tombuctoo and the Niger. He resolved to
visit Tripoli before endeavouring to penetrate to the south. He set off
on his journey southward on the 6th April 1800, along with two shereefs
or descendants of Mahomed, who had promised to protect him. Two years
elapsed before any more was heard of him; when a Fezzan merchant informed
the Danish Consul at Tripoli, that he was still alive. He was afterwards
reported to have resided in Kashna, about 1803. Major Denham heard that
he had penetrated as far as Nyffe on the Niger, where he fell a victim to
the climate.

The next traveller sent out to Africa was Mr. Nicholls, who resolved to
land at Calabar, in the Gulf of Benin, and thence to proceed into the
interior. He landed on the coast in January 1805, but speedily fell a
victim to the fever of the country.

Roentgen, a German, endeavoured to reach the interior by the way of
Morocco. He spoke Arabic fluently, assumed the Mahomedan garb, and
entertained high hopes of success. Having procured two guides, he joined
the Soudan caravan; but, a little distance from the spot whence he set
out, his corpse was found lying on the road.

Soon after, some information concerning Tombuctoo was derived from Adams,
an American sailor, who was wrecked upon the coast, and who reported that
he had been carried captive to that city by the Moors, and had remained
there six months. His description of this famous place ill corresponded
with the ideas which Europeans entertained of its splendour; the most
spacious of the houses being merely huts, one storey in height, composed
of timber frame-works filled with earth; and many of the inhabitants
sheltering themselves under hovels, consisting of branches of trees,
covered with mats of the palmetto. The palace was merely a collection of
such apartments enclosed by a mud wall. The inhabitants were of a gay and
thoughtless disposition, spending much of their time in dancing. The
chief traffic of the place was in slaves.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

_From Park's return, to his Second Expedition._

Park's own narrative of his travels will now have informed the reader of
all that wonderful train of events which the hardy and enterprising
discoverer went through: of his captivity among the Moors--his
escape--his discovery of the course of the Niger--of the African capital
of Sego--his journey through Bambarra, and his toilsome and perilous
return. On his arrival at Pisania, his kind and attentive friend Dr.
Laidley was absent, but a countryman, Mr. Robert Ainslie, invited him to
his house. In two days Dr. Laidley returned, and hailed Park with joy,
receiving him as "one risen from the dead." As no European vessel was at
that time expected to arrive at Gambia, Park embarked on the 15th June
1797, on board a slave-ship bound to America. This vessel was driven by
stress of wind to the West Indies, and at length, after much difficulty,
succeeded in making the island of Antigua; whence Park sailed on the 24th
November, in the Chesterfield Packet, which, after a short but stormy
passage, reached Falmouth on the 22d December. No intelligence had for a
long time reached England of the wanderer's fate, and his bones were
supposed to have been bleaching amid the sands of the desert.

Park arrived at London, before day-break, on the morning of the 25th;
and, unwilling to disturb his brother-in-law's family at such an
unseasonable hour, he wandered about for some time through the streets
near Mr. Dickson's residence. As he strolled along, finding one of the
entrances to the gardens of the British Museum accidentally left open, he
entered and walked about there for some time. It chanced that Mr.
Dickson, who superintended the gardens, had found occasion to go there
thus early about some trifling matter or other. What must have been his
astonishment at beholding, by the still weak light, the form--or as it
had rather seemed--the vision, of that relative, who had ever been in his
most anxious thoughts, and whose countenance he had never expected again
to see, or even to learn tidings of his fate. A joyful welcome of course
ensued, and Park's anxieties concerning his relations, were speedily set
at rest.

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