The natives,
which would have swelled this bulky communication to a most unreasonable
size.
"Your Lordship 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
mind), Lieutenant Martyn, and myself.
"From this account I am afraid that your Lordship will be apt to consider
matters as in a very hopeless state; but I assure you I am far from
desponding. With the assistance 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 nowhere but in the sea.
"My dear friend Mr. Anderson, and likewise Mr. Scott are both dead. But
though all the Europeans who were with me should die, and though I were
myself half dead, I would still persevere; and if I could not succeed in
this 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 Lordship 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 loose 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 gives 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, nor land anywhere,
till we reach the coast, which I suppose will be sometime 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 1st of May. The reason
for 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."
These were the last accounts received from Park and his brave companions.
Isaaco, who brought the two preceding letters, along with Park's Journal,
departed from Sansanding on the 17th November, and arrived at Pisania
with the intelligence, that Park, along with three white men (all of the
Europeans that had survived the journey,) three slaves, and Amadi
Fatouma, his new guide, set sail in their little vessel down the Niger.
In the following year unfavourable reports reached the British
settlements on that coast, brought by native merchants from the interior,
who declared that they had heard that Park and his companions had
perished. But as these accounts were vague, no credit was for some time
attached to them. But when months and years glided away without any
information concerning the expedition, it was feared that the tidings of
disaster were too true. The anxieties of the British public had followed
Park on his way, and they demanded that the mystery which hung over the
subject should be cleared up. At length, in the year 1810, Colonel
Maxwell, the governor of Senegal despatched Isaaco, Park's guide, upon a
mission into the interior, to collect all the information that he could
upon the matter. After twenty months' absence, Isaaco returned with full
confirmation of the reports concerning the fate of Park and his
companions. He brought with him a journal, containing a full report of
his proceedings, which bears internal evidence of fidelity and truth. His
information was derived from an unexceptionable quarter, - from Amadi
Fatouma, whom Park had hired to be his guide from Sansanding to Kashua.
Isaaco met this person at Modina, a town upon the banks of the Niger, a
little beneath Sansanding.
