Many of the incidents related are in themselves
extremely trifling; but are intended to recall to my recollection (if it
pleases God to restore me again to my dear native land) other
particulars, illustrative of the manners and customs of 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.
