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. Upon Isaaco's asking him if he knew what had
become of Park, he burst into tears, and said, "They are all dead!" On
Isaaco's inquiring the particulars, Amadi Fatouma, whom Park had, in his
letter to Sir Joseph Banks, described as a man of intelligence and
acuteness, produced a journal, written in Arabic, containing a narrative
of all he knew upon the subject. We shall give a summary of the principal
facts contained in this document, the veracity of which has been amply
confirmed by the researches of subsequent travellers.
Amadi Fatouma accompanied Park, Lieutenant Martyn, three soldiers, and
three slaves, in the vessel, which had been built for the purpose of
descending the Niger; and which, though clumsy, was not ill-adapted for
inland navigation, being flat-bottomed, narrow, and schooner-rigged, so
that she could sail with any wind.
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