Having Set Out Early In 1791, He Speedily
Reached Medina, The Residence Of The King Of Wooli, Who Gave Him
Information Respecting The Best Route To Timbuctoo, And Promised To
Furnish Him With Guides.
During his residence Medina was entirely
destroyed by a conflagration, and Major Houghton was forced, along with
the inhabitants, to flee into the fields, carrying with him only a few
such articles as he could hastily snatch up.
Thence he journeyed on to
Bambouk, and after crossing the Faleme arrived at Ferbanna, where the
king sent a guide along with him, and likewise furnished him with money
to defray the expenses of the journey. He was imprudent enough to carry
with him a quantity of merchandise, and thereby excited the cupidity off
the natives, with whom he was engaged in constant disputes. After a
complication of difficulties, he took a northern route, intending to
penetrate through Ludamar. The last intelligence received from him was
dated from Simbing, the frontier village of this state, and was merely
comprised in the following brief note, addressed to Dr. Laidley of
Pisania: - "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." Soon after this, rumours of his death reached Pisania; but the
particulars were not known till Mr. Park's return, who brought certain
intelligence. It appeared that at Jarra he had engaged some Moorish
merchants to accompany him. They persuaded him to go to Tisheet, a place
frequented for its salt mines, without informing him that it was much out
of the direct road to Timbuctoo, intending to rob him by the way. In a
few days he suspected their treachery, and resolved to return to Jarra,
but, upon refusing to advance, he was stripped of every article, and then
deserted. He wandered about the desert, alone, and famishing, till,
utterly exhausted, he lay down under a tree and expired.
The next person who offered his services to the Association was Mungo
Park, who has acquired such celebrity by the important acquisitions which
he made to African Geography. As introductory to the narrative of his
first expedition, we present our readers with a brief sketch of his early
life.
PARK'S EARLY LIFE.
Mungo Park, the celebrated African traveller, was born at Fowlshiels,
near the town of Selkirk, on the 10th September 1771. His father was a
respectable farmer on the Duke of Buccleuch's estate; and his mother, the
daughter of a neighbouring farmer of the name of Hislop, a woman of great
good sense and prudence, who anxiously and faithfully discharged the
duties which she owed to a large family of thirteen children, of whom
Mungo, the subject of this memoir, was the seventh. Park's father died
before his son had won that renown which so honourably distinguishes his
name, though not without the satisfaction of witnessing a fair promise of
his future distinction; but his mother, after hearing with much pride of
her offspring's early achievements, had to lament his untimely fate;
consoled, however, by the recollection of his unblemished character, and
virtuous conduct, and by the thought of the legacy of fame which he had
bequeathed, not to his family alone, but to his country.
With a solicitude for the education of his children, then by no means
common among the Scottish farmers, Mr. Park hired a tutor to superintend
their education, being anxious not to leave them to such chance
instruction as they might receive before they were of a proper age for
going to school; thus shewing that he was alive to the advantage of early
habits of application and study. The boyhood of Mungo Park was not
distinguished by any marks of peculiar talent, though he appears, when
sent to Selkirk school, to have paid more than an average share of
attention to his studies. Of a thoughtful and reserved disposition, he
seldom took a share in the mirthful sports of his school-fellows. He was
fond of reading and solitude, often wandering for hours among the hills,
and along the banks of his native Yarrow. The legends of border chivalry,
many of which still lingered in the district, had not been poured into an
unwilling ear; they made a strong impression upon his imagination, and
probably contributed, in no inconsiderable degree, to fire his spirit,
and excite that love of adventure which so strongly marked his future
life. Moreover, occasional gleams of ambition broke forth from amid his
quiet thoughtfulness, which shewed, that beneath a cold exterior there
lurked a mind of no ordinary cast. This constitutional reserve made him
select in his choice of friends, but with those to whom he granted the
privilege of intimacy, he was all confidence and frankness.
The limited cost of an education for the Church of Scotland renders it an
object of ambition to many in the middle ranks of life; and the parents
of Mungo Park, judging that his peculiar disposition fitted him for the
ministry, were anxious that he should enter upon the initiatory course of
education. Park, however, manifested a decided repugnance to this choice,
and resolved upon qualifying himself for the medical profession.
Accordingly, at the age of fifteen, he was bound apprentice to Mr. Thomas
Anderson, a respectable surgeon in Selkirk, with whom he remained for the
space of three years, during which, at leisure hours, he continued to
prosecute his classical studies, and also acquired a knowledge of the
elementary principles of mathematics. Mr. Anderson's practice, which was
pretty extensive, enabled him to obtain a considerable acquaintance of
the rudiments of his profession, and formed a suitable preparation for
his academical studies. In the year 1789, he removed to Edinburgh, and
attended the usual course of lectures for three successive sessions.
Though a persevering and attentive student, he does not seem to have
manifested much love for the healing art. Botany was his favourite study,
which he pursued with much ardour during the summer months. And,
fortunately, his brother-in-law, Mr. James Dickson, who published an
elaborate work on the _Cryptogamic_ plants, was well calculated to aid
him in this pursuit.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 5 of 146
Words from 4019 to 5044
of 148366
