Volume 3 > Half-Volume 5

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secution of the fanatical rabble. He was beat, re-
viled, compelled to perform the meanest offices,
frequently on the point of starvation, and was often
necessitated to sleep in the open air. All his bag-
gage was taken from him to deter him from running
away, with the exception of a pocket compass, which
was supposed to be the work of magic, from the
needle always pointing in the same direction, and
was therefore returned to him. At last it began to
be debated how he was to be disposed of�some
advising that he should be put to death, others that
his right hand should be cut off, and another party
that his eyes should be put out. Park's health at
length gave way under the accumulated horrors of
his situation, and he was seized with a fever and
delirium, which brought him to the brink of the
grave. Yet even in this extremity his persecutors
never desisted from their cruelties, and tormented
him like some obnoxious animal for their amuse-
ment. Perhaps the strongest proof that can be given
of the extent of his sufferings at this time, and of the
deep and lasting impression they made on his mind,
is the fact, that years afterwards, subsequent to his
return to Scotland, and while residing with his family
on the peaceful banks of the Tweed, he frequently
started up in horror from his sleep, imagining him-
self still in the camp of AH at Benowm. But per-
haps nothing gave our traveller so much permanent
grief as the fate of his faithful slave-boy Demba,
whom Ali impressed into his service as a soldier, and
who had conceived a great affection for Mr. Park,
who describes their parting as very affecting.
After a month's residence at Benowm Ali removed
to Jarra, back to which place of course Mr. Park
was obliged to accompany him. Here all was alarm
and terror, from the approach and apprehended
attack of the King of Kaarta; and amid the bustle
and confusion of the inhabitants fleeing from their
homes, the preparations for war, &c., Mr. Park at
last, after great difficulty and amid many perils,
found an opportunity of escaping, and struck into
the woods back towards Bambarra. Being under the
necessity of avoiding all intercourse with the natives,
in order to avoid being recaptured by the emissaries
of Ali, who were in pursuit of him, he was at one
time nearly famished in the wilderness, and we will
take his own account of his sensations at this awful
crisis. Thirst, intense and burning thirst, was the
first and direst of his sufferings; his mouth and throat
became parched and inflamed, and a sudden dimness
frequently came over his eyes, accompanied with
symptoms of fainting. The leaves of the few shrubs
that grew around were all too bitter for chewing.
After climbing up a tree in the hopes of discovering
some signs of a human habitation, but without suc-
cess, he again descended in despair. " As I was
now," says he, "too faint to attempt walking, and
my horse too fatigued to carry me, I thought it but
an act of humanity, and perhaps the last I should
ever have it in my power to perform, to take off his
bridle and let him shift for himself; in doing which
I was affected with sickness and giddiness, and, fall-
ing upon the sand, felt as if the hour of death was
fast approaching. Here then, thought I, after a
short but ineffectual struggle, terminate all my hopes
of being useful in my day and generation; here must
the short span of my life come to an end. I cast,
as I believed, a last look on the surrounding scene;
and whilst I reflected on the awful change that was
about to take place, this world and its enjoyments
seemed to vanish from my recollection. Nature,
however, at length resumed her functions; and on
recovering my senses, I found myself stretched upon
the sand, with the bridle still in my hand, and the
sun just sinking behind the trees. I now summoned
all my resolution, and determined to make another
effort to prolong my existence: and as the evening
was somewhat cool, I resolved to travel as far as my
limbs would carry me, in hopes of reaching (my only
resource) a watering-place. With this view I put
the bridle upon my horse, and driving him before
me, went slowly along for about an hour, when I
perceived some lightning from the north-east; a most
delightful sight, for it promised rain. The darkness
and lightning increased very rapidly, and in less than
an hour I heard the wind roaring behind the bushes.
I had already opened my mouth to receive the re-
freshing drops which I expected, but I was instantly
covered with a cloud of sand, driven with such force
by the wind, as to give a very disagreeable sensation
to my face and arms; and I was obliged to mount
my horse and stop under a bush to avoid being suffo-
cated. The sand continued to fly for nearly an hour
in amazing quantities, after which I again set for-
wards, and travelled with difficulty until ten o'clock.
At this time I was agreeably surprised by some very
vivid flashes of lightning, followed by a few heavy
drops of rain. I alighted, and spread out all my
clean clothes to collect the rain, which at length I
saw would certainly fall. For more than an hour it
rained plentifully, and I quenched my thirst by
wringing and sucking my clothes."
Park at length entered the kingdom of Bambarra,
where he found the people hospitable, and was
astonished at the opulence and extent of cultivation
he everywhere found. The country, he says, was
beautiful, intersected on all sides by rivulets, which,
after a rain-storm, were swelled into rapid streams.
He was, however, such an object of amusement and
ridicule to the inhabitants, from his own tattered
condition, together with the appearance of his horse,
which was a perfect skeleton, and which he drove
before him, that the very slaves, he says, were
ashamed to be seen in his company. Notwithstand-
ing all this, however, he held on his way, and at
last, on the 21st of July, 1796, had the inexpressible
gratification of coming in sight of Sego, the capital
of Bambarra, situated on the Niger, which the natives
denominated Joliba, or the "Great Water." "As
we approached the town," says Park, "I was fortu-
nate enough to overtake the fugitive Kaartans, and
we rode together through some marshy ground, where,
as I anxiously looked around for the river, one of
them called out Geo affilli (see the water). Looking
forwards, I saw, with infinite pleasure, the great
object of my mission�the long-sought-for majestic
Niger, glittering to the morning sun, as broad as the
Thames at Westminster, and flowing slowly to the
eastward. I hastened to the brink, and having drunk
of the water lifted up my fervent thanks in prayer
to the great Ruler of all things, for having thus far
crowned my endeavours with success." Sego con-
sisted of four distinct towns, two on the northern
and two on the southern bank of the Niger; "and
the view of this extensive capital," says our traveller,
"the numerous canoes on the river, the crowded
population, and the cultivated state of the surround-
ing country, formed altogether a prospect of civiliza-
tion and magnificence which I little expected to
find in the bosom of Africa." The king, Mansong,
however, refused to see Mr. Park, for fear of excit-
ing the envy and jealousy of the Moorish inhabitants,
and ordered him to remove to a village in the vici-
nity. He had no alternative but to comply; and it
was here that one of those fine traits of female com-
passion, and of the kind interposition of Providence
in his favour when at the last extremity, which he
has frequently borne testimony to with thankfulness