EARLY EXPLORERS OF AFRICA 295 



ourselves here to the exploits and discoveries of the most famous of 

 them. Chief among these were two sons of Scotland, James Bruce 

 and Mungo Park. James Bruce, born in 1730, began his career as a 

 traveler in Asia, and in 1768 entered upon his famous journey in 

 search of the sources of the Nile. In February, 1770, he reached the 

 capital of Abyssinia, where he gained the favor of the sovereign, and 

 in November succeeded in discovering the great object of his journey, 

 what he thought to be the source of the Nile. It was really the source 

 of the Blue Nile, one of the branches of the parent of that stream. 



Mungo Park, l)orn at Fowlshiels^ near Selkirk, Scotland, on the 

 lOth of September, 1771, began his career as a discoverer in 1795, 

 when he arrived at Jillifree, near the mouth of the Gambia. He 

 explored a considerable portion of the course of the Niger, and 

 reached London on Christmas morning, 1797. Great interest was 

 excited by the narrative of his expedition, and the profits on its publica- 

 tion, together with the liberal compensation made him by the African 

 Association, placed him for a time in easy circumstances. Being 

 offered the command of another expedition to the Niger and the cen- 

 tral parts of Africa, he accepted it, and sailed from Portsmouth on 

 the 30th of January, 1805. He was accompanied by his brother-in- 

 law, Mr. Anderson, surgeon, Mr. George Scott, draughtsman, and 

 others. The object of the expedition was to cross from the Gambia 

 to the Niger, and then to sail down the latter stream to the ocean ; but 

 it proved in every way unfortunate. Mr. Anderson and others fell 

 victims to the climate. Park's last dispatches are dated from Sand- 

 sanding, and he says, "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 his mind), Lieutenant Martyn, 

 land myself. . . . We had no contest with the natives, nor was 

 any of us killed by wild animals or any other accident." He left 

 Sandsanding on the 19th of November, and, from information after- 

 wards obtained, he seems to have proceeded down as far as Boussa, 

 650 miles below Timbuctoo, w^here, having been attacked by the 

 natives, he and his companions attempted to save themselves by swim- 

 ming, but were drowned. In such explorations, the treatment which 

 one receives is varied, but Park found the disposition of tht women 

 uniformly benevolent, and in proof he relates his own experience 



