106 park's second journey. 



which were cloth of Houssa or Jenne, antimony, beads, 

 »nd indigo, were each arranged in stalls, shaded by mata 

 from the heat of the sun. There was a separate market 

 for salt, the main staple of their trade. The whole pre- 

 sented a scene of commercial order and activity totally un- 

 look^ed for in the interior of Africa. 



Mansong had promised to furnish two boats ; but they 

 were late in arriving, and proved very defective. In order 

 to raise money, it was necessary to sell a considerable 

 quantity of goods. Nor was it without much trouble that 

 the two skiffs were finally converted into the schooner Jo- 

 liba, forty feet long, six broad, and drawing only one foot 

 of water, the fittest form for navigating the Niger down- 

 ward to the ocean. 



During Park's stay at Sansanding he had the misfortune 

 to lose his brother-in-law, Mr. Anderson, to whom his at- 

 tachment was so strong as to make him say, — " No ev«nt 

 which took place during the journey ever threw the 

 smallest gloom over my mind till I laid Mr. Anderson in 

 the grave. I then felt myself as if left a second time lonely 

 and friendless amid the wilds of Africa." Though the 

 party was now reduced to five Europeans, one of whom 

 was deranged, and though the most gloomy anticipations 

 could not fail to arise in the mind of our traveller, his firm- 

 ness was in no degree shaken. He announced to Lord 

 Camden his fixed purpose to discover the termination of the 

 Niger, or to perish in the attempt ; adding, " Though all 

 the Europeans who are with me should die, and though I 

 were myself half-dead, I would still persevere." To Mrs. 

 Park he announced the same determination, combined with 

 an undoubting confidence of success ; and the commence- 

 ment of his voyage down the Niger, through the vast un- 

 known regions of Interior Africa, he called " turning his 

 face towards England." 



It was on the 17th November, 1805, that Park set sail 

 on his last and fatal voyage. A long interval elapsed with- 

 out any tidings, which, considering the great distance and 

 the many causes of delay, did not at first excite alarm in 

 his friends. As the following year, however, passed on, 

 rumours of an unpleasant nature began to prevail. Alarmed 

 ty tliese, and feeling a deep interest in his fate, Governor 

 Maxwell of Sierr^i Leone engaged Isaaco the guide, wha 



