xli 



displays the relations of men toward each 

 other. The character of savage or civi- 

 lized nature is portrayed either in the ob- 

 stacles which a traveller meets with, or in 

 the sensations which he feels. It is the 

 man himself that we continually desire to 

 see in contact with the objects that sur- 

 round him ; and his narration interests us 

 the more, when a local tint is spread over 

 the description of the country and it's 

 inhabitants. Such is the source of the 

 interest excited by the history of those 

 first navigators, who, led on by intrepidity 

 more than by science, struggled against 

 the elements, while they sought a new 

 world in unknown seas. Such is the irre- 

 sistible charm which attaches us to the fate 

 of that enterprising traveller *, who, full 

 of enthusiasm and energy, penetrated 

 alone into the centre of Africa, in order 

 to discover amidst barbarous nations the 

 traces of ancient civilization. 



In proportion as voyages have been 

 made by persons more enlightened, and 

 whose views have been directed towards 

 researches into descriptive natural history, 



Mungo Park. 



