LIFE OF MUNGO PARK. 
li 
sliip, appear to have made a great impression upon Park ; 
and he took leave of Major Rennell with an apparent de- 
termination to relinquish the undertaking. But this con- 
viction was little more than momentary, and ceased almost 
as soon as the influence and authority from which it pro- 
V . ceeded, were withdrawn. On Park's return to London, 
his enthusiasm revived ; and all doubts and difficulties 
were at an end. 
The doubts expressed by Major Rennell were of course, 
communicated by Park to the Secretary of State ; but, as 
he accompanied the communication with his own ans^vers 
and remarks, the objections were not deemed of sufficient 
weight to produce any material change in the intended 
arrangements. 
It must be observed however with regard to the opinions 
both of Major Rennell and other intelligent persons among 
Park's friends, who disapproved of the expedition, that 
their objections appear for tlie most part to have been too 
general and indiscriminate ; proceeding perhaps too much 
upon vague and indefinite ideas of the dangers which ex- 
perience had shewn to be incidental to such a journey, and 
being therefore equally conclusive against any new attempt 
to explore the interior of Africa. To these objections it 
may be sufficient to oppose the authority of Sir Joseph 
Banks, who was of course much consulted by Park, and 
also by the Secretary of State ; and whose opinion on this 
subject appears to have been equally temperate and judi- 
cious. Without in the least extenuating the dangers of 
the intended expedition, which he regarded as one of the 
most hazardous ever undertaken, he still thought that the 
