viii 
ACCOUNT OF THE 
children has been already remarked, and is strongly 
exemplified in the history of Mr. Park's family. The dif- 
fusion of knowledge among the natives of that part of the 
kingdom, and their general intelligence, must be admitted 
by every unprejudiced observer ; nor is there any country 
in which the effects of education are so conspicuous in 
promoting industry and good conduct, and in producing 
useful and respectable men of the inferior and middle 
classes^ admirably fitted for all the important offices of 
common life.* 
In consequence of the appointment which Mungo Park 
had obtained as surgeon in the East India Company's 
service, by the interest of Sir Joseph Banks, he sailed for 
the East Indies in the Worcester in the month of February, 
1792 ; and having made a voyage to Bencoolen, in the 
island of Sumatra, returned to England in the following 
year. Nothing material occurred during this voyage: but he 
availed himself of all the opportunities which it afforded to 
obtain information in his favourite scientific pursuits, and 
appears to have made many observations, and collected 
many specimens, in Botany and Natural History. Several 
of these were the subjects of a communication made by 
him to the Linnaian Society, which was afterwards pub- 
lished in their printed Transactions. t 
* See Appendix, No. I. 
t In tlie Third Volume of the Linnaean Transactions, p. 33, is a paper by 
Park^ read Nov. 4, 1794, containing descriptions of eight new fishes from Sumatra j 
which he representa to be the fruit of his leisure hours duringhis slay on that coast. 
