MR PARK'S SECOND JOURNEY. 455 
he may be seized ; and, although he cannot be 
employed, may be killed and eaten ; an use of 
his person, which, however little tempting to an 
European palate, appears delicious in the eye of an 
African. 
On the 19th, at three o'clock, Mr Park reached 
the summit of the ridge which separates the Niger 
from the remote branches of the Senegal ; and, 
coming to the brow of the hill, he once more saw 
the Niger rolling its immense stream along the 
plain. 
It was impossible for Park not to be deeply struck 
with the contrast of his present situation, with the 
situation and the hopes with which he had depart- 
ed from the Gambia. Of thirty-eight men who had 
accompanied him, seven only remained, all sick, 
and several in such an extremity, as scarcely to afford 
hopes of recovery. He admits that " the prospect 
" appeared somewhat gloomy. 5 ' Yet his hopes 
and enthusiasm were still buoyant. Again to be- 
hold the Niger, and to embark on its waters, had 
long appeared the termination of his evils, and the 
fulfilment of his highest dreams of ambition. He 
reflected also with satisfaction, that he had already 
solved an important problem in regard to African 
discovery. He had transported a party of Europe- 
ans, encumbered with baggage, for more than five 
hundred miles through the heart of Africa, with- 
out involving himself in any quarrel with the na- 
