%J4! park's second journey. 
still buoyant. Again to behold the Niger, and to 
embark on its waters, had long appeared the ter- 
mination 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 liad transported a party of Europeans, encum- 
bered with baggage, for more than five hundred 
miles through the heart of Africa, without in- 
volving himself in any quarrel with the natives, 
and without suffering even any serious depre- 
dation. He even considered it as proved, that 
the journey, if undertaken in the dry season, 
might be performed without the loss of more than 
three or four men out of fifty. 
On the 21st, Mr Park hired a canoe to carry 
the baggage to Marraboo, and on the following 
day embarked in it with Mr Anderson. Several 
rapids intervened ; but the river, being swelled by 
the rains, was navigable over them. The Niger 
was here an English mile in breadth, and at the 
rapids, was spread out to two miles ; so that it 
was already a much larger river than the Senegal 
or Gambia. The current carried them down at 
the rate of five knots an hour, and the oar was re- 
quired only for giving the boat its proper direc- 
tion. The rapids are formed by a ridge of hills, 
which here cross the channel of the river. There 
are three principal ones in the middle, and nu- 
