104 Br Brown on the Correspondence behveen Mr Park 
ture ; for, from Mangara to the Congo, skirting the Mountains 
of the Moon to the south-west, the distance is not above two 
thousand miles ; and there seemed no other rational way of ac- 
counting for the extraordinary size of the Congo. This conjec- 
ture Mr Keir communicated to Mr Maxwell, and afterwards 
to ]Mr Park, when at Bowhill near Selkirk, in the neighbour- 
hood of which Mr Park then resided. The idea struck the tra- 
veller ; he requested and obtained a copy of Mr Maxwell’s 
chart ; and I have now lying before me, the whole of the cor- 
respondence that took place in consequence of the suggestion. 
It consists of two letters from Mr Maxwell to Mr Keir, both of 
which were carried by Mr Park to London ; a letter from Mr 
Park while in London to Mr Maxwell ; and two letters from 
Mr Maxwell to Mr Park in reply. The following narrative 
is drawn up from these letters, almost in the writers’ own words ; 
and the public, I am persuaded, will regret the preponderance 
of those motives which induced Mr Park to begin at the wrong 
end of his journey. 
In Mr Maxwell’s first letter to Mr Keir, dated 1st May 
1803, he states it as his opinion, that Mr Park had been ex- 
tremely fortunate in the choice of his first route ; for he sus- 
pects that the chiefs upon the sea-coast, from Cape Palmos along 
the Bight of Guinea to Cape Lopez, would not suffer a Euro- 
pean to penetrate the country on any pretext whatever, as they 
will not allow the officers of African ships to have the slightest 
intercourse with the Bushmen or traders from the Interior, and 
are very jealous of any white person going inland. Nay, even 
admitting that they were disposed to favour the views of an ad- 
venturer, that adventurer would still have to struggle with in- 
calculable hardships from the want of meal and milk, articles 
which seem to constitute their chief food in North Africa. 
Whilst, from Cape Lopez to Congo, they have no contrivance 
that Mr Maxwell knows of to grind or beat their corn, but sim- 
ply roast or boil it for use. Neither do they abound in yams or 
potatoes; their chief food being plantains, cassava, Indian corn, &c. 
seasoned with palm oil, pepper, and smoked fisli, none of which 
he apprehends would, under their mode of cooking, ever agree 
with the European constitution. Their white or sweet cassava 
(]\'Iayacka mamgoya) can be eaten raw ; but the red or bitter 
