Travels in the Interior of Africa — Volume 02

Travels in the Interior of Africa — Volume 02

The first of the two volumes which contain Mungo Parks Travels in the Interior of Africa brought him through many perils to the first sight of the Niger, and left him sick and solitary, stripped of nearly all that he possessed, a half-starved white man on a half-starved horse. He was helped on by a bag of cowries from a kindly chief; but in this volume he has not advanced far before he is stripped of all. There is not in the range of English literature a more interesting travellers tale than was given to the world in this book which this volume completes. It took the deeper hold upon its readers, because it appeared at a time when English hearts began to be stirred by the wrongs of slavery. But at any time there would be strong human interest in the unconscious painting of the writers character, as he makes his way over far regions in which no white man had before been seen, with firm resolve and with good temper as well as courage and prudence, which bring him safe through many a hair-breadth escape. There was a true kindness in Mungo Park that found answering kindness and brought out the spirit of humanity in those upon whose goodwill his life depends; in the negroes often, although never in the Moors. There was no flinching in the man, who, when robbed of his horse, stripped to the shirt in a forest and left upon a lions track, looked down with a botanists eye on the beauty of a tiny moss at his feet, drew comfort from it, and laboured on with quiet faith in God. The same eye was as quick to recognise the diverse characters of men. In Mungo Park shrewd humour and right feeling went together. Whatever he had to say he said clearly and simply; and it went straight home. He had the good fortune to be born before picturesque writing was invented. When we return to the Gambia with Mungo Park under the same escort with a coffle of slaves on their way to be shipped for the use of Christians, from the strength of his unlaboured narrative we get clear knowledge unclouded by a rainbow mist of words. He is of one blood with the sailors in whom Hakluyt delighted. Being, in the manner that has been related, compelled to leave Sego, I was conducted the same evening to a village about seven miles to the eastward, with some of the inhabitants of which my guide was acquainted, and by whom we were well received. [7] He was very friendly and communicative, and spoke highly of the hospitality of his countrymen, but withal told me that if Jenn was the place of my destination, which he seemed to have hitherto doubted, I had undertaken an enterprise of greater danger than probably I was apprised of; for, although the town of Jenn was nominally a part of the king of Bambarras dominions, it was in fact, he said, a city of the Moorsthe leading part of the inhabitants being bushreens, and even the governor himself, though appointed by Mansong, of the same sect. Thus was I in danger of falling a second time into the hands of men who would consider it not only justifiable, but meritorious, to destroy me, and this reflection was aggravated by the circumstance that the danger increased as I advanced in my journey, for I learned that the places beyond Jenn were under the Moorish influence in a still greater degree than Jenn itself, and Timbuctoo, the great object of my search, altogether in possession of that savage and merciless people, who allow no Christian to live there. But I had now advanced too far to think of returning to the westward on such vague and uncertain information, and determined to proceed; and being accompanied by the guide, I departed from the village on the morning of the 24th. About eight oclock we passed a large town called Kabba, situated in the midst of a beautiful and highly cultivated country, bearing a greater resemblance to the centre of England than to what I should have supposed had been the middle of Africa. The people were everywhere employed in collecting the fruit of shea trees, from which they prepare the vegetable butter mentioned in former parts of this work. These trees grow in great abundance all over this part of Bambarra. They are not planted by the natives, but are found growing naturally in the woods; and in clearing woodland for cultivation every tree is cut down but the shea. The tree itself very much resembles the American oak, and the fruitfrom the kernel of which, being first dried in the sun, the butter is prepared by boiling the kernel in waterhas somewhat the appearance of a Spanish olive. The kernel is enveloped in a sweet pulp, under a thin green rind; and the butter produced from it, besides the advantage of its keeping the whole year without salt, is whiter, firmer, and, to my palate, of a richer flavour, than the best butter I ever tasted made from cows milk. The growth and preparation of this commodity seem to be among the first objects of African industry in this and the neighbouring states, and it constitutes a main article of their inland commerce. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 5305
Author: Park, Mungo
Release Date: Mar 1, 2004
Format: eBook
Language: English