The death of this enterprising traveller is now placed beyond any
doubt. Many accounts of it have been received, and although varying
as to the circumstances attending it, yet all agreeing that it has
taken place. One statement was given to Mr. Bowdich, while on his
mission to the King of the Ashantees, in 1817, by a Moor, who said
that he was an eye-witness; and the same gentleman procured an
Arabic manuscript declaratory of Mr. Park's death. This manuscript
has been deposited with the African Association, formed for the
413 purpose of extending researches in that part of the world. Two
translations have been made of this curious document; one by Mr.
Salamé, an Egyptian, who accompanied Viscount Exmouth in his attack
on Algiers, as interpreter; and the other by Mr. Jackson, formerly
consul at one of the Barbary courts. The following is Mr. Salamé's
translation, from which, however, _the one by Mr. Jackson only
differs in a trifling degree_. The words in italics have been
inserted by Mr. Salamé, in order to render the reading more
perfect, and are not in the original:--
_A literal Translation of a Declaration written in a corrupted
Arabic, from the Town of Yaud, in the Interior of Africa_.
"'In the name of God, the merciful and the munificent. This
declaration is issued from the town called Yaud, in the county of
Kossa. We (the writer) do witness the _following_ case (statement.)
We never saw, nor heard of the sea (river) called Koodd; but we sat
to hear (understood) the voice (report) of some persons, _saying_,
'We saw a ship, equal to her we never saw before; and the King of
Yaud had sent plenty of every kind of food, with cows and sheep;
_there_ were two men, one woman, two male slaves, and two maids in
the ship; _the_ two white men _were_ derived from the race (sect)
414 of Nassri (Christ, or Christianity.) The King of Yaud asked them to
come out to him (to land); but they refused coming out (landing);
and they went to the _King_ of the country of Bassa, who is greater
than the King of Yaud; and _while_ they _were_ sitting in the ship,
and gaining a position (rounding) over the Cape of Koodd, and
_were_ in society with the people of the King of Bassa, the ship
reached (struck) a head of mountain, which took (destroyed) _her_
away, and the men and women of Bassa all together, with every kind
of arms (goods); and the ship could find no way to avoid the
mountain; and the man who _was_ in the ship, killed his wife, and
threw all his property into the sea (river), and _then_ they threw
themselves _also_, from fear. Afterwards they took one _out of the_
water till the news reached the town of Kanji, the country of the
King of Wawi; and the King of Wawi heard of it; he buried him in
his earth (grave), and the other we have not seen; perhaps he is in
the bottom of the water. And God knows best.' Authentic from the
mouth of Sherif Abraham.--Finis.'
"In addition to the foregoing, another corroboration has been
obtained. Lieut. Col. Fitzclarence, when on his voyage down the
Mediterranean on board the _Tagus_ frigate, Capt. Dundas, with
despatches from the Marquis of Hastings, learnt from the governor
to the two sons of the Emperor of Marocco, who had been on a
pilgrimage to Mecca, and were then returning home, that he (Hadjee
415 Tahib) had been at Timbuctoo in 1807, and had heard of _two white_
men, who came from the sea, having been near that place the year
before; and that they sold beads, and had no money to purchase
grain. This person added, that they went down the _Nile_ to the
eastward, and that general report stated that they _died of the
climate_. There can be little doubt but the _two white_ men here
alluded to were Mr. Park and his companion, Lieutenant Martyn, who
were at Sandsanding in Nov. 1805, and could, in the following year,
have been near Timbuctoo. Sandsanding is the place from whence the
last dispatches were dated by Mr. Park; and Amadi Fatouma, who was
his guide afterwards, was sent to learn his fate, and returned with
an account of Mr. Park being drowned. The statement of this person
was, however, of such a nature as to excite suspicions of its
correctness; and hopes were entertained that Mr. Park had not met
with such an untimely fate. Fourteen years have now almost elapsed
since the date of his last dispatches; and this circumstance is of
itself sufficient to demonstrate, that he is to be added to the
catalogue of those who have perished in their attempts to explore
the interior of Africa.--_Englishman_."