Born 1771.--Died 1806.
Born at Fowlshiels, near Selkirk--Receives a respectable
education--Bound apprentice to a surgeon--Finishes his education
at Edinburgh--Removes to London--Becomes known to Sir Joseph
Banks--Appointed surgeon to the Worcester, East Indiaman--Engaged
by the African Association to ascertain the course of the
Niger--Sails from England--Arrives at Jillifica--Unknown species
of fish--Alligators--Hippopotami--Pisania--Dr. Laidley--Studies
the Mandingo language--Attacked by fever and delirium--Horrors
of the rainy season in Africa--Wild beasts--Departs from
Pisania--Surrounded by a body of the natives--Visits the King of
Woolli--Obtains a guide--Elephant-hunters--Presents his coat to
the chief of Fatteconda--Major Houghton--Limited territories of
the African kings--Suggestion by which Africa may be effectually
explored--Folly of despatching a solitary traveller--A night
journey--Solitary forest--Dangers from wild beasts--Hospitable
Mohammedan--Festival in honour of his arrival--Negro
dances--Joag--Robbed of half his merchandise--Humanity of
a female slave--Kasson--Robbed a second time--Affectionate
meeting between the blacksmith and his relations--Maternal
affection--Curiosity excited by the presence of a white
man--Kooniakary--Audience with the king--Advised to retrace his
footsteps--Romantic scenery--Cheapness of provisions--Superstition
of his Mohammedan guide--Terrifies two negro horsemen--Is
mistaken for a demon--Kaarta--Buglehorns formed of elephants’
teeth--Receives permission to depart--Jarra--Visits Ali the
King of Ludamar--Despatches his journal to the Gambia--Is
robbed--Barbarous treatment of Park by Ali and his Moorish
countrymen--Placed in a hut with a wild boar--Is chosen royal
barber--Pillaged of the remainder of his property--Superstitious
curiosity--Is threatened with death or mutilation--Tortured
for Moorish amusement--Robbed of his slave-boy--Affecting
scene--Attempts to escape--Departs in the night--Stopped
and robbed of his cloak--Nearly perishes from hunger and
thirst--Storm in the desert--Multitude of frogs--Compelled to
wander through the woods--Subsists on wild berries--Enters
the kingdom of Bambarra--Mistaken for a Moor--Destitute
condition--Comes within sight of the Niger--Joy at effecting
the object of his mission--Sego--Refused entrance into the
city--Humanity of a woman--Receives a present from the king of
Bambarra--Sansanding--Hospitable reception--Is requested to write
a saphie, or charm--Camelopard--Encounters a lion--Moodiboo--Loses
his horse--Reaches Silla--Exhausted with fatigue and
sickness--Unable to proceed--Resolves to return--Song--Denied
entrance into the village--In danger of being devoured by
lions--Stripped and robbed by a band of peasants--Overwhelmed
with grief and terror--Derives consolation from religious
reflections--Sibidooloo--Regains his horse and other
property--Unites himself to a slave caravan--Obtains a common
prayer-book--Arrives at Pisania--Returns to England--Singular
interview with his brother-in-law--Received with distinguished
honour by the African Association--Publishes his travels--Returns
to Scotland--Marries--Practises as a surgeon at Peebles--Becomes
disgusted with an obscure life--Appointed chief conductor of a
second expedition into the interior of Africa, under the sanction
of the British government--Sails from Portsmouth--Arrives at
Pisanio--Sets out with the party for the interior--Dreadfully
stung by a swarm of bees--The journey nearly put an end to by this
event--Rainy season--The whole party sick--Gold-pits--Soldiers
become delirious--Numbers die, or are left behind--Attacked
by wild beasts--Cut off by the natives--Guide attacked and
wounded by a crocodile--Remarkable presence of mind--Robbed by
two African princes--Encounters three lions--Arrives on the
banks of the Niger--Opens a bazaar--Death of Mr. Scott--Mission
reduced to a very small number--Death of Mr. Anderson--Embarks
on the Niger--Conclusion of his journal--Isaaco’s account of his
death--Captain Clapperton’s corroboration--Character--Sir Walter
Scott 13