227 secution of the fanatical rabble. He was beat, re- viled, compelled to perform the meanest offices, frequently on the point of starvation, and was often necessitated to sleep in the open air. All his bag- gage was taken from him to deter him from running away, with the exception of a pocket compass, which was supposed to be the work of magic, from the needle always pointing in the same direction, and was therefore returned to him. At last it began to be debated how he was to be disposed of—some advising that he should be put to death, others that his right hand should be cut off, and another party that his eyes should be put out. Park's health at length gave way under the accumulated horrors of his situation, and he was seized with a fever and delirium, which brought him to the brink of the grave. Yet even in this extremity his persecutors never desisted from their cruelties, and tormented him like some obnoxious animal for their amuse- ment. Perhaps the strongest proof that can be given of the extent of his sufferings at this time, and of the deep and lasting impression they made on his mind, is the fact, that years afterwards, subsequent to his return to Scotland, and while residing with his family on the peaceful banks of the Tweed, he frequently started up in horror from his sleep, imagining him- self still in the camp of AH at Benowm. But per- haps nothing gave our traveller so much permanent grief as the fate of his faithful slave-boy Demba, whom Ali impressed into his service as a soldier, and who had conceived a great affection for Mr. Park, who describes their parting as very affecting. After a month's residence at Benowm Ali removed to Jarra, back to which place of course Mr. Park was obliged to accompany him. Here all was alarm and terror, from the approach and apprehended attack of the King of Kaarta; and amid the bustle and confusion of the inhabitants fleeing from their homes, the preparations for war, &c., Mr. Park at last, after great difficulty and amid many perils, found an opportunity of escaping, and struck into the woods back towards Bambarra. Being under the necessity of avoiding all intercourse with the natives, in order to avoid being recaptured by the emissaries of Ali, who were in pursuit of him, he was at one time nearly famished in the wilderness, and we will take his own account of his sensations at this awful crisis. Thirst, intense and burning thirst, was the first and direst of his sufferings; his mouth and throat became parched and inflamed, and a sudden dimness frequently came over his eyes, accompanied with symptoms of fainting. The leaves of the few shrubs that grew around were all too bitter for chewing. After climbing up a tree in the hopes of discovering some signs of a human habitation, but without suc- cess, he again descended in despair. " As I was now," says he, "too faint to attempt walking, and my horse too fatigued to carry me, I thought it but an act of humanity, and perhaps the last I should ever have it in my power to perform, to take off his bridle and let him shift for himself; in doing which I was affected with sickness and giddiness, and, fall- ing upon the sand, felt as if the hour of death was fast approaching. Here then, thought I, after a short but ineffectual struggle, terminate all my hopes of being useful in my day and generation; here must the short span of my life come to an end. I cast, as I believed, a last look on the surrounding scene; and whilst I reflected on the awful change that was about to take place, this world and its enjoyments seemed to vanish from my recollection. Nature, however, at length resumed her functions; and on recovering my senses, I found myself stretched upon the sand, with the bridle still in my hand, and the sun just sinking behind the trees. I now summoned all my resolution, and determined to make another effort to prolong my existence: and as the evening was somewhat cool, I resolved to travel as far as my limbs would carry me, in hopes of reaching (my only resource) a watering-place. With this view I put the bridle upon my horse, and driving him before me, went slowly along for about an hour, when I perceived some lightning from the north-east; a most delightful sight, for it promised rain. The darkness and lightning increased very rapidly, and in less than an hour I heard the wind roaring behind the bushes. I had already opened my mouth to receive the re- freshing drops which I expected, but I was instantly covered with a cloud of sand, driven with such force by the wind, as to give a very disagreeable sensation to my face and arms; and I was obliged to mount my horse and stop under a bush to avoid being suffo- cated. The sand continued to fly for nearly an hour in amazing quantities, after which I again set for- wards, and travelled with difficulty until ten o'clock. At this time I was agreeably surprised by some very vivid flashes of lightning, followed by a few heavy drops of rain. I alighted, and spread out all my clean clothes to collect the rain, which at length I saw would certainly fall. For more than an hour it rained plentifully, and I quenched my thirst by wringing and sucking my clothes." Park at length entered the kingdom of Bambarra, where he found the people hospitable, and was astonished at the opulence and extent of cultivation he everywhere found. The country, he says, was beautiful, intersected on all sides by rivulets, which, after a rain-storm, were swelled into rapid streams. He was, however, such an object of amusement and ridicule to the inhabitants, from his own tattered condition, together with the appearance of his horse, which was a perfect skeleton, and which he drove before him, that the very slaves, he says, were ashamed to be seen in his company. Notwithstand- ing all this, however, he held on his way, and at last, on the 21st of July, 1796, had the inexpressible gratification of coming in sight of Sego, the capital of Bambarra, situated on the Niger, which the natives denominated Joliba, or the "Great Water." "As we approached the town," says Park, "I was fortu- nate enough to overtake the fugitive Kaartans, and we rode together through some marshy ground, where, as I anxiously looked around for the river, one of them called out Geo affilli (see the water). Looking forwards, I saw, with infinite pleasure, the great object of my mission—the long-sought-for majestic Niger, glittering to the morning sun, as broad as the Thames at Westminster, and flowing slowly to the eastward. I hastened to the brink, and having drunk of the water lifted up my fervent thanks in prayer to the great Ruler of all things, for having thus far crowned my endeavours with success." Sego con- sisted of four distinct towns, two on the northern and two on the southern bank of the Niger; "and the view of this extensive capital," says our traveller, "the numerous canoes on the river, the crowded population, and the cultivated state of the surround- ing country, formed altogether a prospect of civiliza- tion and magnificence which I little expected to find in the bosom of Africa." The king, Mansong, however, refused to see Mr. Park, for fear of excit- ing the envy and jealousy of the Moorish inhabitants, and ordered him to remove to a village in the vici- nity. He had no alternative but to comply; and it was here that one of those fine traits of female com- passion, and of the kind interposition of Providence in his favour when at the last extremity, which he has frequently borne testimony to with thankfulness