BOOKS.RESEAU.ORG - Une bibliothèque franco-anglaise en ligne

- Extraits -

Page 1 : TRAVELS IN AFRICA. * * * * * [Illustration: Mungo Park] * * * * * LIFE AND TRAVELS OF MUNGO PARK With a full narrative of Subsequent Adventure in Central Africa. [Illustration: The Lion quietly suffered us to pass, though we were fairly within his reach.] * * * * * CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. Knowledge of the Ancients concerning Africa. Herodotus. Strabo. The Arabs. Early discoveries of the Portuguese and English. Ledyard. Lucas. Houghton. Park's birth and parentage. His education. Serves his apprenticeship as a surgeon. Sails for Bencoolen. African association engage Park's services. His preparations and departure. CHAPTER I. Park's motives for undertaking the voyage--his instructions and departure--arrives at Jillifree, on the Gambia River--proceeds to Vintain. Some account of the Feloops. Proceeds up the river for Jonkakonda--arrives at Dr. Laidley's.

Page 22 : All these men travelled on foot, driving their asses before them. Thus I had no less than six attendants, all of whom had been taught to regard me with great respect, and to consider that their safe return hereafter, to the countries on the Gambia, would depend on my preservation. Dr. Laidley himself, and Messrs Ainsley, with a number of their domestics, kindly determined to accompany me the two first days; and I believe they secretly thought they should never see me afterwards. We reached Jindey the same day, having crossed the Walli creek, a branch of the Gambia, and rested at the house of a black woman, who had formerly been the chere amie of a white trader named Hewett; and who, in consequence thereof, was called, by way of distinction, Seniora. In the evening we walked out to see an adjoining village, belonging to a Slatee named Jemafoo Mamadoo, the richest of all the Gambia traders.

Page 43 : In the interim, it began to be whispered abroad, that I had received plenty of gold from Salim Daucari; and on the morning of the 23d, Sambo Sego paid me a visit with a party of horsemen. He insisted upon knowing the exact amount of the money I had obtained; declaring, that whatever the sum was, one half of it must go to the king; besides which, he intimated that he expected a handsome present for himself, as being the king's sons and for his attendants, as being the king's relations.

Page 64 : The hurry and confusion which attended this decampment prevented the slaves from dressing the usual quantity of victuals; and lest their dry provisions should be exhausted before they reached their place of destination, (for as yet none but Ali and the chief men knew whither we were going,) they thought proper to make me observe this day as a day of fasting. May 1st. As I had some reason to suspect that this day was also to be considered as a fast, I went in the morning to the Negro town of Farani, and begged some provisions from the Dooti, who readily supplied my wants, and desired me to come to his house every day during my stay in the neighbourhood. These hospitable people are looked upon by the Moors as an abject race of slaves, and are treated accordingly. Two of Ali's household slaves, a man and a woman, who had come along with the two tents, went this morning to water the cattle from the town wells, at which there began to be a great scarcity.

Page 85 : I waited more than two hours without having an opportunity of crossing the river; during which time the people who had crossed carried information to Mausong the King, that a white man was waiting for a passage, and was coming to see him. He immediately sent over one of his chief men, who informed me that the king could not possibly see me, until he knew what had brought me into his country; and that I must not presume to cross the river without the king's permission. He therefore advised me to lodge at a distant village, to which he pointed, for the night; and said that in the morning he would give me further instructions how to conduct myself. This was very discouraging. However, as there was no remedy, I set off for the village; where I found, to my great mortification, that no person would admit me into his house.

Page 106 : [15] From a plant called kabba, that climbs like a vine upon the trees. I now thought it necessary, sick as I was, to take leave of my hospitable landlord. On the morning of Sept. 8th, when I was about to depart, he presented me with his spear, as a token of remembrance, and a leather bag to contain my clothes. Having converted my half boots into sandals, I travelled with more ease, and slept that night at a village called Ballanti. On the 9th, I reached Nemacoo; but the Mansa of the village thought fit to make me sup upon the cameleon's dish. By way of apology, however, he assured me the next morning, that the scarcity of corn was such, that he could not possibly allow me any. I could not accuse him of unkindness, as all the people actually appeared to be starving. Sept. 10th. It rained hard all day, and the people kept themselves in their huts.

Page 127 : 20 charges of gunpowder, ) A cutlass, ) A musket from three to four minkallies. The produce of the country, and the different necessaries of life when exchanged for gold, sold as follows:-- Common provisions for one day, the weight of one teelee-kissi, (a black bean, six of which make the weight of one minkalli;) a chicken, one teelee-kissi; a sheep, three teelee-kissi; a bullock, one minkalli; a horse, from ten to seventeen minkallies. The Negroes weigh the gold in small balances, which they always carry about them. They make no difference, in point of value, between gold dust and wrought gold. In bartering one article for another, the person who receives the gold always weighs it with his own teelee-kissi. These beans are sometimes fraudulently soaked in Shea-butter, to make them heavy; and I once saw a pebble ground exactly into the form of one of them; but such practices are not very common.

Page 148 : At this island I remained ten days; when the Chesterfield Packet, homeward bound from the Leeward Islands, touching at St John's for the Antigua mail, I took my passage in that vessel. We sailed on the 24th of November; and after a short but tempestuous voyage, arrived at Falmouth on the 22d of December; from whence I immediately set out for London; having been absent from England two years and seven months. [Here terminates Mr. Park's own narrative. The following chapters contain an account of his life from his return to England, in 1797, to his death on the Niger, in 1805; and also of the discoveries and adventures of succeeding travellers.] CHAPTER XXVII. Attempts of Horneman, Nicholls, Roentgen, and Adams. During the interval which elapsed between Park's first and second journey, several attempts were made to explore Central Africa.

Page 169 : In the voyage to Sansanding they suffered much from the intense heat; and on the 2d October, two of the soldiers died. Sansanding is a place carrying on a considerable traffic, and is said to contain eleven thousand inhabitants. It has a large market-place, in the form of a square, where the articles for sale are arranged on stalls, shaded by mats from the heat of the sun. In each stall only a single article is sold, the chief being beef, beer, beads, indigo, cloth, elephants teeth, and slaves; besides which one side of the square is entirely devoted to salt the staple commodity of the place. The value of the articles is paid in cowries, the chief currency of central Africa. As Mansong did not seem likely to fulfil his promise soon, Park found it necessary to provide, by the sale of some of his merchandise, a sufficient supply of cowries.

Page 190 : On the 20th April M. Caillie entered Tombuctoo. His feelings at the sight of this celebrated city were those of disappointment. Perhaps in his wanderings he had fed his imagination with dreams of a flourishing and splendid capital reared amid the waste. He thus describes it:--"The spectacle before me did not answer my expectation. At first sight it presents but a heap of houses, neither so large nor so well peopled as I expected. Its commerce is less considerable than is stated by public report, a great concourse of strangers coming from every part of Soudan. I met in the streets only the camels coming from Kabra. The city is inhabited by negroes of the Kissour nation. They form the principal population. The city is without any walls, open on all sides, and may contain 10,000 or 12,000 inhabitants, including the Moors." The houses are built of brick; and there are seven mosques, the principal one of great size, having a tower fifty feet high.