Journal of a Mission to the Interior of Africa, in the Year 1805 (ed John Whishaw)

Journal of a Mission to the
Interior of Africa , in the Year
1805 (ed John Whishaw) [with
accents]

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Interior Of Africa, In The Year 1805
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Title: The Journal Of A Mission To The Interior Of Africa, In The Year
1805

Author: Mungo Park
Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8814] [This file was first
posted on August 15, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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JOURNAL OF A MISSION TO THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA, IN
THE YEAR 1805 ***

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THE JOURNAL OF A MISSION TO THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA,
IN THE YEAR 1805
Together with Other Documents, Official And Private,
Relating To The Same Mission, to Which Is Prefixed
an Account of the Life off Mr. Park.
BY
MUNGO PARK

Edited and Commentary by John Whishaw

The original documents relating to Mr. Mungo Park's last mission into
Africa having been entrusted to the Directors of the African Institution
by the Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, with liberty to
publish them, in case they should deem it expedient; the Directors now
avail themselves of this permission, by publishing the papers for the
benefit of Mr. Park's family.
These documents, together with other papers furnished by Mr. Park's
connections and friends, which also form a part of the present
publication, consist of the following particulars:

1. The original Journal of the expedition, officially transmitted by Mr.
Park to the Secretary of State; containing several of Mr. Park's
drawings and sketches, illustrative of particular descriptions, which are
copied in this publication.
2. The Journal, as translated from the Arabic language, in which it was
originally composed, of Isaaco, a native African, commissioned in the
year 1810, by the Governor of Senegal, to go in search of Mr. Park and
ascertain his fate; which Journal was likewise officially transmitted to
the Secretary of State.
3. A Memoir delivered by Mr. Park at the Colonial Office in the year
1804, relative to the plan and objects of the intended expedition into
Africa; together with the Official Instructions which he received for his
guidance; and two letters addressed by him to the Secretary of State,
one, written shortly after his arrival at the Coast of Africa, and the other,
at the time of transmitting his Journal, previously to his final
embarkation on the Niger.
4. Several private letters of Mr. Park, principally written during the
time he was engaged in this mission; which, together with the
documents included under the last mentioned head, have been
incorporated into the Account of Mr. Park's Life, which is prefixed to
the Journal.
It has before been stated, that the official papers are published under the
authority of the Directors of the African Institution. It may be proper to
add, that the individual, who has undertaken to prepare this work for
the press, is alone responsible for the publication of the private letters,
and for whatever else is contained in this volume, besides the official
documents.
Of the papers before enumerated, the most important, and the only one
which calls for any particular observation, is Mr. Park's own Journal;
respecting which, it may be necessary to apprize the reader that it was
written without the slightest view to publication, being intended only
(as he informed the Secretary of State, by his letter of the 17th of
November, 1805) "to recall to his own recollection other particulars
illustrative of the manners and customs of the natives, which would
have swelled the communication to a most unreasonable size." The
work, therefore, which is now submitted to the public, can be
considered in no other light than as the mere outline of a much more

extended and detailed narrative, which it was the author's intention to
prepare for the press after his return to