The Journal of a Mission to the Interior of Africa, in the Year 1805 by Park, Mungo, 1771-1806, Whishaw, John

By the plan which has thus shortly been described, every disadvantage which attended Park's mission, would be avoided, and all its defects supplied; and there seems to be every reasonable assurance that an expedition, formed and conducted upon such principles (with a due attention to the proper season for travelling), would be attended with ultimate success.

It would be difficult to anticipate the full extent of those beneficial consequences which may ultimately be expected from the successful result of such an expedition. We may perhaps be justified in expecting that the intercourse, thus formed with the interior of Africa, will eventually open new communications of trade, and possibly create new markets; that a certain portion of that vast commerce, which is now carried on with Tombuctoo from Morocco and the shores of the Mediterranean, may be diverted to the western coast; and that great quantities of European goods, now conveyed through other channels, may be transported into the centre of Africa through the new route of the Niger.

But without speculating too confidently upon commercial revolutions of the nature here alluded to, which are for the most part very slow and gradual, and seldom effected without much difficulty; we may safely conclude that any rational and well concerted expedition to the interior of Africa must be of great efficacy in promoting and extending the legitimate and beneficial commerce with different parts of that vast continent, which has been rapidly advancing since the Abolition of the slave trade. [Footnote: See Appendix, No. VI.] We may also reasonably expect that such enterprises, judiciously conducted, will have important effects upon the civilization and general improvement of Africa, by exciting industry and diffusing useful knowledge among the natives; and that some portion of these advantages may, in due time, be extended to those remote and sequestered countries, which are at present excluded from all intercourse with Europe, and abandoned to hopeless ignorance and barbarism. Let us hope that the honour of passing those barriers, which have hitherto separated Africa from the civilized world, is reserved for the courage and perseverance of that nation, by whose enlightened and disinterested exertions so much has been effected in modern times, for the advancement of geographical knowledge. The voyages of discovery which have been undertaken by the command of His present Majesty, unstained by the guilt of conquest, and directed exclusively towards objects of humanity and science, have conferred a lasting distinction on the British name and character. The attempt to explore the interior of Africa, dictated by the same generous views, is in no respect less interesting, nor does it promise less important results, even than those great undertakings; and it will be peculiarly worthy of an age and nation, rendered for ever memorable in the annals of mankind by the Abolition of the African slave trade.

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APPENDIX.

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APPENDIX. No. I.

Page viii.