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 of Mr. ParkPark, Mungo
History
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 of Mr. Park
Park, Mungo
Africa -- Discovery and exploration
At this place I had an opportunity of seeing their mode of smelting gold.
Isaaco had purchased some gold in coming through Konkodoo, and here he
had it made into a large ring. The smith made a crucible of common red
clay and dried it in the sun: into this he put the gold, without any flux
or mixture whatever; he then put charcoal under and over it, and blowing
the fire with the common double bellows of the country, soon produced
such a heat as to bring the gold into a state of fusion. He then made a
small furrow in the ground, into which he poured the melted gold; when it
was cold he took it up, and heating it again, soon hammered it into a
square bar. Then heating it again, he twisted it by means of two pairs of
pincers into a sort of screw; and lengthening out the ends, turned them
up so as to form a massy and precious ring.
When the baggage and cattle were all transported over, I sent over the
men, and embarked myself in the last canoe; but as one of the soldiers in
the other canoe had gone out to purchase something, I made the canoe in
which I was shove off, telling the men to come off the moment the man
returned. I found it difficult to sit in the canoe so as to balance it,
though it contained only three people besides the rower. We had just
landed on the East bank, when we observed the canoe, in which were the
three soldiers, pushing off from the opposite bank. It shortly after
overset, and though the natives from the shore swam in to their
assistance, yet J. Cartwright was unfortunately drowned. The natives
dived and recovered two of the muskets, and Cartwright's body; they put
the body in the canoe and brought it over. I used the means recommended
by the Humane Society, but in vain. We buried him in the evening on the
bank of the river.
The Ba fing is here a large river quite navigable; it is swelled at this
time about two feet, and flows at the rate of three knots per hour. The
people here are _all thieves:_ they attempted to steal several of
our loads, and we detected one carrying away the bundle in which was all
our medicines. We could not sleep with the noise of the hippopotami,
which came close to the bank and kept snorting and blowing all night. The
night being clear, observed the emersion of Jupiter's second satellite;
it emerged
H. M. S.
By watch - - - - 11 25 55
Time by Nautical Almanack 11 24 40
Equation - - - 0 1 53
--------
Mean time at Greenwich 11 26 33
11 26 33
--------
Watch too slow 0 0 38
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