"You are to be conveyed to Goree in a transport convoyed by His Majesty's sloop Eugenie, which will be directed to proceed with you in the first instance to St. Jago, in order that you may there purchase fifty asses for carrying your baggage. "When you shall have prepared whatever may be necessary for securing the objects of the expedition at Goree, you are to proceed up the river Gambia; and thence crossing over to the Senegal to march by such route as you shall find most eligible, to the banks of the Niger. "The great object of your journey will be to pursue the course of this river to the utmost possible distance to which it can be traced; to establish communication and intercourse with the different nations on the banks; to obtain all the local knowledge in your power respecting them; and to ascertain the various points stated in the Memoir which you delivered to me on the 4th of October last. "And you will be then at liberty to pursue your route homewards by any line you shall think most secure, either by taking a new direction through the Interior towards the Atlantic, or by marching upon Cairo by taking the route leading to Tripoli. "You are hereby empowered to draw for any sum that you may be in want of, not exceeding £5000. upon the Lords of His Majesty's Treasury, or upon such mercantile banking-house in London as you may fix upon. "I am, &c. "CAMDEN. "_To Mungo Park, Esq. &c. &c. &c._" The preparations for the expedition being now entirely completed, Park, together with Mr. Anderson and Mr. Scott, proceeded to Portsmouth, where they were joined by four or five artificers, from the dock-yards appointed for the service; and after waiting some time for a wind, they at last set sail in the Crescent transport, on the 30th of January, 1805, and arrived at Port Praya Bay in the Cape Verd Islands about the 8th of March. The transactions of Park from the time of his embarkation in England to his departure from Kayee on the Gambia for the Interior of Africa (a period of about seven weeks) will be best described by the following letters, and extracts selected from his correspondence. _To Mr. Dickson_ _Port Praya Bay, St. Jago, March 13, 1805._