This enterprising and distinguished traveller was born on the 10th of September, 1771, at Fowlshiels, a farm occupied by his father on the banks of the Yarrow, near Selkirk. In common with the greater number of the sons of Scottish yeomen, Mungo Park, notwithstanding that the number of his brothers and sisters amounted to no less than thirteen, received a respectable education, and at the age of fifteen was bound apprentice to a surgeon at Selkirk. At the close of this apprenticeship, in 1789, Park continued his medical studies at the university of Edinburgh, where, though nothing remarkable is recorded of him, he seems to have applied with great assiduity to his professional studies. His summer vacations, during one of which he made a tour to the Highlands, were devoted to botany. Having completed his education, Park removed to London in search of professional employment. Here, through the kindness of Mr. Dickson, his brother-in-law, he had the good fortune to become known to Sir Joseph Banks, to whom so many other distinguished travellers have been indebted; and through whose recommendation he was appointed surgeon to the Worcester East Indiaman. In this capacity he made a voyage to Bencoolen, in Sumatra, the only fruits of which was a paper containing descriptions of eight new fishes from Sumatra, published in the third volume of the _Linnæan Transactions_. Shortly after his return from this voyage, Park, learning that the African Association, of which his friend Sir Joseph Banks was a very active and zealous member, were desirous of engaging a person to replace Major Houghton, who, it was feared, had fallen a sacrifice to the climate, or perished in some contest with the natives, eagerly offered his services, which after due deliberation were accepted. The association, he observes, conducted itself with great liberality towards him. He forthwith prepared himself for the voyage, and on the 22d of May, 1795, sailed from Portsmouth in the brig Endeavour. His instructions, he says, were very plain and concise. He was directed, on his arrival in Africa, “to pass on to the river Niger, either by the way of Bambouk or by such other route as should be found most convenient; that I should ascertain the course, and, if possible, the rise and termination of the river. That I should use my utmost exertions to visit the principal towns or cities in its neighbourhood, particularly Timbuctoo and Houssa; and that I should afterward be at liberty to return to Europe, either by the way of the Gambia, or by such other route as under all the then existing circumstances of my situation and prospects should appear to me to be most advisable.”