Note 35 — CHAP. LXXVII.

It was this policy of Mungo Park, which he no doubt adopted much against his own inclination, that inspired Major Laing, when he heard of it in Tawát, with such ominous dread of the fate which might await himself. In one of his letters which I had the opportunity of inspecting through the kindness of General Sabine, he exclaims, after having mentioned that he met a Tárki who had been wounded by Mungo Park:—“How imprudent, how unthinking! I may even say how selfish was it in Park, to attempt to make discoveries in this country at the expense of the blood of the inhabitants, and to the exclusion of all after communication; how unjustifiable was such conduct!” It was on this account that Major Laing sent back the sailors whom he had with him, and almost gave up his design of navigating the river below Timbúktu.